Aberrant RPG - a new look at Psiais

[Sandy Davis]

Let's start off by the limits, they can only buy some power and only too level two,and no powers that need psi over five.Well, that is the rules ofor a starting level charatcers.

Nowfor experinced charatcers, such as ones not starting level.They could get power like this. for any power with a psi min less than 5 he could start the game with two dots in it. With experince points he could raise power like novas but they would need a psi equal of one higher for each dot after the 2nd.Treat mega stats as having a psi min of 3.Those are mental,and social.

Now powers with a psi min of 5 can't be bought at character gen. but with experince points they can buy them, but must have the min pci,plus the level of the power.

for megaphysical stats, they are alos only to be bought with experince points.And only by psaids with a psi of 4 + the stat level,they must also have a five in that stat.

Or they could have stats higher than 5..from 6-10.No rule needed for this way.

So in numbers

if the power has a min less than four. It is a psiad can get levels of a power- psi min + 2.But only if they meet the psi min to buy the frist dot.Take magnetic mastery with a psi min of 4.If the psiad has a psi of 3 he could not get it, a psi of 4 he could get 2 dots,a psi of 5 he could 3 dots,a psi of 6, he could get 4..and so on.

a power with a psi min of 5 or more,they could buy the power.THey could get dot in the power of the have a psi= the psi men = the dots int he power-1.If you some how get 10 psi you could get level six powers,but only one dot..ohh well.Treat mega physical has having a psi min of 5.

Even with these added powers psaids are no were neer as powerful,and a power psaid is an avrage nova.I have no problems with that.

[Jordan]

Myself, I prefer the Psi rules from Trinity. It gives Psionic characters a distinctive flavor that is very different from Nova characters.

[ 10-24-2002: Message edited by: Jordan Rossi ]

[Sandy Davis]

Well,I have just about ever aberrant book, wile as the onlyt he core trinity,so I do not know whatsay about the psaids in that book

Now using what I know, psaids in the nova age could and most likely manafest powers that looked like nova powers.After all wile psaid were remarkable rare in the nova age as in the phb page 59...

"Still we can shed sme light on witch way nascent individuels flip.In the Nova Age, the majority of nascents become novas.Why,Becuase it is easier.Quantum forces have a more impact on thysical world than noetic energy.This holds true for anascent subject,Due to the exstance of a pratically powerful nova in earth durring the Aberrant era, it is easier at this stage of human history for genetic varriables to line up to properly for a nova eruption that it is fr them to triger psionic abilities"

I see the passage is not only stating that Devis Mal, is the man.But that psaid would most likely even when they use diffrent mean act more like novas in the nova age,after all they would be tought like novas.Again Id o nto knwo the trinity rules well, the only trinity game I played in I was a psaid out of the Aberrant phb..who half way threw becoming a psaid was hit by some nasty nasty Aberrant's power.

[Fortune's Son]

Quote:

Jordan Rossi jazzed:
Myself, I prefer the Psi rules from Trinity. It gives Psionic characters a distinctive flavor that is very different from Nova characters.

Are you talking about the freeform rules? Or the psi power descriptions?

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

Quote:

Originally posted by Sandy Davis- Miss-Fortune:
Now powers with a psi min of 5 can't be bought at character gen. but with experince points they can buy them, but must have the min pci,plus the level of the power.

for megaphysical stats, they are alos only to be bought with experince points.And only by psaids with a psi of 4 + the stat level,they must also have a five in that stat.

This basically makes them novas with restrictions on how they can spend their nova points. If you want to go that route, fine. But the Psiads described in the PCG don't have those abilities.

Actually, since they don't suffer from taint and since taint is often the limiting factor on the Q6+ bunch, these psiads might actually be stronger than novas in the long run.

[ 10-24-2002: Message edited by: David 'Dr. Troll' Smith ]

[Sandy Davis]

Well, this was thought of as sort of, [saids are more powerful in the nova age than late ron, as they are "tainted".I would poitn out that for a psaid to get a mega physical attributes, that have to have a psi of 4.. and to get a mega stat of 5 they would have to have a psi of 9.

and also I said they may insteed of mega physical attributes they could get physical attributes in the range of 6 to 10.Witch is nothing to laught at , unless your a nova.

