Brains to Brawn

Brains To Brawn (Major) by Senator Cybus

Perhaps the ultimate expression of mind over matter, this is the extraordinary power to convert mental energy into solid muscle. By temporarily lowering his I.Q., M.A. and/or M.E., the player can significantly boost his P.S. and S.D.C. scores.
For every one point sacrificed from any mental attribute, the character gains 1 P.S. and 5 S.D.C.; for example, if the player chooses to reduce his I.Q. by 10, his P.S. increases by 10 and he gains 50 S.D.C.
Points from the three mental attributes can be combined; for example, the player could decide to sacrifice 10 points from I.Q., M.A. and M.E. to boost his P.S. by 30 and gain 150 S.D.C.
For every 20 P.S. gained in this way, the level of the character’s strength increases by a factor of one: normal human strength would become Extraordinary Physical Strength, Extraordinary Physical Strength would become Superhuman Strength and Superhuman Strength would become Supernatural Strength. If the character raises his P.S. by 20 points after attaining Supernatural Strength (or if he already possesses that power), he also temporarily gains the power of Giant (Powers Unlimited 1, page 28), with all the attendant bonuses for his experience level.

Range: Self.

Damage: As per P.S. bonus. Combat bonuses are not affected by the drop in mental acuity: what the character lacks in technique, he makes up for with savagery, instinct and strength.

Duration: Changing to/from the empowered state takes one full melee round. The transformation lasts for 5 minutes per level of experience. If after reducing his mental attributes the character’s I.Q. and M.E. scores are still both 8 or higher, the super being retains enough concentration and understanding to cancel the change at will, though he can choose to remain empowered for the full duration. If the character’s I.Q. or M.E. score is lower than 8, the transformation cannot be ended prematurely.

Note: Once the character has transformed, the player cannot then spend more attribute points to boost P.S. and S.D.C. further, nor can he recover his mental attribute points at will: his new attribute scores are fixed until the transformation ends.

Bonuses:

+1D4 I.Q.

+1D4 M.A.

+1D4 M.E.

Penalties:

As the character’s mental attributes decrease, the player should reduce any bonuses derived from those scores accordingly. If a mental attribute drops below 16, all bonuses associated with it are lost, including any gained from the super powers of Extraordinary Intelligence, Extraordinary Mental Affinity or Extraordinary Mental Endurance.

An I.Q. of 7 imposes a penalty of -40% to all skills. For every point the I.Q. drops below 7, there is a cumulative penalty of -10%.

An M.A. of 7 imposes a penalty of -50% to invoke trust/intimidation. For every point the M.A. drops below 7, there is a cumulative penalty of -10%.

An M.E. of 7 imposes a penalty of -4 to save vs. psionic attack or insanity. For every point the M.E. drops below 7, there is a cumulative penalty of -2.

Keep in mind that when a character’s mental attributes drop this low, he will become increasingly brutish, irrational and easily confused, and should be role-played accordingly. No mental attribute can be lowered to zero: this would cause instant brain death.

For 1D4 melee rounds after the character returns to normal, he will feel somewhat light-headed and disoriented: lose one attack/action per melee round and reduce all combat bonuses by half. He cannot transform again until he recovers from this state.