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At the GM's discretion, Psionic Items might
exist in a campaign setting, and Psions
can create them. This is entirely optional,
and rests on the GM's preference for how
closely Psionics and Magic parallel one
another. Check with your GM prior to making
a Character that can create or has Psionic
Items to ensure that they are appropriate
to your GM's campaign. |
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There are two sorts of Psionic Items, Permanent
Items that are infinitely reusable unless
destroyed, and Ephemeral Items that have
a finite number of Charges and become useless
when they are expended. |
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Permanent Items must take the Independent
Limitation and cost Character Points to
create, while Ephemeral Items must take
Non-Recoverable Charges as a Limitation
but do not cost Character Points to create. |
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CREATING NEW
PSIONIC ITEMS |
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Psionic Items can be thought of as holding
Powers in themselves. Psionic Items created
by users of different types of Psionic Powers
are often similar in their manufacture in
game terms, but the "flavor" of
the various Disciplines should be injected
into Psionic Items by the GM and the players. |
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ITEM CREATION REQUIRED SKILLS |
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Mastery of Psionic Powers as represented
by Psionic Discipline Power Skills is a
necessary part of the Item Creation process.
However, this is only part of the required
expertise needed to create a Psionic Item.
There are two additional Skills necessary
to this process, KS: Empowerment and KS:
Imprinting. |
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KS: Empowerment |
Used to create Psionic Items, Weapons, Armor,
and other Permanent Psionic Items. |
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KS: Imprinting |
Used to create Psionic Items holding a readied
Power needing only a thought to manifest.
This is usually accomplished with Crystals
and Dorjes, and are always Ephemeral. |
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PSIONIC ITEM CREATION GUIDELINES |
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The following guidelines describe the process
required to create Psionic Items. |
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DEFINE ITEM |
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Determine the pertinent details of the new
Item: |
- Determine Base Item
- Design Powers/Effects
- Craft the Psionic Item
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THE BASE ITEM |
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The Psionicist must have an Item to Empower,
and this item can be either totally mundane
or quite expensive and/or rare; this is
left to GM's discretion, as it will vary
from Item to Item and campaign to campaign.
In some cases acquiring an Item suitable
for Empowerment might be the impetus for
an adventure in itself. |
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Otherwise the base Item to be Empowered
must be constructed. The Psionicist may
subcontract to craftsmen if he pays them
or otherwise establishes an in-game means
to gain their services, in which case the
GM determines the quality of the base Item.
Otherwise the Psionicist must make all of
the appropriate Craft skill rolls himself.
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DESIGN POWERS |
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Using the standard HERO System Powers rules,
design the effects of the one or more Powers
desired to be placed into the Psionic Item.
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The following restrictions apply to the
design of Psionic Items. |
- No Power in the Item may have an Endurance
Cost.
- No Power in the Item may have an Activation
Limitation.
- All Continuous Uncontrolled Powers in an
Item must have a defined termination declared.
- All Permanent Psionic Items must take the
Independent Limitation on each Power in
the Item, but may have a limited form of
Independent with GM's permission.
- All Ephemeral Psionic Items must take the
Non-Recoverable Charges Limitation on each
Power in the Item.
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CRAFTING THE PSIONIC ITEM |
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The following process is required to create
a Psionic Items. |
- For each Power in the Item, prepare and
Empower the Item for an amount of time equal
to 1 Day/10 Active points in the Power
- Make an appropriate Discipline Skill Roll
at -1 / 10 Active Points in the Power to
see if that Power was successfully added
to the Item.
- The crafter may opt to take twice as long
for each roll, reducing the penalty to -1/20
Active Points in the Power.
- After all Powers have been added to the
Item, make a Item Creation Skill Roll at
-1/10 Real Cost of the Item.
- In the case of a Permanent Psionic Item,
the Real Cost of the Item must be paid in
Character Points.
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If any of the Discipline Skill Rolls are
failed then the particular Power being added
to the Item is not added. If the GM prefers,
the Power might be added, but be flawed.
If the Power is the only Power being added
to the Item, then the entire process fails. |
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If the Item Creation Skill Roll at the end
of the process is failed, then the Item
is not usable, or at the GM's preference
is flawed or unreliable in some way; unwanted
Side Effects might be appropriate for an
Item where the Item Creation Skill Roll
was only barely failed for instance. |
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The above rolls should be made by the GM
and concealed from the player to heighten
suspense. The process is only complete when
the last Power in the Item has been rolled
for. Whether the time spent to craft the
item must be continuous or not is left to
the discretion of the GM. |
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NOTE: The process described above
is deliberately drawn out and difficult
in order to discourage casual Item creation.
