Just written up. Not sure if they're balanced, but hey, the corebook sleights aren't particularly well-balanced either. Tell me what you think.
Also, feel free to add your own to this thread; I'm always looking for new ideas.
[h2][b]Chi Sleights[/b][/h2]
[size=15][b]Sleight Efficiency[/b][/size]
[b]Type[/b]: Passive χ; [b]Action[/b]: Automatic
[b]Range[/b]: Self; [b]Duration[/b]: Constant
The async learns how to make their sleights more efficient and less tiring, reducing all strain by one DV, to a minimum of zero.
[size=15][b]Feedback Loop[/b][/size]
[b]Type[/b]: Passive χ; [b]Action[/b]: Automatic
[b]Range[/b]: Self; [b]Duration[/b]: Constant
The async learns how to create mental feedback loops within their sleights, doubling all of their durations.
[size=15][b]Unconscious Reaction[/b][/size]
[b]Type[/b]: Active χ; [b]Action[/b]: Automatic
[b]Range[/b]: Self; [b]Duration[/b]: Temp(Action Turns)
[b]Strain Mod[/b]: +1 per +1 INIT; [b]Skill[/b]: None
This sleight puts the unconscious mind on constant alert for danger, increasing reaction time in combat. For each +1 Initiative the async gains, they increase the strain modifier by one. The maximum Initiative bonus is WIL ÷ 5 (rounded up).
[size=15][b]Mental Bulwark[/b][/size]
[b]Type[/b]: Active χ; [b]Action[/b]: Automatic
[b]Range[/b]: Self; [b]Duration[/b]: Sustained
[b]Strain Mod[/b]: +1; [b]Skill[/b]: None
The async creates mental barriers within their mind. This grants a +20 modifier to resist any unwanted mental manipulations, including coercion and torture. Against psi, being generally more invasive, the modifier is reduced to only +10.
[h2][b]Gamma Sleights[/b][/h2]
[size=15][b]Psychic Fortress[/b][/size]
[b]Type[/b]: Active γ; [b]Action[/b]: Automatic
[b]Range[/b]: Self; [b]Duration[/b]: Sustained
[b]Strain Mod[/b]: +1; [b]Skill[/b]: None
A more extreme version of Mental Bulwark, this sleight locks the async's mind away in an impenetrable mental tower. While active, the async is essentially catatonic, unable to take any actions, barely able to keep themselves standing. In this state, the async cannot be mentally manipulated, whether by coercion, torture, or psi. No sensory information reaches the mind as well, stopping any basilisk attacks.
[size=15][b]Induce Placebo[/b][/size]
[b]Type[/b]: Active γ; [b]Action[/b]: Complex
[b]Range[/b]: Touch; [b]Duration[/b]: Temp (Minutes)
[b]Strain Mod[/b]: +0; [b]Skill[/b]: Control
This sleight creates a temporary physical effect by tricking the target's mind into thinking it's real. This can negate the effects of one wound or create a single phantom wound. It can do the same with mental trauma, temporarily alleviating the effects of a single trauma (including the associated derangement) or create an illusionary one.
[size=15][b]Glossolalia[/b][/size]
[b]Type[/b]: Active γ; [b]Action[/b]: Complex
[b]Range[/b]: Touch; [b]Duration[/b]: Temp (Minutes)
[b]Strain Mod[/b]: +0; [b]Skill[/b]: Control
The async jumbles the language center of the target's mind, severely reducing the capability for lingual communication. If successful, all of the target's known Language skills are penalized by –30, plus –10 per 10 MoS the async rolled (up to –60). On a critical success, the target loses all linguistic functionality, unable to use any Language Skills.
[size=15][b]Erase Self[/b][/size]
[b]Type[/b]: Passive γ; [b]Action[/b]: Automatic
[b]Range[/b]: Self; [b]Duration[/b]: Instant
[b]Strain Mod[/b]: None; [b]Skill[/b]: None
The async causes cascade neural failure that completely destroys their own ego within an instant. No recovery of any sort is possible. If sleeved, the morph becomes a vegetable. This sleight is generally used as a last resort due to imminent capture to prevent psychotorture or interrogation, preserve secrets, or after infection with an exsurgent virus.
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A few new psi sleight ideas
Thu, 2012-09-06 20:59
#1
Limited Reagent
A few new psi sleight ideas
Fri, 2012-09-07 11:11
#2
Prophet710
I like these, definitely out
I like these, definitely out of the ordinary but more realistic than other sleights put forward previously. No mental force fields or, you'll forgive me, stunballs and the like. Consider these stolen!
—
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Fri, 2012-09-07 23:14
#3
Limited Reagent
Yeah, that was the point. I
Yeah, that was the point. I didn't want any of the force fields etc. I wanted to stick to the brainwave sensing and mental influence that the base sleights posit.
Sat, 2012-09-08 10:43
#4
Quincey Forder
"Seeking the Nam shub of Enki, my friend?"
I really love the the Glossolalia sleight.
It does have an advantage, though; it protects the target from any meme, maybe even linguistic vector Basilisk Hack or ExStrain tossed at him or her or them
I would call it the Protagonist Gambit, after Snowcrash's main character.
