Psi Corps Book Cover

[El Cid]

I picked up my copy of the Psi Corps book and have starter reading it.

Looks great.

I do have a question concerning the cover.

The front cove of my book has 7 small cone shaped bubbles at the bottom and 2 at the top.

Is this an indication that the book has the problem that caused the first printing to be recalled?

Sidney

 

[redlaco]

Hello honored GM, 8)

Maybe you bought a copy who survived the recall of the first printing ?
My copy shows no such sign of imperfection.

 

[lastbesthope]

My copy is hunky-dory

LBH

 

[Anonymous]

It is not just your cover that is broken.

P. 22 Has a really great P-Scale chart, that brings up a question. Neuro-kinesis? Missing in both this chart and the New Telepathic Abilities is the P9+ ability to detect being scanned (as seen in Thirdspace).

Neuro-kinesis, hmmm, let's look at the root words.

neuro-

1. Nerve: neuroblast.
2. Neural: neuropathology.

ki·ne·sis
Movement or activity of an organism in response to a stimulus such as light.

Nerve Movement?

P. 40, Class II Psi Corps Offence, Puppeteering? Puppeteering seems to be that a Telepath can shut off someone's consciousness and then control their body. I have not been able to find any game rules on this anywhere else in the book. Puppeteering is also mentioned in Byron's notes on P. 55.

P. 59, The DC of the Computer Scan Cyberpath Class Feature is 5 higher than what is in the Computer Use skill in the main book. I wonder why that is since Computer Scan "uses the Computer Use skill instead of Telepathy."? The Computer Probe Feature states to add +5 to the Computer Use skill.

These are just a few things, aside from grammer and spell checking that I have noticed right off.

 

[Anonymous]

P. 60, Action Block is still missing the Range, just as in No Surrender, No Retreat.

 

[crizh]

P. 40, Class II Psi Corps Offence, Puppeteering? Puppeteering seems to be that a Telepath can shut off someone's consciousness and then control their body. I have not been able to find any game rules on this anywhere else in the book. Puppeteering is also mentioned in Byron's notes on P. 55.
.

Puppeteering is the use of Action Block to turn a mundane into your effective slave. ( You may not disobey the orders of Al Bester....)

Action Block has a range of Touch (P12 Clcse) as we have already established in the thread for Q's about Psi Corps.

 

[Mongoose Gar]

Offhand, I think Neurokinesis is Pain, but I'm away from my books and can't recall exactly what I meant.

As for the rest, I'll check my books when I head home after Christmas.

 

[Anonymous]

P. 40, Class II Psi Corps Offence, Puppeteering? Puppeteering seems to be that a Telepath can shut off someone's consciousness and then control their body. I have not been able to find any game rules on this anywhere else in the book. Puppeteering is also mentioned in Byron's notes on P. 55.
.

Puppeteering is the use of Action Block to turn a mundane into your effective slave. ( You may not disobey the orders of Al Bester....)

Action Block has a range of Touch (P12 Clcse) as we have already established in the thread for Q's about Psi Corps.

Puppeteering sounds like a temporary thing, and something that the Military section of the Psi Corps wants very badly. They could use it to take control of a Captain, Gunery officer, etc. of an enemy vessel to change the outcome of an engagement. It can also be done to enemy fighter pilots at least, which is a lot farther than Close range (85 feet).

 

[Aramanthus]

A guest wrote........
>>Puppeteering sounds like a temporary thing, and something that the >>Military section of the Psi Corps wants very badly. They could use it to >>take control of a Captain, Gunery officer, etc. of an enemy vessel to >>change the outcome of an engagement. It can also be done to enemy >>fighter pilots at least, which is a lot farther than Close range (85 feet).


Makes a lot of sense with the way the Corp were4 working during the time of "Clarkes" presidency during Babylon 5 series.

 

[Anonymous]

P. 74 Bryon gives the same description of Mindshredding that Dr. Franklin did of burst blood vessels. This is not a mistake, the description of the Feat in the basic book is though. That feat should allow a P10+ to do physical damage to a victim.

P. 82-84 - I loved this narrative :!: This is how I would envision a lecture from a P12 would be. Bester used his Communication 30 times during this lecture. According to the Standard Rules this would have left him exhausted (which I don't believe). The rules for subdual and use of Telepathy must be modified :!:

P. 120 Montessa King is shown as a P13, as a 7th level Vorlon Servant she should be a P14 with a 15 hp subdual pool according to No Surrender, No Retreat P. 122 & 123. Also, THANK YOU FOR PUTTING IN HER TELEPATHIC ABILITIES That is so irritating that they are missing in the other books. Are you sure that you listed them all though? Seems like she would also at least have Communication.

