On Psychic Phenomena

In my previous post of encounters on the Wyvern Coast, I referenced a psychic class, which I now present here. What follows is open game content.

The Psychic Sub-Class
The psychic is a sub-class of magic-user that learns to focus his innate mental powers to create astrounding psychic phenomena. Psychics must go though a training regimen not dissimilar to monks. But where monks train their bodies, psychics train their minds.

• Prime Attribute: Intelligence & Wisdom, 13+ (+5% experience)
• Hit Dice: 1d4 (Gains 1 hp/level after 10th level.)
• Armor/Shield Permitted: Leather, padded.
• Weapons Permitted: Club, dagger, dart, hand axe, light hammer, short bow, sickle, sling, spear, staff.

The most basic ability a psychic has is his “sixth sense”, which warns him of danger. Because of their sixth sense, psychics are only surprised on a roll of 1 on 1d8. Psychics receive a +1 bonus on saving throws made to avoid traps, and can spot secret or hidden doors as well as an elf.

Psychics train their minds to be a veritable fortress of intellect. This gives them a +1 bonus on saving throws against mental magics (ESP, charm person, etc) and the powers of other psychics. At 6th level, their intellect fortress becomes a tower of iron will and their saving throw bonus improves to +3.

At levels 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11 the psychic opens the door to a new psychic power from the following list. To use a power, the psychic must succeed at a saving throw, and his victim (if there is one) must fail a saving throw. The subject of a psychic power must be within the psychic’s field of vision. If, during the day, a psychic fails a saving throw to activate a power, that power closes to him for the remainder of the day and until he spends one hour in meditation the next day.

Psychic Powers
Astral Projection: The psychic can enter a trance and project his astral spirit from his physical body. This astral spirit is incorporeal and unable to interact with the physical world. Astral spirits can only communicate using the power of telepathy. An astral spirit can travel freely over the physical world, and can enter the ethereal and astral planes at will. The astral spirit can interact with objects and creatures on the ethereal and astral planes, and can communicate normally therein. If a psychic’s astral spirit is killed, his physical body dies as well.

Channeling: By opening his mind to the cosmos, the psychic can commune with higher planes (as the magic-user spell contact other plane). Channelling is a difficult power to control, and imposes a -5 penalty on the psychic’s activation saving throw. A failure to activate this power results in the psychic’s personality (or alignment) changing (as determined by the Referee) for 1d6 days.

Clairaudience/Clairvoyance: A psychic with these abilities can see or hear the going’s on in a different place. If the psychic has never been in this place, or does not know somebody present, his saving throw to activate this ability is made at a -5 penalty. Separate saving throws must be made to use clairaudience (remote hearing) and clairvoyance (remote seeing).

Cloud Minds: With this ability, a psychic can cloud people’s minds, making himself invisible to them. Just as with the magic-user spell invisibility, an attack by the psychic spoils the effect. If used on multiple subjects, the psychic suffers a -1 penalty to his saving throw to activate the power for each subject beyond the first.

Dowsing: Using a simple dowsing rod, the psychic can find the nearest source of fresh water. He can also use this power to discover the location of precious metals and gems (as a wand of metal detection), but suffers a -3 penalty to his activation saving throw.

Ego Whip: This is the psychic’s ability to stun another sentient creature by causing terrible pain and trauma in their mind. A stunned creature remains stunned for a number of rounds equal to the psychic’s level. An ego whip can only be used on a single creature.

Empathic Projection: This is the ability to project powerful emotions (anger, joy, sorrow, fear) in the mind of a subject. It is up to the Referee to determine the effects these emotions might have on a situation. A psychic who fails his saving throw to activate this power must make an additional saving throw or be struck with the emotions himself.

ESP: With this ability, the psychic can read a subject’s mind, as with the magic-user spell of the same name.

Id Insinuation: By insinuating his own thoughts and memories in an opponent’s mind, the psychic causes either confusion (as the magic-user spell) or insanity (as the magic-user spell). Attempting to cause insanity imposes a -10 penalty on the psychic’s activation saving throw. A failure to activate this power properly forces the psychic to make a saving throw himself or suffer the effects of the power himself.

Illusion: The psychic can use this ability to plant powerful illusions inside a person’s mind. In general, these illusions will correspond to the basic spells of an illusionist, with a penalty equal to the illusion’s level assessed to the psychic’s activation saving throw.

