I have a game world that I've used off and on since 1984. I started the world using AD&D, and have used a large varieties of systems since then. Psionics has always been a factor in the world, but I've generally had issues with how post AD&D versions have dealt with psionics, espcially with psion classes. One problem with the psionic character classes is that they devolved into complex auxiliary rules, with a flavor based on a mash-up of new age crystal hugging and psychotic psychedelic visions a la Yellow Submarine. Let's not forget the Psion Crystal, which seems to be something from Zardoz.
Even if I didn't like the flavor of the psion classes, they always bothered me because they took away the idea of a "wild" power that could not be fully trained in the context of a character class.
I like what I've seen with D&D5, so I decided to try to build psionics into the game, but not in the form of classes. What I wanted was something that was an add-on to already existing classes, and would require the player to make a choice about whether they delved more fully into developing their powers, or went with other abilities. Since I wanted to make it universal, i.e., the same across classes, I decided to build psionics using feats. What follows are the some of the rules. As a note, the characters can access potent abilities, but it will mean that they have to use all of their feat selections.
Psionic Powers are divided into three general types: Minor Powers, Inherent Effects, and Major Powers.
Minor powers are akin to cantrips; they can be used at will and do not result in fatigue.
Inherent powers are always in effect, and do not result in fatigue.
Major Powers are fatiguing to use. A character can use one major power between rests without problem. The second power they use (it doesn't matter which power, just that they used a major power) causes the character to be Exhausted Level 1. The next power (third) used before a rest causes Exhaustion Level 2. The fourth time they use a power, they move to Exhaustion Level 3, and so on until the character performs the seventh power; instead of death, the character is rendered unconscious. Once the character completes a long rest, their level of exhaustion resets to 0. Using Major Powers can be potent, but it is costly if you keep using them.
Upgrade: Some powers are listed as upgrades. They replace another power.
Most of the powers duplicate spell effects, so the spell is referenced in italics. NOTE: as psionic powers, there are no verbal, somatic or material components. They are treated as spell-like (psionic) effects. When there is no spell equivalent, the power is listed in the same format as a spell.
Psionic Sensitivity:
The character's mind has awakened, and the character is now able to perform minor manipulations of the physical world. When psionic powers are used (any creature with the psionic tag, or mind affecting spells), the character can make a perception check to detect the use of the power. They do not know the location of the power, or the intensity, only that psionic powers are being used. In addition, the character selects two of the following minor powers that can be used at will (see the corresponding spell): Message, Spare the Dying, Detect Magic, Light, Guidance (self only), Mending, or Mage Hand.
Telepathy I:
Requirement: Psionic Sensitivity or Racial Unlock; Charisma 13.
The character gains Detect Thought and Suggestion as a Major Powers (thus the use of these will result in exhaustion).
Telepathy save DC = 8 + proficiency bonus + CHA modifier. Use this DC for any Major Power that requires a saving throw.
Telepathy II:
Requirement: Telepathy I
The character learns to shield their mind, giving them +1 on saves vs. psionic powers or mind-affecting spells and abilities (Inherent). The character also gains Sending and Mind Thrust as a Major Power (use of these powers causes exhaustion as described above).
Mind Thrust
(Equivalent to a 3rd level spell)
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 60 feet
Duration: Instantaneous
You unleash a lance of disruptive thoughts into the mind of one of your enemies. You must be able to clearly see the enemy. The target makes a Wisdom save. If the save is unsuccessful, the target takes 8d6 damage, and is stunned for d4 rounds. A successful save results in 1/2 damage, and the target is not stunned.
Telepathy III:
Requirement: Telepathy II
The character gains Dream and Psionic Static as Major Powers (use of these powers causes exhaustion as described above).
Psionic Static
(Equivalent to a 5th level spell)
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: self (40-foot cube)
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes.
The character projects mental static that disrupts psionic powers and mind-affecting spells and abilities. All creatures inside of the cube gain a +4 save vs. psionic powers and mind-affecting spells and abilities. The caster (psion) automatically gains a level of exhaustion.
Telepathy IV:
Requirement: Telepathy III
The character learns to further shield their mind, upgrading their protection to +2 vs psionic powers or mind-affecting spells and abilities (Inherent, replaces the inherent ability in Telepathy II). The character also gains Dominate Person and Psionic Blast as Major Powers (use of these powers causes exhaustion as described above).
Psionic Blast
(Equivalent to a 6th level spell)
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: self (60 foot cone)
Duration: Instantaneous
You unleash a devastating mental assault against all targets in a 60-foot cone. You do not need to clearly see all of the targets. The targets make a Wisdom save, and if unsuccessful, they take 8d6 damage, and are stunned for 1d4 rounds. A successful save results in 1/2 damage, and the target is not stunned.
Telepathy V:
Requirement: Telepathy IV
The character gains Mass Suggestion and Astral Projection as Major Powers (use of these powers causes exhaustion as described above).
Design Note: Assuming a human bard takes Psionic Sensitivity at level 1, then they could take Telepathy I at 4th level, Telepathy II at 8th level, Telepathy III at 12th level, Telepathy IV at 16th level, and Telepathy V at 19th level. They would have to forgo any other feat selection or attribute increase to get to Telepathy V.
