Psychic Warrior in Scarred Lands? Ideas?

[Valen]

I just started a Scarred Lands game today. The players made up characters and one of them decided he wanted to play a psychic warrior and a half-orc one at that. I agreed, because I am interested in learning more about psionics and this gives me an excuse to give the book more than just the cursory skimming that I gave it earlier. I am still waiting for my copy of RRII, but from what I understand, there are essentially 3 axioms that RRII has to say about psionics. 1) Psionics are different, 2) Psionics can cause fatigue, and 3) Psionics have only ever been used by Slarecians.

If the above axioms are correct, then I have three dilemmas:

1. How does a half-orc get psionic powers? Could the gods or titans have prevented his birth? What will they do now that he has been born and has been manifesting powers (the character is 3rd level)? I assume that generally people will treat any psionic user as an unnatural aberation. Some may even try to kill him as soon as they learn what he is. Any ideas?

2. Since psionics is different, what kind of threat can I throw at the character? If Slarecians are the only psionic threat (and they are "dead"), what else can I use that still has a Scarred Lands feel? Any thoughts on adapting existing psionic creatures for the Scarred Lands?

3. Finally, the psychic warrior thought that the fatigue penalty in RRII was too harsh. I am leaning towards keeping it as it adds flavor and may abate the above issues somewhat. Any thoughts?

I know that there are Scarred Lands fans out there that are just brimming with ideas. I'd love to hear them!

 

[Anabstercorian]

Scarred Lands has a proud history of spells that cause ability damage, and he has no defense against those spells, which can cut off his access to many of his best powers. Use them liberally.

Perhaps he is the host of a Slarecian spirit, slowly possessing him, growing together with his soul in a symbiosis. Anything is possible.

 

[Xarlen]

You are a GM. Start inserting some psionic critters.

 

[Valen]

You are a GM. Start inserting some psionic critters.

Oh and I will! Bwahahahaahahaha

I was just looking for ideas on how to better justify their existence given "canon" on Scarred Lands psionics (of course, I didn't have the chance to read RRII in total... yet).

Actually, a firedrake nearly took the psychic warrior out in his first adventure .... twice.

I am kicking around the idea that once the gods learn that psionics are back, they will immediately begin sending emissaries to learn if the Slarecians have come back as well, making for some interesting roleplaying challenges for the psychic warrior. So far he is just starting to keep company with a cleric of Charduun who realizes that the warrior seems to not go down as quickly as he should.

Any other ideas? Keep them coming!

 

[Nightfall]

Well most psychic warrior types tend to have ties to the Order of the Obsidin, a small group of psionic creatures (divine and titanspawn) that are dedicated to ridding the Scarred Lands of the threat of Slacerians, since while the Slacerians themselves are gone, not all of their stuff is. Thus there are ghouls, shadowspawn, and other various creatures that can be used to hunt a half orc psychic warrior. Also remember if Slacerian AND has SR, it's PR is the same too. Perhaps he has been raised in secret by a member of the order of the Obsidin (if you want information about it I can email you the Pr-class.) Or maybe he was infected by the Slacerian Language virus. That does happen.

I also agree with Anabstercorian. Use spells that cause ability damage or can affect his mind. Failing that, plenty of spells that call for a reflex might possible work as well too. (Since I forget if psychic warrior gets Good Fort and Will or not...) As for other monsters, while spell resistance isn't going to be an issue, a high gorgon is STILL a threat. Same is true for hag or other titanspawn. I'd recommend using lots of small things or just groups. After all, even a psychic warrior can't take down 6 Slitheren Diseased if they ambush him. Just stick to the monsters strengths, and try to be sneaky.

3. Keep it. It was meant to keep a psychic warrior and Psion from becoming TOO powerful. If the player doesn't like that, he'll have to deal with it.

 

[Nightfall]

I am kicking around the idea that once the gods learn that psionics are back, they will immediately begin sending emissaries to learn if the Slarecians have come back as well, making for some interesting roleplaying challenges for the psychic warrior. So far he is just starting to keep company with a cleric of Charduun who realizes that the warrior seems to not go down as quickly as he should.

Any other ideas? Keep them coming!

Sounds like an excellent idea. Course I'd limit such things to pages or powerful forces that a god can command. Also remember that while the gods FEAR psionics, some like Corean and Madriel MIGHT be willing to let him go IF he's following a goodly path. Course the Dark Gods, Vangal, Belsameth (ESPECIALLY her!), and Chardun might not be as forgiving.

Also probably wouldn't hurt to have a Penumbral Lord or two have an interest in the half orc.

 

[Graf]

Who's faster than Nightfall? (edit: the answer is clearly 'not graf'

I just started a Scarred Lands game today.

*sounds of applause*

<out of order>
I know that there are Scarred Lands fans out there that are just brimming with ideas. I'd love to hear them!

