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if they say any they mean any

gadrin wrote:at 6th level and above, the Channeller can pick his psi-powers from "any category".

does that include Master? (super in other systems).

Going from memory, Yes. I might be forgetting a rule in Between the Shadows that makes this incorrect however...

In Rifts most "major" psionics don't get Super category -- except the Mystic -- who gets one super power.

I didn't know which came out first: Thru the Glass Darkly or Between the Shadows, or if it matters to the others out there.

Considering that even some Minor Psychics can gain certain Super/Master Psionic powers, availability of psionic power categories does not strictly correlate with a psychic's power level.

And TTGD was the fourth Nightbane book; Between the Shadows was the second.

gadrin wrote:

Lord Cherico wrote:if they say any they mean any

yeah, right. the famous PB wording.

I fought with numerous people about how Mind Bond says "EVERYTHING" (in caps too) and they're trying to tell me that you can't learn mystic knowledge

That depends on how you think of magic.
If you just thinkof it as very specialised knowledge and had a mage who actually learned his magic them yes you would know his spells and so forth. You wouldn't actually be a mage though.
Knowing how to do stuff doesn't mean you can go out and actually do it. It takes months of careful practice to be able to cast even one spell.
ANd even assumign that you CAN cast the spell, you don't have the PPE to do it.
Psychics dont' have much PPE.
And you dont' have the connection to magic energy that mages have developed.

(and I think psionics too.)

Psionics powers are powers, not learned skills.

I say yes. (They need all the help they can get!)

gadrin wrote:my specific example was a Mystic (who knows how to cast spells and use psionics) linking up with a fellow mage, via Mind Bond. To expand their repetoire. (this is in Rifts) not someone who has no inkling of magic be able to suddenly cast spells.

The description of a mystic is that they have no understanding of how they actually cast spells. They don't really learn it like a ley line walker.
So I can't see that happening either. Though it's better than some scenario's.

I haven't been able to decide whether it also applies to OCC abilities (such as the Mystic above, linking up with a Ley Line Walker and now being able to Ley Line Phase -- or other similar knowledge) That seems like more of a stretch. Unfortunately PB doesn't go into a great deal of detail about OCC abilities. Same with psychic abilties, such as the Psi-stalker (or the Mystic for that matter.)

Read the sections on learning magic and the mystic and PPE.
They explain it pretty well IMO.
When kids are younger they all have some PPE which they then expend in learning their OCC.

I see know reason why an ability would be granted by an exchange of knowledge Expecially a temporary one.

Knowing that a guy spent years training to become sensative to magic won't suddenly make you sensative to magic.

I might see you temporarily gaining some spell knowledge if you

already

learned how to caste spells and the other person you merged with learned this also.
But that's it.
Mystic's don't Learn spells, they "just know" them.

gadrin wrote:

acreRake wrote:I say yes. (They need all the help they can get!)

yes, to which? The Channeller or Mind Bond ?

Oh, sorry. I was responding to the Channeller question. As for mind bond i could see it either way, and it would depend on the character, or possibly even the player, or on the bribes offered by the player.

It seems, though, that we see the rules the same way. I don't have a problem with a mystic learning (at least temporarily) spells in this way. Someone less prepared for sudden infusions of arcane knowledge, however, might experience something akin to bonding with an alien or extremely disturbed person. What i understand the mystics to be like (at least in PF and NB) is that the spells they know are the same as (or very similar to) the ones "commonly available" just learned in a different way.

For the most part, i think this explains how i feel about picking up OCC abilities. I feel they are a function of the specific training/approach of the particular "school" of magic (if you will). Therefore: a mystic (or card mage or conjurer or what ever) can't learn spells like a normal mage without learning to be a mage!

Basically

Relatedly, at 2nd levelm, channelers start to learn spells. At 2nd level, they learn one.

NOw, does this imply that they learn one per level starting at level 2, or just that at level 2 they learn a spell, and that's it?

I like the class myself. In terms of knowing mystic knowledge, I'd treat them as knowing spells the same way a mystic does. It seems like their learning spells is a side benefit of channeling the power of their patron, and not power from their patron directly. (You channel enough otherworldly energy, you pick up a few tricks.)