Weather Control

Effect: Array (Environmental Control)

Action: Standard (active)

Range: Ranged

Duration: Sustained

Saving Throw: Fortitude

Cost: 2 points per rank

You can control and alter the weather. Choose one of the following effects of Environmental Control:

• cold, distraction (precipitation), hamper movement (icy or wet surfaces), heat, or reduced visibility (rain). You can acquire the others as Alternate Powers. The Mix-and-Match Environments option given for Environmental Control is particularly well suited to Weather Control, see the effect’s description for details.

COUNTERING

Weather Control can potentially counter a number of powers, depending on how it’s used. In particular, it can counter itself and similar powers, such as Air Control. It can counter the environmental effects of powers like Cold Control and Fire Control by raising or lowering the ambient temperature, and may be able to counter fire effects with sudden downpours.

Precipitation like heavy rain may help counter the effects of Concealment, at least by revealing an invisible character’s footprints and outline within the falling rain; the character still benefits from concealment but can now be targeted, at least. A power like Air Control can potentially counter Weather Control

by shifting air masses. Likewise, temperature-affecting powers may be able to counter or break-up some weather effects: snow and ice melt rapidly in the presence of extreme heat, for example. The GM should use common sense in handling the interaction of weather effects with various power descriptors.

ALTERNATE POWERS

In addition to different Environmental Control effects, the following are some suitable Alternate Powers for a Weather Control Array:

• Air Control: The power to control the weather implies the ability to shape and direct the air or wind, so the basic effect and any of the Alternate Powers of Air Control suit Weather Control well (see the Air Control power description for details).

• Dazzle: Flashing lightning and crashing thunder, as well as driving rain, may be able to blind or deafen targets. This is normally either a Visual or Auditory

Dazzle effect at a rank equal to your Weather Control rank, but it can be both at once as an Alternate Power with a rank equal to two-thirds your Weather Control rank. Area Dazzle effects are also common Alternate Powers for Weather Control.

• Fatigue: In addition to the normal environmental effects of extreme heat and cold, some weather controllers can concentrate such environments to quickly fatigue a target. This is a Ranged Fatigue effect with an environmental descriptor and a rank equal to two-thirds your Weather Control rank (for a cost of 3 points per rank) or half your rank if the effect is perception range (for a cost of 4 points per rank). Targets immune to the appropriate environmental condition are unaffected.

• Lightning: Weather controllers often strike with bolts of lightning, either launched from their hands (or eyes or the like) or striking down directly from the clouds overhead. The former is the Blast power with the lightning descriptor at your Weather Control rank. The latter applies two ranks of the Indirect power feat, reducing Blast rank by 1, but allowing the lightning to originate from above.

• Obscure: You can summon up a thick bank of fog to cover an area, creating a Visual Obscure effect equal to your Weather Control rank.

• Snare: You can lower temperatures rapidly enough to encase a target in a mass of ice, a Snare effect at your Weather Control rank. Such a Snare might also have the Suffocating extra, if it completely covers the target (see the Snare effect description for details).

• Snow: Falling snow blankets the area, imposing a –4 visibility modifier to Notice and Search checks and creating a bad surface that hampers movement (see Hampered Movement, M&M, page 34). Heavy snow makes surfaces very bad for movement, but cuts your effective rank to two-thirds for determining area.

• Wind: You create a strong wind in your area that automatically extinguishes open flames and imposes a –2 penalty to thrown weapon attacks and auditory Notice checks. At two thirds your normal rank, you can create a severe wind that increases the penalty to –4 and has a 50% chance of snuffing out protected flames as well (like those of lanterns). At half your effective rank, you can whip up a windstorm where muscle-powered ranged

weapon attacks automatically miss and all other ranged attacks are at a –4 penalty, auditory notice checks are at –8 due to the howling wind, and even protected flames have a 75% chance of going out. Finally, at one-third your rank, you can create hurricane-force winds that extinguish all flames, impose a –20 penalty on all auditory Notice checks.

ASSOCIATED EFFECTS

The following powers are commonly associated with Weather Control:

• Flight: You can fly by controlling the winds to carry you aloft. This form of Flight is generally limited to the maximum speed of the wind, so is usually no more than rank 3 (50 MPH, allowing for a 200 MPH all-out speed).

• Immunity: The power to control the weather may grant a measure of immunity to its effects. Weather controllers are often immune to cold and hot environments (1 rank each). Immunity to natural lightning is also 1 rank, while Immunity to electrical damage is 5 ranks (and Immunity to all electrical effects is 10 ranks). Immunity to Weather Effects is also 10 ranks, but does not include lightning and electricity (so including them raises the total cost to 20 ranks).