Tiltowait wrote:Technically (loophole) it appears that Psi-Stalker could feed on himself...is this correct?
This depends on how you interpret the "capture" requirement.
If capture is like this metaphysical "you can't break free of your captor" thing then I think that would inherently prohibit you from using it on yourself, because you can always break free of yourself by letting yourself go.
The closest thing to this exploits would be to have a pair of Psi-Stalker buddies who are fans of Pro Wrestling and carry razors for "blading" each other's foreheads: they have to legit try to pin each other though and in that instance if they can pin the other guy they can free a hand and blade them and suck up their PPE.
Generally a bit easier with ropes.
It seems like "capture" could prohibit active cooperation though: if you're willing to be there perhaps it shouldn't work?
You could in theory consent to be captured then change your mind and want to break free later, in which case it should work... but i don't know how you'd rationalize such a weird shift in behavior.
In this case having Multiple Personalities (too bad you're not a Crazy OCC) could be helpful since you could have one cooperative personality that consents to be "captured" (merely a pseudo-captured since it's voluntary), then they shift to a non-cooperative personality who doesn't consent to it, at which case they are GENUINELY captured since the capture becomes involuntary for the controlling personality.
Another option might be for amicable Psi-Stalkers to feed on each other while sleeping: you could argue that you can't consent to be captured while asleep (you can only maintain active consent while awake) so if you tie up a sleeping friend then you can feed on them so long as tying them up doesn't wake them before you can cut them: if they wake up before you cut them and recognize you, they could just implicity trust/consent to your bondage and thus be ineligible as a food source.
If however Psi-Stalker feeding psychology depended on active resistance of a foe, then you couldn't feed on a captured foe if they were unconscious, you'd need to wake them up first, which would prohibit feeding on a cooperative ally since they could only feign active resistance while awake.
Hypnotic Suggestion (which most Psi-Stalkers would lack access to) could be helpful here in two ways:
1) make a non-cooperative person temporarily cooperative (tie them up) then let the suggestion end and they resist you, so you can feed on them when the power ceases effect
2) after tying up a cooperative person, use suggestion to make them temporarily resistant to you, allowing you to feed on them while the power is in effect
This seems a bit more flexible than Psi-Slayers since you don't actually have to terrify them into thinking you'll kill them (an advanced form of non-consent) but merely have them think that they don't want to be restrained by you.
Basically it probably should not be "capture" in spirit if you've voluntarily turned yourself over. The term "capture" implies an involuntarily apprehension initiated by an external force.
Psi-Hounds could be great for this if they want to break free and go feral. That's one of the downsides to breeding them to be loyal: most Psi-Hounds (the loyal ones) couldn't be fed upon.
This probably means feral psi-hounds and criminal psychics (stalkers or otherwise) make great captive food sources for CS Psi-Stalkers.
Another thing to keep in mind: many species are all just inherently psychic which means it probably should be possible to feed on them too, and they're less likely to understand why you need to cut them with a knife and will grow to hate/fear you if you're doing that to them on the regular.
RUE367 says this is cattle/horses/sheep and "predatory mammals" (eg lions/wolves/coyotes) plus 4 classes of birds (birds of prey and ravens/crows/parrots)
There's also a "closely associated with humans" subclass described on 367's right column (friend/helper/worker) which applies to 2 birds (raven/crow) and 3 beasts of burden (horse/mule/donkey) and 2 stereotypical house pets (cat/dog)
I would figure that parrots probably belong in that (parrots tend to be kept as pets more often than ravens or crows, yes?) too and theirs was an accidental oversight.
The subgroup gets 5 powers which don't cost ISP and have boosted range (600ft) compared to what these lesser psi usually get.
For animals not in the subgroup but who are still in the group who get a narrower range of psi (wild birds of prey, cattle/sheep and wild cats/canines) I figure they don't get all 5 of these powers...
RUE 154 reiterates the "Psionic Empathy with Animals" which psi-stalkers have, but I think the "immediate liking" domestic animals take to them would only go so far: as soon as the psi-stalker starts drawing blood with a scalpel/syringe, the animal is probably going to dislike them.
