The Damn Psionics Week Already

While Cobrin'Seil holds its fair share of magic, it would by lying to say psionics is not known and around. If nothing else, the dread creatures of the underdeep have tapped the powers of the mind to best survive in the adverse situation. In the crystalline steppes of Nbyana, monstrous psionic relics of natural and supernatural selection roam. Across the deserts run Thri-Kreen packs, and beneath the wave the massive psionic powers of the Silent Ones lie, ready to be brought to bear.

These magic items and enhancements are available to magical arms and armour, and rules on the subject are further expounded in Chapter 8 of the Dungeon Master's Guide.

Armour

Most psionic armour and shields only have enhancement bonuses. Such items can also have the special abilities detailed here. Armour or a shield with a special ability must have at least a +1 enhancement bonus. Bear in mind that practically any magical power can be suitably emulated with psionics.

Amorphous: Amorphous armour is able to constantly shift appearance, to seem as though it isn't actually armour. Amorphous armour can be worn beneath clothes, with no penalty to comfort. This doesn't change the armour's armour check penalty or chance of arcane spell failure.

Manifester Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Metamorphosis; Market Price: +1 Bonus

Channelling: Channelling armour is designed to be worn by the discerning egoist. Channelling armour frequently features a prominent storage compartment or sheathe for a single weapon. When a weapon is placed in this compartment, the wearer of the armour's natural weapons (such as those granted by claw or bite powers) are considered to be enhanced as the weapon itself is.

Manifester Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Polymorph Self; Market Price: +4 Bonus

Disjunctive: Disjunctive armour is highly favoured by the psychic warriors of the North, who must face the disrupting and negating forces brought to bear by the denizens of Ghaz Cleft. When the wearer is targeted by a negate psionics power or dispel magic spell, if the wearer willingly pays 5 power points, the armour instead unravels the attempt. This must be done before dispel checks are made, but the wearer need not be aware of the attempt - the armour instantaneously informs the wearer in time for them to decide to expend the power points or not.

Manifester Level: 12th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Ablating; Market Price: +2 Bonus

Epidermal: Epidermal armour clings close to its wearer's skin. Epidermal armour can store up to three extra psychoactive skins. However, these skins are in the armour, and are unavailable when the armour isn't being worn.

Manifester Level: 6th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Lesser Body Adjustment; Market Price: +1 Bonus

Fluency: Armour of fluency gently guides its wearer through rudimentary movements. Anyone wearing armour of Fluency is considered proficient with it.

Manifester Level: 6th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Object Reading; Market Price: +1 Bonus

Vigilance: Armour of Vigilance is typically used and worn by warriors who specialise in night operations. Anyone wearing Armour of Vigilance is constantly affected as if by the vigilance power.

Manifester Level: 6th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Vigilance; Market Price: +3 Bonus

Specific Shields and Armour

The following specific armours are usually preconstructed with exactly the qualities described here, as well as a few extra bits and pieces.

The Amethyst Defense: This +1 Light Reinforcement Large Crystal Shield was designed by the psionic artisan Starfall. After having fallen prey to medusae's poisons, Starfall felt amethyst, with its mystical properties for protection from poison, was a suitable building material. In the process of creating the shield, she imbued in it the capacity to store a smattering of power points. As well as functioning as a shield, the Amethyst Defense also grants a +2 resistance bonus to saving throws against poison, and can store up to 3 power points, as a crystal capacitor.

Manifester Level: 11th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Iron Body. Market Price: 10,250 gp; Weight: 6 lb.

Clix's Legacy: During the incident known to Rokuni history as the Great Shame of Shiba, the Thri-Kreen Clix was renowned as a unique and alien visitor to the Rokuni lands. The psychic warrior had to face the tragic fact that his family had been slain and made into armour for the great villain Ichiro Shiba's personal guards. However, the Thri-Kreen was not without his own armour.

Clix's Legacy is a psionic suit of +2 charging studded leather that can accommodate a wearer with up to four arms. It can resize to accommodate a wearer of small to large size. When worn, this suit of studded leather telepathically requests of the wearer as to who its pack leader is. If the wearer is unable to provide a satisfactory response, the armour refuses to function as anything other than +1 studded leather armour for the wearer until it is provided with an answer. Furthermore, it can discern truth or lies regarding this subject without any chance of failure. Once it is supplied with the name and identity of the wearer's pack leader, however, it then establishes a mental rapport for the wearer, who can then, once a round, as a free-action, send a telepathic message of up to ten words to the Pack Leader. Typically, this is a request for permission to attack, and the Pack Leader is free to respond with a response of up to ten words, as a free action.

