Most of the following were submitted for inclusion in GURPS Supers, Second Edition, but were not used, for one reason or another. (In particular, the Venom super-advantage here was discarded in favor of the one found in GURPS Bestiary and other sourcebooks; I include it here because it is a bit more flexible than the "official" advantage.) The rest are from the house rules for my various shortlived Supers campaigns.

Existing Normal Skills

Heraldry (Supers)

This specialization of Heraldry allows you to recognize supers by their emblems or costume designs, read team affiliations if such are part of the costume insignia, and in general what it does with knights and shields in the medieval genre.

New Normal Advantage

Security Clearance: 2 points/level

(NOTE: This advantage was inexplicably left out of GURPS I.S.T., even though several characters were built with it. I've also seen references to it elsewhere; from some of these I gather it can be found in the new Compendium I.)

A Security Clearance allows a character access to sensitive information of a political or military nature. Normally, a Security Clearance is a subsidiary effect of Military Rank. No additional point cost is assessed for possessing a Security Clearance appropriate for one's Rank. However, a character can have a Security Clearance higher than that which he would normally possess. Each level's difference between the character's Rank and his Security Clearance costs 2 points. If the character subsequently increases in Rank, he need only pay 3 points per level until Security Clearance and Rank are again on a par.

A character may also possess a lower Security Clearance than his Rank would normally grant him. This is a 2-point discount to the cost of each level of Rank for which he does not have the appropriate. Example: Captain Chaos is IST Rank 5, but only has a Security Clearance of 1. Since in the IST Rank 4 is Clearance 1, Captain Chaos pays full cost for 4 levels of Rank, and only 3 points for the last level. Alternately, this may be viewed as a -2 point/level disadvantage, limited to the number of levels which would bring you down to a Clearance of 1. A character with Clearance 0 would not be allowed on a team.

Characters may be breveted to a higher Clearance on a temporary basis at no point cost; if they wish to maintain the new Clearance level, they must be re-investigated (and found secure) and must pay the cost of the new level.

As noted on page IST11, military Ranks from 4 through 8 in the IST correspond to Clearance levels 1 through 5.

Existing Super Skills

Analyze

If used as anything other than the prerequisite for Alter, Analyze will give varying levels of detail, proportional to the character's skill. For example, Dumb Bunny with Analyze-10 will figure out that the black substance she's holding is a form of carbon, while Matter Master, with Analyze-25, would look at it and say, "Oh, anthracite coal 90%, assorted silicates 6%, coal tar 3%, natural gas 1%, assorted trace elements 1%." (Or "Carbon 75%, Oxygen 10%, Nitrogen 5%, etc." -- the character can choose to get elemental or compound-level information at no penalty.) Critical successes will give higher precision or more information. More detail can also be had by making the roll at a minus, getting molecular formulas and atomic weights or any other more precise information.

New Super Advantages

Acceleration Tolerance (10 for first level, 5 points/level afterward)

This is a special case of the advantage found on p. 33 of GURPS Space. Supers may purchase it in levels. The first level is the same as the Space advantage, granting a +5 to any HT roll to avoid the effects of acceleration. Each level beyond the first adds 1 to the number of Gs (normally HT/2) which you can withstand without a HT roll. Acceleration Tolerance applies to all movement that the character undergoes.

Infrahearing (5 points)

You have the ability to hear sounds below the normal hearing range of humans, at 20 hertz or lower. (There is some evidence that subsonics can produce adverse psychological effects in humans. If your GM chooses to incorporate this into his campaign, you are immune to these effects.)

Linguistic Adaptability (25 points)

You can pick up new languages with remarkable ease. If you spend at least half an hour listening to a person speaking a language you do not already know, you gain a default skill level in that language: IQ-3 for M/E, IQ-4 for M/A, IQ-5 for M/H, and IQ-6 for M/VH, plus any bonuses for Linguistic Talent. This includes most Sign Languages, but not Gesture. This default, once acquired, is permanent.

No matter what your skill level, you will never have an accent worse than "slight." This assumes you have the proper vocal (or other) equipment necessary to replicate the means of communication. If you don't, then your skill is for comprehension only.

