[Dreamscarred Press] Upcoming Releases

[Bacris]

I've been slacking a little bit on posting our news items, although I've been trying to make sure the Dreamscarred Press forums and developer blog have been updated regularly. Anyway, here's information on some of our upcoming releases!

Races of the Mind: Elan - The first release in our Races of the Mind series, this product is currently 15 pages of material about the elan. Covering the process of creating elan, the history of the race, new racial feats, specialty levels, and prestige classes, Races of the Mind: Elan also explains what happens when the transformation to an elan fails and the results of those failures. This product is written by Josh Sjothun, a new author for Dreamscarred Press, and so far has three illustrations, with the possibility of 3 more.

High Psionics: Soulknives - The latest in our High Psionics line, this product is currently 16 pages of new material giving variant soulknives with options such as a two-weapon focused soulknife, a soulknife focused on brute force rather than finesse, and the like. In addition, there are over a dozen new soulknife feats and new soulknife-focused items, such as crystal hilts, bows, and gauntlets. While this product currently has no illustrations, it should by the time it is released. This product is written by Phil Leco, another new author for Dreamscarred Press.

High Psionics: Deep Crystal Dragons - Another in our High Psionics line, this product is currently 16 pages of new material focusing on a new type of dragon: the deep crystal dragon. This creature develops a symbiotic connection with a psionic manifester similar to that of a psicrystal or a wizard's familiar, but it uses the psionic energy of the manifester to power its own special abilities. While this product currently has no illustrations, it should by the time it is released. This product is written by Garrett Swaim, another new author for Dreamscarred Press.

The Mind Divine - our next major release, the Mind Divine is over 100 pages of new material with a focus on godminds, beings of immense psionic power akin to deities. Unlike traditional deities, godminds do not grant divine spellcasting or the ability to turn undead, but do grant access to psionic nodes, subsets of psionic powers along a single theme. This release contains eight new psionic prestige classes, dozens of new powers and feats, and an entire pantheon of godminds for use in your campaign. Currently, this product has over a dozen illustrations, including a full-color cover design of one of the new creatures within it. The Mind Divine is written by Jeremy Smith, one of the authors of Untapped Potential: New Horizons in Psionics, with contributions from several other individuals including Andreas Rönnqvist, Brian Dupuis, Greg Jacob, Vladimir Rodriguez, and Will Elyea.

Release dates will be available once they are determined!

 

[Nightfall]

Yay! More stuff Psionic that I actually LIKE and will use! Thanks Jeremy!

 

[Voadam]

Races of the Mind: Elan - The first release in our Races of the Mind series, this product is currently 15 pages of material about the elan. Covering the process of creating elan, the history of the race, new racial feats, specialty levels, and prestige classes, Races of the Mind: Elan also explains what happens when the transformation to an elan fails and the results of those failures. This product is written by Josh Sjothun, a new author for Dreamscarred Press, and so far has three illustrations, with the possibility of 3 more.

What's a specialty level?

 

[Bacris]

We put them in Untapped Potential originally

Here's it in a nutshell:

Psionic Racial Specialty Levels
The prowess of the maenad warriors is renowned throughout the land, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a more powerful psion than an elan. These are represented in-game through racial specialty levels, a pseudo-replacement level for members of specific races and classes.

If you are a member of a specific race, you may take a racial specialty level rather than a standard class level. These come with specific abilities unique from the base class level, including hit dice and skill lists, but are only available at specific points in a character’s progression. For instance, a duergar about to take his first, third, or fifth level of egoist may instead take a level of "duergar egoist," which comes with a higher hit die and its own unique class features, all detailed below.

If you choose to take a racial specialty levelinstead of the standard class level, you may never gain the abilities of the original level. Sometimes, this means giving up a powerful ability for another powerful ability. Other times, you may sacrifice a class feature that did not grant much of a benefit due to your race. For example, xeph soulknives who take the first racial specialty level never gain the Wild Talent feat. However, as the race is naturally psionic, the only loss this poses is an extra two power points, which matters little for a soulknife, who does not manifest powers.

Other levels, however, might replace a psionic power with a new special ability, limiting that character’s options of powers to manifest, but granting them a specific ability other races may not be able to access. Each class feature will identify what it replaces, if anything. If a class feature has the same name as the original class’s feature and is marked with an asterisk (*), it has been modified in some way from the original class feature.

Racial specialty levels are, in all other regards, levels in their original classes. You do not need to take a level in a racial specialty if you do not want to, nor do you need to take earlier levels to take later ones. For instance, a maenad fighter may decide to take only the level 4 racial specialty, opting instead for the standard fighter levels 1 and 2, while another maenad fighter may have no racial specialties and another may take all three. Because these specialty levels are essentially levels in the original class, they do not count as separate classes for purposes such as multi-class experience penalties.