The Expanded Psionics Handbook Confirmed Information Thread


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Plane Sailing said:
Well, you have to take a level in a magic using class to be a magic using character (arcane or wizard), so why would you expect this to be different?

Well, maybe he's hearkening back to the days of old, where psionics weren't obtained through taking levels in a class. Obviously, the randomly-rolled chance of a PC having psionics wouldn't be allowed into today's D&D, but it would be interesting to see limited psionic abilities accessed through the expenditure of feats.
 
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I can't remember where, but I'm sure I saw a Psionic template. Basically, it makes the creature have psionic abilities without taking class levels. Essentially, the creature works like a monster with psychic powers. Not as powerful as taking the class, but it may be what you're looking for. I don't know where I saw it though... I think it was online somewhere...
 

OK, we've got some new info from Archfiends.

Huge thanks to Altamont Ravenard for the information he provided in this thread.

The D&D quickstats for Ialdabode are:

HD 2 (8hp)
Init : +2
AC: 12 (T 12, FF 10)
SPD: 30'
ATK: Staff +3 (1d6+1) OR crossbow +4 rg (1d8/19-20)
SV: Fort +1 Ref +2 Will +2
AB: S12 D 14 Cn 13 I 15 W 10 Ch 8
SK/F: Bluff +4, Conc +6 Dipl +3 Intim +1 Lis +0 Psicraft +9 S Mot +5, Spot +0; Dodge
Spells: Psionics (9pp) float (1 pp; swim +10 ft), inertial armor (1 pp, +4 AC), mind link (1 pp, telepathic bond), mind thrust (2 pp, 10 damage, DC 13 negates), psionic daze (1 pp, daze, DC 13)
POSS: mwk light crossbow, 10 bolts, mwk quarterstaff
CR: 2

A lot of stuff here. It appears psions still have a d4 HD.

Skills are weird. He has too many ranks in Psicraft unless they botched it (with an INT modifier fo +2, he'd have to have spent 7 skill points... at second level). It seems likely they still get 4 skill points per level.

Saves are off as well. If he has a good Will save, it should be +3, but if it was poor, it should be +1. Probably just messed it up. I assume they still have a +3 will save.

He has one more power point than a psion of his level would have under 3.0. Not much of a suprise. Bruce Cordel aleready increased the number of PP per day in Mindscapes.

Powers are a real gem! First, it appears Inertial Armor is now a power, rather than a feat. It also appears that Psychic Combat may have been rolled into the rest of the powers, like in Mindscapes, as we see Mind Thrust on the list, not set apart from the other powers. However, it's PP cost is odd. Under 3.0 psionics, a power cost twice it's level, minus one. So a second level power would cost 3 (2*2-1). Here, we see Mind Thrust costing 2 PP and dealing a static 10 damage.

Now, one possibility is that it's still a psionic combat mode, so it has an odd cost. I don't believe that, because it just deals damage (nothing special for a mode) and it's listed in the middle of the other powers.

We also know how Mind Thrust works from the Wilder exerpt:

For example, Leila is a 3rd-level wilder who knows the power mind thrust. She can normally spend 3 power points to deal 3d10 damage with this power. She invokes her wild surge, spending 3 power points to instead deal 4d10 damage with this manifestation of her mind thrust.

So it's not a static damage power anyway. I think we're looking at some kind of "scaled up" version for a quickstat card. It should normaly be a first level power that deals 1d10 damage. However, Ialdabode is second level. That means he can scale it up once, since we know you can spend a number of PP on scaling equal to your level. At that point, it costs 2 PP and deals 2d10 damage, the average being an even 10.

So, I believe Mind Thrust is actually a 1st levle power that deals 1d10 damage, and can have an extra die added for 1 pp. That makes sense form what we know. A 2pp version would deal an average of 10 damage and Leila the Wilder's would deal 3d10 damage for 3 pp.

Ialdabode is missing a bunch of 0th level powers known, but it's just possible they cut them for space (and didn't list stuff like Detect Psionics, which is a non-combat ability). The ones he does know all cost 1 pp (as opposed to 3.0, where you manifested 3 for free every day, then started having to pay 1 PP apiece). I could be that this rule is just too complicated to put on the back of a card. But for what it's worth, the Psionic Daze has a DC as if it were a first level power, instead of a 0th level one. Hmmmmmm. It could have been "upgraded" to a full first level power, or they could be assuming it's scaled up once to increase the DC (and thus make it cost one PP instead of it being free). I think this is the most likely, but it's hard to say.


On to Ragnara

HD 3 (20 hp)
Init: +2
AC: 18 (T 12, FF 16)
SPd: 30'
ATK: Sword +5 (1d8+2/19-20)
SA/SQ: Mindscream 1/day (energy ray, up to 3d6-1 sonic), outburst 1/day (4 rds, +2 str, -2 int, -2 wis)
SV: F +4, R +2 W +4
AB: S 15 D 14 Cn 12 I 10 W 13 Ch 8
SK/F Conc +8, Autohypnosis +8, Dodge, Psionic Weapon
Spells: Psionics (6 pp) - burst (1 pp, +2 speed, swift), catfall (1 pp, -1d6 falling dmg), offensive precognition (1 pp, +1 atk)
POSS: scale mail, mwk heavy mundane crystal shield, mwk mundane crystal longsword
CR 3

At 20 HP, they appear to still get d8 HD. Ragnara's attack is at +5, which means they still have a medium BAB progression (+2 BAB, +1 Masterwork Weapon, +2 STR).

