From:	Wordman wordman@*******.com
Subject:	Psionics
Date:	Tue, 16 Feb 1999 21:22:50 -0500

Gurth wrote:
> There are roughly three views on psionics:
>
> 1) They're a different type of magician, using rules of their own;
> 2) They're normal magicians who explain their magical abilities by saying
> they're psionics (and believe this themselves), using the normal magic
> rules;
> 3) We don't want no stinkin' psionics :)

4) Psionics is not magic at all.

I've been working on and off (mostly off) a sourcebook that takes this tack
for a quite some time (like since 1992). Some of it spilled over into the
Apparitions article I did for NAGEE, where I made ghosts mostly
non-astral/non-magical in nature.

I suffer no illusions that everyone (or even a majority of people) will like
this idea. If you don't like the concept, naturally, don't use it. I like
the idea for two basic reasons. The main one is that it adds a third sphere
to SR. Right now, if your team has good defenses against technology and
magic, they're set. I like the idea of a third option both to use against
players and for players to use. What I'm trying for is sort of a
rock-paper-scissors approach. You can't do this with just two spheres; three
is in minimum. I guess you could say that decking is another sphere, but I
don't think it counts, because it doesn't really interact mechanically with
the others.

The second reason is that Psionics will still work in low- or non-mana
environments. This gives spaces campaigns some new possibilities and
provides motivation for some extremely long range plans of certain groups
I'm thinking about.

Here are some key concepts of my implementation of Psionics:

o Magic and Psionics do not interact. That is, magical defenses are useless
against Psionics and vice versa.

o Unlike Magic, most Psionic abilities come with largish drawbacks. For
example, the more powerful a telepath you are, the more effort you need to
expend filtering out unwanted thoughts. This serves as counter-balance to
the fact that psionics are slightly more versatile and powerful than magic
is.

o It is much more difficult for a psi to breach the defenses of another psi
than it is for a magician to breach the defenses of another magician.
Psychic defense is very powerful against psychic attack.

o Most magicians do not believe in psionics. They see it as another aspect
of magic. Because of this, most trained psis are rare and tend to feel
persecuted by the magical community. This leads to some "big picture" plot
events.

o Psionics would have absolutely _no_ analog to metamagic. Given the same
amount of karma, magicians can become much more powerful than psionics,
especially by initiating.

o Psionic powers would largely be a skill/concentration-like system, which
means improving psionic abilities costs much more karma than gaining spells
does.

o Certain kinds of cyber damage psi ability, certain kinds don't. Some cyber
is much more damaging to psis than it would be to magicians. Some is less.

o The only thing close to spirits for Psionics is ghosts. Ghosts have a
decidedly different flavor than spirits do.

Again, I know this won't be everyone's cup of tea.

Wordman