This is not the limits of the armour, however, as Clix merely imbued this capacity for simple conversation to ensure he could keep from acting outside his pack leader's wishes. Once the rapport power has been activated, the other powers of the armour are unlocked.

First, the armour raises the saving throw DC against any natural poison attacks of the wearer by +4 points, and grants a +1 resistance bonus to saving throws. Furthermore, the armour constantly manifests the talent talons, granting a +1 bonus to damage with natural weapons.

When worn by a character with the Leadership feat, Clix's Legacy grants the same rapport power with the character's Cohort, and grants an extra +5 to diplomacy checks.

Manifester Level: 12th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Talons, Missive, Valor, Emotion. Market Price: 23,900; Weight: 20 lb.

Disjoiner: The warriors of Nbyana do not wear armour, typically. Usually clad in nothing but loincloths, bearing up longspears, and running into battle with the power of their mind defending them, it is easily enough seen why psionic armour does not regularly emerge from the nation's borders. However, the Disjoiner is a rare exception.

Constructed of the preternaturally hardy iron-like skin of a Ceresaur, the psionically capable dinosaurs of Nbyana's savannahs, Disjoiner is best likened to Full Plate armour, having the same physical statistics. It was crafted and worn by a cunning Egoist, who preferred to take his fight to his opponents. Ultimately, however, he fell, underestimating the value of his opponent's superior manoeuverability and foot speed outside of such a large and cumbersome armour as his was.

The Disjoiner is effectively a suit of +4 Full Plate Mail. It inflicts no armour check penalty. Furthermore, if the wearer is ever the subject of a Negate Psionics power or Dispel Magic spell, they may spend 5 power points to psionically counter it, like a wizard's counterspelling. If this counterspelling is successful, the Negate Psionics power or Dispel Magic spell is reflected back to target its caster.

Manifester Level: 8th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Negate Psionics. Market Price: 64,650; Weight: 50 lb.

Firth's Animate Discord: This +2 Animated Large Wooden Shield was created by the shaper Firth U Hrair, for his ally and leader Meylar Bleakwinter. This shield is useless as an actual shield, as it lacks the substance a shield requires to adequately deflect blows. However, if loosed, as a standard action, the shield dances around its owner, protecting them from both ranged attacks and melee attacks. Ranged attacks are deflected particularly effectively, granting a further +4 to the wearer's AC. Furthermore, the shield itself appears a shadowy and insubstantial mass.

Caster Level: 12th. Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Shield of Prudence. Market Price: 15,400 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

Kazeken's Whisper: This suit of studded leather armour was constructed by the Telepath Teto for the love of his life, the ranger Kazeken. With her natural affinity for the element of the wind, Kazeken was a stealthy tracker and hunter. Teto felt a need to expand on this affinity and promote her abilities with a bit of a psionic punch, as well as be able to keep in more constant conversation with the Hengeyoukai.

When worn by a nonpsionic character, this suit of +2 Light Reinforcement Studded Leather armour allows a constant Lesser Mindlink affect with a single psionic target designated by the wearer upon donning the armour. Furthermore, the wearer is able to glide once per day, as the power manifested by a 3rd level psion.

Manifester Level: 11th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Glide, Lesser Mindlink. Market Price: 16,765 gp; Weight: 11 lb.

Miroku's Tessen: This seemingly simple +1 Tessen actually holds within it the seed of a long-dead psychic warrior, master of fighting with the war fan and spiked chain. In fact, a psionic character can reach into the long-dead memories and draw out strength that the first owner lends this weapon.

When a psionic character of the appropriate level expends an appropriate quantity of XP, as per the table, they can draw out a greater enhancement bonus from the weapon's long-atrophied memory. Whenever a new power is awakened, the former powers remain. If the weapon changes hands, it immediately reverts to being a +1 Tessen until restored to the hands of the owner who spent the XP.

Manifester Level: 20th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Greater Emulation. Market Price: 1,200 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

Outlayer: Favoured by psychic warriors prone to expending their power points in furious bursts of activity, Outlayer originated in the hands of the industrious Felbraug. Ironically, it was a healer who created this weapon of war, who required the large quantity of power points to perform acts of healing and to better care for the sick on the battlefield.

Outlayer is a +1 Crystalline Mithral Chain Shirt that has the added benefit of storing within it 12 individual power points. Each individual power point is subject to the bottleneck effect as stated in Chapter 4: Psionics of the Psionics Handbook (page 38), and can only be used for Psychometabolism powers. Manifesting a power with these power points is a full-round action.

