CB1 Revised, N&SS Martial Arts Powers, and I.S.P.

[Glistam]

In the Revised Conversion Book 1, on pages 52 and 53 Kevin wrote and added in a section which briefly discusses turning the Ninjas and Superspies Martial Arts powers into special Psionic powers. I know this is not a popular conversion but I wondered if anyone has ever gone through that section and actually been able to make them work? I looked through it seriously last night and I can't figure out how those conversion could actually work, as written. I was thinking of trying to actually do this, where I add these powers to a psychic character, but I couldn't easily reconcile what was written in CB1 with the original power descriptions.

[The Beast]

Stop trying to convert them, and leave them how they are.

[say652]

I use the Rifts Japan ppe powered versions.
But I think all three types, chi, isp and ppe powered versions belong in the game.

There are many paths along the way. ...

[Glistam]

From the standpoint of, "I am looking for additional, cool psychic powers to give my psychic character" I really like the idea of using I.S.P. versions of the Martial Arts powers. But the way that Kevin "converted" them was quick and sloppy. He ignored what the abilities could actually do, arbitrarily assigned I.S.P. costs without regard for how to integrate I.S.P. into the chi-based system, and also managed to completely miss the Mystic China martial arts powers.

I was hoping I could find more than one or two usable gems here. I was especially intrigued by the notion of giving a psychic character an I.S.P. version of Chi Meditation, Dragon Chi, Dark Chi, or the Mystic China Mending Chi Kata. I'm not quite sure that just assigning an I.S.P. cost and replacing all instances of the word "Chi" with "I.S.P." is the best way to handle these powers - especially Chi Meditation.

[Axelmania]

Having a Dragon Chi for ISP is like always being on a ley line for a mage for the most part. Exceptions being underground or anywhere else with negative chi, and getting that other version would compensate for it.

[drewkitty ~..~]

The only part of that text that I don't like is when people mis-read it to the effect that they say that Chi does not exist in rifts. Which is not what the text says.

Looking over the text, with my 1st thoughts, I would at very least cut all the ISP costs in half. Some like the Warrior Spirt and Weapons Katas or a couple of the Chi Mastery basic abilitiesI would eliminate the ISP costs.

Dragon Chi….would make this only workable on LL&LLN and it draw ISP out of the LL/LLN up to the Base ISP max limit. Drawing ISP equal to one third the PPE mages can draw out of LL/LLN.
psi's typically have lower Base ISP score then a Mage's PPE Base PPE score, and can over charge. (unless you got the psi equivalent of Chi overcharge.)

The Short Of It I would evaluate each and every MA power and ability and see if the stated ISP cost is really what should be. Which is the Long Part Of It.

[Blue_Lion]

Chi combat and positive and negative chi kind of make it unworkable. If you have 0 chi you can't heal if your chi is the wrong type you can't heal. So you can't do chi combat with isp as not every one has it.

[ShadowLogan]

The only part of that text that I don't like is when people mis-read it to the effect that they say that Chi does not exist in rifts. Which is not what the text says.

Chi does exist in Rifts, the Cyber Knight writeup in SoT4/RUE specifically calls it out (and IIRC RMB skirts the issue in calling it Chi) as part of their training that allows them to manifest their default Psi-powers even when a race shouldn't have access to Psionics. What doesn't exist in Rifts (as of yet) is the actual Chi Mechanics.

Chi combat and positive and negative chi kind of make it unworkable. If you have 0 chi you can't heal if your chi is the wrong type you can't heal. So you can't do chi combat with isp as not every one has it.

Full Disclosure: I do not have N&SS, though have flipped through a friend's copy in the past (don't remember much on Chi though).

Given that Rifts doesn't seem to want to use Chi mechanic, what about instead of having it effect Chi (for Rifts) it targets PPE instead since everyone is going to have PPE, even if it is ISP powered (and the two can be converted generally at 2:1 ratio). The alternative is to introduce Chi as a statistic/attribute (like PPE is for non-casters), but the powers themselves are fueled by ISP (or PPE) would be my suggestions in how to handle this issue. Those would seem to be the simplest ways to resolve the issue.

[Blue_Lion]

The only part of that text that I don't like is when people mis-read it to the effect that they say that Chi does not exist in rifts. Which is not what the text says.

