FuturePSI - the new psionics in town

[Roudi]

Okay, folks. FuturePSI is an idea that's been kicking around for a year or so. Basically it's an attempt at a power point-less, magic-less, fluid system of psionic powers for d20 modern. My goal in posting it here is to gain feedback and allow others to contribute to the development. Please feel free to post comments, power suggestions, or to take a hand at crafting psitalents.

FuturePSI

The human mind is a vast well of potential, buried deep among the unused areas of our brain. As time progresses, certain lucky (or unlucky) individuals will begin to discover the first hints of this unlocked psionic potential. While none are sure what catalysed this realization of power, it will be evident that something, some new force, is emerging among humanity. Something that allows thought, will and imagination to be come physically manifest. Something that makes possible the impossible. And we will call it FuturePSI.

FuturePSI is a new system of rules that covers some very old terrain – psionics. Quite a number of psionic systems exist for d20 games: d20 Modern has its default system, based on the D&D Psionics Handbook. It works much the same as magic, except it replaces “spells per day” with a pool of “power points.” Darwin’s World 2, released by RPGObjects, contains a very thorough feat-based psionics system. Even the Force in Star Wars d20, which uses both feats and skills, could be considered psionics. While FuturePSI is unavoidably inspired by these three and other systems, it is also distinct in many respects. FuturePSI is intended to add a fresh new approach to psionics for your d20 Modern and Future games.

With FuturePSI, there are two ways to gain psionic ability – either you are born with the gift, or you learn it through discipline and concentration. To model this in d20 Modern, psionics are accessible through either the PsiGift feat, or by taking the PsiStudent advanced class. Neither are prerequisites or exclusive of each other. A person without PsiGift may become a PsiStudent. A person with PsiGift may also become a PsiStudent. Those born with the PsiGift enjoy a natural talent for psionics, while PsiStudents are rewarded for focus and perseverance with more potent powers.

Basic Terms:

PsiTalent: Traditionally called “psionic powers”, PsiTalents are psionic abilities gained as talents. They either allow a psionicist to manifest a power, or they improve upon the powers they are able to manifest.

Key Ability:Each PsiTalent is tied to one of the three mental ability scores (Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma). Any psionic check or psionic attack roll is modified by the psitalent’s key ability modifier. All psionic powers have a range equal to 10ft per point of key ability modifier, if applicable.

Psionic Check: a psionic check is 1d20 + the psitalent’s key ability modifier

Psionic Attack Roll: Some psitalents are used offensively via psionic attack rolls. They are 1d20 + the psitalent’s key ability modifier. Do not add your base attack bonus to a psionic attack roll unless you have taken a psitalent that allows you to do so.

Manifestation Time: This is how long it takes to manifest a particular psionic power.

Effect Time: Often called “duration”, this is how long a power lasts once manifested. For definitions of the specific effect times, consult your Modern SRD.

Rest Time: Psionic powers are taxing on the mind; therefore, the mind must rest between manifesting powers. The minimum rest time is one round. This means that, after manifesting a power, the psionicist must not manifest another power for the remainder of the round and the entire following round. On the psionicist’s turn after the full round of rest, he is able to manifest powers normally. Some powers have higher rest times, and some are scalable, but they will always have a minimum rest time of one round. Rest time starts when the power duration ends. “Rest” means that the psionicist manifests no powers. He can still move, attack, defend, use skills, cast spells, etc. The only thing that needs rest is the psionicist’s psionic powers.
Note: Occasionally, a power’s rest time will be listed “As Effect Time.” This applies to powers without a static effect time; usually scalable-duration powers. In these cases, the Rest Time is a number of rounds equal to the number of rounds that the power was in effect.

Feat:

PsiGift [General]
You are born with the natural gift of psionic ability. This allows you to gain and manifest psionic powers.
Benefit: Whenever you have the opportunity to choose a Talent from a class Talent Tree, you may choose a talent from a PsiTalent Tree instead. You must meet the prerequisites of any talent you choose to take.
Special: This feat may only be taken at first level

 

[Roudi]

Some Telekinesis PsiTalents

Here is a partially completed list of the Telekinesis PsiTalents.