 

[Aramanthus]

That waas an interesting last post. I'll have to take a look at that stuff the last guest posted. Very interesting!

 

[crizh]

P. 82-84 - I loved this narrative :!: This is how I would envision a lecture from a P12 would be. Bester used his Communication 30 times during this lecture. According to the Standard Rules this would have left him exhausted (which I don't believe). The rules for subdual and use of Telepathy must be modified :!:

It was a pretty cool piece. Clearly Bester wouldn't be using Communication that much, even if he sustained it to talk to the whole group he would have a hell of a job hitting the DC to use it on all of them.

Telepathy is fundementally communication.

Or so the very first sentence of Psi Corps claims. There and in a number of other places it makes it clear that Telepaths are able to talk to each other mind to mind as easily as we would speak to someone in the same room as us. It explicitly tells us that Teeps do not need the Communicate ability to talk mind to mind.

Clearly this is an area that requires some rules clarification. I think the best way to deal with it is to rule that Communicate is only required to broadcast messages to mundanes or those that are actively using Mind Shield to block casual communications.

 

[petitbilbo]

I think the best way to deal with it is to rule that Communicate is only required to broadcast messages to mundanes or those that are actively using Mind Shield to block casual communications.

I agree quite strongly.

As of now, this will be a house rule in my campaign.



petitbilbo

 

[Mongoose Gar]

It is not just your cover that is broken.

P. 22 Has a really great P-Scale chart, that brings up a question. Neuro-kinesis? Missing in both this chart and the New Telepathic Abilities is the P9+ ability to detect being scanned (as seen in Thirdspace).
Nerve Movement?

Aha! Nerve Stimulation, page 106 of First Edition Corebook.

As for detecting a scan, you could use it as a form of the P8 Danger Sense.

P. 40, Class II Psi Corps Offence, Puppeteering? Puppeteering seems to be that a Telepath can shut off someone's consciousness and then control their body. I have not been able to find any game rules on this anywhere else in the book. Puppeteering is also mentioned in Byron's notes on P. 55.

Puppettering is a general term for long-term manipulation using Action Blocks, Idea Seed, Emotional Adjustment, Reality Fabrication, False Memories - even just Communication's Confuse variant on page 123. It's the offence of using telepathy for long-term manupation and profit as opposed to just a once-off 'push'.

P. 59, The DC of the Computer Scan Cyberpath Class Feature is 5 higher than what is in the Computer Use skill in the main book. I wonder why that is since Computer Scan "uses the Computer Use skill instead of Telepathy."? The Computer Probe Feature states to add +5 to the Computer Use skill.

It's a higher DC because it's faster. Basically, the Cyberpath reads the computer directly, meaning it only takes one round as opposed to the times listed on page 44 of the Corebook (again, First Printing 'Cos I Haven't Been Blessed With A Copy Of Second Edition Matt).

 

[Mongoose Gar]

P. 74 Bryon gives the same description of Mindshredding that Dr. Franklin did of burst blood vessels. This is not a mistake, the description of the Feat in the basic book is though. That feat should allow a P10+ to do physical damage to a victim.

Damage equal to Charisma modifier if save is failed, maybe. Actually, what I'd suggest doing is splitting it into two feats - the Mindshredder in the book would become, I dunno, Forceful Mind or something, and then Mindshredded would be a damaging feat with a pre-requisite of Forceful Mind.

P. 82-84 - I loved this narrative :!: This is how I would envision a lecture from a P12 would be. Bester used his Communication 30 times during this lecture. According to the Standard Rules this would have left him exhausted (which I don't believe). The rules for subdual and use of Telepathy must be modified :!:

Ah! Watch this - Communication has a duration of Concentration, so Bester needs only one use of Communication at the start of the lecture (he opens a 'mental channel' to everyone). He then just maintains this channel for the duration of the lecture.

We can cut it down even further - if we assume that teeps can use the Aid Another action to 'open their minds' to these channels, then Bester can split one use of Communication over the whole class without any increase in the DC.

P. 120 Montessa King is shown as a P13, as a 7th level Vorlon Servant she should be a P14 with a 15 hp subdual pool according to No Surrender, No Retreat P. 122 & 123. Also, THANK YOU FOR PUTTING IN HER TELEPATHIC ABILITIES That is so irritating that they are missing in the other books. Are you sure that you listed them all though? Seems like she would also at least have Communication.

