Are there any such thing as "psionic" or "obsidian orbs" in 3.5?

[Uvexar]

I'm reading through the Athasian dragon rules from Athas.org, and the spell defiler metamorphosis X (the last stage of the draconic transformation) states that


At this, the final stage of your metamorphosis, the defiler gains the ultimate ability of dragonhood: the ability to store psionic and/or magical obsidian orbs of any type within himself, while still being able to use them. You accomplish this by swallowing the orb. Once swallowed, the orbs are stored in your stomach, where they can be used as normal.

So here's the thing: There is no description of psionic or magical obsidian orbs of any kind in the Athas.org sourcebooks. I couldn't find anything in the base rules or the Complete Psionic, either.

Am I missing something in one of these books? Was it just a rule that was never finished by the project? Any help would be appreciated.

[Troacctid]

Did you check in Dragon #319? IIRC that's where most of the official Athas rules are.

[Uvexar]

Did you check in Dragon #319? IIRC that's where most of the official Athas rules are.

I did. Unfortunately, there's only one mention of the word "orb," and it's in a story.

[Ramza00]

I am no expert of Athas.

But in 2nd edition there were legendary artifacts Orbs of Kalid-Ma that were macguffins.

They hold the mind, psionic, and sorcerer essence of Khalid-Ma who tried to become a dragon, succeeded, but stuff happened. Stuff happened and he has a copy of himself in Ravenloft and a crazy Dragon in Athas.

The plot point of these macguffins is the dragon is trying to resurrect its mind thus bring all five together and like a lich he will be reborn. When the orbs are separate like the sauron ring of power it does influence trying to reunite with its other orbs like the ring wants to return to its master.

[RSGA]

The Athasian Emporium (IIRC, it's has a few mentions of obsidian orbs as part of the Defiling Engines (and shards of orbs for use in a main book magic item), the PRC one colletction has some in the Myrmeleon PRC, PRC two has the Monarch's Chosen with some orb action, and some misc stuff I've found that mentions the orbs are the artifact defiler's staff, the dark lens, mentions that orbs are often used for Brew Potion and other Defiler creations (as they can't store power in living materials), as power sources for things like a pulley system or the great ships of Athas, and so on.

[Thurbane]

First glance, thought it might be referring to Dull Grey Ioun stone - but obviously not...

[illyahr]

In the XPH, there are a couple items that could qualify: power stones (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/powerStones.htm), which function as a "scroll," and cognizance crystals (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/cognizanceCrystals.htm), which are Power Point reservoirs. Either could be what is being referred to.

[lightningcat]

Looks like a legacy detail that never got cleaned up.
http://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/d/dragatha.html

[Uvexar]

In the XPH, there are a couple items that could qualify: power stones (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/powerStones.htm), which function as a "scroll," and cognizance crystals (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/cognizanceCrystals.htm), which are Power Point reservoirs. Either could be what is being referred to.

That actually makes perfect sense. It's only in the uppermost metamorphosis phase and reflects the classic use of obsidian orbs.