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Old 12-07-2011, 12:49 AM   #21
Johnny1A.2
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Default Re: Orichalcum Universe: New Psionic/Psychic/Supernatural Phenomena and Skills...

Quote:
Originally Posted by D10 View Post
Great thanks, I have been play testing many of your rules.

what area does it affect ? only 1 hex ?
As a thumb rule, 1 hex from Power 2 to Power 10, the target hex plus the adjacent hexes at Power 11-20. Apply common sense to that, of course, shrapnel won't necessarily stay contained to a one-hex blast, for ex. If you dump a lot of heat damage into one hex of a flammable material, it'll almost surely catch fire and the fire will act like any fire, spreading where it can. A big blast in a hex will vibrate and shake adjacent areas, it's a common sense sort of thing that has to be judged case by case. The details matter.


Quote:

Also, to the other question, can you "store" psionic duplications ?
I don't understand the question.

Last edited by Johnny1A.2; 12-07-2011 at 12:54 AM.
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Old 12-07-2011, 01:02 AM   #22
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Default Re: Orichalcum Universe: New Psionic/Psychic/Supernatural Phenomena and Skills...

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Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2 View Post
I don't understand the question.
For instance, you can occupy a flux point and store a flux bolt for later use, can you do the same with psionic duplication from the flux ?
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Old 12-07-2011, 10:20 AM   #23
Johnny1A.2
 
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Default Re: Orichalcum Universe: New Psionic/Psychic/Supernatural Phenomena and Skills...

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Originally Posted by D10 View Post
For instance, you can occupy a flux point and store a flux bolt for later use, can you do the same with psionic duplication from the flux ?
Nope. It's use it or lose it.
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Old 12-08-2011, 01:07 PM   #24
Jasonft
 
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Default Re: Orichalcum Universe: New Psionic/Psychic/Supernatural Phenomena and Skills...

Your 'power' systems as you have written them would do fairly well for other systems and settings too. Specifically the perennial attempts to convert Warhammer 40,000 to GURPS.

I was recently re-reading some of the Commissar Cain series from that universe and it struck me how absolutely perfect your Psychonull is in describing the Commissar's aide Jurgen. Antipsi just doesn't cut it but Psychonull is so close to what is described in the books it's amazing.
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Old 12-08-2011, 02:13 PM   #25
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Default Re: Orichalcum Universe: New Psionic/Psychic/Supernatural Phenomena and Skills...

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Originally Posted by Jasonft View Post
Your 'power' systems as you have written them would do fairly well for other systems and settings too. Specifically the perennial attempts to convert Warhammer 40,000 to GURPS.

I was recently re-reading some of the Commissar Cain series from that universe and it struck me how absolutely perfect your Psychonull is in describing the Commissar's aide Jurgen. Antipsi just doesn't cut it but Psychonull is so close to what is described in the books it's amazing.
I Agree! Im Gming a fantasy esque setting with all these power rules right now.

several humanoid races, a god like being excusing all sorts of rapid evolution power wise, and what you got is a low tech fantasy world with fluxons and psions and whatnots, being very fun so far.
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Old 12-12-2011, 11:58 PM   #26
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Default Re: Orichalcum Universe: New Psionic/Psychic/Supernatural Phenomena and Skills...

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Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2 View Post
[B]
NEW PSIONIC SKILL: PK BLAST

Prerequisite Power(s): Psychokinesis 2+, ESP 1+
Prerequisite skills: Telekinesis at 15+


This skill utilizes Psychokinetic Power to produce what amounts to an
explosion, a rapid energy release. This can be more effective than
one might suspect, even at modest levels of Power, because the damage
of an explosion depends in part on the rate of energy release, not
simply on the amount of energy involved.

Psychokinesis provides the energy, ESP is necessary to properly guide
and target the energy (though this is instinctive if the ESP is present, so
no ESP skills are required to use PK Blast.)

A psion who uses the PK Blast skill must spend two Fatigue points in
preparation and a third FP in actually using it, the skill thus takes
two turns to use, one turn of concentration, then the turn of use in
which the effect is instantaneous. At PK Blast skill 15+ the effect
can come in the same turn as the concentration.

The psion must roll vs. PK Blast skill, on a success any chosen point within
the range of the psion's PK becomes the point of origin of a rapid
release of telekinetic energy, i.e. an explosion. The explosion does
(1D6) damage at Psychokinesis Power 2, doubling with every two
levels of increased Psychokinesis Power afterward, up until about PK
Power 20, at which point it levels off (at higher Power levels, PK Blast
becomes inefficient). The explosion does this damage to everything within
its hex, rounding up (minimum damage 1). (It can't be used the same hex
as the psion, because the psion's own psychic energy field will cancel
itself out). On a critical success double the effective damage.
Extra effort doubles explosive damage, with the usual skill penalties
and FP cost.

