The psionic [New antag]

[farie82]

The Psionic

Versioning:

1.0.0 29-07-2019 Initial idea

1.0.1 29-07-2019 Extra clarifying abilities

1.0.2 29-07-2019 Start conditions

1.0.3 30-07-2019 Psionic vs Psionic VS crew. Added "Alter perception". Changed harvest thoughts. Changed Suggestion

1.0.4 30-07-2019 Added a list of suggestions

1.0.5 31-07-2019 Changed "Disguise self", changed "Hallucinations", Added "Cloak of darkness" and "Disguise other",  added slave limit to mindslave

1.0.6 2-8-2019 Changed mind project completely. 

Any suggestions or additions are more than welcome!

Main Idea

The psionic is a mentally strong humanoid monster that is capable of altering ones mind. Due to this they are very brittle physically wise and have to rely on their brains for survival. They can’t use humanoid weapons either.

They look humanoid but more monstrous. Think of sectoids from Xcom or the Controller from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. They will be from the type human and thus can manipulate tools and heal themselves.

To gain power they have to harvest the thoughts of sleeping humanoids. These thoughts will heal them and make them able to gain powerful new abilities.

The gameplay will be stealth oriented. Seeing he’s very weak physically.

There will only be a small amount of psionics on the station. They are meant to be played as a lone antag. Seeing the way they grow in power will limit other psionics. There will be 1 psionic per +- 40 people.

His abilities cost focus to use, a resource he has to manage. Most abilities take time to channel, the instant cast abilities are emergency abilities. If he gets caught in a fight he’ll probably lose unless he can get out. He has thermal and dark vision to give a small advantage in maintenance.

The psionic slowly regains focus passively. But he can speed it up by going into a meditative trance. This trance will leave him vulnerable as he can’t move while doing it. Until interacted with which drops the trance.

Mindshielded crew have an advantage in resisting the abilities.

Start conditions

The psionics will start out disguised as regular crew members with jobs. They will be set on a timer till their disguise wears off. They get the ability to remove their disguise so they can use the other abilities. They will start with the following abilities unlocked:

1. Disguise self, they will get disguise self but they can only use it to disguise back to their "original" form. After removing their disguise at the start this will start to cost focus.
2. Harvest Thoughts
3. Teleport with 2 charges
4. Sleep

Depending on the server pop size they will also get additional bonus thoughts to spend on unlocks of their choice.

Win condition

They have stage objectives. The first objective will be a simple. Get X thoughts collected.

Once they have that they will get a specific target to harvest their brain from (target has to be on station on the objective creation). This target can also be another psionic, the chance of this happening will be about 25-50%. If they use harvest thoughts on that target they will instead suck the brain out. The target can be dead while doing this but if he’s alive while being sucked then the psionic will get thoughts as a reward. They can switch targets at the cost of thoughts. If the person is to hard to reach or not on the station. This person is somehow tied to a bluespace rift that the psionic can use to empower himself.

The last objective will be to go to one of 3 generated areas and connect with the bluespace weaves there. This will give out a loud sound and notification to the crew. The psionic just has to activate the rift there and then defend the location till the rift is active. Then channel himself in it.

After which they ascend and get all powers upgraded fully and better. They also become nearly immune. (Think of a sling ascension)

Psionic vs crew

The psionic will be a threat that won't be noticed to much at the start but will ramp up in danger the more power it gets. With each victim the presense of the psionic will become more clear. At this point he should have enough abilities to escape security and to blend back in with the crew to move around. The crew will be afraid to be alone and will be paranoid of their surroundings due to the psionic.

The crew will have no reason to work with the psionic and getting caught will mean that they get a permanent debuff.

Psionic vs psionic

The psionic is a lone antag. He acquires his power from harvesting thoughts which can only be done once. It's a very power hungry creature and other psionics will just get in his way.

Psionics are immune to each others mind altering powers. Yet by the use of thralls the Psionic can kill one of his rivals. If this happens he can harvest the brain of this psionic and will absorb a part of the power the other psionic had. It will also free the mindslaves the dead psionic had.

Abilities (costs are not set in stone)

Each ability is unlocked separately at different costs.

