What the tin says, I'm working on the psionics for my games.

Since I can't leave well enough alone, the list is now 20 entries long.
Now I need to finish the mechanics (already started) and divide them into levels, what do you guys think?

Which discipline goes in which level?

Psionic Disciplines:

Biokinesis — The power of mind over body, of manipulating living systems, making cells grow or die increasing or decreasing functions. For example of curing yourself or others, falling into a death like trance, walking on burning coals/broken glass without suffering harm by increasing your skin toughness/resistance.
Cryokinesis — The ability to create/control ice, snow, using one's mind
Ego Projection — The ability to voluntarily project a mental body, during which time the consciousness leaves the body.
Empath — ability to apprehend/control the emotional state of another individual
Ergokinesis — The ability to influence the movement of energy, such as electricity, without direct interaction.
Mind Control — The user can control the minds of others, including their thoughts, perceptions, memories, emotions and personality. Depending on the user's skill and power, this can range from a trance-like state very similar to hypnosis, to the target being completely subject to the user's control. A skilled user may be able to control the minds of multiple people simultaneously. The target(s) can be placed in a semi-conscious state, where they may have no recollection of any actions that they perform while under the user's control.
Mnemokinesis — User can control memories of oneself and others, allowing them to modify, fabricate, suppress, influence, repair, restore, erase, detect, and view them.
Precognition — The ability to perceive future events
Psionic Shield — The user is highly resistant to any/all mental intrusion, including psychic or empathic powers, Hypnosis, Mental Hallucination, deception, etc. Mind readers only "hear" static, while mind controllers will have trouble manipulating those shielded.
Psychocompetence — The ability to gain skills by touching someone with said ability.
Psychometry — The ability to obtain information about a person or an object by touch.
Psychoprojection — The ability to project images.
Pyrokinesis — The ability to create/control flames, fire, using one's mind
Retrocognition — The ability to supernaturally perceive past events.
Telecognition — The ability to perceive distant or unseen events
Telekinesis — The ability to exert force, control objects and move matter with one's mind
Telepathy — The ability to transmit or receive thoughts
Telesthesia — The ability to see/hear/feel/smell a distant or unseen target using extrasensory perception.
Thermokinesis — The ability to control both heat and cold, using one's mind.
Xenoglossy — The ability to learn to write and speak a foreign language by touching a living individual that speaks/writes it.

You've got significant overlap, like the thermo-, cryo-, and pyro- kinesis; tele- thesia and cognition; or ego and psycho- projection. Are you intending these to be separate powers, power trees, or something else? They don't seem to be defined enough to order them by power. Some also are very difficult to implement in a game, like precognition. Others can break games where secrets are important, like psychometry.

Quote from: Pat on December 08, 2021, 08:41:31 PM
You've got significant overlap, like the thermo-, cryo-, and pyro- kinesis; tele- thesia and cognition; or ego and psycho- projection. Are you intending these to be separate powers, power trees, or something else? They don't seem to be defined enough to order them by power. Some also are very difficult to implement in a game, like precognition. Others can break games where secrets are important, like psychometry.

Some overlap but not really once the mechanics are in place, Thermo only allows manipulating temperatures within a range, doesn't give you the ability to create fire/ice nor to control them.

Ego projection isn't an image, think of it like Astral projection.

Precognition isn't really hard to implement, I just need to nerf it enough and turn it into little more than hunches until higher levels.

Same thing is true for Psychometry.

The list looks pretty good.  The only possible additions I can think of would be a variety of direct mind to mind attack abilities, such as those found in AD&D psionics, the Deryni books, or the Octavia Butler books. You might also break out mind control into several skills, such as the ability to force emotions, compel actions, edit memories, rewrite personality, and so on.

Quote from: Mishihari on December 09, 2021, 01:35:31 AM
The list looks pretty good.  The only possible additions I can think of would be a variety of direct mind to mind attack abilities, such as those found in AD&D psionics, the Deryni books, or the Octavia Butler books. You might also break out mind control into several skills, such as the ability to force emotions, compel actions, edit memories, rewrite personality, and so on.

