[These Abilities represent a modification to the rule system designed by Hank Driskill and John “The Dodger” Gavigan. Highlander: The Gathering was built around the White Wolf (World of Darkness) rules engine.  The below abilities represent very minor expansion of that system for a higher powered campaign.]

When the Immortal supplement came out it was uncommon in White Wolf for abilities to progress beyond 5. It would seem appropriate to expand the capabilities of the Immortals quickening power into the six through ten range. It is particularly appropriate given the release of Highlander III which clearly shows Immortals wielding non-traditional (for the Highlander Series and Movies)powers as well as the episode of the series showing an immortal clearly demonstrating a brand of animal control. I’ve included a couple of powers that I propose are appropriate for the sixth and seventh level of quickening both in power and within the mythos of the Immortals.

Various readings I have done (mostly on the net) seem to indicate that the quickening is very much a telepathic force. Further the prize has been described as an immortals ability tap into the mind and soul of the world. The closer an Immortal gets to the prize the more telepathic abilities they are likely exhibit.

****** True Sight: At level six an Immortal gains the ability to use his quickening as almost a radar. Within the range of his quickening zone an Immortal can use the quickening for several sensory capabilities. The most basic is to use it to “see” when blinded or in the dark. This capability is automatic and is based on the Immortal’s ability to perceive free quintessence so nothing hampering visual sight will hamper this ability.

An Immortal’s quickening can also be used to examine people or items. True sight grants an Immortal the ability of to use his zone of quickening feel things with much more precision than the level one ability (Sense Quickening) which can sense quintessence, blood, rage, etc. The higher level ability allows the Immortal to gain incite into the nature of the creature by how their power source reacts with the quickening. When it is used this way the Immortal rolls his quickening dice and is able to discern certain things about the subject based upon his or her number of successes..

1 success: Nature of the creature/Item (vampire, werewolf, magi, bound spirit, etc.)
2 successes: The creature or items aura (as per level 2 auspex)
3 successes: Current amount of quintessence, blood, rage, quickening, sepkum, etc.
4 successes: Disciplines, gifts, spheres, etc.
5 successes: Subclass (clan, breed, type of spirit, etc.)

If the Immortal has never seen something before he may be unable to recognize it.

    Gidieon spots Nathan, a master of time. Using the level one ability Sense Quickening Gideon knows Nathan is more than he appears. Gideon uses his True Sight to determine who and what Nathan is. He rolls and gets 4 successes. Gideon would be able to determine that Nathan is a mage, he’d be able to see the aura and all the information that imparts, he’d know that the mage had 4 quintessence and prime 3, forces 1 and since Gideon has never seen the time sphere he recognizes the existence of a third sphere but can’t recognize what it is. If Gideon sees Nathan using time magic he has a good chance of properly identifying it as such depending upon how much he knows about mages.

Keep in mind by the time an Immortal has a six quickening he’s probably been kicking around for an awfully long time and depending upon his background he’s likely to have seen an awful lot.

The quickening radar also gives the Immortal the ability to see through illusions (chimery, obfuscate, illusion (mental and physical) magic, etc.). The Immortal gets his quickening dice as counter magic or contested roll vs. any attempt to magically or pseudo magically alter the appearance or existence of an object or person. Once an Immortal as pierced an illusion he or she may spend a willpower point to attempt to have reality reassert itself. This is an Immortals first inkling of access to the prize. The Immortal can enlist the aid of other to help him disbelieve the illusion on a grand scale. However this is not easy the target number for the roll is (sources willpower - quickening +6) or 7 whichever is higher.

******* Read the World: At level seven an Immortal has begun to reach for the prize. The thoughts feelings and emotions of the world are just outside of his reach. At this level an Immortal can spend a willpower point and reach out to the world seeking the best and brightest and borrow a single ability (skill, talent, or knowledge). The Immortal rolls his quickening dice to determine the skill level he has temporarily acquired. The ability lasts for the entire scene an Immortal can’t borrow more than one ability at a time. The Immortal can also try and read the individual thoughts of people within the range of his quickening. The Immortal expends a willpower point and rolls his quickening against the subjects willpower. And can read the thoughts depending upon how successful his read is. The Immortal can ask one question for each level of successes about things no deeper than the number of successes scored. The questions are fairly broad (not “Have you heard of Father Ernest?” but “What have you heard about Father Ernest?”)

