Psychic

Slang terms: 'Psychic' itself, Reader, Mindspy, Neurofreak, Pusher, Firestarter, etc - usually discipline-specific. Telepathy is the most common discipline, however, and so the majority relate to that.

Psychic powers exist along two factors: Magnitude, and Rating. Rating is literally that, the skill rating in the power; this is used to manifest the power's effect, and can be reduced to produce extra psionic effort, if the roll is

Psychics tend to be pretty strange people.

successful.

The base rating in all psionic power skills is equal to three times the psychic's POW score. Thus, the average base rating is 30%. Success in a roll indicates that the power is properly manifested, while failure means only that the psychic fails to create the effect, nothing more. There are no critical successes or failures in psychic skill use - the powers are potent enough on their own!

Magnitude indicates strength of effect; a power at magnitude 1 is, generally speaking, inferior to most weaponry or tools that can be found in the galaxy. However, as this magnitude of effect increases, so too does the dramatic nature of a psychic's power.

Range for psychic powers is usually calculated from POW. Increment ranges along the following scale: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and so on, all multiplied versus POW, unless stated otherwise.

Trust no one! Every psychic is two-faced.

Each power has something of a dual nature, representing a similarity in effect and flexibility in application.

Psychokinesis incorporates both the sub-powers of telekinesis and electrokinesis.

Thermokinesis involves cryokinesis and pyrokinesis.

Very strange people, indeed.

Telepathy can be seen as both probing the mind and influencing the mind.

Clairvoyance is not merely clairvoyance, but projection of all of the senses.

Temporal Cognition permits one to read the past or, more murkily, the future. Temporal Cognition is magnitude-irrelevant, it simply exists - you either have it, or you do not.

Extrasensory Perception and Necroprojection is a more complex psychic discipline and cannot be separated in this nature.

How can we make this work?

Each point of power magnitude costs 2 character benefits, unless the character has only a partial effect. If opting for a partial effect, the cost is 1. Temporal Cognition, being a special case, can only be bought if the psychic has some degree of clairvoyance already, and should be purchased as if its magnitude was 2 - so 4 points in sum, or 2 points for only the past or only the future. Regardless of whether a character has 'both sides' of a psychic discipline, the skill percentage is the same. If a character later acquires the 'other half' of a discipline, note both halves' magnitudes separately until they are equal, and recombine at the player's discretion.

While buying a discipline as its two forms is cost-beneficial, there is a certain fluidity of execution that possessing the core, combinant discipline indicates that your friend computer will bear in mind when deciding whether or not a character can perform an action. Recall that, regardless of whether you begin with the core

Sometimes they're not as openly strange.

discipline or only half, your skill percentage remains associated with the core discipline and all rolls associated with either side of it are drawn from that.

No character has any rating in a discipline until its magnitude is at least 1. Character benefits can only take magnitude to 5; any other extension of magnitude must be from special cases.

Who can be psychic?

Psychic powers are generally held only by unaugmented humans. However, genetic engineering is quite conducive to psi-potential development, and in the modern era, many of the most powerful psychics are engineered to be so. Additionally, while several millennia ago it was the case that there were never any hemophage psychics, time has changed that fact - there is an emerging population. Their equalling the powers of human or gene-engineered psychics is almost unheard of, but they do now exist.

The canny player will note that all powers have some reliance on the POW characteristic. For a 'pure psychic', POW, INT, and EDU are the most important characteristics. As cybernetic augmentations reduce POW, the only 'safe' means of increasing POW are genetic engineering, and a certain piece of equipment - a psionic amplifier.

But, they're still usually pretty strange.

Psi-amps are uncommon, at best. Bear this in mind.

One more important thing

An important rule to note is how magnitude interacts with skill rating - a psychic can opt to halve their skill rating to push their magnitude higher by 1 for any psychic skill. This can be repeated, as far as the user likes; each progressive 'halving' reduces to the next denominator, rather than directly halving the remainder. This means the progression is simple - 1/2, then 1/3, then 1/4, and so on.

And one last thing- Magic Points and You

The cost in Magic Points (derived from POW, as normal) for triggering a psychic power is equal to the effective magnitude of the power a psychic is triggering; this represents the fatigue the nervous system undergoes from manifesting potent effects, whereas intentionally manifesting effects that are easy for you has very little effect on one's pool of MP.

Drugs like SyCo can refresh a psychic who has exhausted themselves psychically, as can quantities of caffeine or THC. Through normal rest, a psychic recovers their MP in full over eight hours. If you really want, you can divide that and determine the hourly rate of MP recovery before drugs are involved.

The bottom line is this - extremely active psychics often have either PCO-subsidized drugs to alleviate the stresses of their abilities or illicit criminal substitutes.