Chi does exist in Rifts, the Cyber Knight writeup in SoT4/RUE specifically calls it out (and IIRC RMB skirts the issue in calling it Chi) as part of their training that allows them to manifest their default Psi-powers even when a race shouldn't have access to Psionics. What doesn't exist in Rifts (as of yet) is the actual Chi Mechanics.

Chi combat and positive and negative chi kind of make it unworkable. If you have 0 chi you can't heal if your chi is the wrong type you can't heal. So you can't do chi combat with isp as not every one has it.

Full Disclosure: I do not have N&SS, though have flipped through a friend's copy in the past (don't remember much on Chi though).

Given that Rifts doesn't seem to want to use Chi mechanic, what about instead of having it effect Chi (for Rifts) it targets PPE instead since everyone is going to have PPE, even if it is ISP powered (and the two can be converted generally at 2:1 ratio). The alternative is to introduce Chi as a statistic/attribute (like PPE is for non-casters), but the powers themselves are fueled by ISP (or PPE) would be my suggestions in how to handle this issue. Those would seem to be the simplest ways to resolve the issue.

Every one has chi equal to their PE.(even nonliving objects have chi) typically the only time you worry about it is if some one has a conversion charter that uses chi arts.

The positive negative thing throws it off as their are some techniques that require you to change what you have. Chi combat is using one chi to disrupt the other. There is no negative ISP so you do not get the same affects of the mechanics that some powers require.

[Alrik Vas]

You should only convert if you plan on removing mechanics like chi combat. Otherwise keep chi separate.

[drewkitty ~..~]

SL I do think you missed the meaning of what I was talking about.
There have been other posters that used that text to mean that there is no Chi in rifts. Yes, they are totally ignored the text that immediately preceded it to get to that conclusion.

Given that Rifts doesn't seem to want to use Chi mechanic, what about instead of having it effect Chi (for Rifts) it targets PPE instead since everyone is going to have PPE, even if it is ISP powered (and the two can be converted generally at 2:1 ratio). The alternative is to introduce Chi as a statistic/attribute (like PPE is for non-casters), but the powers themselves are fueled by ISP (or PPE) would be my suggestions in how to handle this issue. Those would seem to be the simplest ways to resolve the issue.

Here is a simple rule for dividing up the powers….If they use ISP they are Psi Powers. No if's, and's or but's.
(This does put the PW Phase powers squarely into the Psi Power category too.)
A corollary Rule would be…If they use PPE then they are effected by a Anti-magic Cloud.

If you remember that the RCB1r was 1st written before the RChina books, so just have the RC book numbers supersede the RCB1r numbers fix some of the 'problems' of having the MA powers converted to Psi Powers.
An even easier fix would be to skip that next rifts book purchase and get the N&S book and just use the Chi powers.

[Glistam]

Guys, I understand the preference is to just keep the Chi mechanic from Ninjas and Superspies and that Kevin's modifications are poorly thought out and generally unworkable.

However, it is something I am in a position to want to try and make work. I cannot import Chi powers or martial art powers, but I can import psionics. I am intrigued by bringing some of these powers into a Palladium game as psychic abilities. I have already brought in Calm Minds. I am strongly considering Chi-Gung next. Two-Minds intrigues me, as do any of the ones which seem to indicate that "Chi" (or in this case, I.S.P.) could be replenished faster.

The idea of looking for the equivalents in Rifts: China is a good one. I know they didn't cover every power but it's a good starting point.

[drewkitty ~..~]

"The MA power Two Minds and the super power Multi-tasking….able to blend together or only one at one time?" is what popped into my head when you mentioned the Two Minds power G.

Even though I Despise a good portion of the "New" MA psionics (100's of ISP ) in the RC books, Erik W. did write both the N&S and the RChina books. So they "should" be closer together then what another writer would do.

[eliakon]

Guys, I understand the preference is to just keep the Chi mechanic from Ninjas and Superspies and that Kevin's modifications are poorly thought out and generally unworkable.

However, it is something I am in a position to want to try and make work. I cannot import Chi powers or martial art powers, but I can import psionics. I am intrigued by bringing some of these powers into a Palladium game as psychic abilities. I have already brought in Calm Minds. I am strongly considering Chi-Gung next. Two-Minds intrigues me, as do any of the ones which seem to indicate that "Chi" (or in this case, I.S.P.) could be replenished faster.

