PSI-Armor
The good news: PSI-Armor works to boost innate psionic abilities. It well and truly does, and in a way that leaves no room for doubt. There are five pieces of PSI-Armor, and each one has its own special abilities:
- Helmet. The helmet, unsurprisingly, boosts telepathic communication, while also offering protection against unwanted telepathic communication.
- Arms/Gloves. When both are worn, the user gains a significant boost to various forms of psychokinetic power. This includes pyrokinesis and cyrokinesis, but not levitation (see below).
- Chest/Vitals. The chest collects and strengthens the user’s ability to teleport either himself, or others.
- Amulet. The amulet improves faith healing and astral projection — plus precognition, when all of the other items are worn.
- Legs/Feet. When both are worn, the user gains and increase to levitation powers. Interestingly, even a non-psion who wears these items will be able to run across water and scuttle up reasonably rough walls.
That’s the good news. The bad news? The items were created in the mid 1980s, and the aesthetic is mind-numbingly, garishly, and almost seizure-inducing awful. There is absolutely no way to discreetly wear PSI-Armor without being noticed; and since the suit items are powered by a photokinetic process, they can’t be painted over, either. Or even worn underneath a coat. No, PSI-Armor must be worn openly, in all its dubious glory, or else there’s no point to it at all.
This is no big deal in worlds where superheroes exist in four-color majesty, obviously. But in more discreet ones trying to figure out how to use these unquestionably powerful items without drawing attention is sometimes a frustrating experience. Or an entertaining one, if you’re not the one trying to do it.
That’s ..
.
I mean, “work mostly at night” .. but in most metropolii there’s never really all that much night…
.
Yeah .. this could be a challenge .. but hey, at least it’s not running on fossil fuels.
.
Mew
I’m trying and failing to think of the worst bits of fashion from the mid 80s.
.
And let me guess: all attempts to replicate the effects of the armor fail unless the armor is faithfully reproduced? You can probably swap fluorescent yellow for green or eye-popping waves for too-bright plaid, but it just doesn’t work without the day-glo colors, the over emphasized shoulders and groin, and the spandex between the armor plates. And no, using your powers to convince people that they don’t see somebody in a power-rangers-reject costume doesn’t help.
.
On the other hand, even in the most low key world, pretending to be into a bizarre sci-fi property from the 80s will at least get some people to ignore you. You might even be able to convincingly arrange for a comic convention in the right city to provide a little cover for your operatives.
I forebore from describing the camouflage option. Suffice it to say that my sixteen-year-old self would have thought it rad and totally blending in.
So .. are we talking snippets from “Bright Lights Big City” as a scene-setting piece .. or “Miami Vice” ?
.
“Members Only” style jackets with parachute pants?
.
Mew
80’s-style armor? If it doesn’t look like the outfits from the original Tron, then I will be *very* disappointed!