If you were infected with Watts-MacLeod and could choose five sleights (to keep it simple), what would they be and why?
My list:
* Downtime: Better than therapy.
* Emotion Control: I sometimes lose a bit of control over myself.
* Pattern Recognition: There's a few languages I'd like to learn, but progress has been slow. Getting 3-4/5ths of the way towards fluency after just an hour of listening would be really helpful, and it's always active.
* Predictive Boost: It always helps to know what's coming.
* Empathic Scan: I would love to be able to know what emotions people are feeling around me.
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What Psi-Sleights would you choose?
Tue, 2014-11-18 23:16
#1
Zarpaulus
What Psi-Sleights would you choose?
Thu, 2014-11-20 03:15
#2
RustedPantheress
What level of Psi?
What level of Psi?
Savant Calculation
Pattern Recognition
Predictive Boost
- Those three combined, under the right circumstances, can net you a +60.
Multi-Tasking - because more mental ability is good
And then I'm torn between Cognitive Boost and Time Sense. Both are useful, in that one gives me more COG (therefore making my minimum roll in optimized situations about 78 (Assuming that dropping the 0 from the end of your IQ can give you a general idea of your EP COG score)), but the other gives me three mental actions a round.
—
Somebody is using bad science! Snark, facts, snark.
Your body is corrupted: Cool, do more science to it.
Your mind is warped: That's nice, want a cookie?
What do we say to the God of Death? Not today!
Thu, 2014-11-20 10:13
#3
Zarpaulus
I would say Psi 2.
I would say Psi 2.
I based it on the Psi Adept package from Transhuman
Thu, 2014-11-20 23:37
#4
thebluespectre
Hmm?
Enhanced Creativity: Also known as "force the GM to acknowledge stunting bonuses, even in a gritty setting".
Filter: This seems like something I should be able to do without space magic, but until I spend a decade meditating…
Grok: Because I'd rather explode blood vessels in my head than accidentally activate StickyKeys again.
Drive Emotion: Fairly evil, but don't act like you'd never wish someone would stop shouting at you.
Psychic Stab: I am not a fan of helplessness.
—
"Still and transfixed, the el/
ectric sheep are dreaming of your face..." -Talk Shows on Mute
Fri, 2014-11-21 08:36
#5
ThatWhichNeverWas
Is "all of them" an option?
Ahh man, just five? Harsh. My list would be eight, although four could be replaced with augmentations.
1: Hyperthymesia - Because my autobiographical memory is garbage. To be frank, this is the one mental ability I desire above all others.
2: Savant Calculation - Math skills are incredibly useful regardless of what you're doing these days, but actually working through problems can be tedious and always eats up time.
3: Pattern Recognition - Again, useful no matter what you do. Combined with the two above, and this should also help me learn things faster.
4 and 5: Multitasking and Time Sense - There are so many things I want to do, so many things to learn, books to read and sights to see that I can never fit them all in.
—
In the past we've had to compensate for weaknesses, finding quick solutions that only benefit a few.
But what if we never need to feel weak or morally conflicted again?
Thu, 2014-12-04 15:19
#6
Vivax
1) Eco-Empathy- I'm an
1) Eco-Empathy- I'm an ecologist at heart. Having an instinctual understanding of how plants are interacting with the ecosystem would be super fun. Importantly it would also let me know which plants I could eat and how to make them edible, always useful, never need a guide book again.
2) Pattern Recognition- Programming? Learning a language? Gating on flow cytometry? Researching? Investigating? Seeing the world as it really is? Yes please.
3) Enhanced Creativity- There are very few situations that I can think of where being creative is a bad thing.
4) Emotion Control- I've had a panic disorder and sleep disorder for years now. It's left me with long depressive episodes. Frankly, I'd like to be able to avoid them. Maybe turn on that mood that feels good when I do something I know I'm good at?
5) Unconscious Lead- As somebody who goes on long, aimless walks I'd love this slight. It's adventure. It's excitement. It's what you didn't know you needed.
