Rules of the Game - All About Psionics

The D&D game is all about exotic and astonishing things. The thrill of confronting and vanquishing the unknown remains one of the game's chief attractions to many people. Still, one prefers to understand one's own characters, and DMs -- who must orchestrate all the game's action -- wisely shy away from game elements they don't understand. A leading source of mystery (and confusion) in the game is the growing body of materials that deal with psionic powers. It's easy to appreciate psionics' capability, especially after a mind flayer eats your favorite character's brain. Adopting psionics for wider use in a campaign, however, presents a bigger problem.

This series looks into psionic powers and how they work in the game. As we shall see, psionic powers need not induce bewilderment.



Most DMs and players understand that psionics are powers derived from the mind, and that's correct. A psionic practitioner relies on a trained mind to create effects as marvelous and inexplicable as any spell. Does that mean psionics are some form of magic? Not really, though an untrained observer would have a hard time distinguishing psionic effects from magical effects.

So, how are psionics different from magic? They are not much different at all -- especially if you use the rule for psionics-magic transparency (see page 55 in the Expanded Psionics Handbook), which is the standard rule for incorporating psionics into a campaign. After all, psionic powers spring from the mind, and magic, too, is largely a function of the mind. The major difference between a spellcaster and a psionicist is the character's source of power. Spells rely on a universal source of power that exists throughout the universe. The spellcaster's power source is external to the spellcaster.

Psionic training, on the other hand, allows a psionicist to become the source of his own power, rather than channeling external power through himself. The game's rules reflect the subtle differences between psionics and magic in various ways. Chief among these is a psionicist's pool of power points. Other aspects of psionics are less obvious; for example, psionic powers don't employ verbal, somatic, or material components, and a psionic effect cannot be recorded on a scroll.



Here are a few terms used in both the game and this article to describe psionics and their effects.

Manifesting: The psionic equivalent of casting a spell. You manifest a power; you cast a spell. You manifest a power by spending psionic power points. The exact number of points you must spend to manifest a power is noted in the power's description, though some powers allow you to choose to spend extra power points to augment the power's effects.

Manifester Level: The psionic equivalent of caster level. Your level in the class that gives you access to the particular psionic power you're manifesting. Most powers have variables, such as range or damage dealt, that depend on your manifester level. Your manifester level also affects the power in a few other ways (for example, the maximum number of power points you can spend on the power [see Power Points, below]).

You can choose to manifest a power at a lower manifester level than normal (but never less than the minimum manifester level for the power you're using). If you do, all of the power's variables that depend on your manifester level function at the lower level. Any manifester level check (see the next entry) you make to overcome power resistance with that particular manifestation of the power uses the lower level. Likewise, any attempt to dispel the power's effects need only overcome the decreased manifester level.

If you're multiclassed, you could have different manifester levels for the powers you have by virtue of your various classes. For example, a 4th-level psychic warrior/5th-level psion has a manifester level of 4 for psychic warrior powers and a manifester level of 5 for psion powers. If you've taken a prestige class, your levels in that class may stack with levels in another class to determine your manifester level. Otherwise, your levels in your various psionic classes usually don't stack for purposes of determining your manifester level.

Manifester Level Check: A test of your power as a psionic manifester. To make a manifester level check, roll 1d20 plus your manifester level for the power you are manifesting.

Power or Psionic Power: The psionic equivalent of a spell. A power is a mental trick that produces a specific effect. To produce its effects one time, a power must be manifested by spending power points. To manifest the power again, you must spend more power points.

As a psionicist you learn a personal repertoire of powers as you gain levels in a psionic class (or classes). You cannot manifest a power you do not know (though you might be able to use a power stored in an item).

Power Points: The personal reserve of mental energy you have available each day. Manifesting a power you know requires you to expend one of more of your power points, as noted in power description. You can manifest a particular power as many times each day as you want, but each manifestation uses up part of your daily allotment of power points.