The powers chosen were based upon themes in my campaign world. There are other options, for example, psychic surgery to remove curses and insanity, or even alter memories.
I'll post Telekinesis, Psychometabolism, and Psychoportation powers another day. Also, thanks to the class archtypes, I can create class features that utilize psionics, such as Psychic Warrior as a Fighter archtype. I'll post those ideas another day.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Monday, July 6, 2015
FATE (Dresden): Weaponized Blocks
During one game, the PCs had to work their way through a horde of zombies to get to their target (a necromancer). I didn't want to run a battle with a hundred zombies, so I came up with another way of handling minions, the weaponized block. This was a modification to the normal idea of a block, but it worked as intended: it brought the cinematic element of having to fight your way to the bad guy, without drowning the game in combat rolls.
You are not just moving through a blocked square, your having to fight your way through. The PCs could perform two actions: attack the block or fight their way through.
Attacking the block: for this example, the zombie horde had a block strength of 5. It was not as simple as breaking through a wall or pushing away crates. These were zombies, and not easy to take down. Each round, the attacking character would try to overcome the block by attacking it. If they succeed, the block strength went down by 1. If they succeed by 3 or more, the block strength went down by 2. This way, the PCs could weaken the horde, but at the cost of time.
Fighting through: The zombies are not passive; they are attacking anything that tries to make it though. The PC trying to make it through rolled Athletics (or parry) to move through. They had to take 1 physical strain to do this (just like a wizard has to take 1 mental strain to cast a spell). This was to simulate the dangers of trying to plow through the zombies. If they failed, they were prevented from making it to the next zone, and they took additional damage based on how badly they failed the roll. If they succeed, they made it through that zone (they made it past the horde).
This was the set up:
The PCs had to make it through three zones of zombie hordes to get to the necromancer. The first zone had a Zombie (block) Strength of 3. The second zone had a zombie strength of 4, and the third zone had a strength of 5.
At first, all of the players tried to make it through, but some did not roll well, and backed up. Those with armor (one supernatural and one wizard) started working their way through. The others backed up and started opening fire. They were able to weaken the first zone to help other make it through, while the armored people started moving through zone 2. (due to the landscape being flat, they did not have a clear shot to shoot the necromancer; none of them thought about getting on top of their cars). Eventually, the fastest, most athletic character made it to the center, but they were alone. The wizard had gotten blocked at zone 3, and had to wait until the support fire weakened that zone.
Could they have driven into the zombie horde? Yes. I would have increased the damage that they could have done to each zombie block, but they would have needed to back up and get speed to try it again. As an alternative, I would have let them try to just drive through the horde, with the car taking the damage, but it would have been much slower (have you tried moving a car through a horde of people? Now try it with zombie bodies.).
The end result, it was an amazingly cinematic scene of them trying to get to the necromancer before he finished the ritual. And, the scene did not get bogged down in rolls (it was fast paced).
You are not just moving through a blocked square, your having to fight your way through. The PCs could perform two actions: attack the block or fight their way through.
Attacking the block: for this example, the zombie horde had a block strength of 5. It was not as simple as breaking through a wall or pushing away crates. These were zombies, and not easy to take down. Each round, the attacking character would try to overcome the block by attacking it. If they succeed, the block strength went down by 1. If they succeed by 3 or more, the block strength went down by 2. This way, the PCs could weaken the horde, but at the cost of time.
Fighting through: The zombies are not passive; they are attacking anything that tries to make it though. The PC trying to make it through rolled Athletics (or parry) to move through. They had to take 1 physical strain to do this (just like a wizard has to take 1 mental strain to cast a spell). This was to simulate the dangers of trying to plow through the zombies. If they failed, they were prevented from making it to the next zone, and they took additional damage based on how badly they failed the roll. If they succeed, they made it through that zone (they made it past the horde).
This was the set up:
At first, all of the players tried to make it through, but some did not roll well, and backed up. Those with armor (one supernatural and one wizard) started working their way through. The others backed up and started opening fire. They were able to weaken the first zone to help other make it through, while the armored people started moving through zone 2. (due to the landscape being flat, they did not have a clear shot to shoot the necromancer; none of them thought about getting on top of their cars). Eventually, the fastest, most athletic character made it to the center, but they were alone. The wizard had gotten blocked at zone 3, and had to wait until the support fire weakened that zone.
Could they have driven into the zombie horde? Yes. I would have increased the damage that they could have done to each zombie block, but they would have needed to back up and get speed to try it again. As an alternative, I would have let them try to just drive through the horde, with the car taking the damage, but it would have been much slower (have you tried moving a car through a horde of people? Now try it with zombie bodies.).
The end result, it was an amazingly cinematic scene of them trying to get to the necromancer before he finished the ritual. And, the scene did not get bogged down in rolls (it was fast paced).
