Rules for Psionics?

[FentonGib]

Just don't make them too powerful. If your Talosian analogue knocks your players' Type A out of orbit like swatting a fly, the players will either want to be Talosian analogues ... or go away and play Traveller somewhere else.

lol yeah that's where the crux of the matter lies for me, I don't like applying one rule for PCs and another for the NPCs.

Atm I've decided to go for the rule as presented in the psion book, with the space opera style (x1.5 PSI). This means that a typical Psion with a 9 (+1 DM) total PSI would end up with a 14 (+2 DM) in the end, and a maxed-out psionic from a powerful psionic race with Psi 17 (15 max +2 racial) would end up with 26 (+6 DM). This is offset by the normal rules on max powers per day being half the INT score, and that effectively after every single use of powers (since in my dredd game a PSI Judge never used less than 2 points per use) the DM would drop quickly.

This means if the players tackle a psionically powerful alien, that alien's first few minutes will be very dangerous for the players, but if they hold out then by attrition they'll quickly wear it down.

Part of me balks at seeing a +5 for a character's psi stat (esp with everything else at -1/+0/+1) and thinks that it may just be easier to use the whole thing as a Psi pool and keep the DM the same regardless of how many points they have. After all, other players don't lose INT or STR from using it a few times a day... And they already have restrictors in the form of daily power usage and trauma levels.

I agree with you totally that I might bring in some alien monster with off-the-scale psi power, and I may give it whatever I want, probably enough to scare the players... but this would be the exception, not the rule. It's the rule I'm worried about.

 

[hdan]

Part of me balks at seeing a +5 for a character's psi stat (esp with everything else at -1/+0/+1) and thinks that it may just be easier to use the whole thing as a Psi pool and keep the DM the same regardless of how many points they have. After all, other players don't lose INT or STR from using it a few times a day... And they already have restrictors in the form of daily power usage and trauma levels.

Agreed - your PSI should be a pool, like CT's END based "number of blows" (used to be that you could only make END melee attacks in an encounter, and that things like running ate into this pool as well). Leave the PSI score for DM's, but restrict the number of points you can actually spend in an encounter to PSI.

You could increase the size of the "ready pool" by the given multipliers, but keep the PSI score itself as-is for modifiers.

 

[FentonGib]

used to be that you could only make END melee attacks in an encounter, and that things like running ate into this pool as well

Yep Mongoose Traveller only allows you to act for END combat rounds before becoming fatigued, but then after that it's just a -2 DM. I think Psionics are quite hard-hit.

The problem I find is that psionic characters tend to focus very much on the psionics... but the rules are so inhibitive that psionics feel like underpowered characters (since they split skills gained with psionic talents) with a little minor ability.

A gun-toting warrior with 3 different gun combats and melees is a swirling vortex of destruction... but a psionic warrior is only as good as his first strike?

 

[alex_greene]

Then a psion must make that strike count, and quite possibly hold back on the excessive use of psionics - at least, during the early stages of a mission.

Low-level psionic abilities are useful, but prohibitive range costs probably prevent all but the most powerful psions ever using even low level Sense or Life Detection at anything further than Medium range, requiring that they get into the battlefield along with everybody else - unless alien psionic technologies such as psi-amplifiers exist to boost ranges and reduce range costs.

Psionics are useful in a critical situation - and that makes a visible and recognisable psion in a battlefield unit a bigger target than the comms specialist. But they are best used off the battlefield, in prisoner interrogations ("Don't, whatever you do, think of the nuclear activation codes!"), infiltration and similar actions requiring subtlety rather than brute force & ignorance.

However, when used in battle, at close range a psion can be devastating. Never mind Assault. Try Telekinetic Punch at Personal range, or a punch enhanced by Psionically Enhanced Strength.

So even the most powerful psions cannot sustain themselves psionically in battle. If they time it right, and strike the right target at a critical point, they won't have to - teleport in, assassinate the enemy General on the toilet, teleport out again. Game over.

 

[locarno24]

Low-level psionic abilities are useful, but prohibitive range costs probably prevent all but the most powerful psions ever using even low level Sense or Life Detection at anything further than Medium range, requiring that they get into the battlefield along with everybody else - unless alien psionic technologies such as psi-amplifiers exist to boost ranges and reduce range costs.

True, but if you're using

unarmoured psionic ninjas with electric swords

because you want psions to play a big part, then you'd probably incorporate something. Some sort of chlorian-heavy micro-organism, perhaps.

 

[alex_greene]

All this brings up the question.

We now have Mongoose Traveller. We even now have Book 4: Psion. What does everyone here think of the psionics rules in both these sourcebooks? It'd also be interesting to hear of practical experience of the psionics rules in a campaign or scenario, and whether they worked, were underpowered, overpowered or derailed the game.

 

[FentonGib]

My main experience with psionics so far was with Judge Dredd, where a player played a Psi-Judge.

I used the option in the Psion book to double the Psi-Strength score, but misinterpreted it and instead of doubling the Psi-Strength I actually make a pool of double the points, and every 2 points spent was -1 PSI.

Even with this the player had to be extremely sparing in his use. In the comics and novels the PSIs are describes as constantly feeling the Psi-flux and use their powers a lot, whilst this player could literally count on one hand how many times per day he could do things. The power point cost for most things was very inhibitive for dedicated psions.

I accept that there's game balance requirement, but no other stat penalises you two ways (losing stats for usage and gaining trauma for over-usage) for being used... making dedicated PSIs very weak unless they strategically use their powers (and almost always at personal range).

I also would have liked some rules on Precognition. The main two things in Dredd are Precognition and Telepathy, and this wasn't even covered. I had to house-rule a new basic talent called Precognition, which worked very well and simply (if anyone wants it I'll happily post it). I didn't feel that batching it in "at Referee's discretion" within Clairvoyance did it credit. Any PSI can get precog/postcog glances, yes, but Precog-talented PSIs are good at tapping into it.

Other than that, I love the rules They're effective, realistic, and open, though at times could be better explained and proof-checked (though that's a general feel about Mongoose books, esp the "see page XX" lol)

 

[alex_greene]

"see page XX" lol)

As an alumnus of White Wolf, I hear you and feel your pain.

 

[FentonGib]

lol White Wolf's World of Darkness is by far the system I'm most experienced with, and love, but man their indexes and contents pages traditionally suck! lol.

They've got better though...

Seriously though, I got traveller core book simply because it was required for the Judge Dredd game. I liked it so much I've bought every book I can find that's available (some aren't, and most of those I bought on PDF) both on PDF and hardback... so if that's not an indication of how much I like what I've seen so far, nothing is. lol.