Manifester Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Encode Stone, Lesser Body Adjustment, Empathic Transfer. Market Price: 34,050 gp; Weight: 15 lb.

Parias' Chain: This fine suit of Chainmail was designed by the somewhat clumsy Elven shaper Parias. After many a battle during which Parias spent much of his time running from ranged attackers, or worse still, melee attackers, he grew tired of exposing himself to the world and resolved to set a layer of mithral between himself and the world around him. His first few experiments were somewhat haphazard and one even ran away (and to this day, its location is a mystery). However, he eventually came upon success, and so, Parias' chain was crafted. As well as being easy to wear by any, the armour holds a secret or two.

Parias' Chain is a suit of +2 Fluent Mithral Chainmail. Dotted around the armour at various points are small crystals. Little have many wearers of the armour known, as these crystals are not crystal capacitors as they are often first thought. No, these crystals are in fact self-restoring power stones. There are six such stones in the armour; one on each shoulder, one on the back of each hand, and two set vertically over the breastbone. These stones allow the wearer of Parias' Chain to freely manifest, once a day, Burst, Catfall, Combat Precognition, Conceal Thoughts, Psycholuminesence, and Steadfast Gaze. Each of these powers is manifested as a 1st-level psion.

Manifester Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Encode Stone, Object Reading, Burst, Catfall, Combat Precognition, Conceal Thoughts, Psycholuminesence, Steadfast Gaze. Market Price: 19,300 gp; Weight: 15 lb.

Universal Items

This is a catch-all category for anything that doesn't fall into the other groups. Anyone can use a universal item (unless specified otherwise in the description).

Ceresaur Horn: These horns, usually worn on the end of leather thongs around the neck are made from the horns of Ceresaurs, creatures native to Nbyana. Cersaur horns hold with them the fury of Ceresaurs, and their primal capacity for healing. The wearer of a Ceresaur Horn can hear, if they are psionically capable, the screams of the last battle of the creature's life, by holding the horn to their ear, and, if they are willing to consume food as Ceresaurs do, can heal at a similar rate.

If the wearer of a Ceresaur Horn makes a successful bite attack to a creature that deals real damage, the horn activates, granting its wearer Fast Healing 2 for twelve rounds. Another successful bite attack activates the horn again.

Manifester Level: 4th; Prerequisites: Craft Psionic Arms and Armour, Claws of the Vampire. Market Price: 12,000 gp; Weight: 1 lb.

The Parliament of Sardior: These figurines, carved of solid gemstone, are all rendered to resemble the gem dragons that correspond to their types. If the wearer looses them around their head, as an Ioun Stone, the figurines animate, and begin to fly and wheel around their owner as if alive, but tiny, examples of their species. They do not necessarily fly in a simple circle, occasionally arcing around to land on their owner's shoulders to devour some prey they have caught (usually flies and bugs). Each Dragon grants its owner a different power, based on its type.

Sapphire: The Sapphire dragon of the Parliament of Sardior grants its wearer a +2 enhancement bonus to rolls made to set the DC for Psychoportation powers, and increases the manifester level of all Psychoportation powers manifested by +2. Further, the Sapphire Dragon increases its wearer's base speed by 5.

Emerald: The Emerald dragon of the Parliament of Sardior grants its wearer a +2 enhancement bonus to rolls made to set the DC for Clairesentience powers, and increases the manifester level of all Clairsentience powers manifested by +2. Further, the Emerald Dragon grants its wearer a +5 insight bonus to Spot and Listen checks.

Amythest: The Amythest dragon of the Parliament of Sardior grants its wearer a +2 enhancement bonus to rolls made to set the DC for Psychokinesis powers, and increases the manifester level of all Psychokinesis powers manifested by +2. Further, the Amythest Dragon grants its wearer the ability to manifest Detect Psionics at will.

Crystal: The Crystal dragon of the Parliament of Sardior grants its wearer a +2 enhancement bonus to rolls made to set the DC for Telepathy powers, and increases the manifester level of all Telepathy powers manifested by +2. Further, the Crystal Dragon grants its wearer a +1 enhancement bonus to all damage rolls made for damage-dealing telepathy powers.

Topaz: The Topaz dragon of the Parliament of Sardior grants its wearer a +2 enhancement bonus to rolls made to set the DC for Psychometabolism powers, and increases the manifester level of all Psychometabolism powers manifested by +2. Further, the Topaz Dragon grants its wearer a constant Talons effect, as the power.

