Psionics

On Metadimensional Extroversion Syndrome

Metadimensional Extroversion Syndrome, more commonly known as psychic power, is the ability of certain rare individuals to channel metadimensional energy to affect both mind and matter in the mundane universe. A full description of the history of psionics can be found here.
Learning to properly control psionics is never easy, and their use cannot always be relied upon, but they are guaranteed to provide their practitioners with a dangerous edge simply not possible for normal humans. The full rules for psionics can be found on page 228 of the core rulebook, and this article covers how those rules differ within this particular setting.

Psionic Strength

Psionics within the Reach are somewhat more potent than is represented in the core rules, and is affected by both a psychic's willpower and their toughness - the former to direct their power effectively, and the latter to channel it safely. To reflect this, the PSI characteristic is determined as normal, but if successful is then increased by the Traveller's INT and END DM's, and will then later be increased by the Traveller's highest psionic skill level. 
In play, XP can be spent to increase Psionic Strength as normal, it is treated like a physical characteristic for the purposes of advancement. But the PSI characteristic should also be adjusted as above every time the Traveller's INT or END DM's change permanently, or whenever their highest psionic skill level increases.

Failed Checks

Unless otherwise stated, extra PSI points can be spent after any failed power check to increase the result by DM+1 per point - up to the check's base difficulty. This can be used to force a failed power check to succeed, though at a sometimes-significant extra cost. Failed power checks either cause the power to fail for 1 PSI cost, or the referee might offer the Traveller a complicated success at the full PSI cost. Pass or fail, PSI points are only spent after a power's check is fully resolved.

Institute Testing

On obtaining the PSI characteristic, the Traveller must choose one of the pre-Career options as found on Psionic Education - to cover how they first learned to control their abilities. As part of this choice, they will be invited to roll 2d6 on the table below at least eight times to determine their initial psionic disciplines.
A result of 8+ allows the psychic to acquire one of the Common disciplines, and a result of 10+ allows the psychic to acquire either a Rare or Common discipline. Rare disciplines are not considered to be any stronger than common ones - so Travellers should pick solely based on what powers appeal to them. Though to be more setting accurate (see the spoiler section below), Travellers can also pick disciplines at random.
The first talent acquired will be the one for which the psychic showed the most initial aptitude, and is learned at level 1 instead of level 0. This becomes their primary discipline, and categorises the psychic with a certain unofficial title: healer, adept, telepath, etc. Due to the crossover between certain psionic practices, talents related to a primary discipline are treated as -1 Difficulty to acquire from further table rolls.

Show spoiler

In this sector, budding psychics have little control over what disciplines they initially have access to. Their options are instead 'locked-in' based on their unique MES symptoms and how they were initially taught to safely channel their abilities. To reflect this randomness (if desired), a D8 can be rolled to randomly pick between all disciplines, or a D4 can be rolled to pick between the common or rare disciplines only.
On average, an MES will be capable of using around half the available talents, but will tend to focus their attention on just one or two. Additional talents can be picked up later in life, often requiring years of extra training, but psychic disciplines are universally dense and complex - and using even one to its full potential is more than enough for most.

	Discipline	Difficulty	Title	-1 Difficulty if...
1	Biopsionics	Common (8+)	Healer	Adept or Telepath
2	Precognition	Common (8+)	Precog	Clairvoyant or Healer
3	Telekinesis	Common (8+)	Telekinetic	Clairvoyant, Metapsion or Teleport
4	Telepathy	Common (8+)	Telepath	Metapsion or Precog
5	Awareness	Rare (10+)	Adept	Healer or Telekinetic
6	Clairvoyance	Rare (10+)	Clairvoyant	Precog, Telekinetic or Teleport
7	Metapsionics	Rare (10+)	Metapsion	Telepath
8	Teleportation	Rare (10+)	Teleport	Adept or Clairvoyant

As mentioned Travellers should roll on this table eight times, but can roll more. Maybe they want to expand their disciplines further whilst it's still relatively simple to do so, or maybe - through horrendous luck - they are yet to gain even one. However, every fail result after the eighth roll will also require a 1D roll on the Torch table (see right). Travellers who push their budding abilities too far risk scarring themselves, and they might instead wish to wait for future opportunities to develop, which tend to be safer - if more limited.

Alternative Training Rules

Whilst the table above does have room for Travellers to pick and choose their preferred disciplines, there is still a lot of randomness involved - which is not to every group's taste. In such cases, a similar point-buy system to the one found in the Traveller Companion may be appropriate.

• Travellers who gain or purchase the PSI characteristic gain 15 free points, which they must spend at least 4 of on psychic skills.
• A psionic discipline costs 4 points to acquire at level 0. Once purchased, each costs the usual amount to advance as per p24 of the Traveller Companion.
• The first talent acquired will be the Traveller's primary discipline and should be taken at level 1 instead of level 0, this does not cost additional points. Talents related to the psychic's primary discipline, as per the "-1 Difficulty" column above, cost one less point to purchase.
• The PSI characteristic is still increased as per the 'Psionic Strength' adjustments above, but this should be done at the very end of Traveller creation to avoid confusion over point-cost.

Other less-random systems can be used as per the group's judgement, but the referee should bear in mind that the average amount of disciplines a psychic can utilise is around half - though this can vary widely.

Psionic Talents

Within the Reach, the following psionic talents/ disciplines are available.
Biopsionics: Healing or enhancing others
Precognition: Seeing, and changing, the future
Telekinesis: Controlling physical matter
Telepathy: Reading minds & sending thoughts
Awareness: Fine control over one’s own body
Clairvoyance: Perceiving the past and present
Metapsionics: Manipulating psychic power
Teleportation: Moving instantly between locations

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The common powers of each discipline are listed in the articles above, along with any new powers or updated descriptions/difficulties - these should be used instead of those in the rulebook.
Beyond the common powers, many psychics have found creative ways to employ the techniques within each discipline - especially their primary (highest-level) one. For example, if a precog Traveller wishes to use their futuresight for something not listed, but which sounds reasonable based on how their powers work in other situations, then the Referee should work with them to agree an appropriate difficulty and effect. Such creative efforts, if used with enough regularity or if found from an uncommon teacher, may even be added to a Traveller's character sheet as a custom power.

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Psion Careers

Psionic Travellers have access to all the standard career paths, but can also access various psion-specific careers. The Referee can direct to these, though bear in mind that they were written for a different setting with fewer/different psionic talents available, so whilst going through them you may need to work together to adjust any entries that don't make sense. The one exception to this is the Metapsion career, which has been custom-written for the setting.

Torching

In the Reach, psychics who push themselves too far are in great danger - and any damage taken from exceeding their available PSI points is usually permanent instead of temporary. Damaging oneself like this is referred to as "Torching", and uses the following rules.
If the cost of a psychic power brings a Traveller below 0 PSI, make a PSI check on the table below - with a DM- equal to the amount by which the PSI reserves were exceeded.

PSI	Torching Result
<0	Permanently reduce INT & END by 1.
0-1	Permanently reduce INT by 1.
2-3	Permanently reduce END by 1.
4+	Lucky, take 1 point of temporary damage

Those whose END is permanently reduced to 0 will die. Those whose INT is reduced to 0 by torching go violently insane and are no longer viable as player characters - becoming “feral psychics” under the Referee's control.
Torch damage, though severe, can be mostly repared with cybernetics, rehabilitation or advanced surgery. If torch damage is ever suffered during Traveller Creation, see p49 of the Core Rules for information on medical care. However, any characteristic that suffers from torch damage will permanently have its natural maximum reduced from 15 to 14.