From: seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: how to imprison a psionicist ?
Date: 19 Dec 92 04:26:10 GMT
Organization: University of Pittsburgh
Originator: seawasp@unixd3.cis.pitt.edu

In article <UfAbGjq00Vox5oxEpE@andrew.cmu.edu> jb8n+@andrew.cmu.edu (Joseph E. Beck) writes:
>>      If metal close up interferes, can you stop psi at a distance by
>>surrounding yourself with metal?

>No.  Surrounding yourself with metal is not the same as the psi
>wearing a helmet.  If it were the same, you could could drown all of
>the psionics by putting people in metal rooms (it's tough to swim
>wearing a metal helmet!)  

	Uh, I don't understand this drowning reference? You're missing the
point. If  a metal helmet stops psi powers, how does it do so? Is it the
fact of the helmet being there? Why? What is the operant logic here, 
other than the simplistic, "well, ya can't, that's why", which is intolerable
from the standpoint of working out the mechanics (that is, if, say, I'm a
mage trying to make a psi-suppression spell, I need to know what element of
"helmetness" suppresses psi functions, and why.).

	So, is the helmet stopping the psionic field from being generated?
How? Concentration can't be the answer -- people can concentrate to the point
of being able to ignore being burned, wearing a helmet certainly isn't even
close to that league.

>> If you wear a metal helm, can you block telepathy? 
>No.  Again, if this were the same as the psi wearing a helmet all of
>the psionics would drown upon entering water...

	What IS this drowning thing?

>What's wrong?  I don't see any consistency problems :-)
>You did ask.

	Yep, and you failed to answer. Sure, you APPLIED the rule 
consistently, but that's a trivial exercise. The problem, which you
completely fail to address, is the consistency or lack thereof BEHIND
the rule; i.e., WHY do helmets suppress psi power and how? This is
necessary -- just as it is necessary to know why, say, plate mail 
protects better than leather. Is it because plate mail is shiny? Or 
because it's made in smaller, more carefully fitted sections? Or
because... do you see my point? To us, used as we are to the major
characteristics of the physical world, it's a trivial matter to
say, "no, you bozo, it's because the platemail is made of a  harder,
tougher substance than the leather, THAT'S why.". Well, if the
person asking the question had been, until recently, a being 
composed of pure energy with no experience of the physical continuum
who had just been placed in a normal body, his question would be
a rational and laudable way of approaching this bizarre physical
world in which he found himself. 
	The same situation applies in the world of psionics and magic,
albeit reversed for us since WE are the ones unfamiliar with this
sort of occurrence. Nonetheless, there MUST be rational rules, albeit
strange ones, governing the operation of these phenomena which will
explain why helmets inhibit psi powers, why magic can conjure fire
from nowhere in physical terms, and so on. And, knowing these rules,
the GM and the players can make logical inferences on the consequences
to the world.


                                 Sea Wasp
                                   /^\
                                   ;;;