The focus pool will be big enough for the Psionic to cast quite a bit of abilities but the passive regeneration will be slow. This way the Psionic can burst out chaos and afterwards he'll need to find a place to meditate. The maintain costs are yet to be determent and the given costs are relative to one another.

• Harvest thoughts (melee range, channel, Upgrade makes it go faster, Cost 1)
  The psionic will get his powers from harvesting thoughts from sleeping victims. This takes a while to do and the psionic has to stand still for this. Afterwards the victim gets permanent brain damage and a permanent random mind related genetic defect. The victim won’t be able to get harvested again and the permanent damage will be shown when scanned by a body scanner. This ability is also used for the second stage objective and to harvest brains from other Psionics.
• Teleport (Self, instant, upgrade gives more charges, Cost 1 per charge)
  The psionic will get a limited amount of charges that he can use to quickly get out of trouble. He will teleport to a random safe spot on the station atleast X tiles away from his previous location. Without cameras or people nearby. He can regain charges by spending thoughts.
• Sleep (Ranged, Channel, upgrades make it go faster, Cost 2)
  The ability has 3 stages. The first channel will make the target get drowsy (blurry eyes, yawning). The second stage will give him stamine damage and the last stage will make him fall asleep. He’ll be asleep for 1-2 minutes. Enough time for the Psionic to harvest his thoughts or mindslave him.
• Force push (Cone, Instant, Upgraded will make it affect more people, Cost 2)
  Throw the closest target near you away from you. Will chose which target depending on position you point the ability to (middle mouse click or such). The throw will knock people down if they hit stuff just like a normal throw.
• Mind control (Ranged, Channel, upgrades make it last longer, Cost 2)
  Will give the psionic full control over the victim for a short amount of time. The psionic will stand in place and will stop the control when interacted with. The victim can talk to the psionic while this is happening. He however won’t see/hear what is happening to him as he is put to sleep himself. He is also given the message that he has lost all memories of what happened during him for the last few minutes. If the victim gets hurt enough the mindcontrol will break and will stun/hurt the psionic.
• Mind project (Ranged, Channel, upgrade makes it seem as if the victim is using the abilities, Cost 1)
  This ability will allow you to use a victims mind as your base to use abilities from for a short duration. Meaning that you will temporarily see what the target sees and will cast abilities from his location. If upgraded people surrounding him will see it as if the target is using those abilities. 
• Hallucinations (Ranged, Channel, Upgraded will make it AOE around the target, Cost 1)
  Causes the target to get hallucinations. More dangerous ones than regular hallucinations. The user will get real damage from the hallucinations. If upgraded and used on yourself you will cast it as an AOE effect around you that will last a set duration.
• Terror (AOE, Instant, Upgraded will make the ability affect more targets, Cost 1)
  Makes the closest humanoid terrified of the psionic. He loses control of his character and starts to scream and run away from the psionic. If people are blocking him he’ll try to push them down. If there is no way out other than space he’ll flee into space.
• Invisibility  (Self, Channel (maintain), Upgraded will make you move faster, Cost 2)
  The psionic will have to stand still for a bit and then turn invisible. They can’t use abilities while invisible and maintaining it costs focus. They also move slower than normal. This ability will cost a lot to maintain.
• Become ethereal (Self, Channel (maintain), Upgraded will make you move faster, Cost 1)
  After focusing for a bit the psionic turns into a mist form (still visible, same visible effect as the darkcloak). Using this they can go through walls. Keeping this up costs focus and you move slower. You won't be able to use abilities while in this form. But if you use one you will break concentration and get back to your normal form. If you stop the ability inside of a wall you will take damage and get pushed out to a random direction. This ability will cost a lot to maintain.