Manifester Level: 17th. Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, 10 ranks in Craft (Gemcutting), crafter must be capable of manifesting 5th-level powers. Market Price: 23,500 gp each. Weight: 2 lb. each.

Psychoactive Skins: As the skins in the Psionics Handbook, the following Psychoactive Skins are available in Cobrin'Seil.

Bloodchurn: This skin grants the wearer the ability to channel the vicious poisons of natural creatures. It is unknown who first made this psychoactive skin, as psions typically are not overly enamoured with clerical or druidic trappings.

The wearer of Bloodchurn is granted a touch attack that confers a dangerous contact poison. The DC for the saving throw is 10 + 1/2 the wearer's hit dice + the wearer's constitution modifier. The intial and secondary damage is the same - 1d6 constitution damage. The skin also grants the wearer the ability to take a -4 penalty to their charisma in exchange for a +4 competence bonus to constitution, but this has to drain a quantity of the wearer's blood to do so, dealing 1d6 points of damage.

Manifester Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, Animal Affinity. Market Price: 23,200 gp; Weight: - .

Bonehead Ward: This skin was first given to Kyngdom explorers working on comission from the great University of Soloria. They received these skins from the natives of Nybana after the explorers earned the natives' trust by fighting alongside their people in a war against the Leopardmen of the Dread Jungles.

Bonehead Wards appear at first to be a sort of woven cloth shawl. However, once its wearer wraps it around their neck, the shawl presses close to its wearer's skin, and a psychoactive skin flows out and completely covers the wearer's body. When the wearer wishes for it to be removed, of course, the skin draws back into the shawl, which can then be removed.

Bonehead Wards are actually a bit of a pain to a nonpsionic character, and completely useless to a psionic character. Bonehead Wards remove, while they are worn, the wearer's Nonpsionic Buffer, and allow them to manifest a first level power, a second level power, and a third level power (all chosen by the designer of the Ward) as a power-trigger. However, since such a wearer lacks Power Points, the Ward instead uses its wearer's Hit Points. The powers are manifested at the lowest possible manifester level for the power in question.

Manifester Level: 14th; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, Emulate Power. Market Price: 31,000 gp; Weight: - .

Demonrender: This skin appears at first to be a slick, black, fluid. Indeed, when applied, it more flows onto its wearer than it is put on. Demonrender was originally donned by the half-fiend psychic warrior, Jyrdan Ulvan, master of the Spiked Chain, and it granted him the following advantages.

Demonrender grants its wearer a +10 competence bonus to Intimidate, Bluff, and Sense Motive checks when dealing with good creatures. Demonrender also allows its wearer to Spider Climb at will, as the spell, and confers a +2 enhancement bonus to strength and constitution and a -2 enhancement penalty to Intelligence and Wisdom.

The wearer of Demonrender can hide, even if being observed, provided they are within 10 feet of some kind of shadow.

Manifester Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, crafter must have the Up The Walls feat, Amplified Invisibility, Conceal Thoughts, Distract, Animal Affinity. Market Price: 28,800 gp; Weight: - .

Fellwear: Jyrdan Ulvan didn't just wear Demonrender. Sometimes, he needed to be truly fearsome, and it was when this was called upon that he wore Fellwear.

Fellwear appears as a fairly normal psychoactive skin when not being worn. However, once donned, the wearer takes upon a truly hideous guise. The wearer's body sprouts a pair of twenty-foot-wingspan corroded and skeletal bat wings, which drip foul ichor. The wearer sprouts a pair of extra arms, over their normal ones, and all of their hands come to sport wicked, gleaming claws. The wearer's stance takes on a hunch, and they gain a long, thick, tail, akin to a dragon's or an alligator's. The wearer may make four claw attacks dealing 1d6 damage. Their strange new body grants a +10 circumstance bonus to intimidate checks, and they have a fly speed equal to their base speed, with average maneuverability. The tail also grants a +4 to balance checks.

Fellwear also grants its wearer a +6 enhancement bonus to strength, dexterity, and constitution, but a -4 enhancement penalty to intelligence, wisdom, and charisma.

Manifester Level: 3rd; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, Animal Affinity, Polymorph Self, Claws of the Bear. Market Price: 153,600 gp; Weight: - .

Ironheart: This skin completely covers its wearer's body and is as hard as iron. As well as conferring a +1 natural armour bonus, this armour renders its wearer completely immune to critical hits.

Manifester Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, Iron Body. Market Price: 39,000 gp; Weight: - .

Stowaway Skin: This skin is a fine, almost oily patina that covers the wearer, making their skin appear greasy and their hair overly shiny. Unlike other skins, it also conceals skins beneath it - instead, it mimics its wearer's skin perfectly.

