[3e] how does a pyrokentic PC work? newb here

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by gurpsboggled

if this how pyrokensis really is in Gurps.

Your GM is the one that chose this arbitrary limit. Seems odd to try to blame the game system for that choice.

FP loss shouldn't be discounted. It's a hard stat to attack, and defenses for it are relatively few. FP damage converts to HP damage once you hit FP 0. It's even nastier in 4E than 3E, as taking away FP limits opponents from using Extra Effort. Denying people an area can be useful.

Heat isn't limited to 1d-1 damage. It scales up depending on how hot "hot" is. 1d-1 is the base level for simple flames. Turning someone's armor into 3000-degree molten metal is not a 1d-1 attack.

[Dalillama]

Originally Posted by gurpsboggled

to be be clear. we are only allowed 1 psi skill period.

new question how exactly does psi fatigue work.

i focus for x turns then once the ability is actually cast it costs me 1 fatigue?

Pyrokenesis doesn't cost any fatigue by default. You focus for 1 turn, then make a skill roll at the beginning of next turn. If you succeed, you can raise the temperature of the object up to your maximum per turn. Next turn, if you want to raise the temperature more, you roll again. Every time you succeed, you can raise the temperature again.

[Curmudgeon]

gurpsboggled
to be be clear. we are only allowed 1 psi skill period.

new question how exactly does psi fatigue work.

i focus for x turns then once the ability is actually cast it costs me 1 fatigue?

or is it focus x turns when its cast costs x fatigue.

are there any rolls to midi gate the loss of the fatigue?

also thank you very much for your informative posts. they have been very helpful to us as a group.

Ninja'd. Again! ;)

I was just re-reading Cyrokinesis and Pyrokinesis (some rulings for one refer you to the other) along with Fatigue Cost on p.P8 and this changes a couple of things I said in the previous post.

First, psi use does not, in general cost any fatigue to use, unless the power or skill costs energy to use, in which case it costs 1 fatigue/attempt. Neither Cyrokinesis nor Pyrokinesis cost energy to use.

There are some exceptions to this, both generally and for Cyrokinesis and Pyrokinesis specifically.

Generally, any repeated attempt after a failure costs 1 fatigue/repeated attempt. Any Quick Contest of Skills or Contest of Skills vs. the subject's Attributes costs 1 fatigue unless you win the Contest by 5 or more in which case it costs no fatigue. Also, you may spend fatigue as Extra Effort for your use of psi (sidebar on p.P7).

Specifically, if you fail a roll or stop maintaining the ability, fatigue is charged as if it were a repeated attempt.

As an example, if you use your Pyrokinesis on someone, it costs you no fatigue, as long as you make your roll.

You use Concentrate as your maneuver and make a roll vs. your skill each and every turn that you want to continue to increase the temperature. As long as you continue to make your roll, the temperature will increase and it does not cost you fatigue.

If you choose not to continue increasing the temperature but want to maintain the temperature at the level you’ve raised it to, you do not need to take the Concentrate maneuver and unless your subject takes some action that could evade your use of Pryokinesis which would require a roll vs. your Pyrokinesis skill, you do not have to roll against your skill again for this target until you have been using the skill for a minute. If you make the roll vs. your skill at that point, you continue your use and still pay no fatigue cost.

Here’s where it gets a little trickier. If you miss you Pyrokinesis roll by 1 to 5, you affect objects near the subject as well as the subject. If you miss by more than that but not critically, you don’t affect the subject but do affect objects near the subject. If you fail critically, you affect everything in sight and the GM works the details out, maliciously. For emphasis, the rules say the GM gets to make it as bad for you as he can (he isn’t supposed to kill you outright, but if the situation has the only possible exit blocked by flame and knowing that you decide to use it, that’s pretty much fair use of maliciously).

Even though you’ve failed the roll, it does not necessarily cost you any fatigue. If you want to, you can accept the inaccuracy and continue Concentrating or maintaining the use and pay no fatigue. If you want to try again for better accuracy or if you were maintaining the use and wish to start Concentrating again to increase the temperature of the same target, it counts as a repeated use and costs 1 fatigue each time you attempt to make your roll. Once you make your roll, continued use costs you no further fatigue.

Changing targets requires a new roll vs. Pyrokinesis but does not count as a repeated attempt.

Pyrokinesis has no Contests of Skill or Quick Contests of Skill vs. the subject’s attributes, so you needn’t worry about paying fatigue for that case. Neither the roll vs. HT+5 nor the roll vs. HT+3 are Quick Contests of Skill or Contests of Skill vs. the subject’s Attributes, because the subject is not comparing the success or failure of his HT roll to your success or failure with your Pyrokinesis skill.

You can use Extra Effort for your Pyrokinesis. For every 3 fatigue that you pay on an attempt, you increase your effective power by 1 and decrease your effective skill by 2. If your use goes beyond a minute, you must pay the fatigue for Extra Effort again each minute in order to continue using Extra Effort. The levels added using Extra Effort may not exceed the character’s basic power.

