Psionic Class - Psychic Warrior

One who turns the mind's potential to the warrior's art is known as a psychic warrior. Where psions devote themselves wholly to the development of mind-engendered abilities, psychic warriors give emphasis to the development of the body. With mental and physical energy working in union, the psychic warrior strives toward martial perfection.

The sword, axe, and bow are physical tools that psychic warriors embrace along with their psionic abilities. Well trained in both physical and psionic matters, the psychic warrior is a formidable adversary.

Adventures: Psychic warriors know that only through conflict will their skills grow. Prone to showing off their flamboyant abilities, they claim to fear nothing. Psychic warriors are eager to accumulate the treasure that adventuring brings and the power it buys.

Characteristics: The defining trait of the psychic warrior is his ability to supplement his physical attacks with psionic feats and powers. A combination of strength, martial skill, and psionic ability allows the psychic warrior to match and sometimes surpass a normal fighter of equal experience. As the psychic warrior gains experience and power, his fighting skills and psionic abilities grow in concert.

Alignment: A psychic warrior's training requires the ability to give equal shrift to what others consider polar opposites of physical and mental ability. Psychic warriors tend toward chaotic alignments, but a chaotic outlook is not a requirement.

Religion: Psychic warriors prefer to worship nonlawful deities, often choosing Pelor (deity of the sun), Kord (deity of strength), or Erythnul (deity of slaughter). But, as with psions, psychic warriors' reliance on their will and internal fortitude often make them poor supplicants.

Background: A psychic warrior typically grows up among a society or small community of "the like-minded," founded by psions who wished to develop their powers in seclusion. Such communes are rare, but their existence provides some protection in a world often hostile to those with powerful mental abilities. Psychic warriors are often the children of psions, and just as often grow up dissatisfied with the regimen of commune life.

Although many adopt the class out of this sense of rebellion, most psychic warriors still feel a deep connection to the commune or society in which they were raised and trained. A few have no such connection, their only ties being to their own paths of personal development.

Races: The inborn gift for psionics is unpredictable, and it can show up in any of the common races. Of the races with a penchant for psionic ability (those described in Chapter 1 of this book XPH), half-giants are particularly drawn to this class, admiring the psychic warrior's mixture of mental might and physical prowess.

Among all other creatures, little opportunity for psychic warrior training is available; however, a few psychic warriors exist in the ranks of the mind flayers.

Other Classes: Psychic warriors get on well with anyone, regardless of class, who appreciates their unique i contributions. Psychic warriors make powerful comrades in combat, so most adventurers are happy to have one in their group.

Game Rule Information

Psychic warriors have the following game statistics.

Abilities: Strength is an ideal ability for a psychic warrior, augmenting his melee prowess. However, a good Wisdom score is also important for manifesting powers. Dexterity provides better defense and bonuses on melee attacks. Constitution upgrades the psychic warrior's toughness.

Alignment: Any.

Class Skills

The psychic warrior's class skills are Autohypnosis, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Jump, Knowledge (psionics), Profession, Ride, Search, and Swim.

Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int modifier) x 4.

Skill Points at each additional level: 2 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All the following are class features of the psychic warrior.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Psychic warriors are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Power Points/Day: A psychic warrior's ability to manifest powers is limited by the power points he has available. His base daily allotment of power points is given on The Psychic Warrior table (below). In addition, he receives bonus power points per day if he has a high Wisdom score (see Table 2-1: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Power Points XPH His race may also provide bonus power points per day, as may certain feats and items. A 1st-level psychic warrior gains no power points for his class level, but he gains bonus power points (if he is entitled to any), and can manifest the single power he knows with those power points.

Powers Known: A psychic warrior begins play knowing one psychic warrior power of your choice. Each time he achieves a new level, he unlocks the knowledge of a new power.

Choose the powers known from the psychic warrior power list. (Exception: The feats Expanded Knowledge, and Epic Expanded Knowledge, do allow a psychic warrior to learn powers from the lists of other classes.) A psychic warrior can manifest any power that has a power point cost equal to or lower than his manifester level.