TELEKINETIC ABILITY
Psikinesis (INT)
Manifestation Time: Full-Round Action
Effect Time: Concentration, or Instantaneous; see text.
Rest Time: As Effect Time, or 1 round; see text.
Telekinesis is one of the most versatile and recognizable psionic power. Firstly it can be used to life objects. To do so, you must make a Concentration check against the object's Difficulty Class (see below)

Object Size - Con DC
Fine - DC 1
Diminutive - DC 5
Tiny - DC 10
Small – DC 15
Medium – DC 20
Large – DC 25
Huge – DC 30
Gargantuan – DC 35
Colossal – DC 40

If successful, you may move the object 5ft per point of Intelligence modifier. This effect lasts as long as you maintain your concentration. The rest time for this use of Telekinetic Ability is the same as the number of rounds spent successfully moving objects and begins as soon as you stop concentrating or fail a Concentration check.
The second use of Telekinetic Ability is as a weapon. You gain a telekinetic attack. You may make a psionic attack roll against a single target and deal 1d4 Concussion damage on a successful hit. This attack is a manifestation of pure blunt force, and is completely invisible. Targets of a telekinetic attack are denied their Dexterity bonus to Defense against the attack. The rest time for this power is 1 round.
The third use for Telekinesis is the ability to break objects from afar. You may roll a psionic check and treat it as a Strength check to break an object (see “Breaking Objects” in the Modern SRD). The rest time for this use of the power is 1 round.

IMPROVED TELEKINETIC COMBAT
Psikinesis (INT)
You may make telekinetic attacks as attack actions.
Normal: You may only make a telekinetic attack as a full-round action
Prerequisite: Telekinetic Ability

ADVANCED TELEKINETIC COMBAT
Psikinesis (INT)
Your telekinetic damage die increases by one step in the following progression: 1d6, 1d8, 1d10, 2d6, 2d8, 2d10, 3d6, etc.
Special: This PsiTalent may be taken multiple times.
Prerequisite: Improved Telekinetic Combat

TELEKINETIC COMBAT MASTERY
Psikinesis (INT)
You may add your Base Attack Bonus to you telekinetic attack rolls.
Prerequisite: Improved Telekinetic Combat

GREATER TELEKINETIC COMBAT MASTERY
Psikinesis (INT)
You may make additional telekinetic attacks in a round. By using a full-round attack action, you gain an additional attack at a -5 bonus. When making telekinetic attacks in this manner the rest time for this power increases by one round.
Special: You may take this feat up to three times, gaining an additional attack each time. Each additional attack suffers a penalty 5 points greater than the previous additional attack. This Psitalent requires and additional +5 base Attack Bonus each additional time you take the feat.
Prerequisite: Base Attack Bonus +6, Telekinetic Combat Mastery

OBJECT LIFT FOCUS
Psikinesis (INT)
You gain a bonus on Concentration checks made to lift objects telekinetically equal to your Intelligence modifier.
Special: You may gain this feat additional times. Each time its effects stack.
Prerequisite: Telekinetic Ability

IMPROVED OBJECT LIFT
Psikinesis (INT)
You may make Concentration checks to lift objects telekinetically as a move action.
Prerequisite: Telekinetic Ability

OBJECT ATTACK
Psikinesis (INT)
Manifestation Time: Full-Round Action
Effect Time: Instantaneous
Rest Time: 2 rounds.
You may telekinetically hurl objects at your foes. You must first succeed at a Concentration check to lift a target object (see Telekinetic Ability). If successful, you may roll a telekinetic attack. Unlike a normal telekinetic attack, the opponent retains her Dexterity bonus to Defense against this attack. A successful attack deals your regular telekinetic attack damage, plus additional damaged based on the object’s size (see below). This additional object damage is appropriate to the type of object flung (usually bludgeoning) and is not modified by any feat or PsiTalent that affects a telekinetic attack.

Fine – 1
Diminutive – 1d2
Tiny – 1d4
Small – 1d8
Medium – 2d6
Large – 2d8
Huge – 4d6
Gargantuan – 4d8
Colossal – 8d6

Prerequisite: Improved Object Lift, Improved Telekinetic Combat

TELEKINETIC SHATTERSTORM
PsiKinesis (INT)
Manifestation Time: Full-round action
Effect Time: Instantaneous
Rest Time: 3 rounds plus 1 round / Int mod
You are able to expand your force of will to the area surrounding you and attempt to break all nearby objects. Roll a psionic check. Every object (including attended or wielded objects, and even objects worn or used by you) treats this roll as a Strength check. Every object with a lower Break DC than your psionic check in the radius breaks. This includes doors, guns, computers, tables, etc. Objects that are reasonably flexible (like a kevlar vest or a rope) are unaffected by this power. This power has no effect on living creatures.
Reminder: A PsiTalent has an effective radius of 10ft per point of key ability modifier.
Prerequisite: Telekinetic Ability and at least 3 other PsiTalents

 

[Acid_crash]

I think this is pretty cool stuff and being a psionics fan I like anything psionics based, especially if it's different than the core psionics system.

