Psion Prestige Class : Psychic Weapon Master
By Scott Brocius and Mark A. Jindra
Some psychic warriors hone their skills by mastering a single melee weapon. Through intense meditation and personal sacrifice, they unlock powerful supernatural abilities in their weapons, which allows them to form a special bond with it. To bond with the weapon of choice -- to use the weapon as naturally and without thought as any other limb -- is the goal of the psychic weapon master.
To gain the special abilities of the psychic weapon master class, a character must use her weapon of choice. Once chosen, the weapon of choice cannot be changed. This does not mean that, if her weapon of choice is the longsword, she can use only the longsword she owned when she first became a psychic weapon master. The only material requirement for the class is a crystal version of her weapon. It means that she can use any crystal longsword and gain the benefits of the psychic weapon master. If she uses any other weapon, she can use none of the special abilities of the prestige class.
Requirements
To qualify to become a Psychic Weapon Master, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
- Feats: Dodge, Mobility, Power Attack, Psionic Dodge, Psionic Weapon, Weapon Focus.
- Base Attack Bonus: +5.
- Manifesting: Ability to manifest a 3rd-level power.
- Special: Proficiency in your weapon of choice, either from a feat or a class feature.
- Weapon: Crystal Melee Weapon
Class Skills
The psychic weapon master's class skills are Balance, Climb, Concentration, Intimidate, Jump, Knowledge (weaponry), Listen, Sense Motive, Spot, Tumble, and Use Psionic Device.
Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All the following are class features of the psychic weapon master prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Psychic weapon masters gain no proficiency in any armor or weapons, though they retain any knowledge gained from former classes.
Powers Known: Every other level starting with 2nd, a psychic weapon master gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if she had also gained a level in whatever manifesting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus feats, metapsionic or item creation feats, psicrystal special abilities, and so on). This essentially means that she adds the level of psychic weapon master to the level of whatever psionic manifesting class the character has, then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly.
If a character had more than one manifesting class before she became a psychic weapon master, she must decide to which class she adds the new level of psychic weapon master for the purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level.
Bonded Weapon: The psychic weapon master can form a special bond with a single melee weapon. The weapon must be the same type as her weapon of choice. The weapon must be a standard crystal melee weapon (without any magic or psionic enhancements). As a psychic weapon master gains experience, she can sacrifice an amount of experience points (XP) to awaken supernatural abilities within her bonded weapon. This sacrifice cannot exceed the XP that she has gained since she last gained a level. Upon initially awakening her weapon, a small portion of the psychic weapon master's personality is encoded in the weapon. This personality is chosen from the Psicrystal Personalities table on page 23 of the Expanded Psionics Handbook. The personality grants the psychic weapon master the benefit that corresponds with the chosen personality. The bonded weapon also has the Alertness, sighted and telepathic link abilities of a psicrystal, and, like psicrystals, it has an Intelligence of 6. Upon awakening a weapon bonus of +3, the bonded weapon gains the sightlink psicrystal ability. Upon awakening a weapon bonus of +5, the bonded weapon gains the ability to hold a psionic focus as the Psicrystal Containment feat. You do not need the Psicrystal Containment feat to use this latter ability.
At any time, a psychic weapon master can spend time meditating to awaken the abilities in her bonded weapon. This requires a sacrifice of XP equal to the amount shown on Table 1-1: Bonded Weapons. A psychic weapon master must meet the required minimum level and must meditate 8 hours a day for a number of days in a row equal to the XP sacrificed divided by 100.
The XP values shown on the Bonded Weapons table are the total value of the sacrifice required to bring a single weapon to the listed weapon bonus. If a psychic weapon master already has a +3 longsword, she can raise it to a +4 longsword by sacrificing 700 XP and spending 7 days meditating.
A weapon can't have an enhancement bonus higher than +5. Use the weapon bonus on Bonded Weapons to determine the XP sacrifice when special abilities are added. Special abilities can be added from either Table 7-5: Melee Weapon Special Abilities in the Expanded Psionics Handbook and/or Table 7-14: Melee Weapon Special Abilities. (Spell storing is considered the same as power storing.) Example: A psychic weapon master who has a +4 longsword can transform it into a +4 mindcrusher longsword with a sacrifice of 2,000 XP since mindcrusher is a special ability worth a +2 bonus. The psychic weapon master may awaken the ability to store power points as a cognizance crystal in their bonded weapon. A +1 weapon bonus is equal to 5 power points, +2 adds 4 more points for a total of 9, +3 adds 4 more points for a total of 13, and +4 adds 4 more points for a final total of 17 power points.
