Untapped Potential is an impressive offering from Dreamscarred Press that offers a wide variety of Psionic material. Overall, it is presented is a clean and professional manner. There were a couple of editing mistakes I caught, but only minor things. The artwork isn't spectacular, but there was nothing I found myself wincing at, either. I bought this for gaming content, not artwork, so adequate art is fine by me. I should note that the artwork is definitely better than some art I have seen in third-party products. The PDF is also well bookmarked, which is especially important in a product that is just over 200 pages long.
After an introduction, the book starts with racial paragon levels for each of the races from the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Like the paragon levels in Unearthed Arcana (and Arcana Unearthed, for that matter) each is a set of three levels that lets a character develop the natural abilities of that race. The book then provides “racial specialty levels” for each of those races, which are the same thing as the racial substitution levels from various Wizards of the Coast products. Most of these replace levels in a psionic class, but there are a couple of exceptions. The dromite ranger, for instance, includes options such as gaining the Up the Walls feat instead of the Woodland Stride class feature. All in all, these levels all appear to be well balanced options for those who want to focus more on a characters racial talents.
The next chapter presents three new base classes. I found this the most interesting part of the entire product. First, there is the Devoted Psion. This seems like a really interesting idea – a variant psion who is extremely focused on a particular discipline. While it is not obviously unbalanced, I do have some reservations about the fact that it allows a character to gain a higher manifester level in his chosen discipline than his character level. I am afraid this might lead to abuse by some players, especially those who like to “go nova” and spend all their power points in a short amount of time. I have not had a chance to playtest this class, however, so I am still unsure how it would handle in actual play. The second class is the Marksman, a ranged combat character who has full BAB advancement and a manifester advancement reminiscent of the spellcasting of a ranger or paladin. I like this class, although I wish they had some options for melee-focused characters as well. Finally, there is the Society Mind, a very interesting class that has also been released separately by Dreamscarred Press as a free PDF. This class provides support abilities to the party, as well as providing flexibility through its ability to change powers known on a daily basis. Even if you don't pick up Untapped Potential, I highly recommend you at least check out the Society Mind.
The fourth chapter is number of new psionic feats (as well as a few non-psionic ones – I have no idea why they have feats for poison use here, but they do). In addition to those feats that are of use to anyone, there are racial feats and mind blade feats as well. There are also Mantra feats, which provide a different way to use psionic focus (much like the Combat Form feats in the Player's Handbook II). These feats all seem balanced, and most seem interesting as well.
Chapter five is the inevitable prestige classes. Some I find more interesting than others, but all of them are balanced classes I would allow in my own games. This is also where the first big difference can be found between the old version and the expanded version of the product – 2 classes were added for the expanded version. The first of these classes is the Psychic Acrobat; as the name suggests, this class uses the character's psionic focus to enhance speed and balance, as well as gaining advantages when running up walls. The second is the Seidmadr, who focuses on using the mind switch ability.
The sixth chapter, NPCs and organizations, starts with an NPC psionic class, the Augur. I have to say I wasn't particularly impressed with this class. After that, we move on to discuss organizations, providing a few psionic organizations and explaining the advantages and possible uses of each. The other notable change in the expanded version of the product (besides prestige classes) is the inclusion of specialty levels for the organizations. The specialty levels for the Cosmic Echoes, for instance, provide a very interesting twist on the Thrallherd class.
The seventh chapter provides several new powers, as well as power lists for the new classes. It should be noted that some of the powers on the new power lists, especially the Society Mind list, are found in Hyperconscious by Bruce Cordell While having that product is recommended by the writers, it is not necessary; it's possible to simply ignore those powers. The product also talks about two new power descriptors, Network and Formbound. Network powers are simply powers that have certain advantages when used by a society mind. The Formbound descriptor is worth mentioning, however, because it deals with a new system for shapechanging powers. This system gets rid of the Metamorphosis power and establishes a new set of powers instead. Shapechanging has always had issues with abuses – look at how many revisions the Polymorph spell has gone through so far. I like the new system presented here, and I'm even considering adapting it for use with spellcasters in my next campaign.
The final two chapters cover psionic items and monsters. While some of these are interesting, none of them really stood out to me. Finally, there is an appendix which includes variants for the Soulknife and Wilder, as well as epic feats for psionic characters.
