Psi Corps Book Cover

[Mongoose Gar]

On Page 22 you mention a newer version of the P-Level test that requires a Telepath to perform the the test.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)?

I'd say that the P-Level test has multiple forms and components. There'd be medical testing for the genetic markers, neurotransmitters etc. There'd be telepathic testing that could be done by any trained teep using Surface Scan which wouldn't really require a particular level of telepathy on the part of the examiner. There'd be intensive testing of telepathic strength using probes and blocks.

*rereads page 22*
Ah, don't assume that if Talia was testing someone for P-level that she'd create a block and just see if the new teep could probe it. It's not a binary thing; Talia could tell what P-level Alyssa was by how fast Ally took down the block, not just whether or on Alyssa was P5 or higher.

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?

I'm loathe to mechanise Wacky Vorlon Agent Stuff too much - but yeah, I'd say you could use Action Block and similar powers on yourself.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm loathe to mechanise Wacky Vorlon Agent Stuff too much - but yeah, I'd say you could use Action Block and similar powers on yourself.

Speaking of Action Block, what is the Range of that ability. I noticed that when you reprinted it, the Range was still not listed. I have searched in the previous threads and could not find that anywhere.

Thanks

 

[Anonymous]

Range on Action Block is Touch (Close for a P12) - it's mentioned by Shannon in the Psi Corps thread down the page.

 

[Aramanthus]

There are always house rules to correct problems with perceptions people have with the system.

 

[scottmage]

Range on Action Block is Touch (Close for a P12) - it's mentioned by Shannon in the Psi Corps thread down the page.

Can I please get some clairification?

Action Block takes 1 min. according to page 61. In the Creating a Sleeper Personality on page 103, it takes 1 hour per block when combined with a memory vault. Does this make the Action Block unaccessable to the person it is placed in?

So if you don't have time to do it right, your character could place an Action Block about X and then place another Action Block about revealing that there is an Action Block (or thinking about it :twisted: consiously at least).

 

[Mongoose Gar]

Putting it in a vault hides the block from other telepaths, thus stopping it from being removed....

 

[crizh]

Thanks for the reply Gar.

To clarify. You can have several Vaults but they must all be nested. In fact Vaults automatically nest themselves.

For example, I create a vault on Monday and on Tuesday have reason to create another. As I am aware of the existence of such things the presence of Mondays can't prevent the creation of Tuesdays. Mondays becomes nested inside Tuesdays and can't be opened until Tuesdays is.

Problems. Tuesdays Vault might refer to different information. This would prevent its creation by exceeding the data limit. Double plus ungood. Also the critical information in Mondays would be unavailable until the potentially pointless information in Tuesdays is released. Triple plus ungood.

Psi Corps also states that Vaults may be placed in others. How does that work?

I posted that in the other thread but you never replied.

It would be quite useful to have these issues clarified. The placing of vaults in the minds of other people in particular is not covered by the original rules.

 

[scottmage]

Thanks for the reply Gar.

To clarify. You can have several Vaults but they must all be nested. In fact Vaults automatically nest themselves.

For example, I create a vault on Monday and on Tuesday have reason to create another. As I am aware of the existence of such things the presence of Mondays can't prevent the creation of Tuesdays. Mondays becomes nested inside Tuesdays and can't be opened until Tuesdays is.

Problems. Tuesdays Vault might refer to different information. This would prevent its creation by exceeding the data limit. Double plus ungood. Also the critical information in Mondays would be unavailable until the potentially pointless information in Tuesdays is released. Triple plus ungood.

Psi Corps also states that Vaults may be placed in others. How does that work?

I posted that in the other thread but you never replied.

It would be quite useful to have these issues clarified. The placing of vaults in the minds of other people in particular is not covered by the original rules.

I must admit that this is confusing. By nesting a Vault within a Vault, within another vault, etc.

If you have to nest them, then Bester could never have used it on Garibaldi in the manner prescribed on Page 102 of The Psi Corps. Using that example, if the last Vault created was "Look for dangers to the Psi Corps, probably involving one of the Earth megacorporations" then he would never be able to access the "Do not harm Bester or, by inaction, allow Bester to come to harm", since it is 4 nested layers down.