There is a price for all knowledge: You have to keep us posted on how your game is going though. The collective craves ideas and information.
(seriously... think about joining Scarntalk.)

A question: (I don't have R&R)
Did they change material componets at all? Some people don't like them, but you should definitely keep them if it doesn't say anything about that. Change them to be cooler or individualized (make invisibility more of a quick sound maybe instead of perpetual ringing bells, for instance).
The psionics-should-be-utterly-undetectable school of thought is unfortunate.

1. How does a half-orc get psionic powers? Could the gods or titans have prevented his birth? What will they do now that he has been born and has been manifesting powers (the character is 3rd level)? I assume that generally people will treat any psionic user as an unnatural aberation. Some may even try to kill him as soon as they learn what he is. Any ideas?

Ok. Here some points (I like history to be infered in my world mechanics though some people don't so this reflects that but)
1. Magic was something that Mesos made as well. But even after his near-total destruction the changes he wrought upon reality during his epoch continue. (I maintain that his druids were actually wizards and that's where the wizardly tradition comes from but that's really a different thread topic).
2. Psionics (at least according to one interview with Bruce Cordell on his website) has more of a planar feel to it. Lots of powers summon stuff from the astral plane or leave behind an icky goo from the temporary weakening of the astral barrier.
This psionics-as-being-related-to-planar-physics kinda stuff dovetails neatly with the Slarecians being from "somewhere not scarn".

In other words this energy field/metaphysic that Slarecians use isn't something they carry with them. Its a natural set of laws similar to those that govern magic. It requires a specially developed existence (by which I mean both physical and mental way of being). The more you have acheived understanding of how to embody this existence the better you are at generating effects. (which explains why psions must study and grow more powerful over time through experience).
While Slarecians used these powers first you shouldn't need to make everything on Scarn directly related to Slarecians....

3. A lot of people complain about the relationship between magic and psionics. They want magic and psionics to be different (often with the emphasis on psionics being able to do more be more powerful).
Also -> The Slarecians psionic powers were vast and strong enough that they killed off several lesser gods and managed to drive back the first divine host sent against them. Most people reading the psionics handbook aren't going to get that impression.
My 'fix': After the Slarecians were destroyed Mesos' epoch came about. During that time he modified physical reality in a fundimental way. Psionics tapped into reality in a way which was fundimentally similar to magic and Mesos wove these closely together stripping psionics of some of its power. Psionic effects are, perforce the will of the titan of magic and the changes he wrought, bounded by and intrinsicly linked to magic.
Thus psionic powers are not different from magic and the two interact. If all psionic effects have been dispelled within an area then there are no magical effects their either and vis versa. Likewise creatures with Spell resistence have some resistence to psionics and so on.
[Its possible, btw, that Mesos took a number of ideas from psionics and incorperated them into magic as well. You could argue about the root forces powering Detect Thoughts or Astral Projection has having developed as a result of is inquiries into the Slarecian's abilities.]

So why the hell am I babbiling about all this?
Lets hit some of your points.
First: I think that psionics should be rare, unusual and exciting for players. Having said that I never play with your-character-is-the-only-one-like-you I like to say instead: that the character is the only character people have heard of.
I think it makes for a better story if the character is not the only psion. Then his or her getting to 8th level isn't really impressive. You have to have other psions/pyschic warriors around to compare the character with, compete, and so on.

Psionics is lost lore unknown even to many sages except as a sort of vague reference. As Scarn rebuilds knowledge lost as a result of the war will be rediscovered. Or else the changed conditions on Scarn make it easiler for some things to bear fruit. With the titans and their minons destroyed and the divine races having forgotten psionics and the Slarecians the time is right for a psionics rennessance where psionics (possibly) rises to be come widespread (though probably not common) within the world.

1. How does a half-orc get psionic powers?

Its kind of irritating when people respond by posting about their games but I'm going to do it anyway.
I breifly had a dwarven psion in my game. I wanted psionics to be extremly uncommon and to explain why this particular dwarf (of all dwarves) wound up developing psionic powers.

So I made him a captured Slitherin slave. He had been captured by a Black Pelt and used as a subject of horrible experiements. He was one of the few survivors because of his abnormally high consitution (20 con). This black pelt had discovered a vile object he called the eye which had warped him and the rest of his servants. The orb was Slarecian in origin but I never mentioned them to the player or explained what was.
The orb was an artifact (AKA plot device) which could foricble 'awaken' people. All awaken meant was that it could send its little astral tentacles into people and make them hyper-atuned to the psionic fields around them. (also conveniently explaining why psions were sensitive to psychic combat).
The orb takes time to work and transforms a creature who is exposed to it effectively their favored race becomes psion or psychic warrior.
The Black Pelt himself had been warped as had all the rest of his servants. He was also stark raving made and most of his way toward becoming the host of the orb (you didn't really think it was a magic object did you?). He was quite detached from reality and one of his servants a ogre (effectively an ogre mage but psionic after his exposure to the orb) ran the show.
The ogre hated our dwarf and tried to kill him a few times before selling him off.

