Altered State Psychic "problem"

question
#1

Hi, everybody,
I need your advice on Psychics in Altered State. One of my players found a rhythm in rage dice storage, and when he comes into a clash with a big guy, he has an absurd amount of damage in reserve. The result is that most of my bosses die from one blow when it comes to that player’s round. I’ve tried various tricks - injury reduction, healing, partial resistance to psychic powers. However, all these solutions seem to be directed “against” the player’s character, which I absolutely want to avoid.
How to make the fights with a colleague who starts them with 6d6 rage dice have a chance to last longer than 1 round?
Thank you all for your help!

#2

Some ideas off the top of my head:

Perhaps multiple actions interwoven between character turns?

Absolute immunity to psychic powers (not every boss, maybe just one or two).

Environmental effects that deaden or change psychic powers or cause the characters to have to deal with that threat simultaneously with the boss.

Adjust the rules pertaining to rage dice storage to make it more balanced, though bring this up respectfully with the player before the change is made (perhaps allow that player to help come up with a solution). After all, when a bosses go down too easily all the time is that really fun for anyone?

#3

What @rpgerminator said.

Have a tribunal to discuss with the group how this is affecting the game and work together to make it better.

#4

To add to this I had to adjust the gunner’s starter reward (Burst Fire Unit) in my Warpshell campaign because one of my characters was simply decimating everything. I brought this up with that player and we worked out a solution together that turned out pretty well. We ended up designing an alternate starter reward that was a little less powerful and made a modified burst fire unit that could be chosen as a milestone later on.

#5

To be honest with you, I’ve run a tribunal with the players. The conclusion was that any solution would hit the player for finding a good synergy and a way to play with the class of his choice. The only salvation for me is the nat 1 mechanics, which works with Psycher’s powers. But even if it happens in the campaign that my team Psycher will roll out 1, the result will lead to the end of the campaign plot and other PC’s (this explosion will be massive). But my player likes the risk. And knowing that he’s sitting on the bomb gives him extra excitement from the rolls and the game itself…

#6

Have the boss battle first, sometimes.

#7

It sounds to me like you’re not challenging your players enough generally. If your psychic has spare rounds to bank that many rage dice, he definitely has too much time on his hands prior to meeting a boss. In other words, I could fix your boss fight, but the reality is that you messed up a long time ago. :stuck_out_tongue:

By the time my players usually end up facing a boss, they are tapped out: no more surge, no more rage dice, low on special ammo, and low on hit points. That’s because I am relentless when I throw enemies at them. Soldiers, sub-bosses, enemies who use surge, etc. The world is super dangerous, and players have to spend resources to survive before they ever face anything that matters.

But here are four quick tips to help you. One, have the players face an enemy they think is the boss. Really sell it. This guy wastes his rage dice on him. Then, the actual boss walks in. Oh snap. Make the actual boss a real handful. Like, punishing. Multiple attacks, high movement, damage reduction, and huge damage output. Also build in some environmental factor … like making a Dex save every single round. It’s hard to fight when you’re burning your movement every round to get off your ass.

Two, you cannot play scared as a DM, especially when running a boss. It has to be crazy dangerous. Have a plan if your players wipe. They all “wake up” being tortured in VR. Or, they end up tied up in a warehouse with no gear. Or, maybe they are just dead — either because your real boss crushed them or because your psychic rolled a 1 and killed the whole party. If that happens, the game doesn’t end. The evil facing the world continues. The boss gets stronger. But now the group has to make new characters and start from scratch. “Gee, thanks for blowing us all up, Kevin.” In any event, I never fear wiping a party because I always have a plan for the story to continue. Having a plan will allow you to challenge these upstart players more effectively because you won’t fear the campaign ending. Dead players don’t have to be the end of a campaign.

Three, bosses don’t have to play by the rules. Your psychic just crushed the boss with 6D6 withering damage? I’d just slowly smile and describe the boss getting back to his feet, dusting off his jacket. Now, the boss prepares his 6D6 counter-attack. Everyone make an INT save. Oh snap, Mary and Tim are down. I wonder if your psychic has time to bank a rage dice or if he’ll let Mary bleed out. With the psychic’s attention divided and tempo off, that’s when the boss activates his holo-clone module and splits into seven copies. Keep that kind of pressure on your PCs, and I guarantee they will remember that boss fight as something amazing.

Finally, maybe your psychic just gets to be awesome. He destroys the boss for the night, and everyone rejoices and drinks a beer. Then, next session, drop the hammer. Good luck fighting off these 10 surge-using enemy runners with gear as good as yours. That’s just the first room of the night … Once the team is ragged again, let off the accelerator. When they get high and mighty, hammer down again. It’s possible to challenge them with a silly boss by the time you wear them down.

Okay, I hope these tips are helpful. Circle back and let us know how it goes.

#8

I can’t say I’ve had a campaign survive more than one player death…sorry, funny not funny, I’m in a weird place at the moment.

#9

Wow. We just had a player die in my current campaign, and it’s been a poignant and meaningful moment in the story. That’s a shame your games end up dissolving.

