Psi-Wars: Ruminations on the Anti-Psi Space Knight

Continuing my series on the Space Knight, I’m going to delve into what they can do with their psionics, starting with Anti-Psi. For a more general overview of what you can do with Anti-Psi, see the Anti-Psi in Action post over on Mailanka’s Musings.

Starting Off

A Space Knight has a minimum of one level of talent and 20 points in actual abilities. What does that get you with Anti-Psi? As a general rule, this level of investment gets you abilities that only affect yourself, need skin to skin contact to work, or need a god-like extra effort to pull them off at range. Plan accordingly.

Astral Blade 1 gives you an attack against things like Force Ghosts, and against material targets you can drain Psionic Energy Reserves.. The latter ability is the more useful one, especially since it can’t be detected, can’t be taken away from, and directly attacks Energy Reserves. However, this is an extremely weak ability. Immaterial targets are rare, the psis you face may not have energy reserves, and if they have any amount of armor it’s completely negated.

Interruption 1 is the max you’re going to buy with 20 points, which means that it requires skin-to-skin contact with a subject to work. Even with skill 17 and extra effort, you’re still only going to really be able to do this at very short range at best. This isn’t all bad, though, since it gives you a way to break the influence a psi might have on someone, and it’s another avenue of resistance if a psi is trying to use them on you.

Para-Invsibility 3 gives a -3 to a psi’s attempts to detect you and anything near you with psi. This isn’t a lot, but it might make the difference between a psi getting their Danger Sense off or not, and that could make a world of difference in a fight. You’re also harder to see coming, which can be useful. With extra-effort, that goes up to -6, which still won’t guarantee protection, but it will help a lot!

Psionic Shield 10 should be read as “Immunity to Mind Tricks”, among other things. Telepaths are going to have a very hard affecting you, if they can do it at all. With extra-effort, you can extend this protection to everyone standing near you, which can be very useful if you’re going after a Telepath.

Screaming 1 may not seem impressive, but since you can buy up to skill 19, you can do more with it than you might think. On its own, it’s a potent defense against any psionics that would affect you or anything you’re carrying. You can also reliably extend this protection to anyone standing very close to you, and if you’re in melee with a psi, they’re going to have a much harder time using combat abilities. With Tiring Scream, a psi will quickly decide to leave you alone.

Resistant to Psionics +8 is another very potent defence, and is perhaps the most generally useful ability you can get with starting points. No matter what the psi is trying to use on you, it’s going to be very hard for them to make it work.

For Anti-Psi perks, Gaze into the Abyss will likely rattle psis, especially if you have one of the defensive abilities. Hostile Dampening is good for scaring psis and getting information out of them. Nonthreatening helps you get close to your targets, while Personal Awareness helps you notice when someone is trying to affect you. Simple Defense is good for making psis regret trying to affect you, whether or not they succeed, and Tolerance makes it more difficult to affect you with certain abilities.

In short, with one level of Talent, an Anti-Psi Space Knight is mostly focused on defense against psionics. There’s variations in the particular flavor you can get, but it all boils down into how you protect yourself against psi.

With 50-Points

I’m going to preface this by noting that, no matter what abilities you choose, the active ones are almost always resisted. Since any psi worth their salt is going to have good levels of skill and Will in their abilities, figure that you’ve got a 50% chance at best of pulling these off.

Astral Blade 7 is a very minor improvement over the base version. If you’re regularly fighting immaterial threats, it would be useful, but it’s just too narrowly effective to be worth the points otherwise.

Cancellation is a very potent ability, if you can touch the psi. Even with Cancellation 3 [50], you still need to make some contact with the psi. With extra-effort, you can do it at range, and at significant range if you can hit level 5, but the penalty to your skill from both range and extra-effort will make it difficult to affect the psi. If you have Luck, this is a good place to use it! You can also use this as Interruption, so keep that in mind.

Interruption 3 makes you very aggravating for a psi to deal with. If you can recognize that they’re trying to do something, you can try and shut it down, and the range penalties aren’t too bad. You’re going to want to buy as much Will and Talent as you can, though, because it’s all Quick Contests and psis tend to have good skill levels.

Para-Invsibility 10 means that you and anything near you can’t be detected with psi. Period. They can’t see you coming, they can’t find you, and they can’t use anything on you until they can physically see you. The downside is that you need to roll every minute. Try and persuade your GM to let you have No Nuisance Rolls for this.