• Confusion (AOE, Instant, Upgraded will make it affect more targets, Cost 1)
  Makes the nearest creature confused. With a chance to start puking or falling down.
• Break mindshield (Ranged, Channel, Upgraded will make it go faster/AOE, Cost 2)
  Breaks a mindshield of a target after focussing on him for a while. The target will get messages saying he’s targeted. Moving out of sight will stop the channeling
• Mind slave (Melee, Channel, Upgraded will give the psionic a mindlink with the slaves (think hivemind idea but only in one directional, towards the slaves), Cost 3)
  The target will be mindslaved to the psionic. The mindslaving consists of 2 steps. The first step clears the mind of the victim and makes him sleep for longer after. It also does braindamage. The second step is to implant the loyalty into the brain of the victim. The first step takes the longest and the psionic can’t move while doing this. The process will stop when the psionic is interacted with. The target will be freed when he gets a mindshield. If the psionic dies it won't break the mindslave. Only when another psionic harvests the brain of the mind controlling psionic. You will have a limit of mindslaves you can have (1 per 3 harvested thoughts?)
• Increased concentration (Self, Passive, Upgraded will increase passive regen, Cost 1)
  The psionic gets a bigger focus pool to use.
• Suggestion (Ranged, Channel, Upgraded will speed up the channelling, Cost 2)
  Implant a chosen idea/objective (chosen from a preset list) into the brain of a victim. The victim has a chance to notice that he’s being influenced. The longer the psionic focusses on the victim the longer the suggestion stays. Each step will increase the duration with 1 minute. Each step having the chance that he will notice. After you cancel the current step progress you will implant the suggestion in to the brain of the victim. This is an objective that he has to achieve. After the duration he’ll lose his memories of what happened during the suggestion. Same idea as the chaplains staff
• Disguise self (Self, Channel (maintain), upgraded makes the illusion look real upon examine, Cost 1)
  Makes you appear as a chosen crewmember. On examination you will appear off without the upgrade just like a morph. You will have to target the target first. So he has to be in sight. This takes a bit to do. Then after you can disguise yourself as him after a short channel. This ability won't cost much to maintain. You can use most abilities while disguised.
• Illusion (Ranged, Channel (maintain), Upgraded will make the illusion real, Cost 2)
  Make a structure or effect appear for nearby viewers. Costs time to prepare and then is usable after a short channel. The upgrade will allow an additional channelling afterwards which takes a bit longer but will make the illusion become real. You can drop the effect by using the ability again. This ability will cost an average amount to maintain
• Alter perception(Ranged, Channel, Upgraded will make it AOE around the target, cost 1)
  Blinds and makes the target deaf to the real world after focusing for a bit. Will make the target stammer as well. While deaf and blind the person will hear and see things that are not there. As if he's somewhere completely else. Floors will turn into ash floors, other people will turn into weird beings etc. The psionic will be invisible in this perceived world.
• Summon visions (Self, Channel (maintain), Upgraded will summon another monster, Cost 4)
  Summons a monster that is player controlled. This monster is loyal to you and will disappear after a while. This ability will cost a lot to maintain
• Cloak of darkness (Self (AOE), Channel (duration), Upgraded will kill all light sources, Cost 1)
  After a short channel you will shroud yourself in darkness for a set time. Turning nearby lights off. If upgraded it will destroy the light sources if possible after you stand in the area for a bit. You will also become slightly transparent. Like the cloak of darkness from vampires.
• Disguise other (Ranged, Channel (duration), Upgraded will change the target voice, Cost 2)
  After a channel you will change the target of choice in a clone of your real form for a short duration. Unless upgraded the target can still talk in his normal voice. When upgraded it'll make the target sound like you.