If a bonded weapon is destroyed by accident or on purpose, the psychic weapon master must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + the weapon's equivalent enhancement bonus as shown on Table 1-1). If the saving throw fails, the psychic weapon master must sacrifice an additional 500 XP upon awakening her next bonded weapon. A successful saving throw reduces the loss to 0 XP. A psychic weapon master's experience can never go below 0 as a result of a bonded weapon's destruction. A psychic weapon master can have only one bonded weapon at a time.
| Bonded Weapons | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Weapon Bonus | Total Sacrifice Required | Minimum Psychic Weapon Master Level | Meditation |
| +1* | 100 XP | 1 | 1 day*** |
| +2 | 400 XP | 2 | +3 days |
| +3 | 900 XP | 3 | +5 days |
| +4 | 1,600 XP | 4 | +7 days |
| +5 | 2,500 XP | 5 | +9 days |
| +6** | 3,600 XP | 6 | +11 days |
| +7** | 4,900 XP | 7 | +13 days |
| +8** | 6,400 XP | 8 | +15 days |
| +9** | 8,100 XP | 9 | +17 days |
| +10** | 10,000 XP | 10 | +19 days |
| * Upon awakening a bonded weapon a personality is selected from Table 1-4: Psicrystals in the Psionics Handbook.
** A weapon can't actually have a bonus higher than +5, see the above text. *** This is the base meditation time for a +1 weapon. All numbers following it are added to this base number. For example, a +3 bonus would cost 1 + 3 + 5 = 9 days. | |||
Psionic Damage: After a psychic weapon master scores a hit with her weapon of choice, do not roll dice to determine damage. Instead, figure the normal maximum damage (not a critical hit) the psychic weapon master can inflict with that weapon and do that much damage to the target. For example, a psychic weapon master uses a longsword, has a base attack bonus of +6, and possesses a Strength of 17. A longsword does 1d8 damage, so its maximum damage is 8 points. Her Strength modifier is +3, so add that for a total of 11. When the psychic weapon master makes a successful critical hit, only the base damage from the weapon is maximized; roll normally for the extra damage from the critical hit. A psychic weapon master can use this ability for free a number of times per day equal to her psychic weapon master level, though additional uses of this ability cost 3 power points each.
Increased Multiplier: Determine the standard critical multiplier for the psychic weapon master's weapon of choice. With this ability, a psychic weapon master can increase the multiplier by +1. For example, the longsword has a critical multiplier of x2. When using this ability, increase that multiplier to x3 (2 + 1 = 3) once per day at the 2nd level of the psychic weapon master prestige class. A psychic weapon master gains an additional use per day at 4th, 6th, 8th, and 10th levels of this prestige class. To use this ability, declare its use before rolling any damage dice.
Psionic Weapon Focus: Stacking with any existing Weapon Focus bonus, this adds an additional +1 on all attack rolls with the psychic weapon master's weapon of choice.
Combat Reflexes: The psychic weapon master gains the Combat Reflexes feat for free. If she already possesses this feat, add her Wisdom modifier to the number of additional attacks of opportunity she may make in a round.
Improved Critical: The psychic weapon master gains the Improved Critical feat for free. If she already possesses this feat, add an additional +2 to her weapon of choice's threat range for critical hits.
Whirlwind: The psychic weapon master gains the Whirlwind Attack feat for free. If she already possesses this feat, she can make a whirlwind attack as a standard action rather than a full attack action.
| Psychic Weapon Master | Hit Die: d8 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CL | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Powers |
| 1st | +1 | +0 | +2 | +0 | Bonded weapon, psionic damage | -- |
| 2nd | +2 | +0 | +3 | +0 | Increased multiplier 1/day | +1 level of existing manifesting class |
| 3rd | +3 | +1 | +3 | +1 | Psionic weapon focus | -- |
| 4th | +4 | +1 | +4 | +1 | Increased multiplier 2/day | +1 level of existing manifesting class |
| 5th | +5 | +1 | +4 | +1 | Combat Reflexes | -- |
| 6th | +6 | +2 | +5 | +2 | Increased multiplier 3/day | +1 level of existing manifesting class |
| 7th | +7 | +2 | +5 | +2 | Improved Critical | -- |
| 8th | +8 | +3 | +6 | +3 | Increased multiplier 4/day | +1 level of existing manifesting class |
| 9th | +9 | +3 | +6 | +3 | Whirlwind | -- |
| 10th | +10 | +3 | +7 | +3 | Increased multiplier 5/day | +1 level of existing manifesting class |
Source: Web