Max 20th level
- Thread starter ljsteele
- Start date
I agree that realistically, a cap at 20th level makes sense. Things can get absurd with characters with skills that exceed 23 ranks.
The problem with a level cap at 20th level is the PSI stuff. (See my post starting the PSI is broken thread.) As currently set up, a character who starts as a tested telepath at lvl 1 can just barely get to Assault by 18th level. Because of the way feats are structured, a character who got tested at say 3rd or 4th level could not every get to the more powerful telepathy feats, absent a PSI class that grants extra PSI feats.
Of course the problem with such a class is that Telepathy is the major one that needs the extra feats, TK and T'port FREX do fine without them. Awareness and Clairvoyance are somewhat hosed by the feat requirement, but not as badly as telepathy.
I'm not looking to create a munckin character, but I am trying to convert a strong psi with three spheres from Classic and am having lots of trouble with psi as written.
The problem with a level cap at 20th level is the PSI stuff. (See my post starting the PSI is broken thread.) As currently set up, a character who starts as a tested telepath at lvl 1 can just barely get to Assault by 18th level. Because of the way feats are structured, a character who got tested at say 3rd or 4th level could not every get to the more powerful telepathy feats, absent a PSI class that grants extra PSI feats.
Of course the problem with such a class is that Telepathy is the major one that needs the extra feats, TK and T'port FREX do fine without them. Awareness and Clairvoyance are somewhat hosed by the feat requirement, but not as badly as telepathy.
I'm not looking to create a munckin character, but I am trying to convert a strong psi with three spheres from Classic and am having lots of trouble with psi as written.
Liam Devlin
SOC-14 5K
Concur with level cap at 20th.
Ms. Lisa: welcome to the CoTI boards, in case we forgot to say so! I too have had trouble converting a CT-MT-TNE PC's psi abilities over. There have been some good suggstions on how to fix it..but none set in stone (canon T20) as yet(elsewheres on this forum board).
Mayhap they will hear us here in the wilderness and respond accordingly!
heretically TNE, unofficial one man welcome wagon to CoTI,
Ms. Lisa: welcome to the CoTI boards, in case we forgot to say so! I too have had trouble converting a CT-MT-TNE PC's psi abilities over. There have been some good suggstions on how to fix it..but none set in stone (canon T20) as yet(elsewheres on this forum board).
Mayhap they will hear us here in the wilderness and respond accordingly!
heretically TNE, unofficial one man welcome wagon to CoTI,
lightsenshi
SOC-12
Realistically, level 20 is going to be very hard to get to alive. It's not like D&D or most of the other d20 systems that I'm familiar with where a more experienced character becomes very, very tough. A 1st level character is just about as vulnerable in combat as a 20th level character.
Levels don't seem to fit with the Traveller flavor, but 20th level does seem to be the highest realistic character for a player. However, I think I agree with the "higher-caps-on-PSI-skills" position - though perhaps PSI needs some retooling.
And I agree with Liam: Welcome, Lisa, have fun! Jame, the even-less-official welcome-person.
(Who I am is elsewhere. Look it up.)
And I agree with Liam: Welcome, Lisa, have fun! Jame, the even-less-official welcome-person.
(Who I am is elsewhere. Look it up.)
I think T20 has done a good job bridging between the CT character who barely advanced in toughness as he added experience and the D20 "superman" that results after time if playing using WoTC rules. Sure the psi rules are broken, just modify as our group did and keep on playing. As everyone here knows: keep the rules reasonable, the story flowing, and avoid Munchkinitis. 
With the Prior History system in T20 usually resulting with starting levels of 5-8, if you cut experience point gains down a lot (I've not crunched the T20 XP #s yet so you may not need to do this) you won't get new levels every 13.3 encounters like in D&D. And you still get the experience but not uber-hero power level.
The D20 minigame in Polyhedron Magazine Omega World (based on Gamma World) skill and feat selection 'held-back', you spent your skill points and selected new feats at any time, not just when you leveled up. So you started using a rifle halfway through a level, bingo spend 5 skill points and gain Weapon Proficiency/ Marksman.
Hopefully there will at least the omitted Psionic Prestiege Class and perhaps some updated/expanded Psionic rules soon.
Casey
snrdg082102
SOC-14 1K
Evening Lisa and all of the usual suspects,
(Yeah, I know, I've seen Bogie's movie Casablanca one time to many, but hey I like the line.)
I too wish to greet you to the boards, belatedly of course, what'ya expect from a retiree of the USN submarine force. Okay, now to the important stuff. Depending on which side of the border, Zho or Imp, the character is from should be a factor in psionics development. Another factor is of course the Traveller setting. In TNE the former Spinwards Marches has a more positive out look on psionics, while other areas they are even more surppressed than in the 3I period, mening CT, MT, and I think Marc Miller's Traveller (T4?).
Other than that I would agree that T20 needs a little tweaking here as well as in other areas, but overall I think a good job was done.
(Yeah, I know, I've seen Bogie's movie Casablanca one time to many, but hey I like the line.)
I too wish to greet you to the boards, belatedly of course, what'ya expect from a retiree of the USN submarine force. Okay, now to the important stuff. Depending on which side of the border, Zho or Imp, the character is from should be a factor in psionics development. Another factor is of course the Traveller setting. In TNE the former Spinwards Marches has a more positive out look on psionics, while other areas they are even more surppressed than in the 3I period, mening CT, MT, and I think Marc Miller's Traveller (T4?).
Other than that I would agree that T20 needs a little tweaking here as well as in other areas, but overall I think a good job was done.
Certainly true, and something worth handling in the Zho book, or when a psi class comes out. But darn it, the book should be workable out of the box.
Here, the psi stuff seems ill thought out. The feat problem is major. I could easily live with one feat per sphere/affinity and skill ranks for various abilities. The some spheres are one feat, some are lots is just broken.
It would be nice, not CT, but nice to actually have some rules for making skill rolls. If you are going to key the darn thing to skill points, might be worth having some actual rolls and DCs. Heck, you could ditch the whole minimum skill rank thing and just have stuff have high DCs, thus functionally meaning you need the skill to do it. That's more in keeping with d20's mechanics.
That might give folks an incentive not to just have the minimum skill for their feats. FREX, some skill rolls for using telekenisis to open a lock or manipulate something you can't see. Fine work, like pushing buttons on a control panel, etc. Ditto telepathy, etc.