The total number of powers a psychic warrior can manifest in a day is limited only by his daily power points. In other words, a 11th-level psychic warrior (with a total of 35 power points) could manifest a power costing 1 power point 35 times in one day, a power costing 5 power points 7 times in one day, or any combination of power point costs that does not exceed 35 power points in total.

A psychic warrior simply knows his powers; they are ingrained in his mind. He does not need to prepare them (in the way that some spellcasters prepare their spells), though he must get a good night's sleep each day to regain all his spent power points.

The Difficulty Class for saving throws against psychic warrior powers is 10 + the power's level + the psychic warrior's Wisdom modifier. For example, the saving throw against a 6th-level power has a DC of 16 + Wis modifier.

Maximum Power Level Known: A psychic warrior begins play with the ability to learn 1st-level powers. As he attains higher levels, he may gain the ability to master more complex powers - for example, a 4th-level psychic warrior can learn powers of 2nd level or lower, a 7th-level psychic warrior can learn powers of 3rd level or lower, and so on.

To learn or manifest a power, a psychic warrior must have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the power's level. For example, a psychic warrior with a Wisdom score of 13 can manifest powers of 3rd level or lower.

Bonus Feats: At 1st level, a psychic warrior gets a bonus combat-oriented feat in addition to the feat that any 1st-level character gets and the bonus feat granted to a human character. The psychic warrior gains an additional bonus feat at 2nd level and every three levels thereafter (5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th). These bonus feats must be drawn from the feats noted as fighter bonus feats or psionic feats (Feat Search. The psychic warrior must still meet all prerequisites for the bonus feat, including ability score and base attack bonus minimums as well as class requirements. A psychic warrior cannot choose feats that specifically require levels in the fighter class (such as Greater Weapon Focus or Weapon Specialization) unless he is a multiclass character with the requisite levels in the fighter class.

These bonus feats are in addition to the feats that a character of any class gains every three levels (as given on Experience and Level-Dependent Benefits). A psychic warrior is not limited to fighter bonus feats and psionic feats when choosing these other feats.

Psychic WarriorHit Die: d8
CLBABFortRefWillSpecialPower Points/DayPowers knownMax Pwr Lvl known
1st+0+2+0+0Bonus feat0*11st
2nd+1+3+0+0Bonus feat121st
3rd+2+3+1+1-331st
4th+3+4+1+1-542nd
5th+3+4+1+1Bonus feat752nd
6th+4+5+2+2-1162nd
7th+5+5+2+2-1573rd
8th+6/+1+6+2+2Bonus feat1983rd
9th+6/+1+6+3+3-2393rd
10th+7/+2+7+3+3-27104th
11th+8/+3+7+3+3Bonus feat35114th
12th+9/+4+8+4+4-43124th
13th+9/+4+8+4+4-51135th
14th+10/+5+9+4+4Bonus feat59145th
15th+11/+6/+1+9+5+5-67155th
16th+12/+7/+2+10+5+5-79166th
17th+12/+7/+2+10+5+5Bonus feat91176th
18th+13/+8/+3+11+6+6-103186th
19th+14/+9/+4+11+6+6-115196th
20th+15/+10/+5+12+6+6Bonus feat127206th
*The psychic warrior gains no power points from his class at 1st level. However, he does add any bonus power points he gains from a high Wisdom score, his race, and feats or other sources to his reserve. He can use these points (if any) to manifest his power.

Epic Psychic Warrior

The epic psychic warrior is a perfect meld of mental strength and martial prowess. All fear her psionically enhanced weapon.

Hit Die: d8.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int modifier.

Powers: The psychic warrior's manifester level is equal to her class level. The psychic warrior's base power points do not increase after 20th level. The epic psychic warrior gains one new power of any level that she can manifest at every even-numbered level she attains higher than 20th (22nd, 24th, 26th, and so on).

Bonus Feats: The epic psychic warrior gains a bonus feat at 21st level and every three levels higher than 21st (24th, 27th, and so on).


Source: Expanded Psionics Handbook

Psionic Classes
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