Might as well post this up now. It's not getting any better sitting on the cloud.
[h1]Goals[/h1]
Keep psi thematically the same — just cognitive informatics (for chi), and brainwave manipulation (for gamma). I.e. no telekenesis or stuff like that. That is left for psi-epsilon.
[h1]Balance[/h1]
I'm going to assume that psi as a whole balances its general benefit (being able to use it in any biomorph right away) with its general drawbacks (morph acclimatization and ever, lowered trauma threshold, automatic disorder, vulnerability to exsurgent virus infection). The sleights themselves are generally balanced against High cost mods (as they cost the same CP/Rez), with a caveat that modifier stacking can be extremely good and is worth quite a bit. All in all, I'm not worrying terribly about balance (which is why some helpful comments would be nice). I simply want the sleights to seem worth their cost.
One specific thing I wanted to accomplish is making the psi-specific sleights (those that only affect other psi effects) generally more useful, especially adding in some non-psi capabilities.
Note the changes are made with a houserule my group uses in mind: Speed is capped at 2. Therefore, a sleight like Unconscious Lead has to be able to hold its own because its ability to stack Speed (it's best benefit normally) is gone. If you want to use these with the normal Speed rules, you'll probably want to change Unconscious Lead and maybe Time Sense.
[h1]General Changes[/h1]
Psi Assault is merged into Control, leaving just two Psi Skills.
Close range as WIL ÷ 5 meters is replaced with a variable range per sleight, generally longer, like WIL meters.
Temporary duration is WIL ÷ 5 turns/minutes is replaced with a variable duration, generally longer, like WIL minutes or WIL ÷ 5 hours.
Sustained durations can impose some other penalty than –10 to all actions — specifically, sustained sleights that already have drawbacks often don't have any other penalty.
Strain is still generally 1d10 ÷ 2 (round up) + modifier, but it sometimes is SV instead of DV, generally for combat sleights.
[h1]Psi-Chi Sleight Changes[/h1]
[b]Ambience Sense[/b]: unchanged
[b]Cognitive Boost[/b]: Merged into Qualia.
[b]Downtime[/b]: Technically the sustained downside is now the fugue-state, no penalty. Not that it matters.
[b]Emotion Control[/b]: Now explicitly gives some of the same bonuses as emotional dampers, that being a +20 to Deception Tests.
[b]Enhanced Creativity[/b]: Also grants +10 bonus to tests for having an idea.
[b]Filter[/b]: unchanged
[b]Grok[/b]: unchanged
[b]High Pain Threshold[/b]: unchanged
[b]Hyperthymesia[/b]: Specifically is as good as eidetic memory, now plus the ability to recall details only glanced at like a mnemonic aug can do.
[b]Instinct[/b]: unchanged
[b]Multitasking[/b]: Now grants two extra complex actions to match with the cyberware.
[b]Pattern Recognition[/b]: unchanged
[b]Predictive Boost[/b]: unchanged
[b]Qualia[/b]: Had Cognitive Boost merged into it, so it can be activated to grant +5 to COG or INT, or both if activated twice. Duration now Temp WIL ÷ 5 hours.
[b]Savant Calculation[/b]: unchanged
[b]Sensory Boost[/b]: Duration now WIL minutes.
[b]Superior Kinesics[/b]: Has an active mode with 1d10 ÷ 5 – 2 DV strain, duration WIL minutes, Quick action, which grants a +30 to Kinesics.
[b]Time Sense[/b]: Now works like a mental speed augmentation and can be sustained indefinitely with no additional penalty. Can also slow down sense of time for minor benefits like going without sleep or boredom, or staying very still for long periods of time. Finally has a passive benefit of gaining a perfect perception of time.
[b]Unconscious Lead[/b]: Now sustained with the downside of overriding the conscious mind. Now deals SV strain. Now grants not only +1 Speed, but +10 REF and +1 Initiative.
[h1]Psi-Gamma Sleight Changes[/h1]
[b]Alienation[/b]: Renamed Disrupt Proprioception to avoid confusion with resleeving alienation. Skills is now Control since Psi Assault is gone. Duration is Temp WIL × 2 minutes. Excellent Success now explicitly doubles duration and a crit doubles penalty.
[b]Charisma[/b]: Duration now Temp WIL × 2 minutes.
[b]Cloud Memory[/b]: Duration now WIL minutes. XP recordings now explicitly clouded as well.
[b]Deep Scan[/b]: unchanged
[b]Drive Emotion[/b]: Duration now WIL minutes
[b]Ego Sense[/b]: Range now WIL meters. Duration now Temp WIL × 2 minutes or Sustained at choice.
[b]Empathic Scan[/b]: Raneg now WIL ÷ 2 meters. Duration now Temp WIL minutes or Sustained at choice.
[b]Implant Memory[/b]: Can explicitly grant circumstantial bonuses where the implanted memory would help.
[b]Implant Skill[/b]: Duration now Temp WIL ÷ 5 hours.
[b]Mimic[/b]: unchanged
[b]Mindlink[/b]: Duration now Temp WIL × 2 minutes or Sustained at choice. Can now temporarily change a target's mind so that they can communicate up to WIL meters distant, though it causes 1d10 ÷ 2 DV strain to the target. This effect lasts WIL × 2 minutes.
[b]Omni Awareness[/b]: Range now WIL × 2 meters. Duration now Temp WIL ÷ 5 hours.
[b]Penetration[/b]: Now Automatic action. Now grants 3 AP and –10 to target defense per +1 DV. Max is now based on Control since Psi Assault is gone.
[b]Psi Shield[/b]: Renamed Mental Bulwark to better reflect changes. Now grants +10 to all unwanted mental manipulations including coercion, torture, and psi. Still grants the psi armor. Finally, the sleight can be learned twice, stacking the effects.
[b]Psychic Stab[/b]: Strain is now SV instead of DV. Skill is now Control since Psi Assault is gone. Base damage is now 2d10 instead of 1d10 and the target is shocked (no armor included in shock calculation). Now explicit that MoS of 60+ grants +10 damage, just like normal attack.
[b]Scramble[/b]: Merged with Static.
[b]Sense Block[/b]: Duration now Temp WIL minutes. Skill is now Control since Psi Assault is gone. Now can add in more sense to affect, each extra being +1 strain. Crit explicitly shuts off sense entirely.
[b]Static[/b]: Has passive and active mode. Passive is Scramble but it also applies a –30 penalty to brain scans etc and a –10 to all psi rolls against the async. The active effect is the original Static but also adds another –10 penalty to all psi rolls and grants WIL ÷ 5 psi armor to the async. Finally, when active, whenever the async's mind is digitized the copy is hopelessly corrupted.
[b]Subliminal[/b]: unchanged
[b]Thought Browse[/b]: Nwo, after touching the target, the sleight can still be used to browse thoughts up to WIL meters away. Now the opposed test must be made only every action turn, not for every item.
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Psi Revamped
Mon, 2012-09-17 20:58
#1
Psi Revamped
Mea Culpa: My mode of speech can make others feel uninvited to argue or participate. This is the EXACT opposite of what I intend when I post.