Overall, I am very pleased with this product. Everything seems mechanically balanced (not including my reservations about the devoted psion) and the sheer volume of options opens up many new possibilities. Not everything in the book managed to catch my interest, but whether it's the support abilities of the Society Mind, the new options for mind blades, the Mantra feats, the new shapechanging powers, or something else entirely, you're likely to find at least a few things in this product you'll want to use in your next game.
After an introduction, the book starts with racial paragon levels for each of the races from the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Like the paragon levels in Unearthed Arcana (and Arcana Unearthed, for that matter) each is a set of three levels that lets a character develop the natural abilities of that race. The book then provides “racial specialty levels” for each of those races, which are the same thing as the racial substitution levels from various Wizards of the Coast products. Most of these replace levels in a psionic class, but there are a couple of exceptions. The dromite ranger, for instance, includes options such as gaining the Up the Walls feat instead of the Woodland Stride class feature. All in all, these levels all appear to be well balanced options for those who want to focus more on a characters racial talents.
The next chapter presents three new base classes. I found this the most interesting part of the entire product. First, there is the Devoted Psion. This seems like a really interesting idea – a variant psion who is extremely focused on a particular discipline. While it is not obviously unbalanced, I do have some reservations about the fact that it allows a character to gain a higher manifester level in his chosen discipline than his character level. I am afraid this might lead to abuse by some players, especially those who like to “go nova” and spend all their power points in a short amount of time. I have not had a chance to playtest this class, however, so I am still unsure how it would handle in actual play. The second class is the Marksman, a ranged combat character who has full BAB advancement and a manifester advancement reminiscent of the spellcasting of a ranger or paladin. I like this class, although I wish they had some options for melee-focused characters as well. Finally, there is the Society Mind, a very interesting class that has also been released separately by Dreamscarred Press as a free PDF. This class provides support abilities to the party, as well as providing flexibility through its ability to change powers known on a daily basis. Even if you don't pick up Untapped Potential, I highly recommend you at least check out the Society Mind.
The fourth chapter is number of new psionic feats (as well as a few non-psionic ones – I have no idea why they have feats for poison use here, but they do). In addition to those feats that are of use to anyone, there are racial feats and mind blade feats as well. There are also Mantra feats, which provide a different way to use psionic focus (much like the Combat Form feats in the Player's Handbook II). These feats all seem balanced, and most seem interesting as well.
Chapter five is the inevitable prestige classes. Some I find more interesting than others, but all of them are balanced classes I would allow in my own games. This is also where the first big difference can be found between the old version and the expanded version of the product – 2 classes were added for the expanded version. The first of these classes is the Psychic Acrobat; as the name suggests, this class uses the character's psionic focus to enhance speed and balance, as well as gaining advantages when running up walls. The second is the Seidmadr, who focuses on using the mind switch ability.
The sixth chapter, NPCs and organizations, starts with an NPC psionic class, the Augur. I have to say I wasn't particularly impressed with this class. After that, we move on to discuss organizations, providing a few psionic organizations and explaining the advantages and possible uses of each. The other notable change in the expanded version of the product (besides prestige classes) is the inclusion of specialty levels for the organizations. The specialty levels for the Cosmic Echoes, for instance, provide a very interesting twist on the Thrallherd class.
The seventh chapter provides several new powers, as well as power lists for the new classes. It should be noted that some of the powers on the new power lists, especially the Society Mind list, are found in Hyperconscious by Bruce Cordell While having that product is recommended by the writers, it is not necessary; it's possible to simply ignore those powers. The product also talks about two new power descriptors, Network and Formbound. Network powers are simply powers that have certain advantages when used by a society mind. The Formbound descriptor is worth mentioning, however, because it deals with a new system for shapechanging powers. This system gets rid of the Metamorphosis power and establishes a new set of powers instead. Shapechanging has always had issues with abuses – look at how many revisions the Polymorph spell has gone through so far. I like the new system presented here, and I'm even considering adapting it for use with spellcasters in my next campaign.
The final two chapters cover psionic items and monsters. While some of these are interesting, none of them really stood out to me. Finally, there is an appendix which includes variants for the Soulknife and Wilder, as well as epic feats for psionic characters.
Overall, I am very pleased with this product. Everything seems mechanically balanced (not including my reservations about the devoted psion) and the sheer volume of options opens up many new possibilities. Not everything in the book managed to catch my interest, but whether it's the support abilities of the Society Mind, the new options for mind blades, the Mantra feats, the new shapechanging powers, or something else entirely, you're likely to find at least a few things in this product you'll want to use in your next game.
