Supplementary ESPER Pregens

 

Mellonbread's ESPER is a fan-organisation for Delta Green - a private Australian corporation that secretly recruits psychic wizards, 'Talents', to fight the Mythos in the Land Down Under. As an Australian myself, I'm quite fond of ESPER and I'd like to run more scenarios using them.

Mellonbread already has a few pregenerated characters spread throughout the faction write-up and his scenarios, which are all very good. However, there was still four unused psychic powers in the faction write-up. So myself and two members of the N@TO Discord, Tophat and Grandini, created a pair of Talents that use those powers, which I've compiled them into this blogpost.

Enjoy! 

Zoey Smythe

Zoey was the sort to get bullied throughout school. Badly. But when some bitch tried to “prank her” by setting her hair on fire during school camp, Zoey lost it - telling her to go die in a hole. Surprisingly, her tormentor obeyed - throwing herself into a nearby drainage ditch, cracking her skull and breaking her collarbone in two places. It was the best day in Zoey's life.

Never one for direct confrontation, Zoey stumbled across a means to monetise her powers when her elderly grandmother was victimised by a Bangladeshi scam caller. The psychic started calling major Australian companies - hypnotising office workers into giving her the keys of the kingdom. She even had good enough OPSEC to avoid the cops after the money was transferred.

At least until she tried to pull the same trick on ESPER’s CEO, Alexander Cross. Unaffected by her magic, Alexander had ASIO contacts backtrace Zoey’s IP address. After tracking down the terrified fujoshi, he gave her two choices; go to prison for wire fraud or work for ESPER.

Zoey chose the latter.

ZOEY “i_am_u4ic” SMYTHE - Girlfailure and Psychic Phone-Scammer
STR 11, CON 9, DEX 13, INT 14, POW 15, CHA 9
HP 10, WP 15, SAN 60, BP 45, Anxiety Disorder (It’s easier over the phone)
SKILLS: Accounting 50%, Art (Forgery) 40%, Bureaucracy 50%, Computer Science 60%, Craft (Electrician) 40%, Craft (Locksmith) 40%, Craft (Microelectronics) 60%, Criminology 50%, HUMINT 50%, Law 40%, Search 60%, Science (Mathematics) 40%, SIGINT 40%
ATTACKS: High-Powered Flashlight (65%, Opposed DEXx5 or -20% on Rolls for D6 Turns)
Swung Flashlight (40%, D4)
BONDS: Alexander “Alex” Cross (ESPER Mentor) 9
Margaret Smythe (Sickly, Naïve Grandmother) 9
Animal Kingdom (Black Hat Hacker Ring) 9
MOTIVATIONS: Outsmarting the opposition.
Correcting stupid people.
Sticking up for the little guy (me).
Kicking up your feet.

HYPNOTIC SUGGESTION: The Talent must overcome the target in an opposed POW test. On a success, the Talent pays 8 WP and D4 SAN, and the target obeys any command given by the Talent for a single turn. Commanding a victim to commit murder, suicide, or some other awful act costs the Talent the same SAN as it costs the victim.

PSYCHIC HEALING: This ability causes injuries to swiftly heal. The target recovers 1D4 HP every turn for 1D4 turns. The Talent must spend 6 WP, and it costs the Talent, the subject, and all witnesses 1 SAN each.

Zoey looks like an unkempt basement dweller with a permanent Snapchat filter on their face; constant abuse of psychic healing fixes dermatological her issues, enriches her hair and whitens her teeth. In spite of her slovenly appearance, this nearly makes her idiosyncratically attractive.

Unfortunately magic can’t fix terrible fashion taste, so Zoey still insists on wearing bulky, long-sleeved clothing (adorned with food stains and anime characters) no matter the weather. Whenever ESPER's contracts force her to go somewhere in the Outback, she borrows her grandmother’s big straw hat and slathers on a comical amount of SPF 50+.

Beau Nicholoson

Despite growing up poor in rural NSW, Nick was a real Renaissance Man in his youth. A talent for piano and a Chinese language degree let him travel across Oceania and Asia - living the high life through his artistic skill in Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.

Unfortunately, an early diagnosis with a neuro-degenerative disease cut Nick’s travels short. Rather than seeking help, Nick spiralled into nihilistic hedonism and gambling - eventually collapsing in a hotel bathroom with no one to help him up. He only survived by a miracle - literally “willing” his cellphone into his hand so he could call for help. But soon after this bizarre event, he discovered his neurological disease gone into sudden remission.

Realising he had a new lease on life, Nick soon transformed into a true psychic con-artist by using his telekinesis to cheat at dice, roulette, pool and darts. ESPER discovered Nick from a police surveillance of an illegal gambling ring, who witnessed the 50-year-old cripple flee the premises, levitate a trash-can lid to block a thrown bottle and outrun a horde of enraged bikies.  

ESPER offered Nick a cushy consultancy gig, training for his psychic abilities and the chance to do some good in the world. He happily accepted.

BEAU “NICK” NICHOLSON - Debonair Bogan and Telekinetic Dice-Cheat

STR 13, CON 11, DEX 9, INT 11, POW 13, CHA 15 

HP 12, WP 13, SAN 52, BP 39, Alcoholism (Drink, fuck up, drink because you fucked up)

SKILLS: Alertness 50%, Art (Piano) 40%, Athletics 50%, Criminology 60%, Disguise 50%, Dodge 40%, Drive 50%, Firearms 40%, Foreign Language (Mandarin) 40%, HUMINT 70%, Law 20%, Melee Weapons 40%, Navigate 30%, Persuade 70%, Stealth 50%, Survival 30%, Unarmed Combat 50%

ATTACKS: Ornate Weighted Cane (40%, D8+1)

Over-Under Shotgun (60%, 2D8, 1/2 AP)

Ringed Fist (50%, D4+1)

BONDS: Joseph Krennel (ESPER Accounts Manager and Top Bloke) 15

Frankie Anna McDonald (Fellow Con-Artist) 15

Holly Weaving (Cougar Ladyfriend) 15

Lee Xianhong (Chinese Expat Antiquarian) 15

MOTIVATIONS: Keeping the good times rolling.

Doing it for the love of the game.

Seeing the looks on their faces.

Being generous.

TELEKINESIS: The Talent can move objects with their mind. This ability costs 1 SAN per round of use, and has several applications.

• The Talent can lift and move objects at cost of 1 WP per 1 kilogram, or twice that if they want to move them especially fast (i.e. cheating at dice, roulette, pool or darts costs 2 WP).
• For 5 WP, the Talent can strike a target telekinetically for D6 damage. The target must make a STR save or be knocked prone.
• The Talent can stop incoming kinetic damage if they are aware of the attack, at cost of 1 WP per point of damage, or 1 WP per percentage of lethality.

UNCONSCIOUS LEAD: At cost of 10 WP, the Talent can take two actions in a single combat round instead of the usual one. To the outside observer, they appear to have superhuman reflexes. This allows them to attack twice in a single round (or run up to 60m in a single round).

Suave and tan with rakishly styled black hair only showing a stylish hint of grey, Nick’s a real silver fox. His style is slightly outdated and gaudy, preferring linen suits and garish silk shirts to complement his alligator skin loafers. But he owns it - strutting about with the confidence of a man who knows he looks good and doesn’t give a damn about what’s currently in fashion. 

The ivory-handled cane he holds in his bejewelled right hand is now mostly decorative since his powers overcame the neurological disease that robbed him of his mobility. However, its heavy weight and iron tip make for a effective bludgeon when things get too hot at the blackjack table.