I''m trying to create a form of psionic power that is less magic and more "mental powers." Alot of this is what you''d predicatably expect of a magic system, but I''ve got some wrinkles I''d appreciate comment or constructive criticism on. As usually, it''s longish, but I''ve worked to format it so that it''ll read easily. Summary: Psionics can control minds and affect physical matter in limited ways. There are five schools, each with a number of Talents, or powers, and two opposing Disciplines, or philosophies. The two Disciplines determine how psionics work, and create strategic gameplay tradeoffs. Basics The player has two stats the govern psionics, Psi and Will. Psi determines power, Will determines defense and resistances. Psi also determines the maximum number of Talents a Psionicist can learn. Psionic Schools Each school has a number of powers, but not all are developed yet... As with most magic systems, each Talent has an associated cost and a progression which is more effective and takes more energy. Telekenis - Projects force walls that can block physical energy and mass; can levitate targets; can slow, entangle or cause targets to become overencumbered Telepathic - Mental attacks and defense are all here, including suggestion, mind control, and status effect causing strikes (stun, confusion, etc.); delayed betrayal (sleeper personality); aurus that raise or lower morale Prescient - All detection powers are here, such as detecting life or specific classes of objects; makes harder to hit in combat; reveals map; highlights characters who are about to perform certain (usually hostile) actions before they do so; can flag enemies in advance; reveals random events and encounters before they happen; reveals large-scale political events, disasters and changes that affect the map; visions of other critical locations and people Psychocreative - Alters the target''s stats and changes its properties, creating new abilities such as the ability to endure vacuum or a firestorm by changing the molecular structure of the target; can heat or cool targets; can molecularly destabelize targets; can detonate targets (including inventory, btw); cause large scale events, such as earthquakes, tornados or solar flares Psychogenerative - Healing, status effect removal, resistances, teaching and imbuement (investing psionic powers and properties into an object) Psionic Disciplines A player or NPC may have one or the other, but not both. They may use any Talent from any School, but the Discipline determines how their energy works. Channeling - Channeling draws from the energies of the universe surrounding the Psionicist. This creates a reservoire of available power, which may go up or down with the environment. Psionicist may use their power at will and continuously . The reservoire does not natually deplete. However, psionic attacks that damage the mind, changes to the environment, or psionic dampening fields may temporarily reduce or suppress powers. Once this occurs, the Psionicist must remove the effect or heal in order to restore their ability to completely channel. Enervative - Enervative psionics drain psychic energy from the Psionicist each time a power is used. If the power requires more energy than the Psionicist has, the power cannot be projected until the Psionicist regenerates energy or uses restoration items. Enervative psionics cannot be dampened by psi dampeners or the environment. Enemy psionic powers and mind altering narcotics in the form of gas or injections, however, can deplete the entity’s psionic reserves by causing mental status effects (confusion, suggestion). Psionic energy regenerates naturally with each second, and fully when the psionicist rests for their maximum rest period. Psionic Symbionts: Psybionts Psybionts allow players to learn powers beyond their maximum. They are symbiotic creatures made entirely of psionic energy. They meld with a host and give the host a library of more powers than they would have access to naturally. In exchange for a certain portion of the host’s psionic energy, the psybiont masters a psionic power and use it on command. The host and psybiont negotiate how much power the psybiont will receive, then the psybiont draws from the negotiated energy reserves until they are depleted. It then waits to be recharged, which can only occur when the Psionicsts rests and clears their mind. There is no limit to the number of psybionts a host may meld with as long as the host has psionic energy. Psybionts can be purchased from psionic races, found or summoned through meditation when in certain regions of space. They can also be trained to become more powerful. There are three varieties of psybionts: Benign Psybionts – Benign Psybionts are usually young and adventurious psionic intelligences that are drawn to hosts both for their psionic energy and the Talents such hosts can teach. Benign Psybionts must be taught a Talent, and can only learn one. A host can give or take energy from a Psybiont at will. However, being newly formed, Benign Psybionts have trouble holding energy, and as such, any psionic power given to them decays over time at the rate of one point per game hour. Benign Psybionts leave upon the request of the host. Joined Psybionts – Joined Psybionts are more mature psionic intelligences that have come to learn to hold energy by integrating fully with their host’s psionic power. As a result, Joined Psybionts never lose power. However, as a side effect of their joining with the host, they cannot be removed from a host without death to both. Since Joined Psybionts weave themselves into the user’s psionic energy, they permanently occupy whatever the user allocates to them. Each psybiont can learn one Psionic Talent. Joined Psybionts respectfully wait to be summoned by a host when the host meditates (anywhere), make known their energy request, and always disclose the terms of the deal to the host. Viral Psybionts – Viral psybionts are the least benign of all psybionts, and can in some cases be downright malignant. Viral psybionts loiter around highly charged psionic areas, usually places of war or disaster, and wait for a host. When a potential host rests, the psionic creature takes advantage of their lowered defenses and attempts to invade the host’s psionic energy. Hosts are startled awake on a successful attack. Once attached to a host, the viral psybiont cannot be removed without psychic healing. Successful healing removes the creature but permanently drains the psionic power it occupied (placing a cap that has to be leveled up). If not removed before the host rests after the attack, the psybiont begins to grow, devouring the host’s psionic energy by 1 to 10 points every time the host rests. The host can also voluntarily give the psybiont additional energy, but the viral psybiont will never release any energy given to it. The viral psybiont can be trained just as other psybionts can, but unlike other psybionts for every 10% of the user’s psionic energy it takes, it can be taught 1 new Talent. Because of this ability, some psionicists purposely seek to be infected by Viral Psybionts. Charmed Psybiont – Charmed psybionts are the vagabonds of the psionic realm. They have travelled through the minds of many hosts and have accumulated a wide range of psionic abilities. Charmed psybionts visit potential hosts during meditation while the host is in certain psychically charged environments. They reveal the powers they know and the amount of psionic power they wish to occupy. If a host accepts, the charmed psybiont weaves whatever power from its list it can summon into the mind of the host. However, this weaving is not permanent since the psybiont must work to integrate their diverse powers into the chemical and electrical fabric of the host’s brain. As such, the host may forget the ability after resting. However, the Charmed Psybiont, upon detecting the absence, automatically weaves whatever ability it can summon (which may be the same, but may not be). The Charmed Psybiont may be given more power, but cannot relinquish the power once assimilated. Charmed Psybionts leave upon request of the host. Gameplay Players will acquire powers by being taught by teachers, much as in Morrowind. Different teachers know different powers at different levels of effectiveness. The player may also play a little mini-game involving their power and a few status bars to educate themselves-- although there is the potential for injury, damage and even death at higher levels as they strain their minds. Stats do not change in this game except by inventory objects, training or bio-enhancements. Therefore, a player with low stats in psionics must either gather items or acquire psybionts if they forgo raising their stats. Psionics are meant to be less flashy than science effects. This means less fireballs and more "force choke" or levitate effects. This was done to balance the domain of the Syncrotek, another character class, from the Psionicist. Okay, that''s the gist of it. Please let me know what you think. -------------------- Just waiting for the mothership...

