Since I now have this place to put all my designs, here are all the different ways I've attempted to implement Psychic powers.
NUMBER 1: A Psychic class
The first method I tried was to simply create a class with the ability to use psychic abilities. They would roll 8d10, keeping the highest 6, to set their Sanity Save. Their other saves would be the same as a scientist.
To use any sort of psychic power they would make a Sanity Save. Taking the roll/10 stress. Then it was up to the Warden to figure out how it would work.
Their stat bonuses are: +5 Intellect, +5 Speed.
Their Stress Response is: "When you fail a Sanity Save everyone nearby (Including you) must make a Panic Check as the world warps in unnatural ways."
Their skills are: "Pick One: Mathematics and Physics, Theology and Mysticism, Art and Mysticism, Linguistics and Biology. +3 pts"
NUMBER 2: Foci/Psychics
After that I saw a great idea by Tokens for Talkers, they flipped the stress stat and used that to trigger special abilities. So I expanded, creating psychic powers, and adapting the psychic class for people who want to focus on psionics.
This worked, although it was a bit complicated and felt tacked on, not like a system meshing with Mothership how I would like it to.
If you want to see it click here.
One thing I did like about this system is the Psychic Mishaps table. Psionics should be chaotic, barely controlled and understood much less than the people who use it would like to believe.
NUMBER 3: Psionic Skills
Now, time for the last version I have created up to this point. It is inspired by the aforementioned Three Tweaks blog and treats psychics as skills to learn.
However, there are 6 differences.
1. They are not Trained (+10%), Expert (+15%), and Master (+20%), and instead are Initiate (+5%), Aberrant (+0%), and Vast (-10%).
2. You roll adding the skill level of your psychic skill (the one you are trying to exercise, which might be a negative), and your level of psychic attunement. Your psychic attunement is a regular skill going Touched (Trained), Immersed (Expert), Engulfed (Master).
3. Your psychic attunement costs 3 skill points for Touched, 5 skill points for Immersed, and 8 skill points for Engulfed (Initiate, Aberrant, and Vast skills cost 1, 2, and 3 points respectively). You may, when you level up, take a -5 to a save of your choice to reduce the cost of attunement by 1 skill point. You may do that twice per level of psychic attunement (Reducing the cost by a total of 2 points but taking a -10 to a save of your choice).
4. If you roll doubles (E.g. 11, 22, 77, 00...) when making a roll with a psychic skill, roll on the Psychic Mishaps table (See implementation number 2).
5. Take 1d5-1 stress after you make a psychic skill roll.
6. Psychic skill rolls always do something, if you fail the roll you just lose control a little. E.g. If your Telepathy roll fails the message might be garbled, sent to multiple people, you might link the target to you and send unintended thoughts, you might give them a nosebleed, you might stamp the message across their body in painful welts as you slam them across the room telekinetically.
Initiate:
Telepathy - Speak into people's minds, and receive messages back.
Telekinesis - Move things with your mind.
Sustain - Stop someone from dying of starvation, thirst, or suffocation.
Pyrokinesis - Create and control fire.
Electrokinesis - Control Electricity.
Detect Psi - Detect the use of psionics, both those used in the past and the present.
Psi-Trap - Create a psionic trap that will cause 2d10 damage to the next person to use psychic abilities in this area.
Summoning - Summon Things from beyond.
Teleportation - Teleport yourself a distance.
Post-Cognition - See things that happened where you are.
Thing-Speak - Objects talk to you.
Pre-action - Speed up your reactions for this combat (Gain a +5% to armor saves).
Aberrant:
Empathy - Sense and manipulate emotions.
Alter Perception - Make people see things.
Far-Thought - Use telepathy across large distances.
Mind Reading - Read someone's mind.
Telekinetic Blast - Create a blast of telekinetic energy (2d10 damage, range (Short: 15m, Medium: 125m, Long: 300m). On a crit you may knock the target down).
Telekinetic Shield - Create a shield out of telekinetic energy, (Gain a +13% to armor saves until they take damage).
Telekinetic Structure - Create structures made of Telekinetic energy.
Mend-Wounds - Heal someone by 3d10 health.
Thermal Control - Increase or decrease temperature.
Electro-Magnetic Projection - Create an EM field or EMP.
Mental Backtrace - Track someone from their psychic signature.
Metadimensional Block - Stop someone from using psychic powers.
Far-Sight - Cast your sight to locations you know of.
Pre-Cognition - Peer into the future, the accuracy and distance into the future is up to the Warden.
Vast:
Mind-Shatter - You can project disruptive thoughts into a target's mind. The target must make a Sanity save, or take 4d10 damage. If they critical fail they lose 1 significant action on their next turn.
