Publication:Hyperconscious/Psionic Feats

Feats

Many of the following feats appear in the Hyperconscious adventure; however, DMs can make them all available for player characters regardless of whether they play through the adventure. Also, if you use the mindscape psionic combat system introduced in Chapter Three, you’ll find some of the following feats particularly useful.

Anticipate Power [Psionic] Prerequisites: Manifester level 3rdBenefit: The psionic complexus of your mind exists partially outside the timestream, and thus it is aware of events a scant few seconds into the future. You can use this feat by readying an action until an opponent tries to manifest a power. If an opponent attempts to manifest a power,make a Psicraft check (DC 15 + the power’s level). If the check succeeds, you correctly identify your opponent’s power and can counter it. (If the check fails, you can’t do either of these things.) You must also take into account metapsionic and/or augmentation power point increases of the power anticipated when setting the Psicraft check Difficulty Class. (For every 2 additional power points an anticipated power costs above its base power point cost, the Difficulty Class of the Psicraft check goes up by 1.) Powers without displays and freely manifested powers cannot be anticipated.

To complete the action, you create a psionic interference pattern by expending a number of power points equal to the cost of the power you wish to cancel. (You must also pay the cost of any metamagic power point increases; you can’t spend more power points countering than your effective manifester level.) If the enemy manifester is within 30 feet of you, the target power is negated.

Continual Power [Metapsionic] Prerequisites: Any other metapsionic featBenefit: While you maintain your psionic focus, you can use this feat on any power that specifies a single target, has a range greater than touch, and deals damage. Powers that do not deal damage or powers that deal damage only as a side effect cannot be used with this feat.

When you use this feat on a power, the damage dice of the power equals its standard value minus two dice. However, for every round you can maintain concentration, you manifest the power at your foe (or a new foe in range) again, without any additional power point cost. The power’s saving throw and power resistance requirements, if any, are resolved normally each round. You can maintain concentration for a maximum number of rounds equal to your manifester level. If you break concentration, or are forced to break concentration, the power also ends.

A continued power costs a number of power points equal to its standard cost + 4. If used with an augmented power, the power is augmented only on the first round of manifestation.

Cortical Resonance [Psionic] Prerequisites: Manifester level 3Benefit: Choose any one power you know that targets one creature and that is not a ray or touch power. From now on, while you maintain your psionic focus, that power resonates destructively in the subject’s mind, dealing an additional 2 points of damage in addition to the power’s normal effect, if the power takes effect (that is, if the subject fails its saving throw against the primary effect of the power). Special: You can take this feat more than once. Each time you take it, it applies to a new power you know.

Craft Dreamgift [Item Creation, Psionic] Prerequisites: Manifester Level 3rd, possess at least one dreamgift item.Benefit: You can create a dreamgift version of any psionic item (see the Expanded Psionics Handbook for information on psionic items, as well as the dreamstained items section in Hyperconscious Chapter Five).

Crafting a dreamgift takes one night of dreaming, followed by one day for each 1,000 gp in its price (minimum one night and one day). To craft a dreamgift, you must spend 1/25 of the item’s price in experience points and use up raw materials costing half of its price.

Also, you can mend a broken dreamgift if you have the ability to craft it. Doing so costs half the experience points, half the raw materials, and half the time it would take to craft that item in the first place. Some dreamgifts incur extra costs in material components or experience points, as noted in their descriptions.

These costs are in addition to those derived from the item’s base price. You must pay such a cost to create an item or to mend a broken one. Special: Those who craft dreamstained items describe the guiding dream as slightly unsettling, with a whispering voice reaching down a darkened hall whose length seems infinite.

Creature Capacitor [Psionic] Prerequisites: Psionic TalentBenefit: You can store additional power points in your own body, treating yourself in some ways as a cognizance crystal. Unlike a standard cognizance crystal, you can store a number of power points equal to your effective manifester level. All other rules for using a cognizance crystal apply. For instance, an 11th-level psion can store up to 11 power points, while a 4th-level psion could store only 4.

