Psionic Transferred Intelligence Psi-Tech?

[Kaleb]

Sourcebook One (Revised) states that transferred intelligences lose half of their psionic abilities a large amount of their ISP and cannot gain any more psionic abilities.

What if there was a way to be a transferred intelligence but keep all of your psionic abilities and ISP and even gain experience?

Here is the scenario I would like propose:

1. Psi-Tech OCC - They are super familiar with technology and have an affinity for robots and power armor. They also have a special power of "Mental link to Robots, Power Armor & Vehicles.
2. He is from the Three Galaxies.
3. He has worked with the Noro psionic engineers and has worked extensively with Psylite crystals.
4. He builds a Psylite housing similar to the augmenting helmet to hold the transferred intelligence.

Would he still get to keep his powers or do you think the same rules would apply no matter what he did?

I think that his natural psionic powers and special OCC powers would make this a viable option but I want the opinion of others on this question.

[Grazzik]

Haven't played with Psylite before. However, since you are playing a Three Galaxy char, a setting where practically anything is possible, here's a slightly kookie idea for you...

A new offering from the Astral Lords of the Jal'Oomi Conglomerate on Glaxonia VIII... PsiTech Villas!

Are you a wandering PsiTech who wants to be part of your Power Armor, Robot or Vehicle all the time... forever? Well, boy do we have a deal for you! PsiTech Villas is a radical new service leveraging the latest in Astral-enabled technologies.

For a paltry rental and set up fee (terms to be negotiated in credits, magical energies, and equivalent valuables), you get access to our J'OC exclusive Astral Domain, where you'll be assigned a private villa for any discrete use you wish. Each villa is outfitted with a command console to fit your biological configuration. The console's wiring extends via a micro movable portal to physically integrate directly with the inner workings of your PA/Robot/Vehicle. So, as a PsiTeck, the console acts as an extension of your machine to which you can mentally connect! If you venture into hostile terrain and your machine suffers a catastrophic end, rest assured that you remain safe in your luxurious villa. Simply submit a work order and have a J'OC technician connect your console up to a new Astral-enabled machine and away you go!

As an added bonus, if you contribute magical energies to the J'OC Astral Domain, you join an elite few that will never age while enjoying the services of your villa. Quotes for other villa customizations available on request.

Need to use other psychic powers, but need true line of sight or physical touch? Don't worry - your console comes with a J'OC Power Helmet and J'OC Power Gloves. These attachments have built in mini movable portals so your head(s) and appendages can extend out into your machine's plane of existence, either inside your machine or at customizable points on the exterior of your machine.
[Medical Advisory: Jal'Oomi Conglomerate is not responsible for any complications arising from different parts of the PsiTech's body aging at different rates due to appendages extending from the Astral Domain via console attachments]

So don't delay! Find our sales office on Level 4-B of Center and become a J'OC client today!

[Kaleb]

Haven't played with Psylite before. However, since you are playing a Three Galaxy char, a setting where practically anything is possible, here's a slightly kookie idea for you...

A new offering from the Astral Lords of the Jal'Oomi Conglomerate on Glaxonia VIII... PsiTech Villas!

Are you a wandering PsiTech who wants to be part of your Power Armor, Robot or Vehicle all the time... forever? Well, boy do we have a deal for you! PsiTech Villas is a radical new service leveraging the latest in Astral-enabled technologies.

For a paltry rental and set up fee (terms to be negotiated in credits, magical energies, and equivalent valuables), you get access to our J'OC exclusive Astral Domain, where you'll be assigned a private villa for any discrete use you wish. Each villa is outfitted with a command console to fit your biological configuration. The console's wiring extends via a micro movable portal to physically integrate directly with the inner workings of your PA/Robot/Vehicle. So, as a PsiTeck, the console acts as an extension of your machine to which you can mentally connect! If you venture into hostile terrain and your machine suffers a catastrophic end, rest assured that you remain safe in your luxurious villa. Simply submit a work order and have a J'OC technician connect your console up to a new Astral-enabled machine and away you go!

As an added bonus, if you contribute magical energies to the J'OC Astral Domain, you join an elite few that will never age while enjoying the services of your villa. Quotes for other villa customizations available on request.

Need to use other psychic powers, but need true line of sight or physical touch? Don't worry - your console comes with a J'OC Power Helmet and J'OC Power Gloves. These attachments have built in mini movable portals so your head(s) and appendages can extend out into your machine's plane of existence, either inside your machine or at customizable points on the exterior of your machine.
[Medical Advisory: Jal'Oomi Conglomerate is not responsible for any complications arising from different parts of the PsiTech's body aging at different rates due to appendages extending from the Astral Domain via console attachments]

So don't delay! Find our sales office on Level 4-B of Center and become a J'OC client today!

This is a very interesting idea. I like it.

[Greg Diaczyk]

The TW Golem article in Rifter #84 allows a full transference of Psionics and Magic in TW a TW Robot/Golem if the person has the Telemechanics skill. So I would say this also applies to the Psi-Tech.

[drewkitty ~..~]

The problem is that none of the Psychic Character Classes (or the HU power cat.s) that are Listed & Detailed in the canon text can make something like a TI housing/environment.

Though Grazzik has touched on a loophole, in that a Spacial Mage (see the early Rifters) can make a Realm that has an aspect that makes it possible to Make a TI housing/environment that fits the TI mind exactly. So it doesn't loose any powers.

I do like the Astral remote PA/Bot control. Much like the MOM system in Triax gamebook that remote controls infiltration bots.

[ShadowLogan]

What if there was a way to be a transferred intelligence but keep all of your psionic abilities and ISP and even gain experience?

Within the rules there is only one real (easy) way for a Psychic TI-Bot to gain ISP and XP, and to an extent psionic abilities*.

That method is to transfer back and forth between their TI-Robot body and their real body. It should be noted that depending on your GM and how strict they want to be might require you to track XP earned for each body (so only XP earned in the real body would count toward Psi-related things). This obviously requires the technology to transfer back be available (as in the Triax MOM system noted previously, though the 'bot RCC in SB1 takes the view this option isn't available w/o returning to home dimension).

*I say to an extent on psionic abilities, because not all psionic abilities would make sense for a robot body. Deaden Pain, Death Trance, Bio-Regeneration (self), Summon Inner Strength, Resist Thirst/Hunger, etc don't really have a place for a robot body.

A few relatively tame ideas that might work (no over thinking it here):

A Second method could be derived from the Mechanoids, who are powerful Psychics in full conversion borg bodies (though IMHO they might be more robot pilots, but that is a topic for elsewhere). It isn't exactly clear (IIRC) why they don't suffer the usual FCB penalties to psionics, but I would suspect some of it is a result of their genetic engineering and possibly technology. This means that Gene Splicer or Gene Tech could super-charge your psionic potential to overcome the limitations of the new body.

A Third method. Given that Robot creation rules utilize some bionic systems as plug-and-play... One could (as a house rule) treat the psi-implants in WB12 (or SB3) as required hardware for psychics to be "properly transferred". Which sort of goes back to the Mechanoids might also use technology to overcome limitations in their new FCB bodies. Basically, the requirements for a psychic vs non-psychic housing are different and no one has taken the time to properly figure out how to do the psychic housing properly (Mechanoids exception).

A Fourth Method. They are really a Full Conversion Cyborg equipped with psionic implants (WB12/SB3 and the TW-Bionics in WB20) and just consider themselves a Robot for the coolness factor. We know FCBs can come with counter-psionic implants, so why not psionic-booster implants (of which we know there are).