Rpgs with good psionics.

[MadMaxHellfire]

i can actually pinpoint it on 21/04/1999, but this is another story.

 

[mondblut]

psionics don't work well in videogames, they're supposed to alter minds which would be either too strong or too difficult to simulate in an automated way.

Oh? Last time I checked, Charm Person and Hold Monster worked just fine, and they alter minds alright.

Psionics are underutilized because it's new-age shit that doesn't belong to medieval fantasy. Their role is to be magic substitute in sci-fi settings

 

[anvi]

Vanguard (MMO) has a good Psionicist but it's mostly the Enchanter from EQ just a bit different. The Ench in EQ is worth playing. If you are good enough you can solo with charm by keeping the enemy rooted. Then when charm breaks you only have that 1 to deal with. And you get some area stun spells that are super strong and they all stack together. It's much better with a healer though. I used to play Ench and Cleric and just used dire charm to permanently charm a creature. I could give it illusions and haste and buffs and then my Cleric could buff it too and keep it healed.

There are also AOE groups where 1 guy pulls 100+ mobs, then 2 enchs spam those stuns over and over, and 2 wizards spam their biggest area spells, and one healer keeps everyone alive. You can get about 10 levels in one pull.

 

[Cryomancer]

I disagree that psionics are just "sci fi magic", a lot of low tech settings has it. Dark Sun is full of psionics and its tech level is "bronze age" tier.

Vanguard (MMO)

Interesting. Was reading about it ( https://vanguard.fandom.com/wiki/Psionicist ) and seems quite good. A lot of stuff like Enthrall allowing you to take control over enemies. I only tested blood mage and necro in a private server but since monsters had only a placeholder stats, it was too boring to play. Among mmos. Did you ever tested Wildstar ESPER and ALLODS Psionicist?

 

[anvi]

I missed both of those. I read a bit about Wildstar, sounded fun.

 

[Kabas]

ALLODS Psionicist

Dipped my toes into it a long time ago while it was new. Only thing i remember is that Psionicist had stuns and could cast it spells while on the move - definitely the type that is very annoying to fight against in a PvP.

Another thing i remember is that each race had a unique ability and a different name for each class and that three hamsters in a trenchcoat was one of the races that could be Psionicist.

 

[itsme]

In ELEX clerics have some psi abilities.

 

[mondblut]

I disagree that psionics are just "sci fi magic", a lot of low tech settings has it. Dark Sun is full of psionics and its tech level is "bronze age" tier.

Dark Sun is not bronze age, Dark Sun is a fantasy take on postapocalypse.

 

[luj1]

Hearkenwold, Underrail, maybe Dark Sun

 

[Cryomancer]

In ELEX clerics have some psi abilities.

Yep. But honestly I only played as Berserk in 1 and Alb in 2.

Dark Sun is not bronze age, Dark Sun is a fantasy take on postapocalypse.

Yes, but Psionicists in Dark Sun is a "low tech psion" and Psykers in wh40k are "high tech mages". My point is that tech levels and magic types aren't the same. Magic is more otherworldly and supernatural, psionics is more about "inner" manipulation.

I missed both of those. I read a bit about Wildstar, sounded fun.

Yep. So many mmos died. I wish that I could play Vanguard and WildStar, not with a server with placeholders stats for mobs...

__________________________________

Talking about non combat abilities, just imagine adapting this Psionic powers into a CRPG - From Machinations of the Space Princess - Page 130.

The first, probably in a very sandbox type of game like Mount & Blade could work. The second, could be implemented by allowing the PC to create another char.

 

[mondblut]

My point is that tech levels and magic types aren't the same.

This is not about "tech levels", this is about themes and mood.

 

[buffalo bill]

Caves of Qud has fairly good psionic mechanics

 

[0sacred]

D&D Tactics has a psionicist class as well as a psychic warrior or some shit, which is the closest to a multiclass character you'll get in the game.

 

[Cryomancer]

Caves of Qud has fairly good psionic mechanics

I tested, saw that every psionic power that I use has like 40+ turns of cooldown and ... Refunded. IMO the best Psion in roguelikes is Mindcrafter in ADOM.

 

[Shaki]

If roguelikes count, then ToME also has decent psionics.

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

i can actually pinpoint it on 21/04/1999, but this is another story.

21/12/1998 is the date Baldur's Gate released.

