3PP Release (3rd Party Book Release) Paranormal Power: A Psionics Option for 5e and A5e, written by Steampunkette!

[Steampunkette]

Just added a Community Bookshelf tier to Paranormal Power!

Times are tough all over, and it's important to help everyone we can. To help folks get access to Paranormal Power, for every Hardcover we sell, we'll also sell a discounted copy of the Paranormal Power PDF to someone in the community.

Your contributions now not only get you access to the book itself, but help another member of the community to get a PDF copy for only $10.

No judgement, no fuss. Thank you all for contributing!

This is a limited reward tier, starting at 142 copies, with more added for every hardcover sold!

 

[Steampunkette]

Also we're now over $12,000! So that's another commission!

 

[dave2008]

$12,115 and counting!

 

[Steampunkette]

$12,921 with 7 days left to go!

IT'S SO EXCITING! I have no fingernails left.

 

[Steampunkette]

$13,000!

That's another commission and another thousand down!

People really must have wanted psionics!!

 

[Micah Sweet]

$13,000!

That's another commission and another thousand down!

People really must have wanted psionics!!

Darn right we did! This and the Voidrunner's Codex are the two most anticipated RPG releases for me this year!

 

[VanguardHero]

People really must have wanted psionics!!

 

[Arakhor]

I certainly needed temporally-displaced psionic lizard-folk in my life. They're a good replacement for mind flayers.

 

[Steampunkette]

Darn right we did! This and the Voidrunner's Codex are the two most anticipated RPG releases for me this year!

You won't have to wait long for Paranormal Power. Though the VRC needs to deal with this whole OGL situation, yet, so it'll probably be a little while... It's also a much larger book!

I certainly needed temporally-displaced psionic lizard-folk in my life. They're a good replacement for mind flayers.

Right?! I leaned heavily on Conan's Valusians for them, and combined them with Star Trek's Vaadwaur, to replace D&D's Yuan-Ti.

Because, honestly, the Yuan-ti were just D&D's way of doing the old Conan's Serpentfolk of yore in a way that Howard's estate couldn't fight against because honestly Gygax was inventive but not wealthy enough for -that- fight if it came to his door... and he knew it.

Similarly, I can't fight against WotC... so Nedraz!

 

[Arakhor]

You don't get the Cthulhu overtones or body horror implicit with the illithids mind flayers, but the niche seems otherwise filled.

 

[Corinnguard]

You don't get the Cthulhu overtones or body horror implicit with the illithids mind flayers, but the niche seems otherwise filled.

Unless they are like the Gorn from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. That series took the Gorn from the original Star Trek series, and made them scarier to behold.

 

[Arakhor]

I haven't seen SNW, I'm afraid, but I'll take your word for it!

 

[Steampunkette]

You don't get the Cthulhu overtones or body horror implicit with the illithids mind flayers, but the niche seems otherwise filled.

The Nedraz Heritage Entry contains this section:

"In their lost time they created empires and warred and sought to know all that could be known under very different stars than we now see. And with their Strange Sciences they sought to change the world to suit themselves, to make the beasts of the world their servants, to change the very face of the world. In time, their pride grew beyond their abilities and they made a mistake that could never be forgiven."

These two particular phrases are directly tied to Valusian Serpentfolk lore. Specifically that they used strange sciences (Sorcery, Genetic Engineering, Etc) to modify other creatures into their servants. They'd take a rhinocerous and make it into a scale-covered reptilian monstrosity more pliant to their will. They'd take their own people and warp them to look like humans to infiltrate and replace important members of society, like Kull the Conqueror.

The body horror is still there... it's just written into the margins so you get to fill it out in the way that best fits your game, rather than being locked into a detailed ceremorphosis.

If you want it to be horrific sorcery that takes mere minutes, you can. If you want it to be giant glass vats with people floating in strange liquids and goops... It's an option. Heck. Maybe I'll release a Nedraz-directed supplement for the Malison and Abomination equivalents not as "Dendar-Focused Successes" but the twisted work of their sciences...

 

[Corinnguard]

The Nedraz Heritage Entry contains this section:

"In their lost time they created empires and warred and sought to know all that could be known under very different stars than we now see. And with their Strange Sciences they sought to change the world to suit themselves, to make the beasts of the world their servants, to change the very face of the world. In time, their pride grew beyond their abilities and they made a mistake that could never be forgiven."