The idea of looking for the equivalents in Rifts: China is a good one. I know they didn't cover every power but it's a good starting point.

I have managed to do this a little on a case by case basis.
My advice is that you will need a flexible group that is willing to 'fix' things if the conversion doesn't work out the first time.
It can take a couple tries to get the numbers to be something that will work exactly for the particular group and unfortunately this more than many things is a 'it depends' situation. I say this because the conversion that worked in my CSPsi game was not the one that worked in my Tellas game. And I doubt that either of those tweeks will be quite the right fit for your game.
For the record we ended up making Dragon/Dark Chi a meditation skill. You had to meditate and if you passed your meditation roll, you gained X ISP per round up to a certain threshold (the 'chi' score was a maximum ISP value equal to the PEx2, this allowed for 'chi' powers to be ISP powered but also allowed for psychics to have their huge ISP pools). The exact percentages, amounts of X, consequences of failure, where you could do it, etc. were the sorts of thing that had to be worked out for each game.

[Suicycho]

Stop trying to convert them, and leave them how they are.

Exactly.

[Ed]

Stop trying to convert them, and leave them how they are.

Exactly.

Or just use the Japan versions. As was said earlier.

[Killer Cyborg]

In the Revised Conversion Book 1, on pages 52 and 53 Kevin wrote and added in a section which briefly discusses turning the Ninjas and Superspies Martial Arts powers into special Psionic powers. I know this is not a popular conversion but I wondered if anyone has ever gone through that section and actually been able to make them work? I looked through it seriously last night and I can't figure out how those conversion could actually work, as written. I was thinking of trying to actually do this, where I add these powers to a psychic character, but I couldn't easily reconcile what was written in CB1 with the original power descriptions.

I had the same experience once.
I decided, "Okay, heck. Let's play it this way and see how bad it gets..."
But I couldn't even figure out quite how it was supposed to work at all.

[Glistam]

In the Revised Conversion Book 1, on pages 52 and 53 Kevin wrote and added in a section which briefly discusses turning the Ninjas and Superspies Martial Arts powers into special Psionic powers. I know this is not a popular conversion but I wondered if anyone has ever gone through that section and actually been able to make them work? I looked through it seriously last night and I can't figure out how those conversion could actually work, as written. I was thinking of trying to actually do this, where I add these powers to a psychic character, but I couldn't easily reconcile what was written in CB1 with the original power descriptions.

I had the same experience once.
I decided, "Okay, heck. Let's play it this way and see how bad it gets..."
But I couldn't even figure out quite how it was supposed to work at all.

Yeah. That's literally the same issue I'm having.

[Killer Cyborg]

In the Revised Conversion Book 1, on pages 52 and 53 Kevin wrote and added in a section which briefly discusses turning the Ninjas and Superspies Martial Arts powers into special Psionic powers. I know this is not a popular conversion but I wondered if anyone has ever gone through that section and actually been able to make them work? I looked through it seriously last night and I can't figure out how those conversion could actually work, as written. I was thinking of trying to actually do this, where I add these powers to a psychic character, but I couldn't easily reconcile what was written in CB1 with the original power descriptions.

I had the same experience once.
I decided, "Okay, heck. Let's play it this way and see how bad it gets..."
But I couldn't even figure out quite how it was supposed to work at all.

Yeah. That's literally the same issue I'm having.

I took another quick look at the book, and I don't recall the issue that I had when I tried it.
There's a lot that displeases me from an aesthetic standpoint and a player standpoint, but looking at it now it seems playable to some degree.

What issues are you running into specifically?

[Ed]

In the Revised Conversion Book 1, on pages 52 and 53 Kevin wrote and added in a section which briefly discusses turning the Ninjas and Superspies Martial Arts powers into special Psionic powers. I know this is not a popular conversion but I wondered if anyone has ever gone through that section and actually been able to make them work? I looked through it seriously last night and I can't figure out how those conversion could actually work, as written. I was thinking of trying to actually do this, where I add these powers to a psychic character, but I couldn't easily reconcile what was written in CB1 with the original power descriptions.

I had the same experience once.
I decided, "Okay, heck. Let's play it this way and see how bad it gets..."
But I couldn't even figure out quite how it was supposed to work at all.

Isn't there a race in Three Galaxies, the Oni, that use psionic martial arts? Could that not be a place to start?

