[X] My Assistant

[Siege]

I'd nix the spirits idea and restrict the "psychic" to traditional powers attributed to psychokinesis.

It's not as mechanically useful as a hermetic mage or shaman, but it would be an interesting twist on the concept.

-Siege

[Lilt]

Thought forms aren't limited by domain and they're fairly nasty in physical combat, apart from that their lack of powers does suck. They should probably have Confusion or Fear or something like that, maybe great forms could get Compulsions or Influence or something equally nasty.

[Moonstone Spider]

Fairly nasty? Their attack is Str(M) damage and their strength is F-2. That means a force 6 Thought Form inflicts a big 4M damage, yeah that's nasty in combat.

I'll grant you they have good initiative and decent quickness but against, say, a Earth elemental or Spirit of the Land who's got F+4(S) damage they're nothing. They do, however, match Spirits of Man are are better than Spirits of the Sky or Wind elementals.

[Sunday_Gamer]

Shamanists can ONLY cast spells they get a bonus for, a penalty is not a bonus.

Think about it, you can cast spells for which you would normally (as a full shaman) get bonuses, you cannot cast spells for which you do not but you CAN cast spells for which you have penalties? That just don't make no sense.

and I gotta say, psionics was done pretty lame. I don't believe in magic! You don't need to believe in fire for it to roast you... however the concept of "belief is power" is certainly not new. This might be explainable for mana based spells that are cast at a specific person as they must anchor the spell to a "resisting" aura but when you do area effect manipulation spells...weeeelllll... different story.

Course I'm not completely familiar with the psionics rules so really this is just rectriloquism... that's talking out your ass but your lips are moving...

Sunday

[Lilt]

[RedmondLarry]

Lilt, as you probably know, all the spirits do (Str) base damage in physical form. In Astral form their strength equals their force, so it is proper to say either (F) or (Str) base damage in Astral. Yes, the Thought Form on MitS p. 27 lists damage in a different form from the Spirits in the main book. That is confusing.

[Lilt]

I read it that the spirit was actually doing damage using its psychokinesis power which as a strength equal to the force of the spirit.

[Glyph]

As characters, psionics are extremely gimped. I did one up once, for one ot the forum games that didn't last very long. That was a 175-point game, though. I felt like I could play a weaker variety of mage just for the flavor, and still have a decent enough character.

[Moonstone Spider]

[Kesh]

Agreed. I can't see why hermetic traditions of magic, and shamanic traditions of faith would adapt to the new 6th age of magic, but psionicists would be too arrogant to work within their paradigm to create the same effects.

The more I think about it, a sorcery-focused magic user with full astral projection and very little summoning makes the most sense for your traditional psion. There are psionic traditions of most SR spell effects, so I don't see restricting any of the spells.

Conjuring is another matter, as most psychic phenomena doesn't involve summoning spirits; rather it concentrates on communicating with ones that are already present, control and banishing. So, grant them full use of conjuring for control/banishing purposes. Conjuring would be limited to watchers and allies, as these could be seen as autonomous creations of the psionicist's willpower, brought into being by his will and the energies around him (i.e. mana).

Of course, now that I think of it, channeling is a tradition among mediums and psychics. So, something of a hybrid between Loa and ancestral spirits might be workable. Hmmm...