I'm not done reading yet, but you should read "Lost Legacy" by Robert Heinlein. I'll edit this post with my real response, and I'll try to find the short story online in the meantime. It's neat.

Stand by for actual response...
======================================
Well, Lost Legacy is a novella, and the full text can't be found online, at least not by me. It's in a collection of Heinlein's works called "Assignments in Eternity", which features three other delightful stories, and is worth a look.

I like your idea very much, but I'm a little concerned about how you'll balance the system. Will everybody have psionic capabilities? It seems that there's a lot of room for abuse, and the proverbial "dark side" would be very seductive indeed.

After all, a moderately capable psionicist would be able to far outmatch a team of crack gunmen. He could render himself invisible and then set them against one another until all were dead, and only expend a very small amount of psionic energy. In the right environment, a channelling psionicist would be invincible! I'm sure that you're able to balance your game design to make it balanced and interesting, but I feel compelled to advise you of this risk.

Another balance issue that will be relevant is the channelling/enervative dichotomy. It's a good one, and will make for two very different types of psionic practitioners, perhaps with some kind of idealogical schism between them. I'm sure you'll do a fine job, but make the balance between them a key focus of your design.

Psymbionts are a great idea (and a charming term). I'd be careful about permanently reducing a character's psionic capacity when they leave, though, and I actually find the "MP" feel of it to be a little distasteful. If you do indeed arrange for psymbionts to permanently excise some of the host's psionic power, then there should be a way to regain that power without actually having a handicap throughout the rest of the game. Maybe work it as a sort of addiction system, where the sudden abscence of the psymbiont is a heavy psionic blow, and the character's abilities are lessened, but with some healing and some meditation they can regain that strength without having a permanently crippled psionic capacity.