Botch: Target is aware of something.
No Successes: Nothing
1 Success: The Immortal gets a sense of the targets emotional state and where the emotions are focused.
2 Successes: The Immortal can read the surface thoughts of the target.
3 Successes: The Immortal can read memory.
4+ Successes: The Immortal can read deep unconscience thoughts.

James the Immortal wants some information from Harry the crime boss. As it happens James doesn’t have time to coax the information out of Harry so he extends his quickening into Harry’s mind. He spends a willpower and rolls his quickening dice against a target number of Harry’s willpower. Since Harry has a 7 willpower the target number is a 7. James rolls gets 3 successes. Allowing James to ask 3 questions about Harry’s emotions, surface thoughts or things Harry has witnessed.

If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts send them this way. Otherwise more will become available when I need them or when a great one just pops into my head. Below is a letter I sent to Gilkane involving other powers and my view of immortal theory. In a word Immortals are the Lorax… They speak for the sleepers.
Gilkane wrote:

Hello,

Hello, thanks for taking the time to write.

I ran across your page on the High Level Quickening powers and I have several powers that I have seen in the Series and in the Final Dimension movie that I feel you might like to work out(Sorry I have not really had to hash these out until recently. I was wondering your feelings on them)

The final dimension is what inspired me to write the high level powers but the problem is that the abilities demonstrated in that movie were both inconsistent and in order to account for all the things he did probably unbalancingly powerful. That is one reason I chose not to mimic those abilities precisely. The second reason revolves around my theory of immortal power and their relationship with the sleepers in the World of Darkness.

An Immortal is almost the ultimate sleeper but he isn’t the a sleeper. The higher an immortal’s quickening goes the more telepathic abilities manifest and the more they are aligned with the 5 billion sleepers in the world. The pressure of those 5 billion people would make it difficult for an immortal to create an obvious parting with reality. So I made the decision not to give immortals any abilities to do that.

With that background and how I constructed level 6 and 7 in mind lets take a look.

7th Level: In one episode one Immortal had Duncan fighting an Illusion that only Duncan could see. He was every adept at this. I feel he took many heads with this power and thus the highness of it. I also feel this would be a graduated effect learned after mastery of your 6th level power True Sight.

I seriously toyed with this one. The first condition I’d put on it is that it is purely mental. As a level 7 ability I’d probably include the functionality of chimestry 1-5 with a little streamlining to make it easier to use. I’d probably make true sight not defend against it because it doesn’t really effect the eyes so much as the mind. It would be form of mind control that specifically targeted the perception. I’d also have include some very difficult way for it to noticed and broken out of.

8thLevel: Kano and Kaine in the Final Dimension had many powers. Illusion above, but also the ability to Shape Change and the Correspondence like ability if teleportation. These were all I feel 8th level powers if for nothing else but for game balance.

My feelings on most of the powers demonstrated in the Final Dimension is that they violate the law of the ultimate sleeper. However, I don’t just ignore them. In my opinion Kato and (after Kato’s death) Kaine had a form of hedge magic. You could probably go so far as to propose a form of quickening powered hedge magic.

6thLevel: Farseeing: the ability to glimpse the future on a very limited scale, like from days to maybe at best a year

I would actually merge this with the last and allow the GM have more full control over it. Personally I’d go with more grandiose long range prophesy than short term. Long term broad prophesies are easier to deal with than short term specific ones.

Speaking of prophesies I’m sure you’ve seen the episode where Cassandra comes to have Duncan fulfill the prophecy and Kantos is wandering around doing the suggestion thing. This is my idea for the 8th level power. I figure a combination suggestion/awe/domination haven’t really put much thought into it and I’m at work right now without books to research the idea.

Level 9 would give the immortal the ability to sift through the memories and knowledge of all humanity. If even a single sleeper has the knowledge he wants he’ll eventually be able the dredge it up. At this level the immortal may be unplayable.

Level 10 the immortal turns into an NPC. This level can only be obtained if he is the last immortal on the planet. At this point he can do anything that doesn’t directly conflict with theory I’ve laid out in the beginning of this message. Don’t worry about game mechanics they are irrelevant at this point.