#10

First of all, thank you so much @Alex for your contribution.
I’ve read your advice before the session, and I’ve introduced the “fake” boss. I managed to deplete some of Psycher’s potential (the session started with 9d6 :open_mouth: rage dice). I also worked with my surroundings - gas pipes do wonders vs pyro Psycher! Two characters almost paid with their lives for the change of the usual game “rhythm”.
Great session - the players said after it that their characters don’t have as much strength as they thought :wink:

#11

Money! I’m glad that worked out for you, and if your players are feeling a little insecure about their abilities, that’s perfect. Keep them on the ropes for a bit and then let them earn a reprieve.

#12

Ah, dead characters are fine…dead players cramps my wanting to play games but that is me. :wink:

#13

That went … right over my head.

More beer necessary.

#14

this. reactions and breaking initiative are HUUUUGE at helping shake up a fight. not one of my bosses have only taken actions on their turns. sometimes it’s a reaction to a failure in a certain distance, sometimes its a crit fail, sometimes it’s just something that happens every turn if they’re fast. Keep them moving, keep them interesting. and maybe read my Dark souls bosses thread for some inspiration.

Furthermore, i might recommend introducing some sort of spell burn die for them frying their brain with all that pent up rage.

#15

Sounds like this psychic would amass alot of reputation as being dangerous and KNOWN.
I will leave this here…

#16

This was great to read. Often there are a lot of Gm problem posts with solutions, but it’s also nice to hear how the session went.

Enjoy your new direction.

#17

Thank you all for your support, being a member of this community is really a fantastic experience.
In order not to remain just a passive recipient of your really great advice, I decided to share with you the results of a broader reflection on this situation. I want to make sure that the advice given by @Alex and others are not just a one-off solution. I would like to sing the song Down - “Learn from my mistake” :smiley: and then write the rest of the post:

The problem:

  • Psycher on the team I’m leading finds the rhythm in gathering rage dice which makes him an unstoppable force especially in the fight against bosses.

Symptoms:

  • Most of the opponents I’ve been preparing for the session have been killed by one blow from the psycher.
  • The whole team developed a tactic where psycher served as a “tactical nuke bomb” . For the rest, the most important task was to protect Psycher and survive until his turn.
  • One of the players, as a result of a lucky throw in the LOOT table, got an item protecting him from Psycher’s powers. He was the greatest advocate of team strategy.

Solution:

  • Unleashing Psycher’s existing potential through decoys.
  • Playing room mechanics around PC’s to send a message that they are a real threat to them when they used such powerful forces.

Effects:

  • After the session, which served as a breakthrough of the players’ existing strategy, on our internal chat, the remaining players persuaded Psycher to abandon the strategy of the “tactical nuclear bomb” because it came to them that the use of such a power is a threat to them too.
  • The player who was Psycher’s “advocate” realized that an item that protects him from his friend’s powers would not work with walls collapsing and exploding gas pipes.
  • In my team, the belief that the opponent with the most hearts doesn’t always have to be the one posing the greatest threat to the team started to function. The damage was dispersed to more opponents. I noticed that players for the first round or two try to survive and solve the room mechanics.
#18

This might not be exactly what you need but I think it’s a step in the right direction. I could give the “they are more like guidelines” speech but at the end of the day you are the dm and I can tell it’s not your intent to ruin the experience for someone so I think you’re completely justified In telling the player something has to change for everyones benefit.

The rules are written by humans who can’t predict the outcome of every combo when they make the them so there are bound to be hiccups. Sure they are fun to find and use for a while but maybe find some in game solution to stopping/slow it down; a new device that tracks whatever energy is being stored after a certain amount (it’s make believe sci fi, so it’s not impossible). Now these are being installed everywhere so traveling with too much stored energy can incur fines or ban you from establishments. As for the baddies they install them as an early detection system to warn them so they can prep for the scenario as you come allowing you as the dm to have your bad guys make smart,informed decisions and a justifiable reason to your pc’s of why they knew to prep for them. Give it a low cap where they can store less power and go undetected making it more of an incentive for them not to max out otherwise there will be in game consequences which make sense.

Again, it seems like you are showing respect to your players so it shouldn’t be too much of an ask for them to allow you to do your thing

#19

It could be as simple as, “ if you choose to go in with that much stored power you will be detected and all your actions will be HARD since they know you’re coming. You can go in with (X) or less and go undetected”. That might be a little hard but it’s a thought at least

#20

I just had a strange thought … what if you had some sort of trap/ weapon/ armor/ building material/ special loot item that damages someone’s psyche, not their physical hp. Like those weird droning sound machines or high frequency disruptions or some sort of brainwave emp wave. The enemy would deal damage, not to their body, but literally burn the persons psychic power on them. It would be like using a mirror on a laser, or pulling the pin on a grenade hanging from someone’s belt and running away. The person may not want to bank or Or even burn so many rage dice if it ricocheted back at them… or their party… sort of a telekinetic “quit hitting yourself“. The player may be deterred after having to roll that rage damage against themselves. Anyways, this was just a random thought that occurred to me. There are more things to attack on a player than HP… health is just a resource like anything else, so if that isn’t their most important resource, find a way to attack the thing that is most important. I hope this helps