Dareoon Dalandrove said:
this may not be the best place fir this question but what is the difference in psionics between mod and Spycraft?
Player characters in Spycraft are pretty tough - you're not Ethan Hunt at 1st level, but you are no slouch either. So in Shadowforce Archer, the psion classes are base classes, available at first level. There are three types - Mentalists, Physical Adepts, and Telepaths. Each type can acess three groups of powers
Mentalist - Pyschoinvention, Psychokinesis, and Telekinesis
Physical Adept - Adrenal, Metabolism, and Sensory
Telepath - ESP, Imprint, and Intuition.
Gaining access to each group of powers takes a feat (but you get a bonus feat at 1st level in each of the classes, so you can dive right in). Once you have the feat, you can put your skill points into any of several 'psion skills'. These are your 'powers' and you generally expend vitality points to pay to activate your powers. You them make a skill check (which frequently has you read from a table that factors in the number of levels you have in psion classes - but it's the same table for all the psion powers so it's really easy to use). The results of your check tell you what your power does for you: Throwing around objects with Poltergiest (a Telekinetic skill), boosting your Intimidate skill by releasing menacing pheremones into the air with Control Phremones (a Metabolism trick), or planting a post-hypnotic suggestion with Dominion (one of the Imprint skills).
I'll post some examples~
PLAYING A PSION AGENT
Playing an agent with psionic powers requires several additional steps, which may be undertaken at any time in your career; there are no first-level requirements for psion agents.
1. Raise your psion level
Your psion level represents how much raw psionic strength you possess. Agents normally begin with a psion level of 0. You can raise your psion level in two ways.
• Take a level in a psionic class, such as the mentalist, physical adept, or telepath. This raises your psion level by 1. Thus, a 1st-level physical adept has a psion level of 1.
• Take a feat that raises your psion level, such as Psion Prodigy. The feat you take explains how your psion level is affected.
All multiclassing rules apply to psion classes normally, with one exception — agents who already possess levels in two psion classes may not gain levels in a third.
2. Take one or more psionic feats
You may only take psion feats from a family you have a class level of 1 or more in (i.e. you must have at least one level as a telepath to select a telepathic psion feat; likewise for physical adepts and mentalists). Psionic feats do one of three things for you.
• Some psionic feats, such as Adrenal Basics, ESP Basics, and Telekinetic Basics give you access to a group of
psion skills.
• Other psionic feats, such as Electrokinesis, Expanded Horizons, and Sympathetic Healer offer you a single powerful ability.
• Finally, several basic psionic feats, such as Quicken Power, modify one of your other psionic abilities, in this case reducing the time and concentration it takes you to use one of your psion skills.
3. Buy ranks in your psion skills
Just because you have access to one or more psion skills doesn’t mean you automatically gain ranks in them. You must still buy ranks in your psion skills using skill points, just as if they were ordinary class skills. For instance, if you take the Adrenal Basics feat, you are allowed to purchase ranks in the Body Sculpting skill, but if you don’t invest any skill points in it, then you can’t use that skill nor any of the powers listed in its description.
Ranks in psion skills factor into the skill bonus for powers associated with that skill, just as normal skill ranks factor into the skill bonus for using the psion skills in question. For instance, three ranks in Poltergeist adds +3 to the skill bonus for using powers described under the Poltergeist skill.
Normal skills may only be used to augment checks if the pertinent description indicates a synergy bonus. Psion skills are an entirely new branch of agent training, which rarely overlaps with the other knowledge agents acquire.
A class would look like this (this is the truncated version up i the preview section- the full class goes up to 20 levels, gaining several new abilites along the way)~
The Telepath
No other psion is as feared or as misunderstood as the telepath. The earliest telepath serums were derived from the blood of the Demagogue, and that terrible era has permanently scarred the reputation of this field of psionic research and training. Further, the idea of mental intruders, who can steal deeply held secrets or command obedience without an agent’s knowledge, is terrifying to secret agents, who live and die by the information they keep locked away in their minds.