Disarm Mind [Psionic] Prerequisites: Mental AdversaryBenefit: In addition to the benefit you gain upon winning a round of mindscape psionic combat, you also deplete a number of power points equal to your Charisma modifier (maximum 5 power points) from your opponent. Against a creature that freely manifests a power, you suppress one of its powers (chosen by the DM) for a day.

Dorje Blade [Psionic] Prerequisites: Use Psionic Device 4 ranksBenefit: You know to hold the length of the dorje within the palm so that a shardlike end extends from either side of your closed fist. As a result, you can use any dorje that has at least 1 remaining charge as a simple light weapon with the following weapon stats. Damage: 1d6, Critical: 19–20/×2, Range Increment: —, Type: Piercing.

Whenever you successfully confirm a critical on a foe in the course of regular combat, the dorje discharges, affecting your foe with the dorje’s effect. (Your foe attempts a saving throw against the dorje’s effect, as normal.) If the dorje produces an area-based effect, the edge of the effect begins in the square containing your foe and extends away from you. (In this case, other creatures in the area could be affected.) This uses up a charge of the dorje as normal. Normal: Without the proper training, a dorje deals negligible damage if used as a melee weapon.Special: When making an attack, you can choose to expend a charge as a swift action to treat the dorje as a +1 weapon, expend three charges to treat it as a +2 weapon, or five charges for a +3 weapon. A dorje without remaining charges cannot be used as a dorje blade.

Durable Construct [Psionic] Prerequisites: Boost ConstructBenefit: Astral constructs you manifest last 10 minutes. Normal: Astral constructs last a number of rounds equal to 1 round per manifester level.

Elemental Spike [Psionic] Prerequisites: Manifester level 3+Benefit: When you take this feat, you must make two choices:

• you must choose any one power you know that targets one creature and which is not a ray or touch power,
• and you must select a favored energy type (fire, cold, acid, electricity, or sonic).

When you maintain your psionic focus, the power you designate is psionically spiked with your chosen energy type and so deals +1d6 points of the appropriate type of damage in addition to its normal effect — if it takes effect. Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you take it, it applies to a new power you know.

Enduring Tattoo [Item Creation, Psionic] Prerequisites: Manifester level 5+, Scribe Tattoo, Craft (tattooing) (6 ranks)Benefit: As Scribe Tattoo, except that you can activate tattoos you create with this feat twice before the psionic circuit fades. Once initially activated, the tattoo fades before reinvigorating itself 24 hours later, which makes it available for one more use. An enduring tattoo takes up two psionic tattoo slots.

Favored Energy [Psionic] Prerequisites: Ability to manifest the energy missile powerBenefit: Choose one type of energy to become your favored energy: cold, electricity, fire, or sonic. Any time you manifest a power that deals damage of your favored energy type, the damage is +1 per die.

Heightened Dorje [Psionic] Prerequisites: Craft Dorje, Use Psionic Device 1 rankBenefit: To use this feat, you must expend your psionic focus. When you do so in conjunction with using a charge normally, you increase the dorje’s manifester level by 1.

For example, if you use a dorje of energy ray (built at manifester level 3rd) and increase it to manifester level 4th, you deal 4d6 points of energy damage instead of 3d6, and you make power penetration checks at level 4 instead of level 3. Special: This feat allows you to bypass the normal limit that says that the manifester level of a dorje cannot be more than five higher than the minimum manifester level to use the power it contains.

Infuse Dream [Item Creation, Psionic] Prerequisites: Manifester level 3+Benefit: You can create any psionic item whose prerequisites you meet.

If the item adds a bonus on a single attack roll, a saving throw, skill check, ability score, or Armor Class, the item you create adds an additional +1 bonus to that quality. This bonus is referred to as a Gift of the Shallows, and its bonus type is a “Shallows” bonus. This Shallows bonus is only active on the item while its wielder maintains a psionic focus.