I can see having nests to help make decisions for the person with the Action Block on them. Almost like a program.

If A is True, then do B
If B is True, then do C
If C is True, then do D
etc. till the person does what the Telepath needs in Garibaldi's case.

It is easy enough to accentuate one personality trait or block another. Since these are blocks, you would block Garibaldi's loyalty to Sheridan, this would make leaving easier as an example.

 

[Mongoose Gar]

I'll need to sit down and think about an all-encompassing answer, and I'm absurdly screwed for time right now. If I haven't answered this in the next two weeks, somebody smack me by private message.

 

[EricRoss]

I believe that the answer is very simple. Bester was there when Micheal was broken and reprogrammed, but in my opinion it cannot be said to an absolute certinty that all the telepathic abilities work was done by Bester without any help from any of the hundreds or even thousands of PsiCorp telepaths that he could have gotten help with.

 

[crizh]

The important thing to remember about a vault is that the subject, usually yourself, is unaware of the existance of the vault.

Thus any limit on the number of vaults or the amount of data they contain is self-defeating. When one is unable to create a vault because of such limits one becomes aware that a vault already exists. Even the knowledge that such things exist (5 ranks of knowledge: telepathy?) is inherently dangerous when subjected to a deep scan let alone the knowledge that you already have one.

I suspect the best solution would be to lift most of the restrictions. Allow multiple vaults in both nested and non-nested forms and allow any amount of data up to and including your entire real personality (Montessa King) to be contained within a vault.

This can be balanced by carefully implementing the restrictions. A character is unaware of any data in a vault until it is triggered and so will often miss important events until it is too late to react to them. I would suggest that all vaults should be properly documented.

This should include details of the trigger, exactly what data it contains, whether it is nested within another vault or if another vault is nested within it and a copy of every vault must be lodged with the GM before it comes into effect.

 

[crizh]

I must admit that this is confusing. By nesting a Vault within a Vault, within another vault, etc.

If you have to nest them, then Bester could never have used it on Garibaldi in the manner prescribed on Page 102 of The Psi Corps. Using that example, if the last Vault created was "Look for dangers to the Psi Corps, probably involving one of the Earth megacorporations" then he would never be able to access the "Do not harm Bester or, by inaction, allow Bester to come to harm", since it is 4 nested layers down.

I can see having nests to help make decisions for the person with the Action Block on them. Almost like a program.

If A is True, then do B
If B is True, then do C
If C is True, then do D
etc. till the person does what the Telepath needs in Garibaldi's case.

It is easy enough to accentuate one personality trait or block another. Since these are blocks, you would block Garibaldi's loyalty to Sheridan, this would make leaving easier as an example.

The example in Psi Corps is quite confusing but it would appear to imply that only one vault is ever created.

It takes longer to create than a normal vault, one hour per block, but otherwise behaves just the same.

In Garibaldi's case Bester created six blocks which then took six hours to conceal in a single vault.

This vault lay dormant and undetectable until Garibaldi was activated by control.

At this point Garibaldi became unable to harm Bester etc. However all the blocks become obvious to a telepathic search for them. Until Garibaldi was activated he was still a threat to Besters personal safety but was undetectable to casual investigation, afterwards he stopped being a threat but could have been easily exposed by someone looking for such a mole.

 

[scottmage]

I believe that the answer is very simple. Bester was there when Micheal was broken and reprogrammed, but in my opinion it cannot be said to an absolute certinty that all the telepathic abilities work was done by Bester without any help from any of the hundreds or even thousands of PsiCorp telepaths that he could have gotten help with.

Please refer to The Psi Corps page 103 and then you will see that this is a question about rules, not who was where and when.

 

[Aramanthus]

That is true, that the work could have been done by several psi corp agents to make the work easier.

 

[Barbara]

finally got the book. Now when I get it back from Sundog I can check something in the genetics section. Something about the Y chromosone and mothers being important.