[Nightmask]

In the Revised Conversion Book 1, on pages 52 and 53 Kevin wrote and added in a section which briefly discusses turning the Ninjas and Superspies Martial Arts powers into special Psionic powers. I know this is not a popular conversion but I wondered if anyone has ever gone through that section and actually been able to make them work? I looked through it seriously last night and I can't figure out how those conversion could actually work, as written. I was thinking of trying to actually do this, where I add these powers to a psychic character, but I couldn't easily reconcile what was written in CB1 with the original power descriptions.

I had the same experience once.
I decided, "Okay, heck. Let's play it this way and see how bad it gets..."
But I couldn't even figure out quite how it was supposed to work at all.

Isn't there a race in Three Galaxies, the Oni, that use psionic martial arts? Could that not be a place to start?

The Oni Ninja is more a race-restricted OCC for Oni that has a variety of psionic powers available that have the appearance in many cases of being similar in nature to some of the martial arts powers from N&SS and MC, although it suggests that it's possible that a non-Oni of a psionic-capable race could also become one.

[Axelmania]

I pretty much assume there are some human Oni ninja. They are physically inferior and would make fun Genin to bully.

[Killer Cyborg]

I'm just going to assume that nobody in this thread other than myself and the OP is familiar with CB1r 52 & 53.

[Axelmania]

52 says "one can easily argue" before "are psionic in nature" so it still reads more of an option than a necessity.

In saying he modified these into equivalent psionics, that created new abilities but did not dismiss the original ones.

I wouldn't see reason to think that unless a recent reprint of Mercs has changed Kinoshi.

[Nightmask]

I pretty much assume there are some human Oni ninja. They are physically inferior and would make fun Genin to bully.

Why do you think they're physically inferior? Because nothing about the write-up suggests that a non-Oni Ninja is in any way, shape, or form inferior to the Oni Ninja. They have all the same powers, abilities, and MDC as any other.

[ShadowLogan]

I'm just going to assume that nobody in this thread other than myself and the OP is familiar with CB1r 52 & 53.

I am familiar with CB1r pg52-3, what I am not familiar with is N&SS/MC.

The Oni Ninja is more a race-restricted OCC for Oni that has a variety of psionic powers available that have the appearance in many cases of being similar in nature to some of the martial arts powers from N&SS and MC, although it suggests that it's possible that a non-Oni of a psionic-capable race could also become one.

Then wouldn't this be the place to look at for guidance in converting the N&SS/MC stuff for use as additional psionic powers if they are already similar in nature?

[Killer Cyborg]

52 says "one can easily argue" before "are psionic in nature" so it still reads more of an option than a necessity.

In saying he modified these into equivalent psionics, that created new abilities but did not dismiss the original ones.

Agreed.
The question was if anybody has gotten these new powers to function effectively in a game.

[Killer Cyborg]

I'm just going to assume that nobody in this thread other than myself and the OP is familiar with CB1r 52 & 53.

I am familiar with CB1r pg52-3, what I am not familiar with is N&SS/MC.

Fair enough, but you're missing out.
N&S is one of Palladium's better games.

[Glistam]

In the Revised Conversion Book 1, on pages 52 and 53 Kevin wrote and added in a section which briefly discusses turning the Ninjas and Superspies Martial Arts powers into special Psionic powers. I know this is not a popular conversion but I wondered if anyone has ever gone through that section and actually been able to make them work? I looked through it seriously last night and I can't figure out how those conversion could actually work, as written. I was thinking of trying to actually do this, where I add these powers to a psychic character, but I couldn't easily reconcile what was written in CB1 with the original power descriptions.

I had the same experience once.
I decided, "Okay, heck. Let's play it this way and see how bad it gets..."
But I couldn't even figure out quite how it was supposed to work at all.

Yeah. That's literally the same issue I'm having.

I took another quick look at the book, and I don't recall the issue that I had when I tried it.
There's a lot that displeases me from an aesthetic standpoint and a player standpoint, but looking at it now it seems playable to some degree.

What issues are you running into specifically?

I can't pull out the book to list the specific issues I had when I reviewed the section, but here's what I remember:

In general, the fact that abilities which were used for "free" before now have an I.S.P. cost, even when it didn't seem to make sense.

The Arts of Stealth now all cost I.S.P. to use, or they have a new base percentage of success if I.S.P. isn't spent. Does that mean the various powers are automatically successful once I.S.P. is spent, or do they still roll for success at the percentages listed in their powers? In that case, what's the point now of Mystic Invisibility?