 

[buffalo bill]

Caves of Qud has fairly good psionic mechanics

I tested, saw that every psionic power that I use has like 40+ turns of cooldown and ... Refunded. IMO the best Psion in roguelikes is Mindcrafter in ADOM.

willpower affects cooldown duration, and so does level in that power usually

it's a rare game where cooldowns are fine

 

[Alex]

I still think the pen and paper that did psionic powers the best was GURPS 3e. 4e turned them into just another power, but 3e did psychokinesis (and related powers) by basically giving you some physical magnitudes you could reach with your power and letting the playersa and the GM figure out what could be done. It is not perfect. Electrokinesis decides to ignore this and just allows you to manipulate enough electricity to do 1d damage per 3 power points (I think 4th ediditon had a book that tried to measure how much damage a current would do based on voltage and amperage, though). The temperature modifying powers start talking about affecting a volume (50º per 10 cubic inches per power level per second) but then instructs the players to treat a pound as 20 cubic inches. It would have been better to base it on mass from the get go. Also, it uses Farenheit instead of Celsius, which is bad news for most people from outside of the USA.

Another annoying aspect is how the game deals with psychokinesis itself. Or maybe I should put it is annoying how it doesn't deal with other powers. Psychokineis use a simple table telling you how much power you need to affect an object of a certain weight. And then, based on how much more power you have than that, how fast you can move it. Both tables are exponential, although the mass table becomes additive past power 16 (500 lbs). I really dislike this sudden change, but the basic idea works better than the temperatures above. You can't keep concentrating to get to any speed you want (unlike the temperature powers). You could instead use the weight (includding use the same weight table as telekinesis) and use the excess power to determine how much you could affect the temperature of the object. For instance with power 20, you could use pyrokinesis to affect someone's heavy clothes (around 8 lbs, power 10) to heat up to 1024F (2¹⁰, 10 being how much power you have left after subtracting the requirement for weight) in a set amount of time, say, 10 seconds. So each second the clothes would heat up by 102.4F until they burst into flames. Note that in GURPS, each combat round is a second, so even though this is quite fast, in a combat situation, your head may be ventilated way before you have time to burn your enemy.

 

[Cryomancer]

it's a rare game where cooldowns are fine

Tbh the unique game who imo did CD right is UnderRail.

 

[Cryomancer]

Knights of the Chalice 2?

Already mentioned in first post.

a spell

Sadly the game is crashing in my GNU/Linux - Debian but KoTC2 has imo the best TB AI ever.

 

[Mauman]

Knights of the Chalice 2?

Already mentioned in first post.

a spell

Sadly the game is crashing in my GNU/Linux - Debian but KoTC2 has imo the best TB AI ever.

Yeah, I noticed. hence why I tried to delete my post

 

[buffalo bill]

it's a rare game where cooldowns are fine

Tbh the unique game who imo did CD right is UnderRail.

I've played underrail for hundreds of hours, but I prefer the psionic mechanics in caves of qud tbh

 

[buffalo bill]

th

I still think the pen and paper that did psionic powers the best was GURPS 3e. 4e turned them into just another power, but 3e did psicokinesis (and related powers) by basically giving you some physical magnitudes you could reach with your power and letting the playersa and the GM figure out what could be done. It is not perfect. Electrokinesis decides to ignore this and just allows you to manipulate enough electricity to do 1d damage per 3 power points (I think 4th ediditon had a book that tried to measure how much damage a current would do based on voltage and amperage, though). The temperature modifying powers start talking about affecting a volume (50º per 10 cubic inches per power level per second) but then instructs the players to treat a pound as 20 cubic inches. It would have been better to base it on mass from the get go. Also, it uses Farenheit instead of Celsius, which is bad news for most people from outside of the USA.

Another annoying aspect is how the game deals with psychokinesis itself. Or maybe I should put it is annoying how it doesn't deal with other powers. Psychokineis use a simple table telling you how much power you need to affect an object of a certain weight. And then, based on how much more power you have than that, how fast you can move it. Both tables are exponential, although the mass table becomes additive past power 16 (500 lbs). I really dislike this sudden change, but the basic idea works better than the temperatures above. You can't keep concentrating to get to any speed you want (unlike the temperature powers). You could instead use the weight (includding use the same weight table as telekinesis) and use the excess power to determine how much you could affect the temperature of the object. For instance with power 20, you could use pyrokinesis to affect someone's heavy clothes (around 8 lbs, power 10) to heat up to 1024F (2¹⁰, 10 being how much power you have left after subtracting the requirement for weight) in a set amount of time, say, 10 seconds. So each second the clothes would heat up by 102.4F until they burst into flames. Note that in GURPS, each combat round is a second, so even though this is quite fast, in a combat situation, your head my be ventilated way before you have time to burn your enemy.

is determined by weight, not mass? are there different rules for telekinesis in zero gravity? (which could not be that uncommon in gurps settings)

 

[Cryomancer]

I've played underrail for hundreds of hours, but I prefer the psionic mechanics in caves of qud tbh

I like the mechanics of ADOM. Mindcrafter : https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Mindcraft#Mind_Blast

