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new Psion mechanic - Help Wanted
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<blockquote data-quote="TheCosmicKid" data-source="post: 7007067" data-attributes="member: 6683613"><p>I have a couple of concerns.</p><p></p><p>Recent editions (4E and 5E) have shied away from on-the-fly modifications to ability scores because they're pretty deep in the system math and can impose quite a calculation burden at the table for some groups. Dex is probably the worst offender: a change in Dex modifies a character's AC, initiative, multiple skills, and potentially their attack and damage rolls, any or all of which are easy to forget in practice. So what we see instead, especially in 5E, is a simpler sort of modifier. <em>Bless</em> and <em>bane</em> modify specific rolls by 1d4, which you can physically hand the player as a reminder. <em>Enhance ability</em> and <em>hex</em> impose generic advantage/disadvantage. Neither requires players to recalculate anything on their character sheet.</p><p></p><p>You also appear to be running headlong into multiple attribute dependency, or MAD, requiring the character to have high scores in lots of different abilities to be effective. This is an unpopular game mechanic. Even in 3E, you'll note that they changed the psion from using different ability scores for different disciplines in 3.0 to always using Intelligence in 3.5. They stuck with this in 4E and (according to Unearthed Arcana) 5E.</p><p></p><p>So I would take idea in one of two directions. The first would be to have psions "tap" an ability score to use a power, imposing disadvantage on checks with that score until they rest. Tapping is binary -- you can't tap an ability that's already tapped. This would give psions a more limited repertoire, a maximum of six powers, somewhat akin to a warlock, so I'd probably make the taps refresh on a short rest rather than a long one. Alternately, there could be specific conditions that allow the psion to untap a score. This system is simple and doesn't require character sheet recalculation. And it preserves the multiple-attribute flavor of the old-school psion that you seem to be going for without running into mechanical MAD, since disadvantage on Strength checks works the same whether you have a 6 in Strength or 16.</p><p></p><p>The second direction would be to ditch the multiple-attribute flavor and pick one key score for the psion -- probably Intelligence. Using a power earns you a d4 penalty die on Intelligence checks until you can rest. These can accumulate. Maybe you have to roll them whenever you use a power, and if you roll higher than your Intelligence score, something bad happens. Lots of stuff you can do with this. This is, again, simple and easy to use at the table, and it gets rid of MAD. It does get rid of the multiple-attribute flavor, though, and I would <em>not</em> recommend combining this with the multiple-attribute system because then you have to track six different penalty die totals for the six scores.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TheCosmicKid, post: 7007067, member: 6683613"] I have a couple of concerns. Recent editions (4E and 5E) have shied away from on-the-fly modifications to ability scores because they're pretty deep in the system math and can impose quite a calculation burden at the table for some groups. Dex is probably the worst offender: a change in Dex modifies a character's AC, initiative, multiple skills, and potentially their attack and damage rolls, any or all of which are easy to forget in practice. So what we see instead, especially in 5E, is a simpler sort of modifier. [I]Bless[/I] and [I]bane[/I] modify specific rolls by 1d4, which you can physically hand the player as a reminder. [I]Enhance ability[/I] and [I]hex[/I] impose generic advantage/disadvantage. Neither requires players to recalculate anything on their character sheet. You also appear to be running headlong into multiple attribute dependency, or MAD, requiring the character to have high scores in lots of different abilities to be effective. This is an unpopular game mechanic. Even in 3E, you'll note that they changed the psion from using different ability scores for different disciplines in 3.0 to always using Intelligence in 3.5. They stuck with this in 4E and (according to Unearthed Arcana) 5E. So I would take idea in one of two directions. The first would be to have psions "tap" an ability score to use a power, imposing disadvantage on checks with that score until they rest. Tapping is binary -- you can't tap an ability that's already tapped. This would give psions a more limited repertoire, a maximum of six powers, somewhat akin to a warlock, so I'd probably make the taps refresh on a short rest rather than a long one. Alternately, there could be specific conditions that allow the psion to untap a score. This system is simple and doesn't require character sheet recalculation. And it preserves the multiple-attribute flavor of the old-school psion that you seem to be going for without running into mechanical MAD, since disadvantage on Strength checks works the same whether you have a 6 in Strength or 16. The second direction would be to ditch the multiple-attribute flavor and pick one key score for the psion -- probably Intelligence. Using a power earns you a d4 penalty die on Intelligence checks until you can rest. These can accumulate. Maybe you have to roll them whenever you use a power, and if you roll higher than your Intelligence score, something bad happens. Lots of stuff you can do with this. This is, again, simple and easy to use at the table, and it gets rid of MAD. It does get rid of the multiple-attribute flavor, though, and I would [I]not[/I] recommend combining this with the multiple-attribute system because then you have to track six different penalty die totals for the six scores. [/QUOTE]
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