Old Psion

5e version of Psion, deprecated on 2024-09-06 in favor of the 6e version.

Manifesting Psionic Powers

Using psionic power is a skill that tests every aspect of your body and mind. You are proficient in this skill, naturally. Unlike other skills, it does not use a single ability score, but rather all 6, depending on the power you are manifesting.

Every psionic power has a Power Rating from 0 to 5. Powers of rank X have a rating of X, naturally. If you are using a higher-ranking modifier, that increases the Power Rating. For example:

• Force Projection, rank 1 allows you to telekinetically control an object. Normally, using this power as written would imply a Power Rating of 1.
• At rank 2 of Force Projection, you can exercise a greater degree of control on an object, and/or lift larger objects. If you have achieved this level of Force Projection, you can choose to use the power at rank 1, or at rank 2, each time you use it. When using the power as written in rank 2, it has a Power Rating of 2.

When manifesting a psionic power, you always roll a Psionics skill check, which is an ability check of the type given by the power (example: Biometabolism is always a Con check), with proficiency. This sets the DC (if any) to resist your power, the AC hit (if any) for targeted powers, the DC to counterspell or dispel, etc.

What the power costs depends on the option the DM is using.

Option 1: Psychic Energy

You have 2 Psychic Energy per Psion level, restored entirely by a long rest. For each Short Rest, you can choose one power you are capable of casting and manifest your focus upon it--thereby, the next manifestation of that power is free.

Option 2: Skill Test

There is no Psychic Energy to expend. Instead, your skill check determines success, failure, and consequences.

In addition to setting the DC/AC, your skill check is a test to see if the power succeeds. The DCs are as follows:

Power Level	Failure	Mixed	Total Success
1	1-4	5-14	15+
2	1-9	10-19	20+
3	1-14	15-24	25+
4	1-19	20-29	30+
5	1-24	25-34	35+

• Total Success means the power works exactly as intended with no side effects or cost.
• Mixed Success means either:
  • The power works mostly as you intend, but has some combination of side effects, costs, and misfires ultimately determined by the DM
  • The power fizzles out, but has no side effects. In other words, you became aware of the mis-manifestation as it happened, and opted to abort the power rather than suffer any harmful effects.
• Failure means that the power does not work as intended, and has side effects, costs, etc. You cannot opt out in case of failure.

What are consequences?

• In general, the consequence for a power should be roughly equal to the intended effects of the power.
• Consequences can take many forms, including but not limited to:
  • Side effects: the power, working as it normally does, has effects you did not foresee. For instance, a fireball is intended to create a sphere of fire harming enemies. It is not intended to set your own party on fire...but it certainly could, if mis-cast.
  • Blowback: a specific version of side effects wherein you suffer harm yourself.
  • Misfire: the power manifests, but some aspects of it are incorrect, such as targeting, or more specific parameters (e.g. a polymorph spell might turn an enemy into a completely different form than intended, that isn't as advantageous to you)
  • Hex: no apparent consequence...for now. The DM holds a "token" which can be applied at any time in the future to add consequences to a perfect success.

Overclocking

Optional rule; you can use higher-level power modifiers than you know. Must pass the DCs, risk normal consequences, and suffer ability damage to the relevant ability equal to the P rating.

Rank 0 Powers

If a power is listed as Rank 0, you must still have Rank 1 proficiency to use it. However, it does not have a cost or consequences to manifest.

Biometabolism (Con)

Psychic Healing

• Psychic Healing, rank 1: healing amplifying body's healing ability. Uses:
  • Healing Trance: Concentration, short rest; you gain the effect of a long rest. Max once/day/rank
  • Deep Healing Trance: Concentration, long rest; you gain the effect of a long rest while under full medical care.
  • Self-Stabilize: Concentration, full round; you suspend the need for death saving throws and auto-stabilize.
  • First Aid: swift; you instantly gain the benefits of healing with a short rest by expending hit dice.
• Psychic Healing, rank 2:
  • You can use First Aid or Self-Stabilize on another target by touch.
  • When using First Aid, you gain 2 dice of healing per 1 Hit Die spent.
  • Purification: swift, touch; roll skill check against a poison or disease. On success, end it.
• Psychic Healing, rank 3:
  • When using First Aid, you gain 3 dice of healing per 1 Hit Die spent.
  • TBD

Psychofeedback

Transfer mental power to the physical body.

