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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Graf" data-source="post: 357900" data-attributes="member: 3087">Who's faster than Nightfall? (edit: the answer is clearly 'not graf'*sounds of applause*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.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.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". Probably, but why would they care? 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.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.OK. I'm out of time gotta get back to work. I'll come back with this tonight if I can.How does the system work now?</blockquote>

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