This could also be quite useful to anyone who wants to create a biotic character.
(This is not confirmed canon. It's just for the purposes of the RP)
A basic explanation of the mechanics of biotic abilities
Since the game is sometimes a little unclear on how biotics actually work and what the ability's limitations are, here's an overview of how biotics function to help everyone who wants to create a character with biotic ability.
First, biotic ability is gained through in-utero eezo exposure, which will usually cause fatal cancers, but in a small percentage of cases will lead to tiny eezo nodules forming in the nervous system that enable the person to generate mass effect fields. Asari won't develop the tumours and always become biotics.
Now, mass effect fields are generated by running an electrical current through eezo, the stronger the current and the larger the amount of eezo, the stronger the gravitational field will be. This holds just as true for the nodules in an individual's nervous system as it does for mass effect drive cores in ships. Since the strength of the electrical current in the nervous system cannot be changed...
1) The strength of the fields a biotic can generate depends on the amount of eezo in their system.
This means there is a basic biotic power level each individual has. Asari seem to generally have the highest, due to the high concentration of eezo on their home world and their immunity to its side effects. That power level seems mostly unchangeable, except through whatever methods Cerberus uses in their experiments on bioitcs.
The second and more important aspect of biotics is the ability to use the eezo in one's system to generate mass effect fields in a controlled and usable way. Since the nervous system will always be generating electrical currents, the eezo nodules will be producing mass effect fields automatically. The difficulty lies in learning to get the right amount of current in the right place at the right time, which is a trial-and-error conditioning process very much like a young child's brain learning to associate the right muscle movements with certain actions, like moving an arm. Since generating mass effect fields is a lot more complicated than moving an arm, biotic amps are necessary to help along the mind's learning process.
Adepts also generally use hand movements as a sort of crutch for their brain to associate certain biotic powers with, so the movement will basically help the mind get into whichever pattern the biotic ability takes.
So the more time someone spends practicing biotics, the more patterns for different types of mass effect fields they will be able to drill into their mind, which is why Asari with their long lifespan have such a huge advantage in terms of biotics, and why Matriarchs are considered the most powerful adepts. So...
2) How well a person is able to wield biotic fields and use them for different purposes, regardless of their strength, depends only on the amount of training they have had.
Lastly, mass effect fields don't go up to full strength instantaneously, so biotic users always have to briefly 'gather' their power before using an ability.
What does this mean for a biotic character in the RP?
First of all, you have to be clear on how much actual power your character has. That is, how much force a Throw would deal out, how much lifting power a Singularity has, how much abuse a Barrier can take. What can be seen in the game from Asari or Jack would be along the upper limit for that - most biotics from other races would probably be less powerful. There is no need to be specific, it is just important to know that the limit exists.
Secondly, you need to decide how much training your character has had. This would determine the number of different abilities they can actually use. (This is not limited to in-game combat powers - the ability of most Asari to 'float' from great heights would fall into this as well) Remember, even the oldest Matriarch is not able to simply make biotic fields do whatever she likes. An adept still needs to learn each ability separately, but a very experienced one would be able to produce a wide range of different mass effect fields for all sorts of purposes.
So for example, an adept could be able to produce very powerful biotic fields but have learned few ways to use them, or the reverse, have very weak biotic ability but still a decent array of powers, which would all just have a weaker effect.





Retour en haut