Psionic Overload 3 lets you use this at range, but arguably, you’re better off just getting Psionic Overload 2 and using the rest to buy up skill, Will, and Talent. This is cheaper than Cancellation, but it’s much less predictable in its effects. The greater likelihood of affecting your target should be weighed against the hazards of uncontrolled psionics. If you have Cancellation, then using this becomes a 5 point upgrade to that ability.

Psionic Shield 25 is ludicrous. Psis won’t be able to affect your mind, but you’re better off buying Psi Static. Still, something like Psionic Shield 10 is pretty good, especially if you put points in Talent, Will, and Skill to be able to use the techniques effectively. Expansion in particular may prove important!

Screaming 3 lets you generate a 2 yard radius around yourself where psis have a much harder time operating. With the extra points, you can even buy up more skill to make it harder still. However, the drawback is that you have to Concentrate to use this ability. You’ll need allies to effectively use this ability.

True Sight lets you see past psionic illusions, but how useful this is seems rather dubious. Psi-Wars psionics include very little in the way of illusions, and so it’s unlikely that this will come up much. Perhaps against certain types of Broken Communion?

Psi Static is the ultimate in personal protection against psionics. They can’t affect you, they can’t see you coming with psionics, and there is nothing they can do about it. This is perhaps the best ability Anti-Psi offers, because it’s guaranteed to work.

Conclusion

The single biggest problem with Anti-Psi abilities is that they’re almost always contested. Any competent psi is going to have good levels of skill and especially Will, and since so many of your abilities work only at close range by default, you can’t really sacrifice skill for range. Screaming is an exception, but you still need to get close and you can’t do anything else while screaming.

Really, if you want to go the Psi-Hunter route, take Resistant to Psi +8 and spend your 50 Power-Up points on something else. Your abilities are too unreliable and limited to do more as a 300 point character.

Psi-Wars: Ruminations on the Basic Space Knight

Jedi are some of the most iconic figures in Star Wars, and fittingly, Psi-Wars has its own variation in the form of Space Knights. However, it would be a mistake to directly compare the two. Where Force wielders in Star Wars are essentially pretty similar, with the major distinction being whether they’re the good guy Jedi or the bad guy Sith, Psi Wars has far more variations. The type of psionics that a Space Knight uses and the 50 point Power-Up lens they choose have a great deal of effect on just what they can do. There’s so much potential variation, in fact, that this is only going to be one in a series of posts on the Space Knight. Today, we’ll look at the traits common to all Space Knights.

Space Knights

The Basic Chassis

All Space Knights come with ST 11, DX 12, IQ 13, HT 11, and Will 15. Thus, like most action heroes, they’re going to be at least passably competent in just about anything they choose to study. The high Will, in particular, is important for many psionic abilities that are based on Will, and is just a little shy of letting most abilities qualify for No Nuisance Rolls with a minimum of point investment. It also means that Intimidation is going to be your best social skill, which is handy for Contests of Will in a duel.

Space Knights also come with Combat Reflexes and Weapon Master (Force Sword). Combat Reflexes is pretty standard for any combat-oriented template, but Weapon Master deserves some further consideration. If you know the relevant skill at DX+2, you get +2 per die to damage with that weapon. Since all Space Knights have this, your standard Force Sword deals a whopping 8d+16 (5) damage! That’s enough to get past up to DR 220 on average. Since the maximum protection personal armor offers is DR 120, anyone you hit is dead. Okay, some people will survive, but typically you’re forcing unconsciousness checks and at least one death check.

As a result, the moment you turn that force sword on, expect to draw everyone’s attention. If you want to survive, invest in good armor or your defensive abilities. Fortunately, depending on which force sword skill package you choose, your parries start at 12 or 13, and your Precognitive Defense starts at 13. Fast-Draw (Force Sword) also helps you get your blade in your hand quickly, which begins at 13 as well.

Speaking of combat skills, depending on whether you fight with one weapon, two weapons, or a weapon and a shield, you’re looking at 16 or 18 in your chosen weapon type (force sword or saber). This isn’t amazing, but you’ll at least threaten hits consistently, and have a bit of skill to spend on fancier tricks. Picking up a force buckler is great for your defenses, while the Dual Weapon Attack package improves your offense. In any case, the net result is that you’re very dangerous at melee range, and even shooting at you is unwise unless you’re trying to deflect a lot of shots at once.

