[Psionic Powers] Do inanimate targets resist Malediction with HT or Will?

[Gurps Fan]

Innate Attack enhanced with Malediction uses a Quick Contest of user's Will vs. the target's Will instead of ordinary attack-defense rolls (p. B102). Inanimate objects has Will 0, so they must resist a Malediction-enhanced IA with their Will 0 (provided the attack in question would affect it at all). See this post for full discussion.

E.g., assume I have a Burning Attack enhanced with Malediction. If I have Will 10 and use my ability on an ordinary wooden box (an inanimate object with HT 12 and Will 0), then there will be a Quick Contest between my Will 10 vs. the target's Will 0 as the resistance roll, not my Will 10 vs. the target's HT 12.

However, Psionic Powers rules otherwise: it's quite explicit (see the Inanimate Objects and Resistance box, Psionic Powers, p. 12) that inanimate targets don't use Will but they use HT -- which is typically far higher than their Will 0 -- when they resist Malediction.

See Pyrokinesis ability (pp. 56-57) for an example. It's a set of alternative abilities but when I intend to use it on an ordinary wooden box to set it aflame, it works just as an Burning Attack enhanced with Malediction. However, the rules say that there's a Quick Contest between my Will 10 vs. the target's HT 12 as the resistance roll, not my Will 10 vs. the target's Will 0.

Then, is there any way get rid of this contradiction?

• P. 12 of Psionic Powers should be ignored. It's about the cases where "the ability is normally resisted by an attribute the object does not have", but since inanimate objects do have the score Will 0 and it's not "an attribute the object does not have", the text in the box is irrerevant.
  
  
• "Inanimate targets resist with their HT instead of Will 0" is a inherent limitation for psionic abilities, and there should be some (unwritten) counterbalancing benefits. They should intrinsically combine and become a zero-cost feature.
  
  
• Or some other way?

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Specific Rules override General Rules when applicable. Psionic Powers has specific rules as they apply to the powers within Psionic Powers; and so the Psionic Powers rules are used when adjudicating the powers within Psionic Powers.

If you're the GM and don't wish to use the specific rule and would rather use the general rule ... then use the general rule. If you're the player, try negotiating with the GM.

[PK]

It's not a contradiction, it's a ruling specifically for psionic powers (and thus for Psionic Powers). That book isn't a generic toolkit like Powers was -- it's a worked example. So it happily makes judgment calls and takes advantage of special effects to achieve a specific vision of psychic abilities.

In GURPS, many abilities (powers, spells, etc.) that are resisted by Will succeed automatically vs. a Will 0 rock. But many other abilities resisted by Will don't work at all against inanimate objects. So I decided that this book would split the difference with a reasonable ruling: If an inanimate object is targeted with a resisted-by-Will effect, it resists with HT. This is just one of the many, many special effects and rule changes rolled into psionic abilities, as explained in Chapter 1. And yes, they all more-or-less balance out.

[Gurps Fan]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

Specific Rules override General Rules when applicable. Psionic Powers has specific rules as they apply to the powers within Psionic Powers; and so the Psionic Powers rules are used when adjudicating the powers within Psionic Powers.

It's true that Psionic Powers has specific rules, but if some game effects work advantageously or disadvantageously, they should be reflected on point cost. GURPS adopts a point-based system.

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

And yes, they all more-or-less balance out.

Sorry, but I don't see what benefits and what drawbacks balance out to zero-cost here. My argument is simple: when an ordinary wooden box is targeted by a Burning Attack with Malediction, it must resist the attack with its Will 0, so if the same box can attempt a resistance with HT 12 instead of Will 0, it's clearly disadvantageous from the ability user's standpoint. If there's an disadvantageous effect, then (a) the user should pay a suitably cheaper cost or else (b) there should be some other advantageous effects to balance out.

[Flyndaran]

Switching an ability from against Ht to against Ht for inanimate and Will for animate certainly sounds less effective than against Will for all.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Gurps Fan

It's true that Psionic Powers has specific rules, but if some game effects work advantageously or disadvantageously, they should be reflected on point cost. GURPS adopts a point-based system.

Powers (detailed in Powers) can have minor positive and negative traits. For example, GURPS Psionic Powers can use powerful Power Techniques and some other positive little bits.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Gurps Fan

If there's an disadvantageous effect, then (a) the user should pay a suitably cheaper cost or else (b) there should be some other advantageous effects to balance out.

What do you charge for the ability to form gestalts?

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

What do you charge for the ability to form gestalts?

That is already a feature of Powers.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Refplace

That is already a feature of Powers.

All of them? I'm pretty sure Psionics enjoy some of the special benefits that some other Powers don't.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by Refplace

That is already a feature of Powers.

Even if that were true and it isn't automatically (try to make sense out of forming gestalts for the bio or electronic power sources) that doesn't answer the question.