When you actually study languages, any character points you put into a tongue (other than your native one) count double. This is not cumulative with any bonuses given by Eidetic Memory.

Special Enhancement: Instant comprehension: you gain a default skill level in a language after 30 seconds of exposure; +40%.

Special Enhancement: Your adaptability applies to computer languages, too. Any points spent toward Computer Programming/Hacking skills count double, and Linguistic Talent bonuses apply to programming languages; +40%.

Special Limitation: Language Absorption: You must make a physical, flesh-to-flesh contact with a speaker of a foreign language in order to gain that tongue. Such absorption requires a 5-second contact; acquisition of the default skill level is immediate after 5 seconds. -10%.

Pressure Sense (2 points/level)

You are in tune with the atmospheric pressure around you. The first level of this power gives you a radius of one hex, and each additional level doubles this range. You always know exactly what the air pressure is around you; if you are not trained in meteorology, you will relate in terms of "normal" pressure (the GM should use 30 inches of mercury as the baseline for such characters, unless they come from mountainous or low-lying areas that would have much different "average" pressure levels). Otherwise, you think automatically in terms of the most familiar units of pressure (P.S.I., millibars, etc.). You can "see" pressure differentials in your radius of detection, but cannot directly sense winds, except by their side-effects on local air pressure.

Special Enhancement: You can see winds as patterns of moving pressure, and can judge their speed, direction, and force (skill equal to your IQ). You receive a bonus of one-fifth your pressure sense level to any super skill directly affecting winds because of your intuitive understanding of them. +100%

Venom (5 points/die of damage)

You can poison others with a venom. (If you want a venom which causes some other effect, see below.) The basic venom is a blood agent with an onset time of one second, and is resisted by the victim's unmodified HT.

Each 1-second delay in the onset is a -5% limitation; for immediate effect use the "Instantaneous" enhancement, +20%.

Each -1 to the victim's HT roll is a +10% enhancement; each +1 to the HT roll is a -10% limitation.

There are four basic types for venoms: blood, contact, digestive, and respiratory (gas). (See page B132.) Blood agent, the default, requires either claws or other insinuative means, or open wounds on the target; the venom must reach the bloodstream in order to take effect.

Contact venom requires nothing more than to reach the skin, and as such makes the venom very powerful; it is a +100% enhancement.

Digestive agents are virtually useless in combat, but can make for interesting character conceptions; -40% limitation.

Respiratory venoms are gasses and must be breathed by the target; for a gas effect, take a +50% enhancement. Note that gas venoms are still one-target attacks; if you want to emit a huge cloud of poison gas, add the Area Effect or Fan enhancements to this advantage.

The final element of a venom is its delivery system. All types of venoms default to a touch delivery. "Touch" here means a range of 0 hexes, requiring a hand-to-hand melee attack to deliver it.

A blood agent requires open wounds in order to affect the victim; a character with a blood agent should also have Claws for best effect, and does not need to pay for their use with the venom. If Claws are not used, specialized injectors cost 5 points if obvious, 15 if not. (In any attack using a blood venom, at least 2 points of hand-to-hand damage must be done to the victim after DR is subtracted to inject the agent; if less than that is done, no venom reached the victim's bloodstream.)

Contact and respiratory venoms may be jets; each hex of range is a +10% enhancement. This requires the Venom Jet skill (P/E) to properly aim and attack. Respiratory venoms may also be breath weapons at the same cost, but require the Venom Breath skill (P/E) instead.

Digestive agents can also be bought as a jet for unusual effects.

If your venom is secreted by your body, you are automatically considered to be immune to it. In any other case, if immunity to the venom is desired, the "Doesn't Harm User" enhancement must be purchased. A venom is considered to be continuously produced and ready to use in all hand-to-hand attacks; it is a +20% enhancement to have your venom be "switchable" so that you can attack hand-to-hand without using it.

If a psychoactive venom (suggestibility, hallucinations) or one that causes unconsciousness, paralysis, or the reduction of an attribute is desired, purchase the appropriate Super or Psi skill, or magical Knack. The skill should be modified with the "Touch Only" (if necessary) and the "Resisted by HT" limitation and the "No Obvious Effect" enhancement (for no psychic signature). The "Homing" and "No Concentration" enhancements would be appropriate as well. Then apply the modifiers for onset time, HT bonuses/penalties, venom type and delivery mode.

