This section offers you advice on how to implement or introduce psionics into your game. Whether adding to an existing game, creating a new campaign where psionics is an option, or running an all-psionic party for the first time, there might be situations where a little bit of advice goes a long way.

Who this Section is for[]

We won’t beat around the bush, where most of the material here is intended for both players and game masters, everything here is intended specifically for game masters. While there is likely to be material that is of interest to players, this section is intended to give insight, recommendations, and guidance to the game masters who want to run games with psionics – or whose players are asking to allow psionics.

Although many parts of this section apply to the old D&D psionics ruleset, this section is intended primarily with the use of Ultimate Psionics or Psionics Unleashed. While Psionics Unleashed was built on the D&D psionics ruleset, significant changes were made to the system to support the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, as well as to address mechanical issues, inconsistencies, and oversights with the D&D system. As such, if you’re using the old D&D psionics ruleset, you may find value in the information presented in this section, but if you find that parts of it do not match the system, it is likely because something changed between D&D and Psionics Unleashed.

What This Section Is[]

Mastering Psionics is a compilation of instructions, recommendations, and explanations attempting to detail the psionic system as a whole, rather than covering specific classes, races, or other specific mechanical aspects. While portions of the book may touch on specific rules, this book is not intended to give a variety of new game options. Instead, it takes the expertise of the writers of Psionics Unleashed and Ultimate Psionics and seeks to give that to game masters to help them smoothly incorporate psionics into their game.

What This Section Isn’t[]

This isn’t a bunch of new options, rules, classes, feats, powers, or monsters. This isn’t a guide on how to make a better psionic character. If you need help in choosing a class, power, feat, or any other of the myriad of choices made to create a new character, feel free to ask at dreamscarred.com. There are plenty of players who enjoy psionics and are happy to help you get the most out of your psionic experience.

What is Psionics?[]

Perhaps the biggest question – What is psionics? At its simplest, psionics is the power of the mind. Where arcane magic is the power of the cosmos, and divine magic is the power of higher beings, psionics is harnessing the mental energy of self to create an effect. The effect might vary from mind reading to teleportation, but the energy that powers it comes from the mind and body of the wielder. The exact implementation of how this energy is harnessed – meditation, mental strength, clarity of thought, a third eye, etc – is up to you, but psionics is all about using the power of the mind to affect change in the world.

Why Psionics?[]

The second big question – Why psionics? This one is a trickier question to answer, because there are a variety of reasons. As a concept, psionics has existed for a very long time. As a gaming concept, psionics has been around since the first edition of the world’s most popular roleplaying game. Psionics Unleashed updated the system of psionics for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game because a multitude of psionic fans shouted for support.

But why do they want that support? Why not just use magic?

The simple answer is there is no one simple answer. For some players, it is the flexibility of power points over spell slots. For others, it is the thematic aspect of using the power of the mind instead of arcane formulae or divine intervention. In other cases, it may be the nostalgia of psionics from previous editions and wanting to continue the use of psionics. It may simply be because it’s different from the “standard” magic. There are a host of reasons why players want to use psionics and understanding why your players in particular want to use psionics is important so that you can understand the best way to introduce it.

Introducing Psionics[]

In this part, we’ll discuss how to introduce psionics into your game. This might include one or more of your players using psionic options, or it might simply be you introducing psionic NPCs and monsters, or you might decide to a run an all-psionics game, such as that found in the Third Dawn Campaign Setting. In all of these possible situations, there are things to understand about the psionics system in order to have a fun and smooth game experience.

Terms to Know[]

While there are already a lot of terms to know for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game – class, level, caster level, saving throw, and the like – there are new terms specific to psionics. The most important terms are detailed below, while the full list of terms is presented in the glossary.

Augment: An optional cost in power points that can be paid during manifestation to improve certain powers. The total power point cost is equal to the base power’s cost plus any power points spent on augmentation; this total power cost cannot exceed the character’s effective manifester level.

Manifest: To cause a psionic power or psi-like ability to take effect. The process of manifesting a power is akin to casting a spell, but with significant differences. A power is manifested when a psionic character pays its power point cost. Some psionic creatures have psi-like abilities, which they can manifest without paying a power point cost.

Manifester Level: Generally equal to the number of class levels in a given manifesting class. Some prestige classes add manifester levels to an existing class. Manifester levels from multiple base classes do not stack (they are tracked individually, akin to how sorcerer and wizard caster levels are tracked individually). A character with psi-like abilities, but no class levels in any manifesting class, does not have a manifester level for most purposes, including feat and prestige class requirements.

Power: A psionic power is a one-time psionic effect. It is akin to a spell, but relies upon psionic energy rather than magical energy.

