SubtleMods: Will to Power, a 2E-inspired psionics mod

[Lauriel]

What does that mean?  Can't do?  Will be harder?  Won't be a happy hot-fix?

[Lauriel]

Something this time around gave me the world's toughest rats in Candlekeep.  They had like 8 HPs and resisted all but 1 HP worth of damage from each arrow I plunked into them.  I'm assuming that is CDTweaks and nothing you'd have done, but thought I'd mention it just in case you might know what the heck is going on with that!

[Lauriel]

A couple of my party members were wild psi - but they don't have the restorative meditation.  I'm assuming that is required to regenerate psi points since I wasn't getting any back until I hit it.  Don't you think that wild psi folks should get that automatically along with whatever else they get?  EDIT EDIT: NVM, they restore when they sleep.

EDIT: Checking for wild psi on a psionic character (my ranger/psion) wipes out all the normal abilities.  That probably shouldn't happen and is what made it so confusing for me last night.

Edited February 15, 2020 by Lauriel

[Lauriel]

On 2/10/2020 at 7:17 PM, subtledoctor said:

Anyone have thoughts about wild talents?  I might do it kind of similar to PnP: give everyone an ability that rolls 1d00, with a small (~5%) chance of being a wild talent.

It's set to more that 5%.  All but one of my party members have a psi power.

[subtledoctor]

9 hours ago, Lauriel said:

Something this time around gave me the world's toughest rats in Candlekeep.  They had like 8 HPs and resisted all but 1 HP worth of damage from each arrow I plunked into them. 

Yeah, that’s CDTweaks. Rats always have 90% DR, for reasons; CDTweaks “max HP for all NPCs” gives them 8 HPs on the (mistaken) assumption that rats are 1HD creatures.

8 hours ago, Lauriel said:

A couple of my party members were wild psi - but they don't have the restorative meditation.

Intended.

Quote

EDIT: Checking for wild psi on a psionic character (my ranger/psion) wipes out all the normal abilities.  That probably shouldn't happen and is what made it so confusing for me last night.

Using that ability will mess up a real psionic character. They aren’t supposed to get it... can you zip “d5pswt_.spl” from your override folder and attach it here?

7 hours ago, Lauriel said:

It's set to more that 5%.  All but one of my party members have a psi power.

Can you also include “d5pswt0.spl” in that zip?

EDIT - did you install “Dark Sun Mode?”

Edited February 15, 2020 by subtledoctor

[Lauriel]

Here ya god5pswt.zip

[Lauriel]

3 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

EDIT - did you install “Dark Sun Mode?”

I have no idea...I just hit install, don't remember even being asked questions.  EDIT: Looking at the TP2 file, I must have.  I just hit 'install all'.  So everyone was supposed to have the wild talent then.  So the one that didn't is the anomaly?  That would have been Xzar. 

 

Edited February 15, 2020 by Lauriel

[Lauriel]

3 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

13 hours ago, Lauriel said:

Something this time around gave me the world's toughest rats in Candlekeep.  They had like 8 HPs and resisted all but 1 HP worth of damage from each arrow I plunked into them. 

Yeah, that’s CDTweaks. Rats always have 90% DR, for reasons; CDTweaks “max HP for all NPCs” gives them 8 HPs on the (mistaken) assumption that rats are 1HD creatures.

Love being a big fat cheater!  That was so easy to fix   No, I really don't want to have to plunk 8 arrows into every rat, bat, and rabbit in the game, thank you.  

EDIT: Speaking of which...the reason I upped the difficulty of all NPCs is because there was no downside to having a ranger/psion kit.  Kits will give you pros and cons, normally - if you're not a cleric..  Like archers can't use metal armor.  Are you considering giving your kit any such drawbacks?

EDIT EDIT:  Along the same vein, why can't my ranger/psion use metal armor?  Not that I mind.  I'm sort of used to it being that if I'm going to be a ranger, it'll probably be an archer.  Did you do that on purpose or did you just use a kit that couldn't use metal as a template and forget to change it?  I'm all for drawbacks.  Although the slow advancement of the ranger/cleric set up might be drawback enough, not sure.