Body Hardening exercises need I.S.P. for their bonuses to be functional?

With I.S.P. instead of Chi, how is Chi combat supposed to work now? How does using Chi at all work? Is it one I.S.P. equals one Chi for the purposes of this conversion? You can have "negative I.S.P." and it stops you from healing? How does this type of combat work on people without I.S.P. at all?

Weapon Katas cost I.S.P. to activate?

Where are the Mystic China powers/classes and their conversions?

[The Beast]

I'm just going to assume that nobody in this thread other than myself and the OP is familiar with CB1r 52 & 53.

You can be familiar with those two pages all you want. What I'm looking for is

Spoiler:

mission report, December 16, 1991.

[drewkitty ~..~]

I can't pull out the book to list the specific issues I had when I reviewed the section, but here's what I remember:

In general, the fact that abilities which were used for "free" before now have an I.S.P. cost, even when it didn't seem to make sense.

The Arts of Stealth now all cost I.S.P. to use, or they have a new base percentage of success if I.S.P. isn't spent. Does that mean the various powers are automatically successful once I.S.P. is spent, or do they still roll for success at the percentages listed in their powers? In that case, what's the point now of Mystic Invisibility?

Body Hardening exercises need I.S.P. for their bonuses to be functional?

With I.S.P. instead of Chi, how is Chi combat supposed to work now? How does using Chi at all work? Is it one I.S.P. equals one Chi for the purposes of this conversion? You can have "negative I.S.P." and it stops you from healing? How does this type of combat work on people without I.S.P. at all?

Weapon Katas cost I.S.P. to activate?

Where are the Mystic China powers/classes and their conversions?

Remember that the text being talked about is psi powers that mimic the chi MA powers. Not a converting of the MA powers to ISP. So yah, they are going to cost more. And Yah, there are going to be some of the psi powers that are going to 'cost something' where the Chi powers were free or the training 'powers' (katas and body hardening) just gave bonuses w/o costing anything.

[Glistam]

I can't pull out the book to list the specific issues I had when I reviewed the section, but here's what I remember:

In general, the fact that abilities which were used for "free" before now have an I.S.P. cost, even when it didn't seem to make sense.

The Arts of Stealth now all cost I.S.P. to use, or they have a new base percentage of success if I.S.P. isn't spent. Does that mean the various powers are automatically successful once I.S.P. is spent, or do they still roll for success at the percentages listed in their powers? In that case, what's the point now of Mystic Invisibility?

Body Hardening exercises need I.S.P. for their bonuses to be functional?

With I.S.P. instead of Chi, how is Chi combat supposed to work now? How does using Chi at all work? Is it one I.S.P. equals one Chi for the purposes of this conversion? You can have "negative I.S.P." and it stops you from healing? How does this type of combat work on people without I.S.P. at all?

Weapon Katas cost I.S.P. to activate?

Where are the Mystic China powers/classes and their conversions?

Remember that the text being talked about is psi powers that mimic the chi MA powers. Not a converting of the MA powers to ISP. So yah, they are going to cost more. And Yah, there are going to be some of the psi powers that are going to 'cost something' where the Chi powers were free or the training 'powers' (katas and body hardening) just gave bonuses w/o costing anything.

So then explain what happens when a psychic with Hand to Hand Martial Arts takes a Weapon Kata psionic power in Rifts and spends the I.S.P. to activate it.

Also please explain how to reconcile when a psychic with Hand to Hand Martial Arts takes the Art of Hiding psionic power and spends the I.S.P. to activate it. Conversely, since the paragraph note indicates it can be used with a base percentage chance of success without I.S.P., how that use of the power works when I.S.P. is not spent? The power itself has a percentage chance for success or failure.

I am interested in how to do negative Chi attacks and defense. It costs I.S.P. to activate the power of Defend against Chi Attacks (refereed to as "Chi Combat" in the Conversion Book) despite the ability being automatic in the original write up. Negative Chi Control and Negative Chi Attacks aren't even listed in that section - are they lumped into "Chi Combat?" Is negative I.S.P. a thing or are we sticking with Chi still, and just using I.S.P. to do it?

Martial Arts Awareness costs 20 I.S.P. now to activate, but what is its duration? This question actually applies to a lot (but not all) of the conversions.

