Abilities describe what the character can do, and how well the character can do it. Basic abilities are those abilities that all characters have because the abilities are inherent to being alive. The basic abilities are Charisma, Constitution, Agility, Hearing, Learning, Sight, and Strength.

Agility: Agility is a measure of bodily dexterity and natural skill. Agility measures the character’s fluidity and physical speed. Agile characters can run faster than non-agile characters, and they are better at “fine” movements suh as dancing, sewing, and spellcasting.

Charisma: This is a measure of the character’s force of personality: how well the character gets along with others, how the character is viewed by others, and the character’s self-esteem. Each character has two Charisma scores. The first charisma is Active Charisma. This is the character’s charisma in action/adventure oriented situations. Usually, this will apply in a character’s superhero identity. The second charisma is Normal Charisma. This applies to normal situations--the everyday, bland existence, usually in the character’s secret identity. It will also usually apply to the superhero identity when the character is involved with close friends who know of that identity. A character can be very charismatic as a hero and uncharismatic normally, or vice versa. The player is allowed to choose, before playing the character, which charisma goes with which identity.

When charisma is involved in a Figured Statistic, the choice of charisma to use is up to the Editor, and should be chosen according to the situation.

Characters with high charisma can charm or enthrall other characters. The character makes an Action Roll vs. Charisma, with a penalty equal to the target’s charisma. If the roll is successful, the target is allowed a save vs. Willpower. If the Willpower saving throw is failed, the target can attempt additional saving throws later: Subtract half the target’s Newoen from 0, and look this up on the Action Chart, from Result to Doubles, for the number of months (assume a month is 30 days if needed). Each time an additional save is attempted, add 1 to this number. An average person (14 Newoen, -7 on the Chart) will make a second save after 3 hours (.004 times 30 days). Their next save will be about 6 hours later (.008 times 30), and their next 12 hours after that (.18 times 30).

The standard Performance Time for Charm is 5 minutes. The Quality of the Action Roll can be applied to reducing the Performance Time (by halves, as normal), reducing the target’s saving throw (a penalty of 3 for each point of Q), or increasing the amount of time between saving throws (up 1 row).

Charmed targets will want to help the charmer. They may feel a close tie of friendship, or they may be in awe of the charmer, depending on the situation. Charmed targets are nearly unquestioning followers.

Characters with charismas less than 0 are not charming. These characters are usually evil. They can attempt to cause fear, rather than charm. The Action Roll is the same (as if the character’s charisma were positive), as is the target’s saving throw. The result is that the target is either scared into following the orders of the villain, or simply paralyzed with fear, depending on the situation.

Once a save vs. charm or fear succeeds, that target is immune to further charm/fear attacks by that attacker for the duration of the adventure. Also, the target of a Charm or Fear attempt may have a bonus of up to Willpower on the saving throw, depending on the situation.

If a charisma of less than zero is averaged with learning (for determining certain Learning Times, for example), make the charisma positive for purposes of averaging. Also, when losing charisma, there is no charisma between 1 and -1: If a character with a charisma of 1.2 loses .8 charisma points, that character now has a charisma of -1.6. The 1.2 dropped .2 points, and then the remaining .6 brought it ‘up’ from -1. If a character wishes to change charisma from negative to positive or vice versa, it costs Editing Points equal to the charisma score.

Constitution: Constitution is a measure of health, endurance, and the ability to stand up to punishment. Female characters have 1 added to their rolled constitution.

Learning: Learning measures how much memory the character has, how fast the character can think, and how fast the character learns. The learning modifier for learning is given below. Generally, multiply the time it takes to learn something by the modifier.

Learning Learning Modifier

3 3

4-6 2

7 1.5

8-9 1.25

10-11 1

12-13 1/1.25

14 1/1.5

15 1/2

16 1/3

17 1/4

18 1/5

For Learning greater than 18, divide learning time by Learning minus 13.

Characters with a high learning may have photographic memory (total recall). Total recall does not mean something is understood, just that it is remembered. Photographic memory must be applied. It is not automatic. At least one action must be used. The chance for a character to have photographic memory is learning minus 16, times 3. If the character later increases in learning, there is a 2% chance per point of increase of gaining photographic memory.

Characters with an extremely high learning will have picked up a lot of miscellaneous information, and as such the player has a chance of being able to ask the Editor questions. This chance is the character’s learning minus 20. Even if the character does know something about whatever is asked about, a roll must be made under willpower, to simulate making the connection between what the character is doing and the immense amounts of random information at the character’s disposal. This roll may be made once every 2 turns (2 rounds in combat if the information pertains to the present situation).

Animals generally have a learning of 1 or 2. Plants and inanimate objects will have a learning of 0.

Strength: Strength is the power of the character’s muscles. It and mass are the main determinants of how much damage can be done in hand-to-hand combat and how much the character can lift.

Strength also determines how loudly the character can talk. See Hearing. If the character really wants to yell, others in range can become deaf. Divide the strength of the yell by 10, round up, and roll d6 this many times for the number of segments of deafness. Subtract 10 times the distance in meters to each target, for how long that target is deaf. Targets are allowed a perception roll to avoid deafness, at a penalty equal to the number of dice done and a bonus equal to the number of meters from the yelling character. Hearing is applied as a modifier also, but as a penalty.