Latent Psi: Firestarter [Psionic] Benefit: Another latent talent for psionics wakes, granting you the following psi-like ability:

Psi-Like Ability: 1/day — control flames or matter agitation. Manifester level 1st; save DC 11 + Charisma modifier + power level. Special: You can use one or the other of your latent psi-like abilities once per day — you can’t use both. Once you use one, you can’t use the other for the rest of the day.

Latent Psi: Hardy [Psionic] Benefit: Another latent talent for psionics wakes, granting you the following psi-like ability:

Psi-Like Ability: 1/day — thicken skin or vigor. Manifester level 1st; save DC 11 + Charisma modifier + power level. Special: You can use one or the other of your latent psi-like abilities once per day — you can’t use both. Once you use one, you can’t use the other for the rest of the day.

Latent Psi: Vicious Mind [Psionic] Benefit: Another latent talent for psionics wakes, granting you the following psi-like ability:

Psi-Like Ability: 1/day — demoralize or mind thrust. Manifester level 1st; save DC 11 + Charisma modifier + power level. Special: You can use one or the other of your latent psi-like abilities once per day — you can’t use both. Once you use one, you can’t use the other for the rest of the day.

Lucid Dreaming [Psionic] Benefit: When dreaming, you always retain clear knowledge of your own identity and the fact that you are dreaming. In game terms, this allows you to make use of all your psionic powers, power points, psionic items, and other equipment and abilities you possess at the moment you fell asleep, in whatever dream environment you find yourself inhabiting. However, creatures that are physically present in a dream can dismiss a dreamself from a dreamscape.

When you wake, you have depleted as many power points in the material world as those used in Dream; however, you find that you have not depleted any single-use items, item charges, ammunition, or other material possessions. Normal: There is only a 1 percent chance that a dreamer realizes that she is dreaming or knows the extent of her abilities within a dream (even if informed). In most cases the dreamer loses her identity and sense of self to the unfolding dream environment.Special: If you physically enter a dream environment, you gain a +1 bonus on all your Will saving throws for the duration.

Mental Adversary [Psionic] Benefit: You gain a +3 bonus on your mindscape psionic combat mode checks.

Mind Trap [Psionic] Prerequisites: Psychic BastionBenefit: Even if you lose a round of mindscape psionic combat and do not gain the benefit for the round, you deplete 1 power point from your opponent. Against a creature that freely manifests powers, you suppress one of its powers (chosen by the DM) for 4 rounds.

Overwhelm Buffer [Psionic] Prerequisites: Mental AdversaryBenefit: You can choose to treat one nonpsionic target as if psionic for purposes of generating a mindscape. The nonpsionic target does not fully enter the mindscape; instead it appears only as a half-formed avatar. The target’s conscious mind is not aware of this pseudo-avatar or the mindscape.

However, you can make an opposed psionic combat mode check against the pseudo-avatar normally. Your mode check roll is opposed by the pseudo-avatar’s Will saving throw. If the pseudo-avatar wins the mode check, there is no effect. If you win, apply the effect of the mode normally against the nonpsionic foe. Normal: Mindscape psionic combat cannot be used against nonpsionic minds.

Penetrating Power [Metapsionic] Benefit: When you expend your psionic focus, you add a +4 bonus on your power penetration checks. Using this feat increases the power point cost of the power by 2. The power’s cost cannot exceed your manifester level.

The bonus provided by this feat stacks with Power Penetration and Greater Power Penetration.

Permanent Focus [Psionic] Prerequisites: Narrow MindBenefit: When you take this feat, choose one psionic feat you already know that requires you to maintain your focus to utilize the feat’s benefits. Once you’ve made this choice, it cannot be changed.

From now on, you are treated as if you constantly retain your psionic focus for purposes of gaining the benefit of the chosen feat, even if you have actually expended your psionic focus to gain the benefit of some other feat that requires such an expenditure. Special: You may take this feat multiple times. Each time, it applies to a different psionic feat.