[drewkitty ~..~]

[quote="Glistam"
So then explain what happens when a psychic with Hand to Hand Martial Arts takes a Weapon Kata psionic power in Rifts and spends the I.S.P. to activate it.

Also please explain how to reconcile when a psychic with Hand to Hand Martial Arts takes the Art of Hiding psionic power and spends the I.S.P. to activate it. Conversely, since the paragraph note indicates it can be used with a base percentage chance of success without I.S.P., how that use of the power works when I.S.P. is not spent? The power itself has a percentage chance for success or failure.

I am interested in how to do negative Chi attacks and defense. It costs I.S.P. to activate the power of Defend against Chi Attacks (refereed to as "Chi Combat" in the Conversion Book) despite the ability being automatic in the original write up. Negative Chi Control and Negative Chi Attacks aren't even listed in that section - are they lumped into "Chi Combat?" Is negative I.S.P. a thing or are we sticking with Chi still, and just using I.S.P. to do it?

Martial Arts Awareness costs 20 I.S.P. now to activate, but what is its duration? This question actually applies to a lot (but not all) of the conversions.[/quote]
Because they are all Psionic Powers mimicking the MA powers, training and abilities. Nothing more and nothing less.

If you are looking for Chi to ISP conversion of the Chi MA powers then you are looking at the wrong text. Yes, I agree that the Psionic powers listed in the CRB1&RCB1r are not conversions of the MA chi powers. [As I pointed out in my first post here.] That is because that is not what they are. So it is pointless to keep talking or thinking about them as if they are anything other then psionic powers mimicking MA chi powers.


As to how to start converting the Chi MA powers from N&S and MC…divide the Chi cost by three and you have the ISP cost. The adjust those number to fit the setting. Mostly adjusting the effects x3 to bring them in line with the minimum costs of whole ISP points.
I used the conversion numbers from the canon text that talks about how there are six chi per PPE point (MC chi-ppe conversion spells) and how 2 ISP are equvelent to 1 PPE for powering TW magic items. 6 chi to 1 PPE to 2 ISP. Taking the PPE out of the equation leaves 6 chi to 2 ISP. Which reduces to 3 to 1.

[Glistam]

So then explain what happens when a psychic with Hand to Hand Martial Arts takes a Weapon Kata psionic power in Rifts and spends the I.S.P. to activate it.

Also please explain how to reconcile when a psychic with Hand to Hand Martial Arts takes the Art of Hiding psionic power and spends the I.S.P. to activate it. Conversely, since the paragraph note indicates it can be used with a base percentage chance of success without I.S.P., how that use of the power works when I.S.P. is not spent? The power itself has a percentage chance for success or failure.

I am interested in how to do negative Chi attacks and defense. It costs I.S.P. to activate the power of Defend against Chi Attacks (refereed to as "Chi Combat" in the Conversion Book) despite the ability being automatic in the original write up. Negative Chi Control and Negative Chi Attacks aren't even listed in that section - are they lumped into "Chi Combat?" Is negative I.S.P. a thing or are we sticking with Chi still, and just using I.S.P. to do it?

Martial Arts Awareness costs 20 I.S.P. now to activate, but what is its duration? This question actually applies to a lot (but not all) of the conversions.

Because they are all Psionic Powers mimicking the MA powers, training and abilities. Nothing more and nothing less.

If you are looking for Chi to ISP conversion of the Chi MA powers then you are looking at the wrong text. Yes, I agree that the Psionic powers listed in the CRB1&RCB1r are not conversions of the MA chi powers. [As I pointed out in my first post here.] That is because that is not what they are. So it is pointless to keep thinking or talking about them as if they are anything other then psionic powers mimicking MA chi powers.


As to how to start converting the Chi MA powers from N&S and MC…divide the Chi cost by three and you have the ISP cost. The adjust those number to fit the setting. Mostly adjusting the effects x3 to bring them in line with the minimum costs of whole ISP points.
I used the conversion numbers from the canon text that talks about how there are six chi per PPE point (MC chi-ppe conversion spells) and how 2 ISP are equvelent to 1 PPE for powering TW magic items. 6 chi to 1 PPE to 2 ISP. Taking the PPE out of the equation leaves 6 chi to 2 ISP. Which reduces to 3 to 1.