For other skills, you have Meditation-14, Philosophy-13, Stealth-12, a choice of Brawling or Karate, and Wrestling or Judo. Meditation and Philosophy are your mystic skills, Stealth is an everyman skill, and the rest are back-ups for close-in fighting.

In conclusion, the basic space knight is a competent if not outstanding melee fighter with a supremely dangerous weapon, and potential to do well in other areas. Unfortunately, you’re also a very tempting target, so try to avoid putting yourself in situations where you draw a lot of fire.

Advantage Options

With only 20 points to spend, you’re not going to pick up a whole lot here. Improved DX and IQ are both tempting, since either of them applies to a lot of your abilities. IQ in particular is great, since it adds to your psionics and your Precognitive Defense. Devotion is good if you plan to focus on the mystic side of the Space Knight, while Enhanced Dodge and Enhanced Parry may very well save your life in a pitched battle.

Destiny and Luck are handy for getting out of a jam, but they’re limited use and so are really emergency-only abilities. Wealth is another interesting option, since good armor and weapons are expensive, and it’s a lot easier to foot the bill if you have Wealth.

Disadvantage Options

Not much to say here. They’re all about what sort of a knight you are. Are you the heroic, knight in shining armor sort? The wandering beggar knight? Or a bloodthirsty dark knight?

Be careful choosing Vow (Poverty) and Wealth (Struggling or Poor), though. Good armor can save you from the attacks you’re likely to face, and forgoing it means relying on skill.

Skill Options

Between your background lens and the secondary skill options, you actually have a lot of options here. Acrobatics and Climbing are suitable for agile space knights, Armoury if you want to tinker with your weapon, and Literature, Law, History, and Intelligence Analysis for understanding what’s going on. Intimidation deserves particular note for how well it synergizes with your high Will, and again, it’s valuable in Contests of Will. Keep that in mind.

Still, you’re not going to be particularly outstanding at any of these, though your high attributes will give you a decent skill level with anything you choose to take.

Martial Arts

With only six points to spend and one those dedicated to a Style Familiarity, you’re not going to get a lot out of this. Depending on your skill choices, you may have to spend some of those points just for the buy-in for the style. You can get a perk or two, and maybe invest in a style technique. Your choices here are mostly a statement of how you’re going to fight.

More to Come…

By default, your standard space knight is a competent combatant with a smattering of other skills and the beginnings of a distinctive martial style. Where they really get interesting is in their choice of psionic ability and 50 point Power-Up lens. However, each of these needs a post of their own, since there’s so much to think about and choose with each. Stay tuned for most posts on the Space Knight.

Psi-Wars: Ruminations on Fighter Aces

I’ve been working on making a character for Mailanka’s Psi Wars, and I’ve decided to share my thoughts on the character templates as I go through them. Today’s entry is the Fighter Ace, the hot shot pilots of the Psi-Wars universe.

Fighter Ace

Core Activity

Fighter Aces have pretty simple lives. Their job is to be the best starfighter pilots in the galaxy, and wow, do they ever succeed at it. They have a bare minimum of 20 in Piloting (Starships) and Gunner (Beams), which is pretty good. In fact, it’s so good that you can probably forgo spending any more points on it and still do well. If you double down on piloting, get a Higher Purpose, Daredevil, Enhanced Dodge (Vehicular), and more Gunner and Piloting skill, you could easily hit total skills of 23, with a Dodge of 12 before starfighter modifiers. And this is without spending power-up lens points on it.

My suggestion, then, is not to worry about your piloting skills, because you’re a great pilot already, and think about what distinguishes you from other pilots, starting with how you fight. Do you like to push the limits of your starfighter and pull off reckless stunts to gain advantage? Then spend points on the Maverick style. If you like missiles and other heavy ordnance, Bombardier Is your go-to, and buy up your Artillery (Guided Missile) skill.

What if you’re not just a great pilot, but a great pilot who works well with others? Then get Leadership and the Starfighter Academy Training style. In particular, Formation Flier is great because you can extend some of your skill to the rest through ranged feints, while if there’s an ever better pilot in the formation, you can substitute their skill for yours. I kinda wish that it instead let you lead the rest of the formation in stunts without them needing to make their own rolls, though. Wing Commander lets you encourage your wingmates with Leadership at no penalty, which is nice.

