[GURPS] Psionics 4e question.

[Rowan]

Hello. I'm trying to convert a 3e psionics character I made some years ago over to 4e psionics. They have the Healing power, but with the limitation only usable on self. In 3e that's a limiter worth 30%. Can I add that limiter to the Cure power in 4e and simply use it without needing to get the self healing technique?

Any help appreciated, thank you.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Rowan

Hello. I'm trying to convert a 3e psionics character I made some years ago over to 4e psionics. They have the Healing power, but with the limitation only usable on self. In 3e that's a limiter worth 30%. Can I add that limiter to the Cure power in 4e and simply use it without needing to get the self healing technique?

Any help appreciated, thank you.

In 4e GURPS Powers (p. 51) the "Affects Self" modifier is worth +50%. Affecting yourself only would be just a +0% I'd imagine.

[Taneli]

Self Only +0% as Christopher mentioned above sounds about right to me as well.

This has been discussed previously some 15 years back, when Bruno came to the same or similar conclusion after an extensive maths-maraton that can be viewed here:

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.p...9&postcount=26

[Anaraxes]

Powers recommends (p51) that healers who can heal only themselves build on Regeneration or Regrowth rather than Healing. But that's something of a matter of taste and concept, I think. (You can't use Healing when you're unconscious, for example, nor does Healing happen automatically without the need for taking Maneuvers. Which might be exactly what you want for a character.)

I agree that a Self-Only modifier for Healing would be a +0% feature.

If you're trying to keep the 3e mechanics where all abilities have an associated skill, then the Requires (Attr) Roll Limitation (Powers 112) will come in handy. -10% for a Hard skill. The "Skills For Everyone" box on Powers 162 has more advice.

Also, you might be interested in GURPS Psi Powers. This book is mostly a catalog of pre-built psi powers (which could just as well be "magic" or "chi" or whatever). But it's also a nice worked example on how to get a specific feel and effects from combining the basic traits. The "under the hood" builds are all shown, so you can see how the final results were derived. The author was also trying to build a set of powers, all of which had an independent skill and power level, somewhat like the 3e psionics rules. That sometimes is a bit of a trick, since not all of the underlying Advantages are levelled. And as if he wasn't working hard enough already, PK (the author) also chose to try to regularize the durations of all the abilities in the book, so they're consistent rather than some being based on 1 minute, others 10 seconds, and so on. If you get into building abilities, studying the way those abilities are built can be instructive.

[Celjabba]

Since the OP mentions the "Cure" power and the "self-healing" technique, I guess he is already using Gurps Psionics Powers (4e), specifically the builds on p 47.

Self-healing is +50% (Gurps Powers p 51) - so a -5 technique in Psionic powers.

However, there is no "self only" modifier anywhere for the healing advantage, afaik.

You could say it is a +0% modifier (switch "heal other" with "heal self") or possibly a -50% modifier (+50% heal self, -100% don't heal others) or a -30% modifier (Gurps 3e).

Either way, you would need to remove the -30% contact agent limitation from the base build !

case 1 :
Self-cure (healing(Psychic Healing, -10%, self-only, -0%)) [27]
Further levels add Reduced Fatigue Cost, one level at a time [+6/level].
heal other technique : default to skill:Self-cure -2 and require skin contact (+50% heal others, -30% contact : -2)

case 2:
Self-cure (healing(Psychic Healing, -10%, self-only, -50%)) [12]
Further levels add Reduced Fatigue Cost, one level at a time [+6/level].
heal other technique : default to skill:Self-cure -7 and require skin contact (+100% heal others, -30% contact : -7)

case3:
Self-cure (healing(Psychic Healing, -10%, self-only, -30%)) [18]
Further levels add Reduced Fatigue Cost, one level at a time [+6/level].
heal other technique : default to skill:Self-cure -5 and require skin contact (+30% remove self-only, +50% heal others; -30% contact : -5)

The third case (-30%) is the most elegant, as it is perfectly symmetric.

However, there is likely a reason why the self-only limitation don't exist, and the easiest way would be to use regeneration instead (Psionic powers, pg 49 under ADDITIONAL PSYCHIC HEALING ABILITIES )