Also, I might have misinterpretted your idea, but what will a psymbiont attach to on a channelling psionic? Since his psionic power comes from the environment, no permanent amount could be negotiated. Would the psymbiont work on a shares system, becoming proportionally more or less powerful as the host does? Can a psymbiont be starved out of existence if a channelling host travels to a psionically void environment?

Overall, this is a well thought-out and promising idea. It isn't very derivative, but there's no shortage of reference material to use in finalizing the nuts and bolts of the system. I look forward to seeing this system implemented. And what's a Syncrotek?

[edited by - Iron Chef Carnage on March 15, 2004 10:52:55 PM]

I like these ideas. . . X-Com had psionics, but they just seemed like an add-on. Their use was rather limited in comparison to other capabilities. I remember charming aliens to fight for my side and then cursing myself when they woke up at the wrong time and I had an alien in the wrong spot doing the wrong things (like killing my guys I had so painfully kept alive in order to give them great skills).

1. The psibyonts are a neat idea. How are they summoned and drawn upon? Do they slow the player down or assist by storing up psi energy?

2. Does having this type of special attack make them overpowered if the players choose to fight groups with poor defenses against psi-attacks? If everything has good defenses then this would cheapen the power. . . I guess the key is to make the other group''s strengths nearly equal to the task of defending against psi-attacks.

3. I don''t like these:

quote: Original post by Wavinator
Psychocreative - Alters the target''s stats and changes its properties, creating new abilities such as the ability to endure vacuum or a firestorm by changing the molecular structure of the target; can heat or cool targets; can molecularly destabelize targets; can detonate targets (including inventory, btw); cause large scale events, such as earthquakes, tornados or solar flares

Psychogenerative - Healing, status effect removal, resistances, teaching and imbuement (investing psionic powers and properties into an object)

If you need these for the game design then go with it, but this becomes a little bit too magic for a sci-fi game in my opinion. Psionics are neat because they have limitations of just being thought based (as you''ve pointed out). This stuff can be explained with psionics, but it''s a reach.

4. The two disciplines are cool. Channeling seems like the lazy man''s choice (an option I enjoy as a gamer), while enervative gives the option of being more difficult but eventually more powerful. Likewise, a channeler would have the advantage during downtimes whereas the ennervator would be at an advantage during events.

5. Speaking of channelers, do you have any social psi mods? Could a captain endear himself to his crew by the use of psionics, maybe with a percentage chance of being resisted and then reviled for it? Maybe have a channeler ship''s counselor whose job is to staff an office and provide morale boosts to the crew who are worst off in morale or to open up a renconciliation event between the PC and those NPCs who he has really upset?

That''s it. I''m still impressed, though I''m a bit leery of your immense scope at this point. Your game is multiple genre and you just keep revealing more and more big features that all require custom animations that will need to work for a variety of player and NPC models and have their own systems. Scary!

Again a very interesting post Wav,

my 2 cents if valuable, everything sounds good very good, and this is very interesting in a game to say the least, I was already jotting down for psy powers in my concept as well. On one hand I like hte teacher idea you say like in Morrowind, but..
If I may say so that was my thought nothing more I mean you system is good already. Well I have always thought that not just anybody can walk up and say hey im gonna learn psionics, like you do with basketball or something.
I was of opinion that not just anybody can be learned psy powers, it takes a special kind of person with a special kind of soul, like some people who develop paranormal things, it requires them to be something diffrent, they have attributes that you must have in orde to be picked for aquiring these kind of powers.
It would have nothing to do with good or evil, but just with your being, if you have a strong and old soul for example, things like that ?

Nonetheless ill be keeping this thread on track as the rest haha, cya when I cya ! And thanks for your comments on my thread :D

quote: Original post by Wavinator
Summary: Psionics can control minds and affect physical matter in limited ways. There are five schools, each with a number of Talents, or powers, and two opposing Disciplines, or philosophies. The two Disciplines determine how psionics work, and create strategic gameplay tradeoffs.