Suggestions

The "Suggestion" abillity will implant a preset idea into the persons mind. These ideas are meant to not cause harm and are meant to single out targets or draw attention away from the psionic.

• You have a surprise for a coworker. Lure one into this room. Make sure he's alone since the suprise is only for that person!
• This room is to crowded. Make the other people leave to let you focus again.
• You have something to show security. Ensure they come to this room right now!
• You have something you don't want security to find. Make sure they will be on the other side of the station!
• You are done with the system! Make sure no security member enters this room, ensure you do this without harm since you are protesting peacefully.
• You need some time alone. The nearest maintenance looks like a fitting place to take a small break. You need some time alone so don't bring others.
• More to come later. Suggestions are welcome!

The idea is a bit similair to the Assimilation on TG (removed since 25th of July) https://tgstation13.org/wiki/Assimilation

Edited August 4, 2019 by farie82
Changed "Mind project" Completely

[SteelSlayer]

I like the idea of this a lot and think it shows a lot of promise.

Some clarifications on a few things:

1. While using "Become Ethereal", can you use abilities? If so, can you use abilities while sitting inside of a wall?
2. I'm confused on the what the "Mind Project" ability does exactly. Is it summoning an image of a creature and putting you in control of it which can then be used to attack the target with? When you say "Abilities can be used on him as well." Does that mean while in control of the image you can use your powers, and they will originate from the summoned image?

I see that many abilities require channeling and I'm curious about the channel time on those. I'm also curious as to how big of a focus pool it has, how fast focus regenerates and how much focus is drained when using a maintained ability like "Disguise Self" or "Become Ethereal". I know this is in its early stages right now so some stuff hasn't been included yet. Looking forward to more updates on this.

 

[farie82]

Good questions.

1. I think I'm gonna make the Become Ethereal ability make you unable to use abilities. Or if you use it it'll break the concentration and drop the ability.
2. You can see it as a hologram that is real for the person. I'm thinking about making it a creature of choice (demonic things, zombie etc) or yourself. I'm currently thinking of making it like an hallucination but that damages you and you control the creature doing it. The abilities will be cast from the position of the image. Idea is that you channel your power into the brain of the victim and use him as a relay. As for him it's all real. I'll put a max range on it though. That you can only walk till your body gets out of sight (1 screen width).

I'll think a bit more about the second answer since this ability is one of the weirder ones.

The focus pool will be large enough to cast a few abilities but the regeneration will be slow. This way the Psionic will be able to burst chaos into the station. But afterwards he needs to recharge somewhere quiet. Meaning if security is on his tail he needs to preserve focus to get out of danger. Exact numbers I can't tell yet but the "Become Ethereal" ability will not last minutes. It'll be mostly used to move around in maint. Make somebody sleep from maint while he's alone in his department. Then come in as a ghost and harvest his thoughts. Then leave again. Leaving no trace of entry.

The "disguise self" ability will last for a few minutes. This will allow the psionic to transfer himself to another maint or hide out for a bit so things calm down. This will mean that he's vulnerable due to him using focus to do this.

I'll update the post accordingly. Thanks for the response!

[BryanR]

5 hours ago, farie82 said:

Suggestion (Ranged, Channel, Upgraded will speed up the channelling, Cost 2)
Implant a custom idea into the brain of a victim. The victim has a chance to notice that he’s being influenced. The longer the psionic focusses on the victim the longer the suggestion stays. Each step will increase the duration with 1 minute. Each step having the chance that he will notice. After you cancel the current step progress you will implant the suggestion in to the brain of the victim. This is an objective that he has to achieve. After the duration he’ll lose his memories of what happened during the suggestion. Same idea as the chaplains staff

I'm a bit concerned regarding the ability of the player to give what I assume would be a custom objective. There are a lot of ways that this can be abused outside of what it was intended for since the player themselves can customize the objective and how the ability is defined the individual who receives the objective has to complete them. An example I can think off the top of my head is.

Quote

Kill all mindshielded personnel.

This would give the player receiving the suggestion essentially a free pass to go murderbone Security.

Quote

Cause as much chaos as possible.

Basically a hijack objective at this point since the definition is entirely too loose.

Rather than having the player able to set the objective themselves, maybe have it so that you can pick an objective from a pre-set list of objectives available that would work with the gameplay of the Psionic or like Abductor have it assign a random objective from a pre-made pool of objectives so that it avoids players abusing the hell out of this feature. It will also take a bit off of us so we're not having to double check each and every time this ability is used.

Edited July 29, 2019 by BryanR
Sleepy typing

[farie82]

 

13 minutes ago, BryanR said:

Rather than having the player able to set the objective themselves, maybe have it so that you can pick an objective from a pre-set list of objectives available that would work with the gameplay of the Psionic or like Abductor have it assign a random objective from a pre-made pool of objectives so that it avoids players abusing the hell out of this feature. It will also take a bit off of us so we're not having to double check each and every time this ability is used.

I like the idea of making a preset list of objectives. Things the psionic can choose from. I'll think of a list of objectives and put it on the post. It'll probably be things like:

Distract the crew, Start a brawl, clear a room, sabotage research etc. I'd like to hear your thoughts on these though seeing you'll be dealing with them yourself.

[McRamon]

Alright, its time to input my thoughts on this

 

The idea overall is interesting.