Those are disciplines, think of it like magic schools/spheres. Each has different aplications.

Mind to mind should be telepathy, I'm still working on the mechanics, will add 2-3 different examples for each discipline for using it in defense/peaceful mode and another 2-3 for attack. And do it in such a way the player with the GM can come up with new uses.

Most of what you want me to break mind control into is already there.

But, here's the thing, I still need to break the disciplines into levels, a la spell levels. Putting the more powerful ones in the upper level and the less powerful ones in the lower one. The Psion knows the discipline, just hasn't really learned to use it in any reliable way yet. So every level the PC gains a new discipline and every uneven level he can also increase his control of one previously known discipline.

It's hard to explain, you'll need to wait and see when I have made more progress how it's all going to work.

Telecognition is usually referred to as clairvoyance and is associated with astral body projection though it is also linked to medium scrying and with using the senses of others who are present at the distantly observed phenomena. .

Telepathy might benefit from tele communications theory with a network form where you join a circle of telepathic communication and peer to peer which would be the tight beam mind to mind DM version. Then you have active where you steal thoughts by transmitting and looking for responses and passive where you receive thoughts as if they are noise.

Quote from: palaeomerus on December 09, 2021, 05:41:23 PM
Telepathy might benefit from tele communications theory with a network form where you join a circle of telepathic communication and peer to peer which would be the tight beam mind to mind DM version. Then you have active where you steal thoughts by transmitting and looking for responses and passive where you receive thoughts as if they are noise.

Building slightly on this because it slapped me in the face.

Consider doing this kind of like the greater trump cards in Zelazny's Amber where you could potentially eavesdrop on others.

Quote from: palaeomerus on December 09, 2021, 05:38:30 PM
Telecognition is usually referred to as clairvoyance and is associated with astral body projection though it is also linked to medium scrying and with using the senses of others who are present at the distantly observed phenomena. .

True but I wanted unique names if possible. I like the using the sense of others idea, need to make that into one of the use examples.

Quote from: palaeomerus on December 09, 2021, 05:41:23 PM
Telepathy might benefit from tele communications theory with a network form where you join a circle of telepathic communication and peer to peer which would be the tight beam mind to mind DM version. Then you have active where you steal thoughts by transmitting and looking for responses and passive where you receive thoughts as if they are noise.

Increasing the total range of all the participants in the network.

It needs a range limit, as in you have to be no further away than X from the closest node in the network to be able to connect.

It also needs to be not constant connection, more like dial up internet.

This needs to have some possible drawbacks tho. Psychic backlash if anyone in the network is killed?

Quote from: Jason Coplen on December 09, 2021, 06:09:47 PM

Quote from: palaeomerus on December 09, 2021, 05:41:23 PM
Telepathy might benefit from tele communications theory with a network form where you join a circle of telepathic communication and peer to peer which would be the tight beam mind to mind DM version. Then you have active where you steal thoughts by transmitting and looking for responses and passive where you receive thoughts as if they are noise.

Building slightly on this because it slapped me in the face.

Consider doing this kind of like the greater trump cards in Zelazny's Amber where you could potentially eavesdrop on others.

Haven't read that, care to expand?

Quote from: GeekyBugle on December 09, 2021, 08:52:34 PM

Quote from: Jason Coplen on December 09, 2021, 06:09:47 PM

Quote from: palaeomerus on December 09, 2021, 05:41:23 PM
Telepathy might benefit from tele communications theory with a network form where you join a circle of telepathic communication and peer to peer which would be the tight beam mind to mind DM version. Then you have active where you steal thoughts by transmitting and looking for responses and passive where you receive thoughts as if they are noise.

Building slightly on this because it slapped me in the face.

Consider doing this kind of like the greater trump cards in Zelazny's Amber where you could potentially eavesdrop on others.

Haven't read that, care to expand?

