Chapter 4

Reprinted from the *Dungeon & Dragons Psionics Handbook*.

### Overview of Psionics

The psionicist Ialdabode can manifest his innate psychic abilities simply by maintaining focus, drawing out the power from within and transforming it into his own abilities. He does not need messy materials, complex incantations, or awkward gestures. By mentally constructing and invoking a small portion of "power points," he can create fire out of thin air, move a large rock without touching it, glimpse a moment in the future, or communicate with a creature miles away.

Psionic powers originate from intelligent minds. Even undead creatures and beings without physical form can possess intrinsic psionic abilities if they have an Intelligence score of at least 1. Insects with a "hive mind" ability, such as a swarm of hell wasps (see *Monster Manual* page 238), are exceptions to this rule.

A psionic power is a one-time psionic effect. Psionic characters and psionic creatures can use their powers without prior preparation. They either have enough power points to manifest a power or they do not.

When a psionic character spends the power points required to manifest a power, the power is manifested. Some psionic creatures can manifest powers freely (these are called psi-like abilities) without expending power points. Other creatures, like psionic characters, must spend power points to manifest powers.

Each power has a specific effect, as described in Chapter 5. A psionicist can manifest any power he knows as long as he has enough power points to pay the cost.

Psionic powers are divided into six categories, known as "disciplines." These six disciplines represent the six main forms of psionic manifestation. This chapter will detail the differences between these six disciplines. It also introduces the format of power descriptions, discusses the general operation of psionic powers, explains how psionic combat works between psionic and non-psionic creatures, and describes what happens when multiple powers or a combination of powers and magic are in effect. Additionally, it provides an alternative approach to handling psionics by treating them as a completely different form of energy from magic.

The second part of this chapter discusses psionic campaigns and involves high-level psionic characters.

### Manifesting Powers

Psionic characters and psionic creatures can manifest powers. Whether a psionic character spends power points to manifest a power or a creature uses a psi-like ability, the effect of a specific power is always the same.

The process of manifesting a power can sometimes be simple—such as when the dwarf savant Kazak uses "psychic hand" to lift a small object to a high shelf—and sometimes more complex—such as when a group of orcs are swinging their axes at Kazak's head, and he tries to use "energy burst" to quickly heat their axes.

Manifesting a power is similar to casting a spell, but there are many significant differences.

### Choosing a Power

First, you must choose which power to manifest. You can choose any power you know, provided you are capable of manifesting a power of that level or higher.

To manifest a power, you must spend power points, which are deducted from your daily total. As long as you have enough power points, you can manifest the same power multiple times.

### Concentration

You must concentrate to manifest a power. If your concentration is disrupted while manifesting a power, you must make a Concentration check, or the power points will be lost and the power will not be manifested. The stronger the disruption and the higher the level of the power, the higher the DC will be (the higher the level of the power, the more mental effort it requires).

#### Injury:

If you are injured or affected by an attack power while attempting to manifest a power, it can disrupt your concentration and ruin the manifestation. If you take damage while manifesting a power, you must make a Concentration check (DC = 10 + damage + power level). Manifestation is disrupted by events that occur between the start and completion of the manifestation (for powers with a manifesting time of one full round or longer) or by events caused by the manifestation (such as an attack of opportunity or a readied action).

If you are taking ongoing damage, such as from a *Melf's Acid Arrow* spell, half of the damage is considered to occur while you are manifesting the power. You must make a Concentration check (DC = 10 + half the most recent ongoing damage + power level). If the most recent damage is the last damage from the effect (such as the last round of *Melf's Acid Arrow*), the damage ends after that and will not disrupt you further. Repeated damage, such as from a *Wall of Energy*, is not considered ongoing damage.

#### Powers:

If you are affected by another power while manifesting your own, you must make a Concentration check, or the power you are manifesting will fail. If the power affecting you deals damage, the DC for the Concentration check is 10 + damage + power level. If the power hinders or disrupts you in some other way, the DC is the power's saving throw DC + power level. If the power has no saving throw, use the DC it would have if it did.

#### Grappled or Pinned:

To manifest a power while grappled or pinned, you must make a Concentration check (DC = 20 + power level), or the manifestation will fail.

#### Strong Vibrations:

If you are riding a horse, sitting in a bumpy cart, riding a small boat through rapids, or in a cabin during a storm, you must make a Concentration check (DC = 10 + power level), or the manifestation will fail.

#### Severe Vibrations:

If you are riding a galloping horse, sitting in a violently jostling cart, riding a small boat through dangerous rapids or a storm, or experiencing similar strong vibrations, you must make a Concentration check (DC = 15 + power level), or the manifestation will fail.

#### Bad Weather:

If you are in strong wind mixed with rain or snow, the DC is 5 + power level. If you are in strong wind with hail, dust, or debris, the DC is 10 + power level. Failing the Concentration check in either case will cause the manifestation to fail. If the weather is caused by a power, apply the rules for that power.

#### Defensive Manifestation:

If you want to manifest a power without provoking an attack of opportunity, you must make a Concentration check (DC = 15 + power level) to successfully manifest the power. Failure results in the loss of power points and the power not being manifested.

#### Entanglement:

If you want to manifest a power while entangled in a net or affected by a power that has a similar effect (such as *Gravitational Anchor*), you must make a Concentration check (DC = 15) to manifest the power. Failure results in the manifestation failing.