Examples: A player wants to design Killer Queen, a combat machine packing a deadly poison. Having already selected Claws/2, he decides that a blood agent is sufficient for his purposes. He decides upon a 6d poison (30 points) having an instantaneous effect (+20%) with -3 on the victim's HT roll (+30%), for a total cost of 45 points.

The player designing the Seductress decides to take a more subtle route. She chooses a digestive venom that causes suggestibility in its victims and starts with a magical Suggestion spell knack (see GURPS Magic), which costs 10 points. 2 levels of the Power spell are added to this knack to reduce its fatigue cost to 2/1, which increases the base cost of the knack by 20 points for a total of 30. Her skill with the knack is 15, and cannot be changed. She decides that the default onset and HT roll are both fine (no modification). The limitation "Accesibility: males only" is applied for -20%; digestive mode is a -40% limitation, Resisted by HT is -20%. To better fit the concept, No Obvious Effect +20% (to remove any magical "signature") and Instantaneous +20% are added. Total modifiers to the power are -40%, for a final cost of 18 points. As a special effect, she decides that the character needs to kiss her target intimately in order to deliver the venom.

New Super Skills

Babel (Area/Mental) LC: 5

Speech uttered in or passing though your area of effect is rendered unintelligible by this skill. The sounds are actually distorted and changed. No two persons within the area of effect will be able to understand each other's speech (although Gesture and Sign Language are unaffected). Your speech is not confused, but you cannot understand anyone else.

Special Enhancement: You can understand the speech of everyone inside the Babel effect. +30%

Flashback (Mental/Special) LC: 10

You may relive a moment in time. On a successful skill roll, you may jump back in time a number of seconds equal to the number of points by which you succeeded divided by two (minimum jump of 1 second). You may not flashback more than Power seconds. You can not flashback on the same moment more than once. A flashback is permanent -- and you can go through the following moments using the knowledge you gained from living though them before, possibly altering those events.

Sonic Boom (Physical/Area Special) LC: N/A

Prerequisite: Mach 1 speed or better in at least one form of movement.

In order to possess this skill, you must also possess the ability to move faster than sound in some movement form. The speed of sound is Move 363 (1,088 feet per second) in air, Move 1,646 (4,938 feet per second) in water. The default effects of an uncontrolled sonic boom are detailed below.

This skill allows you to control the sonic boom you create as a side effect of supersonic movement, so that you may affect only a selected target or targets. Sonic Boom allows you to focus your supersonic shock wave on a particular area, and bypass others, by subtle alterations in your course and speed. On a successful roll, only your intended target(s) receive the effects of your movement boom.

Because this is not a power per se, but a skill in using a side effect of movement, no enhancements or limitations can be applied to this skill. If a different sonic boom is desired, purchase Sonic Blast and modify as desired, including a Link to the super movement advantage.

Timestop (Mental/Area) LC: 10

You can stop the flow of time in an area for up to Power seconds. Inside the timestop, no time passes at all, and everything is in stasis. If you enter the timestop, you are put into stasis until the power wears off. Persons and objects inside a timestop cannot be harmed by any force.

Special Enhancement: You can freely enter and move through your timestop zone. People and objects therein cannot be damaged or manipulated, although loose items can be picked up and carried out of the zone. +40%

Vertigo (Ranged/Mental) LC: 5

You can cause your target to experience a loss of balance and/or coordination by affecting his inner ear. Roll a Quick Contest between your Skill and the target's HT. If the target loses the Contest, he experiences nausea from the sensation of the ground shifting and rolling under his feet, and is at -5 to DX and IQ and all skills for the duration.

New Enhancements

Microcontrol +30%

This enhancement allows you to focus and control an attack power for use on a miniature level. Examples: Laser with Microcontrol used for optical surgery; Lightning Bolt with Microcontrol used for arcwelding and testing electronic circuits. (The character must have the appropriate professional, scientific or other skill in order to make real use of this enhancement!) In addition to the appropriate skill roll, a roll must be made against the super skill level for every Microcontrol attempt; failure indicates too much power is used, and damage may result. Critical failure indicates irreparable damage to objects, and severe injury to living things. Microscopic Vision is a useful advantage to have in conjunction with this enhancement.