I'm assuming that the above telekinetic powers are talents and not feats and all belong to the same talent tree, but if I am wrong let me know.

I do like how you have seperated those born with psionics and those who dedicate their training towards learning psionics. That's a pretty cool take on them.

 

[Roudi]

Thanks, acid. You're absolutely right - all the above are Talents (PsiTalents, to be exact) and belong to the same talent tree. I'm not sure if I should have a general Psikinesis Talent Tree, or whether this should be part of a distinct Telekinesis Talent Tree. I'm trying to keep this system as open-ended as possible, with room for expansion. I'm not planning on doing them, but others sould conceivably construct Pyrokinesis, Hydrokinesis, Cryokinesis, etc. PsiTalents that would fall into the Psikinesis category.

Decisions, decisions.

I'll see if I can tackle telepathy next.

 

[ragboy]

The second use of Telekinetic Ability is as a weapon. You gain a telekinetic attack. You may make a psionic attack roll against a single target and deal 1d4 nonlethal damage on a successful hit (you may deal lethal damage by taking a –4 penalty on your psionic attack roll).

I'm unclear what you're attacking *with* here. Is it directly against the target's mind or are you manifesting blunt force against the opponent? Either way, it would seem logical that the target's Defense would be lowered (at least by their DEX bonus, since they can't see a physical attack to dodge). Though, this would be way too powerful.

Other than rest time, what regulates the manifesting of powers? I know you set out to remove dependence on any sort of power point system, but I'm not sure 'rest time' is adequate. Haven't tested it yet, though...

These are my first impressions, though I like where you're going with this.

To make it truly Futuristic, there definitely should be some communication/telepathy elements and possibly something technically oriented... Like entering cyberspace without a computer, etc,

...some sort of chemical resistance or the ability to survive on planets with hostile atmospheres.... just brainstorming... Traveling, maybe? Manifesting a wormhole-like dimension door kinda thing.... I'm not entirely familiar with the current Psionics rules, but these seem pretty logical, especially in a sci-fi setting.

Ah! Penalties for using psionics (especially telepathy...or anything directly against the mind) against aliens (i.e. any intelligent life that's not your species.)

Maybe some sort of special feat or power for using telepathy with intelligent machines (AI's, cyborg-kinda robots, etc).

That's all I can think of at the moment.

 

[Roudi]

Good points, ragboy. I'll errata Telekinetic Ability. The TK attack is pure blunt force. It's invisible, and thus probably would deny the target his or her DEX bonus to defense. I can't see this as being a terribly unbalancing, as TK attacks aren't really effectual early on (you gain these as talents, don't forget. A base-class PsiGifted character will only gain one of these every other level, and the PsiStudent progression won't be too much faster). Consequently, TK attacks really begin to become dangerous at higher levels, when most characters have a class bonus to Defense that helps make up for lost Dexterity. I also think a feat and a few powers might be able to nullify this advantage of TK attacks.

As for arbitrating power usage - yeah, rest time is the only mitigating factor (that and the self-scaling nature of the powers - they all start out weak and only grow through the character's conscious investment in PsiTalents). I wanted to have a system where casual psionicists could dabble, but true masters would be able to rely on nothing BUT their psionic powers. If balance problems occur, then rest times will be scaled - unless I'm required to scale them to rediculous proportions, then it will be back to the drawing board.

If you feel particularly inspired, feel free to come up with your own Psi Talent Tree to cover some of the ideas you came up with.

 

[Dalamar]

Manifestation Time: Standard Action

d20 Modern has Attack Actions, Move Actions, Free Actions, and Full-round Actions. Standard action is used in the normal d20/DnD.