As I sated that becuase devis Mal is on earth the flow of quantum,and maybe even noetic energies to his wile,weather he knows about it or not.

And also they could get them becuase"I think therefore I am".In other words, by the time they can get them they have a will so strong that force there bodies to improve.

As for them not suffering from taint, I could make a charcter that could have a taint of ,8 with a node of 6,and quantum of 10..THat nova then could have 5 level in elemental, mastery,and authority..withc if I am not misstaken would count as a level 10,maybe even 15 power forleathal blast... witch would have a damage code of 20+20d10. then he could buy extras.

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

But part of the point of psiads is that they aren't as powerfull as novas. Or more to the point, that there is a trade off between power and taint. Your psiads can be Pax or Pax+, but don't suffer any of problems.

You could accomplish much the same thing by just getting rid of taint altogether.

[Guest]

[ 10-24-2002: Message edited by: Sentinal ]

[Jordan]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jack Chance:
Are you talking about the freeform rules? Or the psi power descriptions?

Primarily the Psi power descriptions and the theories of Noetic science.

[Sandy Davis]

Well, yes I know and noticed how I did not say change the the powerers that could get,besides the higher leveled one,witcht hey have to pay a lot to get,and maybe the physical things.

I was pointing out that the most powerful psaid in the world,or the most power psiad could ever be, would be on level footing in a fight with a with a slightly advanced nova,or just maybe a starting off nova.A nova with 30 nova point could do think that a psiad with up ward of 80 psi points.

So what I am saying is the the Devis Mal of psaid, could fight on a level playing feild, blow for blow with a fairly new nova.Did I make he rules a bit to powerful,I don't know,but Id o not think so.

[Fortune's Son]

Quote:

David 'Dr. Troll' Smith noted:
Your psiads can be Pax or Pax+, but don't suffer any of problems.

Feedback.

With the awesome levels of psi being discussed comes a "closeness" with the noetic totality that means significant death and destruction will put your psi into a coma from which he will never wake up.

Joe Nova misses with a quantum bolt and only has to deal with guilt and legal issues. Jenny Psi misses with a destructive attack and experiences the feedback from the death and destruction she just caused. Somehow the idea of playing a pis Pax that gets turned into a parapalegic because of the neurological damage from feedback doesn't sound like fun.

Me? I feel sorry for people like Alex if they make it into the 2015 + period. Their lives are going to be a living hell.

[Jordan]

Remember though, the feedback has to be caused by something very, very big, or fairly personal to the character in question. Smoking a few people in a Nova-style shoot out may not do anything to the character depending on his Psi levels and how he percieves the situation but his dear old Aunt May dying could leave him in a week long coma!

Also remember the event in question has to be within the characters attunement radius, so Aunt May dying a continent away isn't likely to affect said character unless his Psi is extremely high either.

[Fortune's Son]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jordan Rossi:
Remember though, the feedback has to be caused by something very, very big, or fairly personal to the character in question.

I think you're right about the attunement radius but remember he's talking about the psi equivalent of Pax, who is nova 7. That puts them right up there with the Proxies doesn't it?

I'm not so certain about the requirement of it being "personal" though. Esperanza dropping its reactor and debris on France screwed up a LOT of the psis. The weaker ones that would barely qualify as "powered" when compared to novas got headaches and blackouts lasting for days. Some of the mid level psis suffered neurological damage and became parapalegic while others just never came out of the coma it induced.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is this; given the connection with the noetic totality, how could such a powerful psi engage in something like combat with a powerful nova in an uncontrolled environment of a city while feeling this?

And even if he could function, how could he continue the combat knowing the the destruction wouldn't be happening without his taking part in the combat? That he is in fact contributing to it by his presence.

Not that there aren't exceptions and I am assuming a physical confrontation. I just wanted to add the observation of the potential to Doc Troll's comments about it being unbalanced. One perspective is that feedback in this powerful a psi is a way of saying;

"Yes you can have the power of a god but just by possessing it you have the potential for a knife being stuck in your mind and twisted at anytime through no fault of your own. Repeatedly, until the day you die."

Looked at in this light the idea of uber-powerful psis stops looking quite so attractive and novas have it much better. They only have to pay their own price. Psi's have to pay the tab for everybody.

