Using two psychic powers at the same time

[Bones]

I would like to ask a question to the experts here.
Is there any psychic power or skill specifically for psychics that would allow you to use two psychic powers at the same time?
ex. You activate one power on the first round such as psi-sword from HU2 and then on the next round you activate intuitive combat from PU1 so they are both running at the same time. Please say there is a way to do this. My GM likes to stick to the book.

[say652]

Yes. Legal.
You can create the psi sword hurl an enemy with telekinesis parry launch a pyrokinetic fireball strike then telemechanic the elevator to escape.

[NMI]

Yes, you can activate as many psi-powers that you want. Keep in mind though if concentration is needed.

Also, Intuitive Combat I believe requires 1 melee round [15 seconds] of meditation before it can be activated. Well... by the book that is.

[say652]

The power says no other power can be used while in effect.

[jaymz]

As written Intuitive combat is honestly next to useless with the way it is nerfed. How often are able to just "meditate" before combat? Not too damn often I'll tell you and the short duration of power makes doing so while "planning" useless too.

[The Artist Formerly]

Intuitive combat isn't worth the effort. You can only use it by itself, it requires a set up time, has a short duration and the bonuses aren't all that great. It reads like a dungeon crawl power, something for "you see an ogre in the next room" kind of a deal. A regular sword (Vibro if you can swing it), Psi-shield and sixth sense has a better pay out, when coupled with the proper WPs. Add in Super TK for the win.

[Razorwing]

With Intuitive Combat, I generally play it such that one can not activate any new powers while it is being used, but can still use any powers that are active (still have a duration) such as Psi-Sword and even Psychic Body Field.

As for the meditation needed... that is where one tends to hide behind cover for the first round and let others fight or waste ammunition.

Those who go in guns blazing tend to go out in a blaze of glory, while those who take a moment to assess the situation and use some tactics (such as preparing themselves in some way) often live to fight another day.

[jaymz]

And yet if you are being shot at and are known to be there you won't just get left alone to "meditate" Let it take an action or two to activate not a whole melee round

[Daniel Stoker]

Can you dodge or 'actively hide' while meditating? I tend to think you make yourself a sitting duck which is also why I really dislike this power.


Daniel Stoker

[Glistam]

I once had a T-Monster Man gladiator with Minor psychic abilities, and Intuitive Combat was one of his two powers I selected. It seemed thematically appropriate, but outside of that sort of fighting (pre-planned, you have a chance to prepare before going out) it never really was as useful as I had hoped.

[The Artist Formerly]

I once had a T-Monster Man gladiator with Minor psychic abilities, and Intuitive Combat was one of his two powers I selected. It seemed thematically appropriate, but outside of that sort of fighting (pre-planned, you have a chance to prepare before going out) it never really was as useful as I had hoped.

Yeah. When it first appeared in Psyschape I thought it was awesome, once I got it into play, not so much. Without house ruling the hell out of it, the power isn't worth blowing a selection on. House ruling appears to be something out of the picture for this event.

If you know a big fight is about to happen in the next room, you could just throw a volley of grenades in and save your ten ISP for something more useful.

[eliakon]

Honestly I think the power was introduced just so that they Lynotaur Hunters could have an always on version.

I will agree that with out house rules or specialized circumstances its not a great power (that said I had great fun using it on a SWAT team from the CS Psi Bat. They would meditate just before they entered and cleared site. But again that's fairly specialized use)

[The Artist Formerly]

Honestly I think the power was introduced just so that they Lynotaur Hunters could have an always on version.

I will agree that with out house rules or specialized circumstances its not a great power (that said I had great fun using it on a SWAT team from the CS Psi Bat. They would meditate just before they entered and cleared site. But again that's fairly specialized use)

If you know **** is about to pop off, it fair. If you need to react on the fly, it's useful. I think you're right about the Lynotaur though, that seems right as I look at it.

[SpiritInterface]

As written Intuitive combat is honestly next to useless with the way it is nerfed. How often are able to just "meditate" before combat? Not too damn often I'll tell you and the short duration of power makes doing so while "planning" useless too.

With the FULL minute that sixth sense gives you you can start psi sword, intuitive combat and enhanced reflexes.

[Glistam]

As written Intuitive combat is honestly next to useless with the way it is nerfed. How often are able to just "meditate" before combat? Not too damn often I'll tell you and the short duration of power makes doing so while "planning" useless too.

