#The Psionic; PSI

[starryskiesahead]

also i finished all of the disastrous life of saiki k. and

aaaaaaaaaaaa-

i loved it sm

kusuo saiki ultimate magical boy

[mostlymobilegames]

Alexander knows what he's doing when he writes friendships

[somin-yin]

Psi is genius OMG

[stevemakesart]

SBN-003: PSI MAN

I mostly wanted to try and make a robot with an unusual amount of eyes. The first draft had just one eye, but I couldn't figure out how to make it look good so I went with three eyes instead.

Part of what makes this project fun is trying to make concepts that feel like they could work in the Mega Man universe. Mega Man 5 already established that there is a gravity research lab, so surely there’s experimental research in there. Psi Man isn’t really psychic, he’s just using gravity manipulation. The researchers thought it would be cheeky to make him look psychic themed.

I realized that the helmet doesn't really make any sense if you look at it for too long, but I'm really proud of how the hands turned out on this one.

[psi0nics]

Might as well post some art to kick things off Here’s Sawara Huyin! My psionic fighter!

[nebulaeyedfish]

I think he smells like vanilla & sea salt tbh

[wanderlust-psifang]

Prismatic Feeding

Using the prism is one of my favorite ways to conceptualize psi feeding. If you equate lifeforce with light then you are essentially allowing the electromagnetic force of the target to enter your body. Whether you do it with a tendril or with pore breathing is irrelevant.

As you can see from the picture below, a single source of light enters the prism, once in the prism the light is refracted and reflects in a rainbow of colors. Imagine for a moment that stream of light is lifeforce, the refraction (bending of the light) is the lifeforce feeding you, and the reflected light is the lifeforce filling your aura.

You can also utilize this concept as a way to understanding magical projection through feeding. You absorb the lifeforce per usual, but instead of the reflected light being absorbed into your aura you direct it towards a goal or into a charm, amulet, or talisman.* When the stream of light is being refracted it is the melding of lifeforce with the statement of intent, and upon reflection it is colored with magic.

Another thought experiment is to reverse the prismatic effect, namely pulling in the reflected light to refract it back into a single stream. This of course is not how an actual prism works, but for purposes of conceptual play it can be useful and fun. This can be a way to understand healing and using personal power.

Where the refracted light is now being pulled in rather then reflected out, it pulls from your aura and, refracted to a single point, the energy is thus directed at a target for healing. Psi, essentially, is the bending of light and sound through a focused mind.

Source: Pinterest, Fixthephoto

* "...a charm is worn to attract good luck; an amulet provides protection from danger; and a talisman is used to attract a particular benefit to its owner.", Llewellyn online article, Richard Webster

[brownbears-are-cool]

Say hello to my current dnd character! His name is Faeris, and he is a wood elven psi warrior fighter 👀.

He's a 5'4" brickhouse from an isolationist commune in the jungle who has recently been exiled for ~reasons~ and is now exploring the vast world outside of his home. He's still in the stage of taking everything in right now, the world is so different from his home but it's also different than what he imagined based on the stories he heard growing up. Plus he has this new psionic power that he knows originates somewhere out in the world and he's been tasked with finding its origin and determining if it's truly dangerous before he can consider himself "cleansed" and return to his people. He has made some friends though and is currently exploring the world and helping them with their quests while gathering information related to his own goals!

We're only level 4 but I've been having alot of fun with this campaign. My friend is dm'ing for the first time and he's been doing a fantastic job I think. I've really enjoyed leaning into the psychic, telekinetic abilities of the class and my dm has provided lots of opportunities to expand on that power.

I'll post his stats below but I was allowed to take the Telepathic feat at lvl 1, and then I took the Telekinetic feat at lvl 4! I think I'm gonna grab polearm master and sentinel next and do the spear + shield combo 🤔.

Stay tuned and I might post about him and the campaign more! Maybe I'll update with a post about the rest of the party??