The effect on a grander scale could cause immense chaos.
If I remember well, that tactic, through another method, was used by Shriek in Batman Beyond ("Babel", S02E25).
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Mon, 2012-09-10 10:20
#5
Decivre
Stunballs and such make sense
Stunballs and such make sense for NPC psi users. You know, the crazy exsurgents that can bend reality? That said, I like these. Sensible and entertaining. The fact that people can come up with such sleights tells me that the devs really need to release more async info in new books.
Erase Self seems... powerful? Furthermore, I always thought that sleights are mental exercises that come about through training... and I can't see someone training such an ability (how could you?).
In our groups, rather than something like Sleight Efficiency, we had a sleight that allows you to convert strain to SV rather than DV. It lowered the physical effects while allowing an async to dip further into madness (and worked well with the sleight Downtime). But I like your sleight. It certainly expands an asyncs repertoire, as I've seen asyncs forced to stop using sleights after less than a dozen uses.
I like Glossolalia, but it seems a bit weak. Especially since fluency starts at 50. I might go with a -30 on success, an extra -10 per 10 MoS (up to -60), and a complete loss of skill on a critical success.
Mental Bulwark probably shouldn't mention psychosurgery. That is generally done on virtual mind emulations (infomorphs) and so asyncs wouldn't have access to the sleight while being put through it.
I did have one idea for a sleight that might be similarly useful called Thought Cipher, which prevented your ego from being able to be ran in a virtual mind state. The emulation would always be corrupted, and your mind would only function if resleeved into a biological brain (or a cyberbrain capable of psi, in theory). This by proxy prevented psychosurgery, and most instances of fork-stealing. While a constant ability, asyncs could disable it if they wanted.
Kudos for the ideas.
—
Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age.
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Tue, 2012-09-11 10:07
#6
Limited Reagent
Quincey Forder wrote:I really
Hey cool, I never thought about it that way, but it totally fits.
Well, stunballs and other crazy stuff are fine for epsilon sleights, because they do bend reality. Gamma and chi, though, I like to keep a little more low-key.
Really, too powerful? It's essentially a dead switch. As for training, you can train to do things without actually doing them, like a lot of martial arts teach you to break bones without actually breaking bones. So you'd learn the sleight (probably along with taking a lot of damage) and know that, if you applied extra mental force, you'd kill yourself.
I've thought about a sleight to switch DV for SV. It's a good idea. I've also seen asyncs take more damage than what really seems necessary, so I think just a straight-up reduction without downside is still good. Both together, even, would work well.
Good idea. I'll implement that.
You're right, I forgot about that. That makes it... not quite so useful. Hmm.
That's a good one too.
Wed, 2012-09-12 11:05
#7
Decivre
Limited Reagent wrote:Really,
Well, "powerful" didn't feel right as the word used there (hence the question mark following it), but it's the closest to what I could think of in context. The ability to kill yourself seems out of range for psi gamma sleights. Perhaps as an exsurgent psi-gamma sleight (as they have a few slightly powerful ones in the back of the book), but not one that a normal person should be able to learn.
As for the comparison to martial arts, that is still quite different. You still learn the motions of such attacks, practice those, but do so in a controlled environment. I just don't see someone learning the mental motions for suicide without triggering its effects. Especially since there are other issues to consider; if I use Erase Self in practice, I will either fail or forget that I succeeded (because I just erased my brain). That means a master will never know whether they are a master.
It's like practicing Seppuku. Plenty have done the practice badly, but with good reason... how do you train in it?
—
Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age.
[url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]
Wed, 2012-09-12 12:13
#8
Limited Reagent
Decivre wrote:Well, "powerful
Shrug! I thought that causing brain failure for a level 2 async would be something fairly easy to accomplish if you thought about it and practiced the motions, so to speak. Not being able to actually perform it for practice isn't something I really worried about or thought would be a problem.
You obviously have a different opinion, which is just fine! I guess it comes down to how difficult you think the sleight would be to perform.
Wed, 2012-09-12 19:07
#9
Decivre
Limited Reagent wrote:Shrug!
It still fits with psi gamma, I just don't think it makes sense as a PC sleight. I think it fits well with sleights like Strip Memory and Decerebration among exsurgent sleights. But I'll admit that is my opinion.
—
Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age.
[url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]
Wed, 2012-09-12 20:01
#10
Erenthia
Metasleights? badass!
Metasleights? badass!
I personally find psi in EP to be incredibly uninteresting. I tried my hand at making some, but I doubt most people here would be interested in them as they change the theme of psi considerably. For instance the ability to manipulate high energy plasma by generating magnetic fields.
Another idea I had was an entirely new category: Psi Alpha sleights based on a different strain of the exsurgent virus other than Watts-Macleod. Like Watts-Macleod it was (mostly) benign, but it was based off the xenomorph strain. Those psi-alpha slieghts would allow the user to cause mutations in their morphs, much like what can be done with a healing vat.
—
The end really is coming. What comes after that is anyone's guess.
