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Amechra
2015-07-20, 04:10 AM
Yep, good ol' 2e style Non-Weapon Proficiencies. Assume that there's a Born Psychic Background that goes with these (I'll write it up, I swear!) I personally would limit the availability of these, if only to keep them weird.

Anyone else have any ideas? The theme to stick to is "real life" psychic powers, not Psionics.

Astral Projection:
By meditating for one minute and spending Inspiration, you may separate your mind from your body, letting it wander free. Your mind is insubstantial, passing through walls as if they were difficult terrain, and cannot be struck even by effects that damage Ethereal creatures - however, it cannot affect the physical world through any means, though it may observe its surroundings with your full complement of senses. Your mind moves at a speed of ft per round, and may safely wander free of your body for five minutes times your Proficiency bonus. While your mind is separated from your body, your body is considered to be Unconscious; in addition, for each minute past your safe limit, you suffer one level of Exhaustion.

Clairvoyance:
By spending Inspiration as an action and concentrating (much like how you would Concentrate on a spell), you may project one of your senses 5ft times your proficiency bonus, allowing you to use that sense as if you were standing in that spot (regardless of whether or not you could physically fit in the available space). By default, you may only project your sense of touch; however, you may project your sense of hearing once your Proficiency bonus reaches +3, and may project your sense of sight once your Proficiency reaches +5. You cannot Concentrate on Clairvoyance and a spell simultaneously.

ESP:
By spending Inspiration as a bonus action and concentrating (much like how you would Concentrate on a spell), you may sense the emotional state of one creature within 5ft times your proficiency bonus. You may change which creature you are reading as a bonus action. Once your Proficiency bonus reaches +3, you may also learn the surface thoughts of any creature whose emotional state you can sense with this ability, and may project obviously foreign snippets of your own emotions to the creature you are reading. Once your Proficiency bonus reaches +5, you may project obviously foreign snippets of your own thoughts into that creature's mind as an action.

Hypnosis:
By spending Inspiration as an action while speaking to a character, you may force them to make a Charisma saving throw against a DC of 8 + your Proficiency + your Charisma modifier. If they fail, they are [i]Charmed by you for thirty minutes times your Proficiency bonus - they perceive you as trustworthy and will take your advice at face value. Wiser creatures are more difficult to sway in this manner - if the creature's Wisdom is 8 or higher, they have Advantage on their save, and if their Wisdom is 12 or higher, they may make a Charisma save once an hour against the original DC - success indicates that they have shaken off your mental influence.

Mental Barrier:
By spending Inspiration and concentrating (much like concentrating on a spell), you have Advantage on Charisma or Wisdom saves (your choice). In addition, while this effect is active, subtract your Proficiency bonus from the Proficiency bonus of creatures using ESP or Hypnosis for determining whether or not you are within range and which effects they may bring to bear. For example, if you have a Proficiency bonus of +2 and an active Mental Barrier and a creature with ESP and a Proficiency bonus of +3 tries to read your mind, they would have to be within 5ft of you, and would only be capable of reading your emotional state.
You may not concentrate on this effect and a spell at the same time.

Object Reading:
By touching an object as a bonus action and spending Inspiration, you may learn some fact about a previous user or use of the object. While this cannot give any concrete impressions older than a number of hours equal to your Proficiency bonus, it does allow you to determine powerful emotional impressions (such as catching a glimpse of the last user of a murder weapon) or can determine the habitual use of an item (such as determining which key on a key ring matches a lock.).

Precognition:
By spending Inspiration and undergoing one minute of meditation, you may duplicate the effects of Augury, except the limit on how far into the future you may see is fifteen minutes times your Proficiency bonus. If your DM sees fit, they may also give you prophetic dreams or sudden uncontrolled visions.

Telekinesis
By spending Inspiration as an action, you may cast Mage Hand; unlike a normal version of the cantrip, the maximum weight it can carry is 5lbs times your Proficiency bonus.

Telepyrosis:
By spending Inspiration as an action, you may cast Create Bonfire or Control Flames.

DiBastet
2015-07-20, 08:15 AM
That's refreshing :smallcool:. Really, an interesting concept. Reminds me somehow of SAGA force powers.

Gotta say that this concept could be used as the basis for a different kind of magic system, maybe for a really low magic setting. Remove all kinds of spellcasting, create some more abilities like this mainly based on useful ritual spells, make some adjustments... It could be pretty cool.