[thisisnotthenerd]

ok so i clarified otohan's build for myself

she's a 20th level psi warrior fighter base, and the backpack lets her use echo knight abilities. this all tracks--4 attacks, 2 action surges, 12 psionic power dice (+1 if regained on a bonus action) at a d12, and the ability to manifest two echoes at once. i'm going to guess that she uses two-weapon fighting based on the damage rolls from her offhand weapon. plus 3 legendary actions that she could use to attack with either weapon, dash, psi-powered leap (80 ft), telekinetic control (2 actions, move target 30 ft in a direction of her choice), and 3 legendary resistances.

if they hadn't immediately dealt with the backpack she could have been flashing all over the battlefield, 10 attacks each in the turns that she used action surge, 6 otherwise, split across multiple opponents or targeted to one. given her place in initiative, this could have been a full massacre before she went exaltant if she had hit the casters and healers first, instead of chetney. she had the movement for it.

speaking of that: she regained both action surges and presumably all of her psi power dice, gained resistance to all damage, and a +3 bonus to AC. I'm guessing the state was triggered by a damage threshold. i'm willing to bet that if she didn't have the health potion they might have gotten her down within the round, assuming the threshold is 1/4 of the total or something like that, and the 66 she got back brought her back over half.

on the other hand, even given the multiple deaths and 1 permadeath, bell's hells really worked hard on this one. ashton and fearne using the shards and doing big damage. fcg keeping the party up with 2 mass cure wounds and a revivify. laudna debuffing with bane and getting damage in with the eldritch blasts. imogen getting the backpack off. orym using bait and switch to defend imogen and overall being a tiny tank. chet dying, coming back, and still going around to get imogen up. so many crits. fcg's hail mary.

they got her now, so there's no more shadow assassinations, and they won't be splitting attention when they come back to kill ludinus.

good riddance.

[romanceclubofficial]

Tears glistened on Lou's eyelashes.

Lou: We can't go on, Ivo. Every time we meet… Lou: I'm a fourth-stage psionic. You're the Prior. We're not just from different worlds. We're from different galaxies. Lou: You're rich, you have received an excellent education, and have good manners. You visit art exhibitions and play classical music. What could I possibly give you?

He answered without a moment of hesitation.

Ivo: Freedom. You give me honesty. The truth. Even when you make mistakes, you make them with all your heart.

The Prior hugged her, holding her close and breathing into her hair.

Ivo: You give me faith. In people. Ivo: I hope you don't hate me. I don't want to lose you, Lou Reed.

In the warmth of their embrace, they despised the chasm that separated them… An impossible romance between the head of the Inquisition and a psionic. The man's voice was calm and firm, as always, but Lou knew how much was truly hidden behind it.

Ivo: Different galaxies? Fine. We'll make the universe bigger.

Want to read more? Download Romance Club and play Ψ (Psi).

[jkcorellia]

I think I've settled on how I'd revamp the 5e monk for players at my table (yes I've seen the 1D&D changes, no I'm not impressed)

- let players choose either d10 hit die OR Martial Arts die revamp (culminating in d12 instead of d10)

- Patient Defense costs bonus action but not ki point

- Step of the Wind costs bonus action OR ki point

- Ki points = level + WIS mod

- Higher level smite-like ability (level 11?) - or more properly, akin to Psi Warrior's Psionic Strike: once per turn on a hit, spend ki point to roll one more martial arts die for damage

None of these are game-breaking powerful, just a collection of quality of life changes that I, a monk player and monk lover, think would make the experience more consistently fun

[theoutcastrogue]

The New D&D 5.5 Rogue

For people who got an advance copy of the 2024 PHB, the NDA was lifted on August 1st. This is a summary from RPG Bot's 2024 DnD 5e Transition Guide and Change Log: Everything That’s Different in the new Player’s Handbook. See also here for more commentary on previously released details. I would like to note that:

The new Weapon Mastery rules (from the playtests) give martials lovely options they didn't have before.

