New Psionic Powers

 

 

Clairsentient Sciences

Cosmic Awareness (High Science)

Power Score: Wis–6

Initial Cost: 20

Maintenance Cost: 10/round

Range: 0

Preparation Time: 5

Area of Effect: varies

Prerequisites: 10th level, clairvoyance, detection, all-round vision

Cosmic awareness is the High Science of Clairsentience and can only be utilized by those powerful few that have dedicated themselves to being able to sense all that they can. It allows a psionicist to perceive all things that are occurring within the area of effect. The character is essentially gifted with X-ray vision that extends into the astral and ethereal planes. She sees all inanimate features within the area of effect; she can see what is on the other side of the hill, detect hidden caves, see secret doors and traps, and even detect lodes of unusual minerals or other geological phenomena.

In addition to inanimate objects, the psionicist also perceives forces—winds, water currents, or spell effects such as glyphs of warding, areas of reversed gravity, and so forth.

All living creatures larger than a microbe are perceived. Cosmic awareness detects invisibility, detects evil/good, and detects magic without fail. Illusions are perceived for what they are. Creatures who are shapechanged or polymorphed are noted and their true forms understood. Ethereal, astral, phased, ectoplaesmic, or gaseous creatures are seen as well. Details of the creature’s equipment are detected down to the number of gold pieces in their purses.

The character also hears all sounds and detects all smells within the area.

On the first round that this power is used, the psionicist perceives everything within a 10-foot radius around her. For each additional round the power is maintained, she may extend her perception radius by another 10 feet.

Before a psionicist can select this power, she must engage in research by intense meditation to gain a High Science, as described in Chapter Seven.

Power Score: The psionicist begins with an extended perception radius of 30 feet.

20: The psionicist is overwhelmed by the amount of information being pumped into her brain and must save versus spells or be struck deaf and blind for 1d4 hours.

Detection

Power Score: Wis–2

Initial Cost: 15

Maintenance Cost: 6/round

Range: 0

Preparation Time: 1

Area of Effect: special

Prerequisites: none

Detection is the art of finding substances or items by their psychic vibrations. It can be used to dowse for water, to find lost items, or to prospect for gold. To use this power to locate a substance, the psionicist must have a sample of what he is searching for. To locate an item, he must have seen the item himself or successfully used object reading on its owner.

The initial range is 30 yards, but by maintaining the power the psionicist can expand the radius of the search by 10 yards per round. At first, the character only detects the nearest location of what he is seeking, but by maintaining the power he can detect more sources at the rate of one per round, working from the nearest to the farthest.

Power Score: The character detects all sources within range and also gets a rough idea of their numbers or concentrations.

20: The character imagines a concentration of what he is looking for in a random direction.

Spirit Lore

Power Score: Int–3

Initial Cost: 30

Maintenance Cost: 8/round

Range: 0

Preparation Time: 3

Area of Effect: personal

Prerequisites: spirit sense

Some psionicists are close to the spirits and can gain information from them. Spirit lore is a risky method of learning deeply-hidden secrets or unravelling mysteries. The psionicist must ask very specific questions when using this power; the spirits will never volunteer information and often seek to distort or confuse the truth.

When this power is initiated, the DM should roll the power check in secret. The result of the psionicist’s power check determines the quality of the information he receives. However, no matter what the result is, the DM should try to he mysterious and vague in his answers. The spirits possess a lot of knowledge about a lot of different things and matters, but they are not omniscient.

Power Check

Result

1-2

The spirit doesn’t know the answer and lies

3-4

The spirit knows only part the answer and embellishes the truth, hoping to deceive the psionicist

5-6

The spirit doesn’t know, admits its ignorance

7-8

The spirit knows the answer, but tries to disguise truth in deceptive riddles

9+

The spirit knows the answer to the question and answers truthfully

If the result is a failure, the psionicist finds no spirits to contact. The psionicist may ask one question per round of the spirit world. A clever character will cross-examine a spirit to determine its truthfulness.

Power Score: A very knowledgeable and helpful spirit is contacted.

20: The psionicist contacts a malicious entity that attempts to magic jar the psionicist out of his body.

True Sight

Power Score: Wis–4

Initial Cost: 15

Maintenance Cost: 9/round

Range: self

Preparation Time: 0

Area of Effect: 60' path 10' wide

Prerequisites: clairvoyance

The psionicist can pierce any normal or magical obscurement to a range of 60 feet. Creatures or objects that are invisible are detected, unless someone is using psionic invisibility against the psionicist. The character can pierce illusions and detect anything phased, displaced, or ethereal.

Unlike the clerical spell true seeing, the true sight power does not confer the ability to see alignments, enchantments, polymorphed items, or secret doors.

Power Score: The psionicist gains the additional powers of the spell true seeing as described above.

20: The psionicist sees through everything he looks at and believes that everything is illusionary for 3d6 turns.

Clairsentient Devotions

Bone Reading

Power Score: Wis–1

Initial Cost: 15

Maintenance Cost: NA

Range: 0

Preparation Time: 1

Area of Effect: one item

Prerequisites: object reading

The psionicist can use a creature’s remains to form an impression of who it was and what it was doing when it perished. Fragments of bone are usually used, but the power works on any corpse or portion of a corpse. The amount of information gained depends on the psionicist’s power check result:

Power Check

Information Gained

1-2

Deceased’s race

3

Deceased’s sex

4

Deceased’s age

5

Deceased’s identity

6

Appearance in life and alignment

7

Date of death

8+

Method of death

The information above is cumulative, so a result of 4 yields the deceased’s race, sex, and age. This power is difficult to use on very old remains. The more recently a creature died, the more accurate the reading will be.