I didn't put gamma slights on here because I'm not terribly interested in messing with other people. If you twisted my arm and made me choose one I'd probably go with Mimic. Mimic can literally get you a job as an actor or standup comedian who specializes in impressions. Paired with Charisma or Drive Emotion you can easily work your way through the entertainment biz. Async actors for life!
Sun, 2017-01-29 18:18
#7
Xoden
Combination of Enhanced
Combination of Enhanced Creativity, Pattern Recognition, Savant Calculation and Instinct could be an interesting combination in how much they can influence the interaction with and the experience of the outside world. For fifth slot it's either Downtime to not go mad too fast from the extra experience or Hyperthymesia instead to recall it better.
Or Filter, Grok, or Ambience Sense could be used to round out the selection.
"all of them" should probably result in "gone mad from revelation" outcome.
Mon, 2017-01-30 20:28
#8
base3numeral
So many choices, so few limits
Pattern Recognition for reasons stated above
Grok because looking at something and thinking "Yeah, I got this" would be fun
Sensory Boost to up the intake
And I'll spend two slots on Casimir Force Repulsion, because I want to be able to punch people with my brain.
—
Strength in depth...
The Fleet
Tue, 2017-01-31 01:48
#9
ShadowDragon8685
Hrm... I'll make a Long List
Hrm... I'll make a Long List and a Short List. The Short List is "my five favorites," the Long List is "everything I'd want."
[h1]My Shortlist: The Better Me[/h1]
These are my "must have" Sleights, the ones that would let me be, well, the better me.
[list]
[*]Emotion Control
[*]Instinct
[*]Pattern Recognition
[*]Predictive Boost
[*]Savant Calculation
[/list]
Honorable Mention: Downtime. If I could put a sixth on the shortlist, I'd put downtime.
The rest of these are focused around making me a better, well, me. Emotion Control lets me think before saying something stupid, and just basically force myself to behave how I want to behave.
Instinct lets me cut the time of any analyses I need to do by an incredible margin.
Pattern Recognition lets me sort huge jumbles of data and see things nobody else would see.
Predictive Boost functions in conjunction with Pattern Recognition for predicting outcomes.
Savant Calculation is... Well, it is what it is.
In combination, these five abilities give me the ability to play the stock markets as if I were doing insider trading, which I will [i]flagrantly[/i] abuse to make myself wealthy. With personal resources assured, I'll be a lot better off, for obvious reasons. I'd also be able to use money and savant-like abilities to view and sort data to take some form of limited action to bolster or attack parties I dislike, by knowing just when and where to make strategic trades, purchase or sell or short-sale options to affect the stock prices of specific companies, in such a manner as to maybe slide events in ways of my choosing.
And Emotion Control would let me hammer down boredom and replace it with pure focus, giving me the ability to actually do so. It would also help me better stick to my diet, as I presume it could tamp down on hunger.
Spoiler: Highlight to view
[h1]Long List[/h1]
This is my Long List, everything I'd like, and the reasoning why I'd like it.
[h2]Psi-Chi (Psi-1) Sleights[/h2]
[h3]Ambience Sense[/h3]
+10 to Investigation, Perception, Scrounging and Surprise tests.
Frankly, the +10 to Scrounging would be worth it alone in my house, as junked-up as it is. +10 to Investigation and Perception would be spectacular. I assume that +10 to Surprise tests would apply to things like FPS video games, too, as I don't get into life-or-death situtations all that often. Passive QoL power.
[h3]Cognitive Boost[/h3]
Cognition +5 for a short period.
This would be more useful if, say, I were to go back to school, but being able to burst-up my intelligence would be quite handy in combination with the powers that make my planning actions take practically no time at all. Ultimately, though, as a strain-inflicting Sleight with a very temporary duration, this would be one of the first on the chopping block.
[h3]Downtime[/h3]
Sustained power; every 4 hours spent in Downtime heals 1 point of Stress damage.
Simply being able to force myself to get four to eight hours of rest [i]when and where I want to[/i] would be a massive boon; reducing Stress by a guaranteed two points would be a bonus. Granted, other, perfectly ordinary augmentations available in Eclipse Phase would render that redundant and obsolete, but I'm assuming this is "which ones would you choose IRL."
