Mutants & Masterminds 3e - Gadget Guide - Spy-Tech
Mutants & Masterminds 3e - Gadget Guide - Spy-Tech
GADGET GUIDE
INFILTRATION
Gadgets from wire lockpicks and braided rope to electronic code-crackers and motorized harnesses are used
for getting into places (and out of them) without being
detected.
A good deal of infiltration work involves avoiding alarms
and overcoming traps and security measures. See Gadget
Guide: Traps for details on various sorts of traps infiltrators
may encounter, need to avoid, or fall into, if they are not
careful enough.
BURGLARY TOOLS
Simple breaking and entering and burglary makes use of
various tools, from lockpicks and prybars to wiring, gloves,
and glass cutters (to name a few). The default assumption
is that characters trained in particular skills have access to
the necessary tools to use those skills without incurring a
circumstance penalty for doing so, unless a complication
arises that deprives the character of those tools. So ordinary tools have no point cost and do not need to be listed
amongst a characters equipment.
At the Gamemasters discretion, a particular fine or highquality version of ordinary tools may be available, providing a +2 circumstance bonus to checks involving those
tools at the cost of a single Feature (1 equipment point).
BURGLARY SKILLS
Generally, the Technology skill is used to handle checks involving overcoming security measures, from mechanical locks
and traps to sophisticated electronics. However, some characters who specialize as burglars and spies have a fairly narrow
specialty when it comes to technology, in which case the following advantage may be useful:
Benefit (Burglar): You substitute your Sleight of Hand or Stealth skill bonus for Technology skill checks involving the
Security uses of the Technology, but not for other uses of the skill (see Chapter 4 of the Heros Handbook). Choose which
skill bonus you use when you acquire this advantage.
GADGET GUIDE
INFILTRATION CHALLENGES
The process of infiltrating a sitefrom approaching undetected to getting in and escapingis generally handled as a
challenge (Chapter 7 of the Heros Handbook) although it may well be a series of challenges, or even the bulk of an entire
adventure, depending on how it is planned.
Relatively unimportant infiltrations and spy activities can be handled with a single skill check, perhaps even as routine
actions (although spying is usually anything but routine). So a character might need a Stealth or Technology skill check to
slip past security. More involved infiltrations become challenges, with a series of checks representing the different stages
of the processStealth, Technology, possibly Deception or other interaction skills and Investigation or Perceptionwith
a number of degrees of success needed before a requisite number of degrees of failure can accumulate. Like other challenges, these tests may be undertaken by a single character or they could be a team effort. Finally, some infiltration scenarios are scenes or whole adventures unto themselves, often with multiple challenges needed to succeed.
BIOMETRIC DECODER
GECKO GEAR
A small (palm-sized) device able to bypass biometric security measures such as palm- and fingerprint scanners or
retinal scans, either using stored (valid) information or by
cracking the system and supplying false information that
it accepts as valid. Successfully using a biometric decoder
may require a prior effort to acquire a usable scan of an
authorized user. If this is accomplished, the GM may waive
the skill check needed to operate the decoder, or have
the check take place when the information is acquired (although its success or failure cant be assessed until the data
is actually used).
ELECTRONIC LOCKPICK
A small device that, when attached to an electronic lock,
will crack the combination needed to open the lock. At the
most basic level, an electronic lockpick is simply a tool required to use the Technology skill to open electronic locks,
costing no equipment points. Additional Feature ranks may
grant a circumstance bonus for its use (see Burglary Tools,
previously).
Electronic Lockpick: Feature (circumstance bonus to
Technology checks to open electronic locks, 2 ranks for major
bonus) 1 point per rank
CLIMBING CABLE
A high-tension cable with a grappler at one end (magnetic,
mechanical, or using some type of adhesive, depending
on descriptors) as well as a gun capable of firing the cable
out to grab onto a target point. The climbing cable makes
scaling a sheer surface relatively easy (no check required)
so long as the climber isnt stunned or left unable to hold
on to the cable (the Platform flaw).
Some characters may upgrade from a climbing cable to a
swing cable with the Swinging effect of Movement. See
Gadget Guide: Utility for details.
Climbing Cable: Movement 1 (Wall-crawling), Platform 1 point
SUSPENSION HARNESS
A torso harness connected to a set of motorized cables that
can raise or lower the wearer from an anchor point above,
suitable for working suspended over pressure-sensitive
floors or networks of detection beams. Certain actions
while wearing a suspension harness may require Acrobatics skill checks in order to maneuver.