If you have fewer power points available than the power requires, you cannot manifest the power. If you have more power points available than the power requires, you may be able to spend additional power points to augment the power (if the power allows this option). The cost and effects of augmentation are noted in the power's description. You cannot, however, spend more power points on a power than your manifester level for that power.

Your class and level determines your basic allotment of power points each day. Your ability scores may give you additional power points each day.

If you're multiclassed, you may receive power points from more than one class. If you do, you combine your power points into a single pool that you can use to manifest any power you know.

Some creatures have psionic powers they can manifest without expending power points. These powers are called psi-like abilities. See Part Three for details.

Psionicist: Not a game term. I use it in this series as a general term for a creature or character who can wield psionic powers.



We covered a few psionic basics last week. This week, we'll consider a few ways that psionics resembles magic (because magic and the rules that govern it provide a familiar point of reference) and a few ways that psionics aren't like magic at all. All the material in this section assumes that the psionics-magic transparency rules from page 55 in the Expanded Psionics Handbook are in play. Things will be different if you don't use psionics-magic transparency; see pages 65-66 in the Expanded Psionics Handbook for details.

In the core D&D game, psionic powers are a kind of spell-like ability (see pages 297-298 in the Dungeon Master's Guide). Even in a psionic campaign, it's helpful to think of psionic powers as something that works much like a spell-like ability. The following material is largely derived from Rules of the Game's earlier series on spell-like abilities.



A psionic power is like a spell in the following ways:

• Using a psionic power is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity.

Sometimes using a psionic power can be a swift or immediate action, a full-round action, or have an even longer manifestation time. The exact manifestation time is given in the power's description.

A creature using a psionic power can use all the tricks that a spellcaster can use to avoid provoking attacks of opportunity from foes that threaten it. The creature can take a 5-foot step before using the power (to get out of a threatened area). The creature also can make a Concentration check to use the ability defensively. The DC for the check is 15 plus the power's level.

• A psionic power can be disrupted.

Anything that could disrupt a spellcaster's concentration and ruin a spell can do the same thing to a psionic power. A psionicist subjected to a potential disruption can make a Concentration check to stay focused and finish manifesting the power. Pages 37-38 and 54 in the Expanded Psionics Handbook contain rules for handling the Concentration check.

• A psionic power is subject to the effects of antimagic.

An antimagic field or a beholder's antimagic ray suppresses a psionic power so that it has no effect. This suppression does not dispel the power's effects, however, so if the power's duration outlasts the antimagic effect, the power's effects resume functioning when the antimagic effect goes away. Time spent inside the antimagic effect still counts against the power's duration, however.

• A psionic power can be dispelled.

All the usual limitations of dispel effects apply to dispels used against psionic powers. For example, a psionic power with an instantaneous duration cannot be dispelled, and the dispel user must make a successful caster level check to dispel any psionic power with a longer duration.

Some psionic powers aren't subject to dispelling; if so, the power's description will say so.

• A psionic power is subject to spell resistance.

The creature using the psionic power must make a manifester level check to overcome the subject's spell resistance. A psionic power also is subject to power resistance, which is the psionic equivalent of spell resistance.

Some psionic powers are not subject to power resistance, and this is noted in the power's description. A power that is not subject to power resistance also is not subject to spell resistance.

• A save DC for a psionic power is calculated in basically the same way a save DC for a spell is calculated.

The save DC for a psionic power is 10 + the power's level + the manifester's relevant ability modifier. The power's description gives the power's level. The manifester's class description gives the manifester's relevant ability.

• Psionic powers are renewed on a daily basis.

To recharge herself mentally, a psionicist must have 8 hours of sleep. The psionicist need not slumber every moment of that time, but she must refrain from doing anything mentally or physically strenuous. See page 55 in the Expanded Psionics Handbook for a list of activities that disrupt a psionicist's rest.