With the FULL minute that sixth sense gives you you can start psi sword, intuitive combat and enhanced reflexes.

That's an interesting point I hadn't considered.

[eliakon]

As written Intuitive combat is honestly next to useless with the way it is nerfed. How often are able to just "meditate" before combat? Not too damn often I'll tell you and the short duration of power makes doing so while "planning" useless too.

With the FULL minute that sixth sense gives you you can start psi sword, intuitive combat and enhanced reflexes.

Of course that requires the Sixth Sense to go of (That depends on how the specific game handles the power.....)
But yes, that could be useful.

[say652]

Stevie house rule!
If a psychic posesses sixth sense and clairvoyance then the sixth sense bonuses apply all the time.

[Tor]

Intuitive combat is honestly next to useless with the way it is nerfed

Nerfed from what? The need for meditation and other psionics forbidden was present in Psyscape page 39. Was there some other preceding version where these were not there?

How often are able to just "meditate" before combat? Not too damn often I'll tell you

Not often defensively, but if you were launching an attack or having a duel, often enough.

If you had 6th sense then you would have a minute's warning, plenty of time to begin activating this power, even if someone was initiating combat against you.

Since the power doesn't actually activate until the end of the meditation, you could probably do the meditation while hiding behind a Telekinetic Force Field (allowing your opponent to waste ammo, if using ranged weapons) which often interferes with offense anyway. Or if hiding behind cover.

It takes just as long to activate as a Psi-Sword.

Also a great thing to try out before going for a climb or a swim or walking a tightrope wire across buildings, usefulness isn't just for combat.

The pull punch bonus also makes it great for trying to knock out a captive sine without pull punch, you could often kill a captive before getting that natural 20 from boxing to knock him out.

Intuitive combat isn't worth the effort. You can only use it by itself, it requires a set up time, has a short duration and the bonuses aren't all that great. It reads like a dungeon crawl power, something for "you see an ogre in the next room" kind of a deal.

These situations do happen. It seems worthwhile enough to me. There are situations where using some powers doesn't make sense.

A regular sword (Vibro if you can swing it), Psi-shield and sixth sense has a better pay out, when coupled with the proper WPs. Add in Super TK for the win.

Swords are things you buy. Comparing a minor/sensitive psionic to super psionic powers like Psi-Shield or Super TK seems a bit unfair. If you have the option then yeah, in a lot of situations I would go for Super TK. Of course, there might not always be stuff around for you to throw at an opponent... and using super TK isn't going to enhance your swordsmanship any if you need to get into a close-range encounter.

What's the point of using Psi-Shield when you have a Vibro-Blade, again? Aside from the Psi-Warriors who get super-impressive OCC bonuses to it (which I figure stack with the WP skill) it doesn't seem to do well against the parrying ability of a vibro-knife.

I guess for parrying energy attacks... but that's rather hard to do (big penalties) so it would be more useful to use the Psychic Body Field power if you have it. The Psi-Warrior is, again, the only major case I can see for using it, since they have reduced penalties for parrying energy attacks with their Psi-Shields.

I can't really understand why a Cyber-Knight would do it, since if they want to avoid destroying their vibro-blade by using it to parry energy attacks (like that guy in CB1 combat scenario) they can just use their psi-sword, which is indestructible and costs nothing.

The brief moment where the psi-shield seems useful for a Cyber-Knight is level 2, when they get their paired WP ability (maybe earlier if you buy paired WP at level 1), so they can do a simultaneous parry/strike maneuver. By third level when they can make 2 psi-weapons, it makes more sense to just use those. Can anyone explain the tactical advantage to using a psi-shield for a cyber-knight at level 3+ ?

I mean unless you don't want to use paired Psi-Weapons because you'd rather people think you were a level 1-2 knight (or mind melter, or mystic) instead of a level 3+ knight... which doesn't seem like it'd come up that much.

Sixth sense will only work if something is unexpected or life-threatening, so if you already know a confrontation is going to happen or it's a non-fatal one, it won't activate. A better initiative/parry, sure, but it only lasts you a melee, while Intuitive Combat rewards the higher cost and meditation investment (and other-psi exclusion) with multiple melees.

I can certainly see arguments to use other psionics in lieu of Intuitive Combat, but that applies to Mind Block as well. They all have uses though.