However, i do feel that it should be tweaked a bit.

This psionic sounds like it is a valid antag, like wiz, sling or nukies. And what do we see when those antag arrive? On the first sight of those guys, station crew arm themself and attack the antag. While wiz and nukie have abilities to fight and slings have thralls, cc abilities and easy escape abilities, those psionics are much much less likely to survive once crew spots their presence. What i think of them is, they should at least start as a normal crewmember and transform to a monstrous form later. 

Whatever you think about gamemodes like slings or nukies, they are somewhat balanced, more or less. Unlike them, i think psionic should be instead disbalanced in favour of psionics in psionic vs crew fight, because we also have psionic fighting other psionic situation, which is good. 

Now, thats how i see this:

Several crewmembers start as disguised psionics, like changelings. Stage one begins, where they have to do something, before entering stage two (thought harvest certain amount of crewmembers for example)

This is where comes a great idea of objectives harvested people receive. I agree with bryan on list of possible objectives, rather than custom because of abuse and rulebreaking. I also feel they should work more like borg laws oocly, so people have to follow them

Also i think there should be 3 lists of objectives (laws), for each stage. Examples:

Stage 1: 

You dont like bartender (fight them, steal their stuff)

You are kleptomaniac (steal small stuff from others, not cuff and rob them)

Stage 2:

You hate bartender (seriously injure them, maybe even kill them)

You are addicted to meth 

Stage 3: 

You are addicted to setting people on fire

 

Of course this should be tweaked according to server rules, but you get an idea. With every new stage, more chaotic it gets. 

Also people should not alert others about such objectives and state them. No "hey hos i suddenly started to think i want to lube floors, there is psionic nearby" and looks like it should be forced oocly.

So, stage one is normal crewmember walking around and using psionic powers to rise chaos, get powers and possibly find other psionics. 

When they reach stage 2, they are transformed and now it is obvious what they are. Now they hide in maints or whatever. But! I think now they should see through previously harvested people eyes, and use some of their abilities on people their targets can see. However to harvest more people or do some main objective, they still need to do it directly. When they do what they need to do, they enter stage 3. At this point, i am actually not sure. Maybe they should not move at all and hide in some dark corner manipulating station like some sort of an ai, through the eyes of harvested crew, or instead walk around superpowered. And once the stage 3 is over, game is over and they ascend like slings or something. Or maybe after stage 3 is over they get the ability to manipulate minds however they want (custom handmade objectives for crew). Or maybe now harvested crew become literal thralls. I am not sure about this.

As you can see, in my vision objective thing is main gameplay feature of this antag idea, like thralling, cling/vamp abilities, or Blob strategy-like gameplay.

 

Overall, i feel like stage one should be some kind of spy games with psionics looking for eachother, stage two is an active fight over people minds (psionics i think should be able to remove another psi affection on a weak mind and start to control it themselves) and stage 3 is like final narsie summoning ritual everyone trying to stop.

 

Oocly, it should be forced that objective/law people receive is top priority. However, i see a flaw in this idea - when people get thralled or m8ndco trolled, they switch sides. But with this objective idea, they will have to act against their own team while still hoping for the win of crew, which is kinda odd. 

If psionic is easy to spot from the beginning, i think they will be swarmed and killed very early. 

If at least at stage 1 they stay disguised and only harvested people will know about their presence, it looks more interesting, ofc If people dont meta, it would be hard to distinguish stage one objective from greytide and other antag activities.

 

 

Well, thats what i think about this idea

 

 

[farie82]

@McRamon overall I think we both have different approaches to this. Yours is more of a mastermind style gamemode where the psionic has pawns to use. And has to clear out other psionics to make himself stronger. The idea I'm going for is more of a nightmarish mind bender. Not to interested in getting power from pawns but instead get power from the minds and ultimately by breaking open a bluespace rift to bind himself to the weaves. 

I think your idea can be coupled with the current one though. As in make both psionic mind benders spawn and psionic masterminds.

19 minutes ago, McRamon said:

This psionic sounds like it is a valid antag, like wiz, sling or nukies. And what do we see when those antag arrive? On the first sight of those guys, station crew arm themself and attack the antag. While wiz and nukie have abilities to fight and slings have thralls, cc abilities and easy escape abilities, those psionics are much much less likely to survive once crew spots their presence. What i think of them is, they should at least start as a normal crewmember and transform to a monstrous form later. 

