PSI and Talent Alt Rules - Entirely Non-Canon

[alex_greene]

I'm not satisfied with the edge cases of PSI generation. If your character gets to visit a PI during any term after 1, there's a serious chance they're going to come away a deadhead, PSI 0, no chance of getting Talents, zip psionic ability. It would not be fun for someone like me, and seriously I've torn up character sheets and declared they failed their survival roll over this.

So here's the unofficial rules I'd offer to players who get that lucky shot at becoming a psion.

(1) PSI is 1D+6. It doesn't suffer a DM due to age, unless you decide to leave it a term or two between testing and training. Most will go straight to training, but each term between testing and training after the first incurs a -1 penalty. You get one term grace period before that DM kicks in. Get your training done asap.

(2) Make a Standard (8+) PSI check for Talents. The Effect of this check is how many Talents you get. Telepathy is always the first Talent you pick, unless you really want your psion to be something like a specialist in Clairvoyance or something.

(3) The first Talent is at level-2, the second at level-1, the rest (if there are any more) are at level-0.

(4) If you reroll a visit to a PI at any time during chargen, you get a chance to increase your PSI by +1, and increase three Talents by +1 apiece.

That's it. Completely unofficial, wildly non-canonical, but then again look at what your Travellers get to do in Wrath of The Ancients. For all you know, standard psionic testing and training involves your Traveller staring at some Droyne art which turns you into a psion.

 

[Nelphine]

I dislike telepathy, and always try to avoid getting it for my psions. Not saying you should plan for that, just figured that was the only part of your houserule that jumped out to me as odd.

 

[alex_greene]

Telepathy is used to communicate, more than it is useful as a mental eavesdropping tol. Everybody thinks that a telepath can just lift the thoughts out of a person's head, thus removing all of the mystery and the risk of the Patron being deceitful - but close range telepathic communication with another teep can be a beautiful roleplaying moment, not to mention your teep can develop some impressive empathy and compassion for people suffering.

 

[Nelphine]

Sure, i happen to have a personal dislike of telepathy, both cooperative and invasive. Thats all. (It stems from an extreme dislike of mind control)

 

[Sigtrygg]

Cross posting from the other thread.

A psionic character has a massive advantage over non-psions, although a lot of the benefits could be mimicked using technological augmentation.

The awareness talent could be duplicated with bio-engineered specialist glands, telepath with brain scanning and implants, clairvoyance with microdrones etc.

If you want psionics to be commonly available:

test during childhood and train before they reach 18

make psionic training part of the regular career lifepaths so you can increase psi and learn new talents

enjoy your super heroes in space campaign, I certainly enjoyed running a Julian May based campaign.

Within the OTU you could play a group of Zhodani, or Sword Worlders trained by a Zhodani exchange program, or choose a different region of the galaxy where the human culture doesn't have the Imperial prejudice.

 

[alex_greene]

Psions live in a different world to deadheads. Their senses pick up things that the ungifted can't imagine, they communicate with one another through silent, unhackable channels, and then there are all the fun things they can do with Awareness, Telekinesis, and Teleportation.
A life filled with psionic sensations can be fun, but generally they're just as human as deadheads. They need money, too, and if they have ships to fly, they'll need to pay those bills and costs like everybody else.

There's nothing that says they can't use their ordinary skills, either. If Medic and a TL 15 medkit can heal that wound, that's what they can use; and it isn't magic if they use a handheld scanner to pick up somebody's IR signature behind a bulkhead. Not to mention having a really impressive Investigate skill and cold reading a suspect to pick up on their deceit through observing their microexpressions.

Or is that why the players hate it when someone gets hold of a psion with a decent amount of PSI and a good set of skills - that the psion can somehow do better than them? A Traveller's Telekinesis can't affect the player's 2D.

 

[Sigtrygg]

A character with psi abilities in a party of "deadheads" has a massive advantage...

 

[alex_greene]

A character with psi abilities in a party of "deadheads" has a massive advantage...

They're just one crewmember among many. An Engineer's Engineering, Mechanic, and Electronics skills give her a massive advantage in the engine room over the ship's chef with her -3 untrained DM.