Power Point: A measure of psionic energy. Power points are spent to manifest powers or use special abilities. Spent power points can be replenished after 8 hours of rest, akin to casters regaining spent spell slots.

Power Point Reserve: A character’s personal store of power points. A character with a power point reserve gains the psionic subtype and can gain psionic focus, even if the power point reserve has been depleted.

Power Resistance: Power resistance is the extraordinary ability to avoid being affected by powers. Some powers also grant power resistance. To affect a creature that has power resistance, a manifester must succeed on a manifester level check (1d20 + effective manifester level) at least equal to the creature’s power resistance. Only powers and psi-like abilities are subject to power resistance; extraordinary and supernatural abilities (including enhancement bonuses on psionic weapons) are not.

Psionic (subtype): A creature with a power point reserve or psi-like abilities. A psionic creature can gain psionic focus.

Psionic Class: A class that grants or requires a power point reserve or psi-like abilities. If a character is a member of a psionic race and chooses to gain an extra power point for taking a level in a favored class, or chooses to take a psionic feat, that does not determine a psionic class; the class itself must grant or require the power point reserve or psi-like abilities. Classes that grant the Wild Talent feat or that require the character be of a psionic race or have levels in a psionc class are also considered to be psionic classes.

Psionic Feat: A type of feat which can only be taken by creatures with the psionic subtype.

Psionic Focus: A psionically-empowered state of mind. Some abilities can only be used while a character has psionic focus. Some abilities can only be used by expending psionic focus; only one such ability can be used when psionic focus is expended. Gaining psionic focus is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

Psi-like Ability: A psionic effect which can be manifested without paying a power point cost. When manifesting a psi-like ability, the creature’s effective manifester level is equal to its hit dice unless specified otherwise. Some psi-like abilities duplicate existing psionic powers; unless specified otherwise, such psi-like abilities are manifested as if the psionic power were augmented to the limit of the creature’s effective manifester level. Psi-like abilities are subject to power resistance and dispel psionics. They do not function in areas where psionics are suppressed or negated (such as a null psionics field). Psi-like abilities can be dispelled as normal. A creature with psi-like abilities gains the psionic subtype.

Rules to Know[]

As with any system of rules, there are some rules that are more frequently used and therefore, more important to understand. Psionics is no different. Although all of the rules of psionics are important, one rule stands above the rest – the manifester level cap, also known as the Golden Rule of Psionics.

The Golden Rule of Psionics[]

The single most important rule to understand when using psionics is that a manifester cannot spend more power points on a power than his manifester level. This includes the base cost of the power, any augmenting being done to the power, effects like metapsionic feat, and anything else that increases the power point cost of a power.

The reason this is important is because, unlike spells, where a spellcaster has a set number of slots of particular levels, manifesters choose how strong to make their effects on the fly, by spending a certain number of power points on the manifestation. Without this rule, a 10th level psion could manifest a power with an effect equivalent to a 9th level spell. By restricting the number of power points spent on a power to the character’s manifester level, it ensures that the effects of powers are in-line with the effects other characters of comparable level can create.

If you find that your players or the manifesters you control are creating effects that seem like they are stronger than should be possible, it is possible that this rule is being broken. It is the cornerstone of the balance of the psionic ruleset.

Manifester Level[]

Now that you know about the Manifester Level Cap, it’s important to understand what a manifester level is. This might seem backwards, but it’s only to emphasize how important the Golden Rule of Psionics really is.

For most classes, the manifester level is equal to the psionic class level. While there are some exceptions to this rule, such as the Gifted Blade archetype for the Soulknife class (first released in Psionics Expanded), it is the general rule. This means that a 15th level psion has a manifester level of 15, and a 15th level psychic warrior has a manifester level of 15. Any time a class grants manifesting, its manifester level is equal to the class level unless otherwise indicated.

While the most critical part of the manifester level deals with how many power points can be spent on a single power, the manifester level also determines things such as duration, range, power resistance, and other similar variables.

Augment[]

The psionic system, unlike the spellcasting system, uses a Pay More to Get More system. Where a fireball automatically grows in power as a wizard gains levels, a psion must pay to make his fiery energy ball more powerful. The reason this is important to understand is that a 1st-level spell for a wizard only ever costs a 1st-level spell slot, but might give higher effects at higher levels (such as the additional missiles of magic missile). A manifester, on the other hand, must pay for every improvement in his powers (with the typical exception of range and duration, which scale like a spellcaster).

There are two main types of augments. The first is the augment option that a psionic power itself may possess. For example, the energy ray power has an augment option to pay one additional power point to deal one additional die of damage. The second augment option is that gained by some class features, such as the Spirit of Many class feature of the Vitalist class first released in Psionics Expanded, where one or more powers are given special augment options.

With Psionic Players[]

One situation to keep in mind when introducing psionics into your game is if you will have players who are also using psionics. If only you as the game master are using psionics, you can minimize the parts of the system you need to learn and understand. When your players are using psionics, you now need to understand the rules that those characters will need to use.

Know the Rules[]

Any time you have a player using psionics, especially if psionics is new to you, know and understand the rules for that player’s character. If he’s going to be a psion, read about the psion. This isn’t to say that you need to become an expert on a psion, but if a player chose to be a summoner from the Advanced Player’s Guide, wouldn’t you want to understand what the summoner did so that you don’t get surprised during the game?

As such, if you have a player in your game who wants to use psionics, it is highly recommended to get at least a cursory understanding of the mechanics needed for that character. Know roughly what sort of effects your player can accomplish and the rules to support it. This isn’t to say that your players will intentionally try to sneak things past you to try to do things the rules don’t support, but it’s entirely possible that your player misunderstands a mechanic that could have far-reaching implications in your game.

If your player wants to uses a psionic class, read over the abilities of that class. If you’re starting at a low level, you have the benefit of only needing to read over what the class can do early in its career, but it’s not a bad idea to get an idea of what the class can do once it has fully matured. Players don’t stay the same level the whole campaign, after all! You need to know what to expect as they gain experience and levels.

If your player is going to be a class like the psion, which uses powers, find out which powers the player is going to make use of. You might already know what magic missile does, but what about crystal shard? There’s a fair bit of preexisting knowledge about magic, so it’s best to try to get on an equal footing with psionics when using it in your game.

While this might sound like a lot of work, let’s really consider what you’ll need to know:

The rules for a psionic race – typically less than 1 page

The rules for 1 class – typically around 2-3 pages

The rules for any feats, powers, or skills that you might not be familiar with – probably another 2-3 pages

When you look at it from this perspective, six pages isn’t a lot of material to read so that you are prepared to unleash psionics into your game. If your player wanted to use a character option from a book such as Ultimate Combat, you would normally do some research on it, as well, wouldn’t you?

And remember, you really only need a high-level understanding at first. If something doesn’t seem right, double check the rules. Misunderstandings can and do happen; having the rules ready can help minimize any game delays to verify how something is supposed to work.

Without Psionic Players[]

When you don’t have players using the psionic rules, it gives you the flexibility of deciding which portions of the system to implement into your game. Perhaps you want psionics itself available, but not the psionic races. Or perhaps only the psionic races, without any of the psionic classes. Maybe you only want to use psionic monsters, eliminating the need to know the majority of the psionics system. Without psionic players, you can ease into psionics at your own pace without needing to learn the whole system.

Existing Campaigns[]

Introducing psionics into an existing campaign can be a tricky situation. Did psionics always exist and it just hadn’t been talked about? Is it from some remote region of the world and the game has only recently touched on that geographic location? Is it a new development and, if so, what caused it to show up? These are the questions that need to be answered when you add psionics to an existing game.

For most campaigns, unless it has been stated previously that psionics didn’t exist, it’s likely easiest to say that it always existed, but the players simply haven’t encountered it before. Maybe it’s a rare phenomenon, or only available under a certain set of circumstances. Be sure to consider these sorts of questions if you are looking to add psionics into your game, as curious players are sure to start asking questions if this new power suddenly shows up.

New Campaigns[]

When starting a new campaign, it’s significantly easier to introduce psionics into the world. Since there isn’t an ongoing story to be altered to incorporate psionics, it can simply be said to have always been there. If starting in an existing world, but a new campaign, you might use the suggestions in the Existing Campaigns section. Otherwise, it may be a mystery for the players to investigate as to why previous campaigns within the world did not have psionics, and now psionics exists.

All-Psionic Campaigns[]

If you want to truly immerse your game in psionics, the all-psionic campaign may just be the answer for you. In this sort of game environment, spellcasters do not exist. Mysterious wizards, pious clerics, devout paladins, and even the wandering bard are not to be found within the world of your campaign. Instead, psionic or mundane classes are the only choices available. While a fighter is still a fighter, where once you would find a temple of clerics, instead you might find a monastic society of egoists and vitalists. Instead of a school for the arcane, where apprentice wizards and sorcerers study, you might have an academy of psions, tacticians, and the rare wilder.

The all-psionic campaign perhaps requires the most work, because everything that you have grown used to using needs to be reevaluated to see if it should still exist within a world where arcane and divine magic no longer function. In particular, using an all-psionic campaign can make the world a more deadly place, for resurrection rules in psionics are limited in availability and in scope. Where divine magic does not exist, death tends to be more permanent.

In addition to lacking in resurrection options, psionics as a general rule of thumb has limited options when it comes to illusions and necromancy. While there are some psionic powers that give illusion-like functions – typically by manipulating light and sound – the more advanced illusions that spellcasters can use are simply not available in psionic format. Necromancy, which typically animates corpses using magical energy, does not have a psionic counterpart, except for the puppeteer-like animation of inanimate objects.

The All-Psionic Party[]

A lesser version of the all-psionic campaign, the all-psionic party means, quite simply, that every member of the adventuring party is psionic in some way. This could be something as simple as being a member of a psionic race, taking psionic feats, taking levels in a psionic class, or all of the above. The all-psionic party gives you immersion into the system, allowing you to see all the different parts of psionics working together in your game.

Psionic Monsters[]

Perhaps the easiest way to implement psionics in your game, just have some psionic enemies for your players to encounter. Instead of a wizard, you could have a psion. Instead of a ranger, the enemy could be a marksman. Instead of a random encounter with orcs, it could be duergar. This can introduce mystery and intrigue into your games with minimal effort. After all, most psionic monsters have all the material you need to use them right in their stat block, so you don’t have to do a lot of research on the rules.

And if your players are new to psionics, you have the added bonus of putting them up against creatures they’re not already familiar with how to defeat. Tactics used against spellcasters, such as effects that silence so spells cannot be cast, are rendered impotent against manifesters who have no need to speak incantations. Just don’t get overzealous and put the party up against a creature they couldn’t possibly hope to defeat, or you might just make them dislike psionics as a whole!

With Psionic Characters[]

By this point, you should have an idea of how you’re going to introduce psionics into your game.

Encounters and Expectations[]

In the old D&D ( 3.5), the system clearly specified that it was balanced around the premise that a typical party would deal with four encounters per day on average. While there were adjustments to make depending on the difficulty of the encounter, the principle was that the finite resources of the party – use per day abilities, spellcasting abilities, and the like – were intended to be usable only a certain number of times before the characters rested. Some classes had options that were never used up, such as a rogue’s sneak attack. Yet even these classes have a finite resource – their hit point total.

Psionics is no exception to this design paradigm. The psionic classes are balanced off the premise of having roughly four encounters per day of a difficulty equal to the average party level. While this isn’t the only way to have a game, it is the general standard. You can use the chart below to see how many encounters would be balanced against the system. The goal is to have an Encounters per Day value of 4.

Monster CR Relative To Party	Encounters Per Day Value
-3 - -4	0.25
-2	0.5
-1- 0	1
+1	2
+2	3

As you can see from the chart, if you have only one encounter in a day with a challenge rating roughly equal to the party’s average level, the party will have a lot of resources left over. And if your players know this, you open yourself up to what is known as the Nova Phenomenon.

The Nova Phenomenon[]

During the heyday of the D&D psionics ruleset, a use of psionics called “going nova” became well-known. In this situation, a psionic character – usually a manifester – would burn through most or all of his power point pool in a few rounds, typically at the start of a combat-based encounter. The idea was simple: by using maximum power in minimum time, the party would overcome the encounter with minimal effort.

Although most classes have the capacity to do this to some extent – spellcasters can use all of their highest level spells, paladins can use up their smite evil ability, monks can use up their stunning fist and ki points – the flexibility of psionics and power points put a spotlight on this phenomenon. While psionics did not create the ability to use up a character’s strongest abilities in a short time to trivialize challenges, it did make it simpler. While this gave psionics a reputation for being unbalanced, the system, when used as intended, tended to be self-correcting – especially when in an environment as mentioned above, where four encounters per day was the standard, not the exception.

While there is no single proper way to handle “going nova”, there are a variety of options to mitigate the behavior and hopefully retrain your players to properly conserve resources.

Have More Encounters of Lower CR: The simple fact is that you can’t go nova if you know you will likely face another encounter later. A good player keeps resources ready just in case. If you’ve taught your players that while on the road, they’ll only experience one random encounter on the way to their destination, then there is no reason not to use up everything on that single encounter. Similarly, if the players know that there will be only one fight with underlings, and then the big fight with the final enemy, why would they keep any resources in reserve?

Spread out the encounters, pacing them just long enough apart that short-term beneficial effects have expired and need to be reapplied. Instead of having one fight with six underlings, have two fights with three. Or one with two and one with four. Then, when the party thinks they’ve found the final enemy, have that be the boss’s lieutenant, or his right-hand man, or some other title. By putting additional roadblocks in place, if someone or someones in the party do decide to go nova, they’ll quickly learn that this behavior is detrimental.

Use Waves of Enemies: Stagger the pace of the encounter by not revealing every enemy immediately. Have an encounter of eight goblins first be four goblins and the other four show up a few rounds in. This to counter the behavior of blowing through what the players perceive to be “the encounter” when enemies fill in during the battle. The more (and different) the waves, the more interesting it can become. By keeping the players on their toes as to what the makeup of the encounter will eventually be, they will be forced to keep resources in reserve, instead of choosing to go nova.

Have A Back-Up Encounter: This option can be difficult to implement, because it requires flexibility on how the story progresses. In the back-up encounter scenario, the party has burned through large amounts of resources against a final enemy, trying to trivialize the encounter, and they’ve succeeded. A back-up encounter might be used to mitigate this behavior. The final enemy the party has defeated turns out to be the lieutenant or assistant to some other, more nefarious enemy, or the enemy had some sort of contingency effect that whisked him away and restored him, but that enemy is still within reach of the party and they do not have the luxury of resting. Because this is a “back-up”, having it ready and then not using it might feel like a lot of work and is more recommended as an extreme correction rather than a desired outcome.

Check Their Math: If you’re still new to psionics, or don’t know the rules inside and out, it’s OK to ask players to explain their math. And keep that Golden Rule of Psionics in mind: they can’t spend more power points on a single power than their manifester level, and their manifester level is usually their class level. Many a nova situation comes about because players knowingly or unknowingly violate the Golden Rule of Psionics, or perhaps they rolled an additional die of damage in error, or they calculated the save DC incorrectly. Once you’re more familiar with psionics, you likely won’t have to do this very often, but it’s not a bad idea to make sure that the players are being accurate.

Have The Enemies Do It: While this isn’t necessarily recommended, because it can lead to an arms race where going nova bigger is better, one way to try to curb your players from going nova is to have the enemies do it as well. It might not be a bad idea to mention to your players that this sort of behavior by NPCs isn’t typical, but with such a rapid onslaught of power, they felt the need to use every resource at their disposal as quickly as possible. The downside of this tactic is that it can be extremely deadly for the party, and cause them to view psionics as overpowered, so it is best to use this sparingly.

Fewer Resources: Although this might sound the easiest at first, reducing the players’ resources can actually be the most difficult to successfully implement. Cut the power point pool too drastically, and your manifesters will feel like they can’t contribute or encounters will become very deadly, very quickly. Cut insufficiently, and all you’ve done is annoy your players who can still pull off a successful nova. However, if additional encounters aren’t an option, reducing the resources available to your players might be the best solution available to you. If you use this option, the important thing to remember is to be consistent. Don’t penalize the psionic players and leave the spellcasters unaltered. After all, a sorcerer could fire off every high-level spell in his arsenal in an attempt to trivialize an encounter.

How Not To Handle It[]

With the variety of options on how to handle players with a penchant for going nova, it’s important to note that there are some ways that you should not handle the behavior. These are typically because it can make the players feel like you’re being an unfair or inconsistent game master. As a game master, it is your job to run the game, but if your players don’t trust that you’ll be fair with how you handle the rules and mechanics, it can cause animosity and a poor gaming experience. On the most extreme end of the spectrum, it can result in players coming to the conclusion that since you don’t follow the rules, they don’t need to either.

Don’t Hand-Wave: The rules of your game should be consistent. While situations may arise where you need to create and enforce a house-rule to fit your game style, it is important that you do that in a consistent fashion. If a player knows how a rule is supposed to work and you decide off-the-cuff in the middle of a game that you don’t like it and say that such an activity doesn’t work, you are likely to upset your players. House-rules are fine, but they should be communicated in advance so players know what to expect.

It’s OK to keep players in the dark with how monsters or traps or dungeons behave, but make sure you have an explanation as to why their power or ability did not work as expected, especially if it has worked the same way in the past. This explanation may be a plot device, a unique trait of the creature, or some special item or effect, but don’t change the rules without having a good reason to do so. After all, if a wizard’s magic missile didn’t work after countless successful uses, the player would expect a reason why. A player of a psion should expect the same.

Treasure[]

It can be easy to overlook the need to adjust your treasure when running a game with psionics, especially if you use random treasure for rewards. However, it is something that needs to be considered, especially if you are running an all-psionic campaign or have an all-psionic party. After all, players might get confused or frustrated if you were to give them a horde of arcane scrolls in a world where arcane magic is said to not exist. Unless there is some viable reason why arcane scrolls are found – such as a leftover cache of treasure from a time when arcane magic still existed – these sorts of situations can be avoided by ensuring that you include psionic versions of these items.

House Rules[]

Although psionics can be used as originally presented in your games, there are times when you might find alternate rules a better fit for your game. Presented below are a few variant options to use with psionics.

