PDA

View Full Version : when a psion dies... (about psicrystals)



flabort
2010-06-07, 06:00 PM
What happens to his psicrystal? does it shatter in a briliant powder? does it simply fall to the ground and become a lifeless peice of diamond or orther gem? does the psion take the path of the lich and regenerate from it?

sorry, it's just been bugging me. what on EARTH happens to that poor psicrystal? it's not covered in the monster entry, and not in the psion's class skills entry. so... yeah. what ever happens? it reflects his personality, a fragment of his soul (like a lich's phylactery?), but is active and mobile, a "living" creature, where a lich's phylactery is passive and inanimate. so It may not exibit the same... qualities.

But maybe a similar route could be taken by having the psion reabsorb the psicrystal after he dies, reuniting his soul to his body? if, of course, it doesn't shatter instantly...

Ok, what are your thoughts? I'm curious...

Marriclay
2010-06-07, 06:03 PM
From my understanding, psicrystals are essentially hardened ectoplasm held together with raw psionics. It's not living as we know it - it's a piece of a creatures mind that he wouldn't be able to get the opinion of otherwise, as normally it's a part of the whole. it'd be like taking your anger out of you, but still having it; You can see exactly what it wants, but you still feel it as well.

Thus, I've always played psicrystals simply returning to their ectoplasmic forms and kinda melting as their master dies, the piece of his mind that was never quite separated returning to the main soul

Hendel
2010-06-07, 06:07 PM
From my understanding, psicrystals are essentially hardened ectoplasm held together with raw psionics. It's not living as we know it - it's a piece of a creatures mind that he wouldn't be able to get the opinion of otherwise, as normally it's a part of the whole. it'd be like taking your anger out of you, but still having it; You can see exactly what it wants, but you still feel it as well.

Thus, I've always played psicrystals simply returning to their ectoplasmic forms and kinda melting as their master dies, the piece of his mind that was never quite separated returning to the main soul

I would agree with that.

Escheton
2010-06-07, 06:14 PM
On that note: what happens to familiars?

Prodan
2010-06-07, 06:15 PM
Opinion is divided between "they just vanish" and "they exist, and make for awesome plot hooks".

Marriclay
2010-06-07, 06:16 PM
On that note: what happens to familiars?

They're granted power by the magical talents of the one they're bound to. This means that, like a constant magic field that only the familiar is in, it enhances your one ally - in this case, your familiar. It means that if your player dies the creatures just returns to be a wild animal... or pseudodragon, or whatever crazy thing improved familiar got him

KillianHawkeye
2010-06-07, 06:18 PM
You definitely DO NOT regenerate like a Lich.

Hendel
2010-06-07, 06:18 PM
On that note: what happens to familiars?

In previous editions they reverted to a normal animal and went their own way. Of course I recall once where a dead comrade's familiar served as lunch for the half-orc barbarian after it's master died.

Marriclay
2010-06-07, 06:21 PM
In previous editions they reverted to a normal animal and went their own way. Of course I recall once where a dead comrade's familiar served as lunch for the half-orc barbarian after it's master died.

A magically charged hawk? I wonder how that would taste...

Prodan
2010-06-07, 06:22 PM
Like chicken.

PId6
2010-06-07, 06:47 PM
I'm guessing both psicrystals and familiars would just hang around for a while (or else Raise Dead just acquired even bigger costs), but eventually a psicrystal would just fade into a regular crystal (since it's kind of a part of the psion's personality) while a familiar becomes a free awakened animal that goes on its way to wacky adventures of its own. :smallbiggrin:

Jack_Simth
2010-06-07, 06:48 PM
Ok, what are your thoughts? I'm curious...

Unspecified in RAW. Which means, by default, nothing happens. HOWEVER:

Self-Propulsion (Su)

As a standard action, its owner can will a psicrystal to form spidery, ectoplasmic legs that grant the psicrystal a land speed of 30 feet and a climb speed of 20 feet. The legs fade into nothingness after one day (or sooner, if the owner desires). (Emphasis added)

Telepathic Speech (Ex)

If the owner is 5th level or higher, the psicrystal can communicate telepathically with any creature that has a language and is within 30 feet of the psicrystal, while the psicrystal is also within 1 mile of the owner. (Emphasis added)

Flight (Su)

If the owner is 9th level or higher, he can, as a standard action, will his psicrystal to fly at a speed of 50 feet (poor). The psicrystal drifts gently to the ground after one day (or sooner, if the owner desires). (Emphasis added)

Per RAW, in less than a day from when the owner is unable to act (while not clearly spelled out in RAW, the dead status is usually house-ruled to make this occur....), the psicystal essentially becomes unable to act - an unusually tough stone, that is intelligent and can see it's surroundings, unable to do anything to improve it's plight ... although sufficiently clever feat choices could permit it some actions.

Lycanthromancer
2010-06-07, 07:03 PM
CustServe has ruled that a psion whose psicrystal has died 'gets another one.'

Perhaps the same is true in reverse?

Starbuck_II
2010-06-07, 07:22 PM
CustServe has ruled that a psion whose psicrystal has died 'gets another one.'

Perhaps the same is true in reverse?

If the owner dies, it gets a new one?

Lycanthromancer
2010-06-07, 07:26 PM
If the owner dies, it gets a new one?Yup. Could be an interesting way to play, with the psicrystal in charge, while its 'owner' is a cohort of some kind. Or at least the psicrystal treats him like one.

flabort
2010-06-07, 09:48 PM
Ok, so definitely NOT lich regen, then. maybe owner replacement, maybe it just becomes an ordinary crystal, or maybe an intelegint crystal unable to do ANYTHING, or maybe it fades into ectoplasm?

interesting.

It looks like the majority is for it becoming an ordinary crystal. hmm...
In that case, what kind of crystal? a precious gem, such as beryll, diamond, or such, or the same kind they make thier weapons out of? a unique gem?

What could the applications of such a "spent" psicrystal be? could enough of them be gathered, and used in the creation of life? could they be used as batteries, storing energy? could they be used in some sort of uber-beam weapon, through which they zombify people?

the psicrystal/familiar comparison is interesting. it looks like that may have been the intention.

Optimystik
2010-06-07, 10:51 PM
If the psicrystal does disappear when the psion dies - when? If it's instantaneous, that could throw a wrench in the Save Game trick.