Psionics Toolkit
The addition of the Psionics Handbook material to the d20 System Reference Document invited the creation of new products from various d20 system publishers. Fiery Dragon has already published its popular Of Sound Mind psionic-enabled adventure, and Malhavoc Press has put out its adventure/accessory If Thoughts Could Kill. Online publishers such as Ambient Inc. and Chainmail Bikini Games have included psionics-related prestige classes in their products. However, the Psionics Toolkit - by prolific d20 system author Mike Mearls - is perhaps the first accessory fully devoted to psionics.
Psionics Toolkit is a book with ideas for using psionics in a game as well as new additions for such a game.
A First Look
The Psionics Toolkit is a 56-page staple-bound softcover book priced at $11.95 US. This gives a price per page of about 21 cents, which is slightly better than normal for products of this size and format.
The cover is color. The painting by Brian LeBlanc depicts characters and creatures described in the book. As prior reviews of FDP products show, I am not a big fan of LeBlanc's style. The psionic drake depicted on the cover looks rather goofy, although in fact it fits the description in the book.
The interior is black and white, and the art is all by Claudio Pozas. The interior art is somewhat sparse. The interior art is generally well done and evocative.
The typeface is a bit larger than previous FDP books, but close to typical for the industry. The book is an average value for the size.
A Deeper Look
Psionics Toolkit is divided into seven chapters.
The first chapter is Twelve Questions About Psionics. Basically, the author provides the reader with twelve topics to consider when integrating psionics with her game. Questions include "how common are psionic characters?" and "what is the relationship between psionic characters and arcane spellcasters?" Each question has several paragraphs detailing possible answers to each question and matters that the GM should consider when making these decisions.
This chapter is of special use to GMs who are new to psionics and have not yet considered many of these issues. This section will likely be of less use for GMs who have already integrated psionics into their games.
The second chapter is People, Places, and Things. The chapter introduces a new race, a psionic artifact, two organizations, and a deity of psionics. The chapter has a few mechanics, but consists mostly of ideas for use in a campaign. The chapter's main weakness is organizational. There is no shift in header size between sections, so it is difficult to eyeball where one item ends and the next begins.
The race is the Vaniar. They are an ancient offshoot of humanity that lives in the frozen northern wastes and has a racial affinity for psionics. The race has complete PC style statistics; it receives Inner Strength as a bonus feat and has one psionic talent. Vaniar can choose psion or psychic warrior as a favored class, and they receive an experience penalty if they take levels in the sorcerer or wizard class. The chapter provides some ideas for using them as adversaries, PCs, or as neutrals to introduce the players to psionics.
The artifact is the Monolith of Maurimar, an unusual item that the PCs may stumble upon. The Monolith is the anchor point for a race of beings composed of pure thought energy known as the Lyphillians, who have the ability to switch minds with people that invoke the power of the Monolith. The Monolith can be used as a potential threat in a campaign, or as a means of introducing psionics into the game.
The new organizations are Olvic's Gang and the Monks of the Invisible Fist. Olvic's Gang is a band of youths that were the subjects of experiments that turned upon their creator; they can be used as sympathetic villains in a game. The Monks of the Invisible Fist are an order of monks that study the mysteries of the mind. Monks of the Invisible Fist are a variant of the monk class with some skill alterations and that may freely multiclass with the psychic warrior.
Vinduil is a deity whose sphere of influence is psionics. The material on Vinduil relates a legend that when all the primordial deities granted one gift to the thinking species, Vinduil's gift was a secret; that gift was the power of psionics. The faith of Vinduil is described, including various splinter factions ranging from sympathetic to villainous in nature.
The Classes chapter contains two new prestige classes as well as a new domain. The new prestige classes are Psychic Thief and Beastmaster. Both classes have their own PP progression and list of available powers. The Psychic Thief is a member of an elite order of thieves that use psionics to perpetrate their crimes. They have access to many rogue-like skills and class abilities, as well as a power list that aids in such endeavors.
The Beastmaster is a psionic class that is specialized in dealing with animals. The class has a power list that deals with animals, as well as receives animal friendship as a power. The beastmaster's class abilities enhance its psionic powers to be more useful for dealing with animals.
Finally, is the new clerical domain, the Psionics domain. The Psionics domain may only be selected by a character who already has at least one level in psion or psychic warrior. In addition to a list of spells related to thoughts and mind control, the domain ability allows the character to convert prepared divine spells into psionic power points.
The fourth chapter is entitled Organizations, but also contains a smattering of items used by one of the organizations. The chapter begins with a sort of stat block definition for organizations. A short sample organization is provided, the Band of the Opened Eye, an academic order of psions. Most of the chapter concerns the Order of the Broken Staff, an order composed primarily of arcane spellcasters devoted to discrediting psionic characters.
Chapter Five is entitled Psionics in Established Campaigns. It is rather short and provides advice for retroactively converting existing characters to use psionics. The recommended method is to allow an existing character to convert up to half its levels to psion or psychic warrior levels. Most of the guidelines are straightforward, but they recommend altering HP as if the character had rolled maximum for both the old and new class levels. This method exaggerates the difference between different hit die types, and for more general characters, the difference between the averages would be more accurate.
The chapter doesn't leave you high and dry explaining this shift, though. It provides the idea of a plague that affects many creatures. Most never reawaken from the coma caused by the plague. Those that do reawaken suffer memory loss, but have new inexplicable powers.
Chapter 6 introduces new monsters for use in a campaign with psionics:
- Solarian Cat: An intelligent psionic great cat, solarian cats make great hunters, scouts, and companions. They have psionic powers to create sound an feather fall.
- Cryscorn: The cryscorn is a psionic unicorn with a crystal horn. The creature can heal others with its horn and has a variety of psionic clairsentient abilities as well.
- Psionic Drake: The psionic drake is a comparatively small breed of dragon with great psionic power to compensate for its physical inferiority to other dragons.
- Lyphillian: Mentioned in the second chapter, the Lyphillians are creatures of pure thought. Lyphillian is a template applied to a creature that the Lyphillian uses the mind swap ability on.
- Psi-Killer: Another template, the psi-killer is a character that has been infected by a magically engineered virus called the Zarth War Virus. A character with the virus can sense a psionic, and when it does so it enters an involuntary rage and attacks such creatures.
- Mind Flayer Battle Trall: A battle thrall is a creature that has been subjected to a horrid procedure by the mind flayers. This leaves the creature a thrall, with a spikey armored hide and weapons grafted to its hands.
Chapter Seven is an assortment of psionic characters for use in your game as NPC allies, foes, or neutrals. In brief, the characters include a rampaging psychic warrior exiled from another plane, a gnome shaper operating as a charlatan, a dwarf shaper who sells her psionic items, a justice seeking paladin/expert/seer, a human beastmaster, and a pair of small time crooks, one of whom is a telepath.
Conclusion
There are many useful ideas for fleshing out the role of psionics in your game. These will be most useful for GMs who have never taken the time to consider how to integrate psionics into their game. Even if you already have psionics well established in your game, the book may give you a few ideas of things to flesh out a little more and some adventure ideas, as well as some interesting material for your games with which to terrorize your players.
-Alan D. Kohler
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