It may be effectivie to have all Talents divided into two catagories, Macro and Micro. What they mean is the kind of targets the abilites are designed to work on and they impact who the psionic was trained. A Micro talent affects small things like people or small objects. While a Macro power is designed to effect large things such as starships. You could balance them by making Micro and Macro talents mutelly exlusive, so a psionic can only be trained in one catagory of powers. It would serve to seperate the two and allow interesting gameplay. After all with Macro psionic would be uselss in hand to hand combat. But you could use him to attack other ships or mellow your crew down in times of stress or even psyciclly spy on them.

quote:
Telekenis - Projects force walls that can block physical energy and mass; can levitate targets; can slow, entangle or cause targets to become overencumbered

Does this include psychic force shields for my ship?

quote:
Telepathic - Mental attacks and defense are all here, including suggestion, mind control, and status effect causing strikes (stun, confusion, etc.); delayed betrayal (sleeper personality); aurus that raise or lower morale

It might be good to have the personalites have a certain opinion to the use of phsyicic powers and their use of themselves. For instance many crew members may become angry if they discover that your using telepaths to make them happy or monitior their activies.

quote:
Enervative - Enervative psionics drain psychic energy from the Psionicist each time a power is used. If the power requires more energy than the Psionicist has, the power cannot be projected until the Psionicist regenerates energy or uses restoration items. Enervative psionics cannot be dampened by psi dampeners or the environment. Enemy psionic powers and mind altering narcotics in the form of gas or injections, however, can deplete the entity’s psionic reserves by causing mental status effects (confusion, suggestion). Psionic energy regenerates naturally with each second, and fully when the psionicist rests for their maximum rest period.

I don't know if having restore itive items is a good idea, afterall this is suppose to by the characters mental energy, and a substance that give an artificaly boost of mental energy can't be healthy it might have longterm health hazards. It might be better to have no restoritive items or only dangerous ones. In this way you can make enratives useful for only limited periods budgeting their use. They have the advantage of being able to use their power anywhere, but on the down size they have limited energy to call upon and have to rest before they can be useful again.

quote:
Psionic Symbionts: Psybionts
Psybionts allow players to learn powers beyond their maximum. They are symbiotic creatures made entirely of psionic energy. They meld with a host and give the host a library of more powers than they would have access to naturally. In exchange for a certain portion of the host’s psionic energy, the psybiont masters a psionic power and use it on command. The host and psybiont negotiate how much power the psybiont will receive, then the psybiont draws from the negotiated energy reserves until they are depleted. It then waits to be recharged, which can only occur when the Psionicsts rests and clears their mind.

What if instead when you attach a psybiont it permently reduces some factor caused by its sharing you body. Perhaps each psybiont permently reduces your will power one point or permently decrease your max energy as long as it remains a resident?

quote:
Viral Psybionts – Viral psybionts are the least benign of all psybionts, and can in some cases be downright malignant. Viral psybionts loiter around highly charged psionic areas, usually places of war or disaster, and wait for a host. When a potential host rests, the psionic creature takes advantage of their lowered defenses and attempts to invade the host’s psionic energy. Hosts are startled awake on a successful attack. Once attached to a host, the viral psybiont cannot be removed without psychic healing. Successful healing removes the creature but permanently drains the psionic power it occupied (placing a cap that has to be leveled up). If not removed before the host rests after the attack, the psybiont begins to grow, devouring the host’s psionic energy by 1 to 10 points every time the host rests. The host can also voluntarily give the psybiont additional energy, but the viral psybiont will never release any energy given to it. The viral psybiont can be trained just as other psybionts can, but unlike other psybionts for every 10% of the user’s psionic energy it takes, it can be taught 1 new Talent. Because of this ability, some psionicists purposely seek to be infected by Viral Psybionts.

Sounds more like a parasite then a virus. Ever consider the mental straning that having the creature invade the characters mind would inflict? Perhaps theres is chance that a parasite could cause demintia, or drasticly alter the characters personality. Also does the player know when a character is infected? It could be good if they arn't, perhaps that could even be a power belonging to the Prescient school that allows you to known when a character is infected.

Oh that gives me another idea what about engineered psybionts? These are lifeforms created for the sole perpuose of infecting another psionic. There could be all manner such turning the psionic into a walking audio visual camera transmiting its thoughts to another psionic far away trained to recive that meesage. Or perhaps turn the psionic into a puppet that you can control at will. Or maybe superimposing another personality onto the victim one more accomidating to your cause. Naturally the use and creation of thes kind of psybionts would be something looked on favorably by most people as such it could be consider criminal or even an atrocity to use them.

quote:
Gameplay
Players will acquire powers by being taught by teachers, much as in Morrowind. Different teachers know different powers at different levels of effectiveness. The player may also play a little mini-game involving their power and a few status bars to educate themselves-- although there is the potential for injury, damage and even death at higher levels as they strain their minds.

