Game Psionics Explained
Posted: Mon Aug 19, 2024 8:36 pm
This is to clarify how psionics work in Far Reaches as it seems several folks are misunderstanding the intent here.
PSIONICS is the ability to use one's mind and will to accomplish certain things. The most common of the psionic abilities are telepathy which is communicating with another of like ability. Under certain circumstances a psionic gifted PC or NPC may attempt to communicate telepathically with a non-ability PC or NPC.
The following is the important parts.
Some PCs/NPCs can have a high PSI potential but not the ability, as noted below in this character stats. PSI or psionics is based on how sane a person is and how much Willpower they have. The characteristic, Willpower can be as high as 100 but the characteristic Sanity cannot be higher than 50.
The formula for PSI is:
Psionics
Psionic Potential (PP): (Roll D100 + Willpower (WPR) + Intuition (INS))/3
Requirements: if Willpower >60 and Sanity<50 is met then (PP) becomes Psionic Ability (PA).
Sanity is derived from a random d100 roll. To have a high Sanity is good, that means the PC/NPC won't take as much damage (if any) under certain stressful conditions. However, having such a high Sanity is bad because the PC/NPC can't use psionic abilities, no matter their potential. The silver lining here is that having a high Psionic Potential means it is difficult for an accomplished telepath to read that mind, or worse, to control the PC/NPC. When an attempt is made to use psionics and the attempt fails, then the PC/NPC has to roll to see if they lose any Sanity. By the same token if the attempt succeeds then a d100 roll is made adding the difference that the psionics roll made it by.
As an example, a PC attempts to use telekinesis to break out of cell. the GM decides the difficulty is 35, so the PC adds their PSI ability and divides by 2. Say the PC has a PSI ability of 70. 35 + 70 = 105/2 = 52.5 (rounded up) making the value 53. The PC has to roll 53 on d100 to succeed. The roll is 89, thus failing the attempt. the attempt failed by a difference of 36/10 = 3.6, rounding up to 4, Sanity is 48 so anything under 45 and Sanity remains unchanged, but anything higher and Sanity loses 4 points, making it 44.
Using the same example, the roll is 37 so the attempt succeeds. The difference between 37 and 53 is 16. The d100 roll is 62, 62 + 16 = 78. A roll of 78 or less ensures that no Sanity is lost. But if the roll fails, then the difference is divided by 10. Our PC rolls an 88, making it a difference of 10 that the roll failed by. 10/10 is 1. So, the PC automatically loses 1 point from their Sanity.
I hope this clears up how psionics is used in Far Reaches game. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask them.
Physiology:
Strength: 71
Dexterity: 48
Constitution: 46
Endurance: 58
Agility: 60
Defense: 55
Cognizance:
Intelligence: 88
Wisdom: 40
Technicity: 69
Science: 66
Engineering: 79
Tactics: 64
Psyche:
Charisma: 16
Willpower: 99
Sanity: 99
Negotiate: 52
Courage: 85
Intuition: 70
Special Abilities:
PSI Potential: 80
PSI Ability: 0
Initiative: 71
Action Points: 7
Average Character Rating: 65
PSIONICS is the ability to use one's mind and will to accomplish certain things. The most common of the psionic abilities are telepathy which is communicating with another of like ability. Under certain circumstances a psionic gifted PC or NPC may attempt to communicate telepathically with a non-ability PC or NPC.
The following is the important parts.
Some PCs/NPCs can have a high PSI potential but not the ability, as noted below in this character stats. PSI or psionics is based on how sane a person is and how much Willpower they have. The characteristic, Willpower can be as high as 100 but the characteristic Sanity cannot be higher than 50.
The formula for PSI is:
Psionics
Psionic Potential (PP): (Roll D100 + Willpower (WPR) + Intuition (INS))/3
Requirements: if Willpower >60 and Sanity<50 is met then (PP) becomes Psionic Ability (PA).
Sanity is derived from a random d100 roll. To have a high Sanity is good, that means the PC/NPC won't take as much damage (if any) under certain stressful conditions. However, having such a high Sanity is bad because the PC/NPC can't use psionic abilities, no matter their potential. The silver lining here is that having a high Psionic Potential means it is difficult for an accomplished telepath to read that mind, or worse, to control the PC/NPC. When an attempt is made to use psionics and the attempt fails, then the PC/NPC has to roll to see if they lose any Sanity. By the same token if the attempt succeeds then a d100 roll is made adding the difference that the psionics roll made it by.
As an example, a PC attempts to use telekinesis to break out of cell. the GM decides the difficulty is 35, so the PC adds their PSI ability and divides by 2. Say the PC has a PSI ability of 70. 35 + 70 = 105/2 = 52.5 (rounded up) making the value 53. The PC has to roll 53 on d100 to succeed. The roll is 89, thus failing the attempt. the attempt failed by a difference of 36/10 = 3.6, rounding up to 4, Sanity is 48 so anything under 45 and Sanity remains unchanged, but anything higher and Sanity loses 4 points, making it 44.
Using the same example, the roll is 37 so the attempt succeeds. The difference between 37 and 53 is 16. The d100 roll is 62, 62 + 16 = 78. A roll of 78 or less ensures that no Sanity is lost. But if the roll fails, then the difference is divided by 10. Our PC rolls an 88, making it a difference of 10 that the roll failed by. 10/10 is 1. So, the PC automatically loses 1 point from their Sanity.
I hope this clears up how psionics is used in Far Reaches game. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask them.
Physiology:
Strength: 71
Dexterity: 48
Constitution: 46
Endurance: 58
Agility: 60
Defense: 55
Cognizance:
Intelligence: 88
Wisdom: 40
Technicity: 69
Science: 66
Engineering: 79
Tactics: 64
Psyche:
Charisma: 16
Willpower: 99
Sanity: 99
Negotiate: 52
Courage: 85
Intuition: 70
Special Abilities:
PSI Potential: 80
PSI Ability: 0
Initiative: 71
Action Points: 7
Average Character Rating: 65