Ranged +40%

This enhancement allows a "touch-only" skill, or an advantage with the Affects Others enhancement, to function at a distance. Skills gain a standard range of 1 hex per level of power, while advantages gain a range equal to the character's HT in hexes.

New Limitations

Usable Only On Others -20%

Skills or advantages with this limitation may affect other characters, but never the possessor. Example: The Intern has Healing-17, usable only on others; he may heal other characters, but must go to a doctor for his own wounds. Attack skills may not take this limitation!

Reduced Duration -20%

The duration of your skill is halved. This limitation may be purchased any number of times, but the minimum duration for any skill is 1 second. This limitation cannot be taken for an ability which is by default instantaneous or effectively so!

Reduced Knockback -10%

Normally, 8 points of damage does 1 hex of knockback. Each time this limitation is applied raises that number of points needed by 1.

Example: A generic crushing attack is limited by three levels of Reduced Knockback. It now does 1 hex of knockback for every 11 points of damage.

New Super Disadvantage

Limited Range (Variable)

Your super powers only work in a certain geographic zone.

The following costs are based on a circular layout, but any shape area can be had; cross-reference the "Total Area" column to the point value:

By default, when you go past the borders of your zone, you are a normal, with no powers. However, there are two alternative effects:

Damage: You take damage when forced beyond the edge of your zone. This increases the cost of the disadvantage based on how much damage you take, and how fast. -5 points for every die of damage you take per hour; double that if you take the damage every minute.

Disappearing Act: You vanish completely (reappearing at the center of the zone) when forced outside its boundaries. This is, in fact, something of an advantage -- an automatic, no-roll-needed, no-error teleport. Halve the value of the disadvantage (round -2.5 to -2).

These two alternatives are mutually exclusive; you cannot have both.

New Gadget Enhancement

EM-Shielded +5%/level

This is applicable only to electrical and electronic devices; each level purchased adds a penalty of -1 to the skill roll of any character attempting to short out the device with the Surge skill.

Example: Cyberpunk is trying to short out Dr. Death's MegaBlender. The MegaBlender has 6 levels of EM Shielding. Cyberpunk has a Surge skill of 18. His effective skill is 12; he rolls a 13. Dr. Death laughs and continues making himself a 5,000-gallon strawberry daquiri.

Supers and Sonic Booms

If something moves faster than the speed of sound, it creates a booming shockwave that can shatter glass and deafen people. Unless he is simultaneously Insubstantial, any super exceeding 1,088 feet per second (a Move of 363) in any form of movement except Super Swimming will create a sonic boom, provided he is in an atmosphere. (In water, the speed of sound is 4,938 feet per second; a Move of 1,646 is needed to create the underwater equivalent of a sonic boom -- something not yet observed in the real world.)

A sonic boom continues for as long as the object creating it moves faster than sound. In reality, the boom is similar to wall of sound sweeping past; at the speed at which it sweeps by, it only seems like an Area Effect. For as long as he is supersonic, a character's sonic boom will affect everyone and everything he passes.

The boom created as a by-product of movement is not under the control of the character, and so should not be counted as a power proper. It will act as a Sonic Blast with 10 levels of Power for every Mach or full multiple of the speed of sound (Move 363) at which the supersonic object is traveling. This loses 1 level of power for every 5 hexes' distance from the path of the supersonic object, vertically and horizontally. The blast affects both people and objects separately.

If a person is within 20 hexes/Mach of a supersonic character, he will suffer the effects of a Deafen of a power equal to that for the Sonic Blast effect.

If a character attempts to use the sonic booms from his movement as an attack form, the GM should have him roll against a default skill of DX-6. Failure on this roll means that either he misses his target, or has affected everyone around him, including (or especially) his allies, objects of rescue, or anyone or anything else that should not have been a target. If the character wants to learn to use his sonic boom, he should purchase the Sonic Boom super-skill.

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