Making a Psionic Handbook Supplement

[deathbymanga]

So, my perfectionism refuses to just let me make a book with a couple classes and let that be the end of it. I want to make a full book to sell on DMs Guild. So, I'm looking to absorb the genius of the internet and pray that i might get psionic powers as a result here.

At this moment I have a few Races:
Thri-Kreen
Psiforged
Blue Goblins
Half-Giants

and a few classes:
A complete adaptation of the Psion class that includes the Wilder as a Wild Sorcerer equivalent
A Complete Adaptation of the Ardent class to create a Cleric-esque Psionic class
a Psionic Barbarian that serves as a Support Achetype that can enrage others as well as cast Shifter and Egoist Powers.
a Psionic Bard that does.............something
a Psionic Warrior archetype for the Fighter that focuses on using Powers to creating buffing effects as well as has Pathfinder's Soulknife
a Psionic Rogue that can do Psychic Sneak Attack damage and both erase its existence from your memory, and steal information from your mind (Still trying to work out the kinks here on this without being rediculously OP)
A Psionic Cleric Domain that is probably going to be exclusive to Illithids and whatnot unless I can find some more common Psionic gods.
a Psionic Druid that can wild shape into a large insect warrior and can convert spell slots to psionic points to control large swarms of insects and coerce enemies into becoming thralls.
a Psionic Monk that does.........something
a Psionic Paladin that focuses on the conversion of other people, using his superior will to change the minds of others.
a Psionic Ranger that focuses on fighting illithids. May bring back the old "Power of Racism" effect and make these guy get actual combat bonuses to their favored enemies.
A Psionic Sorcerer that does...............something
a Psionic Warlock build around the Psion Uncarnate Prestige Class
a Psionic Wizard that has a photographic memory and can store their entire spellbook in their mind (still unsure about how psionics would affect how a wizard would cast spells)

I'm still pretty baffled on how the Divine Classes would be affected by psionics

[Regitnui]

The psion is a psionic wizard-equivalent. The lurk is the psionic rogue. The psionic warrior is the boringly-named fighter equivalent, with the soulknife an attempt at a psionic monk.

But honestly, don't try to remake the core classes in psionic flavour. Rather have the psion with discipline subclasses and psychic warrior with "monk" and soulknife subclasses. Embrace the 5e mindset.

[deathbymanga]

The psion is a psionic wizard-equivalent. The lurk is the psionic rogue. The psionic warrior is the boringly-named fighter equivalent, with the soulknife an attempt at a psionic monk.

But honestly, don't try to remake the core classes in psionic flavour. Rather have the psion with discipline subclasses and psychic warrior with "monk" and soulknife subclasses. Embrace the 5e mindset.

I am embracing the 5e mindset. Like with the Wizard's schools, I'll be making a Psion with a different archetype for each of it's specializations as well as a Wilder Archetype that opperates like the Wild Sorcerer.

However the Psionic Warrior just screams as the Psionic Fighter Archetype.

also, the Erudite was the true Psionic wizard, not the psion considering the Erudite had the power to store all powers in his mind like a wizard stores spells in his spell book.

I was considering making the Soulknife the Psionic Monk Archetype, but it felt too bland. It felt like a Monk with the Pact of the Blade or something like that.

[Regitnui]

I am embracing the 5e mindset. Like with the Wizard's schools, I'll be making a Psion with a different archetype for each of it's specializations as well as a Wilder Archetype that opperates like the Wild Sorcerer.

However the Psionic Warrior just screams as the Psionic Fighter Archetype.

also, the Erudite was the true Psionic wizard, not the psion considering the Erudite had the power to store all powers in his mind like a wizard stores spells in his spell book.

I was considering making the Soulknife the Psionic Monk Archetype, but it felt too bland. It felt like a Monk with the Pact of the Blade or something like that.

Merge the Erudite into the psion. The Wilder is an unnecessary class that can be modelled just as well by playing a psion with an appropriate background, The Soulknife is a subclass: You take its defining features; mind blade, throw mind blade, shape mind blade and place them as optional features for the psychic warrior.

[deathbymanga]

Merge the Erudite into the psion. The Wilder is an unnecessary class that can be modelled just as well by playing a psion with an appropriate background, The Soulknife is a subclass: You take its defining features; mind blade, throw mind blade, shape mind blade and place them as optional features for the psychic warrior.

why? the soulknife wasn't even that much of a psionic class. they had no powers and just made a blade out of their energy.

just because the classes are psionic doesn't mean they have to be completely removed from the existing classes.

not to mention, i don't see why i can't add any psionic archetypes to the existing core classes as well.

a Psionic Barbarian who uses his emotions to smash foes sounds perfectly reasonable. As does a Rogue that can strike psychic damage into people's minds as well as steal intel from people's minds ala inception.