Associated Activities

Before I go into the rest of the template, I’d like to talk about what else the template is good at, based on just their core skills. `First off, and most obviously, a hot shot pilot is the party’s designated driver. If it flies or hovers, you can make it go. Whether it’s an aerospace fighter or a hefty tub of a corvette, odds are you’re the best qualified to fly it, whether or not you’ve ever trained on that model.

You’re also good with heavy weapons. This includes vehicle-mounted weapons, of course, but if your Commando buddy is hauling around missile tubes or squad support weapons, you’re a great back-up for using them.

With Navigation (Hyperspace), you’re also respectable at making sure you end up at the right planet, though since you only have 13 by default, I wouldn’t try and get too fancy with your navigation. It’s not on the template, but Hot Shot Pilot also adds to Navigation (Air) and Navigation (Space). Since daring raids through canyons and other difficult terrain are very much in-genre, knowing how to get through them really should be a template option.

Everyman Tasks

For the most part, you’re merely decent with anything that doesn’t involve flying, though DX 14 helps with a lot of these tasks. For weapons, your go-to is the blaster pistol or blaster rifle. Carousing, Intimidation, Fast-Talk, and Sex-Appeal are your options for talking to people. If you want to be good at talking to people, a level of Appearance and Charisma will help out. With Savoir-Faire (Military), you can also work with military personnel, which can be handy if your starfighter needs repairs.

Stealth is on the template, and you’re not half-bad at it with a 14, but when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, your best advice is to just stay out. Karate, Brawling, Judo, and Wrestling aren’t going to do much good with ST 10.

You also have Electronic Operations (EW, Comms, or Sensors) as options. The keyword here is SIGINT. If you’re trying to listen in on radio communications, or you need to talk to someone, or you need to figure out where those strange emissions are coming from, you’re a good stand-by option.

Backgrounds

For Fighter Aces, the additional skills are invaluable. Your template options are rather limited when it comes to out-of-cockpit tasks, but your background will give you more options. Outcast gives you more street level skills, Survivor is great for overland and wilderness adventuring, and Aristocrat provides a gateway to high society.

Wanderer deserves particular note as a Fighter Ace background. Since a Fighter Ace naturally spends a lot of time on spaceships, the skills and traits of this background synergize particularly well with the template.

Power-Ups

Experienced and Heroic are your clear go-tos for Fighter Aces. Experienced lets you become an even better pilot, while Heroic’s Destiny and other improvements are great for all-around competence. I’m going to delve into Experienced more with the Upgrades discussion.

Martial Artist is an interesting option, since it offers Weapon Master and proficiency with a style. With DX 14, you have the potential to be fairly competent, too. Picking up a force sword may be a good idea. Too bad Gunslinger isn’t an option in this Power-Up, or I’d suggest taking Way of the Galaxy to get really good with that blaster pistol of yours!

Magnate also has potential, since with Very Wealthy, you can afford a rather heavily customized starship, and probably more than one! It also gives you more organizational pull, which is helpful for getting back-up in combat and covering your lack of expertise in other areas.

Cybernetic strikes me as rather marginal. Fighter Aces are not physical combatants, and so most of the cybernetics aren’t useful to you. Maybe the bionic eyes and their HUD and Telescopic Vision would be useful, but I’m dubious. You flat-out don’t qualify for Communion, so no fancy miracles for you.

Upgrades

You need the Experienced Power-Up to get any of these at character creation.

At the moment, there are two options for upgrades for Fighter Aces. Your first is the Evasion package. Its rationale is representing the training or experience to survive getting shot down, and you’ll certainly have that. With Navigation and Survival, you’ll have a decent chance of getting back out alive. Lockpicking and more Stealth are great for getting into places you really shouldn’t.

The other is Starfighter Tinkerer. As the name suggests, you’re pretty good at working with your starfighter. If you want to be making custom modifications to your ship, this is definitely something you’ll want to get. It’s also surprisingly useful in other ways. Engineering (Starship) will help you figure out where the important parts of ships are, Mechanic (Starships) is great for hot wiring a new ride, and Armoury (Heavy Weapons) has a great deal of potential. It’s not in the upgrade, but Mailanka agrees that Electronics Repair (Any) is a natural fit.

Summary

Fighter Aces are pilots, and if you left it at that, you’d be right. But with so much skill to start with, it’s easy for them to take their Power-Up and Background points and become respectably competent even when they’re not in the cockpit, at least in a few areas.