The Nature and Development of Psionic Powers
Mechanics
Well, now that we've listened to Ellegon spew on in-character about psionics, let's see if we two poor mortals can actually frame all of his shit into rules, hmmm?
By and large, his divisions don't need much explanation, except for the part about latent psychics. Basically, the table in step four of creating a character should be altered to look like this:
01-09 Major Psionics
10-25 Minor Psionics
26-55 Latent Psychic (not as the BTS PCC, though)
56-00 Non-Psychic
Note that one doesn't have to take what the table says... they can always trade down, taking minor psionics instead of major, or latent instead of minor.
We never really liked that minor and major psychics had the same saving throws. After all, a major is at least twice a powerful, sometimes even more (Compare, on a psionics level only, a cyber-knight and a crazy and you get the idea). So, I altered the save tables to reflect this.
Latent and non-psychics: roll greater than 15 (e.g. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
Minor psychics: roll greater than 13
Major psychics: roll greater than 11 (same as always)
Master psychics: roll greater than 9
Of course, this is before all your bonuses are factored in.
Learning new powers works just like learning new skills. Whenever you have the option to learn new skills, you can instead (not always also) pick up a psionic power. This can even be done at first level, though we don't recommend it.
To get a minor psionic power (anything from the lesser categories), you just spend one skill. If its a secondary skill, you get that power at first level ability. If its an OCC related skill, it is assumed that you studied the power, so you get it at your actual level.
To get a "Super" power, you first need to have 3 minor psionic abilities. You then must spend 2 skills to master the power. If both are secondary, you get that power at first level, if both are OCC Related you get it at your own level, and if one is secondary and the other is OCC Related, you get the power at one-half your own level. Note that the rule about 3 minor powers to get a super power is just for the first one. If someone were crazy enough, they could have 3 minor powers and all the super powers.
To move up in power levels requires investing a lot of skills in gaining new powers, once you exceed the limits for your current level of power, you start acting like the next higher one. Once a latent psychic learns his first power, he gains his M.E. as an I.S.P. base. Before that time, they have no ISP and register as non-psionic to most probes, but a See Aura will show that they have psionic potential. Once that minor psychic picks up his fifth power or his first super power, he becomes a major psychic, with all the saving throw advantages that carries. Also, starting at the next level (not the one that they just got), they start gaining ISP like a member of that power level. So, if I became a master psychic by picking up some more powers at level five, I roll my 1d6+1 like all major psychics at level 5. Then, at level six, I gain 10 ISP, just like the master psychic I am.
By and large, his divisions don't need much explanation, except for the part about latent psychics. Basically, the table in step four of creating a character should be altered to look like this:
01-09 Major Psionics
10-25 Minor Psionics
26-55 Latent Psychic (not as the BTS PCC, though)
56-00 Non-Psychic
Note that one doesn't have to take what the table says... they can always trade down, taking minor psionics instead of major, or latent instead of minor.
We never really liked that minor and major psychics had the same saving throws. After all, a major is at least twice a powerful, sometimes even more (Compare, on a psionics level only, a cyber-knight and a crazy and you get the idea). So, I altered the save tables to reflect this.
Latent and non-psychics: roll greater than 15 (e.g. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
Minor psychics: roll greater than 13
Major psychics: roll greater than 11 (same as always)
Master psychics: roll greater than 9
Of course, this is before all your bonuses are factored in.
Learning new powers works just like learning new skills. Whenever you have the option to learn new skills, you can instead (not always also) pick up a psionic power. This can even be done at first level, though we don't recommend it.
To get a minor psionic power (anything from the lesser categories), you just spend one skill. If its a secondary skill, you get that power at first level ability. If its an OCC related skill, it is assumed that you studied the power, so you get it at your actual level.
To get a "Super" power, you first need to have 3 minor psionic abilities. You then must spend 2 skills to master the power. If both are secondary, you get that power at first level, if both are OCC Related you get it at your own level, and if one is secondary and the other is OCC Related, you get the power at one-half your own level. Note that the rule about 3 minor powers to get a super power is just for the first one. If someone were crazy enough, they could have 3 minor powers and all the super powers.
To move up in power levels requires investing a lot of skills in gaining new powers, once you exceed the limits for your current level of power, you start acting like the next higher one. Once a latent psychic learns his first power, he gains his M.E. as an I.S.P. base. Before that time, they have no ISP and register as non-psionic to most probes, but a See Aura will show that they have psionic potential. Once that minor psychic picks up his fifth power or his first super power, he becomes a major psychic, with all the saving throw advantages that carries. Also, starting at the next level (not the one that they just got), they start gaining ISP like a member of that power level. So, if I became a master psychic by picking up some more powers at level five, I roll my 1d6+1 like all major psychics at level 5. Then, at level six, I gain 10 ISP, just like the master psychic I am.