• Psychofeedback, rank 1: swift, concentration; you divert a chosen amount of Int, Wis, or Cha to Str, Dex, or Con. Effectively, you take a penalty to the first in order to gain a bonus to the second.
• Psychofeedback, rank 2:
  • You gain 2 points per 1 penalty.
  • You can transfer from and/or to two different scores. Thus, you could pull 5 points from Int and 2 from Wis to gain +14 to Str or +7 to Dex and Con, for instance. This counts as a single use of this power.
• Psychofeedback, rank 3:
  • You gain 3 points per 1 penalty.

Camouflage

• Camouflage, rank 1: swift, concentration; your appearance becomes blurry and indistinct. You cannot be identified, and you gain advantage to Stealth checks.
• Camouflage, rank 2:
  • Alter Ego: your appearance changes to a specific visage of the same size and type (i.e. medium humanoid).
  • Invisibility: you become invisible while still, and partially invisible while moving or attacking (+10 to Stealth). When struck, you become partially visible for 1 round.
• Camouflage, rank 3:
  • When using Invisibility, you are always fully invisible.

Ectoplasmic Form

Become a fluid, a gas, insubstantial, or even crystalline. Rules TBD. Guidelines:

• P1: slow-moving fluid, can only move, no other actions
• P2: fast-moving fluid, solid, or insubstanial but still. Or, you can use mental actions as P1.
• P3: ethereal

Metamorphosis

Change your form. Rules TBD. Guidelines:

• P1: Increase movement speed, add movement types. e.g. climb, swim speed, underwater breathing, etc.
• P2: Polymorph into same size and type.
• P3: Polymorph into different size and type (within reason).

Fusion/Fission

Become many, or many become one. (High level)

TBD

Psychokinesis (Str)

Force Projection

Contrary to popular belief, telekinesis isn't about making something magically move on its own through spooky action at a distance. It's much simpler--you are modifying the quantum properties of a generated force to translate its position in spacetime. That force has to come from somewhere, and the easiest source is your own body.

• Force Projection, rank 1:
  • Continuous Force: swift, ranged, concentration; you project the force of your own hand, exactly as dextrous and strong as yours, within range.
  • Force Burst: Std, ranged; you project a single burst of force, acting as an unarmed strike, bull rush, or trip, or in the case of an object of appropriate size, a ranged attack. Inflicts heavy kinetic damage if striking a hard surface, or medium otherwise. If subject strikes another creature, that creature too suffers medium kinetic damage.
• Force Projection, rank 2:
  • You can affect Large objects or creatures. Your effective Strength is +8.
  • Alternatively, you can affect 2 Medium objects or creatures, or 4 Small ones.
• Force Projection, rank 3:
  • You can affect Huge objects or creatures. Your effective Strength is +16.
  • Alternatively, you can affect 2 Large objects or creatures, or 4 Medium ones.
• Force Projection, rank 4:
  • You can affect Gargantuan objects or creatures. Your effective Strength is +24.
  • Alternatively, you can affect 2 Huge objects or creatures, or 4 Large ones.
• Force Projection, rank 5:
  • You can affect Colossal objects or creatures. Your effective Strength is +32.
  • Alternatively, you can affect 2 Gargantuan objects or creatures, or 4 Huge ones.

Force Modification

While you're messing with the fundamental quantum properties of force-carrying particles, why stop at telekinesis?