Will there be a psyonic faction in the game? Perhaps something like the psycore from bablyon 5.


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Writer, Programer, Cook, I'm a Jack of all Trades
Current Design project
Chaos Factor Design Document



[edited by - TechnoGoth on March 16, 2004 5:09:01 AM]

quote: Original post by dink
3. I don''t like these:

quote: Original post by Wavinator
Psychocreative - Alters the target''s stats and changes its properties, creating new abilities such as the ability to endure vacuum or a firestorm by changing the molecular structure of the target; can heat or cool targets; can molecularly destabelize targets; can detonate targets (including inventory, btw); cause large scale events, such as earthquakes, tornados or solar flares

Psychogenerative - Healing, status effect removal, resistances, teaching and imbuement (investing psionic powers and properties into an object)

If you need these for the game design then go with it, but this becomes a little bit too magic for a sci-fi game in my opinion. Psionics are neat because they have limitations of just being thought based (as you''ve pointed out). This stuff can be explained with psionics, but it''s a reach.

I think these are just fine, and they put me in mind of the Heinlein story I referenced. Psychocreative is related to telekinetics, but on a more fundamental level (dealing with matter, energy and space instead of objects). Psychogenerative is one of Heinlein''s key points. The ability to control the matter of your body with the power of your will is the very essence of self-actualization, and is both the first skill most psionic adepts learn in Heinlein''s works and one of the most sophisticated later on. He has them flying and resisting intense temperature extremes and whatnot, and I think that such powers would be just the ticket for a space game. A skilled Psionic could withstand being blown out of an airlock, for example.

Another thing I''m overtly stealing from Heinlein is the idea of "psionic vision". Maybe you could put this in with prescience, but Heinlein had a power that allowed his psionics to see into closed boxes or read closed books. Not quite x-ray vision, and distinct from telepathy, it was more like ESP. It could be used like a lockpicking skill, with players or characters trying to look past solid objects or around corners.

I''m wondering about the mechanics of the Psymbionts. Are Psymbionts capable of acting on their own, without a host? Are they intelligent? Can they speak, or give the host memories and knowledge from past hosts? I like the idea of psymbionts, and am curious to learn more about your idea.

Tangentially, I know that your design is more than just a psionics system, but would it be possible for multiple psionic characters to "join forces" to do greater tasks? It would be neat to see ships shielded by a team of Psionic crew members, who work in groups to do things like plot the ship''s course or analyze other ships. Heck, you could make a gameworld in which absolutely everything, from anti-gravity to faster-than-light travel to weapons and defensive systems are generated and controlled psionically. I doubt that''s the direction you''re going, but I thought I''d throw it out there.

quote: Original post by Iron Chef Carnage
I''m not done reading yet, but you should read "Lost Legacy" by Robert Heinlein.

Okay, I''ll look this up. I''ve always been a fan of his stuff.

quote:
I like your idea very much, but I''m a little concerned about how you''ll balance the system. Will everybody have psionic capabilities? It seems that there''s a lot of room for abuse, and the proverbial "dark side" would be very seductive indeed.

No, but technology to some extent will balance this in the form of anti-psi fields and such. The way I see it the power source for psi is mind and body while the for anti-psi it is energy and technology. So the strategies for success will revolve around affecting the two power sources.

quote:
After all, a moderately capable psionicist would be able to far outmatch a team of crack gunmen.

It depends on how many powers and how much power the psionicist has versus the gunmen. If the gunmen walking around with anti-psi projectors that either limit or cancel the effects, this is the equivalent of body-armor, which balancing gunfights. If they have nothing, then whether or not they can be affected is going to come down to a couple of different areas: their individual psionic resistances to mind altering effects, and their ability to deal with environmental effects (like telekenisis or psionic walls of force).

The Psionicist is going to have the advantage of creativity, though, for sure if the crack gunmen simply go toe-to-toe. But if they employ stealth, enhanced optics, traps and what not, I think they''ll be able to hold their own.

quote:
He could render himself invisible and then set them against one another until all were dead, and only expend a very small amount of psionic energy.