Regardless, telepaths have proven one of the Foundation’s greatest tools in the secret war to save humanity from dire threats they cannot see, Whether as tools of interrogation, investigation, or brainwashing, telepaths are the cutting edge of psion development in the information age.
Abilities: A telepath should have high Charisma and Wisdom scores. Force of personality is key to the telepaths active abilities while Wisdom supports their perceptive skills. Like all psionic agents a high Constitution provides additional vitality to power their abilities.
Vitality: 1d10 plus Constitution modifier per level
Class Skills
The telepath’s class skills, and the key ability for each, are listed below:
Class Skill (Key Ability)
Bluff (Cha)
Concentration (Wis)
Craft (Int)
Diplomacy (Cha)
Driver (Dex)
Electronics (Int)
Gather Information (Cha)
Handle Animal (Cha)
Hobby (Wis)
Intimidate (Str or Cha)
Knowledge (Int)
Languages (Wis)
Profession (Wis)
Sense Motive (Wis)
Sport (Str or Dex)
Skill Points at 1st level: (6 + Int modifier) x 4.
Skill Points at each additional level: 6 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the telepath.
Psionic Class: The telepath is a psionic class. Levels gained in this class increase your psion level.
Class Feats: The telepath begins play with the following feats.
Armor Proficiency (Light)
Armor Proficiency (Medium)
Weapon Group Proficiency (Melee)
Weapon Group Proficiency (Handgun)
Sensitive: Whenever the telepath spends an action die to add to a telepathic psion skill check, the results of that die are also added to his psion level (to a maximum of 25) to determine the effectiveness of the power for that skill check only (e.g. a 1st-level telepath who spends an action die and rolls a 3 adds +3 to his skill check result and increases his psion level by 3 for the purposes of that skill check). This is the telepath’s core ability.
Telepathic Psion Feats: At 1st level, the telepath may begin choosing feats from the telepathic psion feats category. The telepath must still have the slots free for any feats he selects, and must still meet all prerequisites for any feat chosen.
Bonus Feat: At 1st level, the telepath gets a bonus basic or telepathic psion feat. A telepath must still meet all prerequisites for a feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums. At 4th level, and every 4 levels thereafter, the telepath receives an additional bonus basic or telepathic psion feat.
Force of Will: Starting at 2nd level, once per game session as a free action, the telepath may add half his psion level (rounded down) to his Charisma or Wisdom for ten rounds. This power is so exhausting that when it wears off, the telepath must rest for a full round, taking no actions and using no psion skills. This ability’s duration may be cut short at the player’s discretion, but the agent suffers the full round exhaustion penalty, regardless. At 11th and 19th level, the telepath may use this ability one additional time per game session.
Psi Mastery: Starting at 3rd level, the telepath chooses a telepathic psion skill that he has at least 1 rank in. He receives a +2 psionic bonus to all skill checks with that skill. For every 2 levels after 3rd, the telepath selects an additional telepathic psion skill to receive this bonus, choosing a different skill each time.
Table 5.4: The Telepath
Lvl BAB Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Def Bon Init Bon Budg Pts Gadg Pts Special
1 +0 +0 +2 +1 +0 +1 3 0 Starting feats, bonus feat, sensitive
2 +1 +0 +3 +2 +1 +2 6 1 Force of will 1/session
3 +1 +1 +3 +2 +1 +3 9 2 Psi mastery
4 +2 +1 +4 +2 +2 +3 12 3 Bonus feat
5 +2 +1 +4 +3 +2 +4 15 3 Psi mastery
Telepaths: The Boogeymen of the Spy Business
In the world of Shadowforce Archer, telepaths are a conundrum. During World War II, the rise of the Demagogue demonstrated with tragic clarity the influence that telepaths could have on the minds of millions — and the very course of history. All subsequent telepaths were created with formulae distilled from the Demagogue's blood, and the memory of those terrible events still taints the world’s view of all mental psions.
