Psychic Character Class
by LibraryOgre(Using the Creating a More Perfect Class from Erin Smale)
Prime Requisite: Charisma
So, short version is that a Psychic is a slightly better armed and armored mage, using Psychic powers.
Psychic powers:
At level 1, a psychic knows 2 psychic powers. Each subsequent level, they learn 1 more psychic power. They may learn 2nd level powers starting at 4th, 3rd at 6th, 4th at 8th, 5th at 10th, 6th at 12th, and 7th at 17th (same progression as a cleric's spell levels, but with something available at level 1, since it's all they get.)
Psychic Powers are enacted with a Charisma check, minus the level of the power. On a success, the power is enacted, and the psychic takes non-lethal damage equal to the power's level (qv. non-lethal damage in RC, p. 267; damage is halved in 2d6 turns, gone in 2d6 more). If the power fails, they still take damage, but 1 point is lethal damage (so a fail on a 1st level power is just 1 lethal damage; a fail on a 7th level power is 6 nonlethal, 1 lethal). If they roll a 20, they must make a saving throw v. spell or ALL damage is lethal.
Ok, let's try a quick fiddle with power levels; I'm putting original level in parenthesis.
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
5th
6th
7th
The rationale here is that, to somewhat balance the spell lists, I moved most of the highly physical stuff (magic missile, shield, telekinesis) up a level, and the really high level charm and psychic powers (Mass Charm and Mind Barrier) down a level. Now, it pleases me more aesthetically... no level has more powers than the level before it. TBH, I really wanted to include Cure Light Wounds, but being able to heal damage with only the threat of temporary damage would radically change how the game worked.
1) Like most classes, 9th level and higher psychics can either be traveling or settled. Settled may be independent, forming a domain, and carry the title Master or Sensei. They may choose to serve as a court seer, similar to a magist. Or they may settle inside someone else's domain; this usually does not require express permission.
2) Psychics can make (imbue) their own items. The formula for success is the same as for a wizard or cleric, using the psychic's Charisma instead of Intelligence or Wisdom. Psychics, however, spend much less gold than wizards or clerics. The cost of the item to be imbued is twice that of the normal item. The psychic should figure the time as if they were a wizard or cleric creating a similar item; however, instead of thousands of gold, the psychic must spend three times the usual amount of time. Psychics can imbue Weapons and Miscellaneous Magical Items. They cannot imbue scrolls, potions, or armor.
Psychics have an additional type of magical item, the power stone. A power stone contains a single power, and the psychic may use this power as if they knew it, so long as they hold the stone. This is enchanted as a permanent miscellaneous magical item. To use a power stone, the psychic must be taught by one who knows how to use it, or use the Analyze power to learn such. Any power contained in a power stone the psychic can use may be learned as if it were a common power. However, if the stone is used to learn a power outside of normal level acquisition of powers, it will be rendered inert. Power stones are of no use to the psychic who created them, and so are very rare. They sometimes spontaneously develop in psychic items, however.
3) Psychics can research their own powers. This takes the form of meditation. They do not need research for common powers acquired at level up; the research for these is an aspect of the psychic's own growth. The DM has the discretion to designate other powers as "common" and so not requiring research to acquire at level up. Any power contained in a power stone the character is able to use is considered a common power. All psychics have the ability to research a new power to be learned during level advancement; failure in that research still allows the character to choose a common power.
Only psychics of 9th level or more may learn powers outside of level advancement (exception: Wild Talent general skill). The power may be no higher than one-fourth their level, rounded down (so a 9th level psychic may learn 1st and 2nd level powers; they may learn 3rd level powers at 12th, 4th at 16th, etc.). Any number of powers may be so acquired by a psychic with sufficient time.
As with wizards and clerics, common powers are more easily learned than new powers. Common powers have a chance to be acquire of ([Cha +Lvl] x 2)-(3 X power level); new powers have a chance of ([Cha +Lvl] x 2)-(5 X power level). Most spells can serve as a template for a psychic power, but a spell not previously mentioned is a new power, unless determined otherwise by the DM. As a general rule, spells that alter the mind or retrieve information will be the same level as they would be for clerics or wizards; spells that cause an actual physical change will be one level higher. A pyrokinetic psychic may wish a power similar to fireball, but it would be 4th level for them.