You are correct in this part. The psionic needs a way to blend in at the start and grow out of it's hidden shape after a while. I think I'll make the psionics spawn as regular crew. Then have them be able to "evolve" into the psionic. A bit like slings. They will also get the "Disguise self" ability from the start which only transforms them in their "original" form.

However I don't think I'm going to include the more pawn like gameplay style however. My idea for these antags was that they were a more lone oriented antag. One that can make thralls but that it is dangerous to do so.

I'll edit the original post to include the starting conditions

[BryanR]

26 minutes ago, McRamon said:

This psionic sounds like it is a valid antag, like wiz, sling or nukies.

Hate to be pedantic about this but Shadowling are not a valid antagonist nor do I think the psionic should not be treated as a valid antagonist. Individuals seeking to kill the Psionic just like a Shadowling would be subject to violating our Valid Hunting rules. 

[McRamon]

6 minutes ago, BryanR said:

Hate to be pedantic about this but Shadowling are not a valid antagonist nor do I think the psionic should not be treated as a valid antagonist. Individuals seeking to kill the Psionic just like a Shadowling would be subject to violating our Valid Hunting rules. 

Well, i used the wrong word. Slings are not valid in a way crew all rise to kill them, but in a way they are not getting any mercy. If tator attacks you or your colleagues, you can protect yourself,.but when you can only stun tator and wait for sec, with slings i am pretty sure you are allowed to apply enough light for sling to burn to death. Same with this psionic, unless it is your job, you dont make it your mission to find and kill them, however if one appears and attacks, space law doesnt protect it from toolbox to the head untill it dies or flees 

[farie82]

@BryanR I added a list of suggestions to choose from. Think these will work? I tried to make them not to violent in nature.

[farie82]

I've talked with Neca, Purple, Ansari and Crazy about the idea and none were opposed. So I'm starting the basic development of the core features and I'll keep adding more details in when I get inspiration. Feel free to suggest things. They always help!

[necaladun]

Would be more than happy to run tests of this live to tweak it and get feedback from players etc when it's ready for it too. Hell, be excited too. New antag types are always fun - and more tests of it means people can evolve a meta around it faster.

[McRamon]

Ok, right now it looks like they are not really strong and might die easily if 2 or 3 peopel attack one at the same time, considering the fact that most of the psionic abilities are channeling. They look like an "off-station" threat, like wizards or nukies, however dont hold the surprise factor, and are not disguised as a normal crew like vamps or clings. 

First of all, i think we need to decide if they start like a crewmember (like cling, blob or sling) or start off station, like wizard.

Also if they fight eachother, i think they should be much stronger in crew vs psi fight.

For example, imagine this: every light source (lighter, torch, computer, mushroom) is not working in a certain amount of tiles around psionic. They are invisible like revenants - invisible unless use abilities. (not invisible for other psionics). In their presence crew are automatically affected by terrifying hallucinations, which deal real damage, therefore normal crewmembers, before they evolve a method to fight a psionic, should run and hide, or monsters and terrors of psionic will consume them. Not sure about the weapon against the psionic tho. Imagine two wizards fighting onboard cyberiad, constantly teleporting and throwing fireballs, but also invisible, so the crew are just little puppies caught in a crossfire. Thats how i see it. If they are not scary at all and have to hide in maint themselves like slings for example, and along with it have to fight other psionics, they might look like a bunch of nerdy kids not worthy any attention of crew.

This is my happy little thought

[farie82]

18 minutes ago, McRamon said:

Ok, right now it looks like they are not really strong and might die easily if 2 or 3 peopel attack one at the same time, considering the fact that most of the psionic abilities are channeling. They look like an "off-station" threat, like wizards or nukies, however dont hold the surprise factor, and are not disguised as a normal crew like vamps or clings. 

They will start disguised as regular crew. Once they "evolve" they will gain their other abilities. I think I'll give them the ability to use abilities while they are in using "Self disguise". Maybe limit some abilities to not be able to be used. This way they can be undercover for a bit and cast their abilities against a cost of upkeeping the disguise which costs focus. 

