I'm confused by how psychic duels work.
Can you only attack by using MP or can you use psychic equivalents of your weapons?
It seems to indicate that martial characters have fewer options but still have their skill at arms to fall back on.
Is this right?
You can only use MP as attacks or thought forms. That means martial characters without any other abilities to burn (e.g. fighters) have to burn ability scores and will be fatigued all day if they do somehow win and survive the psychic duel.
What does that part that talks about "muscle memory" and the like mean then?
It seems to indicate they have some kind of advantage, but I can't figure out what that is.
What does that part that talks about "muscle memory" and the like mean then?
It seems to indicate they have some kind of advantage, but I can't figure out what that is.
It doesn't seem to mean anything, other than keeping their saves/ac (and applying those to thought forms they create), and if they have an ability like ki or panache they can convert them into MP. But straight BAB doesn't appear to do anything at all in psychic duels.
Ugh. That is an awful system then.
Any martial killed in a psychic duel is a hero, because he made the psychic waste a lot of resources rather than just cripple him with a single debuff spell and let his party/minions finish him.
Any martial killed in a psychic duel is a hero, because he made the psychic waste a lot of resources rather than just cripple him with a single debuff spell and let his party/minions finish him.
And this is why all of my casters come equipped with a dagger. Sure you can fireball them to death, or you can put them to sleep with a single spell and slit their throat. A coup de grace doesn't take any resources ;)
But yes, the dueling rules are very odd in my opinion. Even if I decided to allow occult material into my games I would probably write up some custom dueling rules.
Martial are definitely at a disadvantage, but there are a few redeeming points.
- You have to fail a will save to get dragged in to a psychic duel. There are worse things to happen on a failed will save.
- The caster is also dropping a lot of defense and offense to enter the duel- allies can beat them up from outside the duel.
- Martials have a lot more hitpoints than full casters, so they can trade hitpoints at a loss and still win.
Yeah, I'm thinking allowing people to spend 1 MP to make a psychic copy of your real-world weapon that you can then attack with for the rest of the duel would make it a lot more interesting.
It's a battle of the minds and people are surprised that the non-mental classes aren't good at mind-battles..... how?
It's a battle of the minds and people are surprised that the non-mental classes aren't good at mind-battles..... how?
Consider this question for a moment. Is it fun to play?
If the caster is going to be holding all the cards, is there even a point in playing it out? Just say you lose and move on.
Now if there was some reasonable doubt that once you got into the mindscape it might go the other way, well then it might be fun to play it out to see what happens.
It's a battle of the minds and people are surprised that the non-mental classes aren't good at mind-battles..... how?Consider this question for a moment. Is it fun to play?
If the caster is going to be holding all the cards, is there even a point in playing it out? Just say you lose and move on.
Now if there was some reasonable doubt that once you got into the mindscape it might go the other way, well then it might be fun to play it out to see what happens.
As a non-MMO PnP game, why does every class need to be capable in every situation?
Homogenized rules are boring, and what cause MMO's to start failing and not be fun. Class "balance" is typically what drive such changes. It is also the major reason I roll my eyes whenever "discrepancies" between classes are brought up. A good GM, will have all characters shine regardless of class, and that will make the game fun despite "discrepancies".
If you don't like it Rule 0 it, that is kinda the point.
Consider this question for a moment. Is it fun to play?
If the caster is going to be holding all the cards, is there even a point in playing it out? Just say you lose and move on.
Now if there was some reasonable doubt that once you got into the mindscape it might go the other way, well then it might be fun to play it out to see what happens.
*Shrug* It's a save or lose like sleep, except it requires the caster to lose spells every round and it's only a save or lose on a small portion of the game. I see no issue.
IIRC the BAB factors in if the character manifests targeted attacks instead of AoE