Note that the explosion can not harm the psion directly, that is,
the energy itself can not harm him/her, it will be reabsorbed by the
psychic field of the psion (which is why it won't work in the same hex
as the psion anyway). But secondary and indirect effects are quite
another matter, shrapnel will still have its normal effects if it hits the
psion, a surge of thermal energy and/or vibration in a room full of liquid
nitroglycerin is still likely a bad idea, etc.

The formula is: [(1d6) * ((2 ^ (Power/2))] concussive damage.

If the psion fails the PK Blast skill roll, the Fatigue points are
lost, and the energy dissipates harmlessly, possibly with a bit of
random poltergeist-like telekinetic activity for a round or two. On a
critical failure, the blast happens but in the wrong place (meaning
anywhere at GM’s discretion within the psion’s PK range (other than his
or her own hex)).

A psion with high Blast skill can try to bring about the explosion
with refined targeting (not just down to the hex), but at a penalty to
the skill roll. For example, a psion might try to create an explosion
inside a locking mechanism or inside a mechanism of some kind, but at
-2 or -4 on the skill roll. [1]

If the psion also has Pyrokinesis at skill 15+, s/he can at will add
an exothermic component to the Blast, that is, the explosion will be
fire-hot as well as concussive. Again, since the energy is expended
in a fraction of a second, even a modest level of Power can produce
very high temperatures, albeit momentarily. For every two levels of
power, a psion with Pyrokinesis can do an additional [(1d6) * ((2 ^ (Power/2))]
heat damage.

Addendum: A psion does not, of course, have to use his or her
full power against the target when using PK Blast, s/he can deliberately try
for a smaller explosion. Any time the psion tries to produce a blast of less
than one half of his/her full potential, s/he gets a +2 on the skill roll as well.
At the discretion of the GM, one might give an additional bonus if the damage
is less than one fourth of the maximum possible.

Addendum 2: The effect of a PK Blast appears within the target hex,
so normally armor does not protect if the blast is manifested inside the area
protected by the armor. Exceptions include forms of armor or other shielding
that would block the effect of Psychokinesis. [1]

[1] A PK blast cannot be produced inside a living creature, it
does not work. The effect of the attempt is the same as a normal
failure on the skill roll.
I thought I might should give an example of PK Blast in use to clarify how it operates and why.

EXAMPLE 1: Sarah has ESP at Power 10 and Psychokinesis with Power 10. She has the necessary prerequisite skills and has learned PK Blast skill to a skill of 12. She does not have the Pyrokinesis skill, however.

Facing off against the evil Dr. Nasty, who is clad in heavy armor, she decides to attempt to use her PK Blast skill against him. So, she takes her turn of concentration, spends the 3 Fatigue points necessary, and throws her attack at Dr. Nasty. She has to roll a 12 or below, she gets a 9, a good success.

She's using her full power, so to determine the damage the GM rolls 1d and gets a 4. Now, since she has Power 10, that 4 is multiplied by 2^5 or a factor of 32. (Doubling every 2 levels starting at Power 2, five doublings is 32.) Pretty good.

Immediately, in the same hex occupied by Dr. Nasty, a sudden explosion manifests, doing (32 * 4) or 128 points of concussive damage to everything in that hex...except for one problem.

Dr. Nasty is wearing super-duper body armor with DR 130. The blast manifests somewhere in that hex, but where in the hex is pretty much random except that it can not happen inside Dr. Nasty's living body. So unless that random point happens to be between his body and his armor (GM's call, but it's pretty improbable!), his armor protects normally. The blast fails to penetrate Dr. Nasty's armor, leaving him shaken up but unhurt.

(Though anything unprotected in that same hex did take full damage! Had Dr. Nasty, a normal human, been unprotected by armor, he'd almost sure be quite dead.)

So, what could Sarah have done to deal with that armor problem? Well, she could use Extra Effort to boost the power of the explosion, but that costs a lot of Fatigue and chops the skill roll.

OR...

EXAMPLE 2:

She could try to more precisely 'aim' the effect, more precisely than to the hex. She could try to manifest the explosion in the space between his body armor and his body, so he takes the full damage. But this means she gets a penalty on her skill roll. The GM decides that trying to hit such a tiny gap means a hefty -6 on the skill roll.

Since she starts out with a skill of 12, that means she would have to get a 6 or less on her roll to succeed. Not good odds. She can try it, and if she succeeds she'll take down Dr. Nasty, but odds are she'll fail.

But she decides to cut the power of her explosion down, so that intead of multiplying the blast by 32 times, she uses only the equivalent of Power 4, less half her full strength. This means that if she succeeds, her explosion will only have a power of 1d6 * 4 (2 * 2). Not nearly as powerful, but on the other hand, she gets a +2 on her skill roll, so she only has to roll an 8 or less to succeed.

