[Psionic Powers] Drain (Attribute) Question

[nerdvana]

Rev. Pee Kitty often espouses splitting Will and Perception away from Intelligence (if this is a new concept for you, check the houserules on his My Gurps page).

In his book GURPS Psionic Powers (p50) he gives us a power named Drain (Attribute) that must be associated with the four core attributes.

My question is this... if you used his houserule, would you change Drain (Attribute) to be associated with the six basic attributes that are ended up with instead?

(While I would love to see RPK's answer, everyone should feel free to answer.)

[Phantasm]

I would say "Yes" to this. If it's not explicitly covered by Psionic Powers (I don't have it yet....), I'd go so far as to make Drain (Attribute) available to Per, Will, Basic Speed, and Basic Move (HP and FP already have their own draining variants - Innate Attacks).

[nerdvana]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

I would say "Yes" to this. If it's not explicitly covered by Psionic Powers (I don't have it yet....), I'd go so far as to make Drain (Attribute) available to Per, Will, Basic Speed, and Basic Move (HP and FP already have their own draining variants - Innate Attacks).

It is not covered in the book, but I was intending to do just that (sans Basic Speed and Move)...

[PK]

My house rules actually address this explicitly, with values for Will and Per draining. So yes, while there was no way I could've worked it into canon, in my games you can buy Drain Perception and Drain Will as PV abilities, each of which drains twice the margin of victory for the duration.

I hadn't thought of Speed/Move, though. Personally, it seems off to drain Move without affecting Speed -- to me, that's like draining just someone's Striking ST but leaving their Lifting ST, y'know? So I'd allow a seventh variant, Drain Speed, which drained Basic Speed equal to half the margin of victory (no need to round -- fractions are fine), but not a separate Drain Move ability.

[nerdvana]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

My house rules actually address this explicitly, with values for Will and Per draining.

Ok, I missed that. Thanks. Shows me I was thinking right.

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

I'd allow a seventh variant, Drain Speed, which drained Basic Speed equal to half the margin of victory (no need to round -- fractions are fine), but not a separate Drain Move ability.

That is excellent. Thanks.

(Added the Rev. Pee Kitty tag.)

[Anaraxes]

Drain Perception? Well, maybe psionically you can make someone sort of dull and unresponsive to their surroundings. That sounds like the version when Per is linked to IQ, though. "Harder to perceive" sounds like a job for Obscure.

[nerdvana]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Drain Perception? Well, maybe psionically you can make someone sort of dull and unresponsive to their surroundings. That sounds like the version when Per is linked to IQ, though. "Harder to perceive" sounds like a job for Obscure.

Drain Perception (as I see it, for when Per and IQ are split off) is a situation where you are psionically interfering with the mind's ability to process the sensory input.

[PK]

Remember, this is Psychic Vampirism -- you're draining that "energy" from the victim. The idea that you can drain energy that makes someone clumsier is no more believable than the thought of draining energy that dulls someone's senses, IMO.

I admit that Drain (Attribute) is a little more "game-mechanic-based" than most other psi abilities -- I mean, the term Attribute is right in its name -- but it's also far too classic a PV ability to not include.

[PK]

Originally Posted by nerdvana

(Added the Rev. Pee Kitty tag.)

What exactly does that do? My forum software knowledge is not strong on this topic.

[nerdvana]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

What exactly does that do? My forum software knowledge is not strong on this topic.

Tags are a new way of searching. If you look at the bottom you will see the list of tags and each tag is a link. If you click on the rev. pee kitty tag it will take you to a list of all threads that have been so tagged (I think entirely by me so far). I started tagging threads you give an answer to with tag so I can find them (this is along the same lines as the kromm explinatin tag someone else created... hey, he's the one who put you in the same category as himself in the comments on the book - quoted below...).

Originally Posted by Sean 'Dr. Kromm' Punch, GURPS Line Editor

After reviewing the pure crunchy goodness of GURPS Psionic Powers, I've been forced to conclude that I have a rival for the title of GURPS rules guru.