Question - How to run a psionics campaign ...

[Angelsboi]

I want to run a psionics campaign by PBeM (actually on a posting board).

I have If Thoughts Could Kill and Of Sound Mind.

I know my backstory (ill post it if anyone wants to know)

But how do i deal with regular monsters against psionic powers and such?

I even have a way to randomly choose which attack and defence nodes are used.

 

[Piratecat]

Random? Phbbt! I think sneaky is better! But good for you for giving it a try.

IMO, psionic creatures generally pick an attack that (a)gets DC bonuses from the psion's high stat, or (b) targets the opponent's weakest stat. Drop a stupid monster's intelligence, for instance, and you leave them in a stupor.

 

[Tzarevitch]

I want to run a psionics campaign by PBeM (actually on a posting board).

I have If Thoughts Could Kill and Of Sound Mind.

I know my backstory (ill post it if anyone wants to know)

But how do i deal with regular monsters against psionic powers and such?

I even have a way to randomly choose which attack and defence nodes are used.

I think you need to be a little clearer with your question. What do you mean by, "how do I deal with regular mosters against psionic powers..."? Is there a particular problem that you are anticipating?

Monsters interact with psionics the same say they interact with spells. (This changes slightly if you use the "Psionics are Different option like I do, but not much.)

I haven't encountered any problems to date except for the attack modes. As written, all of the attack modes except for Mind Blast are nearly useless against most non-psionic creatures. Even against psionic creatures they are not very effective. I mostly ignore them in my game.

Tzarevitch

 

[Angelsboi]

no what i mean is i want an all psionics campaign (all the PCs will have Psionics). What do i do if they go up against non psionic creatures?

And does anyone have any suggestions for running this type of campaign?

 

[SteelDraco]

Advice from the trenches, as it were

Three basic points to remember about a psi-centered game.

1. They don't have any good healing. Compared to a cleric, it's just about nonexistant.
2. Their combat stats are lower than a normal group, both in attack and hit points. They tend to have solid ACs, but are weak on the offensive and are more fragile than normal PCs, due to lower Hit Die and reliance on more stats.
3. They need prep time. If they don't have a round or two to activate combat-related powers, they aren't even going to be close to a normal group. A PsyWar is nasty when he's got some powers going, but if he doesn't, he's just a cleric with a poor Will save. And he's going to get eaten alive by a comparable fighter.

I have actually played in an all-Psi game, though it was before the release of ITCK and Of Sound Mind. Everyone was required to have at least half their levels in psionic-using classes (Psion, Psychic Warrior, or Psychic Rogue). We were playing githzerai on the race's home world, trying to regain control. Essentially, we were told to go out into a section of jungle and clear it of dangerous creatures and find out what we could about what was out there. The DM did a good job of building an interesting background for the setting, and it worked out well - for a while.

The PCs were, as well as I can recall them:

En'kun - Mnk1/PsyWar5 (me, used Claws of the Bear and Talons, along with the Spring Attack tree, to do quite a bit of damage with my unarmed attacks - usually on the order of 1d12+7 @ +9/+9)

PsyWar6 (spiked chain master - quite nasty stuff, with Expertise, Improved Trip, WF/WS, etc)

Psion6 (Telepath) (no real focus; her best bit was Inflict Pain with Trigger Power, which she could get off pretty reliably)

Psion5 (Savant)/Pyrokineticist1 (fire guy, though he wasn't very good at it)

Psion6 (Shaper) (summoned hordes and hordes of little monsters - quite nasty, really, as he could summon a whole lot of the little buggers)

PsyRogue6 (a fairly standard rogue-type; his powers were mostly wasted, the only one I remember him using was Invisibility)

PsyWar1/Psion (Metabolicist)4/PsiHealer1 (the healer of the group - she had some custom healing powers and a level in a custom Psionic Healer PrC. Quite high AC, as I recall - she took her level in PsyWar to get plate mail and a halberd.)

PsyWar5/Zerth Knight1 (paladin-esque character, the Zerth Knight gets a few odd powers, but is mostly a psionic paladin)

PsyWar5/Slayer1 (the token illithid hunter, necessary for any group of githzerai. Since we never met any illithids, he didn't do too well, though he was a decent - not great - warrior in his own right).

