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Hello, everyone,

I'm starting a new campaign and have a player who wants to be a psychic Eskatonic, and I'm trying to figure out how that would work. There pretty well have to be some psychic clergy--think of how early kids get recruited into the Church--and I'd expect the Eskatonics to have more than their fair share. But would they have to be Penitents? Or, particularly for the Eskatonic, would their ecclesiastical rank override that? I'd appreciate any thoughts.

Hi Caerid,

I would say that if you want a priest character to be a known/official psychic, then s/he would HAVE to be a Penitent of the Church. That said, for a priest the Penitence status might very well be a formality since his/her good character and trustworthiness is implicit in the clerical position. I guess it would depend on who your patrons in the Church were and how much influence they have. Being an Eskatonic would be no benefit, I'm afraid; remember that the Urth Orthodoxy for all intents and purposes, IS the Universal Church of the Celestial Sun, and they generally do not trust the Eskatonics. (The Eskatonics were welcomed into the Church only because they had special occult resources that the Church - and Humanity - needed at the time; they are NOT trusted or even liked). Of course, in Eskatonic circles, a psychic might be cut some slack, but out in the world being a controversial member of the most controversial Sect could be a major obstacle.

In practice, I would say that if your player can come up with some reason for his/her character being cut some slack - for instance, by being backed by an influential Urth Orthodox Archbishop (whom the character of course owes favors) + having accepted the Penitent label to placate the naysayers - then go for it! Of course, the character could also be hiding his/her psychism... However, I think it would be more interesting if you make the concept into a socio-political thing instead of a clandestine one, and there are too few patrons, friends, and allies for the GM to abuse in most RPG games (IMO).

Exposure to psychic powers is a sin, bringing them into being is definitely not something a Clergy member could get away with. The player could be a penitent and gain the protection of the Church but they'd never really have the trust or acceptance of their sect.

My 2 cents

We had a psychic Eskatonic in our game. He had been found as an orphan and taught, cloistered and protected by a secret radical priest. He had a major Dark Secret affliction and kept his "gifts" from the other characters.
Of course things didn't end well for him as he ended up on the business end of an inquisition flamer..... But the thing was it was an interesting & unique character, the story we told was memorable and the impact of events spurred a whole bunch of other plotlines.

Just wanted to say that I love all the traffic. Welcome to the boards, Maddoc.