A disruption in a psionicist's rest is inconvenient, but it's not a disaster. A disruption extends the total rest the psionicist needs to recharge by 1 hour. For example, Altanna's party camps for the night, and Altanna goes to sleep as soon as she can. Six hours later, a horde of undead nearly overruns the camp and Altanna must help with the defense. When the dust settles, Altanna still needs 2 hours of rest to recharge her psychic energy (because she has slept only 6 hours), plus an additional hour to make up for the disruption.

In addition to the total rest requirement, a psionicist must have a minimum of 1 hour of uninterrupted rest immediately before regaining her daily power points. Upon completing the required rest period, the psionicist must concentrate for 1 full round to gain her new allotment of power points. Any power points the psionicist expended during the 8 hours prior to concentrating count against the new day's allotment of power (see page 64 in the Expanded Psionics Handbook).



A psionic power is not a spell, even though it works much like a spell. Important differences between powers and spells include the following:

• A psionic power has no verbal, somatic, material, or focus components.

Using a psionic power is a purely mental action, albeit one that requires enough concentration to provoke attacks of opportunity.

A number of powers require the psionicist to expend some experience in addition to psionic power points. If so, this is noted in the power's description. You expend any required XP when you manifest the power. If the manifestation fails for any reason, the XP (and the psionic power points) you spent on the power are still lost.

• A psionic power cannot be used as a counterspell, nor is it subject to counterspells.

A counterspell involves recognizing a spell as it is being cast, then quickly altering that same spell so as to create an opposite effect that cancels out the original spell. A psionic power taps the manifester's mental energy in a process unlike any spell. (Many powers have results similar to certain spells, but they achieve those results through different means.)

As noted earlier, most psionic powers are subject to dispelling (unless their descriptions say they are not). When a psionic power can be dispelled (as most of them are), one can effectively counter them with a dispel magic spell (or the dispel psionics power). While psionic powers are not normally subject to counterspells, dispel magic is not really a counterspell. When you use dispel magic as a counterspell, what you're really doing is quickly casting a targeted dispel effect at the correct moment to negate the enemy spell and not creating an opposite magical effect that cancels your enemy's spell.



In Part One, we covered some psionics basics. In Part Two, we considered ways that psionic powers are similar to and differ from spells. This week, we'll review the list of conditions from the Dungeon Master's Guide and consider which of them interfere with psionic powers. We'll also explore psi-like abilities.



Anything that disrupts a creature's mental processes or concentration also prevents the use of psionic powers, including the feeblemind spell and the brain lock power. The character conditions listed below (refer to the condition summary on pages 300-301 of the Dungeon Master's Guide) also keep you from manifesting any powers. The list presented here is substantially the same as the list provided in the Rules of the Game series on spell-like abilities.

• Confused*

• Cowering

• Dazed

• Dead

• Dying

• Fascinated

• Frightened*

• Flat-footed

• Nauseated

• Panicked*

• Petrified

• Stable

• Stunned

• Turned*

• Unconscious

*Some spell-like abilities might remain available to the creature, see the notes that follow.



Some conditions merit additional comments:

Ability Damage or Ability Drain: Any ability damage or drain that renders you unconscious also renders you unable to use psionic powers. Creatures with Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma scores reduced to 0 are unconscious.

Reductions to the ability score that is relevant to your psionic powers lowers the save DC (if any) for those powers. If your relevant ability becomes low enough, you can no longer manifest powers.

For example, Kalill is a psion, so his relevant ability for psionic powers is Intelligence. If Kalill has an Intelligence score of 16, the save DC (if any) for his psionic powers is 13 plus the power's level. The maximum level for any power Kalill can learn or manifest is 6th. If Kalill's Intelligence score falls to 14, the save DC (if any) for his psionic powers is 12 plus the power's level and the maximum level for any power Kalill can learn or manifest is 4th. If Kalill knows any powers of 5th or 6th level, he does not forget them, but he cannot manifest them (nor can he learn any new powers of those levels) until the recovers the Intelligence he has lost.