Yes, if he can dominate their Will stat, which has to be done with each use of psi and has a greater threshold the more powerful the talent. So confusing someone for 3 seconds is easier than inserting a suggestion to kill an ally, just as using a flashbang is easier than brainwashing someone.

quote:
In the right environment, a channelling psionicist would be invincible! I''m sure that you''re able to balance your game design to make it balanced and interesting, but I feel compelled to advise you of this risk.

No, I do appreciate this. The channelling psionicist IS going to rule in some environments. The question becomes how widespread are those environments and what are their tradeoffs. The areas where I perceive they''ll be godly are going to be areas haunted withe enemies that are friendly to no side (monsters called Siegers who, according to the backstory, feed on psionic energy). There''ll be Siegers that drain psi and devices and starships that can project psi-dampening fields. If the player defeats these things, they deserve a reward of a few areas where they can be godly.

quote:
Another balance issue that will be relevant is the channelling/enervative dichotomy. It''s a good one, and will make for two very different types of psionic practitioners, perhaps with some kind of idealogical schism between them.

Yes, definitely a schism between the two. There are a number of possibilities with this for factions, such as a faction that destroys colonies in order to create residual psionic energy at a location...

quote:
I''m sure you''ll do a fine job, but make the balance between them a key focus of your design.

This is one of the areas that I do need alot of suggestions for balancing. For two enemy psionicists, I''ll need to invent a number of powers that allow the two to equalize one another. The best way right now I see is with restorative items for the enervative, so that they have some of the benefits of the channeling psionicist in terms of longevity, and the ability to do psi dampening, which also makes the channeller less godly.

quote:
Psymbionts are a great idea (and a charming term).

Thanks! Although you put me in a quandry. I like how you spelled it "psym biont" rather than "psybiont." I might go with your name.

quote:
I''d be careful about permanently reducing a character''s psionic capacity when they leave, though, and I actually find the "MP" feel of it to be a little distasteful.

MP? Not sure what you mean here.

quote:
If you do indeed arrange for psymbionts to permanently excise some of the host''s psionic power, then there should be a way to regain that power without actually having a handicap throughout the rest of the game.

Yes, there is. Actually, philosophically, all stats should be able to be repaired, otherwise the player ends up with the potential of an unplayable game through too many failures (like getting two crippled arms in Fallout). Now, how EASY it is to repair stats is another question altogether.

quote:
Maybe work it as a sort of addiction system, where the sudden abscence of the psymbiont is a heavy psionic blow, and the character''s abilities are lessened, but with some healing and some meditation they can regain that strength without having a permanently crippled psionic capacity.

Okay. Or what about the psionicists powers become volatile and unstable? Maybe taking more or less energy, or doing greater or less effectiveness?

quote:
Also, I might have misinterpretted your idea, but what will a psymbiont attach to on a channelling psionic? Since his psionic power comes from the environment, no permanent amount could be negotiated.

It''s more of a percentage. Let''s say your channeling capacity is 1000 points, and you give it 10%. In an environment where you only have 500, 50 goes to the psybiont. If you have 50, 5 goes to the psybiont.

quote:
Can a psymbiont be starved out of existence if a channelling host travels to a psionically void environment?

Do you think it should? I hadn''t thought of this. For simplicity''s sake, I''d say no, that it''s just dormant if you have absolutely no psi.

quote:
Overall, this is a well thought-out and promising idea. It isn''t very derivative, but there''s no shortage of reference material to use in finalizing the nuts and bolts of the system. I look forward to seeing this system implemented.

Thanks for the great feedback (as usual)! I look forward to hedging in enough time to implement it.

quote:
And what''s a Syncrotek?

I haven''t posted about this character class, but it''s the "technomage" of the game. It''s a character so wired with nanotechnology that he can channel energy fields through his body, and reconfigure the emitters in his flesh on the fly.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

quote: Original post by dink
I like these ideas. . . X-Com had psionics, but they just seemed like an add-on. Their use was rather limited in comparison to other capabilities. I remember charming aliens to fight for my side and then cursing myself when they woke up at the wrong time and I had an alien in the wrong spot doing the wrong things (like killing my guys I had so painfully kept alive in order to give them great skills).

Hahaha, yes I remember this. I also remember players having to stun whole towns in some cases so that they wouldn''t become panicked fodder for the psi aliens.

quote:
1. The psibyonts are a neat idea. How are they summoned and drawn upon? Do they slow the player down or assist by storing up psi energy?

