Rolling up a Psionic character - talents

[IanBruntlett]

I'm re-reading the core rule book. I've reached the Psionics chapter and I'm looking at training (bottom left, p152). It tells you how to learn a psionic talent but it doesn't say how many talents or attempts at talents you can make.

Any ideas?

 

[rust]

As I read it, during training the character can make one
attempt for each one of the talents, and he can make
these attempts in any order of the talents, but with a de-
clining probability of success (-1 per attempt).

A character with an extremely high psi strength and an
extreme luck could probably learn all of the talents, pro-
bably beginnng with teleportation and eliminating the ne-
gative modifier for each successive attempt with the posi-
tive modifiers of the talents.

 

[IanBruntlett]

Thanks Rust. Almost finished reading the book

 

[Scalding]

Although no character in my group is Psionic, I was also looking through the Psionics section, and have a couple questions.

It seems that, as a character uses psionic talents, they use up their Psi. So if a character starts with PSI 9, and uses a talent that takes 1 point, they are now at PSI 8 and have gone from a +1 to 0 modifier (until it regens). Is this correct?

Also, I'm not sure about the point costs of some of the skills. For example, the Telekinesis power says it costs Strength + Range. What is Strength? It is confusing because the entire section refers to Psionic Strength as the PSI attribute, but this is obviously not that. It seems to be linked to how much (mass?) the character wants to move, but I'm not really sure. I don't remember seeing anything relating STR to carry/lift values, so I'm not sure how to calculate this.

 

[rust]

It seems that, as a character uses psionic talents, they use up their Psi.

Yes, the psi strength is temporarily reduced by using it.

What is Strength?

How much a character can lift is mentioned in the equip-
ment chapter, it is based upon STR (not psi strength)
and CON.

However, the description of the Telekinesis talent is ra-
ther unclear, I am also not sure how to handle this.

 

[Hopeless]

I've been looking at the Psion supplement but the main problem I had was that I used the career list at the back of the pocket rulebook as a way to generate a psion character being played by the wife of a friend and given basic training had access to a few too many psionic abilities.

If they have to roll to gain access to "any" of these Psion skills why are they listed in the career section as per basic training?

Was there supposed to be another bit explaining what basic skills they're supposed to get if they start out as Psions or is the point is that they "can't" start off as Psions and thats what I've been overlooking?

By that I mean since they can't start off as Psions there should be no problem as they would only get access to one of these skills as per the rules for a career change.

Been wondering about Telekinesis and I think it should be Psionic Strength that should apply not the character's Physical Strength, and to abate the cost I'm thinking of having the Psion's skill level in any psion as the absolute minimum they can do without cost and any further is when it starts to deplete their strength incurring fatigue once it gets really low.

Will double check on that bit regarding str & Con though, thanks for the note!

 

[rust]

Since psi strength deteriorates with age (-1 per term),
it would seem logical that characters start their psion
careers as early as possible.

In the Third Imperium setting they will usually start in
another career and have to find a Psionic Institute (or
equivalent) to get their initial testing and training, but
in another setting where psionics are less demonized
they could start just as well with the first term of the
psion career, treating testing and training as a part of
the character's background history.

Even within the Third Imperium there could easily be
planets where it is the custom to test a child as early
as possible and to train it as soon as possible, like the
Zhodani almost certainly do - Capital is far, and the em-
peror and his officials are not omniscient ...

 

[alex_greene]

The bit about the cost of "Strength" in the Telekinesis description is that it refers to the equivalent Strength of the Telekinesis: if you want your TK to have Strength of 3, you pay 3 Psionic Strength.

The core book posits that the telekinetic force has a Strength rating comparable to that of normal Strength: a TK with 5 Psi invested in it will have a Strength of 5. And a Str DM of -1 ... h'mm ...

"This basic form of the talent allows the character to move objects at range. The Effect of the check determines the duration of the telekinesis in rounds. The number of points spent determines the Strength of the Telekinesis."

Now Book 4 has a different take, adding:-

This basic form of the talent allows the character to move objects at range. The Effect of the check determines the duration of the telekinesis in rounds. The number of points spent determines the Strength of the Telekinesis. It costs 1 Psi point to lift up to 100 kg (2 Psi points for 200 kg and so on).

I'd leave it to you to work out whether or not it's worth getting Telekinesis, based on the current rules.