Psi World is a near-future science fiction game in which psionic powers have started popping up regularly in the human population, sparking a reaction of fear and oppression from the non-powered majority. Classic X-Men stuff, really. Players can take roles as psionic-powered characters trying to make their way in a hostile world or non-mutated agents of the government working to keep humanity safe from psionic villains. Since the latter option sounds really kind of fascist and unpleasant, I’m going assume those are the bad guys and create a psionic character instead.
This is a mid-Eighties Fantasy Games Unlimited production, so I expect to see more than a little fiddly stuff as we fill out the character sheet. It starts simply enough, however, with rolling 2d10 for each of seven attributes: Strength, Agility, Dexterity, Endurance, Intelligence, Will, and Psionic Power. You have the option of rolling straight down the list or arranging your rolls to suit your taste. Since I don’t have anything in mind yet, I’m going to let the dice take me where they want.
Strength: 9
Agility: 10
Dexterity: 18
Endurance: 18
Intelligence: 10
Will: 17
Psionic Power: 10
That’s a good set of rolls, though it doesn’t suggest anything in particular to me. The next step is to calculate Attribute Saving Throws, which are basically what you roll when you’re trying to do something that’s not covered by the skill list. There’s a score for each Attribute except Psionic Power, and the value is four times the attribute score; if you need to make a roll you’ll use percentile dice and try to get lower than your AST value.
STR: 36
AGI: 40
DEX: 76
END: 76
INT: 40
WIL: 68
Now we get into the fiddly stuff, known as Attribute-Based Modifiers. These will involve slightly more complex calculations.
Initiative factor is used to determine who goes first, when that matters. It’s the average of Agility and Will, rounded up, which equals 14.
Defense bonus modifies enemies’ chance to hit you, so that a negative number is better than a positive one. There’s a chart for Agility and one for Intelligence, and you combine the two for your total. Since I’m relentlessly average in both, my adjustment is 0.
My to hit bonus, on the other hand, is derived from Dexterity and Intelligence, and my high DEX score gives me a +10, even though my Intelligence still doesn’t add anything.
There are separate damage bonuses for ranged combat and melee combat. The projectile damage bonus is derived from comparing the average of DEX and INT to a chart, and I get a +1. The melee damage bonus comes from STR and AGI, though, so I get nothing there.
Calculating hit points starts with a Hit Point Number that takes the average of your Endurance and the average of your Strength and Will (formula [END + (STR+WIL)/2]/2), which comes to 16. But that’s not my HP total. That’s how many D3 I get to roll for my hit points after which I’ll add chart-derived adjustments based on my Endurance (+4), my Strength (0) and my Will (+3). The roll is 34, which becomes 41 when the bonuses are added in.
Then I have to figure out the HP value for each target area on my body. These are not directly proportional to the total, and I’ll spare you the formulae (which take the form X + % of total HP). The breakdown:
Head 9
Chest 16
Abdomen 16
Arms 8 each
Legs 8 each
The I figure my shock resistance, which is my chance to stay active despite a disabling wound. I average my Endurance and Willpower, then consult a table to get 60%,
The same table gives me my healing rate, which is 1.5 HP per day.
And finally, we run out of derived characteristics and can turn our attention to Skills. Skills begin with determining Educational Background, which might limit my selection. The formula for psionic characters is D100 + INT/2. I roll an 08, plus 5 is 13, which corresponds to a General Education. Basically, I’m a high school graduate. I can pick skills off the General list and one career specialty off the Technical list.
Points for purchasing skills are determined purely by die roll: 4d10, no modifiers. I get an above-average 26, but the General list doesn’t seem to have that much to offer. In addition, the number of points I spend will increase my starting age, which begins at 16+1D4 for psionic characters and goes up a year for every 5 skill points spent. I roll a 4, which means I’ll be 25 by the time all the points are gone.
There are two types of skills: Non-Leveled, which you either have or you don’t, and Leveled, for which your competence is measured in percentages. A Non-Leveled skill costs 1 point for competence, and a Leveled skill costs 1 point for each 10% worth of competence that you purchase. (Non-leveled skill rolls are usually based on a relevant Attribute.)
