Re: D&D classic Psionics in TFT

All true, but I don't force them to "study" per se -- I force them to take some downtime to internalize their "lessons" for a week or so (they have to pick things to "study" well in advance, and are theoretically "studying" them all along) before they can advance. They frequently need that much downtime anyway to do some healing and re-equipping.

From: David Bofinger <bofinger.david@gmail.com>
To: tft@brainiac.com
Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2016 4:37 PM
Subject: Re: D&D classic Psionics in TFT

Forcing characters to study/practice for weeks between adventures to get the benefit of their experience may well be realistic. It kills some kinds of plots, though: any story where the heroes are racing against the clock, for instance, or are in the wilderness for a long time if their study needs e.g. a magical library. Anyway there are dramatic issues.

Going further and ditching the idea that adventuring is what makes you better is also realistic to a large extent but then you have to have some idea of something else that makes you better.

--
David

On 18 Oct 2016 3:41 PM, "Jeffrey Vandine" <jlv61560@yahoo.com> wrote:

I just take the opposite tack -- both are equally impossible, therefore neither ARE possible; it takes time to improve. You don't lift weights of vastly greater mass a day after your last weight lifting session, you don't suddenly sprint a mile in 4 minutes when your best time yesterday was 7 minutes, and you don't wake up knowing Mandarin Chinese one morning.

Again, I'm not set in stone about it, and am always willing to listen to reasonable counter-arguments, but that is where my starting position is...

From: David Bofinger <bofinger.david@gmail.com>
To: tft@brainiac.com
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2016 4:24 PM
Subject: Re: D&D classic Psionics in TFT

TFT lets you raise attributes quickly. But some talents require years of experience and learning a spell takes months of labour. The use of mIQ means more spells and talents per attribute point, so this becomes more of an issue.

I allow learning instantly, on the grounds that if ST can go up because of an adventure then they can learn to ride a camel the same way. It seems to me that they are roughly equally implausible and I don't feel we need more realism in one case than the other.

--
David

On 18 Oct 2016 9:56 AM, "Marc Gacy" <marcgacy@gmail.com> wrote:
This echoes my thoughts exactly. Especially for systems that require you to declare ahead of time what you are training, there seems little reason to wait, and even if you don't it seems kind of a stretch. Certain other requirements (e.g. nobody around knows that skill/spell so you can't take it yet) are still the purview of the GM, but these are exceptions rather than the rule.

On Mon, Oct 17, 2016 at 11:50 AM, <drfaustus61@cox.net> wrote:
Unless you're a fighter / thief / etc ... then you can argue that you've been incrementally building all along and your ability has just finally reached the point where it earns you that extra strength point, etc.

---- Jeffrey Vandine <jlv61560@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hmm. I always required the players to be in a safe and restful place for a week or so before they could cash in their experience points -- it always seemed very "gamey" to me to have them suddenly "improve" right in the middle of an adventure. My theory being that it takes some time and contemplation to fully realize and internalize the lessons you learned along the way during the heat of battle.
>
>
> From: David Michael Grouchy II <david_michael_grouchy_ii@hotm ail.com>
> To: "tft@brainiac.com" <tft@brainiac.com>
> Sent: Monday, October 17, 2016 7:02 AM
> Subject: Re: D&D classic Psionics in TFT
>
> #yiv2482204371 #yiv2482204371 -- P {margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0; }#yiv2482204371

> > Hi David,> I'm missing the Psionic rules, or are we supposed to > refer to the D&D rule book?
> One of the strange things about D&D1e Psionics, is how rarely a character qualifies, and how much rarer it is that a character actually has them. Just about as rare as a TFT character that does not cash in their exp for attribute points. In D&D and original Traveller Psionics were at best a potential, and required testing and training.
> In this vein the GM should never tell their players how to get them or what the mechanic is, i.e. unspent experience points.
> In original Traveller there is no experience, only training and study. In D&D1e experience points could not be cashed in until one returned to "town", or "spent the money". With TFT it does not say, but by the year it was published, most GMs that I knew were granting instant, or near instant, experience cash ins and level gains.
> When viewed in this way, a GM may play some NPCs as reluctant or slow to improve. Baffling, sometimes even angering the players characters, yet getting stronger in Psychic presence.
> So, yes. Use the D&D1e rules as they are.
>
>
>
> > One strange thing about these rules is that you can > have a psionic character, but if you spend your Exp, > you lose your psionic powers. It also seems strange> that IQ is not used by them.>
> > Warm regards, Rick.
> Well, some of the Psionic monsters in The Monster Manual 1977 are rather mindless themselves. "Brain Mole", "Mind leech", "Shu Monster (a monkey)"
> Thank you for reading.
> David Michael Grouchy II
>
>
>

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