I have borrowed these rules from an article written by Randy McCall in the January 1983 edition of the Different Worlds magazine. This is not to be taken as an encroachment upon any copyright. I have reproduced the article in it's entirety, so it doesn't fit the Dark Aether universe precisely as written but it doesn't take a lot of work to adapt it. The POW roll described in Rolling Psychic Abilities is not to be used if the PC rolled Psionics in the Individuality table, only if the Keeper decides to specifically allow a PC the opportunity for Psychic abilities.

It has often been a contention of believers in the occult that all humans possess innate psychic powers, but only a small percentage of the population has learned how to use them. To recreate the existence of psychic powers in Call of Cthulhu, the following system is of use. A Keeper may take it whole, modify it heavily to suit his campaign, or ignore it completely as he sees fit.
This system is especially good for rolling up NPCs which the Keeper feels need some paranormal abilities. It can even be used for various non-human monstrosities. It is possible that some of the spells contained in the various arcane books simply are descriptions of ways to harness one's inner power and create one of the effects mentioned below.

Rolling Psychic Abilities

When initially rolling up a character, if the player can successfully make a roll equal to or less than his POW score, then he has latently powerful psychic abilities.
The Keeper may either let him have his powers already developed at the start of his existence as a PC, or he can force him to gain his powers through some means on an adventure. This latter system is probably preferable. The investigator could have his powers mature through training at a Tibetan monastery or other such school, or he could have them suddenly appear after he has undergone a severe psychic shock, or he could learn to exercise them by using techniques contained in an ancient manuscript. He could also have his powers awakened by the "touch" of some great Force, such as Yog-Sothoth.

Characters that failed to roll their POW or less on D100 may still be able to gain psychic powers of course, but it should be much more difficult for them. Whereas a person with latent power might develop his talent through simply handling the Shining Trapezohedran, one without his mental powers so close to the surface might have to study for years. This is all under the control of the Keeper.

Psychic Powers

The exact power of a character can either be rolled up randomly on the following table, or the Keeper can choose the power as best suits his purpose. In the case of NPCs, of course, it is wisest to pick the appropriate abilities carefully.
 

Telepathy - A character with telepathy can convey or receive one thought per melee round if he successfully makes a skill roll. Telepathy starts out with a base chance equal to the character's INT+POW rounded down to the nearest 05% increment. The interpretation of "one thought" is up to the individual Keeper. It should be remembered that, though the human mind can conceive of an idea which might take hours to express verbally, any simple statement such as "Yes" or "No" still constitutes one thought.
    Also, unless the character whom the telepath is trying to reach is actively opening his mind to the telepath, requiring a conscious effort, the telepath will need to overcome the target's POW with a POW vs POW roll on the resistance table. If the targeted individual has some paranormal ability (even if latent), or can successfully roll his Occult or Cthulhu Mythos skill or less on D100, then he can recognize the subtle prodding in his brain as some sort of telepathic probe, assuming that the telepath either read his thoughts or unsuccessfully tried to broadcast a thought to him. If the telepath tried to broadcast a thought and succeeded, no skill roll or paranormal powers are needed to recognize the alien thought in the brain of the target, and he will be aware that something is seriously wrong. If the target is a telepath as well, then he can actively resist contact if he wishes. If he does, then the sending party must overcome the victim's POW twice. If he fails either try, then the attempt is a failure.
    This ability costs a point of POW per mile or fraction thereof that the telepathic attempt is made, whether or not successful. The POW must be expended each round that the telepath keeps up trying or communicating. To successfully contact someone, the target must be within sight or sound of the telepath, or the telepath must have had telepathic contact with the target in the past. If the telepath has had previous contact with the target, and the target is not visible, then he may try to telepathically search for him. This costs one POW point per mile or fraction thereof searched away from the telepath. If the telepath rolls equal to or less than his Telepathy skill roll, he has contacted the desired target.

Empathy - A character with empathy (known as an empath) can feel strong emotions from other people, animals, and even from inanimate objects if a strong enough aura or vibration has been impinged upon said object. No skill roll is needed merely to pick up the fact that some strong emotion is present, but the character must make an Empathy skill roll to determine exactly what kind of emotion is being picked up. The base Empathy chance is 05% and may be increased by experience, like any other skill.
    An empath can try to impress an emotion upon another living creature if he makes his skill roll. This effect will last for one round per point of POW used by the empath. The creatures POW must be overcome by the empath's POW on the resistance table, or the transmitted emotion is recognized clearly as being alien, and may be ignored by the target. Human emotions are meaningless to most creatures of the Cthulhu Mythos, and would have no effect on them. Only a single individual can be affected by this skill per melee round.
    The range of this power is equal to the POW of the character. This means that an empath with a POW of 15 could not receive impressions or affect a person more than 15 feet away.

