Troll Lord Games

Okay... so I've been working hard on refining StarSIEGE for publication. I've recently been focused on creating a Magic/Psionic system that allowed players to create their own powers as well as having some predefined powers listed. Since I'm going for the toolkit approach, I really think a DIY Psionic System is needed.

Well, I recently had a brainstorm that will see me re-writing the Psionic system as was last seen and wanted to bounce the ideas around. The previous system had a list of powers with challenge levels based off of the overall power level (Minor, Moderate, Major, or Perfect). Each power level also had a "rest time" associated with it in which you were banned from using more psionic powers unless you wished to overchannel and possibly harm yourself. Powers were based off of OGL spells.

My new idea would be to create an open ended system... this system is based off of the attributes. You can choose to channel power through your attributes to create specific effects. This nets the following:
Physique Path: Affecting physical forms. Direct Damage, Healing, Changing/Modifying.
Reflexes Path: Affecting movement. Teleportation, Telekinesis, Force Fields.
Knowledge Path: Flashes of insight/wisdom. Precognition, Psychometry, Sixth Sense.
Savvy Path: Affecting senses and mental capacity. Stunning attacks, Illusions, Insanity.
Confidence Path: Affecting emotional states. Command, Charm, Influence.
Empathy Path: Reading others. Telepathy, Aura Reading, Mind reading.

Paths are then combined with various functions like Range, Area of Effect, Duration, and such to determine the final Challenge Level. I may add some "forces" in to help narrow down the power, but I haven't worked that out yet...

What do you guys think of this? Remember, this is really high level right now, but I just wanted to get some feedback.

*smiles* I like the idea fine, since it sounds a lot like something I came up with.
My own methodology had one main prime plus two tertiary and used a 12/15/18 approach. I don't know if that will work with what you have in mind or not though? ^_^

It gives a wide range of psionic 'types' though.
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

Primes are not tied to attributes... primes are tied to skills (so Channeling is the skill bundle that is tied to psionics)... so either you have Channeling as Prime or you don't...

I was also thinking of limiting the overall power level of what you can do by your Attribute Score... so if you have a 0 Reflexes you won't be able to do much but move small objects meanwhile the Reflexes +4 will be able to teleport around the universe, taking others with you... A -1 or less in a score means you are completely banned from channeling through that path.

Eh well... it sounds like it would work about the same in practice. ^_^
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"We'll go out through the kitchen!" Tanis Half-Elven

Peter Bradley

I think it could work... a 'toolkit' approach sounds like one could completely take it out if one wanted to (never a fan of psionics) or, if I wanted to adapt something a bit more like the Force in Star Wars (psionics with a different name), this approach may make it easier.

Moriarty the Red
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I like it.

Can anyone think of a specific spell/psionic power they'd like to see that can't be modeled with the breakdown above?

Telekinesis.

serleran wrote:
Telekinesis.

Channel through the Reflexes Path (it's even listed as an example above)
I did just realize that Haste and Time Travel type effects aren't quite listed... I'd probably put them into Reflexes Path effects though....

Doesn't give it any breakdown, though, such as weight, distance, speed... assigning it an attribute is the easy part (just look at the d20 SRD.)

Well, like I said, this is the very high level part... assigning the different powers to an attribute is where I am right now... later there will be breakdowns for modifiers and power levels and what they "cost" to add to the power.

Right now I want to make sure I cover all the bases. Afterwards there will be rules for better defining the effect (weight, size, distance, range, duration, etc.) and what it requires from the caster.

Ah, ok. So, then, what about... hmmm...

Speak with Dead.

Resurrection. {I can see arguments for different "paths" for this one}

Fire Shield.

and... umm... something "meta" like Mnemonic Enhancer.

The Power RPG had a nice psionics systems, based on attributes.

Telekinetics was based on either Strength or Dexterity

Telepathy was based on Intellect

Telesthesia was based on Perception

Biokinetics was based on Constitution

Empathesia was based on Empathy

Teletempora was based on Reaction

Pyrokinetics was based on Stamina (for some reason)

Some powers were only available to a few factions : Teleportation were specific to a group of scientists, Invisibility and Power-Theft were reserved to a sect of assassins.
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Thanks for the help on ths... I've dropped the Attribute based psionics... Psionics, Racial Abilities, and Equipment are all built with the same "Effects Driven" design system. You model the effects which have a Building Point cost to them... you then split the Building Points out amongst Cost, Tech, Reliabiilty, and Size for Equipment or Potency, Drain, and XP for Special Abilities...

So you can make something that has a high Potency (requires a high Psi-stat to use), a low Drain (rest-period between uses) and low XP (costs a little of you XP to purchse the power). Or you could build the same power and make it innate by making it a 0 Potency, 0 Drain, and have all the BP go into the XP...

For example it costs 36 Building Points to buy an Extra Prime Skill Bundle... so if you want to access it all the time, it costs 36 XP (with a 0 Potency and 0 Drain). When you build your races you get 42 XP (couldn't resist) to create the character. This lets you build a Human with a bonus Prime Skill Bundle that is inherent and some specialties and be done.

StarSIEGE wrote:
Let's say another player, Myalin, wishes to design an Eidetic Memory Special Ability. She wants it to give a +2 Bonus to the Lore Skill Bundle, which is 6 Building Points. She also wants a Special Effect that allows the character total recall on most mundane facts. Myalin calls this "Total Recall" and adds 3 Building Points to the total. This makes the power cost 9 points total. Now she has to split those 9 points amongst Potency, Drain, and XP. At this point, Myalin decides to put all 9 Building Points into XP meaning that the ability will have a Potency and Drain of 0. This makes it an inherent ability that the character can always access, provided they buy it for 9 XP. Thus the stat block is:

Eidetic Memory P0 D0 X9, +2 Lore Skill Bundle, "Total Recall"

Finally, the SIEGE Engineer, Liam, wants to develop a pyrokinetic power for the game he's planning to run. He decides to make it a ranged attack and give it a +4 to the Shooting Specialty for 4 Building Points and have it default to just a Close Range attack (0 Building Points). He adds one box of damage for another Building Point and a "Combust" Special Effect for 3 more points, which causes flammable things to catch fire. Liam then adds a Continual Effect for another 6 points which means the stuff will burn and take damage for as long as the character stays in a Focused State. This makes the total cost 14 Building Points. Liam then decides to make it a low Potency, high Drain power, putting 2 points into Potency and 6 Points into Drain. This leaves 6 points to be put into XP. This results in the following stat block:

PyroBlast P2 D6 X6, +4 Shooting, Close Range, 1 Damage Box, "Combust", Continual