I do have 2 Core Psionic Classes. The Psion and the Ardent.

The Psion focuses on different specializations of it's Psionic abilities, from Divination to telekinesis. while the Ardent focuses on different phylosophies and lifestyles. I'm not sure about a Half-caster style Psychic Warrior mostly because I have no idea what kind of stuff this class would do. the Psychic Warrior was pretty much nothing but a Fighter with Psychic Powers, so making the Psychic Warrior a Fighter Archetype makes perfect sense. There's just nothing unique enough about the Psychic Warrior to warrant a unique class.

And the Soulknife is not worth it to make the psychic warrior its own thing either. the Soulknife has nothing. just an energy blade that does nothing special.

The Lurk is also just a Rogue with Psionic powers, so it makes sense to make the Lurk/Psychic Rogue a Rogue Archetype. there's just no point to making it its own unique thing

[Coffee_Dragon]

3.5 had both Lurk and Psychic Rogue and though I didn't play either, the PR called to me while the Lurk did not.

[Ralanr]

I've always liked the idea of psychic armor on barbarians. They rage and become covered in a psychic aura.

[deathbymanga]

I've always liked the idea of psychic armor on barbarians. They rage and become covered in a psychic aura.

what would psychic armor do? they already have resistance and unarmed defense. hmm, but maybe it just work like Mage armor

[Ralanr]

what would psychic armor do? they already have resistance and unarmed defense. hmm, but maybe it just work like Mage armor

I'd imagine things like adding psychic damage or giving abilities like reach or pseudo haste.

[deathbymanga]

I'd imagine things like adding psychic damage or giving abilities like reach or pseudo haste.

that doesn't really have anything to do with armor. Plus, that doesn't feel like a Psionic attribute, just some extra power to an already heavy hitting class.

I see the Psionic Barbarian as an almost Support Barbarian. They have the power to give other people rage, being able to spend Power Points to do so. They can choose to give it to the other Warriors, buffing the party, or use it to stop the enemy casters by enraging them (They have to make a Wisdom Saving throw or be enraged).

I'm also considering giving them a Projectile power, similar to the idea of them Throwing their Rage. however I feel that might be a bit weird and I already have a separate idea for a Ranged Barbarian.

So, I see the Psionic Barbarian as being a 1/3rd caster, similar to the Eldritch Knight. They have enough Power Points to be balanced to that much.

One Power will be a Mage Armor style power that gives them an aura of Psionic Energy. Hmm, perhaps maybe the Psionic Armor should have a secondary effect dependant on the amount of points pumped into it. I'm thinking either 1. They can spend extra points to increase the AC of the armor, or 2. they can spend points that will become psychic damage that is dealt to the next person who hits the psionic barbarian.

edit: here, wrote this up, what do you think?

Empathic Shielding:
Initial Cost: 2
Range: Touch
Duration: 8 hours
You touch a willing creature who isn't wearing armor and they are shrouded in a field of Psionic Energy made of their current emotional state (if they are angry the shroud is red, if they are calm, it is blue, etc). The Shroud gives you an AC that equals 16+Dex Modifier (max 2). The Power ends if you don armor or if you dismiss the power as an action.
With Additional Points: Whenever you are dealt damage by a melee attack, you empathically deal the damage of the same type equal to the amount of damage dealt to you or the amount of additional points pumped into this power, whichever is less, back to the enemy that attacked you. If the enemy dealt two or more types of damage, the damage is treated as all types involved.
The enemy takes the full damage even if they are immune or resistant to the damage they dealt to you or have any means of damage reduction. The damage cannot be done if the attacker is immune to psychic damage

[Regitnui]

why? the soulknife wasn't even that much of a psionic class. they had no powers and just made a blade out of their energy.
And the Soulknife is not worth it to make the psychic warrior its own thing either. the Soulknife has nothing. just an energy blade that does nothing special.


Which is precisely why you gut it and give the features to the psychic warrior. I can tell you right now there are people who would very much enjoy having the ability to wield a weapon made from their mind that they cannot lose.

[deathbymanga]

Which is precisely why you gut it and give the features to the psychic warrior. I can tell you right now there are people who would very much enjoy having the ability to wield a weapon made from their mind that they cannot lose.

i dont understand why i can't work on making ORIGINAL archetypes that expand on the existing mechanics, in addition to adapting classic classes from 3.5 to 5e.

And what's there to Gut from the Soulknife? just the ability to manefest a blade? that's a ribbon and nothing else. At least the Pathfinder Soulknife let you get enchantments onto your blade for free.