Amechra
2015-07-20, 12:05 PM
That's refreshing :smallcool:. Really, an interesting concept. Reminds me somehow of SAGA force powers.

Gotta say that this concept could be used as the basis for a different kind of magic system, maybe for a really low magic setting. Remove all kinds of spellcasting, create some more abilities like this mainly based on useful ritual spells, make some adjustments... It could be pretty cool.

Thanks! I've been thinking of some others, which are mostly going to be stuff like "breath control" and "healing sleep" rather than "THROW PSYCHIC BOOM LASERS!!1!"

That being said, doing the Psychic attack modes might be interesting...



I was thinking that you could do Proficiencies like "Craft Good Luck Charms" or "Prepare Soothing Poultices", so you could have "hedge witches" that don't have to actually be able to cast spells (which might not be in theme.)

DiBastet
2015-07-20, 02:30 PM
I think that a single "psychic assault" or something like this is needed, but no more than that. There is some lore about mind attacks on some literature, games and rpgs, but if you don't want to go the superhero or psionics handbook I would keep it to one. Attack another's mind, his brain or his brain's blood vessels. and if it kills someone it makes their head explode, of course

Amechra
2015-07-20, 03:48 PM
Seems about right.

Also, SCANNERS!

Maybe...

Mental Thrust:
By spending Inspiration as an action, you may cast Dissonant Whispers, using your Charisma as your spellcasting ability score. If a creature dies due to this effect, they fall to the ground, blood spilling from their ears and nostrils.



Here, have a few "physical mastery" powers. Low-grade Wuxia? Yes please!

Asceticism:
Add your Proficiency bonus to the number of days you may go without food, and the minimum amount of water you may consume before automatically suffering a level of exhaustion is the necessary amount divided by your Proficiency bonus, rather than one-half. In addition, you may spend Inspiration when eating a meal to treat one ounce of food as if it were a pound and a mouthful of water as if it were a full gallon for the purposes of determining whether you've had sufficient sustenance.

Autokinetic Leap:
By spending Inspiration while jumping, you may add twice your Proficiency bonus to the distance you may cover with a long jump, or your Proficiency bonus to the height of a long jump.

Breath Control:
Add your Proficiency bonus to the number of minutes you may hold your breath, as well as to the number of rounds you can survive without air. Additionally, you may spend Inspiration as a bonus action and concentrate to slow your breathing rate; as long as this effect is active, you add your Proficiency bonus to any saves against inhaled poisons and breath one minute worth of air over the course of a number of minutes equal to your Proficiency bonus.

Featherfoot:
By spending Inspiration as a bonus action and concentrating (much like how you concentrate on a spell), you may better control your weight distribution while walking or running. Your footsteps don't make any noise and you don't leave tracks in soft materials (such as mud). Once your Proficiency bonus reaches +3, you may ignore difficult terrain caused by soft or loose terrain (such as attempting to move through sucking mud or quicksand). Once your Proficiency bonus reaches +5, you may walk on water and other liquids as long as you are concentrating on this effect. If you end your movement while still standing on liquid, you immediately start sinking. You cannot Concentrate on Featherfoot and a spell simultaneously.



Quick errata thing:

Add the following line to any Psychic Proficiency that duplicates a spell:
"When cast in this manner, ignore any Material, Somatic, or Verbal components that the spell might normally require."

Actually, I should just keep that here as a general rule.

Amechra
2015-07-21, 12:16 AM
Born Psychic

You could have come from any walk of life - you could have been anything, been anyone. But you won the mental lottery - you are one of the few creatures walking this green earth that have naturally occurring mental powers. While this can be a blessing or a curse, you do find that your will impresses itself on the world around you much more easily than it does normally; and that's as good a reason to adventure as any.

So what if sometimes you see stuff that isn't there? Harmless, really. No, really, it's harmless. Seriously, stop asking.

Proficiencies: Any one Psychic proficiency, any one Skill Proficiency.
Languages: Common, any other.
Equipment: You have 15gp worth of adventuring gear; a strange deck of cards or a locket that belongs to someone you have never met.

