Psychic Protection

[Richardson]

So as a player in a Rifts game how does one protect themselves against psionics and the supernatural without current access to Lores and specialized classes? I am playing a City Trader, the rest of the party is Man-at-arms classes and a non-psychic Operator. We have zero men of magic, psionics, or gifted D-Bees and a GM fond of mind controlling NPCs.

My first thoughts were psynetics. But what are the rest of my options? I'm interested in all of it from keeping a pet dog for their "permanent" sense evil and sixth sense to growing odd plants out of the party truck to crystals and varieties of implants. How do we protect/countermand all the psychics and supernatural without specialists?

[Riftmaker]

Magic items A high ME being psionic yourself or having a psionic minion. Thats about it

[Snake Eyes]

Or a psionic-dampener implant.....(found in the bionics sourcebook)

[mercedogre]

tin foil hats

[Blue_Lion]

I would start by having your charter do actions in game to get the answer from the GM.(There is a implant mentioned.) Let the GM know what you are thinking about but if he just tells you then it is metta gaming but if your charter does research in game any information from you GM can be used but it may not be accurate.

A GM can say there are plants or drugs in his game to help protect you or anything else he chooses.
There are PCC that can negate magic and psi powers but you are all men at arms.

One of the draw backs of not having psi is not having the protection that it grants you.

[Killer Cyborg]

tin foil hats

Yup.

[glitterboy2098]

EBA with camera based normal vision systems will protect you from some of the more hypnotic type powers, though exactly which suits use these may be up to the GM in many cases for body armor. most robots and PA use these though.

the Psyscape book has a CS developed helmet device that can stop many powers from effecting you, though it is experimental and rare even in the CS. (also YMMV regarding whether you can believe the CS can invent such a thing)
the same book has a TW equivalent as well.

[Mack]

Shoot anyone you suspect of being psychic.

And the tinfoil hat. Don't forget the hat.

[say652]

Hires a Dogboy and a Mind Bleeder.
What psychic attack??

[Killer Cyborg]

So as a player in a Rifts game how does one protect themselves against psionics and the supernatural without current access to Lores and specialized classes?

The bolded part is the tough part.
If you don't have the lore, then you don't really know much about psionics in the first place, much less about how to protect against them.
Not unless you have access to somebody who does have the knowledge, and is willing to share it with you.

[Grell]

Make your saving throws?

[Shark_Force]

last i recall, psionics doesn't work outward through 250 MDC or more of environmental power armour. presumably the reverse applies as well.

so, obviously you just need to live inside a suit of power armour for the rest of your life.

of course, that just brings up the next tricky question... how do you get psychic protection for your power armour?

(and yes, it is very, very necessary).

[Blue_Lion]

last i recall, psionics doesn't work outward through 250 MDC or more of environmental power armour. presumably the reverse applies as well.

so, obviously you just need to live inside a suit of power armour for the rest of your life.

of course, that just brings up the next tricky question... how do you get psychic protection for your power armour?

(and yes, it is very, very necessary).

Do you know of any book reference to back that up?
That would place full borgs as being able to reach protected status, so is kind of important information.

There is a cap on EBA of 125mdc (with out resorting to TW) per SOT line, the one with cyber knights. Some exoskeleton and snow flake armor may be higher.

[ShadowLogan]

Re: OP situation
That haven't been mentioned yet:
-Bio-Wizard (Atlantis) organisms, some might be short acting while others longer term
-"partner" like Psymbiote (WB12, sp?)
-Find and then let a Gene Splicer (or Gene Tech) go to work on you, though this can have consequences and is subject to GM availability
-there are magic items you can purchase to help (like an Amulet)
-there are drugs/potions that exist w/n canon that can help (WB5 and WB3/BoM have examples, though this is likely not a complete list) but are subject to GM availability and you will need a steady supply and/or suspicion to use it (or take it before a situation develops).
-play rules lawyer and read up on the power(s) in question so that you know their limitations and respond accordingly (a bit of meta-gaming), though the GM can still over ride it, to make sure the GM mind control actions are still w/n the limits of the power(s) used.
-as a group you may want to talk to the GM about the mind control aspect and your comfort level with it
-did you all roll for psychic powers already (per character creation steps)

I think it should be noted though, that since you are metagaming here, a good number of the options generated probably aren't going to be procured for mind control defence without some sort of in character basis/knowledge, but have to be a secondary or lower benefit to really make sense if you character(s) don't have access to the Lore skills (you might want to pick them up).

