Psionic Rules Clarifications and Suggestions (Core22)

[Tom B]

'Machine Symbiosis'; Learning DM -1; Book 04: Psion, p 63;

• Interrogate
• Control

Dimensional Manipulation, Temporal Manipulation, and Ship Integration are all 'think carefully before you allow this in your game' talents. Some powers (like 'Rejuvenation') share names with different powers which are described elsewhere, but are distinctly different. The 'Machine Symbiosis' powers seem to be duplicated in the 'Zhodani Talent'. There is some other weirdness, too.

For the Zhodani Talent, the more I think about it, the more I think someone just put together some random things and some rules without much thought.

First, the contents aren't coherent, it consists of some telepathy, some teleportation, some new ones (the machine symbiosis above - I assume these are the same) and some awareness. I would split into 4 different talents and add in a few more powers to flesh them out. Also add in a rule that you can't learn teleprojection unless you know teleportation etc.

Then with the -3 to learn it, when would you actually get it? Usually someone would be after trying the 5 main talents and then it becomes impossible. Try the maths!

You could try for it before the others but then you could end up with someone knowing teleprojection without knowing teleportation!

Also a couple of issues with teleprojection. This seems an easy kill someone power. Restrict it to a willing subject or allow some kind of saving throw. And what's the range? The rules effectively say 'see teleportation', but teleportation doesn't have a range since it is self only. Suggestion: range of touch.

For Zhodani opposition, the Zhodani talent is great for them to have to mess with the Travellers - apart from teleprojection! That might mess with them too much. I would have each Zhodani operative only have a subset of the talent, e.g. one has the telepathic powers.

You might have guessed this has been annoying me for a while.

 

[Tom B]

Here is my list of all the rules for Psionics. There is a really nice TAS book by Hermit King Studios, Free Fall and Other Delights, that has some really good powers. It also has diseases and equipment which I didn't include on this list.

The Zhodani power psychic power and the droyne one Boost do similar things, so I'd put them in the same category.

 

[J. L. Brown]

For the Zhodani Talent, the more I think about it, the more I think someone just put together some random things and some rules without much thought.

First, the contents aren't coherent, it consists of some telepathy, some teleportation, some new ones (the machine symbiosis above - I assume these are the same) and some awareness. I would split into 4 different talents and add in a few more powers to flesh them out. Also add in a rule that you can't learn teleprojection unless you know teleportation etc.

Then with the -3 to learn it, when would you actually get it? Usually someone would be after trying the 5 main talents and then it becomes impossible. Try the maths!

You could try for it before the others but then you could end up with someone knowing teleprojection without knowing teleportation!

Also a couple of issues with teleprojection. This seems an easy kill someone power. Restrict it to a willing subject or allow some kind of saving throw. And what's the range? The rules effectively say 'see teleportation', but teleportation doesn't have a range since it is self only. Suggestion: range of touch.

For Zhodani opposition, the Zhodani talent is great for them to have to mess with the Travellers - apart from teleprojection! That might mess with them too much. I would have each Zhodani operative only have a subset of the talent, e.g. one has the telepathic powers.

You might have guessed this has been annoying me for a while.

The 'Zhodani Talent' is a mish-mash for a reason: these are powers that it is useful for opponent Zho NPCs to have. Putting them in one 'Talent' means having the package with only one roll. The rules for the 'Dedicated Psion Agency' career (1e Book 04: Psion, pg 13) details how to end up with something similar:

Basic Training: You are trained in one Basic Talent without needing to roll to learn it. You begin with that Talent at Level 0. Roll 1d6 to
determine which talent:

1. Awareness
2. Clairvoyance
3. Telekinesis
4. Telepathy
5. Teleportation
6. Special

If you roll Special, you may select 1d3+2 Powers from any of the Basic Talents. These form a Talent particular to you; give it an appropriate
name. This Talent begins at 0 and improves in the same way as any other Talent. However, when you learn new Talents, the Powers it
contains that replicate your specialised talent are not replaced with others.

As written, the 'Zhodani Talent' is

Zhodani; Learning DM -3; 2e AoCS 01, p 276

• Awareness of Others (should be part of 'Awareness')
• Blocking (should be part of 'CounterPsi')
• Control (should be part of 'Machine Symbiosis')
• Empathic Healing (should be part of 'Healing' or 'Awareness')
• Interact (should be part of 'Machine Symbiosis')
• Interrogate (should be part of 'Machine Symbiosis')
• Mimic (should be part of 'Telepathy' or 'Changeling')
• Psychic Transfer (should be part of 'Telepathy' or 'Awareness')
• Teleprojection (should be part of 'Teleportation')

'Interact' is interesting, because the original 'Machine Symbiosis' talent has nothing like it.