Feature: Psychic Ease
You easily acclimate to strange situations - you find that "being yourself" is usually enough to get by socially. People will forgive any small faux pas you may make, since your subconscious powers tend to smooth over minor mistakes and differences. In addition, you may accept a level of Exhaustion instead of paying Inspiration to use one of your Psychic proficiencies - doing so inevitably causes a nosebleed. You must wait until you complete a long rest before you may do so again.

Suggested Characteristics
You can experience the world in a way fundamentally different from most people, and have been doing so for a long time. You're used to having some small convenience or power at your fingertips that is uniquely yours. Your perspective is going to be slightly left of center.

Personality Trait:

1 - I oftentimes forget that most other people cannot read minds or light fires with a thought.
2 - I feel sorry for people who are handicapped by their lack of mental prowess.
3 - I sometimes speak to people that are totally there, people.
4 - I am absolutely convinced I have Illithid blood in me somewhere.
5 - I keep a diary for myself and for my party-mates.
6 - Sometimes, I dance to music only I can hear - it's really good music, too!
7 - I am curious about new cultures and will always ask a bunch of questions when I go somewhere new.
8 - I sometimes forget to finish my sentences. You can fill in the missing bits, right?

Ideal:

1 - Curiosity: There is no higher virtue than learning something new. (Neutral)
2 - Dominance: Those with special gifts are superior to those without. (Evil)
3 - Tutelage: What use is knowledge if it isn't shared? (Good)
4 - Order: Only through strict self discipline can you truly be yourself. (Lawful)
5 - Wonder: There isn't enough time in this world to cleave to a routine. (Chaotic)
6 - Madness: The clearest way to look at the world is through a shattered mirror. (Neutral)

Bond:

1 - When I was young, someone showed me great kindness - though I've forgotten their face, I'll know them if I meet them again.
2 - I catch glimpses of someone's thoughts, and wish I could share mine with them the same way.
3 - When I was growing up, I had a good luck charm I thought was the source of my powers. I still keep it around, for old time's sake.
4 - I have a little journal I take with me everywhere - I don't know what I'd do if I lost it.
5 - When I was younger, a Cleric mistook my powers as a sign of demonic possession. I still have... sore relations with that particular religion.
6 - I helped a "friend" with something illicit a few years back - they've still got the blackmail material hanging over my head.

Flaw:

1: I can be insufferably arrogant sometimes. OK, more often than "sometimes". But can you blame me?
2: I have trouble keeping the images in my head and the world around me separate.
3: I enjoy pain a little too much. Headaches and nosebleeds are like a party to me.
4: I share information about myself and others that I really shouldn't.
5: I make snap decisions a bit too often... regardless of how important the decision is.
6: Roll on the Permanent Insanity table in the DMG. Oh yes - we're going there.

GorinichSerpant
2015-07-21, 12:59 AM
It's an interesting idea.

A lot of the suggested characteristics pertain to mind reading ability, and wouldn't apply to most of the psychic skills.

I feel that many of these skills are narrow in scope compared to mundane skills, maybe some of them could be unified or get several psychic skills for every normal one.

Amechra
2015-07-21, 02:54 AM
It's an interesting idea.

A lot of the suggested characteristics pertain to mind reading ability, and wouldn't apply to most of the psychic skills.

I feel that many of these skills are narrow in scope compared to mundane skills, maybe some of them could be unified or get several psychic skills for every normal one.

I'm making the implicit assumption that a Born Psychic has some tiny bits of mind reading, just like they get tiny bits of Hypnosis.

On the front of the Proficiencies... I'm walking a thin line. These are first drafts, so...

Looking over some feats, Proficiency in three skills is equivalent to having two Cantrips and the ability to cast a 1st level spell once per Long rest.

I'm going to eyeball it and say that means Proficiency ~ Cantrip ~ 1/Long 1st Level Spell.

Requiring Inspiration to cast instead of being 1/Long is more resource efficient, if more random - with good roleplaying, you could be able to use it once per Short rest, or even more often than that (depends on the DM, I guess).

So...