Fate (Dresden RPG): Weaponized Sight
In the Dresden novels, Harry consistently describes using the sight as dangerous, but in the game, it is fairly easy to withstand these dangers. In both running the game, and playing, I have rarely seen any PC take significant mental strain to cause even a minor consequence. Yet we see Harry in the novel having consequences from using the site. (Most of the time, the player accepts a few points of Mental Strain knowing that it will reset at the end of the scene).
The most common remedy I've seen GMs use is to just increase the default intensity of the discipline challenge until the player has to spend fate just to get out of the vision. This can get absurd. I've seen a GM declare that a vision was at +9 just to force the player to use fate points. I really hate artificially inflating the intensity, so I came up with a different way of dealing with the horrors and dangers of the sight.
Most of the time, using the sight shows relative benign scenes, so the intensity is fairly low. Sometimes though, what is revealed is horrific, or just mind blowing (like seeing an Arch-Angels true form). To handle these scenes, there are two system: Weaponized Sight and Tags.
Weaponized Sight: Choose an appropriate intensity for the vision, but then add a +1 or +2 weapon quality to the vision. If the PC fails the discipline roll, they get hit with a harder than expected. This serves two purposes, first it scares the player. They realize that what they have just witnessed is truly horrifying. In running the same scene with two different groups, one with weaponized sight and one without, the group that saw the weaponized vision reacted more strongly to the vision, even though it had the same description as the other group. Just having the stakes raised was enough to convey the depth of what was in the vision.
The second effect of using weaponized sight is that there is a greater chance that the player will have to accept a consequence, usually a minor one, before they can finish the vision. This may sound harsh, but the consequence system is a vital part of the role-playing experience in Dresden (and FATE in general). Having to fight with consequences raises the stakes of the game, and makes conflicts far more interesting (and let's face it, when has Harry even entered the final battle fresh and well rested?).
Less than 20% of the sight challenges have been weaponized. Remember, most of the time the vision is benign; this rule is saved for the horrific (but not mind blowing) scenes).
Tags: Weaponized sight works well when I want to convey the horror of the vision, but to get to the truly mind blowing visions, I decided to switch the attack with tagging the PC. Instead of defending against mental strain, the PC is defending against a tag. This rarely comes up, and is saved for only the most intense visions. In my current campaign (about a year and half now), this has only come up once (the PC opened the sight upon a horrifyingly grizzly scene that involved an outsider). When they failed their discipline role, I placed a sticky tag on them. After the event, we talked about what it would mean for the player, and how they could remove the stage. It fit what was going on so much, that the player turned it into an aspect. (like most good tags, it could be turned to the PCs advantage). FYI, the tag was "Open Door", indicating that the PC had become more prone to possession.
The goal of these two house rules was not to punish players, but to make using the sight more dangerous; to make the players think twice before opening the sight.
The most common remedy I've seen GMs use is to just increase the default intensity of the discipline challenge until the player has to spend fate just to get out of the vision. This can get absurd. I've seen a GM declare that a vision was at +9 just to force the player to use fate points. I really hate artificially inflating the intensity, so I came up with a different way of dealing with the horrors and dangers of the sight.
Most of the time, using the sight shows relative benign scenes, so the intensity is fairly low. Sometimes though, what is revealed is horrific, or just mind blowing (like seeing an Arch-Angels true form). To handle these scenes, there are two system: Weaponized Sight and Tags.
Weaponized Sight: Choose an appropriate intensity for the vision, but then add a +1 or +2 weapon quality to the vision. If the PC fails the discipline roll, they get hit with a harder than expected. This serves two purposes, first it scares the player. They realize that what they have just witnessed is truly horrifying. In running the same scene with two different groups, one with weaponized sight and one without, the group that saw the weaponized vision reacted more strongly to the vision, even though it had the same description as the other group. Just having the stakes raised was enough to convey the depth of what was in the vision.
The second effect of using weaponized sight is that there is a greater chance that the player will have to accept a consequence, usually a minor one, before they can finish the vision. This may sound harsh, but the consequence system is a vital part of the role-playing experience in Dresden (and FATE in general). Having to fight with consequences raises the stakes of the game, and makes conflicts far more interesting (and let's face it, when has Harry even entered the final battle fresh and well rested?).
Less than 20% of the sight challenges have been weaponized. Remember, most of the time the vision is benign; this rule is saved for the horrific (but not mind blowing) scenes).
Tags: Weaponized sight works well when I want to convey the horror of the vision, but to get to the truly mind blowing visions, I decided to switch the attack with tagging the PC. Instead of defending against mental strain, the PC is defending against a tag. This rarely comes up, and is saved for only the most intense visions. In my current campaign (about a year and half now), this has only come up once (the PC opened the sight upon a horrifyingly grizzly scene that involved an outsider). When they failed their discipline role, I placed a sticky tag on them. After the event, we talked about what it would mean for the player, and how they could remove the stage. It fit what was going on so much, that the player turned it into an aspect. (like most good tags, it could be turned to the PCs advantage). FYI, the tag was "Open Door", indicating that the PC had become more prone to possession.
The goal of these two house rules was not to punish players, but to make using the sight more dangerous; to make the players think twice before opening the sight.
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