I am leaning towards a 'power tree' approach; where Psions initially start with just one or two powers in each of their talents, and can learn other powers based on the powers & talent levels they already posses.

 

[mavikfelna]

The 'Zhodani Talent' is a mish-mash for a reason: these are powers that it is useful for opponent Zho NPCs to have. Putting them in one 'Talent' means having the package with only one roll. The rules for the 'Dedicated Psion Agency' career (1e Book 04: Psion, pg 13) details how to end up with something similar:


As written, the 'Zhodani Talent' is

Zhodani; Learning DM -3; 2e AoCS 01, p 276

• Awareness of Others (should be part of 'Awareness')
• Blocking (should be part of 'CounterPsi')
• Control (should be part of 'Machine Symbiosis')
• Empathic Healing (should be part of 'Healing' or 'Awareness')
• Interact (should be part of 'Machine Symbiosis')
• Interrogate (should be part of 'Machine Symbiosis')
• Mimic (should be part of 'Telepathy' or 'Changeling')
• Psychic Transfer (should be part of 'Telepathy' or 'Awareness')
• Teleprojection (should be part of 'Teleportation')

'Interact' is interesting, because the original 'Machine Symbiosis' talent has nothing like it.

I am leaning towards a 'power tree' approach; where Psions initially start with just one or two powers in each of their talents, and can learn other powers based on the powers & talent levels they already posses.

This is pretty much how I break it down. The Dryone fortunately break theirs out for the most part.

As for changing the approach to Psionics, I'm taking a different approach. My plan is to use the Psionic Talents as Cascade and Cluster Skills. You'll still need to roll for access, though with a Difficult (10+) target but no penalties for each previous talent, and a +1 DM if you have a skilled instructor. The other regular bonuses or penalties apply and it is a PSI check.

If you get a skill point, other than 0 level, in the Cascade Talent, IE Telekinesis, you then have to apply it to a single cluster skill talent, IE Telekinetic Lift 1, aka Telekinesis. Max Pionic Skill levels is equal to PSIx3, though 0 level skills are unlimited. Anyone with a PSI score can attempt to use a power unskilled but suffer the normal -3 for unskilled and Jack of All Trades does not apply. Also, when using unskilled, difficultly cannot be reduced by taking more time and PSI point costs are doubled.

Also, trying to use psionics on a different species suffers penalties, -2 for non-sophonts (animals) and for species similar to but not the same as the psion and -4 for very different mental makeup species. This penalty can be overcome through a skill, but I haven't figured out what to call it or if it should be something like Science (Psiconology) instead.

A Psion with PSI 0 is possible. They would be limited to 0 level talents and could only perform psionic actions that cost no PSI, of which I believe the only one currently is Telepathic Shield.

This system really limits Psions in alot of ways but also gives them much more broad access to psionic abilities.

And for the Mental Shield ability talked about earlier, for my version, it's an always on ability that doesn't limit outgoing psionics and can be dropped voluntarily and selectively at any time to allow someone to connect while still keeping others out. Trying to connect to an unwilling, shielded mind is an opposed check and they know you're trying it. Attacking a shielded mind increases the PSI cost of the attack by 1. It is a free action to drop or raise the shield.

 

[Tom B]

The 'Zhodani Talent' is a mish-mash for a reason: these are powers that it is useful for opponent Zho NPCs to have. Putting them in one 'Talent' means having the package with only one roll. The rules for the 'Dedicated Psion Agency' career (1e Book 04: Psion, pg 13) details how to end up with something similar:


As written, the 'Zhodani Talent' is

Zhodani; Learning DM -3; 2e AoCS 01, p 276

• Awareness of Others (should be part of 'Awareness')
• Blocking (should be part of 'CounterPsi')
• Control (should be part of 'Machine Symbiosis')
• Empathic Healing (should be part of 'Healing' or 'Awareness')
• Interact (should be part of 'Machine Symbiosis')
• Interrogate (should be part of 'Machine Symbiosis')
• Mimic (should be part of 'Telepathy' or 'Changeling')
• Psychic Transfer (should be part of 'Telepathy' or 'Awareness')
• Teleprojection (should be part of 'Teleportation')

'Interact' is interesting, because the original 'Machine Symbiosis' talent has nothing like it.

I am leaning towards a 'power tree' approach; where Psions initially start with just one or two powers in each of their talents, and can learn other powers based on the powers & talent levels they already posses.

Yeh but it does state that Travellers can learn it. And as for opponents you can design them how you like.

 

[MasterGwydion]

Yeh but it does state that Travellers can learn it. And as for opponents you can design them how you like.

My issues with this are that this just makes Traveller into Dungeons & Dragons. Traveller is awesome because the same rules apply for NPCs as for PCs.