So please answer this. Just this one, since several at once made them all get ignored: With your guidelines and thought process, please explain what happens when a psychic with Hand to Hand Martial Arts takes a Weapon Kata psionic power in Rifts and spends the I.S.P. to activate it.

[drewkitty ~..~]

Simple they now can use the specified weapon with the WP bonuses without having been trained in it.
The GM would have to come up with a duration for the power.

Yes, in rifts it effectively turns the WK into a WP because there are no limitations about what weapons can be used with h2h's like there are concerning MAF's. *shrugs*

[ShadowLogan]

@Killer Cyborg
I should probably be a bit clearer. I have had a chance(s) to flip through N&SS in the past with a friend's copy, but that was a long time ago. So I am familiar with aspects to varying degrees, but can not easily review the material (our schedules currently don't mesh well).

So then explain what happens when a psychic with Hand to Hand Martial Arts takes a Weapon Kata psionic power in Rifts and spends the I.S.P. to activate it.

My understanding of what a Weapon Kata is though makes it out to be a WP, though the description in RCB1r mentions "Bonuses and Special abilities". So ordinarily I don't see why you would even spend a power slot on this skill unless there are special abilities/bonuses are superior to the WP skill. If you are asking why spend the ISP for the ability, it may come down to the Weapon Kata being similar to Telemechanics (maybe even a form of object read) that grants the "skill knowledge" and not a form of actual learning. Other Katas...

As drewkitty said, and I am aware of, N&SS Martial Arts don't work with WP unless you take a weapon kata, but that rule/approach is essentially isolated to N&SS AFAIK.

Martial Arts Awareness costs 20 I.S.P. now to activate, but what is its duration? This question actually applies to a lot (but not all) of the conversions.

In cases like this it may indicate the duration hasn't changed, though if the ability in question natively doesn’t have a duration... It likely varies, without an actual refresher material from N&SS it could be Instant for some, 2 or 5 minutes for others (based on RCB1r examples), or you could have the ISP cost as permanent (like Mind Block Auto Defence).

Also please explain how to reconcile when a psychic with Hand to Hand Martial Arts takes the Art of Hiding psionic power and spends the I.S.P. to activate it. Conversely, since the paragraph note indicates it can be used with a base percentage chance of success without I.S.P., how that use of the power works when I.S.P. is not spent? The power itself has a percentage chance for success or failure.

I'm not sure where the problem is. When ISP is spent it is functioning as a psionic power, if it is not spent it functions as a skill. That is my take on the text, which seems pretty clear that is how they are to operate.

Body Hardening exercises need I.S.P. for their bonuses to be functional?

Yes, they seem to be going to have them function as variants of "Summon Inner Strength" and/or some other specific power(s). At least that is what I am walking away after reading the descriptions. You could even take the view that many/all of these powers are "variants" of an existing power (though I'm not considering Chi)

[Alrik Vas]

I think there might be a decent argument for chi being a.bit of both. chi is in everything and everyone, it's your inner strength, but it can also be drawn from places of power. The big difference is that those who learn the techniques of chi don't grasp how to easily grasp it from the world around them, but those that do can pull it from anything. This isn't an entirely uncommon phenomenon in cultural differences. It's like discovering gun powder thousands of years before anyone else, but its applications in war are only so-so, while others who got it much later put it to more effective use.

This is only some mental jumping jacks though. I'm not personally into the idea.

[Axelmania]

Why do you think they're physically inferior? Because nothing about the write-up suggests that a non-Oni Ninja is in any way, shape, or form inferior to the Oni Ninja. They have all the same powers, abilities, and MDC as any other.

I just meant on average Oni have better physical attributes than humans. Based on 3D6 the 15 strength/prowess needed to be one (4.63% chance) is where half of them are going to be, the chances of getting 16-18 are equal.

Oni on the other hand will have PS 16+ during 99.61 % of the time and PP 16+ during 95.37 % of the time.

This matters more with strength I guess, the cap on prowess bonuses at 30 and the ability of physical skills to help near it (even with the bonus to prowess being half the bonus to strength/endurance/speed) makes the Oni's larger amount not as big a factory as it might initially seem.

Also taking into account bonus dice, the 1/2 of human qualifiers who don't come in at 15 will have a smaller gap since they get the +1D6 on 16-18. I'm not certain you get that if you have racial bonuses, like an Oni's 3D6+10, cool as that would be.