People with pets can probably understand that: your pets like you, until you need to do something weird like clip their nails (or even get them out of a comfortable chair they stole when you went to grab a soda) at which point you're their archnemesis. Doing something like cutting them (or even injecting anesthesia to make cutting less painful) would terrify and make an enemy out of many amiable pets. If that were not the case then I would've snipped off some tiny skin tags on my dog to save on vet bills like I've done myself to save on dermatologist bills. The problem is that unlike a human you just can't really explain why you need to do that to them: they won't understand it, and will be slow to forgive. They'll perceive it like you attacked them for no reason: you're unpredictable, they could only understand it as a buse.
I think that should override the Psionic Empathy: which means you could legit "capture" a domesticated pet as a valid PPE feeding target.
Doing so would mean them perceiving you non-amicably though, which means you couldn't count on a lot of standard benefits, like a dog being loyal and willing to defend you, or a pet bird not wanting to fly away from you.
A couple logical options for a Psi-Stalker IMO would be to find a small animal not suitable as a pet (a raven or crow is probably the most ideal, but you must cage them or chain their leg to a weight so they can't fly off) who have psychic power to sense supernatural, and keep as an emergency PPE source.
RUE367 seems to have removed the PPE amounts for animals. This used to be present in the section on page 114 of the original Rifts RPG (the RMB) along with HP amounts. Small birds have 1D4 PPE. You could get roughly triple (2D6) for a bird of prey, but my guess is that it'd be easy to carry around 3 crows thant it would be to carry around 1 hawk.
Which would be regen PPE faster would depend on amounts... animals with less than 5 PPE would waste some of the 5 PPE regained per hour of sleep that I believe is mentioned somewhere...
You'd be better off with two crows who have 3 PPE each (regain 6 PPE per hour) than you would with a hawk who had 5+ PPE if you were harvesting them to the max.
I guess another consideration is you might need to inflict 1 HP minimum (or perhaps SDC if birds get that later) in which case a large bird could survive more cuts if you needed to feed on them multiple times in a given day. In this sense the faster-regen of multiple birds is less of an advantage: fast regen won't help you if you can't heal your bird fast enough to do it without killing them.
I guess this got removed for space (or maybe shifted somewhere else in RUE where I can't find it?) when they overhauled this: originally it was a narrower group of animals (dogs/cats/horses only) who got the "free five" (no birds, mules or donkeys) though it actually seems like a broader group ("most larger mammals") had the generic "sense supernatural" ability.
That ability didn't really get statted like subgroup who have the equiv of the 5 lesser powers... I'd speculate it might operate like the conspicuously-absent sensitive psi "Presence Sense" rather than giving a wide category of animals equivalent to something like the Psi-Hound or Psi-Stalker.
Killer Cyborg wrote:a kinky mage who's into being chased down, tied up, and cut.
I dunno, feels like if you're into it that it might not work? Definitely some blurred lines here since it is technically possible to consent to enter into a contest where you still actively resist an outcome.
IE you could agree to enter a UFC match where it's possible you could get pinned, but still not technically consent to the pin.
You can even consent to be governed by rules of engagement (ie no groin shots, no throwing fireballs) during a fight but still technically be resisting...
I guess the question is: do you need to be resisting to 100% of your capabilities to be "captured", or could you be resisting under restricted parameters (ie "one hand tied behind my back" or "I won't use Intuitive Combat") and still have your defeat count as a capture?
Mack wrote:would allow one to feed via the "free given PPE" rule on RUE p186.
The transfer is less efficient, but it would also allow injured/infirm/young/elderly Psi-Stalkers to feed off friends.
70% is barely a limitation, if it should be allowed at all I think I'd prefer the 1% gained from unwilling targets: Psi-Stalkers should basically invert the usual efficiency relationship for consent.
ShadowLogan wrote:RUE pg367 "Psionic Abilities in Animals". RMB (pg114) or other psionic line (PF2E pg156) IMHO is a bit better as it lists HP and PPE of some animals.
PF2 inherited that from Rifts (which Ultimate neglected to retain) and I think Rifts inherited it from BTS.