Mesmerism: This is the ability to put others into a trance, thus gaining the ability to question them truthfully or implant suggestions in their mind. Implanting a suggestion works as the magic-user spell of the same, and imposes a -5 penalty on the psychic’s saving throw to activate the power.

Mind Thrust: With a sharp thrust of his mental powers into the mind of one sentient opponent, the psychic inflicts 1d6 points of damage plus one point of damage for every point difference between his own and his opponent’s intelligence scores. If an opponent’s intelligence score is unknown, assume that it is a 10.

Psionic Blast: A psionic blast works like an ego whip, but instead stuns creatures in 30-ft cone emanating from the psychic’s forehead. A psychic suffers a -5 penalty to activate a psionic blast.

Psychic Surgery: Psychic surgery can be used to double a creature’s natural healing or to grant a subject a +1 bonus to save against diseases. It can also be used to heal or inflict 1d6 points of damage. This requires the psychic to physically touch the subject, and the psychic’s saving throw to activate the power is made at a -5 penalty. At 5th level, the psychic can heal or inflict 2d6 points of damage. At 10th level, the psychic can heal or inflict 3d6 points of damage.

Psychometry: This is the psychic’s ability to read the psychic vibrations given off by an object or place, allowing him to learn elements of its history such as who last held the device, how it is used, or traumatic events that took place there. In effect, it works like the magic-user spell legend lore. The Referee might impose penalties on the psychic’s saving throw to activate this power depending on the age and provenance of the object or place being read.

Pyrokinesis: This is the ability to cause objects to burst into flames. The ability can only be used on flammable objects, and inflicts 1d4 points of damage per psychic level. Activating the power requires a full round of concentration on the part of the psychic. Failure to this activate this power requires the psychic to make an additional saving throw to avoid being damaged himself.

Telekinesis: This is the ability to move small objects with one’s mind. For precise telekinetic control of a small object, a -5 penalty is imposed on the psychic’s saving throw to activate this power. Otherwise, impose a penalty of -2 per 10 pounds of the object being moved.

Telepathy: With this ability, the psychic can project his thoughts into the minds of other sentient creatures. Penalties may be applied to this ability based on the distance of the psychic’s target or when he tries to communicate with several people at once.

Teleportation: This power allows a psychic to teleport (as the magic-user spell) objects. The psychic can teleport creatures, but suffers a -5 penalty to his saving throw to activate the power. Teleporting multiple objects or creatures imposes a -1 penalty to his activation saving throw per creature or object beyond the first.

Transvection: A psychic can use transvection to cause himself to levitate (as the magic-user spell). It can also be used to fly (as the magic-user spell), but such use imposes a -5 penalty to the psychic's activation saving throw.

Level	Experience	Hit Dice	Attack	Save	Title
1	0	1	+0	17	Learner
2	2,200	2	+1	16	Mentalist
3	5,000	3	+1	15	Sensitive
4	10,000	4	+1	14	Channeler
5	20,000	5	+1	13	Esper
6	40,000	6	+2	12	Savant
7	75,000	7	+2	11	Yogi
8	150,000	8	+2	10	Guru
9	300,000	9	+2	9	Mind Lord
10	450,000	10	+3	8	Mind Lord
11	750,000	+1 hp	+3	7	Mind Lord
12	950,000	+2 hp	+3	6	Mind Lord

S&W Format
Hit Dice: 1d6 per level, +1 hit point per level after level 9
Armor/Shield Permitted: Leather.
Weapons Permitted: Club, dagger, dart, hand axe, short bow, sling, spear, staff.

Level	Experience	Hit Dice	Attack	Save	Title
1	0	1	+0	15	Learner
2	1,800	2	+0	14	Mentalist
3	3,600	3	+0	13	Sensitive
4	7,200	4	+1	12	Channeler
5	14,400	5	+1	11	Esper
6	30,000	6	+2	10	Savant
7	60,000	7	+2	9	Yogi
8	120,000	8	+3	8	Guru
9	240,000	9	+3	7	Mind Lord
10	390,000	+1 hp	+4	6	Mind Lord
11	540,000	+2 hp	+5	5	Mind Lord
12	690,000	+3 hp	+5	4	Mind Lord