• Force Modification, rank 1:
  • Amplify Force: std, melee; you make a normal melee strike, but the force is increased, adding medium kinetic damage.
  • Absorb Force: reaction, melee range; you absorb kinetic energy from an incoming attack, subtracting medium damage from it, and gaining that amount to a temporary buffer that can be added to Force Amplification within the encounter.
    • If you have the Parry or Block ability, you can use this power in its place, rather than using a reaction every time.
  • Rotate Force: reaction, ranged; you modify a kinetic force's momentum vector (the direction across which the force is applied). This could cause a charging creature or vehicle to suddenly divert 90 degrees, a falling object to bounce as if off an invisible floor, etc.
  • If you have Force Projection, you can add your stored force from Absorb Force to damage done with Force Projection, or use Absorb Force at range.
• Force Modification, rank 2:
  • Increase Amplify Force damage by...TBD
  • Absorb more damage...TBD

Pyrokinesis

This isn't the manipulation of fire--fire is a chemical reaction, and to "bend" it would imply that you can mess with air currents. Nifty, but highly situational.

This power is about converting other forms of energy into thermal energy, and manipulating thermal energy directly.

• Pryokinesis, rank 1:
  • Gain Resist (fire) 50%.
  • Flames!: std, cone 3; you shoot a curtain of fire, inflicting medium thermal damage.
• Pyrokinesis, rank 2:
  • Gain Resist (fire) 100%.
  • You can focus your flames into a single-target beam (nominal range) inflicting heavy thermal damage.
  • You can create a wall of fire (wall 1/level, concentration, crossing inflicts medium thermal damage).
  • You can extend your cone of fire to 6 squares.

Cryokinesis

You extract thermal energy from a working medium, and convert the energy liberated into forces, or otherwise dissipate it. Complicated.

TBD

Psychoportation (Dex)

Speed Force

You move fast...but not because you're just so strong. Moving like the Flash would cause all sorts of bizarre side effects, and would require relativistic power sources. Every punch would be a nuclear bomb, but also just running forward would irradiate you to death.

No, you're moving fast because you're bending space and time. And moving fast is just the beginning.

• Speed Force, rank 1:
  • Your movement speed permanently increases by 3 squares per rank of this power known.
  • Blink: free or reaction (max once/rd), recharge 33% per power rank; you instantly move up to a normal movement. You are not teleporting--you must be able to traverse the space. However, you can neglect gravity and friction for the duration.
    • If you have Dodge, gain +2 to Dodge checks per power rank, and you can blink up to 1 square per power rank every time you successfully dodge.
• Speed Force, rank 2:
  • Recall: encounter (recharge 10% per rank at P3+); you blink so fast that you move backward in time, restoring your position and condition (HP, ammo, all numbers basically) to their status at the beginning of the current round. This does not undo your actions.

Warp Bubble

Speaking of warping time and space:

• Warp Bubble, rank 1: swift, concentration, em5 (+2 per rank beyond 2); you bend spacetime around yourself. The effect increases with distance. All ranged, targeted attacks (including spells) have a 10% miss chance per square of the effect they pass through.
• Warp Bubble, rank 2: does not apply to allied attacks, but only 5% miss chance per square.

Portal

You can create wormholes.

• Portal, rank 1: swift, concentration; you create a micro-sized wormhole, with one aperture within your square and the other at a place you designate within the range. This allows you to manifest powers, shoot weapons, or just place reach through the portal. No physical effect blocks transit between the portals, only a dimensional lock.
  • Note: momentum is conserved when traveling through portals, but redirected to the orientation of the portal.
• Portal, rank 2:
  • Your portal is big enough for medium creatures to pass through (large at P4, etc), and can double the range for +1 power rank.
• Portal, rank 3:
  • Your portal is big enough for large creatures to pass through.
• Portal, rank 4:
  • Portal mouth is a sphere of radius 1-5 squares, with the other end leading somewhere where you have a Cynosural Field Generator, Astral Beacon, or another mindlinked Psion. This allows travel nearly instantaneously across any distance.
• Portal, rank 5: No beacon or field needed. However, all success is treated as mixed; perfect means the consequence is annoying, but probably worth it. Mixed means the consequence is truly a problem. Can only arrive at an exact destination on a natural 20.

