I'm running Cold Equations right now for a group (about 2/3 through) and the two human telepaths have pretty much broken the adventure every which way forcing me to become quite creative (nearly railroading at times, which I really hate). They are P11's and the way the rules are written, having access to all disciplines pretty much gives them carte blanche on the power choices and they are using them in every way, including killing Twitch mentally after gleaning the information they needed. Are the 2e telepaths really this strong or am I missing something?
Cold Equations and Telepath PCs
- Thread starter Ghostwind
- Start date
Babylon 5 Aide
Mongoose
Well they are all Religious Caste, so they are going to be morally strict I am sure. If they want to play a loose cannon type of telepath without much restrictions, I'd suggest Centauri.
They would have to deal with a bone or the hair, their pick :lol:
They would have to deal with a bone or the hair, their pick :lol:
Chernobyl said:
I would think so.. The one big description of them i remember from the show seems to make them out as being wandering do-gooders...
I would think with Minbari the motivations should always be to clan and caste if nothing else. I'd expect the Minbari player character to be from a clan that respects other life forms, even if it thinks Minbari are superior. Not the warrior clans hat have a massive chip on their shoulder with regards to the humans.
lastbesthope
Mongoose
Chernobyl said:
Any wrong doing would bring dishonour to them, their caste, their clan, their family and any former pets :lol:
LBH
even centauri telepaths have their names on lists somewhere (centauri prime) if a telepath kills someone with wierd mind powers its still murder, if there are witnesses EA will prosecute them with the psi corps along to hunt them down,
the minbari will hunt down one of their own who does it and lock them in a dark dark room forever as they are clearly insane,
the centauri would let you be caught and tried and executed by the humans as you were dumb enough to be caught and thus deserve everything you get, or political/family rivals would dump you in the brown stuff with EA to ingratiate themselves and remove a rival,
IF there are no reliable witnesses then psi cops like bester will simple deep scan people at random with full bloodhound teams to find out who is mucking around with humans and will simply disapear the criminal regardless
by the way as P11's shouldnt they be Psi Cops (well their slightly inferior troopers instead of elites like bester) a human P11 is going to find they cant really do much of anything without the corps finding out, if p5's are special 11's are downright unique
the minbari will hunt down one of their own who does it and lock them in a dark dark room forever as they are clearly insane,
the centauri would let you be caught and tried and executed by the humans as you were dumb enough to be caught and thus deserve everything you get, or political/family rivals would dump you in the brown stuff with EA to ingratiate themselves and remove a rival,
IF there are no reliable witnesses then psi cops like bester will simple deep scan people at random with full bloodhound teams to find out who is mucking around with humans and will simply disapear the criminal regardless
by the way as P11's shouldnt they be Psi Cops (well their slightly inferior troopers instead of elites like bester) a human P11 is going to find they cant really do much of anything without the corps finding out, if p5's are special 11's are downright unique
They are playing rogue human telepaths who are brother and sister. Neither has a moral issue with using their abilties to extract information or to remain "unknown".
From what I am reading here, it sounds like I need to do some house rules to compensate for the overpoweredness of the class.
From what I am reading here, it sounds like I need to do some house rules to compensate for the overpoweredness of the class.
Ghostwind said:
Or, play up the 'rogue' aspect... Nerfing the class has the potential to ruin the 'feel' to an extent.
First, I'd recommend warning the players. (No, not the characters, the players. Use metagaming to your advantage...) Tell them that you've thought about some things and abusing their powers will be 'risky.' not punished, but just... dangerous.
Then, consider how to act when they inevitably do cross the line. Depending on the character's motivations, you may be able to turn up the heat by preventing them from really 'farming' any con they think of. If they're using their abilities to force people to give them their bank accounts or similar, then start dripping hints that the strange behavior has been noticed and the Psi-corp is investigating.
If they are just using their abilities to shortcut adventures and rack up XP, consider similar tactics. Consider that barring the fringes, every transaction is likely logged somewhere. If too many people exhibit strange behavior, again, a psi-corp agent will likely conenct the dots and begin an investigation.
The members of the psi-corp rightly fear the organization. The rogues are much, much worse off. They won't get nearly the same courtesy when they run into Psi-cops.
Ghostwind said:
Nope, no house rules required - just, as everyone else has said, make them live with the consequences of their actions.
Presumably, because they are Rogue they have been within the Corps and escaped (if not NERF their abilities - they couldn't have learned them if they weren't trained (look at the requirements if the Telepath class...) this gives you carte blanche to do what you like with them
How could P11's go rogue, the Corps keeps a very close eye on them? Unless of course they let them go, with some programming in place? :twisted:
Or they will have a whole posey of Psi Cops and Blood Hounds bearing down on them...