Psychic research, as with psychic item imbuement, requires no gold (save personal upkeep), but three times the time as magical research. Unlike magical research, there is no bonus for previous failed attempts.
4) Psychics have no particular connection to the Astral or Nightmare Dimension.
Wild Talent: A person may have a wild psychic talent, selected as a general skill. This is a common, 1st level, power that they can choose to use. However, using a wild talent is dangerous; instead of non-lethal damage, every attempt at using a wild talent, successful or not, inflicts 1 point of lethal damage. The Wild Talent general skill may be taken as often as the player wishes; at levels beyond the 1st, the Wild talent may be a new power, provided the Wild Talent has access to a power stone they know how to use, or a teacher willing to train them. In no case will a power granted by Wild Talent exceed 1st level.
Psychic characters may also use Wild Talent to expand their repertoire of 1st level powers. A Psychic's wild talents function under their usual rules for powers, inflicting non-lethal damage on a successful use.
Meditation: A Wisdom-based general skill often taken by psychics, Meditation allows a character to remain effectively awake while gaining the benefits of sleep; they must remain in a single place, and may meditate in lieu of sleep no more twelve hours a week. Psychics may also use meditation to reduce the time it takes to recover from the use of psychic powers; for each turn the psychic spends successful meditating, reduce the time for non-lethal damage to disappear by 1d4 turns. Note that a failure of the skill roll, or a roll of a 1 on the 1d4, indicates no extra progress; they meditated for a turn, and the time involved was reduced by that one turn. A psychic may use meditation to reduce recovery time as often as they wish.
(
d4 HD 100
Magic-User Saves 150
Magic-User Attack 100
Restricted Armor 100 (Leather armor, shields, no helmets unless magic)
Restricted weapons 0 (one-handed melee, staff, sling, crossbow)
Weapon mastery: 0 Non-fighter
Skills: 50 (Wild Talent)
Skills: 150 Awareness, Blankout, Mind Blank (as mystic)
Psionics: 1000 On level
XP: 1650
Analyze (1)
Charm Person (1)
Detect Danger (1)
Detect Evil (1)
Detect Magic (1)
Locate (1)
Predict Weather (1)
Read Languages (1)
Remove Fear (1)
Sleep (1)
Floating Disk (1)
Hold Portal (1)
Magic Missile (1)
Shield (1)
Detect Invisible (2)
ESP (2)
Hold Person (2)
Know Alignment (2)
Locate Object (2)
Phantasmal Force (2)
Snake Charm (2)
Speak with Animal (2)
Levitate (2)
Clairvoyance (3)
Hold Animal (3)
Locate Object (3)
Speak with Dead (3)
Cure Blindness (3)
Cure Disease (3)
Charm Monster (4)
Speak with Plants (4)
Wizard Eye (4)
Commune (5)
Contact Outer Plane (5)
Feeblemind (5)
Hold Monster (5)
Truesight (5)
Telekinesis (5)
Geas (6)
Speak with Monsters (6)
Mass Charm (7)
Mind Barrier (7)
Charm Plant (7)
Lore (7)
Restore (7)
Survival (7)
Traveling psychics require no additional rules; independent, they do not have the organizations that clerics or thieves do, command the social space that a paladin, knight, or avenger might, nor do they have the drive to create dungeons that afflicts magic-users.
All settled psychics attract 1d6 followers of the psychic or mystic class, of levels 1-3. If the psychic forms a domain, they also attract 5d6 "monks"; these are 0-level humans who wish to study from the Master, even if they do not have the ability to become psychics or mystics themselves. No more monks will be attracted than the psychic's Charisma score; an unlucky psychic may receive very few. The followers and monks of a psychic do not need to be paid beyond upkeep and equipage.