The other day, Alexis mentioned he was testing out ChatGPT to suggest sage abilities. I thought it might be interesting to apply this to my investigation of a Physics sage ability and see what came up.
To set the proper context, I pasted a good bit of text from the Authentic Gaming wiki so the model would know what sage abilities and knowledge points were in the context of this specific fantasy role-playing game. Physics has a description already, so I continued with that:
Physics is a sage study in the field of Reality by which the character learns the physical laws associated with the movement of bodies and objects, vibration, sound, optics and light, fire and heat, the movement of water, air and earth, flight, pressure, electricity, magnetism and many similar branches and topics that give the character insight into the way that energy (including magic) ebbs and flows through the environment. This knowledge provides opportunity for the character to understand and ultimately control, to some degree, these forces.
Suggest a list of 3 amateur abilities for Physics
And here we go:
Certainly, here are three amateur sage abilities for the Physics study within the Reality field, representing a basic level of understanding and manipulation of physical laws:
Elemental Insight: The character gains a fundamental understanding of the elemental forces—earth, air, fire, and water. They can identify the presence and effects of these elements in the environment, such as detecting slight vibrations in the ground, predicting changes in weather patterns, or recognizing the potential for combustion in certain materials.
Basic Optics: The character learns to manipulate light and understand its behavior. They can create simple illusions, manipulate shadows, and refract light to obscure or reveal objects. Additionally, they can evaluate and enhance the reflective and refractive properties of surfaces to create basic optical effects.
Kinetic Control: This ability allows the character to manipulate basic kinetic energy. They can exert force on objects to move them from a distance, give a boost of speed to projectiles, or dampen the energy of a moving object to reduce its impact. This manipulation is limited to small-scale effects and relatively simple movements.
These amateur abilities provide characters with a foundational understanding of the physical world and limited control over its basic forces. As characters progress and gain more knowledge points, they can unlock more advanced and intricate abilities related to the Physics study.
Not bad at all. So far, it tracks reasonably with my own Amateur level. Kinetic Control seems a bit more advanced, though.
Repeating this process for Authority:
Energetic Resonance: The character can tap into the underlying energetic patterns of objects and elements. By understanding their resonant frequencies, they can induce vibrations, causing objects to shatter, create harmonic tones, or even manipulate the structural integrity of materials through controlled resonance.
Thermodynamic Manipulation: This ability grants the character control over temperature and heat distribution. They can create localized zones of extreme cold or heat, extract heat from one area to warm another, or generate intense thermal energy bursts. Their mastery over thermodynamics allows them to shape temperature-based phenomena in their surroundings.
Field Mastery - Electromagnetism: The character gains a deep comprehension of electromagnetic fields. They can generate and manipulate electromagnetic forces, creating barriers that repel or attract metallic objects, distorting light paths, and even generating bursts of energy akin to electrical or magnetic pulses.
I would rename the last one to simply "Electromagnetism."
For Expert:
Spatial Distortion: The character has reached an advanced level of understanding of space-time manipulation. They can create localized distortions in space, altering distances, warping trajectories, and even generating temporary pockets of altered reality that affect the behavior of objects and energy within their vicinity.
Waveform Mastery: This ability grants the character control over various types of waves, including sound waves, light waves, and more. They can manipulate sound to create illusions, control the intensity and frequency of light to blind or illuminate, and generate complex patterns of waves to manipulate and interfere with energy flows.
Chronokinetic Command: The character gains mastery over the manipulation of time on a small scale. They can momentarily accelerate or slow down the passage of time for objects or themselves, allowing them to react faster, age or heal slightly faster, and exert a degree of control over the temporal aspects of their surroundings.
These are certainly reasonable. Waveform Mastery might overlap with Electromagnetism, so more specific rules might be useful to distinguish these, perhaps in terms of their actual in-game effects.
And finally, the Sage:
Dimensional Weaving: The sage's understanding of physics transcends conventional boundaries. They can manipulate the fabric of space-time to create temporary rifts between dimensions, allowing them to manipulate energy, matter, and even consciousness in ways that defy conventional physical laws.
Unified Energy Manipulation: This ability enables the sage to perceive and manipulate the underlying universal energy that connects all things. They can harness this energy to achieve remarkable feats, such as transmuting matter, temporarily altering the laws of physics in localized areas, or even tapping into cosmic forces to generate cataclysmic effects.
Quantum Entanglement: The sage can exploit the phenomenon of quantum entanglement to instantaneously affect distant objects or energies. They can manipulate the entangled states of particles to transmit information, energy, or even physical effects across space and time without conventional limitations.
I think this has a great deal of potential. There's certainly editing to be done here, and actual concrete examples assigned. For example, we might say that Chronokinetics can allow the character to double their AP for one turn per day or allow 20% more healing overnight. So it's not as if we can just copy/paste a study, but a significant portion of the initial thinking can be offloaded to these models.
