Psionicist The psionicist character works to mold mind, body, and spirit into a unified, powerful whole. The hero’s internal energy, or psionic strength, comes from deep within himself—from a place psionicists call the nexus. This energy is given form and purpose by the individual’s strength of will. Through extraordinary discipline, long contemplation, and deepening awareness of self, the psionicist taps the vast potential of his mind.

Psionicists must meet or exceed the following prerequisites.

Ability requirements: Constitution 11, Intelligence 12, Wisdom 15

Prime requisites: Wisdom, Constitution

Races allowed: Any

Because the pursuit of psionics require strict mental and physical discipline, a psionicist has two prime requisites: Wisdom and Constitution. His primary mental ability score is Wisdom. As the measure of his willpower and enlightenment, Wisdom promotes the understanding and mastery of the inner self—the essence of psionic ability. Likewise, the tremendous stress of using psionics requires a healthy body to house a fit mind. This is where Constitution comes into play. Lastly, Intelligence is important to psionicists because of the reasoning and memorization necessary to the class.

All races eligible for use as player characters can become psionicists. Human psionicists have no limit on the levels of experience they can attain in their chosen class. Half-elves, half-orcs, and half-ogres (due to their partial human heritage) can reach 12th level. Halflings and gnomes can attain 10th level. Dwarves and elves can reach only 8th level as psionicists. All creatures not listed here can reach 10th level.

Dual-Classed and

Multiclassed Psionicists

A human character who has scores of 15 or more in the prime requisites of his first class and scores of 17 or more in the prime requisites of the class he switches to can be a dual-classed psionicist. See the Player’s Handbook, for more details on dual-class benefits and restrictions.

Demihuman characters can be multiclassed psionicists if they meet the requirements in the Player’s Handbook.

Alignment

Psionicists can be of any alignment, save chaotic. The discipline integral to psionics can’t be maintained by chaotic characters. If a psionicist’s alignment shifts to chaotic for any reason, he quickly begins to lose psionic powers. Every day his alignment remains chaotic, the character must make an ability check against one-half his Wisdom score, rounded down. Each time the character fails this check, he loses access to one psionic discipline and all the powers related to it. The discipline is selected randomly by the DM.

Psionicists who change to chaotic alignment can’t recover PSPs. If a psionicist’s alignment turns from chaotic back to nonchaotic, he begins to recover lost disciplines at a rate of one per day. This is accomplished by making the same halved Wisdom check described above—success indicates the return of a random discipline from those that were lost.

Weapon and Armor Restrictions

Psionicists disdain using weapons of any sort. Further, they don’t have the time to properly train in their use. If a psionicist character wants to use a weapon, he must select it from the following small-sized items: hand crossbow, dagger, dart, dirk, knife, scourge, sickle, and short sword.

Psionicists can only use the following types of armor: padded, leather, studded leather, and hide. They may also carry small shields.

Psionicist Benefits

Psionicists have their own THAC0s, which are listed on the THAC0s and MTHAC0s , above, along with their respective MTHAC0s. MTHAC0s for wild talents are listed on the same table, though these characters must refer to their class’s own THAC0 tables for calculated attack rolls.

Psionicists gain a +2 bonus on all saving throws vs. enchantment/charm spells. This is in addition to any magical defense adjustments for high Wisdom scores. the Psionicist Saving Throw table lists saving throws for this character class.

At 9th level, a psionicist becomes a contemplative master. Such a master can build a sanctuary to use as his headquarters and can attract followers. A 1st-level psionicist arrives monthly to study with the master, regardless of whether he builds a sanctuary. The maximum number of followers is equal to the master’s Charisma score if he builds a sanctuary, or half that number rounded down if he doesn’t.

A master’s followers want to learn. They serve in any capacity the master chooses as long as the master spends at least 10 hours per week instructing them. If the master doesn’t live up to this schedule, the followers leave to find someone else.

Psionicist Advancement

A psionicist earns experience points and advances in level like members of other classes, as outlined on Table 79 below.

Psionicists and PSPs

A psionicist determines his initial PSP total by adding bonuses awarded for high Wisdom, Constitution, and Intelligence scores to a base of 15, then adding the result of a 1d6 die roll:

Wis bonus + Con bonus + Int bonus + 15 + 1d6 = 1st-level PSP total.

With every level increase, up to the 9th level, a psionicist gains additional PSPs by adding the bonuses to a 1d6 die roll:

Wis bonus + Con bonus + Int bonus + 1d6 = PSPs gained per level (2 through 8).

Starting at 9th level, a psionicist gains just 3 PSPs per level, plus his Wisdom bonus.

Wis bonus + 3 = PSPs gained per level (9th level and higher).

Gaining Disciplines and Powers

Every psionic power belongs to one of the five psionic disciplines: clairsentience, psychokinesis, psychometabolism, psychoportation, and telepathy. Powers are either major (and are called sciences) or minor (called devotions). Before a psionicist can learn a psionic power, he must have access to the appropriate discipline.

At 1st level, a psionicist selects one discipline. This is his primary discipline. As a psionicist advances in level, he gains access to additional disciplines (as shown on the Psionic Progression table. A psionicist starts out at 1st level with four powers within his primary discipline: one science and three devotions. With each advance in level, the psionicist gains additional disciplines and powers, as outlined. Some additional points to consider include the following:

· A player can select new powers for his character as soon as the character reaches a new experience level. These new powers can be selected from any discipline the character has access to, including a discipline that was just gained.

· Within a single discipline, a character must have twice as many devotions as sciences. For example, a player can’t select a third telepathic science until his character has at least six telepathic devotions.

· A character can never learn as many sciences and devotions in another discipline as he knows in his primary discipline. This provides a focus for a hero that he can adhere to throughout his career.

Proficiencies

Like all character classes, psionicists have various proficiencies available to them. The Psionicist Proficiency Slots table below, lists the initial number of weapon and nonweapon proficiencies available to this class, as well as the rates at which these characters earn new slots. Characters start with the initial two weapon and three nonweapon proficiencies available to psionicists. Psionicists can learn a weapon proficiency for any weapon they can use.

Bonus Proficiencies

A psionicist receives bonus proficiencies upon creation. They don’t take up any of a psionicist’s available slots. These bonus proficiencies are contact and mental armor, which allow the psionicist to participate in psionic combat.

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