[Prysus]

last i recall, psionics doesn't work outward through 250 MDC or more of environmental power armour. presumably the reverse applies as well.

so, obviously you just need to live inside a suit of power armour for the rest of your life.

of course, that just brings up the next tricky question... how do you get psychic protection for your power armour?

(and yes, it is very, very necessary).

Do you know of any book reference to back that up?
That would place full borgs as being able to reach protected status, so is kind of important information.

There is a cap on EBA of 125mdc (with out resorting to TW) per SOT line, the one with cyber knights. Some exoskeleton and snow flake armor may be higher.

Greetings and Salutations. RUE, Page 366, Psychic Combat section, Note 2 (addressing mind control and empathy in particular), it's the sentence that starts in the left column and finishes in the right. Hope that helps. Farewell and safe journeys.

[Blue_Lion]

First it is not EBA at all heavy power armor, and vehicles are what they list. It is also limited to powerss that affect the mind and emotions. They seam to require line of sight, and knowledge. So it looks like they are talking about cases where you can not see the victom.

I am confused as why you said note 2 as it is not a note but a number of subheadings and nothing to do with a note.

[Prysus]

First it is not EBA at all heavy power armor, and vehicles are what they list.

Greetings and Salutations. And he's discussing "environmental power armor" (yes, RUE uses the term "environmental" as well). I provided the reference (that was requested) for "power armor." For a refresher (bold added by me) ...

last i recall, psionics doesn't work outward through 250 MDC or more of environmental power armour.
[snip]
so, obviously you just need to live inside a suit of power armour for the rest of your life.
[snip]
how do you get psychic protection for your power armour?

It is also limited to powerss that affect the mind and emotions.

And since the original poster was discussing combating Mind Control (which will affect the mind), this seems applicable.

I am confused as why you said note 2 as it is not a note but a number of subheadings and nothing to do with a note.

I was typing from my phone and had looked at the section 5 of 10 minutes earlier. I said it in a way to help someone find the section on the page (which seems to have worked), but you're not missing anything. There aren't any additional notes or anything like that. So describe it however you like. Farewell and safe journeys.

[Blue_Lion]

First it is not EBA at all heavy power armor, and vehicles are what they list.

Greetings and Salutations. And he's discussing "environmental power armor" (yes, RUE uses the term "environmental" as well). I provided the reference (that was requested) for "power armor." For a refresher (bold added by me) ...

last i recall, psionics doesn't work outward through 250 MDC or more of environmental power armour.
[snip]
so, obviously you just need to live inside a suit of power armour for the rest of your life.
[snip]
how do you get psychic protection for your power armour?

It is also limited to powerss that affect the mind and emotions.

And since the original poster was discussing combating Mind Control (which will affect the mind), this seems applicable.

I am confused as why you said note 2 as it is not a note but a number of subheadings and nothing to do with a note.

I was typing from my phone and had looked at the section 5 of 10 minutes earlier. I said it in a way to help someone find the section on the page (which seems to have worked), but you're not missing anything. There aren't any additional notes or anything like that. So describe it however you like. Farewell and safe journeys.

You might want to double check it was psionics and supernatural in general not mind control.
Basically it was we lack this so how do we protect from it.
Hence the reason he mentioned having a pet dog for sense supernatural evil.

[Prysus]

You might want to double check it was psionics and supernatural in general not mind control.
Basically it was we lack this so how do we protect from it.
Hence the reason he mentioned having a pet dog for sense supernatural evil.

Greetings and Salutations. He did, and he also mentioned mind control specifically.

We have zero men of magic, psionics, or gifted D-Bees and a GM fond of mind controlling NPCs.

It won't solve all the problems, but it will address one of the specific problems at hand. But I will admit, Shark Force's post didn't specify Mind Control (I knew the rule, so I inserted it mentally when I read his post). Granted, physical psionics will attack the power armor (and not the individual inside) anyways (unless maybe the power armor is transparent). Supernatural will be an entirely different issue.

All of this is really becoming a tangent though. You asked for a citation, which you have. Overall it's rather clear in its application. Arguing over how useful it is will depend on the person and the group. Farewell and safe journeys.

[Shark_Force]

incidentally, a 250 MDC suit of power armour is also quite broadly useful against supernatural and psionic effects in general as well. a lot of things work through body armour, fewer work through environmental body armour, and very few bypass environmental power armour.