Since the earliest days of the Archer Foundation, it has been been something of an “open international secret” that psionic powers exist. But since the number of agents with the skill and training to consistently resist the powers of a skilled telepath are few and far between, the Foundation has kept most sensitive information about them from outside agencies. So while everyone in the intelligence business knows telepaths exist, only a select few truly know their capabilities.
All this has earned telepaths a reputation as the bogeymen of the shadow community. Many telepaths play upon this fear, hinting that they can rip thoughts from people’s minds and take over people’s bodies like their counterparts of classic science fiction.
Certainly within the shadowed halls of the Foundation itself, high-ranking telepaths observe security briefings and conduct “loyalty inspections,” though in reality this reputation is at best half true. Telepaths can override bodily impulse. Incredibly powerful and skilled telepaths can even pick up surface thoughts… sometimes. But only the greatest minds begin to approach the capabilities evidenced by the Demagogue.
The feats that let you choose powers look like this~
ESP Basics
You pick up impressions and other subtle clues about your environment.
Prerequisites: Psion level 1+.
Benefit: You may learn ESP psion skills as though they were class skills.
Normal: Without this feat, you may not learn ESP psion skills.
ESP Mastery
Your sensitivity to psychic impressions has steadily improved, allowing you to sense things even without entirely meaning to.
Prerequisites: ESP Basics, psion level 6+.
Benefit: You may take 10 when using ESP psion skills, even if stress and distraction would normally prevent you from doing so. Further, you may now use your ESP skills on objects and people within line of sight rather than having to touch them.
A skill would look like this~
Psychometry
(Wis; Trained Only )
Requires the ESP Basics feat.
By touching an object, you can gain a sense of strong emotions that have been felt and events that happened around it.
Object History: By handling an object for three full rounds and making a Psychometry check, you may learn the following information about the item’s last owner. Ownership is defined as possession for one month or more — an object possessed by someone for less than a month may only be tapped for information about the last person who possessed it for one month or more. An object with no previous owner reveals no information.
Result - Knowledge
up to 15 - Last owner’s gender
16–20 - Last owner's age (within 5 years)
21–25 - Last owner's highest class level
26–30 - Last owner’s emotional state right now
31+ - Current direction of last owner now
Rolls higher than 15 gain not only the knowledge mentioned, but all entries prior (for instance, if use of this ability reveals the last owner’s class or classes, it also reveals the last owner’s age and gender).
Object Memory: By handling an object for one full round, you may gain a brief visual “flash” of recent events surrounding it. Declare a one-hour time period you wish to witness and make your Psychometry check, consulting the table below for the DC. Success grants you a six-second visual replay of the most important event that occurred within the item’s “line of sight”
during the specified time period. This flash consumes the psion’s next half action, as he focuses on the image replaying in his mind. The GC determines the most important event during the specified time period, and any future Psychometry checks to see the same time period yield the same information.
Time period is… DCof Skill Check
Within last hour 10
Within last day 15
Within last week 20
Within last month 25
Within last year 30
Each additional year +1
Vitality Point Cost: 3
D20 Modern Psionic are based closely on the Psionic's Handbook version, grouping power into level and effects much like spells. You learn a limited number of them based on level, and gain a pool of power points allowing you to dicide which powers you activate, and how often. The D20 Modern psionic classes are advanced classes, so you first begin to gain access to these abilites at around 4th-6th level IIRC. I beleive most of the material on them is in the Modern SRD, so it' shouldn't be hard to look them up
.
. We're about to put a bunch of stuff up (new stories and modules and such) so I'll pester the webmaster to get that back in there. There are two example artifacts in the Shadowforce Archer 'Resources' section. The file is availible on the Modus Operandi site, on the second page of the articles section. Great site for any sort of espionage role-playing.