She seem sto have two 1/day abilities, probably coming from being a Meaened. The -1 to damage from Mindscream is weird. I'm guessing it deals 3d6 + CHA modifier.

They probably now manifest using WIS, since its' the only high mental stat.

Unless she's getting a weird reflex penalty from somewhere, her REF save is wrong, but PsyWars now obviously get a good FORT and WILL save (this probably helps make up for now needing another stat - WIS). She has a full 33% more PP than a PsyWar would under 3.0. Probably, they now get bonus PP based off of their WIS.

Assuming Offensive Precognition is 1st level (as a mirror to Combat Precognition, which I bet will now be called Defensive Precognition), she actually is missing one 0th level power. It could be they just decided not to list "non-combat" powers, like Detect Psionics.
 
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Anyone a real street date? (I need that book early in april, new campaign starts).

Hardhead said:
They probably now manifest using WIS, since its' the only high mental stat.

Unless they use a physical stat instead.


Alzrius said:
This got me thinking about the NPC classes (four out of five could be used in such an all-psi/no-magic campaign). It would be cool if there were a psionic version of the Adept NPC class, wouldn't it? Some class that's less powerful than the other psionic classes, but represents primitive tribes of creatures who have a leader that's begun to increase his/her mentality, and psionic powers along with it.

Psychic would be a good name for that.

Fiendish Dire Weasel said:
Please note that "The Soulknife has all but officially been confirmed, but not much is known about it." So it isn't really official yet that I have seen. I hope it is, but we'll have to wait and see.

Player's Guide to Faerûn also speaks of a Psionic organization of Soulknife/Assassin Characters.
 

Unless they use a physical stat instead.

They used to use STR, but that just seems unlikely to me now. In 2e, CON was used to determine PP, but if that were the case for the PsyWar, I'd expect them to have a higher CON than WIS. In fact, I'd expect them to have a higher CON than WIS in general, since they're a fighting class, unless they really needed WIS for some reason... like, say, manifesting psionics.

I just realized Ialdabode is missing a feat. Probably, he has one that gives him a +2 to his Psicraft check and it's not listed (this also means Psions probably don't get a bonus feat at first level, like the Mindscapes Psions do).
 

Hardhead said:
Skills are weird. He has too many ranks in Psicraft unless they botched it (with an INT modifier fo +2, he'd have to have spent 7 skill points... at second level). It seems likely they still get 4 skill points per level.

If he's human, he's also missing a Feat. Might be Skill Focus: Psicraft.

If all his skills are in class, he has spent 5 (Bluff) +5 (Concentration) +4 (Diplomacy) +2 (Inntimidate) +4 (Psicraft) +5 (Sense Motive) = 25 skill points at this stage of his career, assuming I'm right about Skill Focus being his missing Feat. Given his 15 Intelligence and presumed human race, that is exactly correct for a *2* skill point class.
 

Using the spell points variant from the unearthed arcana (page 153) a level 2 sorcerer with a 15 cha gets 9 spell points, well Ialdabode is a psion 2 with int 15... If the psion PP table is like the sorcerer´s spell points table a 20th level psion with a 30 int would get 370 PP...
 
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jeffh said:
If he's human, he's also missing a Feat. Might be Skill Focus: Psicraft.

If all his skills are in class, he has spent 5 (Bluff) +5 (Concentration) +4 (Diplomacy) +2 (Inntimidate) +4 (Psicraft) +5 (Sense Motive) = 25 skill points at this stage of his career, assuming I'm right about Skill Focus being his missing Feat. Given his 15 Intelligence and presumed human race, that is exactly correct for a *2* skill point class.

But you're forgetting that Skill Focus gives a +3 bonus now. So if he has Skill Focus: Psicraft, he'd have only spent 4 points in Psicraft, and he's missing a skill point. However, that doesn't make much sense. If you're taking a feat to increase your Psicraft (as seems to be the case), then why wouldn't you also want to max out your Psicraft?

I see two possibilities:

(1) They screwed up. His psicraft should be one higher.

(2) He has a feat that gives him +2 to Psicraft, and +2 to another skill (like Knowledge (Psionics)) that isn't listed on the D&D stat card because it's not a combat-related skill. This also lets them keep 4 SP per level (as we assuming he's also spending skill points in Knowledge (Psionics) in additon to the feat).

I guess we'll have to wait and see which it is.
 

Hardhead said:
But you're forgetting that Skill Focus gives a +3 bonus now. So if he has Skill Focus: Psicraft, he'd have only spent 4 points in Psicraft, and he's missing a skill point.

I'm forgetting no such thing. Look at my numbers again; they assume that he only spent four points on Psicraft, and they work perfectly on that assumption. I specifically assigned four points for Psicraft, not 5; and 4 + 2 (Int mod) + 3 = 9.

Why would he do this? Who knows. Maybe he took the feat specifically to free up skill points for other stuff.

Edit - clarification only.
 
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