### Manifester Level

The effects of a power often depend on the manifester level, which is equal to your psionic class level. For example, the power *Ectoplasmic Form* lasts one round per manifester level. So, a 11th-level shaper manifesting *Ectoplasmic Form* can maintain it for 11 rounds. The maximum number of power points you can spend to augment a power for additional effects is also limited by your manifester level (you cannot spend more power points on a power than your manifester level). See "Augment" in the power description for more details.

You can manifest a power at a lower manifester level, but the manifester level must be high enough to manifest the power, and all level-dependent features will use that manifester level. For example, if you want to manifest *Slow* on someone and have it last only one minute, you should manifest it at manifester level 1. Your maximum range is 30 feet. (The range for this power is listed as close: 25 feet + 5 feet per manifester level, which is also considered close.)

If a class feature or special ability (such as the feat *Metapsionic* or the wilder class feature *Wild Surge*) adjusts your manifester level, the adjustment applies to all level-dependent effects (such as range, duration, and augmentation potential), as well as to the manifester level check to overcome power resistance (see page 62, "Power Resistance") and the manifester level required for dispelling (including the DC for the dispel check).

### Power Failure

If you attempt to use a power in a way that does not meet its requirements (such as range or area of effect), the manifestation will fail, and the power points will be wasted. For example, if you try to use *Psionic Charm Human* on a dog, the power will fail because a dog is not a valid target for the power.

If your concentration is disrupted, the power will also fail (see "Concentration" above).

### The Power's Result

Once you know which creatures (or objects, or area) are affected and whether they made their saving throws (if applicable), you can apply the power's effects.

Many powers affect only certain types of creatures. For example, *Psionic Dominate* (unaugmented) only affects humanoids.

### Special Power Effects

Some features apply to all powers:

#### Attack:

Some powers involve an attack. Any combat action that involves an attack roll, even if it does not deal damage (such as disarming or bull rushing), is considered an attack. Any power that allows a saving throw, deals damage, or otherwise harms or hinders the target is considered an attack. *Ectoplasmic Form* and similar powers are not considered attacks because they do not harm others.

#### Bonus Types:

Many powers grant bonuses to a creature's ability scores, Armor Class, attack rolls, and other features. Each bonus has a type that indicates how the power generates the bonus. For example, *Inertial Armor* grants an armor bonus to AC, indicating that the power creates a physical barrier to protect you. On the other hand, *Defensive Precognition* grants an insight bonus to AC because you can sense when an opponent is about to attack. (Bonus types are described in detail on page 21 of the *Dungeon Master's Guide*.) The importance of bonus types is that two bonuses of the same type usually do not stack. Except for dodge bonuses, most environmental bonuses, and racial bonuses, only the higher of two bonuses of the same type applies (see "Combining Psionic and Magical Effects" below). The same principle applies to penalties—when a creature is subject to two or more penalties of the same type, only the worst penalty applies.

#### Resurrection:

Among all psionic powers, only *Reality Revision* has the ability to bring a dead character back to life.

When a living creature dies, its soul leaves the body, departs the Material Plane, and travels through the Astral Plane to the plane of the deity it worships. If the creature has no deity, its soul goes to a plane based on its alignment. Bringing a creature back from the dead means finding its soul and returning it to its body.

#### Level Loss:

The process of dying and being brought back to life is extremely traumatic for a creature's soul. Therefore, any resurrected creature usually loses one experience level. The character's new total experience points become the midpoint between the experience required for the new (reduced) level and the experience required for the next level. If the character was 1st level at the time of death, they lose 2 points of Constitution instead of a level.

This level loss or Constitution loss cannot be restored by any mortal means, even by the spells *Wish* or *Miracle*. A resurrected character can regain the lost level by continuing to adventure and earning enough experience points. A 1st-level character can also increase their Constitution score when they reach a level that allows attribute increases to compensate for the lost Constitution.

#### Preventing Resurrection:

Enemies may take steps to make it more difficult to resurrect a character. Removing the body, for example, prevents someone from using *Reality Revision* to bring the character back to life.

#### Resurrection Against the Will:

You cannot resurrect a creature that does not wish to be resurrected. The soul knows the name, alignment, and deity (if any) of the character attempting to resurrect it and can refuse the resurrection based on this information.

### Combining Psionic and Magical Effects

The default rules for how psionics and magic interact are simple: the effects of psionics on spells, and spells on psionics, are the same as the effects of spells on each other. This is known as "psionic-magic transparency."

#### Psionic-Magic Transparency:

Although not explicitly stated in the spell descriptions in the *Player's Handbook* or the magic item descriptions in the *Dungeon Master's Guide*, all spells, spell-like abilities, and magic items that can affect psionics can indeed affect psionics (unless your DM uses the variant rule "psionics are different from magic" mentioned later in this chapter). Using the "psionic-magic transparency" rule has the following effects:

- Spell resistance can effectively resist psionic powers, and psionic resistance can effectively resist spells, with the same mechanics. If a creature has one type of resistance, it is assumed to have the other (they are the same effect achieved by different means).

- All spells that dispel magic can also dispel psionic powers, and vice versa, using the same calculations as for dispelling spells of the same level.

- The spell *Detect Magic* can detect psionics over the course of three rounds: the presence of psionics, the number of psionic effects in the area, the strength of the psionic effects, and the specific location of each effect (though you need to make a *Identify Power* skill check to determine the discipline of the psionic aura).

#### Multiple Effects:

Psionic and psionic effects generally follow the descriptions in Chapter 5 when multiple other psionic, psionic effects, spells, or magical effects are in effect at the same location or on the same target. Unless otherwise specified