Precognition - This is the ability to look into the future. If a character-seer tries to gain a view of the future, let him try to roll his POWx2 or less. A successful roll allows him a short view of something important which will affect his life, though not necessarily that of anyone else. It could be a view of an object, town, person (who may be a stranger or familiar), book, or a glimpse of some horrific monster (in which case roll for appropriate SAN loss); all at the discretion of the Keeper. If the roll is missed, the psychic will have a view of clouds, mist, or something equally unexciting, but will still use up the POW necessary to use the skill at all.
    Since this power can be of extreme importance, and may mess up a Keeper's campaign, he should feel free to limit it in some way. For example, a precog psychic may only be able to foresee the manner of someone's death, and nothing else -- so when he meets someone, he suddenly gets an impression of twisting metal, burning flesh, and broken bones. If he is clever, he may realize that the person he just encountered is due to die in a car crash. Other limiting factors are also possible, but the Keeper should always be sure to keep them vague enough to be able to fit events to the precognition.
    This power costs half the character's POW to use. If less POW is used, then subtract 04% from chances of success for each point less than normally required. Each use of this power exhausts the character, and he must rest both physically and mentally for at least 1D4x5 minutes before he is capable of exerting himself.

Retrocognition - This is the power to receive short "flashbacks" when in physical contact with an inanimate object which was somehow involved with an extremely potent or violent act; such as a murder or the casting of a spell. The psychic must successfully roll his POWx3 or less to get an impression. An unsuccessful roll gives the psychic nothing useful. Roll 1D8 on the Flashback Element Table to determine what type of information the psychic actually receives.
    The Keeper may wish to have the potential psychic roll only once on the table below. Then, whenever the character receives a flashback, he will always receive the same results, whether it be sight, sound, emotion, or whatever. The keeper may also wish to vary the chances for success according to how useful the character's potential reception would be. A character who can only receive smells may deserve a POWx5 chance for success, while a character with Sight, Sound, and Emotion all three may deserve only POWx1 or less.

Clairvoyance - A clairvoyant can use his power in two different ways, depending upon which way the Keeper decides is available to him. Lax Keepers may wish to allow an investigator to use both methods.
    The first method is as a kind of astral projection, in which the investigator can send his mind to any place up to several hundred miles away; getting a dim view of the area and the activity going on there. The range within which a psychic can do this is limited to his POWx100 miles.
    The clairvoyant cannot send his mind to any spot, unless he has visited the place, has a picture of it, or possesses an object from the locale. When all preparations are made, the investigator tries to make his Clairvoyance skill roll (base chance equal to the character's POW, rounded up to the nearest 05% increment). This skill may be increased normally by experience.
    If the roll is made, the clairvoyant will get a hazy view of the desired area. If the skill roll is failed, then he will see nothing. If the clairvoyant rolls 98 or higher, then his mind cannot find its way back to his body, and he is trapped on the astral plane. To find his way back, each day, the psychic may try to roll his POW or less on 1D100. If he fails, he loses a point of POW permanently. If he succeeds, then he is reunited with his body. Once his POW reaches 0, he dies. The character's body will remain in a catatonic state until the mind returns to it, or until the character's POW is reduced to 0, when it will start to decompose. Diabolic Keepers may wish to have some sort of Monster from the Void possess a vacated body before the mind can get back.
    Using this form of clairvoyance takes at least a half hour of concentration and a point of POW (regenerated normally) per hour spent on the other plane, unless the mind becomes lost, when it will cost no power to remain on the other side.
    The other way in which clairvoyance can be used is to allow the psychic to become a medium, able to conduct seances to contact the dead. A roll on 1D100 against the character's Seance skill (starts at 05% and can increase only by experience - only certain clairvoyants can use this skill of course) will allow the clairvoyant to contact the spirit sought. Consult the Seance Table to determine other possible effects.

Healing Touch - This represents the faith or spirit healing which some psychics claim to be able to perform. This laying on of hands takes 10-15 minutes to perform, and the chances of success are determined by the healer's POW. Each time the healer tries to heal a person, he must roll his POWx3 or less on 1D100 to succeed. If he succeeds, he then expends POW to heal the wound. Each point of POW expended will heal 1D3 points of damage on the injured character. If the initial POWx3 roll is failed, then the POW is still expended for healing, but no result is seen. Healers of this sort cannot heal a wounded mind, nor restore amputated limbs, etc.