Suspension Harness: Movement 2 (Safe Fall, Swinging), Limited
Range of Movement 2 points
SURVEILLANCE
While a great deal of information gathering is done in
person, technology provides many more options for surveillance and intelligence gathering from afar, without ever
needing to leave the security of ones home base (with the
possible exception of setting up the surveillance in the first
place). Many surveillance gadgets provide digital storage of
information they gather (a 1 rank Feature) or connect to a
computer that does so.
TRACERS
Tracers are tiny (DC 20 Perception check to notice) gadgets
that can be planted on a target with a successful attack
check (opposed Sleight of Hand versus Perception check
to do so without the target noticing). The tracer emits a
signal of a particular sense type (typically radio) that allows
itand the subject it is planted onto be tracked. Sensory
effects of the same type as the signal may also pick it up or
interfere with it.
Tracer: Senses 1 (Tracking) 1 point
GADGET GUIDE
BUGS
A bug is a small, remote surveillance device capable of
transmitting audio (and often video) to a receiver. The DC
to notice the bug is that of noticing the Remote Sensing
effect, and can be further modified with Subtle. Bugs are
Limited to where the transmitters can be and are placed
and to the Medium of transmitters available to them. Removing the Limited flaw allows the bugs to change positions, making them mobile (perhaps disguised as robotic
insects or the like).
Bug: Remote Sensing, Limited to Transmitter Placement,
Medium (transmitters) 1 point per rank for Audio and Visual, 1
point per 2 ranks for Visual only, 1 point per 3 ranks for Audio only
MICROPHONES
Surveillance microphones include parabolic and laser microphones designed to pick up and amplify sound over a
distance, providing the benefits of Extended Hearing.
Microphone: Senses (Extended Hearing) 1 point per rank
CAMERAS
A basic camera is just a storage device for visual information (a 1 rank Feature) but cameras often come with various
visual Senses effects to enhance their capabilities, including Extended Vision and Infravision.
Camera: Feature 1 (image storage) 1 point +1 point per rank for
additional Senses effects
STEALTH SUIT
A dark colored or camo-patterned uniform, typically
with a mask covering all but the wearers eyes, designed
to provide additional concealment and make it easier to
hide. A properly patterned stealth suit grants a circumstance bonus to Stealth checks to hide. For an additional
Feature rank, the suit can change patterns and colors to
suit different environments, although the change must
be directed, and happens too slowly to keep up with the
CHAMELEON CLOAK
A suit or device surrounds the wearer with a field or material that adapts to match the background, rendering the
wearer virtually invisible, although there is some distortion
around the wearers contours, and rapid movement makes
the effect difficult to maintain.
Chameleon Cloak: Concealment 2 (Visual), Blending 2 points
IR CLOAKING
A special suit or field masks the wearers body heat, matching the temperature of the surrounding air, and making the
wearer invisible to infrared detectors, including hiding
any footprints or other heat traces the wearer might leave
by touching things. This also means that heat-seeking
weapons cannot lock-on to the wearer without somehow
overcoming the concealment.
IR Cloaking: Concealment 1 (Infravision) 2 points
HUSH FIELD
A suit or field surrounds the wearer and muffles all outgoing sound, rendering the wearer completely silent.
The effect is fairly close to the wearers body, so while it
silences things like breathing, speaking, footfalls, and the
rustle of clothing, it does not affect external sounds like
slamming a door or knocking something to the floor. A
hush field makes its wearer invisible to accurate auditory
senses like sonar.
Hush Field: Concealment 2 (Auditory) 2 points
PHASING FIELD
This gadget takes the wearer out of phase with ordinary matter, able to pass through it harmlessly as if it
were not even there. However, the wearer must turn off
the field in order to touch or interact with anything in
the physical world. The field is still vulnerable to visiblelight based effects. The user of an active phasing field
generally glows or appears ghost-like or translucent.
Experimental phasing fields may have various flaws,
particularly Unreliable.
Phasing Field: Insubstantial 4 (incorporeal) 20 points
SENSOR CLOAK
A full-spectrum jamming device that makes the wearer
completely undetectable by electronic sensor devices of all
GADGET GUIDE
kinds. The wearer does not appear on video cameras, is not
picked up by microphones, does not trip sensor beams, and
so forth. Sensor cloak wearers are still visible to the senses
of living beings, but hidden from any electronic equipment
they might be using.
Sensor Cloak: Concealment 10 (all senses), Limited to Electronics
10 points
DISGUISE
When not being detected at all is not an option, some
type of disguise may be called for. Indeed, some spies are
virtual chameleons when it comes to adopting different
identities and personas to fool their enemies.