Improved Telekinetic Combat
Psikinesis (INT)
You may make telekinetic attacks as an attack action.
Prerequisite: Telekinetic Ability

Is this meant to make the character able to use Telekinetic attack during a full attack? Or did you mean to make the normal manifestation time a full-round action?

Telekinetic Combat Mastery
Psikinesis (INT)
You may add your highest Base Attack Bonus to you telekinetic attack rolls.

Isn't the "highest" redundant here? First, the character hasn't received the ability to make multiple attacks with their telekinetic attack. Second, BAB is always listed as a single value in a creature's statistics, people are intended to remember the iterative attacks themselves.

Greater Telekinetic Combat Mastery
Psikinesis (INT)
You may make additional telekinetic attacks in a round. By using a full-round attack action, you may make multiple telekinetic attacks using your first two highest Base Attack Bonuses. When making telekinetic attacks in this manner the rest time for this power increases by one round. You may take this feat more than once. Each time you may add the next Base Attack Bonus in your progression, to a maximum of four telekinetic attacks in a round.
Special: You may take this feat three times.
Prerequisite: Telekinetic Combat Mastery

This one I'd word "When making a full attack with your Telekinetic Attack, you gain an additional attack at a -5 bonus", add "BAB +6 or better" to the Prerequisites, and change the Special line to read "You can take this talent up to three times, gaining an additional attack each time. The attack suffers a penalty 5 points greater than the previous additional attack, and requires BAB 5 points higher", or something to that effect. Referring to "second highest BAB" isn't default d20, and I first thought you meant that I'd need to keep track separately of my BAB from all classes for this

Treat this as a telekinetic attack. Add the following damage to the telekinetic attack based on the size of the object
...
Any feat or psitalent that applies to telekinetic attacks may apply to an Object Attack. An Object Attack has the same rest time as a Telekinetic attack.

So the character gains the object damage in addition to the damage for Telekinetic Attack? And Advanced Telekinetic Combat increases both the damage done with the Telekinetic Attack, as well as the damage done by the object? That is how it reads right now. Oh, and the rest time of a Telekinetic attack isn't spelled out anywhere, so it is 1 round by default, no?

 

[Roudi]

Very good points, Dalamar. The rest time for a telekinetic attack is spelled out in the Telekinetic Ability PsiTalent (which is one round).

Standard action - if d20 Modern doesn't have them, I'm going to have to bring them in. They may be a D&D holdover, but I feel some of these powers are too powerful from the start if they are simply attack or move actions.
Edit- on further consideration, the D&D-defined "standard action" is unsuitable. Standard action powers will now become full-round action powers.

Now, as for improved telekinetic combat, it does exactly what it says it does: making telekinetic attacks now take an attack action rather than a standard action. I perhaps should add a "Normal" entry to it to demonstrate precisely what the feat is affecting.

Highest BAB - yeah, that's a holdover from my D&D days. Good point.

Greater Telekinetic Combat Mastery - I did not like the way I had worded it at first. I'm never a big fan of using backwards math to get players to figure out what would esentially be the next BAB progression bonus. I'll word it the way you've listed and see what other comments come of it.

I'm not sure if Object Attack and Advanced Telekinetic Combat needs better wording, but it works like this - Advanced TK Combat increases the damage of the telekinetic attack. With Object Attack, you may hurl an object as a telekinetic attack, and add the object's damage as per the table to the telekinetic attack. That's ADDING damage. I might have to make it clearer that Advanced TK Combat die advancement doesn't affect object damage.

 

[Dalamar]

An Attack action in d20M is pretty much the exact same thing as a Standard action in DnD, so there'd be no need to bring it in.

Maybe the wording for Object Attack could be "When making a Telekinetic Attack, you can choose to use an object within range. The target of the attack does not lose their Dexterity bonus to Defense, but you add extra damage to your attack, dependant on the size of the object used, as follows:", with "You must succeed in a Concentration check, as described under Telekinetic Ability, to use an object with your Telekinetic Attack. If you fail this check, the attack automatically fails, but you must still wait the Rest time" after the table.
Now Object Attack is an enhancement to Telekinetic Attack instead of to Lift Object, and all applicaple talents and feats automatically work with it.

 

[Roudi]

The only problem with that wording is that an Object Attack becomes just an attack-action power instead of an effective full-round action. Under current working, it requires a move action to lift the object and an attack action to hurl it - this I felt was a key balance feature.