Cryokinesis permits a psychic to decrease ambient temperature. The player must spend one Willpower point to activate, and then roll Intelligence + Composure. The effectiveness of the cryokinetic’s power is based on her Merit dots, with successes rolled lowering the temperature according to this chart.

When used to attack a moving target, treat Cryokinesis as a ranged attack. Defense does not apply, and the temperature shift bypasses armor unless the protection has some type of thermal aspect or the protection is a supernatural armor capable of protecting against cold. The attack also ignores cover, since the character can potentially lower the temperature over an area big enough to encompass even someone behind full cover. Cryokinesis affects the temperature of everything within the affected area, so living targets suffer a drop in body temperature commensurate with successes rolled.

Short range for a cryokinetic attack is equal to a psychic’s Intelligence + Wits + Cryokinesis dots in yards. Medium range is twice that distance and imposes a –2 penalty on an attack dice pool. Long range is up to twice medium range and imposes a –4 penalty on an attack dice pool. The Size of the area to be affected is subtracted from the cryokinetic’s dice pool. Thus, an attempt to freeze a human-sized target suffers a –5 penalty. However, physically touching the object to be affected confers a +2 bonus on the roll.

Once a psychic has successfully lowered the temperature in a given location, he can do one of three things: (1) maintain the reduced temperature as long as he concentrates, (2) release his concentration and let temperature equalize normally or (3) use his Cryokinesis powers again to lower the temperature even further. Thus, with time and a prodigious amount of Willpower, a cryokinetic can reduce ambient temperature to low levels, although the absolute lowest temperature that any cryokinetic can achieve is about –400 degrees, well above absolute zero.

Cryokinesis is potentially deadly to living beings. The record for the lowest body temperature in a human is approximately 60 degrees Fahrenheit, although that patient lost all four limbs as a result. When Cryokinesis is used against a human, the victim suffers nothing more than discomfort until her internal body temperature is reduced by 10 degrees. At that point, the victim suffers a –1 penalty to Dexterity, Strength and Wits (and consequently, a –1 penalty to Initiative and potentially Defense, and a –2 penalty to Speed). For every additional five degrees of reduction, this Attribute penalty intensifies by an additional –1. If any of a victim’s Dexterity, Strength or Wits is reduced to zero, the victim is immobilized due to the onset of hypothermia. Also, if a victim’s body temperature is reduced by 20 degrees or more, she takes one point of lethal damage per turn spent subjected to the cryokinetic attack. If this lethal damage crosses over into aggravated damage, the victim suffers frostbite and may lose Attribute dots or gain Flaws to represent the loss of fingers or even limbs.

Most physical objects suffer no direct damage from low temperatures, but pipes can burst from frozen water, and machines that depend on lubricants may seize up if ambient temperature drops below freezing. At temperatures of 50 degrees below zero, trees snap and splinter spontaneously as heavy ice accumulates on their branches. Ice accumulates on streets and bridges, making travel hazardous. At 100 degrees below zero, almost any amount of water within an area is flash frozen, and living creatures are killed almost instantly unless protected somehow. Vampires and the undead are almost completely immune to low temperatures, but at temperatures of –100 or lower, a vampire’s body might well freeze solid. Unless she can thaw herself out (through the use of blood or Disciplines), she may well remain paralyzed when the sun comes up the next morning.

Once a psychic ceases to focus her attention on a specific location, temperatures equalize normally. In the case of extreme temperature changes in excess of a 200-degree difference from the surrounding area, “equalize normally” may mean an explosive reaction, inflicting two dice of bashing damage on everyone within a radius equal to the Size of the area initially affected x5. The explosion also causes knockdown. If the temperature shift is less than 200 degrees, the affected area returns to normal temperature at a rate of 5 degrees per minute.

Cryokinetics also have an improved resistance to environmental temperature extremes. A psychic with this power is automatically immune to natural temperature extremes ranging from zero to 37 degrees, plus an additional temperature range equal to plus or minus [Merit dots x11] degrees. A cryokinetic is automatically immune to the temperature-based attacks of other cryokinetics whose Merit dots do not exceed her own.

Cost: 1 Willpower per roll to affect temperature. None to resist temperature.
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Composure (– Size of area to be affected) to reduce the ambient temperature. The cryokinetic can resist low temperatures without a roll.
Action: Instant

Roll Results
Dramatic Failure:
The psychic fails to affect the ambient temperature and suffers one point of bashing damage as his own internal body temperature goes haywire.

Failure:
The psychic fails to affect ambient temperature.

Success:
Each success lowers the ambient temperature as described above.

Exceptional Success:
Additional successes are their own reward.

Option [Emotional Cryokinesis]: Whenever the cryokinetic is in the grip of strong emotion, Resolve + Composure must be rolled with a penalty equal to the level of the emotion as described by the Emotional Response table below. If the roll is unsuccessful, the cryokinetic’s powers function uncontrollably, raising or lowering the ambient temperature in random ways. A dramatic failure means that this wild activity might flare up at random intervals over the next several days whenever the psychic becomes agitated, causing freakish “cold spots.” Such uncontrolled power may have catastrophic effects for powerful cryokinetics. These random phenomena do not require the expenditure of a Willpower point.