See Aura - A character with this power can, if he makes his skill roll, see the aura surrounding the body of another person or creature. This can allow the person to determine good or evil, health or disease, and possibly the mood of the person or creature under question. The aura's colour will indicate the target's mood within general limits. For example, black indicates insanity or evil, red indicates high passion, lust and often has bad connotations, and gray indicates illness.
The aura of a human is never one solid colour, but is a mix of various colours in a variegated mix, so a skill roll must be made for an accurate diagnosis. A failed skill roll means that the aura-seer cannot tell what the kaleidoscope of colours means. A roll of 96-00 indicates that the aura-seer gets a wrong impression. Viewing of the aura of a being from the Cthulhu Mythos will cause SAN loss, depending upon the being. Usually this will be the same as the loss due from viewing the being in the flesh. A human possessed by such a being would have the aura of the monster instead of himself. Invisible creatures may be seen by their auras.
    The base chance to see and properly interpret an aura is 05%. This may go up by experience.

Telekinesis - This is the power to move material objects with the mind. To use this ability, POW must be expended, but it will be regained at the usual rate. Each point of POW expended will enable the psychic to lift 5 ounces or move said object up to a yard. The object will move no faster than running speed. A skill roll must be made. The base chance for Telekinesis is equal to the character's INT, rounded up to the nearest 05%. If the skill roll is failed, the POW is expended anyway.
For example, if a telekinetic individual expended 5 points of POW, he could move up to a 20 ounce object up to a yard, or a 15 ounce object up to 2 yards, etc.
    Telekinesis may be used to hurl objects as weapons. In such a case, the character's chances to hit are equal to his Throw roll. A hit will do normal impact damage for the object hurled, minus 1D4.

Pyrotics - This is the ability to increase temperature and possibly start fires. Each point of POW expended will increase the temperature of one ounce of material by 50 degrees Fahrenheit. A skill roll must be made for success. A failed roll costs a single point of POW.
    An object may not be heated up too swiftly with this ability. A pyrotic may not expend any more than 1 point of POW per round, so the material being heated will heat up at the rate of 50 degrees/round. A round is about 12 seconds. Only one skill roll needs to be made, but if the pyrotic's concentration is destroyed, the process is halted (though the unused POW is not expended).
    For example, Jason Kemplerer is a pyrotic who wants to set fire to the clothes of a Bad Guy, distracting him and giving Jason a chance to escape. The ignition temperature of normal cloth is about 500 degrees. Jason is riding in a hot and stuffy railcar, with a temperature of about 100 degrees, so he only needs to raise the temperature by 400 degrees. This will cost 8 points of POW and take 8 rounds of concentration, as well as a successful skill roll. If Jason wishes to ignite more than one ounce of cloth, he must expend more POW. He decides to ignite a quarter-pound of cloth, which should set the Bad Guy's entire shirt on fire, so he spends 4 more points of POW to heat up the whole shirt.
    The base chance for performing pyrotics is equal to the character's POW, rounded up to the nearest 05%. Any object being affected by a pyrotic must be visible to him.

    All the powers mentioned above can have their effect increased by willing helpers. Anyone desiring to help the psychic should join their hands in a circle with him and concentrate. Any psychic present in the circle can donate as much POW as he desires to the psychic causing the effect. Each non-psychic present may donate a single point of POW to the psychic causing the desired effect. This POW is regained normally.

Dreamers and Psychics

Those familiar with Lovecraft will be aware of his stories about the Dreamlands and how, in a colourless world, there are few with the sensitivity and imagination to visit this alternate world where dreams and nightmares both come true.
    The Keeper can probably safely assume that most investigators have those qualities that can make a man into a Dreamer. It would probably be fair to make a rule to the effect that only characters with a Cthulhu Mythos score of 05% or more can enter the Dreamlands. Any psychic or other occult sensitive can be permitted to enter the world of dreams without learning Cthulhu Mythos.
    Naturally, just because an investigator has the potential for entering the Dreamlands, this does not mean that he must inevitably do so. Perhaps the investigators may find some peculiar incense which, when lit, transports them to the edge of the Seven Hundred Steps to Deeper Slumber. Or perhaps the keeper will choose to allow Controlled Dreaming to be one of the various psychic abilities allowed into his campaign.
 

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