The problems started with a pack of trolls. There were about eight of them, as I recall, against nine 6th level PCs. They surprised us, and in the jungle, encounters start very, very close. I believe they started within 20' of us, much less than their charge distance. As we were all caught by surprise, we had almost no powers up. I believe I (a Mnk1/PsyWar5) had Claws of the Bear up, as I almost always did. And that was about it. It was a horrible fight for us - they ripped us apart completely. We didn't manage to take a single one of them out, and had to retreat quite rapidly. I think only one of us actually died, but I know that it was down to three of us standing at one point. That would have been me, the healer, and the spiked chain master. While mechanically, we should have been able to deal with them without much of a problem, we just got our tails handed to us in that fight. No one had the hit points to deal with them, and we had no real way of damaging several of them at once. Our psionic attacks were useless, as they had the nonpsionic buffer. Our attacks weren't strong enough to bring them down consistently.
So, we ran from that fight. After some exploring, we did return and ambush the trolls ourselves. That time, we decimated them - not a single PC even dropped, and all the trolls were wiped out. It all came down to prep time. A psi party NEEDS to have time to activate its psionic powers, or it will get creamed by a group of monsters who don't rely on magic.

After we did some other stuff (fighting degenerate gith, su-monsters, and a canopy dragon, not to mention meeting with another tribe of proto-gith), we went back out. This time we encountered a group of githyanki, and they also decimated us. There were several knights (6th level PsyWars, as I recall - SavageWombat, you remember?), and two Psions. They were essentially a group like us, except they had good teamwork. They'd pick a single target, and all the knights would hammer them until they fell. It was brutal. We just had no way of dealing with them - we couldn't hit them and they hit us just about every time.

In the end, the group decided that we'd shelve that game and do something else. I regretted it, since I loved my character. The DM gave us all the opportunity to rewrite our characters now that we'd played with the psi stuff, but most of the group didn't want to. Therefore, we moved on to a more conventional fantasy game. The DM and I had a fairly ongoing conversation about the relative strength of a normal party vs a theme party, and I still maintain what I first said. A party that is focused around one particular class - no matter which one - will be weaker than a comparable balanced group in the long run. Just something to keep in mind from a guy who's been in a psionic campaign.

 

[Angelsboi]

thats why im also allowing them to multiclass freely to psionic. Meaning they dont count psi classes against Multiclass penalties.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Tzarevitch]

no what i mean is i want an all psionics campaign (all the PCs will have Psionics). What do i do if they go up against non psionic creatures?

And does anyone have any suggestions for running this type of campaign?

Oh I understand what you are asking. My suggestion; remove the non-psionic buffer.

Here's what I did. Since on Athas, nearly everyone and everything has at least the talent with The Way, I decided that the Non-Psionic buffer should be rare or non-existant. In order for a member of a race to receive the non-psionic buffer that entire race must be ABSOLUTELY non-psionic and be completely unable to become psions at all. (In DS that means ALL humanoids, monstrous humanoids, beasts, most magical beasts, and some types of giants do not receive the buffer). Each one receives a free talent of their choice and the Empty Mind defense. Each also receives bonus PSPs equal to their level +2 to to power them.

In the case of creatures that canot take classes or are supposed to be tough, do need to give them more defense modes and additional PSPs to power them. In effect, I found this makes psionic combat possible (although PsiCombat still sucks royally compared to nearly any other method of taking something out).

Tzarevitch

 

[Angelsboi]

AWESOME!!

Thats what i was curious about. Ok now how about "What should i do with campaigns?"

I mean there are still other classes ...

Background
On the world of Ulithelid, there have been many Gods Wars, each more intense than the last. This time, something happened that changed the lives of all the inhabitants of the world. A mysterious power was brought about and shown to six people. These six people formed houses in nations and taught their kin. They thought they were the only ones.

Many years and centuries have passed and now the Houses of Evolution stand no more after an attack of Illithilids. But the common people have begun showing the same powers the Houses of Evolution had. The powers of the mynd.

 

[Angelsboi]

Bump

 

[Tzarevitch]

AWESOME!!

Thats what i was curious about. Ok now how about "What should i do with campaigns?"