Time Since Death

Power Check Penalty

1 day

0

1 week

–1

1 month

–2

1 year

–3

10 years

–4

100 years

–6

1,000 years

–12

Power Score: The psionicist is able to view the last 10 minutes of the deceased’s life from the departed’s point of view.

20: The psionicist angers the spirits. The DM should determine the exact effects.

Know Course

Power Score: Int–2

Initial Cost: 5

Maintenance Cost: 4/hour

Range: 0

Preparation Time: 0

Area of Effect: personal

Prerequisites: none

This power allows the psionicist to hold an accurate course without deviation. To use this devotion, the psionicist must know where he is going. This can be any place he has been before or can reference to a place he has been. For example, if he knows that the village of Kled is 35 miles northeast of Tyr, he can use this power to get to Kled even though he had only been to Tyr before.

The character must also know his current location. Once initiated, the character gets a strong feeling of which way to go. (“Tyr is that way…”) The character’s direction bump continually updates as long as he maintains this power, so he is certain to arrive at his destination eventually.

Power Score: The character can retrace his steps as if he had been using radial navigation.

20: The psionicist becomes obsessed with a minor landmark along the way and forgets where he is going.

Safe Path

Power Score: Wis–4

Initial Cost: 8

Maintenance Cost: 5/round

Range: special

Preparation Time: 0

Area of Effect: personal

Prerequisites: danger sense

This power enables a psionicist to use her danger sense abilities to help guide her steps. By listening for the warning tingle of her danger sense at work, she knows when to duck, when to dodge, and when to move forward. This ability is more tactical than danger sense, provided the character trusts her instincts and moves when she is supposed to.

A character using this ability to attempt a dangerous feet of climbing, balance, or coordination gains a +4 (d20) or +25% (d100) to whatever rolls are required. The character could use this ability to walk blindly across a room she knows to be full of traps and still receive the bonus on her chances to avoid the traps by Dexterity checks or saving throws. In combat, the psionicist gains a –2 bonus to her Armor Class and a +4 bonus to saving throws each round she maintains the power.

Power Score: The character automatically succeeds with her first saving throw or ability check.

20: The character’s reactions are mistimed and she suffers penalties equal to the bonuses she would have received had she successfully initiated the power.

See Ethereal

Power Score: Wis–5

Initial Cost: 4

Maintenance Cost: 2/round

Range: special

Preparation Time: 0

Area of Effect: personal

Prerequisites: none

By using this power, the character extends his vision to the Border Ethereal with a range of 120 feet. He is able to detect any ethereal characters, objects, or monsters. When the power is in use, the character sees both the Ethereal Plane and the Prime Material Plane simultaneously.

In addition to ethereal creatures, the psionicist can see phased or displaced creatures. Dimension walkers are revealed, and dimensional doors show as bright threads linking two portals. This power is useful when fighting ethereal or phased monsters such as ghosts and phase spiders.

Power Score: The character can see out to the full range of his normal vision.

20: The character can see nothing but gray, swirling vapors for 1d4 hours.

See Magic

Power Score: Wis–3

Initial Cost: 6

Maintenance Cost: 6/round

Range: 20 feet

Preparation Time: 0

Area of Effect: personal

Prerequisites: none

The psionicist can use this power to perceive wizardly magic, including magical items, effects, and potential. Any enchanted items, scrolls, spellbook, or potions glow faintly in the psionicist’s vision. He can see continuing spell effects such as a fire trap, wall of stone, or even a character under the influence of a charm person spell. See magic does not give the user the ability to determine what kind of magic is being used; all he would know is that the item or person radiates magical energy.

If the psionicist passes his power check with a roll of 10 or better, he also can see the spell potential of a magic-using character. A high-level wizard who has used up all of his spells would not have much potential, but one who had not expended any memorized spells would glow very brightly. This ability cannot detect priestly magic of any kind.

Power Score: The character discerns the type of enchantment on an item or area. For example, he can tell that a fire trap is a trap of some kind.

20: The psionicist mistakenly believes a random item is highly magical.

Sensitivity to Observation

Power Scare: Wis

Initial Cost: 5

Maintenance Cost: NA

Range: 0

Preparation Time: 0

Area of Effect: special

Prerequisites: none

Some characters have the uncanny ability to know when they are being watched. Sensitivity to observation is a devotion that is triggered by the intense attention of another person or creature. Any time the psionicist is under suck scrutiny, he may attempt a power check to see if he notices the attention. This power is always active unless consciously suppressed.

A successful power check does not reveal the location of the watcher; it merely confirms the character’s suspicion that he is being observed. If the observer is using clairvoyance or clairaudience to monitor the psionicist, the psionicist may attempt to obscure the watcher’s scrying by winning a psychic contest against his watcher. If successful, the watcher cannot scry against the psionicist for 1d4 hours.

Since the player will know his character is under observation when called upon to make this check, the DM should occasionally provide false alarms or make the character’s power check for him in secret.

Power Score: The character immediately determines the location of his watcher.

20: The character becomes certain that everyone is watching him and borders on paranoia for 1d3 days.

Watcher’s Ward

Power Score: Int–2

Initial Cost: 6

Maintenance Cost: 2/hour

Range: 0

Preparation Time: 1

Area of Effect: personal

Prerequisites: none

By using this power, the psionicist attunes herself to her surroundings and becomes extremely sensitive to any disturbances. The area covered can be as small as a single door or as large as a circle 60 feet in radius, centered on the psionicist. If the psionicist moves out of the area after initiating the power, she must re-initiate it if she wants to continue the watcher’s ward.

While this power is in effect, the psionicist can’t be surprised by the approach of any creature or force. She is instantly aware of any changes in the area, but does not automatically spot the invaders—she only knows that something is coming.

Power Score: The psionicist instantly determines the exact location and type of any intruders.

20: The psionicist believes her watch is faultless, but can actually be surprised normally.