Astral Projection: Probably better than Proficiency in a Skill. Scouting as an immaterial presence tends to be.
Clairvoyance: See Astral Projection.
ESP: I'd say this is roughly equivalent to a 1st level spell - it balances out.
Hypnosis: Roughly equal to a Charm Person; the bonuses creatures get from high Wisdom kinda balances out the greater duration (Charm Person lasts an hour - this thing can last 3).
Mental Barrier: Advantage on one type of Save is pretty great, especially if you aren't using your Concentration for anything else. So I'll probably keep this one the way it is.
Object Reading: I see this as roughly being a 1st level spell - it's fine as it is.
Precognition: Might be a bit strong, thanks to Augury being a 2nd level spell. However, unlike a spellcaster, you can't spam it, so that mitigates it. I would have to see it playtested before I could make a decision either way.
Telekinesis: Yeah, I'm going to remove the Inspiration cost.
Telepyrosis: I should probably just pick one of the Cantrips and make it at will - I'll probably go with Control Flame, as it stands.

Of the other ones...
Mind Thrust: It's a first level spell, so it's fine like it is.
Asceticism: I'd stick this about level with a Skill proficiency, really.
Autokinetic Leap: It's kinda like a more narrow version of Athletics, I'll give you that... Maybe I should just have it multiply the distance you can jump by your Proficiency bonus? Then it starts off weaker than Jump but caps out much stronger.
Breath Control: Yeah, this is about level. But this and Asceticism are a bit weird.
Featherfoot: I'd compare this favorably with a 1st level buff - especially once you hit 5th level, and can ignore certain types of Difficult Terrain.

So I see three that I have to change. Fine enough.

(If it seems like they're a weak choice, that's just because I forgot to write down rules for Training Psychic Powers.)

All that said... any ideas for other Powers? And what would you suggest for alternate results for the Born Psychic background? I won't pretend that some of those are... uninspired.

Submortimer
2015-07-21, 03:13 AM
I would honestly suggest using something other than Inspiration, maybe a 3.0 style Psychic Focus. My only issue with it is that Inspiration isn't a guaranteed thing, so you as a playear should have some way of using your abilites without DM intervention.

Amechra
2015-07-21, 04:04 AM
I would honestly suggest using something other than Inspiration, maybe a 3.0 style Psychic Focus. My only issue with it is that Inspiration isn't a guaranteed thing, so you as a playear should have some way of using your abilites without DM intervention.

That's a good point - however, having it run on Inspiration feels "right" to me. I think I'll put in a section for DMs that explicitly tells them that they should be a bit freer with Inspiration if they use these Proficiencies, or they should use the Players Award Inspiration alternate rules.

But now, I sleep. Gotta wake up in three hours, after all.

DiBastet
2015-07-21, 05:14 AM
Tell you the truth I also don't like the idea of inspiration (actually my reason is because my group likes to have companion npcs, and a companion gaining inspiration just seems weird). I would actually turn it around: using this gives you one exhaustion level that goes away with a short rest instead of a long rest, but players can use their inspiration if they have one. That way "everyone" can use it, psychics can push their limits if they need to (at greater risk) but players have another way to do it if they roleplay well.

Amechra
2015-07-21, 08:36 AM
Tell you the truth I also don't like the idea of inspiration (actually my reason is because my group likes to have companion npcs, and a companion gaining inspiration just seems weird). I would actually turn it around: using this gives you one exhaustion level that goes away with a short rest instead of a long rest, but players can use their inspiration if they have one. That way "everyone" can use it, psychics can push their limits if they need to (at greater risk) but players have another way to do it if they roleplay well.

Works for me!

EDIT: Or, rather, Powered By Exhaustion works for me.

Look for another post... soon.

Amechra
2015-07-21, 11:00 AM
Psychic Proficiencies

The following Proficiencies are all considered to be Psychic Proficiencies. The following rules apply to all Psychic Proficiencies (henceforth PP):

• If a PP states that it requires Concentration, it follows all the rules for Concentrating on spells, and counts towards the number of spells you can concentrate on at once.
• Some PP state that they cause you to suffer Cachexis. Each time you suffer Cachexis, you take one level of Exhaustion. If you have Inspiration available to spend, you may spend Inspiration instead of taking a level of Exhaustion. If you die due to Exhaustion inflicted by Cachexis, you bleed out through your eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
• If a PP duplicates the effects of a cantrip or spell, your spellcasting ability score is Charisma. Ignore any Material, Somatic, or Verbal components that the spell in question might have.
Any character with at least one Psychic Proficiency has an Psychic Strength rating equal to their Proficiency bonus.
• A PP may be developed through training as if it were a Skill Proficiency, following the rules laid out in the DMG. Finding someone capable of teaching you how to read minds is a wholly different matter.

