Out of Body Experience and actions at your body

[PsiTraveller]

I was wondering if anyone has looked at Out of Body Experience. I was looking at the power in relation to ship combat. The telepathy range for the power is 50,000 km. This is Very Long Range of Ship Combat.

My thought was to have a Psionic Pilot with the OBE Advanced Power. They spend the points to send their psyche to the bridge of the opposing ship to get intel on what the opposing is doing.

I was wondering if the Psion could call out the information they saw to the bridge crew on their own ship. Or alternatively could the Psion actually be piloting their own ship and reacting to the information gained?

Any thoughts on this? I would love to hear thoughts.

 

[WistfulD]

I'm not familiar with the rules about controlling one's own body to speak to your home crew while your mind is on the other bridge, but I certainly would call trying to pilot your own ship at the same time to be distracted driving.

 

[CosmicGamer]

I'm not familiar with the rules about controlling one's own body to speak to your home crew while your mind is on the other bridge, but I certainly would call trying to pilot your own ship at the same time to be distracted driving.

At a minimum, yes, there are the rules in the core book about Multiple Actions on page 50.

Other than that, nothing I recall in the rules that specifically says. Use your own judgement. Can someone ride an animal and fire a weapon at the same time? Can they repair the jump drive in Engineering while on the bridge piloting the ship?

The rules for Projection say "projects various parts of his psyche outside the confines of his body". For Out of body it says "The psion’s psyche leaves the body" during the projection and "snap back to consciousness" for when the OBE ends.

To me, this means their entire consciousness and not just a part like some other Projection abilities. They can not be doing things back where their body is and they may not even be able to hear and see what is going on around their body while "out of body". They may even fall to the ground if standing as there is no consciousness to maintain balance and this is not a autonomic reflex! This is all my interpretation.

 

[salochin999]

Personally I picture something like that as more of a trance with the psion seated just behind the captain doing their thing quietly and speaking into the comms.

I could see it easier with the pilot if the ship was put on autopilot or you could use the multiple task rule or just say they can if you want.

I can see it easier with gunners i.e. they go into a trance and project into the enemy ship and that helps their targeting.

(That's actually quite a cool idea as it seems to me given the speeds, distances and jinking that unless a target is not evading sensors are almost always going to be 1000s of km out.)

 

[PsiTraveller]

I liked the idea. Was plotting out some bad fan-fic and thought of a Psion Rogue Corsair with a reputation for being an amazing pilot or Captain. They are always able to JUST manoeuvre correctly to avoid damage.
In reality they are reading the screens and giving orders to compensate.

The other option is to project to the ship, look at the folks in charge and then telepathically attack them at range.
Assault is an expensive option, but can reach the target. A K Vault is something you would want in this situation.

Other Advanced Talents would be useful, as long as they are allowed to be used.
Project Emotion says line of sight. Not sure if the line of sight from a projected psyche qualifies. Range would be from the body of the psion, unless psyche means the Astral body the where the attack comes from.
If it IS allowed then fear in the commander for 10-60 minutes cause issues in a battle.

Next up is Psionic Attack. It may use the Telepathic table and if so would be excellent. Pain or paralysis could incapacitate important crew for seconds to minutes. Stopping gunners, pilots etc from executing manoeuvres could severely impact a battle.

If Mind Shock can be hurled at telepathic ranges it could take out an entire bridge and bring a fight to a quick end. It is insanely strong and costs a lot less than Assault. Spending the same amount on Mind Shock and not Assault would result in a lot of damaged opponents.

Just a few thoughts for spicing things up. Mostly based on ideas for fiction, but they can cause mayhem for a game as well.