Mimic
Special
Mimic represents a character who can emulate other Ability traits. It is allowed for a character to take this Ability trait multiple times, allowing them to emulate multiple other Ability traits simultaneously.
Range: Mimic normally has a range of Self. Variations of Mimic that require a character to copy the Ability traits of others have a default range of touch, but this can be improved by applying the Line of Sight SFX.
Effect: Mimic has the interesting characteristic of emulating the effects of other Abilities. By default, Mimic allows a character to step down their Mimic trait twice and use it as if it is any other Innate, Attack, Defense, Manipulation, Metamorphic, or Travel power. In this default version d4 and d6 steps of Mimic have no effect, making d8 the minimum buy in step.
However on most characters Mimic is typically combined with a Limit that restricts how that character is able to change what Ability trait they are currently emulating and / or what kind of Ability traits that character is able to emulate. A character limited in such a way might only have to step down their Mimic trait when emulating another Ability trait once or perhaps even not at all, depending on how restrictive the Limit taken is. See the Limit section below for more details.
Common SFX: A character using Mimic to emulate another character's Ability trait does not gain any SFX related to that other character's Ability trait. However the Copy Cat SFX can be taken which allows a character copying another character's Ability trait to also copy a SFX related to that Ability trait from the target character.
The Power Thief SFX allows a character to apply a Complication on a character from whom they've copied one or more Ability traits blocking that character from using those same Ability traits.
Common Limits: Most characters who have Mimic typically take a Limit that restricts how they are able to change which Ability trait they are currently emulating and / or what kind of Ability traits they able to emulate. For instance, a common usage of Mimic is a character who can only copy the Ability traits of other characters in their Scene. Another common form of Mimic restricts a character to only be able to emulate Ability traits that have a specific justification. A form of Mimic that can only copy natural or inherent capabilities, not those that stem from external sources or gear, is also pretty common.
A character with such a Limit only steps down their Mimic trait once when emulating another ability. At the GM's discretion a character with a particularly restrictive Limit doesn't step down their Mimic trait at all when emulating another ability.
It is also possible with Limits to alter the default behavior of this trait to change the type of Ability traits that can be copied. For instance, a character might be able to only emulate Mystical Ability traits (which is not normally allowed), or a gadgeteer type character might only be able to emulate gear based Ability traits (regardless of trait category).