Thats kind of my recommendation:
You have a reason for psionics (the orb or whatever)
Built in psionic opponets (the ogre, the other students ultimately the black pelt)
You have modivations for the character and a mixed set of feelings on one had they have all these powers on the other they got them horribly and it sucks.
Do they work to teach others their powers to try to redeem what happened? Do they demand that no-one else use psionics?

How does the character react when they meet people who learned their powers from something other than the orb?
Where did the orb come from? (this is the kind of think you can make linger in the character's mind)
Maybe you get some weird dynamics where the Black pelt is attacked by other Black Pelts for "betraying the way of Mesos".

Could the gods or titans have prevented his birth?

Probably, but why would they care?

What will they do now that he has been born and has been manifesting powers (the character is 3rd level)?

Generally: Some of them will probably like him some of them will probably dislike him based on his alignment.
Gods generally don't have much of a strong opinion about 3rd level characters in my games. Its been around for a long time and there have probably been people who accidently stumbled upon Slarcian stuff and or even spondantiousl developed psionic powers before.
Though you're free to change that.

I assume that generally people will treat any psionic user as an unnatural aberation. Some may even try to kill him as soon as they learn what he is. Any ideas?

Most people will think he's a socerer. People with high spellcraft skills and sages who watch him up close will wonder about his brand of magic but most will probably presume that he's using a magic item or a transformed creature with spell like powers (probably the most common guess) he's drawn from Enkili's deck of Wonders and Horrors a few times.
IN SL magic isn't perceived simply, even by people with familiiarity with it. There are whole contients with magic no-one knows about and lots of different conflicting and mixing schools. In addition to Sorcers, Bards, Druids and divine casters there are Shadow Wizards (who can draw on spells very differently), Blood wizards, Alchemy and Astrology, things warped by the titans with some very weird powers and so on.
Some guy who makes glowing runes over his head is an oddity. So what if he thinks that his brainwavs cause his powers. The sorcer down the street thinks his powers come from his mother having drunk the water of the blood sea during a monsoon when she bore him in his womb.
Most psychic warriors powers are pretty subtle. A lot of warrior prestige classes have special magical or magic-like abilities.

2. Since psionics is different, what kind of threat can I throw at the character? If Slarecians are the only psionic threat (and they are "dead"), what else can I use that still has a Scarred Lands feel? Any thoughts on adapting existing psionic creatures for the Scarred Lands?

OK. I'm out of time gotta get back to work. I'll come back with this tonight if I can.

3. Finally, the psychic warrior thought that the fatigue penalty in RRII was too harsh. I am leaning towards keeping it as it adds flavor and may abate the above issues somewhat. Any thoughts?

How does the system work now?

 

[Glaurung]

1. How does a half-orc get psionic powers? Could the gods or titans have prevented his birth? What will they do now that he has been born and has been manifesting powers (the character is 3rd level)? I assume that generally people will treat any psionic user as an unnatural aberation. Some may even try to kill him as soon as they learn what he is. Any ideas?

2. Since psionics is different, what kind of threat can I throw at the character? If Slarecians are the only psionic threat (and they are "dead"), what else can I use that still has a Scarred Lands feel? Any thoughts on adapting existing psionic creatures for the Scarred Lands?

3. Finally, the psychic warrior thought that the fatigue penalty in RRII was too harsh. I am leaning towards keeping it as it adds flavor and may abate the above issues somewhat. Any thoughts?
[/B]

1) Psionic powers in SL tend to originate from the ancient Slarecians, although that doesn't necessarily mean the character must be a follower of such vile creatures. He can be a member of the Order of Obsidian, dedicated to hunted down the remnants of the Slarecians, or perhaps he received his powers after his mind was altered by the Slarecian Language Virus. Or perhaps he has a bit of Slarecian blood in his veins?

2) Throw whatever you'd normally throw at your characters. If you want to involve the Slarecians as part of your campaign, you can add Slarecian constructs and perhaps their followers, such as the Cultists of the Shade. Most existing psionic powers work pretty well in the SL. I included a few new powers in RR2 for SL psions.

3) The fatigue penalty is a bit harsh-but that is what you get for dabbling in powers man was not meant to know. It was meant to be counterbalanced with the rule allowing for concentration on multiple powers at the same time. It is a variant-if you don't want to be bothered, don't use it.

-Michael Gill

 

[Nightfall]

Thanks for explaining that part Mike! Btw, how goes the work on Wizards, Bards and Sorcerers? I hope I can get HINT or two...

 

[Glaurung]

Actually I finished it last month. Working on Termana--but you're not getting hints from me...go pester Druid

-Michael Gill