Babylon 5 campaign: some questions

[Gedrin]

P-rating is actually the upper limit on the "power" portion of a Psi's ability. It should be purchased similiar to an Unusual Background (with the "unusualness" varying by race) that grants access to a higher max points in Teep "power". Characters with no P rating cannot buy Psi. Some people (First Ones, "Vorlon Touched" Psis), simply don't have this sort of a limit.

P-rating doesn't have any bearing on Teep Tallent, though it is often closely linked. A well trained and tallented P1 is a master with the slingshot. An untrained P10 is an incompetent with a cannon.

If I were modeling this using Powers, I would allow a character to spend up to half (since they should have some flexibility) of their MAX P-rating points on Psi, but bring that back in line with their starting point total using Uncontrollable and Unreliable. A new psi would be both Unreliable and Uncontrollable, representing the difference between power and skill.
Other abilities I would purchase using alternate abilities. However, I would require all alternate abilities would suffer from the same levels of Unreliable and Uncontrollable that remained on the base power.

In the B5-verse there seems to be a good bit of variance in the Psi of races, like the long range properties of some Centauri Psis (or maybe Psi pairings). It might be apropriate, if you're looking to be really fine grain, to exempt the Centauri from limits on range modifications when working with their pairing.

Also, you may wish to require a certain number of points in Mental Disads per P-rating for Human Psis. For most these will be things like Loyalty:Corps or various prejudices, but there's good evidence that says if someone's gonna be crazy, it's the Psi (or the guy the Psi was messing with). I'd double the number for Teeks. This is probably because the human psi pool hasn't had time to properly assimilate, and seems to have been somewhat a "rush project" for the Vorlon. Other races, with longer histories of psi don't seem to have as much of a problem this way.

[Dragondog]

Originally Posted by Harald387

Ivanova is an empath, and very mildly so at that. No amount of Psi-Corps training would ever make her any more than an empath, though she might become better at reading people with practice (Powers as Skills covers this nicely). The P-rating, as I'd seen it, is an indicator of potential - 'You are this powerful, you can learn to do these things'.


RAW says they can gain new abilities. However, if the GM says 'You're a P6, you can't buy Telecommunication (Telesend, Universal, Unlimited Range)' then you can't buy that any more than you could buy Burning Attack in a mundane game.

It's said frequently through the series that 'A P6 shouldn't be able to do X', or 'Only a P11 or higher can learn to do Y and Z'. This implies that a wide range of abilities are outside the reach of lower P-ratings, no matter how much they try to learn them.

I have never disagreed with you on this. P-rating doesn't change. You can only learn abilities covered by your P-rating.

Lainier. As mentioned earlier in the thread and in the show itself, there are exceptions, but normally P-rating doesn't change.

[TorgSmith]

I'm thinking about running a B5 campaign. I have read the Psionic Powers book and it does not fit the model I want. I want the P level to represent the strength of the Psi's ability. A P12 Psi Cop will be at a serious advantage on a mind probe against a P3 commercial teep.

One idea I had is to have an advantage that was called Psi Strength that the player could buy levels in at 10 CP per level. This would go up to a maximum of 20 levels. They could also purchase up to 4 levels in the Psi Talent. Any rolls they made for their Psi abilities would use the total like a skill level. To get the P rating you would divide the total by two and round down. The talent is purchased at 5 points a level. I would make the player buy four levels of the advantage before they could purchase the levels in talent. I am planning on running a high CP game so I am not too concerned with the point cost.

This would give a P12 an effective 24 skill like ability that is extremely high. A P7 would have an effective 14 skill that would be pretty good. And a P3 would be quite weak with an effective 6 skill like ability.

I have not decided on the individual abilities yet.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Dragondog

We don't see much about telepaths from other races, but we do know that Psi Corps trains telepaths extensively. Nothing I've seen of B5 states that you have to have all your abilities from the beginning.

IIRC Minbari telepaths are part of the religious caste, there is a guild of telepaths in the Centauri Republic some of whom can communicate over interstellar distances (and wild precog ability is relatively common amongst Centauri) and the Narn telepaths were more or less culled out by the Shadows. I think that's about all we get canon...

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

IIRC Minbari telepaths are part of the religious caste, there is a guild of telepaths in the Centauri Republic some of whom can communicate over interstellar distances (and wild precog ability is relatively common amongst Centauri) and the Narn telepaths were more or less culled out by the Shadows. I think that's about all we get canon...

Wait, where is the guild part from? I don't remember that part. I do remember the wild Precogs (Own Death), though.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Molokh

Wait, where is the guild part from? I don't remember that part. I do remember the wild Precogs (Own Death), though.

I thought it was from early on (or maybe the horrible pilot movie) when they're disucssing G'kar's attempts to accquire telepaths for the Narn ... either that or during a discussion about PsiCorp's restrictions on telepaths, pointing out that every species has some form of control.

Centauri precogs also occasionally forsee other things as well - I seem to recall the Dowager Empress (?Turhan's widow?) had a prescient dream concerning Londo which resulted in her 'three chances' speech.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Centauri precogs also occasionally forsee other things as well - I seem to recall the Dowager Empress (?Turhan's widow?) had a prescient dream concerning Londo which resulted in her 'three chances' speech.

Yep, played by Majel Barrett. She predicted that Londo would become Emperor. She also predicted that Vir would become Emperor too. Great reaction shots from the actors there.

[Dragondog]

Many Centauri, including Londo, see their own deaths in a dream. While their seers, such as Turhan's widow, see much more.

[Brandy]

Psi abilities are generally contests of will; one could call Will+Psi Talent-8 your P rating if you were so inclined.

Psi Corps training, as it is depicted in the Bester B5 books, would certainly books willpower. A P12 would then be someone with something like IQ-12, Will-16, Telepathy Talent IV.

Just an off-the-cuff thought.

[Vaevictis Asmadi]

Originally Posted by Harald387

I'd also note that, with two notable exceptions, it doesn't seem like B5-verse psis could do much in terms of training or practice to *increase* their abilities or add new ones; the Psi Corps taught a measure of control and skill (represented by greater skill at using the powers, or higher Talent), but it doesn't seem like there was much in the way of 'adding new abilities through training'. Your set of abilities determined your P-rating, and that was that. I'd generally not allow a B5 psi to buy new abilities without some significant story justification (frex, "the Vorlons rewired your brain").

Well, without some training by an experienced telepath, you can't even block out the surface thoughts of nearby people, causing something like Supersensitive. But Talia taught the telepath girl from Down Below to shield pretty quickly, so it seems a very simple thing to learn.



I would of course put strict limits on how much TK a human, at least, can have. Even with requirements for UB, mental disads, and high TP ability, the upper limit should be a lot lower than for telepathy.

Originally Posted by Lainier

Of course. Earth's tech level is lower than other races'

Lower than the Minbari and Centauri, but not the Narns IMO. I have the impression that Narn tech is cobbled together from whatever they could steal from the Centauri during their revolt, and that they've only backwards-engineered something slightly less advanced than what humans have. They don't seem to have artificial gravity, for example.