21 minutes ago, McRamon said:

For example, imagine this: every light source (lighter, torch, computer, mushroom) is not working in a certain amount of tiles around psionic.

I like this idea. I think I'll make it into an ability which will make them near invisible (bit like the vamp cloak) and it will turn off all lights near them.

23 minutes ago, McRamon said:

In their presence crew are automatically affected by terrifying hallucinations, which deal real damage, therefore normal crewmembers, before they evolve a method to fight a psionic, should run and hide, or monsters and terrors of psionic will consume them.

I might include these ideas in an upgrade of hallucination. I don't want a passive hallucination shield due to the fact that you can then easily find the psionic.

24 minutes ago, McRamon said:

Imagine two wizards fighting onboard cyberiad, constantly teleporting and throwing fireballs, but also invisible, so the crew are just little puppies caught in a crossfire. Thats how i see it. If they are not scary at all and have to hide in maint themselves like slings for example, and along with it have to fight other psionics, they might look like a bunch of nerdy kids not worthy any attention of crew.

At the start they will behave a bit like a vampire looking for it's first victim. They start out weak but will ramp up like slings. Psionics won't go around and cause direct damage to the station. They will more likely be the indirect cause of damage. Psionic versus psionic combat will be more a fight of tactics than of a fight with guns. Seeing thralling will be difficult and dangerous the Psionic won't have many friends to help him fight.

I myself see this antag more of a hit and run antag in combat. But he should avoid combat for the most part and stick to stealth.

I'll include the ideas in the post. Thanks!

[farie82]

Quick update.

I've started to work on the code for the psionic. Quite a few abilities are in already. Or at least their core mechanic. Upgrades are not yet in. Thus far the following are in:

1. Harvest thoughts, doesn't yet do the brain sucking part or the permanent brain damage.
2. Sleep, working as described above. Will need tweaking after testing
3. Teleport, working as described above.
4. Force push, works for a single target. Doesn't have to be directly aimed at the target. (Will search for a viable target in a circle)
5. Invisibility, works but needs tweaking
6. Become ethereal, works but needs tweaking
7. Confusion, works but needs tweaking
8. Increased concentration. Works ish. Will work when buying system is fully in
9. Disguise self, works
10. Illusion, works

I got help from the great gentlemen @McRamon and @Ralta. So special thanks to them in helping make the project work!

[McRamon]

current sketches of sprites

[Ralta]

Written some lore at @farie82's request. The second draft needs further tweaking, but is as follows:

 

Quote

Millenia before humanity blazed a trail across the stars, there were beings that ruled over all life in the cosmos, often referred to as the Old Ones. Their Emissaries were sent ahead to planets, invading the dreams of sapient species to instill terorr and fervant worship of the Old Ones.

Over the millenia, many of the Old Ones left this realm to pursue life in other realities; the Emissaries fell into a deep slumber as their masters left this plane of existence, waiting for the return of the Old Ones.

In the year 2352, several research stations close to the Sol system registered a massive bluespace event from an unknown source. The first Emissary in hundreds of years was discovered aboard the NDV Incursus, where its crew were found in various states of mental deficiency. Some gibbering inanely and rocking back and forth foetally, others clutching their weapons in a death grip, attacking anything that moved. Many more were reduced to a near-comatose state, and a small handful were found with self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

Although the first sighting was aboard one of their own vessels, Nanotrasen Command chose to brush it off as a one-off event and cover up the incident. It wasn't until further reports began to emerge from SolGov ships and installations that Nanotrasen took notice and paid closer attention to any further incidents aboard their own craft.

Emissaries continued to appear at an alarming rate, often with no warning and no indication that they hadn't been there the entire time. It was as if they were stepping into existence from a parallel dimension. This theory became accepted as the likely reason that Emissaries often knew the layout of their most complex and secure stations without having set foot on them before.

Taking every oppotunity to study their effects on sapient creatures led to the conclusion that a form of psionic energy is used to mentally attack and often destroy the minds of crew. Finding little in the way of countermeasures, Nanotrasen has elected to keep the existence of these Emissaries a secret until more information is gathered.

 

[McRamon]

update on sprites. this idea is getting coded, lored and sprited, so any ideas and suggestions are appreciated.