The Downward Spiral

Here's Plasm's "Drug" Profile -- Crash Effects begin after the "Usage Duration" runs out, and last as noted below. Permanant Effects are are tested for EACH Usage/Exposure. All rules except for handling Tolerence are based on the Drug Use & Abuse Rules found in Shadowtech, modified for the fact that Plasm-Taint is an AURA addiction, rather than a Physical OR Mental drug.

Erosion is a mechanic that, like Cacophony, began as an effect of normal Drug Use, but became adapted to a broader use for the supplement. The Official Drug Use rules put out by FASA aren't exceptionally useful to describe long-term addictions/drug use, so instead of a Plasm "User" automatically becoming TOTALLY Immune following a failed Tolerence Roll, the Erosion Mechanic depicts his aura's GRADUAL buildup of immunity to Plassm's beneficial side effects.

The victim must make a NON-Resisted (Spirit Strength + Soulfires) vs (Tolerance + Necrosis) test.

If the victim achieves MORE successes than the Plasm Generated in the Exposure Test, no actual Erosion occurs, and there are no further effects.

If the victim does NOT achieve more successes than the Plasm Generated in the Exposure Test, the Plasm's Net Exposure successes apply 50/50 to Necrosis and Cacophony Ratings.

If the victim achieves NO successes in the Erosion test, he applies the above penalties AND his aura acquires an increased immunity to Plasm effects, thus requiring an increased amount of Plasm to receive BENEFICIAL effects, and an amplification of negative effects. To find the Effective Dosage/Force Rating of any Plasm exposure, the actual Fore/Dosage is MULTIPLIED by the Erosion percentage for Beneficial side-effects, and DIVIDED by the Erosion Percentage for negative effects. Note that while the Erosion effects are calculated based on the Cacophony Rating (Since it affects Plasm Tolerance), the Erosion percentage does NOT fluctuate with changes in either Tolerance or Cacophony, it's only changed when a Victim fails an Erosion Test.

If the victim ever rolls all ones on either the Addiction test or the Erosion test, they immediately go into Withdrawal, and are unaffected by ANY Plasm effects in the future. This is true whether or not they were previously addicted, of course, since 0 successes on the addition roll CAUSES addition.

These effects remain until the victim remains "Plasm-Clean" long enough to reduce the Cacophony rating normally, at which point each point of Cacophony recovered from also clears a point of Necrosis. In no case may Cacophony or Necrosis be reduced below their Base Ratings in this way.

The condition of Bedlam is what the Cacophony Rating gets its name from -- a plasm-user whose Aura Cohesion erodes too greatly is no longer able to differentiate between their OWN soul-stuff and the stolen and devoured soul-stuff consumed through Soulfires skill. When that happens, the devoured plasm goes out of control, and the victim of Bedlam suffers overwhelmingly intense hallucinations, living through senses, minds, and spirits of the ghostly energy trapped in his aura. His aura will seem to fragment into a whirling cloud of soul-shards, each shrieking with the torment of its original self. The victim's hallucinations will generally focus around a single sense: Sight, Hearing, or Identity/Memory confusion are most common, but cases of tactile, smell, or taste hallucinations are also known. In any case, the hallucinations are FAR more "real" to the victim than reality itself, and represent the trapped memories and experiences of the plasm within his aura. One final odd effect of Bedlam concerns the victim's voice: For unknown reasons, it's ALSO affected by the state of bedlam, and each time the victim opens his mouth, a sound compositing the voices of ALL his Plasm Exposures comes out. They will, as a rule, be proportionately loud or quiet depending on the victims Cacophony Rating, and will say the same WORDS as the victim intends to utter, but will do so with random inflections, volumes, tones, and pronunciation, making the victim EXTREMELY difficult to understand... In general, the number of "distinct" voices will be roughly equivalent to 1/10th the total exposure value. The effect is also just plain creepy, and anyone exposed to it will tend to react to the subconscious awareness of the victim's disintegrating soul. Mechanics-wise, Bedlam has the following effects:

• +1/Cacophony to ALL Tgt#'s from distraction/sensory overload
• +1/Cacophony to Tgt#'s for ANY spell TARGETTING the victim.
• +1/Cacohony Rating to temporary Necrosis Rating.

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