Cyberkinesis

Computers were once the sequestered tools of wealthy corporations and the academic elite, but advances in technology gradually made them affordable to the rest of the world. Tonight, innumerable residents of the World of Darkness have mobile devices in their pockets that are more powerful than the early computers that took mankind to the moon. Indeed, there are now more laptops, cell phones, and personal electronic devices than there are people in the world, and their invisible signals blanket the air, saturating the night with numinous data.

Cyberkinesis is the ability to read, understand, and control these electronic devices without a direct interface. Scattered reports of this relatively new Numina Path first appeared in the late 80s; as the public consciousness came to accept computers, more and more Psychics developed this talent.

For more information on computers, see pages 263- 264 of V20.

System

Roll: Manipulation + Technology (difficulty 7)
Modifiers: N/A
Cost: Varies
Duration: Generally instantaneous

Cyberkinesis Levels

• This level of Cyberkinesis allows the cyberkinetic to project his perceptions into an electronic device, enabling an understanding of its purpose, the principles of its functioning, and its means of operation. The cyberkinetic must touch the device, and his player must succeed at the activation roll. The number of successes on that roll indicates how well the cyberkinetic understands the device, from a general grasp (one success) to a holistic understanding of it, its processor architecture, its power supplies, and its data structures (five successes).

•• The cyberkinetic has an innate understanding of the weaknesses of electronic devices. Just by touching a device, he can force its power supply to surge, causing interruption or even destroying the device. It only requires his player to spend a Willpower point and succeed on the activation roll. This power cannot be used to directly damage a person (though the destruction of a car’s fuel injection control chip can potentially later cause a serious car crash, for example). The number of successes achieved on the activation roll determines the degree of damage done to the device. A single success results in a brownout but leaves the device unharmed. Three successes shut the device down, requiring a manual or remote restart. Five successes indicate a total shutdown and a burnt-out power supply that must be replaced before powering on again is possible. Note that many complex computer systems, such as large-scale networks and remote clouds, can’t be shut down entirely by the failure of a single device.

••• The cyberkinetic can telepathically read, encrypt, and decrypt electronic communication with amazing speed and accuracy. With a successful activation roll made by his player, the Psychic may access, encrypt, or decrypt (but not change) any data saved on a device merely by touching it. If the cyberkinetic encrypts the data, the number of successes achieved on the activation roll is applied as a penalty to the difficulty of anyone else attempting to read said data.
For more information on computer use and information storage, see page 264 of V20.

•••• The cyberkinetic can mentally access any devices within his line of sight. This is not a form of telekinesis in which the Psychic is wielding the controls. Rather, the cyberkinetic accesses the device by using a psychic version of radio waves similar to WiFi to infiltrate the device and control it from within. When connected to a device via this power, the cyberkinetic can employ any of the other levels of Cyberkinesis without having to make physical contact.

••••• Through his player spending a Willpower point and succeeding at the activation roll, the cyberkinetic can operate any computer or computer-assisted device he touches or has accessed via sight (as above). The cyberkinetic can activate any function of the device: running apps, browsing files, sending data to networks, opening a mechanical lock, etc. Note that any advanced or secure functions will have to be resolved via other methods, whether in the form of other applications of Cyberkinesis or just simply knowing the password.