Permanent Tattoo [Item Creation, Psionic] Prerequisites: Manifester Level 7+, Scribe Tattoo, Enduring Tattoo, Craft (tattooing) 12 ranksBenefit: As Enduring Tattoo, except that you can activate tattoos you create with this feat once per day.Once activated, the psionic tattoo fades before reinvigorating itself 24 hours later.

A permanent tattoo takes up four psionic tattoo slots.

Persistent Power [Metapsionic] Prerequisites: Extend PowerBenefit: To use this feat, you must maintain a psionic focus, which allows you to manifest a persistent power. A persistent power has a duration of up to 24 hours, as long as you do not expend your psionic focus for some other reason. If you do expend your psionic focus, the persistent power immediately ends, even if the 24-hour duration has yet to elapse.

The persistent power must have a personal or a fixed range. This feat cannot affect powers of instantaneous duration, and it cannot affect a power whose effect is discharged.

For powers that require concentration to learn extra information (such as detect psionics), you still must concentrate. Concentration on such a power is a standard action that does not provoke an attack of opportunity.

Using this feat increases the power point cost of the power by 12. The power’s cost cannot exceed your manifester level.

The effect of this feat does not stack with the effect of the Extend Power feat.

Preconscious Power [Metapsionic] Prerequisites: Manifester level 5+, Subconscious PowerBenefit: The psionic complexus of your mind is aware, even when you are not. You can manifest a power on your action even if you are unconscious. As with Subconscious Power, you need not expend your psionic focus to use this power while unconscious.

Unlike with Subconscious Power, your Preconscious Power allows you to target foes even if you would not normally sense them. For example, if you are at –3 hit points and unconscious, you could use energy bolt against an enemy even as you lie sprawled out and apparently senseless.

You can’t use preconscious powers if in stasis, suspended animation, brain locked, or in similar straits.

Using this feat increases the power point cost of the power by 8. The power’s total cost cannot exceed your manifester level.

Primordial Surge [Psionic] Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +2Benefit: When you achieve a critical hit with your melee or ranged attack (within 30 feet), you mentally impart an image of your foe’s demise directly into its mind. Your foe, shaken by the vivid flash, suffers a –2 morale penalty on attack rolls, checks, and saving throws while the combat continues. This extraordinary effect cannot be negated or dispelled. Also, you can use this feat in conjunction with weaponlike powers.

Psychic Bastion [Psionic] Benefit: While you maintain your psionic focus, you gain ability depletion resistance 3 against any attack that depletes an ability score, including poison, ability drain, ability damage, or enhancement penalties to ability scores.

For instance, if some power, spell, effect, or poison deals you 4 points of temporary ability damage, you actually take just 1 point of temporary ability damage. The ability depletion resistance works on a per-attack basis.

Sequester Power [Psionic] Prerequisites: Psionic Talent, manifester level 3+Benefit: After each day’s period of rest and concentration required to recharge your power points, you can also choose to sequester one or more powers you know. When you sequester a power, you lose the use of it for the day. At the same time, you gain a bonus to your power point total for the day equal to the power point cost of the power(s) you sequestered. Sequestered powers automatically return at the beginning of the following day, at which time you can choose to sequester the same, different, or no powers.

You cannot choose to sequester a power if it is the only power of your discipline that you know for a given level.

You cannot choose to sequester so many powers that your new power point total would exceed your normal power point total by more than 50 percent.

Skill Finesse [Psionic] Prerequisites: Key ability score 13+Benefit: Choose one skill. With it, you can use your key ability score modifier instead of the ability modifier normally applicable for the skill. You gain no benefit in choosing a skill that is already modified by your key ability score. Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time you take this feat, it applies to a new skill.

Student of the Shallows [Psionic] Prerequisites: Craft (dream interpreting) 4 ranksBenefit: You have a +1 Shallows bonus that you can apply once per round to one activity that qualifies. You need not apply the Shallows bonus to the same activity each round, or at all.

You can apply the bonus only while you (or your Lucid Dreaming dreamself) are present in the Shallows.

The allowed activities are: attack roll, damage roll, saving throw, skill check, or ability check.