Oops. Yeah. She's short a few. Give her Communication, Idea Seed and Action Block at the very least. Although given her status as Vorlon Plot Device, I'd be tempted to leave two or three of her powers undefined until I needed them.

Right. Anything else need clarifying?

 

[Anonymous]

Ah! Watch this - Communication has a duration of Concentration, so Bester needs only one use of Communication at the start of the lecture (he opens a 'mental channel' to everyone). He then just maintains this channel for the duration of the lecture.

We can cut it down even further - if we assume that teeps can use the Aid Another action to 'open their minds' to these channels, then Bester can split one use of Communication over the whole class without any increase in the DC.

Right. Anything else need clarifying?

Well...Bester does carry on several private "conversations", (which I agree with you that a P12 should be able to do), but according to the rules, he would have to take subdual damage...

I was hoping that you would also fix the Psi Cop Prestige Class since according to the Requirements you have to have 4 specific Telepathic Abilities that would require the character to be a 12th Level Telepath before gaining all of the required abilities.

Thanks again

 

[Anonymous]

P. 120 Montessa King is shown as a P13, as a 7th level Vorlon Servant she should be a P14 with a 15 hp subdual pool according to No Surrender, No Retreat P. 122 & 123. Also, THANK YOU FOR PUTTING IN HER TELEPATHIC ABILITIES That is so irritating that they are missing in the other books. Are you sure that you listed them all though? Seems like she would also at least have Communication.

Oops. Yeah. She's short a few. Give her Communication, Idea Seed and Action Block at the very least. Although given her status as Vorlon Plot Device, I'd be tempted to leave two or three of her powers undefined until I needed them.

Right. Anything else need clarifying?

[/quote]
Yes...I was wondering if she did the Facade that she showed the Psi Corps with a Varient of certain Abilities? That is another thing I just got to in the book. (Can you tell that I am devouring this book ) I really really think that is the way they should have done this in the first place.

My character is a P8, so he can do the following: Communication, Surface Scan, etc. Then if my character wants to do a Glyph, the DC is x, he wants to do Y, the DC is Z. Otherwise, Bester would be an Epic Level character DURING the show. (By the way...are you thinking of doing an Epic Level book for B5? :twisted: )

 

[scottmage]

P. 82-84 - I loved this narrative :!: This is how I would envision a lecture from a P12 would be. Bester used his Communication 30 times during this lecture. According to the Standard Rules this would have left him exhausted (which I don't believe). The rules for subdual and use of Telepathy must be modified :!:

It was a pretty cool piece. Clearly Bester wouldn't be using Communication that much, even if he sustained it to talk to the whole group he would have a hell of a job hitting the DC to use it on all of them.

:!: Smacks forhead :!: Completely forgot about the DC for multiple use....

 

[scottmage]

Right. Anything else need clarifying?

Well...since you mention it....

On Page 22 you mention a newer version of the P-Level test that requires a Telepath to perform the the test. While I agree that this could work (a lot better than Sense Telepathy) in most cases, how would that have worked for Alyssa (you have a picture of her on Page 21) since she was rated at a strong P10 (whatever that means, like with some training she could be rated at a P11...) and Talia was only a P5 (I know, I know Ironheart had modified her by then) how would she be able to get her rating (also without Dr. Franklin noticing)? In the case of many locations like B5, they may only have a P5, and would be unable to test anyone about a P6. It also looked like in the episode Legacies, Season 1, that there was some kind of medical proceedure that Dr. Franklin was involved with. It almost seemed like there was some kind of Genitic test (and why not, the Psi Corps would have mapped many of the basic permutations for which sequence would give a certain P-rating).

Also on Page 120 you mentioned that Montessa King created a Facade, how did she do that? Could you use the Self-Control Telepathic ability and Action Block on your character? Could you also use Self-Control + a Deep-Scan for Memory Retrival to give your character a temporay boost with a knowledge roll?

Thanks for so far the best book out in my opinion in the game.

 

[Mongoose Gar]

I was hoping that you would also fix the Psi Cop Prestige Class since according to the Requirements you have to have 4 specific Telepathic Abilities that would require the character to be a 12th Level Telepath before gaining all of the required abilities.

There's the Extra Training feat or whatever it's called.

*realised that not remembering the name of stuff you wrote isn't really professional and looks it up*

The Intensive Training feat, page 86 lets you ignore some of the skill requirements. It's the skill points (Concentration 10 ranks, Intimidate 8 ranks, TP 12 ranks) that's real killer, not the Communication/Deep Scan/Pain/Surface Scan requirements.