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View Full Version : Alternate name for mental powers? (Plus a couple of other naming things)



unbeliever536
2015-06-05, 04:36 PM
I'm working on a homebrew d20 system in my spare time, and I'm adding a subsystem like 3.X psionics in addition to a 5e-style pseudovancian magic subsystem. Problem is, I don't like the flavor that comes from the word "psionics". I'm making these subsystems at least minimally available to all characters, so they need to be open to just about any character concept. To get that to work for magic, I just dropped the mechanical distinction between arcane and divine magic. If you don't want to play a magical character, you just don't take magic skills. If you do want to play a magical character, you do, and it doesn't matter how exactly you get your magic. That attitude should work for mental powers, but there's an implicitly mystic flavor to terms like psionics or psychic powers, at least to my ear. Any ideas for alternate names?

Also as-yet-unnamed: a magic class that's also decent at psionics and combat, but limited with mundane skills, and a psionic class that's decent at magic and combat (but again, not good at mundane skills). The other magic classes are called Sorcerer and Magus, and the other psionic classes are Monk and Hermit. I also have three fighter classes named and three rogue classes named: these are the Barbarian, Bravo, and Knight; plus the Assassin, Bard, and Burglar.

Necrovosh
2015-06-05, 04:46 PM
Mentalism, with the Mentat or Mentalist class? Cogitation, Lucidity, and Engrossment all work for the "magic type name" as well, each with slightly different connotations for the way the mental magic is shaped.

Arkanist
2015-06-05, 04:51 PM
Mysticism sounds cool - you could be a Mystic. Seer or Sage could also work.

Glimbur
2015-06-05, 10:30 PM
Knack. Gift. Art (or Arete if you're fancy). Could even be something weirder like Wyrd or The Touch or whatever. Lots of ideas to lift from fantasy and/or mythology.

unbeliever536
2015-06-06, 03:51 AM
Mentalism is close, but still feels a little too...eastern? Mystical? Still doesn't quite feel right, anyway. I think I will use Mystic and Sage for class names, though; the missing magic//combat class will become the Magus, the class formerly known as Magus will become the Sage, and the name "Hermit" will be dropped in favor of Mystic. So there's still one name missing; ideally it would be something that conveys the flavor of "Psychic Warrior", but shorter, and without the specificity of "Soulknife".