Subconscious Power [Metapsionic] Prerequisites: Unconditional PowerBenefit: The psionic complexus of your mind is aware, even when you are not. You can manifest a power on your action even if you are unconscious.

Unlike Unconditional Power, you need not expend your psionic focus to gain the effect while unconscious. You can manifest subconscious powers that either have you as a target or are personal powers only. For instance, if you are at –3 hit points and unconscious, you could use body adjustment as a subconscious power to cure yourself.

You can’t use Subconscious Power if in stasis, suspended animation, or if you are brain locked. You cannot subconsciously manifest powers adjusted by any other metapsionic feat or that are augmented, and you cannot subconsciously activate psionic items of any type.

Using this feat increases the power point cost of the power by 8. The power’s total cost cannot exceed your manifester level.

Suppress Avatar [Psionic] Benefit: When your avatar would otherwise appear in a mindscape, you can choose to delay its appearance when you take a move action to concentrate on suppression. You can suppress your avatar for a number of back-to-back rounds equal to your Dexterity modifier (minimum 1 round). Normal: When two or more psionic individuals knowingly encounter each other within a range of 60 feet, a plane of the mind (a mindscape) instantly and automatically springs into existence if at least one of them desires it.

Transcend Limits [Psionic] Prerequisites: Overchannel, Manifester Level 3+Benefit: This feat allows you to accelerate the schedule by which you increase your effective manifester level when using Overchannel, but you suffer more for this ability.

• While manifesting a power, you can increase your effective manifester level by one, but in so doing you take 1d8 points of damage.
• At 5th level, you can choose to increase your effective manifester level by two, but you take 5d8 points of damage.
• At 12th level, you can increase your effective manifester level by three, but you take 9d8 points of damage.
• At 17th level you can increase your effective manifester level by four, but you take 15d8 points of damage.

The effective increase in manifester level increases the number of power points you can expend on a single power manifestation, as well as increases all manifester level-dependent effects, such as range, duration, and overcoming power resistance. Normal: Your manifester level is equal to your total levels in classes that manifest powers. If using Overchannel normally, the increased manifester levels come at 8th and 15th level.

Visceral Surge [Psionic] Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +2, Primordial SurgeBenefit: When you expend your psionic focus, you mentally impart an image of your foe’s demise in a particularly bloody, visceral manner directly into its mind on your successful attack.

You must declare you are using a Visceral Surge attack before making the attack roll (a missed attack ruins the attempt). Your foe, cowed by the vivid flash, freezes in fear instead of acting on its next action. On your foe’s following rounds of action, it must make a Will saving throw (DC = 5 + the damage you initially dealt) each round or be cowed for that round, too. After a successful save, the foe is no longer cowed.

Cowering characters lose their Dexterity bonus to Armor Class (if any) and take no actions. You and your allies gain a +2 bonus on attacks against cowering characters.

You can use this feat in conjunction with weaponlike powers.

Wounding Cut [Psionic] Prerequisites: Base Attack Bonus +3Benefit: When you achieve a critical hit with your melee or ranged attack (within 30 feet) and while you maintain your psionic focus, your weapon resonates destructively with living flesh so that any damage inflicted bleeds for 1 point of Constitution damage in addition to the weapon’s normal damage.

Multiple Wounding Cuts result in cumulative Constitution damage.

You can use this feat along with weaponlike powers.

Wounding Resonance [Metapsionic] Prerequisites: Manifester level 3+Benefit: When you expend your psionic focus, powers you designate that have a single target and that normally deal damage as their primary effect are tuned to destructively resonate and linger in living flesh. Any damage inflicted by a wounding resonant power bleeds for 1 point of Constitution damage in addition to the normal damage if the power takes effect.

Multiple resonant wounds result in cumulative Constitution damage. This feat doesn’t work on powers that have been modified to deal damage (such as with cortically resonant powers).

Using this feat increases the power point cost of the power by 2. The power’s total cost cannot exceed your manifester level.

---

Back to Main Page → 3.5e Open Game Content → Hyperconscious