Nekira Sudacne wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 7:33 pm
however, given the cyber knight must waste a turn every time they activate it,
Greetings and Salutations. Which version are you using as a reference?
RUE, page 64 (last paragraph on the page that's continued onto the next page): "Years of training makes it so that its creation doesn't even count as a melee action!"
Now, if they use a non-sword or an exotic color, then it costs 1 or more actions. However, the basic version explicitly does NOT cost an action for the Cyber-Knight, unless there's some other source that refutes this citation.
Nekira Sudacne wrote: ↑Mon Oct 09, 2023 7:33 pm
but something else will have to drain them to 0, because the cyber knight will not.
Whether or not the Nega-Psychic can actually disrupt the Psi-Sword is questionable. They're closed to psionic powers, but they don't negate them (this is explicitly called out in the note of power 2 on page 58 of Psyscape). They can only negate spells.
Now, the Psi-Sword may still qualify as per RUE page 64: "Presumably the Knight creates it using both his inner strength and inner spirit (an unusual combination of P.P.E. and I.S.P.)." The next sentence then goes on to say: "... it effectively requires the expenditure of no I.S.P." This only discusses I.S.P., but nothing of P.P.E. And from the text we can determine that the I.S.P. cost is greater than 0, but far enough below 1 to be negligible. Note: In the Cyber-Knight book, I believe it's supposed to be a combination of Psychic and Chi/martial arts (which is translated into P.P.E. in Rifts). However, I didn't want to hunt through the book to confirm, so no quote and only an added note.
So if it requires P.P.E, then the Nega-Psychic can nullify the blade. Of course, the Nega-Psychic can only disrupt the casting, so if the Psi-Sword is already active (or the Cyber-Knight expends some P.P.E. to counter the negation, especially if the Nega-Psychic is being cheap as the expense is a game of chess), then then the Psi-Sword is up and active and there's not much more that can be done.
The Psi-Nullifier cancels magic and psionic powers (again, only the casting/activation, so once active they can't do anything about it). However, they spend I.S.P. "automatically" to negate the powers. If the Psi-Sword is deemed both magical and psychic, then the Psi-Nullifier would spend 2D6 I.S.P. (1D6 for each type, and the Psi-Nullifier can NOT hold back, per the Note on page 67 of Psyscape). So this could drain the Psi-Nullifier (slower if the Psi-Sword is deemed only psychic in nature, but this then has implications for the Nega-Psychic). The Cyber-Knight can try to spend I.S.P. (and P.P.E. , depending on the ruling) to get around this issue, but will likely be more costly for the Cyber-Knight.
Now, the Rifts collection is huge, and I'm only using RUE and Psyscape, so it's possible that something from a different book may have a different wording or interpretation. Hope some of that helps. Farewell and safe journeys.