These two particular phrases are directly tied to Valusian Serpentfolk lore. Specifically that they used strange sciences (Sorcery, Genetic Engineering, Etc) to modify other creatures into their servants. They'd take a rhinocerous and make it into a scale-covered reptilian monstrosity more pliant to their will. They'd take their own people and warp them to look like humans to infiltrate and replace important members of society, like Kull the Conqueror.

The body horror is still there... it's just written into the margins so you get to fill it out in the way that best fits your game, rather than being locked into a detailed ceremorphosis.

If you want it to be horrific sorcery that takes mere minutes, you can. If you want it to be giant glass vats with people floating in strange liquids and goops... It's an option. Heck. Maybe I'll release a Nedraz-directed supplement for the Malison and Abomination equivalents not as "Dendar-Focused Successes" but the twisted work of their sciences...

This reminds me of the PF2 Drow's Fleshwarping practices. There is even a Fleshwarp ancestry. Fleshwarp - Ancestries - Archives of Nethys: Pathfinder 2nd Edition Database

 

[Arakhor]

The body horror is still there... it's just written into the margins so you get to fill it out in the way that best fits your game, rather than being locked into a detailed ceremorphosis.

If you want it to be horrific sorcery that takes mere minutes, you can. If you want it to be giant glass vats with people floating in strange liquids and goops... It's an option. Heck. Maybe I'll release a Nedraz-directed supplement for the Malison and Abomination equivalents not as "Dendar-Focused Successes" but the twisted work of their sciences...

That's even better then!

 

[dave2008]

Unless they are like the Gorn from Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. That series took the Gorn from the original Star Trek series, and made them scarier to behold.

I will have to check that out. I have fantasized about a Gorn reboot for years, and didn't realize someone had already done the ground work. I wonder how it will match up with my own ideas.

EDIT: Nope, that is an awful retcon of the Gorn IMO. I just read about the Gorn in SNW and I am worse for it. They went from an interesting and nuanced species to fairly mindless villains. I guess my ideas are safe!

 

[dave2008]

$13,000!

That's another commission and another thousand down!

People really must have wanted psionics!!

Well, I generally dislike psionics - but I still backed. I will say I am much happier to buy a psionics 3PP supplement than it be in the core rules.

 

[Scars Unseen]

This reminds me of the PF2 Drow's Fleshwarping practices. There is even a Fleshwarp ancestry. Fleshwarp - Ancestries - Archives of Nethys: Pathfinder 2nd Edition Database

Huh. That's kind of interesting. I had a half-drow character that had the ability to do that kind of forcibly bestowed upon him through magical torture back in the 2E days. It was heavily inspired by the Tzimisce from Vampire: the Masquerade. It also kind of revealed that he was actually a full blood elf, as the process separated his drow and surface elf halves symmetrically across his body.

 

[Corinnguard]

I will have to check that out. I have fantasized about a Gorn reboot for years, and didn't realize someone had already done the ground work. I wonder how it will match up with my own ideas.

EDIT: Nope, that is an awful retcon of the Gorn IMO. I just read about the Gorn in SNW and I am worse for it. They went from an interesting and nuanced species to fairly mindless villains. I guess my ideas are safe!

What was your take on the Gorn? curious I watched bits of a SNW episode where an Enterprise Away team had to deal with some Gorn hatchlings. The series hasn't gotten around to showing what an adult Gorn looks like. Or how dangerous they are.

 

[dave2008]

What was your take on the Gorn? curious I watched bits of a SNW episode where an Enterprise Away team had to deal with some Gorn hatchlings. The series hasn't gotten around to showing what an adult Gorn looks like. Or how dangerous they are.

Well the original series commented on how they are skilled engineers, intelligent, social and hinted they could be negotiated with. So I had them eventually joining the Federation and becoming the major force of military-type engineering for the Federation. So most innovations in weapons and shields came from Gorn engineers. They also had a semi-independent elite force of shock troops/ ships that could be called to action when the mission was more hostile than what the Federation flagships & people were designed/trained for.

I also gave them a visual/biological reboot to a more warm-blooded dinosaur vibe (got ride of the insect eyes too - said those were a type of augmented contact lenses). So they were big and strong like the original, but reasonable fast and agile as well. With the newer info on T-Rex intelligence I might push it a little further (I always thought of the Gorn as humanoid T-Rexes).