Asceticism:
Add your Psychic Strength to the number of days you may go without food, and the minimum amount of water you may consume before automatically suffering a level of exhaustion is divided by your Psychic Strength, rather than one-half. In addition, you may suffer Cachexis when eating a meal to treat one ounce of food as if it were a pound and a mouthful of water as if it were a full gallon for the purposes of determining whether you've had sufficient sustenance.

Astral Projection:
By meditating for one minute and suffering Cachexis, you may separate your mind from your body, letting it wander free. Your mind is insubstantial, passing through walls as if they were difficult terrain, and cannot be struck even by effects that damage Ethereal creatures - however, it cannot affect the physical world through any means, though it may observe its surroundings with your full complement of senses. Your mind moves at a speed of ft per round, and may safely wander free of your body for five minutes times your Psychic Strength. While your mind is separated from your body, your body is considered to be Unconscious; in addition, you suffer Cachexis once per minute once you have passed your safe limit.

Biofeedback:
You may suffer Cachexis to automatically succeed on a Death save. When spending hit dice to recover hit-points, you may suffer Cachexis to recover HP as if [Psychic Strength] of those dice had rolled their maximum amount, to a maximum of the number of hit-dice you spent.

Breath Control:
Add your Psychic Strength to the number of minutes you may hold your breath, as well as to the number of rounds you can survive without air. Additionally, you may suffer Cachexis as a bonus action and concentrate to slow your breathing rate; as long as this effect is active, you add your Proficiency bonus to any saves against inhaled poisons and breath one minute worth of air over the course of [Psychic Strength] minutes.

Clairvoyance:
By suffering Cachexis as an action and concentrating, you may project one of your senses [5 * Psychic Strength]ft, allowing you to use that sense as if you were standing in that spot (regardless of whether or not you could physically fit in the available space). By default, you may only project your sense of touch; however, you may project your sense of hearing once your Psychic Strength reaches 3, and may project your sense of sight once it reaches 5.

ESP:
By suffering Cachexis as a bonus action and concentrating, you may sense the emotional state of one creature within [5 * Psychic Strength]ft. You may change which creature you are reading as a bonus action. Once your Psychic Strength reaches 3, you may also learn the surface thoughts of any creature whose emotional state you can sense with this ability, and may project obviously foreign snippets of your own emotions to the creature you are reading. Once it reaches 5, you may project obviously foreign snippets of your own thoughts into that creature's mind as an action.

Featherfoot:
By suffering Cachexis as a bonus action and concentrating, you may better control your weight distribution while walking or running. Your footsteps don't make any noise and you don't leave tracks in soft materials (such as mud). Once your Psychic Strength reaches 3, you may ignore difficult terrain caused by soft or loose terrain (such as attempting to move through sucking mud or quicksand). Once it reaches 5, you may walk on water and other liquids as long as you are concentrating on this effect. If you end your movement while still standing on liquid, you immediately start sinking.

Hypnosis:
You may cast [I]Friends on a creature you are speaking to; once your Psychic Strength reaches 3, choose one of the following:

• This version of Friends doesn't make a creature automatically hostile after the duration lapses.
• This version of Friends can affect hostile creatures.
Once your Psychic Strength reaches 5, you gain the other option.

Mental Barrier:
By suffering Cachexis as a bonus action and concentrating, you gain Advantage on Charisma or Wisdom saves (your choice). In addition, if a creature targets you with ESP or Hypnosis while this Psychic Proficiency is active, subtract your Psychic Strength from theirs to determine which effects they may bring to bear.

Mental Thrust
By suffering Cachexis as an action, you may cast Dissonant Whispers. If a creature dies due to this effect, they are considered to have died due to Exhaustion inflicted by Cachexis.

Object Reading:
By touching an object and suffering Cachexis as a bonus action, you may learn some fact about a previous user or use of the object. While this cannot give any concrete impressions older than [Psychic Strength] hours, it does allow you to determine powerful emotional impressions (such as catching a glimpse of the last user of a murder weapon) or can determine the habitual use of an item (such as determining which key on a key ring matches a lock).

Precognition:
By suffering Cachexis and undergoing one minute of meditation, you may duplicate the effects of Augury, except the limit on how far into the future you may see is [15 * Psychic Strength] minutes. If your DM sees fit, they may also give you prophetic dreams or sudden uncontrolled visions.