For example, your Pow 60 Pyrokinesis 15- pyrokinetic decides to use Extra Effort. He spends 12 fatigue and is now effectively Pow 64 (60 + 12/3 = 60 + 4 = 64) and Pyrokinesis 7- (15 – [2 x 12/3] = 15 – [2 x 4] = 15 - 8 = 7) for the next minute. He uses it for a minute and needs to continue using it, so he must pay another 12 fatigue to use Extra Effort for another minute, but he probably doesn’t have another 12 fatigue to spend. Assume that he has ST 20 which gives 20 fatigue. He has just used 12 fatigue and has 8 fatigue left. He is a psi not a magician, so he does not have the option to burn 1 HT (effectively taking a 1 hit point wound) as if it were fatigue to give himself 9 fatigue for Extra Effort. He can spend 6 fatigue for Extra Effort and is Pow 62 (60 + 6/3 = 60 +2 = 62) and Pyrokinesis 11- (15 – [2 x 6/3] = 15 – [2 x 2 = 15 – 4 = 11) for the next minute after which he will be Pow 60 Pyrokinesis 15- until he gets a chance to rest and recover some of his fatigue.

If he had a source of 360 fatigue which he could use to power his Pyrokinesis, he could not use more than 180 fatigue of it at a time because 180 fatigue would give him an additional Pow 60, which is equal to his basic Pow 60 which is his upper limit for Extra Effort. So, theoretically he could have a maximum Pow 120 Pyrokinesis, if he had the fatigue available. In practice, however, he wouldn’t even try to do so.

The reason he wouldn’t try is the penalty to his skill roll. To use Pow 60 of Extra Effort, his Pryokinesis roll would take a whopping penalty of -120. In other words, his effective skill is 15-120 = -105 and he must roll a -105 or lower on 3d in order to use his Pyrokinesis. The GM isn’t supposed to allow you a skill roll if your effective skill is less than 3- but if he should allow it: “Can you say catastrophic critical failure? I knew you could!”

The character cannot afford to take a penalty that will take him below an effective skill level of 3-, and should be leery of dropping his effective skill below 10-, but sometimes you have to. Working backwards, Pyrokinesis 3- {3- = 15 – 12 = 15 – [2 x 6] = 15 – [2 x 18/3]) so he should never pay more than 18 fatigue for Extra Effort as long as his basic Pyrokinesis skill is 15-. Spending 18 fatigue will give him 18/3 = 6 extra Pow for a maximum effective Pow 60 + 6 = 66.

One additional thing to consider for your Pyrokinetic given the effect of a missed Pyrokinesis roll is taking the Enhancement: Improved Control. In the event of a miss with Improved Control, other things don’t heat up but nothing happens to the target. Critical failures are treated as if they were normal pyrokinetic misses (in other words, a critical failure still sets everything on fire). Improved Control adds 20% to the cost of the Pyrokinesis skill and since this is a one-skill power, it adds 20% to the cost of the power as well.

Assume you had a point budget of 194 points for the power and skill (IQ 10 [0 pts] Pow 60 [180 pts] Pyrokinesis 15- [14 pts]). Improved Control would yield IQ 10 [0 pts] Pow 50 [50 x 3 = 150 pts x 120% = 180 pts] Pyrokinesis 13- [10 pts x 120% = 12 pts] all with Improved Control and 2 points left over. You could shift the points around to raise power and lower skill or vice versa, but that’s how the Improved Control build cost is figured.

[gurpsboggled]

alright let me get this straight.

using psi abilites unless they specifically require FP for them do not infact cost FP.

so then i spend 1 turn charging focusing on x target. my turn comes around again i successfully heated them up. if i continue to heat the target up again i make a skill roll. if i succeed the will roll again i heat them up. still costing no fatigue.

now if i choose to put in "extra" effort or if i fail a roll and i choose to continue the same target i lose 1 fatigue on the spot.

[Curmudgeon]

gurpsboggled
alright let me get this straight.

using psi abilites unless they specifically require FP for them do not infact cost FP.

so then i spend 1 turn charging focusing on x target. my turn comes around again i successfully heated them up. if i continue to heat the target up again i make a skill roll. if i succeed the will roll again i heat them up. still costing no fatigue.

now if i choose to put in "extra" effort or if i fail a roll and i choose to continue the same target i lose 1 fatigue on the spot.

Almost but not quite. ;)

The minimum fatigue you can spend for Extra Effort is 3 not 1.

It may be a typo but you have written "if I succeed the will roll I heat them up." GURPS does have a Will Roll which is used as shorthand for "roll vs. IQ plus Strong Will or minus Weak Will" (that's a mouthful to say every time, so you can see why we want the shorthand ;) ). So, just in case: "if I succeed in my Pyrokinesis skill roll, I heat them up."

Otherwise, as Professor 'enry 'iggins used to say: "By Jove, I think he's got it!"