Edited February 15, 2020 by Lauriel

[subtledoctor]

The current concept has:

• slow multiclass advancement
• only light armors
• thief/psions have limited thief skills (no traps!) and reduced backstab damage
• ranger/psions cannot cast druid spells
• psi powers are generally less powerful than magic
• a mid-level spellcaster will have more ‘casts’ from spell slots than a psion will from PSPs 

The base concept is a thief/psion. You can’t constantly blast away with psi powers, and you can’t use wands or scrolls in between like a mage can. So you’ll mostly, probably, be plinking away with a crossbow or something. And using thief skills. 

Fighter/psions will mostly be brawling, but less effectively than fighters. They will really feel the loss of steel armor. 

Ranger/psions weren’t originally part if this concept; up until a few days ago psions used the mage class. I only added ranger/psions because I could. Admittedly, they are the best combination - they get warrior APR and a bit of thief skills that are improved by psi powers. (Btw, it’s not in the Readme but Camouflage increases your backstab modifier!)

In general, my guess is that a ranger/cleric will probably always be more powerful. But it’s hard to say, because there are lots of ways to build a psion. You can go Biokinesis + Clairsentience for self buffs and then brawl; you can go Telepathy + Telekinesis to disable enemies; you can go Pyrokinesis + Telekinesis for direct attacks; etc. How the class stacks up overall is therefore hard to say. 

Also, I might reduce initial PSPs and grant extra for high Int/Wis/Cha. That will incentivize you to take points away from Str/Dex/Con, which could reduce the class’s power a little bit. 

Edited April 9, 2020 by subtledoctor

[Lauriel]

Yeah, that all sounds good, except for the fighter.  They'd be pretty much too gimped to play...although I never play one, so I wouldn't know from experience.  Isn't there something else you could do to them other than the armor?

[subtledoctor]

Well, studded leather + Inertial Barrier = splint mail (I think).  Add Instinctive Precognition and/or Danger Sense and/or Dermal Carapace and/or Visual Camouflage, and it's the equivalent of plate mail or better.  That's on the defensive side.  Add Adrenaline Rush and/or Metabolic Acceleration and/or Insightful Strike and/or Aura Evaluation and/or Ego Whip, and you've increased your offensive advantage.  I don't know yet how exactly it is balanced, but it seems like it might be okay.  Hopefully we'll adjust things as we get feedback.

[Guest psion / wizard]

Hi @subtledoctor - I know this is currently not part of the your concept , but I would love to have the option to have psion / mage multiclass.

I have tried using m7multikit but got error getting this work , any chance you can provide info on which files need to be changed to allow this in my game ?

 

[subtledoctor]

Unfortunately making this psionics system function involves a lot more than just having the kit.

I could make a mage/psion kit... the main reason not to, to be honest, is that all your spells and all your psionics would coexist under the “cast spell” button. You know how it is with a TOB-level cleric/mage, with tons of spells to click through every time you want to cast one? It’s quite cumbersome. A mage/psion would be like that. 

Also I don’t know what to call it. “Ardent?” I vaguely recall that being a 3E/4E-ish psi class...

[Guest Cerebremancer]

37 minutes ago, subtledoctor said:

Unfortunately making this psionics system function involves a lot more than just having the kit.

I could make a mage/psion kit... the main reason not to, to be honest, is that all your spells and all your psionics would coexist under the “cast spell” button. You know how it is with a TOB-level cleric/mage, with tons of spells to click through every time you want to cast one? It’s quite cumbersome. A mage/psion would be like that. 

Also I don’t know what to call it. “Ardent?” I vaguely recall that being a 3E/4E-ish psi class...

There is a class called :Cerebremancer which is mage /wizard prc - mainly design for Dark Sun 

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/cerebremancer.htm

since the will and the way referenced to dark sun , I think it's fitting 

I understand the your point about convoluting  the "cast spell" , but honestly it's small price to pay ,for such an awesome kit ...

[subtledoctor]

Okay what the heck.  In version 0.9.6 I've added a mage/psion kit, and also tightened up a few things, e.g. psion kits will be properly prevented from getting the "check for wild talent" ability.  And you will now be able to see your initial known devotions in the priest spellbook - at least once you choose another power.

Cheers.