Psionic Focus

[razorback]

Question after reading through the rules.

Psionic Weapon's only prereq is strength 13. To use it, you have to expend your psionic focus. In order to gain your psionic focus, you have to succeed at a concentrate and have a reserve of power points. So, either through a feat like Wild Talent or by using a race with beginning power points like an Elan, could you use this without an psionic classes?

That's the way I'm reading but want to be sure.

[Psyren]

Yes, the only requirement to gain psionic focus is having a PP reserve. Whether that comes from your race, class, or a feat like Wild Talent doesn't matter - no matter which way, you can meditate to gain focus.

[razorback]

That's my thinking, too.

Thanks.

[FMArthur]

Note that you still have to have power points before taking the feat because [Psionic] feats all have a requirement of having a power point reserve or psi-like abilities. Feats with special tags often have universal prerequisites like that which don't appear in individual feat descriptions.

[Psyren]

Note that you still have to have power points before taking the feat because [Psionic] feats all have a requirement of having a power point reserve or psi-like abilities. Feats with special tags often have universal prerequisites like that which don't appear in individual feat descriptions.

Well... Not exactly:


Psionic feats are available only to characters and creatures with the ability to manifest powers. (In other words, they either have a power point reserve or have psi-like abilities.)

So, even if you lack power points, you can still take psionic feats if you meet the following criteria:

- Having psi-like abilities
- Having spell-like abilities described as "Psionics" (e.g. a Couatl, Aboleth, or Hagunemnon.)

This latter one works because of the following clarification from the XPH:


Creatures With “Psionics” Entries

Psionic monsters often possess spell-like abilities that are identified as “psionics,” instead of “spell-like abilities.” For all intents and purposes, creatures with spell-like abilities described as psionics are considered to possess psi-like abilities, and they manifest their powers as described above.

One last amendment to your point: you can take psionic feats if you have a power point reserve, not if you have power points. This is a crucial distinction, because there are some characters that have a PP reserve, with no PP in it - for instance, a Psychic Rogue starting the game with 12 Int or lower. If you needed power points as opposed to a PP reserve, psychic rogues with 12 Int or lower could not take Psionic Feats. Or a Psion who ran out of PP for the day would lose access to all of his psionic feats.

[Rubik]

Most psionic feats (but not all) require psionic focus (either expending or holding), which you can't have if you have 0 pp in your reserve.

So something like Metamorphic Transfer would work, but Psionic Fist (the feat) would not.

[Psyren]

That's right - but whether you are still capable of focusing or not, you can still take the feats at least. And there are those that don't interact with your focus at all, like Psionic Body.

Fun fact: in Pathfinder, you can focus even with no PP remaining. (This allows you to continue making use of feats, Talents, Knacks etc. after you've run dry.

[razorback]

Note that you still have to have power points before taking the feat because [Psionic] feats all have a requirement of having a power point reserve or psi-like abilities. Feats with special tags often have universal prerequisites like that which don't appear in individual feat descriptions.

Understood, which is why I put in:

So, either through a feat like Wild Talent or by using a race with beginning power points like an Elan

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't reading it as favorably as possible but fairly(-ish).