Stowaway skin allows its wearer to store away up to 17 power points, as a crystal capacitor. Furthermore, as a simple byproduct of its oiliness, it grants a +5 circumstance bonus to Escape Artist checks.

Manifester Level: 17th; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, Grease, Genesis. Market Price: 41,500 gp; Weight: - .

Skin Of Precision: This Psychoactive skin was actually designed by one of Meylar Bleakwinter's allies, a Shaper whose name is blurred by history. Most sources attribute the skin to a person named 'Fliff Uhir' or possibly 'Firth Yourei'. Regardless, the skin was crafted for Honey, Cayden Willowby's lover. When the wearer of the Skin of Precision makes a sneak attack against an evil outsider, the number of bonus damage dice they receive is doubled.

Manifester Level: 18th; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, Hypercognition, Recall Agony, True Seeing. Market Price: 24,500 gp; Weight: - .

Skin Of Thunder: This Psychoactive skin seems to have small clouds of psionic vapour that drift from the surface of the wearer's body. The more power points the character wearing them has, the more significant these clouds are. This is no real yardstick of the character in question's power, though, as the clouds don't diminish past a certain point, and don't increase past a certain point.

The Skin of Thunder charges the wearer with electricity and allows them to deliver 1d6 electricity damage with a touch attack, which in turn continues to deal 1 point of electricity damage until the character receives magical healing or a heal check (DC 13). Furthermore, if the wearer expends 3 power points, he can whip the clouds on his body into a boiling frenzy, generating an obscuring mist, as the spell (but psionic in nature).

Manifester Level: 9th; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, Biocurrent, Control Air. Market Price: 20,000 gp; Weight: - .

Soulburner: This Psychoactive skin was actually first found being used in a city of Yuan-Ti, in the pits of a torture chamber. When worn, it constantly affects the wearer as if by a painful touch power.

Manifester Level: 4th; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, Painful Touch. Market Price: 12,000 gp; Weight: - .

Pinkcrystal Pills: Composed of ground Ialdonite that is allowed to set in a gum composed of (of all things) Illithid blood, Pinkcrystal Pills really aren't something your typical psion is willing to play with. However, to some, the pills are more than worth their somewhat revolting taste.

Consuming a Pinkcrystal pill requires its consumer immediately make a fortitude save (DC 23) or be nauseated for a round. However, it also grants whoever consumes it 17 temporary power points that last for up to two rounds. However, these power points suffer from the same bottleneck effect as those from Crystal Capacitors; the power points are strictly external to the psion who consumes them's own power point total.

Perhaps the most revolting thing about Pinkcrystal Pills is that they pass completely unscathed and fully charged the next day, ready for re-use. Some have theorised that this is why they're so damn awful to take in the first place.

Manifester Level: 17th; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, Recall Pain. Market Price: 56,700 gp; Weight: - .

Unbinding Circuit: Few characters are willing to go through the incredible sacrifice that this full-body psionic tattoo requires, and only those of an awakened mind can truly benefit from the powers it grants. For a start, the circuit relies heavily on chakral points, and requires a free flow of energies around the wearer's hands, feet, and throat. Any item worn on the feet or hands or around the neck has its power invariable snuffed out until removed. However, the rewards the circuit grant, some say, are worth the sacrifice.

The Unbinding Circuit is an enormous full-body tattoo that involves pouring a mixutre of molten Ialdonite and Adamantium into important channels on the tattoo's design. This entire process is incredibly painful, and deals no less than 20d4 damage to the subject in question and 30d8 subdual damage, in a process that takes a full twenty-four hours even after the inks, compounds, and psionically charged materials that compose the tattoo have been properly prepared.

Once indelibly forged onto its owner, however, the Unbinding Circuit is a powerful force for unravelling psionic powers and absorbing the power so contained. If the wearer of the circuit readies an action (as with counterspelling), they may absorb any psionic power of any level into their body, gaining temporary power points equal to the power absorbed's power point cost -2. This power can only absorb 95 power points a day, and the power points so absorbed can only be used for metapsionics, as they are themselves manipulated power. The circuit can only hold 17 power points of this total for any length of time - two minutes after being absorbed, any unused power points over this number simply dissipate.

Furthermore, the circuit grants its wearer a constant insight into the power of psionics, granting them a constant detect psionics power.

Manifester Level: 18th; Prerequisites: Craft Universal Item, Negate Psionics, Psychic Vampire. Market Price: 99,350 gp; Weight: 1 lb.