But ok, how about this. The Psychic Warrior Archetype is a Fighter class with a 1/3rd Power Point progression meter. in addition to have access to a collection of Psionic Powers that focus on buffs and accuracy enhancements, the psychic warrior has a Soulblade, a manifestation of the Psychic Warrior's own drive and motivation. In addition to being any one weapon the psychic warrior chooses at 3rd level, as the warrior levels up, they can enchant their soulblade to give it unique buffs suited for their personal preference.

There, I combined the existing Fighter-ness of the Psychic warrior with the Psychic warrior's Power List and the only desirable element of the Soulknife, improved upon by using the Pathfinder rules instead

[Regitnui]

i dont understand why i can't work on making ORIGINAL archetypes that expand on the existing mechanics, in addition to adapting classic classes from 3.5 to 5e.

And what's there to Gut from the Soulknife? just the ability to manefest a blade? that's a ribbon and nothing else. At least the Pathfinder Soulknife let you get enchantments onto your blade for free.

But ok, how about this. The Psychic Warrior Archetype is a Fighter class with a 1/3rd Power Point progression meter. in addition to have access to a collection of Psionic Powers that focus on buffs and accuracy enhancements, the psychic warrior has a Soulblade, a manifestation of the Psychic Warrior's own drive and motivation. In addition to being any one weapon the psychic warrior chooses at 3rd level, as the warrior levels up, they can enchant their soulblade to give it unique buffs suited for their personal preference.

There, I combined the existing Fighter-ness of the Psychic warrior with the Psychic warrior's Power List and the only desirable element of the Soulknife, improved upon by using the Pathfinder rules instead

Great. Legend System has the Sage's Heritor option, which is basically a soulblade with the ability to manifest offensive powers through it. Say for example you know Fireball, you can put the spell inot your blade to be triggered by the first bloke you hit with it.

[deathbymanga]

Great. Legend System has the Sage's Heritor option, which is basically a soulblade with the ability to manifest offensive powers through it. Say for example you know Fireball, you can put the spell inot your blade to be triggered by the first bloke you hit with it.

i don't even know what this "legend system" is, or what "sage's heritor" is

[Regitnui]

i don't even know what this "legend system" is, or what "sage's heritor" is

Legend System is another d20-based RPG, Sage is a class, and didn't I explain what the Heritor was?


which is basically a soulblade with the ability to manifest offensive powers through it.

Yes, yes I did.

[deathbymanga]

ok, well, on another note. what do you think might work for a Psionic Sorcerer? The best I can think of is some kind of half-illithid or something.

Psionics is already a biological thing, so the mere existence of having Psionic powers is a "bloodline" of a sorts. So it's kind of weird figuring out a Sorcerer bloodline

[Regitnui]

Quori are psionic beings from the plane of dreams. Perhaps you have a little heritage from their preferred hosts? Or just call it a Phrenic Bloodline, like the old 3.5 template for psionically-altered creatures.

[deathbymanga]

Quori are psionic beings from the plane of dreams. Perhaps you have a little heritage from their preferred hosts? Or just call it a Phrenic Bloodline, like the old 3.5 template for psionically-altered creatures.

I was tempted to use Flayerspawn Psychic, but I'd have to look over the Illithid Feats to see if there's enough worth it. Hmm, maybe give them a Mindsight power that let's them detect the minds of others around them? a Sorcerer's Spell Point system can easily be re-written into Power Points, so perhaps make the Flayerspawn a super Metamagic people by giving them a bunch more Illithid unique Metamagics. Maybe give them a bonus to grapples that uses Intelligence instead of Strength? or a Mindblast of their own?

[Regitnui]

Lore geeks like me are going to jump all over you with crampons if you use 'half-illithid'. That's physically impossible, given the mind flayer reproduction method. Safer just to leave it as generic 'Phrenic' or call on the touch of a different plane.

[DivisibleByZero]

So, my perfectionism refuses to just let me make a book with a couple classes and let that be the end of it. I want to make a full book to sell on DMs Guild. So, I'm looking to absorb the genius of the internet and pray that i might get psionic powers as a result here.

If we help you write this book, are we going to see a portion of its proceeds after you sell it?

[deathbymanga]

If we help you write this book, are we going to see a portion of its proceeds after you sell it?

:eek: uh, goodbye!!!!!!! :tongue: jk

This is mostly a place for me to throw my ideas and see what I like and what doesn't work with the public. I have learned a long time already that I'm not actually going to get anything substantial from a public forum like this. I get like 1 or two good ideas every now and then, but by the end of the day, it's just me listening to you all, and then me closing the book and doing it myself. And usually it's not because there's bad ideas, it's because, like you said, I'm not paying you, why in the world should I expect anything from unpaid labour.

It's like when you're on writer's block and you just go out drinking with your friends. you end up throwin thousands of ideas around and when you get home you find most of it's just your own vomit your friends shoved into you're wallet. :P sorry for that image