Dimensional Control

• P2: dimensional anchor
• P3: dimension lock
• P?: modify dimensional properties in an area. For instance, length might be 3x what it appears, interfering with movement and ranged attacks. It's like hallways in a nightmare.
• P?: Doctor Strange stuff

Planar Travel

• P2: banishment (phase shift an enemy for a while)
• P4: sent to another plane! (permanent)
• P?: astral projection

Metacreativity (Int)

Astral Construct

You form pure thought into material form, albeit temporary.

• P0: crystals! Medium slashing damage at range or heavy in melee.
• P1+: astral construct (the classic ability)
• P2: crystal armor (ablation)
• P3: wall of crystal
• P?: power crystal (store psychic power in a crystal, give to ally for later use)
• P?: create useful object (gun, thieves' tools, bazooka, etc)

Incarnation

The art of making certain duration-based (especially Concentration) powers permanent--usually by turning them into crystals (or perhaps animated pets).

Very TBD.

Temporal Manipulation

• P1: time hop
• P1: time accel (haste, slow)
• P3: time stop (not as good as the wizard spell until later level)
• P?: age or de-age target instantly

Disruption

Mess with chemical and molecular properties (disintegrate, transmutation, etc). Possibly reversible, to repair objects.

Hypercognition

Think REALLY fast. Examples:

• "Pause" the universe while you figure out a plan (mechanics: maybe "ready an action" without explicitly readying)
• Days of study in minutes (learn Kung Fu)
• Many purely mental actions in an instant (probably useful for Astral Constructs)

Psychic Chirurgery

Given a helpless target, you delve into their mind.

• Detect and repair psychic intrusion and damage
• Restore deleted/suppressed/modified memories (or do the damage yourself)
• Alter fundamental identity (dangerous)
• Swap minds (high level)

Intellect Fortress

Psychic defense mode where you construct metaphysical defenses (thick walls, traps, sentries).

Clairsentience

Precognition

• Luck rolls!
• Never surprised
• Augury, greater augury

Remote Viewing

yep.

Sensitivity to Psychic Impression

Includes object reading.

Battle Meditation

Gain bonuses to attacks, defense, etc. On a large scale, help an army or fleet.

Blindsight

Does what it says on the tin.

• Low: see thinking creatures despite concealment
• Mid: see everything
• High: true seeing

Mind Blank

Psychic defense mode for self and others, involving nullifying all thoughts and emotions.

Low-level: conceal your thoughts, hide your psychic presence.

Mid-level: gain resistance to mental effects or actively suppress existing ones.

High-level: gain near immunity to mental effects.

Telepathy

• Emotion
• Suggestion
• Empathic Transfer
• False Sensory Input
• Mind Blast

Paths

Path	Description
Psychic Warrior	One who focuses psionic ability through martial arts
Metamind	tbd
Medium	tbd

Psychic Warrior

Level	Ability
2	Psychic Weapon
6	Psionic Augmentation
10
14
18

Psychic Weapon

• As a free action, you can manifest a weapon of pure force into your open hand or hands. It acts as a normal weapon with which you are proficient, but inflicts force damage and strikes as a magic weapon.
• As a free action, you can imbue a held, physical weapon with which you are proficient with additional psychic force. The weapon strikes as magical, and the damage gains the descriptor of "force" or "psychic", at your discretion.

Psionic Augmentation

• At level 6, you can reserve 1 Focus into a weapon to grant a bonus damage die of thermal, kinetic, or EM damage
• At level 6, you can reserve 1 Focus into worn armor to grant resistance to thermal, kinetic, or EM damage

Metamind

Notes:

• Psicrystal grants an extra focus, with limitations
• Instead of just getting more permanent focus, Metamind has a pool of expendable focus (regenerates on long rest)
• Metapsionic abilities which cost focus, such as:
  • Size matters not (increase size limitations of powers)
  • All in your mind (transmute physical damage to psychic)
  • Normal metamagic? Dunno
• Schism, natch