Name	Description	Formula	Type	Level Gained
Teleport Control	Intrinsic teleport control which cannot be lost.	N/A	N/A	1
Confusion Blast	Bolt which travels in a straight line and performs a confusion attack on every creature it passes through. Range and confusion duration are increased by Willpower and experience level.	N/A	TP	1
Confusion Wave	Performs a confusion attack on every creature in an area around the PC. Radius and confusion duration are increased by Willpower and experience level.	N/A	TP	3
Mind Blast	Bolt which travels in a straight line and performs a damaging attack on every creature it passes through. Range is increased by Willpower and experience level.	((W + CL) / 6 + 1)d5	TP	6
Mental Shield	While active, increases the PC's DV and PV.	DV: + ((W + CL) / 5) PV: + ((W + CL) / 8)	S	9
Mind Wave	Performs a damaging attack on every creature in an area around the PC. Radius is increased by Willpower and experience level.	((W + CL) / 6 + 1)d5	TP	13
Telekinetic Blast	Emits a physical force blast on an adjacent target. Will destroy any trapped door unless it is occupied by a phasing monster (e.g. ghost, earth elemental).	((W / 5) + CL)d3	TK	15
Eyes of the Mind	Shows all creatures with minds*** on the level.	N/A	N/A	18
Greater Mental Blast	A more damaging and costly version of Mind Blast.	((W + CL) / 6 + 1)d9	TP	25
Greater Telekinetic Blast	Emits a physical force blast on any tile in the visible range of the PC. Chance to destroy any diggable wall unless it is occupied by a phasing monster.	((W / 5) + CL)d6	TK	30
Regeneration	While active, grants the PC an additional source of Regeneration.	1 HP / turn	S	35
Teleport Self	Teleports the PC.	N/A	TK	40
Teleport Other	Teleports an adjacent creature.	N/A	TK	45
Greater Mental Wave	A more damaging and costly version of Mind Wave.	((W + CL) / 6 + 1)d9	TP	50

https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Mindcraft#Mind_Blast

Zero cooldowns.

And Adom is the hardest roguelike that I played. I never beat it.

________________

Does Tides of Numenera has good psionics? I'm curious. Never played it.

 

[Alex]

th

I still think the pen and paper that did psionic powers the best was GURPS 3e. 4e turned them into just another power, but 3e did psicokinesis (and related powers) by basically giving you some physical magnitudes you could reach with your power and letting the playersa and the GM figure out what could be done. It is not perfect. Electrokinesis decides to ignore this and just allows you to manipulate enough electricity to do 1d damage per 3 power points (I think 4th ediditon had a book that tried to measure how much damage a current would do based on voltage and amperage, though). The temperature modifying powers start talking about affecting a volume (50º per 10 cubic inches per power level per second) but then instructs the players to treat a pound as 20 cubic inches. It would have been better to base it on mass from the get go. Also, it uses Farenheit instead of Celsius, which is bad news for most people from outside of the USA.

Another annoying aspect is how the game deals with psychokinesis itself. Or maybe I should put it is annoying how it doesn't deal with other powers. Psychokineis use a simple table telling you how much power you need to affect an object of a certain weight. And then, based on how much more power you have than that, how fast you can move it. Both tables are exponential, although the mass table becomes additive past power 16 (500 lbs). I really dislike this sudden change, but the basic idea works better than the temperatures above. You can't keep concentrating to get to any speed you want (unlike the temperature powers). You could instead use the weight (includding use the same weight table as telekinesis) and use the excess power to determine how much you could affect the temperature of the object. For instance with power 20, you could use pyrokinesis to affect someone's heavy clothes (around 8 lbs, power 10) to heat up to 1024F (2¹⁰, 10 being how much power you have left after subtracting the requirement for weight) in a set amount of time, say, 10 seconds. So each second the clothes would heat up by 102.4F until they burst into flames. Note that in GURPS, each combat round is a second, so even though this is quite fast, in a combat situation, your head my be ventilated way before you have time to burn your enemy.

is determined by weight, not mass? are there different rules for telekinesis in zero gravity? (which could not be that uncommon in gurps settings)

Well, to be honest, I am not sure if they used the word mass or weight on the rulebook, but even if they used the word weight, it is clear they meant mass, and the magnitude used on the table is of mass, not force. What is confusing is that the temperature changing powers (cryokinesis and pyrokinesis) use volume instead, and then in the middle of the rules tell you to assume a pound is 20 cubic inches (which of course would depend on density).

Anyway, my recommendation was, in case it got confusing, to ignore the volume rules and use weight, and change it so there is a maximum and a minimum temperature you can reach, instead of being able to pour energy into an object to get it as hot as you might want. Telekinesis already has such a rule, not allowing you to make objects you move with your mind arbitrarily fast, but giving you a max speed.

Edit: I went to check it, they use the word mass: