Bakkan
2010-06-03, 01:08 PM
So I wanted to create a spellthief-themed character in a campaign involving mutants, where mutations are mechanically represented using psionics. Hence, I needed the psithief class hinted at (but never given details for) in Complete Adventurer. I wanted to post what I had come up with here, so that people who wanted to see the psithief class implemented could see it, and to test for balance.
For concept, I am really trying to stay as close to the spellthief's role and flavor as possible, with the exception that the psithief uses psionics. I am aiming for Tier 3 in power level.
In order to avoid copyright infringement, I will only be noting in detail those abilities that are different from those of the standard spellthief.
The Psithief
Hit Die: d6
Starting Gold: 4d4 x 10 gp.
Class Skills: As spellthief, except remove Knowledge (arcana), Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device, and add Autohypnosis, Knowledge (psionics), Psicraft, and Use Psionic Device.
Skill Points Per Level: 6 + Int modifier (x4 at 1st level)
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Simple weapons, light armor.
Sneak Attack (Ex): As spellthief.
Steal Power (Su): A psithief can siphon psionic energy and knowledge away from her target and use it herself. A psithief who hits an opponent with a successful sneak attack can choose to forgo dealing 1d6 points of sneak attack damage and instead steal a power known and power points from her target. If the target is willing, a psithief can steal a spell with a touch as a standard action.
The target of a steal power attack loses the use of one 1st-level power he knows for one minute and loses one power point. A psithief can choose which power to steal. If the psithief elects not to choose a power, or the target does not know the power chosen, a 1st-level power is chosen at random from among the target's powers known. If the target currently has no power points, this ability has no effect, though the sneak attack damage is still forfeited.
For example, a 1st-level psithief who uses this ability against a 1st-level shaper could choose to steal astral construct. If the shaper knew that power and had at least one power point, a successful steal power attack would drain the shaper of one power point and prevent him from manifesting astral construct for one minute.
After stealing a power, a psithief can manifest the power herself. She adds the power point that was drained from the target to her power pool and she gains temporary knowledge of the power. For one minute after stealing the power, she can manifest the power at will, using her power point pool. Threat the power as if it were manifested by the original owner of the power for the purpose of determining manifester level, save DC, and so forth. The psithief can manifest this power even if she doesn't have the minimum ability score normally required to know the stolen power. If the stolen power can be augmented, the psithief can augment the power up to its manifester level (as determined by the original owner), as normal. Alternatively, a 4th-level or higher psithief can use the power points drained by the attack to manifest any of her powers known. A psithief must spent the power points drained by the attack within one minute of stealing the power; otherwise, the power points dissipate harmlessly.
As a psithief gains levels, she can choose to steal higher-level powers. At 4th level, she can steal powers of up to 2nd level, and for every two levels gained after 4th, the maximum power level stolen increases by one (to a maximum of 9th-level powers at 18th level). If a 4th-level or higher psithef can only steal powers that the target is currently capable of manifesting based on his current power point total. If the psithief chooses a power to steal, and the target currently has enough power points to manifest that power, the spell is stolen and a number of power points equal to the minimum amount required to manifest the power (without augmentations) is drained from the target and added to the psithief's power point pool. If the target cannot currently manifest the chosen power, or if the psithief did not choose a power, the psithief steal a random power from among the highest-level powers the target is currently able to manifest, and drains him of the minimum number of power points required to manifest that power.
At any one time, a psithief can know a maximum number of stolen power levels equal to her class level. For instance, a 4th-level psithief can know two stolen 2nd-level powers, or one 2nd-level spell and two 1st-level powers, or any other combination of 1st-level and 2nd-level powers totaling four levels. If she steal a power that would cause her to exceed this limit, she must choose to lose stolen powers sufficient to reduce her total number of stolen spell levels to no more than her maximum.
This ability works only against powers. It has no effect on spells or psi-like abilities (but see the steal psi-like ability class feature, below).
Trapfinding (Ex): As spellthief.
Detect Psionics (Ps): As spellthief, except replace detect magic with detect psionics.
Psigrace (Su): As spellthief's spellgrace, except vs powers.
Steal Power Effect (Su): As spellthief's Steal Spell Effect, but only affecting power effects.
Steal Energy Resistance (Su): As spellthief.
Powers: Beginning at 4th level, a psithief gains the ability to manifest a small number of psionic powers, which are drawn from the psithief power list (see below).
To learn to manifest a power, a psithief must have a Charisma score equal to 10 + the power level. The DC for a saving throw against a psithief's power is 10 + power level + psithief's Cha modifier.
Like other manifesters, a psithief has a certain number of power points per day, which may be used to manifest any of her known power (or stolen powers). Her base power points per day is given on Table 1: The Psithief. In addition, she gains bonus power points per day if she has a high Charisma score (see table 2-1, page 18 of the Expanded Psionics Handbook). When Table 1 indicates that a psithief gets 0 power points per day of a given power level, she gains only the bonus power points she would be entitled to based on her Charisma score.
A psithief's selection of powers is extremely limited. A psithief begins play knowing no powers but gains one or more new powers at certain levels, as indicated on Table 1. A psithief can learn any power on her spell list, though the maximum power level she can learn at a given class level is given on Table 1.
At all levels, a spellthief's manifester level is one-half her class level (rounded down, minimum 0), and she uses this reduced level to determine her bonus power points per day.
Steal Psi-Like Ability (Su): As spellthief's Steal Spell-Like Ability, but only affecting Psi-Like powers.
Absorb Power (Su): Beginning at 7th level, if a psithief makes a successful save against a power that targets her, she can attempt to absorb the power energy for later use. This ability only affects powers that have the psithief as a target, not effect or area powers. A psithief can't absorb a power of a higher power level than she could steal with her steal power ability (see above).
To absorb a spell that targets her, a psithief must succeed on a level check (1d20 + psithief class level) against a DC of 10 + the power's manifester level. Failure indicates that the power has its normal effect. Success means that the psithief suffers no effect from the power, gains power points equal to those spent manifesting the power, and adds the power to her powers known for one minute as if she had stolen the power using her steal power ability. Her normal limit of total power levels stolen still applies.
At 20th level or higher, a psithief can choose to use the stolen power points as an immediate action to manifest a single power. She can only use power points that she absorbed as a result of the attack precipitating this action.
Aura Sight (Ps): Beginning at 9th level, a psithief can use aura sight as a swift action a number of times per day equal her Charisma modifier + 3 (minimum 1).
Discover Powers (Ex): As spellthief's Discover Spells ability, but only affecting powers.
Steal Resistance (Su): As spellthief, except that the psithief steals power resistance rather than spell resistance.
Psithief Power List
1st Level: Attraction, call to mind, catfall, conceal thoughts, control light, create sound, psionic daze, detect psionics, disable, distract, empathy, empty mind, know direction and location, missive, defensive precognition, offensive precognition, offensive prescience, sense link, synesthete, telempathic projection.
2nd Level: Cloud mind, control sound, detect hostile intent, elfsight, feat leech, id insinuation, psionic identify, psionic knock, mental disruption, mass missive, psionic lock, forced sense link, share pain, thought shield, psionic tongues.
3rd Level: Danger sense, psionic darkvision, dispel psionics, eradicate invisibility, mind trap, forced share pain, touchsight, ubiquitous vision.
4th Level: Aura sight, correspond, death urge, detect remote viewing, psionic divination, empathic feedback, energy adaptation, psionic freedom of movement, mindwipe, personality parasite, power leech, trace teleport.
Psi-thief Psionics
{table=head]Level|Power Points/Day|Powers Known|Maximum Power Level Known
1st|
0|
-|
-
2nd|
0|
-|
-
3rd|
1|
-|
-
4th|
3|
1|
1st
5th|
5|
1|
1st
6th|
7|
2|
1st
7th|
9|
2|
1st
8th|
13|
3|
2nd
9th|
17|
4|
2nd
10th|
21|
4|
2nd
11th|
25|
5|
3rd
12th|
29|
6|
3rd
13th|
35|
6|
3rd
14th|
41|
7|
4th
15th|
47|
8|
4th
16th|
53|
8|
4th
17th|
59|
9|
4th
18th|
67|
9|
4th
19th|
73|
10|
4th
20th|
81|
10|
4th
[/table]
Design notes:
I decreased the usable time for the stolen powers to be used from one hour to one minute.
I increased the versatility of the steal power ability over steal spell by allowing the psithief to spend her own power points to manifest the stolen power and by allowing her to augment her stolen powers.
I made the untargeted steal power ability (that is, with no power chosen by the psithief) automatically target the highest-level powers the target has available to cast.
I did not know of any psionic power that would be as useful to the psithief as arcane sight is to a spellthief, so I gave her aura sight instead at an increased number of uses per day.
The psithief's power list is taken only from the Expanded Psionics Handbook. I am still looking at other supplements for more powers.
I based the power progression on the spellthief spell progression, and the power points per day are reduced from the Psychic Warrior class. The psithief has, at every level, about half as many powers as the spellthief has spells, which is intended to balance out the flexibility that a power point system grants.
Questions for the Committee (aka forumgoers)
First, what tier would you place this class in? If 2 or higher or 4 or lower, what would you do to change it to Tier 3?
In particular, is the Steal Power ability over- or under-powered?
Is there a psionic power I missed that would work as a replacement for arcane sight?
What powers did I include that don't match the flavor or style? What other powers would you recommend I include on the psithief list?
Should I increase or decrease the power point progression or powers known progression?
Thanks and happy homebrewing!
For concept, I am really trying to stay as close to the spellthief's role and flavor as possible, with the exception that the psithief uses psionics. I am aiming for Tier 3 in power level.
In order to avoid copyright infringement, I will only be noting in detail those abilities that are different from those of the standard spellthief.
The Psithief
Hit Die: d6
Starting Gold: 4d4 x 10 gp.
Class Skills: As spellthief, except remove Knowledge (arcana), Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device, and add Autohypnosis, Knowledge (psionics), Psicraft, and Use Psionic Device.
Skill Points Per Level: 6 + Int modifier (x4 at 1st level)
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Simple weapons, light armor.
Sneak Attack (Ex): As spellthief.
Steal Power (Su): A psithief can siphon psionic energy and knowledge away from her target and use it herself. A psithief who hits an opponent with a successful sneak attack can choose to forgo dealing 1d6 points of sneak attack damage and instead steal a power known and power points from her target. If the target is willing, a psithief can steal a spell with a touch as a standard action.
The target of a steal power attack loses the use of one 1st-level power he knows for one minute and loses one power point. A psithief can choose which power to steal. If the psithief elects not to choose a power, or the target does not know the power chosen, a 1st-level power is chosen at random from among the target's powers known. If the target currently has no power points, this ability has no effect, though the sneak attack damage is still forfeited.
For example, a 1st-level psithief who uses this ability against a 1st-level shaper could choose to steal astral construct. If the shaper knew that power and had at least one power point, a successful steal power attack would drain the shaper of one power point and prevent him from manifesting astral construct for one minute.
After stealing a power, a psithief can manifest the power herself. She adds the power point that was drained from the target to her power pool and she gains temporary knowledge of the power. For one minute after stealing the power, she can manifest the power at will, using her power point pool. Threat the power as if it were manifested by the original owner of the power for the purpose of determining manifester level, save DC, and so forth. The psithief can manifest this power even if she doesn't have the minimum ability score normally required to know the stolen power. If the stolen power can be augmented, the psithief can augment the power up to its manifester level (as determined by the original owner), as normal. Alternatively, a 4th-level or higher psithief can use the power points drained by the attack to manifest any of her powers known. A psithief must spent the power points drained by the attack within one minute of stealing the power; otherwise, the power points dissipate harmlessly.
As a psithief gains levels, she can choose to steal higher-level powers. At 4th level, she can steal powers of up to 2nd level, and for every two levels gained after 4th, the maximum power level stolen increases by one (to a maximum of 9th-level powers at 18th level). If a 4th-level or higher psithef can only steal powers that the target is currently capable of manifesting based on his current power point total. If the psithief chooses a power to steal, and the target currently has enough power points to manifest that power, the spell is stolen and a number of power points equal to the minimum amount required to manifest the power (without augmentations) is drained from the target and added to the psithief's power point pool. If the target cannot currently manifest the chosen power, or if the psithief did not choose a power, the psithief steal a random power from among the highest-level powers the target is currently able to manifest, and drains him of the minimum number of power points required to manifest that power.
At any one time, a psithief can know a maximum number of stolen power levels equal to her class level. For instance, a 4th-level psithief can know two stolen 2nd-level powers, or one 2nd-level spell and two 1st-level powers, or any other combination of 1st-level and 2nd-level powers totaling four levels. If she steal a power that would cause her to exceed this limit, she must choose to lose stolen powers sufficient to reduce her total number of stolen spell levels to no more than her maximum.
This ability works only against powers. It has no effect on spells or psi-like abilities (but see the steal psi-like ability class feature, below).
Trapfinding (Ex): As spellthief.
Detect Psionics (Ps): As spellthief, except replace detect magic with detect psionics.
Psigrace (Su): As spellthief's spellgrace, except vs powers.
Steal Power Effect (Su): As spellthief's Steal Spell Effect, but only affecting power effects.
Steal Energy Resistance (Su): As spellthief.
Powers: Beginning at 4th level, a psithief gains the ability to manifest a small number of psionic powers, which are drawn from the psithief power list (see below).
To learn to manifest a power, a psithief must have a Charisma score equal to 10 + the power level. The DC for a saving throw against a psithief's power is 10 + power level + psithief's Cha modifier.
Like other manifesters, a psithief has a certain number of power points per day, which may be used to manifest any of her known power (or stolen powers). Her base power points per day is given on Table 1: The Psithief. In addition, she gains bonus power points per day if she has a high Charisma score (see table 2-1, page 18 of the Expanded Psionics Handbook). When Table 1 indicates that a psithief gets 0 power points per day of a given power level, she gains only the bonus power points she would be entitled to based on her Charisma score.
A psithief's selection of powers is extremely limited. A psithief begins play knowing no powers but gains one or more new powers at certain levels, as indicated on Table 1. A psithief can learn any power on her spell list, though the maximum power level she can learn at a given class level is given on Table 1.
At all levels, a spellthief's manifester level is one-half her class level (rounded down, minimum 0), and she uses this reduced level to determine her bonus power points per day.
Steal Psi-Like Ability (Su): As spellthief's Steal Spell-Like Ability, but only affecting Psi-Like powers.
Absorb Power (Su): Beginning at 7th level, if a psithief makes a successful save against a power that targets her, she can attempt to absorb the power energy for later use. This ability only affects powers that have the psithief as a target, not effect or area powers. A psithief can't absorb a power of a higher power level than she could steal with her steal power ability (see above).
To absorb a spell that targets her, a psithief must succeed on a level check (1d20 + psithief class level) against a DC of 10 + the power's manifester level. Failure indicates that the power has its normal effect. Success means that the psithief suffers no effect from the power, gains power points equal to those spent manifesting the power, and adds the power to her powers known for one minute as if she had stolen the power using her steal power ability. Her normal limit of total power levels stolen still applies.
At 20th level or higher, a psithief can choose to use the stolen power points as an immediate action to manifest a single power. She can only use power points that she absorbed as a result of the attack precipitating this action.
Aura Sight (Ps): Beginning at 9th level, a psithief can use aura sight as a swift action a number of times per day equal her Charisma modifier + 3 (minimum 1).
Discover Powers (Ex): As spellthief's Discover Spells ability, but only affecting powers.
Steal Resistance (Su): As spellthief, except that the psithief steals power resistance rather than spell resistance.
Psithief Power List
1st Level: Attraction, call to mind, catfall, conceal thoughts, control light, create sound, psionic daze, detect psionics, disable, distract, empathy, empty mind, know direction and location, missive, defensive precognition, offensive precognition, offensive prescience, sense link, synesthete, telempathic projection.
2nd Level: Cloud mind, control sound, detect hostile intent, elfsight, feat leech, id insinuation, psionic identify, psionic knock, mental disruption, mass missive, psionic lock, forced sense link, share pain, thought shield, psionic tongues.
3rd Level: Danger sense, psionic darkvision, dispel psionics, eradicate invisibility, mind trap, forced share pain, touchsight, ubiquitous vision.
4th Level: Aura sight, correspond, death urge, detect remote viewing, psionic divination, empathic feedback, energy adaptation, psionic freedom of movement, mindwipe, personality parasite, power leech, trace teleport.
Psi-thief Psionics
{table=head]Level|Power Points/Day|Powers Known|Maximum Power Level Known
1st|
0|
-|
-
2nd|
0|
-|
-
3rd|
1|
-|
-
4th|
3|
1|
1st
5th|
5|
1|
1st
6th|
7|
2|
1st
7th|
9|
2|
1st
8th|
13|
3|
2nd
9th|
17|
4|
2nd
10th|
21|
4|
2nd
11th|
25|
5|
3rd
12th|
29|
6|
3rd
13th|
35|
6|
3rd
14th|
41|
7|
4th
15th|
47|
8|
4th
16th|
53|
8|
4th
17th|
59|
9|
4th
18th|
67|
9|
4th
19th|
73|
10|
4th
20th|
81|
10|
4th
[/table]
Design notes:
I decreased the usable time for the stolen powers to be used from one hour to one minute.
I increased the versatility of the steal power ability over steal spell by allowing the psithief to spend her own power points to manifest the stolen power and by allowing her to augment her stolen powers.
I made the untargeted steal power ability (that is, with no power chosen by the psithief) automatically target the highest-level powers the target has available to cast.
I did not know of any psionic power that would be as useful to the psithief as arcane sight is to a spellthief, so I gave her aura sight instead at an increased number of uses per day.
The psithief's power list is taken only from the Expanded Psionics Handbook. I am still looking at other supplements for more powers.
I based the power progression on the spellthief spell progression, and the power points per day are reduced from the Psychic Warrior class. The psithief has, at every level, about half as many powers as the spellthief has spells, which is intended to balance out the flexibility that a power point system grants.
Questions for the Committee (aka forumgoers)
First, what tier would you place this class in? If 2 or higher or 4 or lower, what would you do to change it to Tier 3?
In particular, is the Steal Power ability over- or under-powered?
Is there a psionic power I missed that would work as a replacement for arcane sight?
What powers did I include that don't match the flavor or style? What other powers would you recommend I include on the psithief list?
Should I increase or decrease the power point progression or powers known progression?
Thanks and happy homebrewing!