Obscure

Type: Sensory Action: Standard (active)

Range: Ranged

Duration: Sustained

Saving Throw: None

Cost: 1-4 points per rank

You can create total concealment in an area (see Concealment, M&M, page 161). Obscure costs 1 point per rank if it affects one sense type, 2 points per rank if it affects two sense types, 3 points per rank if it affects three sense types, and 4 points per rank if it affects all sense types. Visual senses count as two sense types, so a 3-points per rank Obscure effect could affect visual and one other sense type, for example. An Obscure effect can be centered on you or created at a distance as a standard action. It does not move once created, although you can reposition an existing Obscure effect as a move action. Characters suffer the affects of total concealment when unable to perceive an opponent and may suffer other hindrances as the GM sees fit. Your Obscure covers an area 5 feet in radius at rank 1. Each additional rank moves the radius one step up the Progression Table.

OBSCURING SENSORY EFFECTS

At the Gamemaster’s discretion, you can have an Obscure that works against a particular sensory effect, such as ESP or MindReading, suitable for certain psionic or magical powers that block out those effects. You can’t have a general “Obscure Super-Senses” effect, since various Super-Senses are assigned to particular sense types (see the Super-Senses effect for details).

OBSCURE EXAMPLES

• Visual: darkness, fog, smoke, blinding light, clouds of small particles (dust, sand, insects).

• Auditory: counter vibration, sound-dampening field, ultra “white noise,” ultra-sonics.

• Olfactory: chemical neutralizer, odor-absorbing mist, overpowering (but not nauseating) smell.

• Mental: mental “null field,” psionic static, ward against scrying.

• Sensory Effect: scrying ward vs. ESP, detect, or another specific sensory effect.

POWER FEATS

• Affects Insubstantial: As a sensory effect, Obscure already affects insubstantial subjects with no need for this power feat.

• Subtle: Obscure by definition cannot be Subtle for those subject to its effects; they’re automatically aware of the obscuring of their affected sense(s). However, Obscure may be Subtle for those outside its effect, such as a Visual Obscure effect that leaves everyone in the area blind, but makes it appear to

anyone outside the area that there’s simply “nothing there,” obscuring the true area and its contents, but not obviously so. The GM should adjudicate any applications of Subtle to Obscure effects.

EXTRAS

• Duration: Continuous Obscure effects remain in place until they are countered in some fashion.

• Independent: The Obscure effect requires no maintenance from you, but fades by 1 power point of effectiveness per round until it is gone. You cannot turn off an Independent Obscure effect yourself unless you have the Reversible power feat.

• Selective Attack: You can choose who is and is not affected by your Obscure effect. Those unaffected perceive normally, as if the Obscure were not in effect.

FLAWS

• Limited to One Sense (–1): Obscure normally works against an entire sense type, Obscure with this flaw works only against a particular sense of that type, leaving the others unaffected. This is most common for Obscure that only affects normal vision but not other visual senses.

• Partial (–1): Your Obscure effect provides only partial rather than total concealment.

• Phantasm: Your Obscure effect is mental in nature; only creatures with Intelligence 1 or greater are affected. Machines and other non-intelligent entities or devices are immune.

• Saving Throw: Subjects in the area of your Obscure effect can make a saving throw (usually Will) to overcome it, DC 10 + Obscure rank. They gain an additional save for each step up the Time Table, starting at one minute.

• Sense-Dependent: Obscure is already Sense-Dependent by nature and cannot have this flaw.