Telekinesis
You may cast Mage Hand; unlike a normal version of the cantrip, the maximum weight it can carry is [5 * Psychic Strength]lbs.

Telepyrosis:
You may cast Control Flames, except the maximum number of non-instantaneous effects you may control at once is your Psychic Strengt; one your Psychic Strength reaches 3, add the following option to the list:

• You may cause any flammable objects within the 5ft cube to catch fire as if you had used a tinderbox. This takes the same action as using a tinderbox.
Once your Psychic Strength reaches 5, add the following option to the list:

• Flames within the 5ft cube cannot be doused by water unless they are completely smothered; everything within the 5ft cube burns as if it were bone dry.



I replaced Autokinetic Leap with Biofeedback - being suspiciously healthy feels more psychic than jumping really far, to me at least. If you really want it, just have it let you suffer Cachexis to cast Jump.

Any suggestions on stuff for the Born Psychic? Any ideas would be welcome. Once it's ironed out, I'm going to make something like StardustReborn's NPC classes (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?402474-NPC-quot-Classes-quot-Everyday-People-with-Interesting-Stories) for it.

DiBastet
2015-07-21, 04:59 PM
Turning out to be pretty good. The more i look at it the more I think this can be the base for a magic system with fewer spells, like savage worlds

Amechra
2015-07-22, 05:12 PM
Thanks!

Prodigy:
Select one Tool other than a gaming set or a vehicle - you may use your own body to duplicate the benefits of that tool. You are proficient in your personal version of the Tool, but not with the Tool itself - while they have similar results, the principles behind them are completely different.

Pretty much just a refluff of gaining Proficiency in a Tool. Yes, you do substitute your own blood for paint, your own eyesight for an astrolabe, and so on and so forth.

GorinichSerpant
2015-07-22, 07:14 PM
I like to imagine a dwarven smith staring with a dropped jaw as orcish smith molds a hot piece of steel with his bare hands. And the orc not being aware that people smith any other way.

Which would lead to orcish metalwork to being distinctly different from other cultures, an amateurish orcish sword can be spotted by the finger indents in the metal and how the edge seems to have been hammered zig-zaggy by the shape of the orcish knuckles. Well made orcish weaponry has a smoothed out appearance and patterns similar to what you could make in the sand.

How would a Prodigy Herbalism or Poisoner's kit look like?

Amechra
2015-07-22, 11:19 PM
A Prodigy of Herbalism would tell herbs apart by smell and taste, to a level of precision that would boggle the mind ("This sprig of hensbane was cut two months ago - the bitter taste indicates that you didn't follow the rituals properly. Tsk, tsk.") They, of course, do not risk being poisoned by their sniffs and quick tastes.

A Prodigy of Poisoning could semi-consciously focus traces of poison in their bodily fluids to form poisons that they are (briefly) immune to. You can tell them by the way they smear their blood on their weaponry and spit in the food of their enemies.

Suddenly I'm thinking of a setting where all the races trade a "normal" Proficiency for a Psychic one. So, to use your examples, an Orc metalworker develops the Prodigy version instead of the normal Tool version, while an Elf might replace proficiency in Wisdom (Insight) with ESP (they don't read body language, they simply read your emotions and thoughts directly.).

Now that would be a way of pointing out the weirdness of other races. I'd probably allow players to pick up traded-out Proficiencies through downtime, but the assumption would be that Dwarves and Elves and Orcs or whatever have a fundamentally different way of approaching the world.

I might make up a list for that later.

Steampunkette
2015-07-23, 01:57 AM
Generally I like them. Temporary stacks of exhaustion is a nic cost, overall. Though I think I will probably use psychic focus.

10 minutes of meditation and maintain concentration until you use an ability that expends it. Access to several abilities that require focus until you end it.

Psionic Warrior feat. Gain advantage on init and 15ft speed increase while you maintain focus. Expend it by doubling jump length or height, knocking an enemy prone with no save, or adding 1d12 psychic damage to a single attack. If your concentration is broken before you expend it, everyone within 5ft takes 1d8 paychic damage, including you.

Advantage on init is nice, but will probably, at best, save you from the occasional sneak attack. 15ft more movement is almost broken good, but it requires concentration to maintain and losing it could leave you stranded in a bad spot. And then the double jump isn't big, but it is thematic. The d12 is big, but you have to blow it on the first round and lose your movement or you might hurt yourself if you get hit.

