Thermokinesis permits a psychic to increase ambient temperature. The player must first spend one point of Willpower to activate the power and then roll Intelligence + Resolve. The effectiveness of the thermokinetic’s power is based on her dots in this Merit, with each success increasing the temperature according to the chart below.

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

Short range is equal to a psychic’s Intelligence + Wits + Thermokinesis dots in yards. Medium range is twice that distance, and inflicts a –2 penalty on the psychic’s dice pool. Long range is twice medium range, and inflicts a –4 penalty on the psychic’s dice pool. The Size of the area affected is subtracted from the Thermokinesis’s pool. Thus, an attempt to heat a human-sized target suffers a –5 penalty. However, if the psychic can touch the object to be heated, a +2 bonus to the roll is gained.

Once the psychic has successfully raised the temperature in a given location, he can do one of three things: (1) maintain the increased temperature as long as he concentrates, (2) release his concentration and let the temperature equalize normally or (3) use his Thermokinesis powers again to raise the temperature even further. Thus, with time and a prodigious amount of Willpower, a thermokinetic can raise ambient temperature to incredibly high levels, although the absolute highest temperature that any thermokinetic can achieve is roughly 1000 degrees Celsius.

Thermokinesis is especially deadly against humans, as a normal mortal caught within the area of effect is physically heated up as if caught in a giant microwave. Normal human body temperature is 37 degrees Celsius. When Thermokinesis is used, a victim suffers a –1 penalty to Dexterity, Strength and Wits (and consequently, a –1 penalty to Initiative and possibly Defense, and a –2 penalty to Speed) for every 2,5 degrees of temperature increase for the duration of the thermokinetic effect. If any of the victim’s Dexterity, Strength or Wits is reduced to zero by a thermokinetic attack, the victim is immobilized due to heat prostration. If a victim’s body temperature is increased by 7,5 degrees or more, he suffers a point of lethal damage per turn spent subjected to the thermokinetic attack.

At temperatures of 90+, all living things suffer one point of aggravated damage per turn. Most paper and cloth combusts at just over 200 degrees, and wood catches fire and lead begins to melt at around 300 degrees. Surprisingly, vampires and other undead creatures are immune to ambient temperatures below 800 degrees. However, in most cases, an undead creature’s clothing ignites somewhere between 175 and 250 degrees, inflicting aggravated damage as normal.

Once a psychic ceases to focus her attention on a specific location, the site’s temperature equalizes 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 in yards. The explosion also causes 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.

Thermokinetics 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 thermokinetic is immune to high-temperature attacks unless the attacker’s Thermokinesis dots exceed his own.

Cost: 1 Willpower per roll to affect temperature. None to resist temperature.
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Resolve (– Size of the area to be affected) to increase temperature. No roll to resist temperature extremes.
Action: Instant

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

Failure:
The psychic fails to affect the ambient temperature.

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

Exceptional Success:
Additional successes are their own reward.

Option [Emotional Thermokinesis]: Whenever the thermokinetic is in the grip of strong emotion, Resolve + Composure is rolled with a dice penalty equal to the level of the emotion as described by the Emotional Response table below. If the roll is unsuccessful, the thermokinetic’s powers function uncontrollably, raising ambient temperature in random ways. A dramatic failure means this activity flares up at wild intervals over the next several days whenever the psychic becomes agitated, possibly causing small fires. With powerful Thermokinesis, catastrophic effects may occur. These random phenomena do not require the expenditure of a Willpower point.