Transparency Variants[]

If you’re new to psionics, you still might have heard the term transparency thrown about. Transparency refers to the level at which magic and psionics interact, and how the two sources of energy behave with each other. In the default rules, psionics and magic are considered to be mechanically the same, just as divine magic and arcane magic interact as if the same. That means, among other things, that effects like dispel magic works on psionics, and vice versa. By keeping transparency intact, you limit the potential for unforeseen side effects of blending magic and psionics in the same game.

However, one of the most common house rules discussed is that of magic-psionic transparency. Although the level of transparency used in your game can vary, presented below are two of the most common variants for magic-psionic transparency: semi-transparency and non-transparency.

It is important to understand that altering the rules of transparency can have far-reaching effects on your game balance unless you take into account just what the changes you’re making mean. Your magical enemy might be defeated with ease by a psionic party, or your psionic enemy might prove unexpectedly lethal against your magic-using adventuring party. Should you simply desire for psionics and magic to be different from a descriptive point of view, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they need to be different from a mechanical point of view. After all, divine magic is the energy of divine beings, channeled through a mortal vessel, while arcane magic is the energy of the cosmos, harnessed through complex rituals and formula. Such sources of energy could be considered vastly different, yet the two are treated as the same mechanically.

Use the house rules below at your own risk.

Semi-Transparency[]

In a game of semi-transparency, psionics and magic interact to an extent, but are treated as moderately different. If you want to treat magic and psionics as different mechanically, but as still interacting with each other, semi-transparency is the way to do that. Using this sort of house rule has the following rules:

Power resistance works against magic, but is reduced by 10 (so PR 17 becomes SR 7).

Spell resistance works against psionics, but is reduced by 10 (so SR 17 becomes PR 7).

Dispel magic takes a -10 penalty to its rolls against psionic effects.

Dispel psionics takes a -10 penalty to its rolls against magical effects.

Anti-magic fields / dead magic zones have a 50% chance of affecting a psionic item or effect.

Null psionics fields have a 50% chance of affecting a magical item or effect.

Detect magic does not detect psionics.
Detect psionics does not detect magic.

Non-Transparency[]

The extreme in terms of treating psionics and magic as different, non-transparency means, quite simply, that magic and psionics do not interact. In this house rule, psionic effects treat magical defenses as if they did not exist, and vice versa. While this might initially sound great, if you’re going to run a non-transparent game, you need to consider all the mechanical ramifications doing so means.

First: magical defenses like dispel magic, spell resistance, and magic immunity do not apply to psionics. This means that your dragon with Spell Resistance 30 who gets targeted by a psion’s energy ball? It ignores all that spell resistance.

Second: similar psionic defenses are likewise useless against magic. Need to dispel a magical effect on your enemy? If you’re a psionic character, you’re just out of luck.

Variant Themes[]

While psionics is based on a power point system rather than the slot-based spellcasting system of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, sometimes the theme of psychic powers does not fit the campaign you are envisioning. The wonderful thing about the psionic rule set is that it can have that theme modified without needing to alter the mechanics underneath it, allowing you to use the power point system in your games, while adjusting the feel of psionics to better fit into your campaign setting or world.

Changing the theme of psionics is as little or as much work as you want it to be. If you don’t want to alter the entire system, simply focus on those parts of it that will actually be used. If you have a player that wants to be a psion, but you won’t be using psionic NPCs and no other member of the party is going to be psionic, don’t worry about the psionic races, the other classes, or the powers for those classes. If you plan to use only the soulknife, you don’t need to worry about psionic powers at all! Simply focus on those parts of the psionic system that you need for your game and don’t do work that isn’t necessary.

Presented below is a sample alternate theme of how psionics could be altered to fit into your game without changing any mechanics. Note also that this is just a suggestion on how to change the theme, and that you can take these ideas and reinterpret them for your campaigns, providing a multitude of different themes. Perhaps more than one of these themes might exist in your campaign, giving you a solid reference in mechanics, but providing a wide variety in how “psionics” appears in the game.

Rune Magic[]

“The robed figure raised his finger and traced a glowing rune of power in the air, the rune flashing brightly upon its completion and a ball of fire shooting forth from it toward the distant orc. Upon striking the orc, the ball exploded into a blazing inferno, consuming not only the single orc, but those nearby, leaving only burnt husks of char in their places.”

While psionics uses tattoos that might have appearances that could be described as “runic,” having the power point system based around runes, which already have ties to races like the dwarves and to certain magic spells, makes it an easy way to incorporate the psionic system into your game without the mental, spiritual, or crystalline ties that the default psionic theme brings. As rune magic, psionics would still use power points, augmentation, and psionic focus. The psionic classes can even still be used, all by changing the names but without any need to change the mechanics.

