"Telekinesis enhancing weapon" how to build?

[Lex_BR]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

If you can buy it from someone or have it made for you, and more than a handful of them exist, I'd say money. It sounds like this is just part of the setting -- much like psychotronics are assumed to be part of any modern or future game involving psi.

It is part of the setting but deffinitelly not a common weapon that anyone could have access to.. They are designed and assigned only to the handfull of Faranian Justicars scattered throughout the universe. Noone outside the order knows how to make one and it is considered illegal to even own one of these weapons if you are not the one it was made for.

ways to get this weapon :

- Be a Faranian Justicar (space paladin)
- Kill a Justicar
- Buy it off the black market for an outstanding sum of money from someone who has killed a Justicar.

the two latter options come with a hidden cost, however.
as soon as word got out that you have purchased a fallen justicar's power-staff for your own crazy billionaire private collection you can be damn sure it wont take too long for a very live justicar and his followers to burst through your front door to retrieve it by any means necessary.

to summ it up:

lex luthor has a lot of money but still couldnt buy a green lantern ring if he wanted to...at least not without bringing the wrath of the lantern corps on him.. does the ring cost money or CP?

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Lifting power? I don't think that's what the OP had in mind when discussing the use of a staff weapon -- generally, weapons are all about striking power. My suggestion was that you'd add some multiplier of the wielder's TK to his ST for all purposes of using the staff as a weapon.

I read it as wanting to use the Staff as a power conduit for his TK, which would be combining TK with ST for all types of feats, like jumping/vaulting as well as striking.

Afaik the standard way of combining STs, including TK STs, is by adding Basic Lifts together.

Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty

Trying to make this a function of BL seems unnecessarily complex and somewhat confusing -- how do you turn +X lbs. of BL into +Y damage?

You don't, you turn +X lbs of BL into Y ST which has it's own corresponding damage, but you need that ST for all manners of staff stunts, from jumps to throwing, etc., not just strikes.

YMMV of course.

[Bruno]

Yes, I was thinking "Wielder holds the staff and uses it to enhance his TK powers, which he could use to lift space cruisers, throw around guards, etc without physically contacting them", not "Wielder uses the staff as a TK-held weapon and hits things very hard with it."

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Yes, I was thinking "Wielder holds the staff and uses it to enhance his TK powers, which he could use to lift space cruisers, throw around guards, etc without physically contacting them", not "Wielder uses the staff as a TK-held weapon and hits things very hard with it."

Even so, I'd envision enhancing TK powers by increasing BL, so 3x the TK ST when used through the staff would be being able to lift 1500 lbs, when before you could only lift 500 lbs, but I guess it's all in how big an effect you're going for.

Again, YMMV, and the OP's needs may be different, I just find that using BL gives me a better grasp on being able to say that 2x means being able to lift 2x as much, etc.

[Genesis]

Originally Posted by Lex_BR

lex luthor has a lot of money but still couldnt buy a green lantern ring if he wanted to...at least not without bringing the wrath of the lantern corps on him.. does the ring cost money or CP?

I would generally consider the power rings to be bought with points, but they're pretty magical. You're definitely getting into the grey area here, and I think the answer is going to be: whichever way you (as GM) want it.

If the staff is replaceable by the order (i.e. a justicar can ask for a new one if his is destroyed, presumably while saving the galaxy, etc. etc.) than I'd call it money, but I might still require players to put in a Sig. Gear investment. If it's completely irreplacable (i.e. a justicar who allows his staff to be destroyed is No Longer Fit To Wield One, and is barred from a replacement until he completes a sufficiently epic quest), on the other hand, I would be more inclined to charge points.

There are more exotic options, too. Perhaps the staff itself is a "normal" piece of equipment, but wielding one legally requires a certain level of Rank (bought with points). And/or some equivalent of a license (a Perk). Perhaps they can only be wielded by someone of the appropriate bloodlines (an Unusual Background). Maybe the staff requires an attunement ritual or process (bought as a Weapon Bond, or something). This way you can charge points (you can charge an essentially arbitrary number of points, really), without having to stat out each advantage the staff grants and price it accordingly.

As for Ze's comments regrading ST addition: I recall the same thing. Since BL scales with ST*ST, adding STs directly makes TK powers waaay more powerful when used in concert. In this case, however, I don't think it's terribly unbalancing. You're only adding STs for melee strikes with the staff - all the TK powers might be amplified by the staff, but you're not adding STs together. Striking damage doesn't scale by the square of ST, though - it's more or less linear with ST - so adding STs together for striking only doesn't make me uncomfortable. YMMV, though.

[Dunadin777]

Originally Posted by Lex_BR

ways to get this weapon :

- Be a Faranian Justicar (space paladin)
- Kill a Justicar
- Buy it off the black market for an outstanding sum of money from someone who has killed a Justicar.

the two latter options come with a hidden cost, however.
as soon as word got out that you have purchased a fallen justicar's power-staff for your own crazy billionaire private collection you can be damn sure it wont take too long for a very live justicar and his followers to burst through your front door to retrieve it by any means necessary.

to summ it up:

lex luthor has a lot of money but still couldnt buy a green lantern ring if he wanted to...at least not without bringing the wrath of the lantern corps on him.. does the ring cost money or CP?

I would say the issue is if the PC can just pay a huge amount of money and take the risk, it should be bought with money. If you, as the GM, would require some RP'ed plot to get it in addition to other concerns, then it'd be points.

Going with the Lex Luthor example. He can get a nuke or even kryptonite without it being covered in the comics. He regularly pulls one 'out of his hat' and no fans really complain. Note that kryptonite is pretty rare and special, but if he can get it without any plot-time or page-space devoted to the action, then he must not be paying points for it. If Lex pulled a Green Lantern ring on Supes in the middle of a fight, and there was no page-space devoted to how he got it, fans would cry foul. He has to have a really good plot explanation for owning it, so it is more an issue of points.

That's how I see it. So as Genesis said, it's about how you want it to play out in the campaign. Personally I'd lean towards buying with money for anything that can conceivably be mass-produced, even if it isn't in the specific setting. So if someone can use any old staff (ie it isn't attuned to the intended Justicar) it's bought with GURPS bucks.