Incorporating Psionics into a Modern campaign

[Popertop]

Ho-kay. So I'm running this Modern campaign, and I'm eventually going to introduce Psionics to keep things spicy (I've heard Modern can get kind of stale at the higher levels), there are also story reasons as well.

What I'm planning to do is tailor a few different power lists and grant them some power points (treating their ML as their character level, since it won't be tied to taking a class) whenever they find this psycrystal artifact in the story.

So the Strong Hero/Helix Warrior is going to have access to self-buffing and sneaky kind of stuff (he put ranks in Stealth), don't really see any potential issues there.

I was going to give the Tough Hero/Dreadnaught access to a similar list, but she won't really want to sneak, so I'm having trouble coming up with what else to give her.

I figure the Smart Hero/Engineer could use some blasting or telekinesis, or maybe a few stronger/utility powers since he is mainly skills right now. (plus he's the only alien in the group, and they are predisposed to be psionic, so that would make sense with the story I have)

The Dedicated Hero/Field Medic is going to get healing powers (its kind of his thing) and maybe some more offense, or powers that can buff others, I think he'd enjoy that.

And then the Charismatic Hero/Negotiator I'm thinking would get some more social powers, but I don't want him to have straight up access to telepathy stuff, he's kind of been trying to do his own thing, going against the grain of the party (and no not in a good way). So I guess the main issue I'm having is coming up with a good list for him.


I'm not entirely certain everyone is going to want Psionic powers, which throws another potential wrench into this plan, where the characters that do are going to end up being way more capable.

I might counteract this by throwing enemies that are stronger if have powerful psionics, so they would feel more useful as well as challenging the psionic characters more.

I am planning on giving them the first taste of psionics gradually, and allowing them access to the psionic feats at the same time so they have time to get used to everything.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with trying this sort of thing, and what types of problem powers I should look out for, or suggestions on how to balance things.

[Urpriest]

Why not just use d20 Modern's Psionic rules? They're more balanced with the setting's general power level.

[thorr-kan]

As a completely off-the-wall alternative, how about using the d20 Babylon 5 Telepathy rules? Comes complete with feats, abilities, and advanced classes.

It's outta print, but the 2ED's OGL, so you might find a source.

[Popertop]

I feel like the 3.5 XPH rules are going to be a lot easier to explain to my players, plus then they'll get access to awesome feats like fell shot and psionic shot.


I looked through the Modern Psionics and I just didn't see enough variety for what I wanted, I'm just going to end up tailoring a list to each player's style.

I was mainly wondering about your thoughts on psionics, experiences, problem powers, powers that would work great with this idea, etc.

[Bogardan_Mage]

Try reworking the Modern classes into XPH compatible psionics (basically just give them a casting stat, I think, is the quick and dirty way). Then just divvy up the powers amongst the classes as seems appropriate. The Strong Hero sounds like he wants to be a Psionic Agent, Tough and Dedicated would suit the Battle Mind: those classes can just be used with additional powers added to their list. For the Smart hero, the Pyrokineticist (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/pyrokineticist.htm) converts fairly easily into Modern, just slap on a power progression to make it not suck (when I was tackling a similar problem I actually changed all of the psi-like abilities to actual powers and mixed in a number of other psychokinesis and other appropriate powers). Charismatic is the only puzzle since you've ruled out the Telepath. Can you give an example of what you consider "social" powers?

[Popertop]

The issue with the Charismatic is that he's been the kink in an otherwise well-coordinated party, I'm having trouble figuring out what he would enjoy, but I don't want to hand him Dominate Person on a silver platter, for fear of the campaigns sanity.

I also don't want to offend anyone, so I do want to give him something comparable to what the other characters are getting, so I was thinking of stuff that could augment his "negotiation" skills (read: he's a mobster who specializes in torturing people), without just letting him go haywire with it, as I suspect he might.

[Rubik]

The issue with the Charismatic is that he's been the kink in an otherwise well-coordinated party, I'm having trouble figuring out what he would enjoy, but I don't want to hand him Dominate Person on a silver platter, for fear of the campaigns sanity.

I also don't want to offend anyone, so I do want to give him something comparable to what the other characters are getting, so I was thinking of stuff that could augment his "negotiation" skills (read: he's a mobster who specializes in torturing people), without just letting him go haywire with it, as I suspect he might.Give him powers and converted spells which expand his sensory abilities, his ability to communicate with what his sensory abilities show him, and a few emotional-affecting powers. Basically a mix of telepathy powers and seer powers. Just avoid Psionic Dominate. Psionic Charm, perhaps, as well as Elfsight, Psionic Darkvision, Clairvoyant Sense, Aversion, Attraction, Psionic Suggestion, and similar.