Changes[]

To change psionics into rune magic, the below suggestions are given to the different aspects of the system.

Power points: Rename power points to runic energy or even mana.

Powers: Simply call powers runes. Specific powers such as detect psionics could simply be called detect runic energy or even just use detect magic, although keep in mind that psionic creatures, which would instead be runic creatures, would still be detected, as detailed below.

Psionic Focus: Probably the easiest change, simply call it focus or runic focus.

Class Names: The psion could become the runecaster, the psychic warrior the runic warrior, the soulknife the runeblade, and the wilder the wild pattern.

Manifestations: Where psionic powers might carry different displays, such as lights, smells, or sounds, rune magic would use visible runes that appear either on the caster, on the target, or even as a pattern of runes that appear in the air. These runes might be accompanied by a sound or some other display depending upon the desired implementation in your game.

Psicrystals: Instead of being a small crystal, the psicrystal could be changed to be a small ceramic carving with a variety of runes covering its form and called a runestone. The runes would grant the carving the same game statistics as a standard psicrystal, but its appearance would be more in-line with the theme of rune magic.

Psionic Creatures: It is likely going to be difficult to incorporate psionic creatures into your games without more significant changes, as their appearances are a bit more detailed and thematic. However, this doesn’t mean it can’t be done! For example, the brain mole might instead be itself covered in runes and seek out new runes to siphon energy in order to feed.

Sample Powers: The chart below gives several psionic powers with their normal name and then a potential name for a rune magic theme.

Alternate Power Names for Rune Magic

Psionic Power Name	Rune Magic Spell Name
Astral construct	Runic protector
Animal affinity	Augment Self
Energy ray	Runic shot
Offensive precognition	Insightful attacks
Precognition	Intuitive edge

PSIONIC CAMPAIGNS[]

The day the godminds appeared forever changed the balance of power in the world. Suddenly, power was not derived through complex rituals, worship of a greater being, or physical prowess, but instead through sheer force of will. This was the day psionics was born.

If you as a game master have never used psionics, introducing them may seem daunting or give pause. Presented below are ideas, helpful points, and new rules to help you incorporate psionics into your new or existing campaign.

Adding Psionics To Your Game[]

If working in an existing campaign, applying revisionist history might offer the easiest solution to incorporate psionics. In this situation, psionics has always existed in the world, the players were simply ignorant of it. Psionic talent might only exist in far-off parts of the world, or it might be hidden away due to a history of persecution that the commoner has nearly forgotten, or it might be that psionic creatures, items, or people were assumed to be magical, and no one ever corrected the assumption.

It could even be that creatures or people the players have encountered had ties to psionics all along. That band of goblins the party fought against may have been part of a tribe led by a blue who now seeks vengeance for his kin. An ousted, corrupt politician may have been under the control of a thrallherd (see Chapter Six: Prestige Classes), a thrallherd who was secretly working to set himself up as ruler. These previously unknown ties allow the introduction of psionics into an ongoing game without requiring breaking the immersion of the world.

The First Psionic Beings[]

Perhaps the reason that no one has heard about psionics is because it is just now being discovered. This might be true for your world for a variety of reasons, some of which are presented below.

If your world has widespread use of magic, the development of the mental arts might still be in its infancy. The standard path to tap into powerful energy is that of the arcane and the divine, with the path of psionics still unexplored.
There may have been an event in the past where those with psionics were wiped out by beings with immense power and those being placed a block on psionic energy that has only just begun to fade, allowing the emergence of psionic creatures.
A recent event has such widespread repercussions that it changes the very fabric of existence, and the latent psionic abilities in creatures begin to manifest. This event might be one facilitated by the characters themselves, or it may have been in the recent past, or it may happen during the game without character involvement, such as the appearance of godminds mentioned earlier.

These first psionic characters have to not only discover and explore their own abilities, but do so in a world where tutors, experts, and lore on the subject is likely not available. They must exist in a world where psionic items and creatures will be rare, or perhaps they discover a hidden cache of psionic lore, locked away before the Great Purge or phased into reality when the godminds appeared.

Psionic Encounters[]

Allowing players to choose psionic characters does not mandate you must include psionics into your adventures, either directly through the use of psionic monsters, or indirectly by having some hidden psionic agenda putting things in motion. Psionics fits into any adventure or campaign just as easily as magic.

However, by including psionic creatures, enemies, allies, or events into your game, it can help improve the realism of psionics. By replacing a spellcaster with a psion, or a fighter with a soulknife, or a barbarian with a raging wilder, psionics can feel more like a true part of the world. And if you have players unfamiliar with psionics, it introduces a level of mystery that they may not feel if they encounter a wizard, cleric, or rogue.

