Thinking out-loud: The Green Ronin Psi system in Scarred Lands

[Loztastic]

as of yet, we have no-one wanting to play a psi in my Scarred Lands campaign, but we have been discussing it from a theoretical perspective. Now, given that in SL Psi is supposed to be

a)Different from magic - it is the legacy of lovecraftian, barkeresque space-gods from another reality afterall!

b)draining to the body as well as the mind

we were considering using the "Green Ronin" feats/skills system. now, this is the stage we have reached

1)no "Base class" - psi is something people come to later, they dont start out as psychics. therefore, most people with psi will just have a couple of feats and skills. this matches the SL flavour text, where most psi's are multi-classed from some other previous classes

2)PrC's - however, some people who do come to psi later in life focus on it. therefore, there will be conversions of PrC's from existing books, and a few ones purely for the SL

3)Psychic Buffer - strain is a big limiting factor for psi (as it should be for a casual user), however it makes it over limiting for someone with actual "levels" in a class. The theoretical plan is for a "buffer" of points that can be used before strain. The advancement, is at present (by level, for a 10 level PrC 1 - 3 - 6 - 10 - 15 - 21 - 28 - 36 - 45 - 55) + con bonus. That advancement would be for a "good" advancement class (equivilent to a primary caster). there would also be a bard-equivilent and paladin-equivilent advancement (at 2/3 and 1/2 resptivley)

the only PrC activley converted so far is the Ghostbreaker. I may post it later

[Set]

Loztastic wrote:

3)Psychic Buffer - strain is a big limiting factor for psi (as it should be for a casual user), however it makes it over limiting for someone with actual "levels" in a class. The theoretical plan is for a "buffer" of points that can be used before strain. The advancement, is at present (by level, for a 10 level PrC 1 - 3 - 6 - 10 - 15 - 21 - 28 - 36 - 45 - 55) + con bonus. That advancement would be for a "good" advancement class (equivilent to a primary caster). there would also be a bard-equivilent and paladin-equivilent advancement (at 2/3 and 1/2 resptivley)

You could try giving a member of a Psychic base class or PrC what is essentially Damage Reduction vs. Strain, equal to, say, 1 pt / class level. Someone with a single level in said PrC would be able to reduce all Strain costs by 1, while someone with 5 levels would be able to use powers that cost up to 5 strain at no cost at all, while reducing more expensive power uses by 5.

[fray]

I have a character in my game that has a psychic feat, via the Wild Talent feat, and so does his follower. 9th level with telekinesis and 7th level with teleport.
Strain is in no way a limiting factor at this level. I even made telekinesis a standard action instead of a free action. It's way too powerful to use telekinesis and a spell or attack in the same round.

You can teleport self and 2 other characters under 1,000 lbs total wieght) for 4 strain (subdual damage) the distance you can see or someplace known. This proved Extremely useful in the game I ran last Sat. It saved the lives of most of the party.

The Psychic class from Green Ronin's Psychic Handbook is a great class but I think it needs a bit of tweaking to really shine. The other psychic skills are really useful too. There are some typos in the write-up which have never been eratta'd, I've posted to the GR boards trying to get a clarification with no luck. Most of it is understandable but the others will be a GM call since it's an older product and it looks like it isn't supported.

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Set's idea of DR vs strain would make a character incredibly powerful. So far the most strain a character has used in a single action has been 5. Most of the abilities you will use will have a cost lower than that.

Let strain go as is and try it out before changing it. Especially if there is any healing in the party strain is a non-issue.