I choose the following skills from the General list: Driving (Bicycle) (NL), First Aid (NL), Play Guitar (NL), Stealth (L), Streetwise (L), and Unarmed Combat (L). So far I look like a street kid who busks for cash and maybe picks some pockets or shoplifts. Subtracting 3 points for the non-leveled skills, I have 23 left to buy levels in the rest. I’ll put 6 each in Sleight of Hand, Stealth, and Streetwise, and 5 in Unarmed Combat.
Wait, I forgot I get one technical skill for vocational purposes. Driving’s on that list too; I can make our young psionic a bicycle messenger who also busks for coffee money, and maybe picks the occasional pocket or at least used to until the messenger gig came up.
Psionics come in two flavors: major disciplines (broad abilities like telepathy or telekinesis, which have various subdisciplines) and minor disciplines (which are more focused). I can choose or roll abilities. If I choose I can take 1 major or 2 minor disciplines; if I go with random determination, I can roll once on the Major table or 1D2+1 times on the Minor table. I go for rolling on the Minor table and get three powers, rolled on a D20 chart. The first is Mind Meld, which lets me serve as a link for other psionics’ powers. The second is Invisibility, which is exactly what it sounds like. My third roll is Force Field, but due to an apparent layout error there’s no power description, so I roll again and get Cryokinesis, which lets me create either an area of ice or a very cold spot with no ice—either does damage.
Using these powers costs Power Points, of which I start with a quantity equal to twice my PSI score, or 20. Cryokinesis costs 5 points per round, Invisibility 10 points per 6 rounds, and Mind Meld costs 15 points per use and lasts from 12 to 72 rounds. I can recuperate power points by resting.
Now for my job, income, and gear. The rules suggest you look salaries up in the want ads, I shit you not. Once you've done that homework, you can have up to 10% of a year’s income socked away as savings. So now I’m going to have to figure out what a bicycle messenger got paid in 1984. Well, according to a 1986 article in New York magazine (thanks, Google!), top messengers could make up to $500 a week. We’ll call it $400 so as not to be greedy or arrogant about our abilities (for instance that average Agility), multiply by 50 weeks since we probably don’t get paid vacation, and call that $20K a year (in 1986 dollars), with $2K saved up for emergencies (and including nonreported income from busking and petty crime). Not great but not bad. I don’t need much gear, just a very good bicycle, a helmet, and a shoulder bag plus my clothes. The bike is the major expense here, but the price lists don’t include vehicles. I don’t feel like doing another Google search just to find out what a top-of-the-line messenger bike cost in 1986, so I’m going to handwave it and say that those things cost $1000, leaving our hero another thousand for emergencies.
Now for the personal details. I see this character as a mid-‘80s version of nonbinary, but more streamlined (and a lot less made-up) than the Boy George aesthetic. Spandex shorts in neon colors. Army surplus jacket. Shoulder bag, of course. Hair super short on the sides, long on top, and moussed into a Tintin cowlick that sticks out in front of their helmet. Goes by the name of Jer (rhymes with “hair”) Landon. Jer got kicked out of the house after finishing high school (where they didn’t have such a great time either) and lived on the streets for a few years until they got hold of a bicycle and started working as a courier. Jer uses their psionic powers pretty rarely and usually only for self-defense (and, until recently, for stealing things).
All right, time for a statblock:
Jer Landon, psionic bicycle messenger
Gender: NB Age: 25 Height: 5'2" Weight: 120
Attributes (AST):
Strength: 9 (36)
Agility: 10 (40)
Dexterity: 18 (72)
Endurance: 18 (72)
Intelligence: 10 (40)
Will: 17 (68)
Psionic Power: 10
Attribute-Based Modifiers:
Initiative Factor: 14
Defense Bonus: 0
To-Hit Bonus: +10
Projectile Damage Bonus: +1
Melee Damage Bonus: 0
Hit Points: 41 (Head 9, Chest 16, Abdomen 16, Arms 8 each, Legs 8 each)
Shock Resistance: 60%
Healing Rate: 1.5
Educational Background: General
Skills: Drive Bicycle NL, First Aid NL, Play Guitar NL, Sleight of Hand 6, Stealth 6, Streetwise 6, Unarmed Combat 5
Psionic Powers:
Cryokinesis, Invisibility, Mind Meld
Power Points: 20
Financial Information:
Income: $20K/year
Savings: $1000
Gear: messenger bike, shoulder bag, cycling helmet, clothing
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