lets consider two rogues who were never corps, (really really unusual at that power level)
a person turns up dead, autopsy reveals massive neural trauma no obvious cause, even if the doctor dosnt know what that means the instant its entered into the computer network an alarm will ring in Syria Planum and the Corps will instantly come to investigate,
more than one person spontaneously transfers money to a specific account, the Corps will quietly investigate and when the P12 finds the tampering oh boy are the Corps going to come to call, and freeze the account of course,
Every time those powers are used its a giant flare screaming TEEPS HERE! unless they are extra specially careful in covering it up by hiding evidence, dummy accounts, disposing of bodies into space etc etc it is inevitable that sooner or later a psi cop p12 will come across a piece of evidence that will give them an id to hunt, and then its good night gracie, infact if they are that blatant have a psi cop turn up a day or 2 after and simply have it that their cavalier attitude has meant he has been slowly following them for a while now, catching up, and of course if you are doing cold equations then effectivly the corps is onto them already,
and if they wont learn have their characters shot/captured and dragged off and tell them to make new characters as their old ones are dead or as good as, this isnt dnd where noone in the kingdom can stop the 20th level wizard, in b5 you do dumb stuff you die
a person turns up dead, autopsy reveals massive neural trauma no obvious cause, even if the doctor dosnt know what that means the instant its entered into the computer network an alarm will ring in Syria Planum and the Corps will instantly come to investigate,
more than one person spontaneously transfers money to a specific account, the Corps will quietly investigate and when the P12 finds the tampering oh boy are the Corps going to come to call, and freeze the account of course,
Every time those powers are used its a giant flare screaming TEEPS HERE! unless they are extra specially careful in covering it up by hiding evidence, dummy accounts, disposing of bodies into space etc etc it is inevitable that sooner or later a psi cop p12 will come across a piece of evidence that will give them an id to hunt, and then its good night gracie, infact if they are that blatant have a psi cop turn up a day or 2 after and simply have it that their cavalier attitude has meant he has been slowly following them for a while now, catching up, and of course if you are doing cold equations then effectivly the corps is onto them already,
and if they wont learn have their characters shot/captured and dragged off and tell them to make new characters as their old ones are dead or as good as, this isnt dnd where noone in the kingdom can stop the 20th level wizard, in b5 you do dumb stuff you die
Greg Smith
Mongoose
In the series, whenever a rogue telepath does something wrong on B5 (and since going rogue is doing something wrong, whenever the set foot on the station) Bester comes looking for them.
If they killed a telepath on B5, once Garibaldi begins to work on the murder and once Franklin performs an autopsy, Psi Corps will be (reluctantly) called. Then your PCs are in deep doo-doo.
If they killed a telepath on B5, once Garibaldi begins to work on the murder and once Franklin performs an autopsy, Psi Corps will be (reluctantly) called. Then your PCs are in deep doo-doo.
Allandaros
Mongoose
Also - TWO P11 teeps? Isn't that a tad (read: extremely) high?
Obviously they were aiming for P12 and the dice weren't with them...Mongoose Gar
Mongoose
Ghostwind said:
Telepaths are that strong and scary in Babylon 5. They can look into your mind and twist your brain. They are bad and wrong, and have to be locked up in a big black box called Psi Corps to keep them in line.
However, there are a few solutions to the problem of overly aggressive telepath PCs.
1) What would Garibaldi do? If the teeps are going around abusing their powers on B5, then they're going to run into Garibaldi. He might not be able to take a telepath on one-on-one, but he knows every inch and every one on the station. He'll track them down and catch them when they're sleeping, or trick their danger sense ability into fooling them. Maybe he'll call in a favour from the Minbari, or the Gaim. No-one wants psychic killers on the loose.
2) What about Bester and the Psi Cops? Are the PCs ready for a life on the run? Rogue telepaths *don't win*. They'll be hunted down eventually. If they kill one Psi Cop, then the Corps will send five more. If by some chance they escape that trap, then the Corps will send more and more and more. Hiding is the only way rogues survive. Two rogues can't fight back for long.
3) Speaking of the Corps - even in a normal game, two Human P11s running around would be ripe for Psi Corps mind games. In The Cold Equations, the game _starts_ with Corps mind games. There could be all sorts of mental backdoors/sleeper personalities etc in one or both of the characters. Let them find out that one of them has been tampered with- but they don't know which....
4) What about the rest of the characters? How do they feel about the telepaths abusing their powers like that? Have some friendly NPCs mistrust everyone because of the telepaths. Suggest that the telepath PCs could be reading the minds of the mundane PCs. Pass notes. Make secret dice rolls. Raise paranoia. Raise more paranoia. Split the party. Make the telepaths _earn_ the trust of the others.
5) Babylon 5 is all about consequences. Play up the consequences of their actions. This thread is full of good advice on that.
Finally - don't worry about them messing up Cold Equations. Really, it doesn't matter too much if they mindzap everyone they meet and steal thousands of credits. The point of that scenario is to put the PCs into a _situation_ you can build from. Admittedly, your situation seems to be 'ok, you're on the run from the galaxy. What the hell do you do now?'
If you want to put a little fear into them, and do not want to use Psi Corps... Another way would be to have one of the people they are telepathically abusing happen to be a Shadow Agent with Level 4-6 Telepathic Abyss. Pain can be a great teacher, and 4-6d6 of damage from backlash can do wonders.
Evolution through Conflict :shock:
Evolution through Conflict :shock:
conversly a vorlon agent is also a great giggle they do a scan run into a concrete wall and then get a p17 shut them down to mundane 'until they learn their lesson'
the main issue is random acts of insane abuse by telepaths will be punished, BY EVERYONE if they fry peoples minds they will eventually cause the ultimate nightmare,
Garibaldi+Ivanova+Bester+full bloodhound team of P11's
ALL WORKING TOGETHER HAPPILY
and then its no more PC, hey look your dead, Ivanova knew where you were, Garibaldi how to get there without a flea knowing and Bester and the cops stealthed in there like nobodys buisness and dragged you off
the main issue is random acts of insane abuse by telepaths will be punished, BY EVERYONE if they fry peoples minds they will eventually cause the ultimate nightmare,
Garibaldi+Ivanova+Bester+full bloodhound team of P11's
ALL WORKING TOGETHER HAPPILY
and then its no more PC, hey look your dead, Ivanova knew where you were, Garibaldi how to get there without a flea knowing and Bester and the cops stealthed in there like nobodys buisness and dragged you off
lastbesthope
Mongoose
sigma957 said:
Working together towards a common goal maybe, but not happily :lol:
I mean Garibaldi and Ivanova being happy to see Bester, I think not!
LBH