Blinded: When you're blinded, you usually cannot aim targeted powers (unless you can touch the target) and you must specify the point of origin for area or effect powers (see Aiming a Power on pages 59-60 in the Expanded Psionics Handbook). You can still aim a ray or touch power, but you must use the procedure for attacking an unseen opponent to do so (see Invisibility on page 295 of the Dungeon Master's Guide).

Confused: If the d% roll indicates that you can act normally this round, you can use its psionic powers this round, otherwise, you cannot use psionic powers while confused.

Dazzled: The -1 penalty on attack rolls from this condition applies to any attack roll you make to use or aim a psionic power (such as a touch attack or ranged touch attack).

Disabled: If you use a psionic power while disabled, doing so causes you to lose a hit point. Unless the psionic power increases your hit points, you begin dying after you take the damage.

Energy Drained: If you take a look at Complete Psionic (page 100) or the sidebar included here, you'll find some rules for dealing with negative levels.

From page 100 of Complete Psionic: 

Each negative level gives a creature a -1 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, and ability checks; deals 5 points of damage; and gives a -1 penalty to effective level (for determining the duration, DC, and other details of powers or special abilities). Additionally, a psionic manifester loses a number of power points equal to his original manifester level. Negative levels stack. Power point losses for each subsequent stacked negative level are calculated from the effective (lowered) level each time.

Furthermore, a spellcaster loses one spell or spell slot from the highest spell level available to him. If two or more spells fit this criterion, the caster decides which one becomes inaccessible. The lost spell becomes available again as soon as the negative level is removed, providing the caster would be capable of using it at that time.


Frightened: If you have a psionic power that allows you to flee from the source of your fear, you must use that ability to flee if you can't escape any other way. If you have several powers that allow you to flee, you must use the most efficacious one you have available. Your DM has final say on which power is most efficacious.

Grappled: You can use your psionic powers if grappled. Doing so requires a Concentration check (DC 20 + the power's level). A power has no verbal, somatic, or material components that grappling disrupts, but struggling in another creature's grasp tends to upset your mental equilibrium.

Panicked: If you have a psionic power that allows you to flee from the source of your panic, you must use that ability to flee if you can't escape any other way; see the note at frightened.

Pinned: You can use your psionic powers while pinned. Doing so requires a Concentration check (DC 20 + the power's level).

Turned: If you have a psionic power that allows you to flee from the foe that turned you, you must use that ability to flee if you can't escape any other way; see the note at frightened.


In most cases, a psi-like ability works exactly like the psionic power it duplicates. If the power the psi-like ability duplicates is subject to dispelling, so is the power. Some psi-like abilities are supernatural and are labeled as such (marked Su). Supernatural abilities are not subject to dispelling, even when they duplicate psionic powers that normally are subject to dispelling.

Most psi-like abilities have a daily use limit (most often once a day or three times a day). A psi-like ability that is usable at will has no use limit at all, and the creature can use it as often as it likes; however, an at will ability still requires a standard action to use unless its description specifically says otherwise.

Psi-like abilities with daily use limits become available to the creature automatically each day. The creature doesn't need to rest or do anything to recharge itself. In this case, a "day" is any contiguous period of 24 hours. There is no set "recharge" time for a psi-like ability. Instead, the creature can use the ability a set number of times in any given period of 24 hours. See Rules of the Game: All About Spell-like Abilities for an example of how this automatic recharge works.



That wraps up our discussion of psionics. As we have seen, anyone who can handle D&D magic can handle psionics.



Skip Williams keeps busy with freelance projects for several different game companies and was the Sage of Dragon Magazine for many years. Skip is a co-designer of the D&D 3rd Edition game and the chief architect of the Monster Manual. When not devising swift and cruel deaths for player characters, Skip putters in his kitchen or garden (rabbits and deer are not Skip's friends) or works on repairing and improving the century-old farmhouse that he shares with his wife, Penny, and a growing menagerie of pets.