So, she tries it. Again, it costs 2 turns and 3 Fatigue, but her player rolls a 6, she did it! The GM rolls 1d to determine damage, just as before, and again rolls a '4'. This time, it's just 4 * 4 or 16 points of damage, instead of 128. However, the explosion occurs [I]inside the armor[I] and so the DR of the armor doesn't protect Dr. Nasty at all!

Dr. Nasty takes 16 points of concussive damage, and is either dead or very badly injured.

(Note that since the blast occured inside his body armor, it paradoxically protected anyone and anything else in that hex from the damage!)

TO BE CONTINUED...

Last edited by Johnny1A.2; 12-13-2011 at 12:02 AM.
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Old 12-13-2011, 11:14 AM   #27
D10
 
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Default Re: Orichalcum Universe: New Psionic/Psychic/Supernatural Phenomena and Skills...

I take it the best way to dodge the PK Blast is to "punch the psi in the face" since it doesnt seem to be dodgeable, blockable etc...

Normal distance and speed penalties apply ?
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Old 12-14-2011, 12:14 AM   #28
Johnny1A.2
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Default Re: Orichalcum Universe: New Psionic/Psychic/Supernatural Phenomena and Skills...

Quote:
Originally Posted by D10 View Post
I take it the best way to dodge the PK Blast is to "punch the psi in the face"
Yes, if the psion is dead or incapacitated, there won't be any psionic effect to worry about.

Quote:
since it doesnt seem to be dodgeable, blockable etc...
Dodgeable? Not really. Kind of like trying to dodge a laser beam or something, if you're not out of its way by the time its triggered, it's too late.

Blockable? Well, that depends, I'll be getting to that soon. There are defenses against PK Blast.

Quote:

Normal distance and speed penalties apply ?
Mostly yes. The psion can target any hex within his/her psychokinetic range. If the target it moving, s/he can try to guess which hex the target will be in on the 'firing' turn, but the further away the target and the faster it's moving, the harder that is.
Note that most psions have a relatively short PK range, though, so not many can project a PK Blast all that far away. See here for details of psychokinesis range (it's a house rule): http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=70111

Last edited by Johnny1A.2; 12-14-2011 at 12:19 AM.
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Old 01-08-2012, 11:06 PM   #29
Johnny1A.2
 
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Default Re: Orichalcum Universe: New Psionic/Psychic/Supernatural Phenomena and Skills...

Basic Defenses and Tactics Against Psionics...

In response to a message, I thought I should discuss this subject a bit. This will
necessarily be a somewhat haphazard discussion, of course, but I want to touch
on some of the ways of how a psion can be fought in the Orichalcum Universe.

With access to sufficiently advanced technology and resources, it is possible to
build machines that can jam or screen out psionic attacks and block or even
deceive telepathic and ESP-based surveillance. This requires both significant
resources and considerable knowledge, however. Fortunately, there are a few
more basic techniques that can be of some use absent such high technology.

TELEPATHY and ESP (basic defenses):

1. Crowds. Any large crowd of Homosapients can provide a certain amount of
protection against mind-reading and other telepathic assaults (and espersense
observation as well). The telepathic protection comes from two sources, the
constant ‘din’ of so many minds thinking in a small space, it interferes with a
psion just as constant loud noise makes it difficult to hear individual sounds.

Crowds can also provide protection from both telepathy and ESP via the natural
Antipsi field most Homosapients generate. This will not protect unless the psion
is also within the range of the Antipsi field, but if s/he is it can be a substantial
penalty to the power of the psion. Thus large crowds can be a ver useful form
of protection against psions of low Power and low skill.

(Yes, this means that large cities make psionics in general harder to use.)

In gaming terms, as a thumb rule, one might apply the following penalties to
Telepathy and ESP from crowd-interference:

For every 50 typical people (people being defined as Homosapients of any of
the known species of the genus Homo) within 100 yards of the psion, apply
a -1 to ALL psionic Powers in use, and a -1 to any skill roll for use of any
Telepathic skill or ESP based skill.

(This assumes normal-Homosapient psions, too. Avatars and other special cases
sometimes require special treatment.)

Larger, denser groups can reinforce the effect. For every 200 people within 100
yards of the psion, apply a -2 to ALL psionic Power rolls and a -2 to all skill
rolls for any Telepathy or ESP based skill.

Really huge concentrations of people can be very powerfully debilitating, when
a psion is in a large, major urban center or the equivalent, one might apply a -3
to all Powers and a -3 or even -4 to skill rolls for Telepathic and ESP skills.

So as we can see, ‘losing oneself in a crowd’ can be a very viable tactic against
psions of modest Power and/or limited skill.

