| From: | Steve Kenson <TalonMail@***.COM> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Psionics and Awakenings |
| Date: | Wed, 19 Feb 1997 10:13:51 -0500 |
>Since a Psionic has just as much faith in his abilities as the others, why
>is he so penalized? I can understand the penalties listed because of his
>refusal/inability to accept magic, but shouldn't the strength of his
>conviction get him an advantage somewhere? While I fully support not
>coddling munchkins, I don't know anyone willing to play a Psionic because of
>the extreme penalties...even the role-playing benefit is not worth your vast
>weakness.
Well, psionics as they came out in finished form in Awakenings weren't QUITE
as I had originally written them. The way I run it in my campaign,
self-proclaimed "psionics" are magicians like anyone else. 99% of them are
Sorcery adepts because the psionic paradigm doesn't generally involve
interaction with spirits (although some Priority A psis do have the ability
to create "thought-forms" to do their bidding). Psis are restricted to spells
that can be explained as "psionic" powers: things like mind probe, manabolt
and telekinetic manipulations are all cool. Shapeshift, acid bomb and such
are outside of the psionic paradigm.
I don't assign any other bonuses or penalties to psionic characters other
than that. If you're looking to make the option more attractive (I'm not,
because I want psis to be rare in my games) then you can give them something
akin to a totem bonus: in exchange for not being able to use any
"non-psionic" spell like those mentioned above, psionic get +2 dice with all
of their psionic spells. This makes them more narrow, but better at what they
do, but it also encourages psi characters. FASA obviously wished to
discourage psi characters, thus the additional limitations in Awakenings.
>Also, I wonder how Steve's "faith" theory works with budding and yet unaware
>mages and shamans? Not a complaint, just a question. Would it be because
>of world view? That would prevent Sam Verner type situations. Would it be
>because of subconcious opinions?
Magical ability in Shadowun is at least partially inherent. It has been made
clear that you either have the Talent in some measure or you don't. A mundane
who learns all of the magical skills and has all of the faith in the world
isn't going to be able to do magic, no matter how hard they try, just like a
blind person can't "learn" to see. Nor is an adept going to be able to do
MORE magic any more than a completely color-blind painter is going to be able
to produce anything other than excellent black & white images.
Focus, faith, belief, will, etc. are what a magician uses to hone that
inherent talent into something that is more useful and reliable than Verner's
erratic budding magical abilities. He has some unconscious ability to spell
defend and sees visions of his totem in the beginning. Sam Verner's biggest
limitation as a magician in SECRETS OF POWER is the fact that he has a hard
time believing in Dog and his magic. When he accepts his totem and the
lessons it teaches and strengthens his faith and belief in his own power,
that is when Verner grows rapidly in skill and power as a shaman.
My non-FASA opinion,
Steve K.