[h3]Emotion Control[/h3]
Gain constant control over your emotions, and +30 bonus when defending against attempts to manipulate emotions (EG. Intimidation tests.)
I can be an impatient, short-tempered asshole at times. Being able to just switch that off and act calmly would be a massive boost. Being able to suppress nervousness and put forward better emotions when attempting to interact socially with others would massively enhance my quality of life, too. This is a must-have.
[h3]Filter[/h3]
Filter out distractions and eliminate negative situational modifiers from distractions.
Who wouldn't like to filter out life's distractions and focus from time-to-time? That being said, Emotion Control seems like it could do the same job most of the time.
[h3]Instinct[/h3]
Make snap judgements as good as if you'd planned it out? Who wouldn't like that?
Reducing the time of Task Actions that involve analysis and planning to 10% of their normal time would make me look like a planning [i]virtuoso[/i]. Reducing the ones that take planning and other things to 70% would still be incredible, and might even allow me to play Starcraft II against Koreans.
[h3]Multitasking[/h3]
Not as good as it could be with mesh inserts, but gaining an extra Complex Action that can be used for mental actions would be handy for handling sums and stuff.
An extra complex action good for mental or mesh actions is not as useful IRL as it would be with mesh inserts, but I imagine it would still be useful; especially in conjunction with Instinct, it would let you plan [i]while[/i] doing.
[h3]Pattern Recognition[/h3]
+20 to Language, Investigation, Research and Code-Breaking Tests.
Halving the time to learn a languages and a huge bonus to Language, Investigation, Research and Codebreaking? Who wouldn't want to be able to look at huge piles of data and Sherlock it up?
[h3]Predictive Boost[/h3]
+10 on skill tests to predict the outcome of events, +1 Initiative and +10 Fray. This is a Must-Have.
[h3]Savant Calculation[/h3]
Instant, intuitive maths and a +30 modifier to any skill test involving maths? Yes please! This is a Must-Have.
[h3]Superior Kinesics[/h3]
+10 Kinesics? Yeah, I'll buy that for a dollar.
Just being better at social interaction in general would be a boon.
[h2]Psi-Gamma (Psi-2) Sleights[/h2]
[h3]Ego Sense[/h3]
[h3]Omni Awareness[/h3]
Know instinctively when someone is observing you and +30 to identify them.
Being able to know when you're being watched can be handy in all kinds of situations.
[h3]Psi Shield[/h3]
WIL ÷ 5 (round up) points of armor vs. Psi attacks and +10 to resist other Psi sleights? Yes please.
This one is very low on my list, because, well, I don't expect to face asyncs all that often. Like, ever.
[h3]Scramble[/h3]
Hide from other asyncs with a +30 modifier to resist being detected with Ego Sense or Omni Awareness.
Very niche, but passive constant. No reason not to have it if I can have it.
See Psi-Shield.
[h3]Subliminal[/h3]
Implant a post-hypnotic suggestion with an opposed test.
This is the only "offensive" Sleight I'd pick... Well, probably not, not with the requirement of touching someone. But if I had the extra to spend, I'd pick it.
—
Skype and AIM names: Exactly the same as my forum name.
[url=http://tinyurl.com/mfcapss]My EP Character Questionnaire[/url]
[url=http://tinyurl.com/lbpsb93]Thread for my Questionnaire[/url]
[url=http://tinyurl.com/obu5adp]The Five Orange Pips[/url]
Wed, 2017-02-01 02:05
#10
uwtartarus
Multi-Tasking and Enhanced
Multi-Tasking and Enhanced Creativity (more game design while I work manually), add Pattern Recognition to bolster this process, add Hyperthysmia because I hate forgetting things, and maybe Emotion Control because it is fruatrating to rationally but helplessly watch yourself act irrationally due to emotions.
But the pain enduring one, Grok, and a couple dozen others would also be grand. Hard to choose. Superior Kinesics and Unconscious Lead are close runner-ups.
—
Exhuman, and Humanitarian.
