Brain Scourge

Brain scourge: [Major] by Iczer

'Let us see how daft you really are'

By touching a foe (can be parried) and spending 2 actions, the character can debilitate even the brightest of foes.
The target must make a saving throw (16+ ME bonuses apply). If he succeeds, the target simply loses 1D4 to IQ, ME or MA (target chooses) attributes cannot drop below half their normal rating in this method.
If he fails, then the conditions are much worse. One selected attribute (IQ ME or MA. Chosen by the character) drops to 4.
IQ: Non physical skills drop to half their immediate levels. Physical skills drop by 10%. HTH combat drops to 1st level proficiency. There is a 30% chance every melee round that the character must stop what he's doing and work out what he's supposed to do. Normal tasks take three times as long to perform.
ME: Target suffers a -6 to all saving throws vs HF, insanity, Illusions, psionics and any other ME based saving throw. He treats all combat as having a HF of 8 (which given his penalty is severe). if psionic, he loses half of his current ISP.
MA: Target loses the ability to communicate with others. He knows what the words are, he just cannot bring himself to use them effectively, instead relying on impulse words and phrases that are, in his mind, a 'best approximation'. (A character afflicted with this, for instance, might want to tell a team mate to 'look out behind you!' but it may come out as 'Clubbing....Hurts!' which is hardly effective. If a spell caster, he can no longer find the words to simply speak any spell above first level.

Diminished attributes last a relatively short time. 5 minutes per level is the normal duration, but it can be lengthened by 5 minutes per level for multiple touches (or one minute per level for a successful saving throw), even if the targetted attribute is different each time.

Targets with much lower than normal attributes, are already a little innured against this power. having an IQ, ME or MA score of 8 or less provides a +1 to the saving throw vs this power (and having all three would provide +3).