Anti-Psionic Spells?

[HunterOfJello]

I'm going to be playing a level 15 Sorcerer//Druid in an upcoming campaign alongside a level 15 Psion//Erudite. However, the DM firmly believes that all magic and all psionics are completely different and don't interact with one another. There is likely no transparency at all.

So, I was wondering: Are there any spells out there that specifically deal with or work against psionics?

Many psionic abilities mention magic in their entries while assuming magic-psionic transparency, so I will not be surprised if the DM says that those work for both while the spells that don't mention psionics at all don't work in the same fashion.

I know that a Sorcerer 15//Druid 15 will be fine against pretty much everything, but I don't want to get left in the dust if some powerfully psionic creature rears its head and suddenly none of my abilities work on it while its abilities work on me.

[Psyren]

I'm not sure what you mean by "none of my abilities will work on it." If there is no transparency, you actually have less to worry about; for instance, a psionic monster with power resistance won't be able to stop your spells at all.

There are some questions you need to ask your DM to clarify how this is going to work. Things like "If I gain fire resistance from a spell or magic item, will that protect me from a psionic power that does fire damage?" Or, "if I have a magic item that boosts my reflex save, will that apply to an Energy Burst as well as it does to a Fireball?" The answer to both of these is yes no matter what version of transparency is used, but you need to be sure that your DM understands that as well.

As for spells that target psionics... there are a few (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/spells/overview.htm), but they're not great - particularly against monsters, who tend to have PLAs rather than true manifesting.

[Answerer]

You can only run a "Psionics Is Different" campaign by doing a massive amount of homebrew figuring out exactly what that means.

"They're totally different, no overlap!" doesn't mean anything. You need to literally go through every creature in the campaign to determine if it should have SR or PR or both. You need to consider every spell and every power and how they interact, whether that is overlapping, cancelling, stacking, etc. You cannot just wing it.

I strongly recommend you make sure your DM understands this, and ensure he's done his homework if he's going to insist on this extremely ill-advised variant. If he hasn't done it, or doesn't think he needs to do it, I further strongly recommend that you get out now.

[Garagos]

You can only run a "Psionics Is Different" campaign by doing a massive amount of homebrew figuring out exactly what that means.

"They're totally different, no overlap!" doesn't mean anything. You need to literally go through every creature in the campaign to determine if it should have SR or PR or both. You need to consider every spell and every power and how they interact, whether that is overlapping, cancelling, stacking, etc. You cannot just wing it.

I strongly recommend you make sure your DM understands this, and ensure he's done his homework if he's going to insist on this extremely ill-advised variant. If he hasn't done it, or doesn't think he needs to do it, I further strongly recommend that you get out now.

I agree. Making magic and psionics work differently is a ton of work. Sure it can be a lot more fun that way too, but only if done properly. If your DM doesn't have the time to put in that extra work, I'd try and convince him to make magic and psionics work the same (ie. dispel magic works on both arcane and psionic abilities).

[Urpriest]

To add to the others' comments, if your DM is using complete nontransparency then he will have already created a few spells that specifically interact with psionics, so I would start by asking him what they are.

[mattie_p]

To add to the others' comments, if your DM is using complete nontransparency then he will have already created a few spells that specifically interact with psionics, so I would start by asking him what they are.

The same sidebar that discusses the "Psionics are Different" mechanic proposes spells and powers that specifically do interact. Based on the recommended guidelines, powers and spells are two levels higher, but have a caster level reduction to that of the original spell or power. Example: spell dispel psionics is a level 5 spell, but cast in all ways other than slot as a level 3 spell (for CL checks and the like, meaning -4 CL).

If you feel like multiclassing to solve the problem, grab 1 level of Ardent from Complete Psionic and take the magic mantle, which explicitly grants transparency.

Or see if the DM is willing to homebrew a feat which grants the same, since he obviously is in the mood to homebrew the whole shebang anyway.

[Venusaur]

Psychic Turmoil and its greater version are the only ones I can find on the SRD.