There’s been some lore updates but I’m lazy and forgot to document some of them so they’re not all listed here.
New Drawbacks
5 Minutes of Infamy: You are unlucky enough to have been caught in the spotlight of one of the most popular shows while living through one of the unluckiest moments of your life. Whether it was saying something extremely offensive, dumb, or racist, you have gotten five minutes of global infamy as a meme. You incur a –2 penalty on Charisma-based skill checks against other characters, at the GM’s discretion.
Cowardly: You might face dangerous situations with bravado, but you are constantly afraid. Your base speed when frightened and fleeing increases by 1 square, and if you are moved down on the condition track due to a mind-affecting effect the number of steps you move is increased by 1. If you would normally be immune to fear, you do not take these penalties but instead lose your immunity to fear (regardless of its source).
Entomophobe: A harrowing experience with insects when you were young instilled in you a deep-seated fear of insects of all description, especially when they swarm together. You take a –2 penalty on attacks against insects and insectoid creature, and you take a any penalties caused by insectoid creatures swarming you is increased by 2.
Geek Physique: As a result of spending as much time as possible on the net and the constant playing of VRPGs, your physical body has suffered somewhat. Let’s just say that it would do you well to come outside from time to time. You treat your Strength as 2 lower for the purpose of determining your carrying capacity. If you take any feats or cybernetics that increase your Strength, the new carrying capacity is still affected by this drawback.
Helpless: You once stood helpless as great harm befell a loved one, and that paralysis sometimes returns when an ally is in a dire position. The frst time per combat encounter that an ally within 6 squares falls unconscious or dies as the result of an attack, you are unable to act on your next turn.
Impatient: You love leaping into battle at the earliest opportunity, and it frustrates you to wait for others to act. You can’t delay or ready actions, and if you are the last of your allies to act in a round of combat, you take a –1 penalty on ability checks, attack rolls, defenses, and skill checks until you act again.
Insatiable: You have become so accustomed to binging on the finer things in life that you find going without such excess particularly strenuous. Goods and services cost you 10% more (and can’t be paid for by allies), and you need twice as much food and liquid as normal for the purposes of preventing starvation and thirst.
Scarred: An injury left you horribly, visibly scarred, making it more difficult for you to hide your true face, and also making most people distrustful of you merely due to your appearance. You take a –5 penalty on Stealth checks made to disguise yourself, and a –2 penalty on Deception checks.
Stigmatized: You were kept at the periphery of society for a long period of time, so that even when you are among strangers in a new place, you feel the weight of your missing socialization. You take a –3 penalty on Persuasion checks made to improve a target’s attitude and Gather Information checks.
New Traits
Amiable Briber (Social): Your attempts to bribe others usually come off as playful or as a gag. The first time someone refuses a bribe you offer, that person’s attitude toward you doesn’t worsen, even if the offer would normally offend the person.
Bodyguard (Combat): You’ve made a living protecting others, learning to spot danger quickly and respond quickly and decisively. You Gain a +1 trait bonus to Initiative, and a +2 trait bonus to Perception checks to notice ambushes, traps, and similar dangers. Once per game session you can spend a hero point to interpose yourself, as an immediate action, between an attack and anyone else in an adjacent square. The attack is made against your AC, and you suffer any damage or effects if it hits.
Callous (Social): You have endured many hardships throughout your life, and this has hardened you to the suffering of others to the point that you are not easily swayed by a sad story. You gain a +4 trait bonus on Perception checks that oppose the Deception checks of creatures that attempt to deceive you by winning your sympathy.
Cynical (Social): You have seen many heroes in your time, but you see only their capacity for failure and the ways they fall short of being truly good. This practice in looking past facades has proven a useful skill. You gain a +1 trait bonus on your Will defense against mind-affecting effects and any kind of illusion.
Fugitive (Combat): You crossed the law (or those in charge thought you did), and you are now a wanted criminal. As such, you have grown used to looking over your shoulder wherever you go. While in settlements, you gain a +3 trait bonus on Perception checks to determine awareness for the purpose of a surprise round.
Gifted Smuggler (Social): You have a knack for hiding goods on your person. Any object at least one size smaller than you is treated as an additional size smaller for the purposes of concealing the item on yourself via a Stealth check.
Hacker (Skill): You’re the ghost in the machine (even if you are a pathetic creature of meat and bone), cracking into the toughest systems and mining data. You have dealt with the harshest elements of the net, panted and sweat as you ran through the corridors, and have been toughened by the experience (and possibly challenged a few perfect immortal machines). Add +1 to your Surface Defense and your Core Defense (if you have one). Whenever you successfully hack into a Corporate, Government, or Military network, you automatically download 1d6x1000 credits worth of information you can sell on the black market.
New Program – Cadeceus – Usually military in origin, this relatively common program interfaces with biomonitors across a small communications network – usually an intra-squad network – and provides anyone in that network with a summary of the current health of the network members. If HUDs are available this is available as a HUD pane, otherwise it is displayed as per normal on a computer. Functionally, this allows everyone in the network to know the hit points of each other. Additionally, anyone in the network gains a bonus to Treat Injury checks on other members of the network equal to the level of the program. This program can handle a number of members equal to its working level. As this program is run distributed across the network, the connections to the team member’s biomonitors do not count against Systems Management. The Cadeceus program costs 500 Credits per level.
New Story Feat – Gettin’ the Band Back Together
Prerequisite: Have a group that you used to engage in activities with that has since been broken up
Benefits: Your skills at operating within a group have taught you valuable lessons in teamwork. You automatically succeed on attempts to use the Aid Another action, and people automatically succeed on the Aid Another action to assist you. The bonus you provide or gain from the Aid Another action is increased by one-quarter your character level. Additionally, you gain an increasing bonus as you rebuild your band.
First Band Member: You are now trained in the Persuasion skill if you were not already. Additionally, you can choose which mental ability score you use for the Persuasion skill but only when using it against former band members.
One-Third of All Band Members: You can now choose which mental ability score you use for the Persuasion skill for all uses of the skill and against all targets.
Two-Thirds of All Band Members: You gain the Skill Focus [Persuasion] feat. If you already have this feat, you instead gain a bonus feat of your choice that requires Persuasion as a trained skill.
Goal: Regain all of the members of your old group as Level 3 contacts. If any of the members of your old group are found to be deceased or unable to participate in group activities, you will need to find a suitable replacement for them. During the course of this you must decisively defeat an appropriate number of of foes.
Completion Benefits: When you’ve managed to make contact with all of your old compatriots you can choose to either reassemble the band or not. Reassembling the band brings all of the other group members into the party’s fold as GM-controlled NPCs. Choosing to not reassemble the band instead allows you to not count activations of band members as uses of your single use of a Level 3 contact for a session.
New Hack Actions – DoS Attack and Popup Infestation