I mean there are still other classes ...

Background
On the world of Ulithelid, there have been many Gods Wars, each more intense than the last. This time, something happened that changed the lives of all the inhabitants of the world. A mysterious power was brought about and shown to six people. These six people formed houses in nations and taught their kin. They thought they were the only ones.

Many years and centuries have passed and now the Houses of Evolution stand no more after an attack of Illithilids. But the common people have begun showing the same powers the Houses of Evolution had. The powers of the mynd.

There is a Sword and Sorcery product (I think it was called the "Psionics Tooklit") that just came out. I just picked up a cupy myself yesterday to see if it would be of use in my DarkSun game. It has some interesting ideas about psionics suddenly awakening in a campaign world. You might want to try and find it. It is primarily about ideas on how to add psionics and run a psionics campaign. It also includes a prestige class - The Psionic Thief (or something like that), an psionic race of near-humans, psionic societies, and a sample god of psionics. It is a thin softcover and costs about $12.00 or so.

Here are some obervations I have made about 3e psionics and psions.

1. Psions tend to congrgate. In Dark Sun, psions tend to congregate into entities resembling universities or secret societies. Lone psions are usually toast. Psions can't swap out their powers for new ones so they need to be around others like them who have different powers that they can use. This tends to lead to the creation of formal or informal psionic groups. I suggest you create some of these in advance and spec out the rules for membership.

How does a psion use another's power? The short of it is he has the other guy craft a cheap power stone. The first guy takes the stone and makes it into a dorje. (Depending on the level of the power it may take multiple stones.) He then employs the Master Dorje feat to use the power from the dorje without burning charges, at +2 PSP cost.

Note, this works better with lower level powers because higher level powers require more powerstones and the cost can become prohibitive. Some psionic groups might have a loan policy, where psion members can check out dorjes like library books. ("You can use it so long as you don't expend charges. You blow a charge and you've bought it.")

2. Psions tend to know much more about what is going on than wizards or priests (and certainly more than the rather ill-informed sorcerers). Clairsentient psions are almost as good at finding out information as a priest is. A priest however has other things to do than memorize nothing but divinations. A psion with clairsentient and telepathic powers (Detect Thoughts and Mind Probe in particular) can be a frightening information gathering machine and will have no reason not to use them at every turn. Be prepared for your players to use them. If you don't want them to use divinatory powers against everyone and everything come up with some PLAUSIBLE campaign reason for some people to be able to block them. (Psionic versions of non-detection, screen etc.) Also, come up with some in campaign explanation as to who provides the answers to psionic auguries and such. I ruled that there is a Universal Consciousness comprised of the minds of most sentient beings and this Unimind is the one who answers the questions. If you know who or what is answering the questions is is a little easier to squeeze out reasons why the psion can't get an answer to every question he asks.

3. Psions tend to be mobile. Once they hit the point where they can D'Door and Teleport, expect them to do it a lot (assuming they know the required powers.)

4. Have a plan for how the law in your campaign deals with unwanted intrusions into people's minds. Mark my words, this WILL come up so be prepared for it. Few wizards (and fewer sorcerers) use Detect Thoughts much. Psions who have it will use it A LOT because it is one of the few powers they know.

In my Dark Sun campaign the psionic academies police their members like the Babylon 5 PsiCorps. While slavery is allowed and widely practiced, unwanted intrusion into someone else's mind is a serious crime. Also figure out what the powers that be in your campaign are permitted to do as far as mental intrusions against ordinary citizens.

In my DS campaign commercial psions are available for hire and can be hired for "mental bodyguard" work.

5. Determine how magic and psionics interact. This goes way beyond what the PsiHB mentions about "Psionics are the Same" and "Psionics are Different" options. Players will invariably attempt to stack the effects of spells and powers that are close but not identical. (Stacking Schism and Haste is specifically barred by the rules, but there are other spells and powers that are similarly related.) (For example, if someone descovers a psionic power similar to a Slow Spell, does that automatically counter a magical Haste spell like an actual Slow spell would?)

If you use the "Psionics are Different" option, decide if an item can have psionic AND magical powers.

That's all I can think of that might be helpful for now.

Tzarevitch