DISGUISE KIT
As with burglary tools (previously), the basic disguise
kit simply fulfills the requirement for tools needed to
use the Deception skill for disguise without a circumstance penalty (Chapter 4 of the Heros Handbook). More
sophisticated disguise kits may grant a circumstance
bonus as a Feature (with a major bonus requiring two
Feature ranks).
Disguise Kit: Feature (circumstance bonus to Deception checks
for disguise, 2 ranks for major bonus) 1 point per rank
LAYERED DISGUISE
This is a more sophisticated form of disguise material,
which can be applied in thin layers, allowing the wearer
to quickly (as a move action) tear off, dissolve, or otherwise remove the top layer of the disguise, revealing the
next, and so forth until all of the layers have been exposed
or removed. Essentially, this allows for the preparation
of multiple disguises with the usual 10-minute preparation time required for disguising, and switching quickly
between them. Normally, the player must specify the descriptors of each layer, but the GM may allow a hero point
spent to edit the scene (Chapter 1 of the Heros Handbook)
to specify a different disguise for a particular layer. (It just
so happens that my next disguise is of the mayor!)
Layered Disguise: Feature (doubles number of disguises in
preparation) 1 point per rank, up to 3 ranks (8 layers)
MEMORY MATERIAL
Memory material can be programmed with a variety of
different shapes and forms, which it can assume based on
a cue, such as a mild electrical charge or a sharp rap (or
shaking out, in the case of a flexible material like fabric).
This allows for things like clothing that can instantly transform its color, pattern, and even cut, or tools that can
change form into other useful shapes (or disguises).
Memory Material: Variable Descriptor (alternate shapes or
appearances) 12 points (depending on breadth)
GADGET GUIDE
DISGUISE FIELD
FORGERY BY FABRICATION
VOICE MASK
A voice mask is able to change the sound of your voice to
match someone elses or simply mask it as unidentifiable.
A voice mask is a useful addition to disguises that do not
use the Morph effect, and therefore do not provide any
change in the users voice or speech other than the use of
the Deception skill.
Voice Mask: Illusion 2 (Aural), Limited to Voices 1 point
FORGERY
Often as or even more important than disguising ones
features is having the right identification to confirm that
new appearance. Forgery techniques and technology
produce false information, documents, and even artifacts
and works of art.
FORGERY BY HAND
Once, all forgery was a matter of artistry, copying penmanship, writing styles, and things like seals and other
emblems used to authenticate documents. This falls into
the realm of a suitable Expertise skill, including artistic or
craft skills, as well as a specific Expertise: Forgery focusing
on producing exact copies of things.
In the modern world, most hand-made forgeries are imitations or reproductions of artwork where the traditional
techniques like line and brush strokes (as well as materials) are important and cannot easily be reproduced by
fabrication.
The results of these forgeries are determined by a Expertise skill check (often routine), which then sets the DC for
an Expertise or Investigation skill check to notice any flaw
or deviation in the forgery that exposes it as such.
POWER FORGERY
The Create and Illusion effects can produce forgeries, with
differing results.
A Subtle Create effect makes created objects not noticeable as constructs (Create, Chapter 6, Heros Handbook)
while the Precise modifier can create more precise and
detailed objects. Together, the two modifiers make Create
capable of producing convincing forgeries. The GM may
require an Expertise skill check to determine the effectiveness of the forgery, perhaps with a circumstance modifier
based on the rank of the Create effect used to produce it.
The Illusion effect is designed to deceive, producing
sensory impressions that seem real. Some forgeries, especially purely digital creations, may be considered Illusion
effects, with their rank determining the difficulty class of
detecting that they are not what they appear to be (again,
assuming the observer has any reason to disbelieve the
illusion in the first place). See the effect description in the
Heros Handbook for details.
With the addition of the Psychic modifier from Power
Profiles: Illusion Powers, an illusory forgery gains the
additional benefit of appearing exactly like an observer
expects it to appear.
PSYCHIC PASSPORT
This item is capable of appearing to be whatever identification or paperwork the viewer expects the holder to have, or
that the holder should have, given the situation. If the passports effect is also psychic, apply Limited to Minds (from
Power Profiles). It may also be Resistible by Will in that case.
An effective psychic passport grants a +20 circumstance
bonus to Deception checks to masquerade as whomever (or
whatever) the passport claims you are. For example, bluffing
your way past government security guards is much easier of
you appear to have high-level security clearance!
Psychic Passport: Morph 2 (identification), Psychic 12 points
GADGET GUIDE