2. Gold and copper. Gold and copper metal has various protective uses
against Telepathy and ESP. (Yes, this time we mean true mundane copper, not
orichalcum (though that can be used protectively in other ways)).

The traditional kook-conspiracy theorist ‘tinfoil hat’ has a germ of truth in it, as
a psionic defense. Tinfoil will not work, nor will most metals, because the
protective effect is not primarily electromagnetic, but gold and copper metal do
interfere with the use of Telepathy and ESP. A ‘hat’ made of gold or copper foil,
that covered most of the head, would likely be good for a -1 to all skill rolls in
attempts to use Telepathy against that individual. The metals do even better when
together, two layers of foil, one of gold and one of copper, would be good for a -2 to
skill rolls, unless the psion was very close (same hex).

(Note that the protective quality of these metals is remotely related to the same
electronic characteristics that give them their distinctive colors, so most metals,
including highly conductive ones like silver, will not work for this.)

Likewise, any volume completely enclosed in a layer of metallic gold or
copper is more difficult to remote view with any ESP skill. Alternating layers of
the two metals together are more effective, but even just one can be helpful, and
the effects are cumulative, to a point.

Completely enclosing a volume in a layer of either gold or copper foil will put a
-1 on all ESP based skills directed at that volume, and all attempts to use Telepathy
across the barrier from either side. A layer of gold and copper foil (it does not
matter which goes first) together with the other metal will supply a -2 on skill
rolls to use Telepathy or ESP across the barrier, and a third layer, making up a
‘sandwich’ of one metal between layers of the other, would add a -1 to the Power
rolls as well for either Telepathy or ESP.

A solid, enclosing wall of metallic gold or copper around a volume is good for a
-5 to skill rolls for either Telepathy or ESP across the barrier, and a -3 to Power.
Adding a layer of the other metal (we’re talking at least a centimeter here) takes
that up to -8 on the skill rolls and -5 on the Power rolls, and a sandwich of both
metals in such substantial amounts hits Telepathy and ESP with a whopping -10
on the skill rolls and -7 on the Power rolls!

Note, however, that the enclosed volume must be enclosed each case, no
more than hairline cracks and no holes. (As a thumb rule, if air can get in, then
all the protection goes down by at least one number, and any opening big enough
to let in or out more than air erases all the protection. Thus, an enclosed volume
that is not airtight still penalizes the rolls, but the penalty is one less than would
be the case if the enclosure was air-tight, and any larger hole or opening wipes
out the protection entirely.)

Note also that we are talking about metallic gold and copper. Most forms
of chemical compounds of these elements will not work. Alloys that do
not involve the metals forming molecular compounds can sometimes work, but
the metal content of the two key metals must be quite high. Alloying gold and
copper directly together also does not work...at all.

Multiple layered enclosures do not directly accumulate penalties, but they
do so indirectly. The psion must roll again to penetrate each successive nested
set of protections, which the penalties each time, providing multiple chances to
blow the attempt entirely.

Note that the interference is for attempts across the barrier. A psion who
is inside the enclosure can use his or her powers as normal on anyone also
inside the same enclosure.

Even with these caveats, we see that gold and copper metal can provide excellent
passive protection...though not necessarily cheap protection...from either
Telepathy and ESP. Some practical examples to follow.

To Be Continued...
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Old 01-09-2012, 06:55 AM   #30
smurf
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Default Re: Orichalcum Universe: New Psionic/Psychic/Supernatural Phenomena and Skills...

I'm not familiar with the universe. I was not to keen on the Psionics book.

I came up with these:

Telesend as per the standard rules with (from off the top of my head) a few bonuses... Video viewing and long range rules.

Telereceive eg: Mind Reading and Mind Probe. Needs Telesend to work, anything that stops Telesend will stop this too.

Afflications:
for my character she could dish out a -4DX and -3IQ 'Brain drains' one would cause Happyness and on a 5+ Success Euphoria, the other did Pain with a 5+ Success Agony. IIRC there was another one would Stun and could cause secondary Hallcinations.

Also to the repitoire were Mind Control and Suggest, plus Illusion.

All of this had to be be done via Telesend (I liked this idea from the 3rd Ed)

Mind Shield was also noted.

I felt Maldiction was more appropiate for 'Telepathy Powers'.

TK powers I thought were fine with normal range penalties and max ranges. I also favoured a non striking TK but something that was more close to the 'force' of things being thrown in the way or at people. Flight was ditched to levitate yourself with the power of your own PK (depending on weight it needs quite a bit). IIRC previous discusion there was the Reflexive mod which allowed quick time lvl one, plus 3 more quick times means the PK could throw around everything within the PK ST accept max encumberance where a bit of posing and staring had to occur.
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