Greater Trumps were magical items where you could contact the person the trump was made of. You could see them and even pull someone through them. Great means of communication. It was discovered later on that one guy was eavesdropping on communications. Think of instant messengers where you and I, per say, could discuss things. Unknown to us someone was eavesdropping on our chat. The insecurity of messengers is well known, but many people never consider that someone could eavesdrop on them. Wouldn't some psyker (for lack of a better term) think he was contacting Joe Schmoe and just him when someone else is sitting back hearing everything? It all gets tricky. Who would or could you trust when your telepathy has been turned into a CB radio? That adds an uncertainty element and has much potential for conflict.

I like what you have and will be following here and on twitter.

Quote from: Jason Coplen on December 09, 2021, 09:32:38 PM

Quote from: GeekyBugle on December 09, 2021, 08:52:34 PM

Quote from: Jason Coplen on December 09, 2021, 06:09:47 PM

Quote from: palaeomerus on December 09, 2021, 05:41:23 PM
Telepathy might benefit from tele communications theory with a network form where you join a circle of telepathic communication and peer to peer which would be the tight beam mind to mind DM version. Then you have active where you steal thoughts by transmitting and looking for responses and passive where you receive thoughts as if they are noise.

Building slightly on this because it slapped me in the face.

Consider doing this kind of like the greater trump cards in Zelazny's Amber where you could potentially eavesdrop on others.

Haven't read that, care to expand?

Greater Trumps were magical items where you could contact the person the trump was made of. You could see them and even pull someone through them. Great means of communication. It was discovered later on that one guy was eavesdropping on communications. Think of instant messengers where you and I, per say, could discuss things. Unknown to us someone was eavesdropping on our chat. The insecurity of messengers is well known, but many people never consider that someone could eavesdrop on them. Wouldn't some psyker (for lack of a better term) think he was contacting Joe Schmoe and just him when someone else is sitting back hearing everything? It all gets tricky. Who would or could you trust when your telepathy has been turned into a CB radio? That adds an uncertainty element and has much potential for conflict.

I like what you have and will be following here and on twitter.

Right, that sounds interesting, but it would need a risk of some sort, d% lets say you start with 15% chance of not being caught and go up until 95% chance of not being caught.

I feel like you've got a lot, especially since these are supposed to be Disciplines. But lemme give you some more. Some of these are more like techniques than others.

Somatokinesis: Physical augmentation using a mixture of biological and telekinetic manipulation. Might fall under Biokinesis.
Astral Projection: I know this is something else, but I use it to refer to creating weapons with your own mind. This also extends to constructs, but blades are the easiest. If your projection is broken, it causes psychic damage.
Psionic Shield: You have this already, but I like to extend this to physical powers at the highest levels. Nothing makes a telekinetic freak out like realizing he can't throw a car at a guy.
Bio Leech: Drain your target's bio electricity. Probably too small for a total discipline.
Teleportation: Move between two spaces without occupying the space in between.
Probability Manipulation: Influence the outcome of events (dice rolls) by twisting luck in your favor.
Mind Trap: Mentally cage the target, making them experience another reality that's just in their head. Time can be warped too; 1 minute outside, 10 or more minutes inside.

Option - rather than specific powers make them levels of bigger disciplines, and then each advance you can pick and choose what to develop further. Or even e

Like:

- Energy manipulation (Shields, Fire, Ice, Electricity)
- Sensory manipulation (Illusions of all sorts, including Mind Trap)
- Emotion manipulation (both reading and inducing)
- Thought control (including memory and knowledge manipulation)
- Biokinesis
- Probability manipulation (includes Teleportation)
- Mind projection (including mental time travel)

QuoteTrue but I wanted unique names if possible. I like the using the sense of others idea, need to make that into one of the use examples.

Name them appropriately to the setting.

For instance if your setting is antediluvian prehyperborean Finno-Korean Hyper-War give each power double Finnic / Korean name

Quote from: Wrath of God on December 14, 2021, 04:50:29 AM
For instance if your setting is antediluvian prehyperborean Finno-Korean Hyper-War give each power double Finnic / Korean name

Is that just a fr'instance, or an actual thing?  'Cause that sounds awesome