However, ultimately the GM should take the
initiative to make Item creation as difficult
or as easy as they want it to be. If easier
creation is desired, simply streamline all
the rolls down to a single roll made at
the end of the process or something equivalent. |
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SIMILARITY BONUS |
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A Psionicist making an Item similar to an
Item they already know how to make gains
a bonus to his rolls ranging from 1 to 5
at the GM's option, based upon exactly how
similar the new Item is to the other Item,
with +5 being for an identical Item, to
+1 being a mildly similar Item. A Character
should keep a list of all Items they have
successfully made. |
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RECIPES, MANUALS AND SCHEMATICS |
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A Psionicist might be fortunate enough to
have a text to work from written by some
other Psionicist detailing how to create
an Item. Such guides should be keyed to
the use of a specific Item Creation Skill.
The GM should assess a Skill bonus of +1
to +5 originating from such a work.
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A Character can also make their own notes
on how to create an Item they have successfully
crafted. To do so they simply need a skill
called Diagramming (use Computer Programming);
by spending a number of days equal to the
Real Cost of the Item they have made and
taking a penalty of -1/20 Active Points
in the Item, a Psionicist can successfully
produce full and useful notes on the process
of creating that Item which they themselves
or others can use.
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The Psionicist may take twice as long to
diagram, gaining a +1 per doubling of time. |
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The bonus to Item Creation Skill Rolls granted
by these notes is based upon how well the
Psionicist made their Diagramming Skill
Roll; the notes grant +1 per 2 points by
which their Diagramming Skill Roll was made
by.
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CREATING MULTIPLE COPIES |
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Once a Psionicist has successfully created
an Item they benefits from a +5 Similarity
bonus on each Skill Roll required to make
additional exact copies of that Item. |
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NEW PERMANENT PSIONIC ITEMS AND CHARACTER
POINTS |
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The Psion must pay the Real Cost of the
Item with Character Points unless the GM
allows the Psion to make the Item for another
consenting Character, who must pay the Real
Cost of the Item with their Character Points
instead. |
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EPHEMERAL PSIONIC ITEMS |
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Ephemeral Psionic Items are far more common
than Permanent Psionic Items, and often
take the form of crystals, stones, and even
string cradles, but endless variations exist.
Most Ephemeral Psionic Items merely hold
a given Power, trapped in amber as it were
and ready for use. Less common are Psionic
Items that are indistinguishable from a
Permanent Psionic Item to the naked eye
but hold a finite amount of power. |
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CRYSTALS |
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Crystals are a particularly common form
of Ephemeral Psionic Item, used by Psions
for several purposes. In addition to their
usefulness as combat-usable firepower, Crystals
can also be used to transfer Powers from
one Psionicist to another.
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Rather than using a Crystal to bring a Power
effect into being, a Psionicist with the
appropriate Psionic Discipline Skill may
attempt to learn that Power instead if they
the appropriate Discipline Skill and have
enough Character points to pay for the resulting
Power.
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To do this takes one Minute per Active Point
in the Power and a Discipline Skill Roll
at -1/10 Active Points in the Power. This
penalty can be reduced to -1/20 Active Points
in the Power by taking twice as long. This
usage, whether successful or not, uses one
Charge of the Crystal. This method is a
very popular way of teaching novices their
first Powers. |
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Crystals can be quickly built by applying
a straightforward "short-hand"
Limitation to a Power Construct which works
for the majority of Crystals. |
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CRYSTAL: RSR: Specific Psionic Powers
Discipline (-1/20 Active Points, -1/4),
Requires Light to Use (-1/4), 1 Nonrecoverable
Charge (-3), Obvious Accessible Focus (Fragile;
-1 1/4), Extra Time: Full Phase (-1/2);
Total Limitation: -5 1/4 |
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DORJES |
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Dorjes are identical to Crystals save that
they have multiples Charges; all of the
rules above regarding Crystals apply to
Dorjes; a Character can learn a Power from
a Dorjes in the fashion detailed above. |
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The chosen weapon of many Psionicists, Dorjes
are typically used to house offensive Psionic
Powers, giving a Psionicist vastly expanded
combat effectiveness. Dorjes typically hold
mid level offensive Powers. |
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Dorjes can be quickly built by applying
a straightforward "short-hand"
Limitation to a Power Construct which works
for the majority of Dorjes. |
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DORJES: RSR: Specific Psionic Powers
Discipline (-1/20 Active Points, -1/4),
Requires Light to Use (-1/4), 50 Nonrecoverable
Charges (-1 1/2), Obvious Accessible Focus
(Fragile; -1 1/4), Extra Time: Full Phase
(-1/2); Total Limitation: -3 3/4 |