Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 1992 19:06:39 -0500 
From: "Joseph E. Beck" <jb8n+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: how to imprison a psionicist ?
	<971@blue.cis.pitt.edu>


seawasp@vm2.cis.pitt.edu (Sea Wasp) writes:
> 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?
I try.  It was a joke.  You asked if other people wearing helmets
blocked psion powers.  The rules state that only if the psion wears
the helmet is there a problem.  So if someone else wearing a helmet
causes the psion all of the problems he normally encounters (not being
able to use psionics on that person), he should drown upon entering
water since he suffers all the bad effects of wearing a helmet.  After
explaining it it doesn't seem as amusing, but it did at the time.  

> You're missing the
> point.
No.  The point of my post was answer all of the bizarre (come on, do
you *really* need to run through the different metals individually)
questions in a slapstick manner.  Trying to show just how ludicrous
the post was.  

> 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.).
When the psionic waves (measuring 3563895732 angstroms) are gathered,
any metallic (see Complete Metals Handbook) object weighing more than
kx ounces (where k = 1 and x varies from campaign to campaign) within
.5 inches of the psionicists head causes complete refraction of the
psionic waves, disrupting their gathering.  Once the psionic waves are
gathered, they turn into waves o' doom (542672 angstroms) which are
*not* refracted my metal, and can pass through armor, helmets, etc.  
 
>         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.
See above.  It causes the psionic waves to diffract. 

> >> 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?
Either it wasn't obvious, or wasn't funny.  Sadly I'm tending towards
the latter now...

 
> >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.

Pretty big undertaking.  But I don't think it's that hard to deal with
the armor problem for mages and psionicists.  Just invent a "magic
gathering force" that is disrupted by close proximity of metal (so a
mage in heavy shackels can't cast spells, dealing with leather armor
is left as an excercise for the reader...).  And a "magic expulsion
force" which is not effected by metals.  Seems plausible, fits, and is
fairly balanced.

	joe