The character can either rest in an area that has them, and choose it as an option when resting (to meditate, like casting a spell), or buy them. They simply are meant to expand the limit of Talents a player can use, and provide interesting tradeoffs for doing so.

quote:
2. Does having this type of special attack make them overpowered if the players choose to fight groups with poor defenses against psi-attacks?

I think that psionics is going to be tactically as nuanced as technology. Just because you have a sniper rifle doesn''t mean that you dominate every tactical fight; however, in the right situation, you are more likely to dominate. The same SHOULD be true for psionics, if I do it right: Create vulnerabilities, restrictions and strategic tradeoffs, that is.

For example, even if a psionicist has telekenesis, there will be mass limits to what she can move. If he can detonate objects, there''s a range requirement, time delay and chance for resistance on the target (with simpler objects easier to detonate). A psionic forcefield will have hit points just like a tech forcefield. These kind of tradeoffs are the same as what tech has.

quote:
If everything has good defenses then this would cheapen the power. . . I guess the key is to make the other group''s strengths nearly equal to the task of defending against psi-attacks.

Exactly. The way I see a psionicist versus a non-psionicist fighting it out will depend on what the non-psionicist equips, knows and successfully deploys. A non-psionicist may just as easily have a meditation exercise that functions like a spell that raises their resistances; then there is technology itself.

quote:
3. I don''t like these:

quote: Original post by Wavinator
Psychocreative - Alters the target''s stats and changes its properties, creating new abilities such as the ability to endure vacuum or a firestorm by changing the molecular structure of the target; can heat or cool targets; can molecularly destabelize targets; can detonate targets (including inventory, btw); cause large scale events, such as earthquakes, tornados or solar flares

Psychogenerative - Healing, status effect removal, resistances, teaching and imbuement (investing psionic powers and properties into an object)

If you need these for the game design then go with it, but this becomes a little bit too magic for a sci-fi game in my opinion. Psionics are neat because they have limitations of just being thought based (as you''ve pointed out). This stuff can be explained with psionics, but it''s a reach.

As noted below, these are mutations of things like telekenesis, except on the molecular level. I''m trying to blatantly avoid the fireball, but at the same time, if you could slow down molecules with thought, speed them up, or alter their configuration on the order of nanotech, these powers would be legitimate.

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4. The two disciplines are cool. Channeling seems like the lazy man''s choice (an option I enjoy as a gamer), while enervative gives the option of being more difficult but eventually more powerful. Likewise, a channeler would have the advantage during downtimes whereas the ennervator would be at an advantage during events.

Right. And this will be a balance issue, such as the distribution of available channeling energy in the universe. I think the best channeling locations will be ancient ruins or disaster sites where there have been high casualties. These, coincidently, will be regions of great danger. High risk, high reward.

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5. Speaking of channelers, do you have any social psi mods? Could a captain endear himself to his crew by the use of psionics, maybe with a percentage chance of being resisted and then reviled for it? Maybe have a channeler ship''s counselor whose job is to staff an office and provide morale boosts to the crew who are worst off in morale or to open up a renconciliation event between the PC and those NPCs who he has really upset?

Excellent question. Yes, there are social Talents, and non-psi people have a chance to tell they''re being manipulated (higher the greater the benefit of the influencing power). If the NPCs discover they''re being manipulated by another NPC, they complain and their loyalty becomes frozen until you get rid of the NPC or boost psi-dampeners on your ship or base. If the player uses them, it has a chance of making an NPC resign, switch to hate or fear, or mutiny (depending on how severe your use).

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That''s it. I''m still impressed, though I''m a bit leery of your immense scope at this point. Your game is multiple genre and you just keep revealing more and more big features that all require custom animations that will need to work for a variety of player and NPC models and have their own systems. Scary!

The good news is that I''ve been working on this for awhile, so I have alot of art and some good core chunks of code. I''ve also worked in games before, so I can see ways to reuse elements and economize on features. I also not trying to compete with studios, which means that I''m focusing more on gameplay than bells and whistles-- and hoping my audience will think that way as well.

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Just waiting for the mothership...

quote: Original post by Jamaludin
Again a very interesting post Wav,

Thx!

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Well I have always thought that not just anybody can walk up and say hey im gonna learn psionics, like you do with basketball or something.

Yes, this is going to be determined by the Psi stat, which for some races and even psionic races will be 0 (meaning they can''t learn any talents). There are species and drawback the player can choose which have will have either a permanent modifer to psi, or even a cap.

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And thanks for your comments on my thread :D

Anytime!

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Just waiting for the mothership...