The High Psionics Campaign[]

In a high psionics campaign, psionics does not merely exist, as it might in a standard game that includes psionics, it flourishes. Psionics is common, and powerful manifesters are real threats to the world at large.

A world of high psionics is more likely to have NPCs with manifesting ability, or psionic items available for purchase in the bazaar, or psionic monsters accosting travelers.

A high psionics game is more likely to use soulknives instead of paladins, wilders instead of sorcerers, and psions instead of wizards. Even if you do not want to make your game exclusively psionic in nature, increasing the number of NPCs with levels in psionic classes, or enemies with psionic ability, can create a high psionics world.

Psionic Maladies[]

Just as those with psionic ability are able to perform amazing feats and revel in the power of the mind, so too do they find themselves susceptible to unique afflictions. Presented below are some of these maladies.

Ability Burn: This is a special form of ability damage that cannot be magically or psionically healed. It is caused by the use of certain psionic feats and powers. It returns only through natural healing.

Disease, Cascade Flu: Spread by brain moles and other vermin; injury; Fortitude DC 13; Onset one day; damage psionic cascade.

A psionic cascade is a loss of control over psionic abilities. Using power points becomes dangerous for a character infected by cascade flu, once the incubation period has run its course. Every time an afflicted character manifests a power, she must make a DC 16 concentration check. On a failed check, a psionic cascade is triggered. The power operates normally, but during the following round, without the character’s volition, two additional powers she knows manifest randomly, and their power cost is deducted from the character’s reserve. During the next round, three additional powers manifest, and so on, until all the psionic character’s power points are drained, although the character may attempt an additional DC 16 concentration check every affected round to negate that round’s effect. Powers with a range of personal or touch always affect the diseased character. For other powers that affect targets, roll d%: On a 01–50 result, the power affects the diseased character, and 51–00 indicates that the power targets other creatures in the vicinity. Psionic creatures (those that manifest their powers without paying points) cascade until all the powers they know have manifested at least twice.

As with any disease, a psionic character who is injured or attacked by a creature carrying a disease or parasite, or who otherwise has contact with contaminated material, must make an immediate Fortitude save. On a success, the disease fails to gain a foothold. On a failure, the character takes damage (or incurs the specified effect) after the incubation period. Once per day afterward, the afflicted character must make a successful Fortitude save to avoid repeating the damage. Two successful saving throws in a row indicate she has fought off the disease.

Disease, Cerebral Parasites: Spread by contact with infected psionic creatures; contact; Fortitude DC 15; Onset 1d4 days; damage 1d8 power points.

Cerebral parasites are tiny organisms, undetectable to normal sight. An afflicted character may not even know he carries the parasites—until he discovers he has fewer power points for the day than expected. Psionic creatures with cerebral parasites are limited to using each of their known powers only once per day (instead of freely manifesting them). See the note about diseases under Cascade Flu, above.

Negative Levels: Psionic characters can gain negative levels just like members of other character classes. They suffer the same penalties. They suffer no loss in power points, do not lose access to powers to manifest, and may still spend their normal manifester level limit manifesting a power.

PSIONICS AND CRYSTALS[]

In many parts of this book, references are made to using crystals for psionic purposes. This is done mostly for a stylistic element that ties crystals to mental energy, but it is in no way a rule you must use in your games. Crystals are simply the type of item given in this book, you can use any type of item or concept that fits into the setting of your campaign.

For example, take the psicrystal, a small piece of crystalline rock that talks, crawls, and even manifests powers. Instead of being a piece of crystal, this could be matter drawn from the Ethereal Plane and given form by the subscionscious mind of its owner, taking a form not unlike a homunculus, or resembling a miniature replica of its owner, or even an animated doll.

Similarly, cognizance crystals could instead be created from a special type of liquid that is contained within a mineral which, when processed with special metals and shaped into a disc is able to hold a reservoir of psionic energy.

These are just a tiny sliver of the ways in which you can implement the material side of psionics to fit your game world. Crystals are the option used within this book, they certainly are not the only choice.

PSIONIC CREATURES[]

Any creature with psionic powers has the psionic subtype. A psionic creature can be born with the subtype or can gain the subtype during its life.

A creature meeting any of the following critera has the psionic subtype:

Creatures with a power point reserve, including characters who have levels in a character class that grants a power point reserve or creatures who have the Wild Talent feat.
Creatures with psi-like abilities, including characters who have racial psi-like abilities.
Creatures that have spell-like abilities described as “psionics.”

Traits: Other than the fact that all psionic creatures have psionic powers, power points, or psi-like abilities, psionic creatures have no specific traits. The psionic subtype serves to identify creatures that may be vulnerable to powers, spells, and effects targeting psionic creatures.

Psionic Game Mastery