[Jordan]

Thats why I said OR personal. And this is discussed in the Trinity core book (Page 192)

Look, one person dying in your attunemt radius isn't really going to affect you unless there is some sort of personal connection between the Psion and the Dying individual. Now, 1,000 people dying, all at the exact same time, creates a ripple in the sub-quantum universe that cannot be ignored if it happens within your attunement radius.

When the Esperanza crashed, millions of people died and it affected Psions world-wide. This effect was mostly story generated and under normal circumstances characters won't get hit with this level of power.

Also a note, attunement ranges aren't as large as you might think for most levels of power. At level 5 Psi, the character has a range of 750 Meters. Once you hit Psi 6 though your attunemnt radius expands rapidly. At Psi 7 you have a radius of 100 Klicks!

So in the combat example, even a Psion with the equivient of Pax's power level wouldn't feel much from one or two peoples deaths, even if he were the cause because it's not based on empathic response but based on disturbences in the sub-quantum universe. A few people dying just doesn't create enough of a ripple.

[Twist]

Originally posted by Jack Chance:

I think you're right about the attunement radius but remember he's talking about the psi equivalent of Pax, who is nova 7. That puts them right up there with the Proxies doesn't it? [qb]

or somewhere close to that

[qb]I'm not so certain about the requirement of it being "personal" though. Esperanza dropping its reactor and debris on France screwed up a LOT of the psis. The weaker ones that would barely qualify as "powered" when compared to novas got headaches and blackouts lasting for days. Some of the mid level psis suffered neurological damage and became parapalegic while others just never came out of the coma it induced.

The Esperanza was big, I mean really big.

It went way beyond the normal distance because it was so big.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is this; given the connection with the noetic totality, how could such a powerful psi engage in something like combat with a powerful nova in an uncontrolled environment of a city while feeling this?

And even if he could function, how could he continue the combat knowing the the destruction wouldn't be happening without his taking part in the combat? That he is in fact contributing to it by his presence.

I think that is the real difference between psis and novas. Novas are primarily individuals and the more powerful they become the more unique and alienated they get. Psis on the other hand are intimately connected to the universe... the more powerful they get the more they come together. They are still individuals but where novas can never be, inspite of Mal and the Teragen, truely One Race Psis are and can and will. Backlash is merely a symptom of their "mystical" intimacy with the universe.

"Yes you can have the power of a god but just by possessing it you have the potential for a knife being stuck in your mind and twisted at anytime through no fault of your own. Repeatedly, until the day you die."

Looked at in this light the idea of uber-powerful psis stops looking quite so attractive and novas have it much better. They only have to pay their own price. Psi's have to pay the tab for everybody.

Yeah I think it's pretty cool as well... I must say though as far as I can tell she's merely unleashing fullpowered natural QK early.

Twist

[Sandy Davis]

Well, it is one thing to have power,another to want power,and yet another to need.Most peopel who have real power did not look for it.Most people whow ant power , Never get.And most people who need power, offten get it too late to change anything.

As for leting the "flood gates open to soon" I do not really think so.One a psaid starts teh game with 12 psi points,and a whole lot of thing he can't buy,No from my understanding of the rules and way people buy powers, with being a bit fuzzy in on the math, that is about 85 freebe point less than novas,or like 150 exp.(depending on how you spend it)So if you played a psaid for 50-70 games, you may get a psaid about as powerful as a starting nova,with more limits.

Now, about the mentel back lash,I did not know that, but then again I am more into aberrant than the other two games.But then again is makes sence, novas gettign taint,is jus t a sign of how much they parted way with humans,and psaid geting mentel black lash to say how much they stay with humans.

[Kirby1024]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jack Chance:
Me? I feel sorry for people like Alex if they make it into the 2015 + period. Their lives are going to be a living hell.

Hmm. Remind me next week (when I have time), to finish and post up an old story I was working on a few months ago, called "Journey's End - Alex McKenzie". I had intended to finish similar stories with Teknokat and Sydney first, but after this, I've just gotten a burst of Inspiration.

In short, yes, in my mind, Alex does survive to and past that period. What happens to him afterwards...

Next week. Promise.

[Fortune's Son]

"... He joins with Enkidu the gorilla and together they explore the galaxy."

It's next week there Kirby. Here's your reminder.

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