Mind-Control - Control someone's mind.
Memory Edit - Edit someone's memory.
Pressure Field - Allow the target to survive in space.
Metamorph - Morph a willing target into something else.
Hemorrhage - Cause the target to have a brain hemorrhage.
Inferno - Create a pillar of fire around you.
Technopathy - Control tech with your mind.
Concert of Minds - Allow multiple psionic characters to combine their efforts.
Incursion - Cause an incursion of pure psychic energy from beyond. Make things go weird. Roll 3 times on the Psychic Mishaps table and apply those effects to anyone caught in the incursion.
Communion - Communicate with an alien intelligence.
Step-Out - Transport yourself out of this dimension. You reappear in 2d10 minutes.
Rift - Create a rift that people can travel through.
Oracle - Peer far into the future and make a prophecy.
However, there are 6 differences.
2. You roll adding the skill level of your psychic skill (the one you are trying to exercise, which might be a negative), and your level of psychic attunement. Your psychic attunement is a regular skill going Touched (Trained), Immersed (Expert), Engulfed (Master).
3. Your psychic attunement costs 3 skill points for Touched, 5 skill points for Immersed, and 8 skill points for Engulfed (Initiate, Aberrant, and Vast skills cost 1, 2, and 3 points respectively). You may, when you level up, take a -5 to a save of your choice to reduce the cost of attunement by 1 skill point. You may do that twice per level of psychic attunement (Reducing the cost by a total of 2 points but taking a -10 to a save of your choice).
4. If you roll doubles (E.g. 11, 22, 77, 00...) when making a roll with a psychic skill, roll on the Psychic Mishaps table (See implementation number 2).
5. Take 1d5-1 stress after you make a psychic skill roll.
6. Psychic skill rolls always do something, if you fail the roll you just lose control a little. E.g. If your Telepathy roll fails the message might be garbled, sent to multiple people, you might link the target to you and send unintended thoughts, you might give them a nosebleed, you might stamp the message across their body in painful welts as you slam them across the room telekinetically.
Initiate:
Telepathy - Speak into people's minds, and receive messages back.
Telekinesis - Move things with your mind.
Sustain - Stop someone from dying of starvation, thirst, or suffocation.
Pyrokinesis - Create and control fire.
Electrokinesis - Control Electricity.
Detect Psi - Detect the use of psionics, both those used in the past and the present.
Psi-Trap - Create a psionic trap that will cause 2d10 damage to the next person to use psychic abilities in this area.
Summoning - Summon Things from beyond.
Teleportation - Teleport yourself a distance.
Post-Cognition - See things that happened where you are.
Thing-Speak - Objects talk to you.
Pre-action - Speed up your reactions for this combat (Gain a +5% to armor saves).
Aberrant:
Empathy - Sense and manipulate emotions.
Alter Perception - Make people see things.
Far-Thought - Use telepathy across large distances.
Mind Reading - Read someone's mind.
Telekinetic Blast - Create a blast of telekinetic energy (2d10 damage, range (Short: 15m, Medium: 125m, Long: 300m). On a crit you may knock the target down).
Telekinetic Shield - Create a shield out of telekinetic energy, (Gain a +13% to armor saves until they take damage).
Telekinetic Structure - Create structures made of Telekinetic energy.
Mend-Wounds - Heal someone by 3d10 health.
Thermal Control - Increase or decrease temperature.
Electro-Magnetic Projection - Create an EM field or EMP.
Mental Backtrace - Track someone from their psychic signature.
Metadimensional Block - Stop someone from using psychic powers.
Far-Sight - Cast your sight to locations you know of.
Pre-Cognition - Peer into the future, the accuracy and distance into the future is up to the Warden.
Vast:
Mind-Shatter - You can project disruptive thoughts into a target's mind. The target must make a Sanity save, or take 4d10 damage. If they critical fail they lose 1 significant action on their next turn.
Mind-Control - Control someone's mind.
Memory Edit - Edit someone's memory.
Pressure Field - Allow the target to survive in space.
Metamorph - Morph a willing target into something else.
Hemorrhage - Cause the target to have a brain hemorrhage.
Inferno - Create a pillar of fire around you.
Technopathy - Control tech with your mind.
Concert of Minds - Allow multiple psionic characters to combine their efforts.
Incursion - Cause an incursion of pure psychic energy from beyond. Make things go weird. Roll 3 times on the Psychic Mishaps table and apply those effects to anyone caught in the incursion.
Communion - Communicate with an alien intelligence.
Step-Out - Transport yourself out of this dimension. You reappear in 2d10 minutes.
Rift - Create a rift that people can travel through.
Oracle - Peer far into the future and make a prophecy.
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