Amechra
2015-07-23, 03:33 AM
Generally I like them. Temporary stacks of exhaustion is a nic cost, overall. Though I think I will probably use psychic focus.

10 minutes of meditation and maintain concentration until you use an ability that expends it. Access to several abilities that require focus until you end it.

Psionic Warrior feat. Gain advantage on init and 15ft speed increase while you maintain focus. Expend it by doubling jump length or height, knocking an enemy prone with no save, or adding 1d12 psychic damage to a single attack. If your concentration is broken before you expend it, everyone within 5ft takes 1d8 paychic damage, including you.

Advantage on init is nice, but will probably, at best, save you from the occasional sneak attack. 15ft more movement is almost broken good, but it requires concentration to maintain and losing it could leave you stranded in a bad spot. And then the double jump isn't big, but it is thematic. The d12 is big, but you have to blow it on the first round and lose your movement or you might hurt yourself if you get hit.

Go right ahead and use Psychic Focus - I already considered it and didn't like it for thematic reasons.

This is more Carrie or Scanners than 1e, 2e, 3e, or 4e's Psionics. Hence why I called these Psychic Proficiencies, and not Psionic Proficiencies.

And, to me, "push yourself and bleed out through the nose" is more of a psychic thing than "meditate to load psychic bullets into the psychic chamber so I can shoot my mind-bullets".

Also, where are you getting temporary stacks of Exhaustion? This is the real deal - it basically works out to "you can use your stuff once per long rest, but you can borrow them from the future as well." Remember, these are Proficiencies, and act at a comparable level of power.

Steampunkette
2015-07-23, 04:10 AM
DiBastet.

And yeah, I get the proficiency thing. I just like the idea of doing both things to create a fuller psychic system. Spell like feats and spell like proficiencies to go together and create psionic sub archetypes.

Amechra
2015-07-25, 09:59 AM
Now I see where you were going with that. In review, it looks like Psionic Warrior is a bit crowded. If I may?

Veteran of a Thousand Psychic Wars
Increase your Wisdom score by one.
You gain your choice of two Psychic Proficiencies; once per long rest, you may ignore the Cachexis cost of either of those Proficiencies.

That should be fine as far as feats go. Of course, there's room for other feats.



And for you people who aren't hardcore enough to accept killing yourself slowly for your powers:


Rule Variant: Heroic Psychics
As it stands, psychic powers are stressful and inimical to the humanoid body. If you want your players to use them more often (and in a fashion that won't have their brains run out their ears), simply apply the following changes.

• Any character that possesses a Psychic Proficiency may hold a number of Psychic Focuses - whenever they suffer Cachexis, they may choose to spend a held Psychic Focus instead of gaining a level of Exhaustion.
• A character may gain a Psychic Focus through 10 minutes of meditation; if they don't possess a Psychic Focus before they take a Long Rest, they immediately gain one once the long rest is complete.
• A character may hold a number of Psychic Focuses equal to half of their Psychic Strength, rounded up.

DiBastet
2015-07-26, 09:21 AM
Gotta say I don't like how heroic psychic is worded. You could just say they can use their abilities Proficiency times per day without incurring cata, cate, caxa, whateveryoucallthat. Keep it simple you know.

Amechra
2015-07-26, 09:57 AM
True enough...


Rule Variant: Heroic Psychics
As it stands, psychic powers are stressful and inimical to the humanoid body. If you want your players to use them more often (and in a fashion that won't have their brains run out their ears), simply apply the following change.

Characters with Psychic Proficiencies may use them a number of times per Long Rest equal to half of their Psychic Strength, rounded down.

Ninja_Prawn
2015-08-08, 01:45 PM
I know I'm kinda late to this, but...

I can totally see this working in a zero-magic setting. In other settings, it seems a bit like... why not just be a wizard and get the real thing, plus a few non-wizarding* skills to boot?

Including the less-masochistic variant was a good idea. Different people have different mental images of how psychic powers work. Personally, I grew up on Warhammer 40k, so I'm good with the 'use at your own risk' approach. :smallamused:

So, why isn't there a Speak with Dead power here? And Levitate. I've seen magic shows with people claiming they were levitating themselves.


*My computer wants to autocorrect that to snowboarding skills. I'm almost tempted to let it.