There are some iffy flat DCs all over the book: the actions Hide (stealth), Influence (social skills), and Thieves' Tools (to disarm traps and pick locks) are all a flat DC 15. So this is either a completely stupid change (not all locks or all Persuasion checks were made equal!), OR the DMG will include rules and guidelines to adjust these DCs for different conditions.

Which (if that's the case) would mean that now Players and DMs know different rules about fundamental aspects of the game. I hate this, I hate that skills are now even less well-defined in the PHB, and I will rant more about this at a later time.

But anyway, here's RPGBot's summary:

Rogue

1. Expertise. No longer allows you to select Thieves’ Tools.

1. Thieves’ Cant. Also grants you an extra language proficiency.

1. Weapon Mastery. New.

3. Steady Aim. Identical to the Optional Class Feature.

5. Cunning Strike. Allows you to reduce your Sneak Attack damage in exchange for powerful rider effects like knocking the target prone or applying the Poisoned condition.

7. Reliable Talent. Moved from 11th level.

11. Improved Cunning Strike. New. Use up to 2 Cunning Strike effects on the same attack.

14. Blindsense. Gone.

14. Devious Strikes. New. Adds more Cunning Strike options.

15. Slippery Mind. Now adds proficiency in both Wisdom and Charisma saves instead of just Wisdom.

20. Stroke of Luck. Turn any d20 test into a 20. This means at least one guaranteed critical hit between each rest.

Arcane Trickster

3. Spellcasting. Now allows you to retrain a cantrip when you gain a level.

3. Mage Hand Legerdemain. Most of the 2014 feature’s capabilities were added to Mage Hand, with the exception of the ability to use Sleight of Hand and Thieves’ Tools. Now you can use Mage Hand for Sleight of Hand.

9. Magical Ambush. Now requires you to have the Invisible condition, which at a glance sounds like a huge problem, but the 2024 Hide action gives you the Invisible condition if you successfully hide.

13. Versatile Trickster. Now allows you to trip a target with your Mage Hand, but only when you use the Trip option from Cunning Strike.

Assassin

Much more reliable and less focus on disguises and infiltration. Much more stabby.

3. Assassinate. Reworked completely. Now much easier to use and much more consistently effective, but there’s no automatic critical hits.

3. Assassin’s Tools. Renamed from “Bonus Proficiencies”. Now also gives you one of each kit for free.

9. Infiltration Expertise. Reworked completely. No more false identity. Now you can perfectly mimic speech and handwriting, and Steady Aim doesn’t reduce your speed to 0.

13. Imposter. Gone.

13. Envenom Weapons. Extra poison damage when you use the Poison option of Cunning Strike. The damage applies whenever the target fails the save, which includes the additional saves at the end of each of their turns.

Soulknife

Very few changes.

3. Psionic Power. Like the Psi Warrior, the Soulknife’s Psionic Power feature now explicitly states that these dice are only for Soulknife features, the progression is tied to your Rogue level rather than your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain one die on a Short Rest.

3. Psychic Blades. The blades have the Vex Weapon Mastery, and can now be used for Opportunity Attacks.

Thief

3. Fast Hands.

Sleight of Hand. The wording here is a mess, but the Thief Rogue and only the Thief Rogue can use Sleight of Hand in conjunction with Thieves’ Tools to pick locks and disarm traps.

Now allows you to use magic items which normally take an Action to activate due to the new “Utilize” action. Existing item use case remain awesome.

3. Second-Story Work. Now much simpler, but functionally similar. A Climb speed and you use Dexterity for Athletics checks to jump.

9. Supreme Sneak. Reworked completely. Now a Cunning Strike option that allows you to attack without giving away your position.

13. Use Magic Device. Reworked completely. You no longer ignore restrictions on items, such as class requirements. Instead, you get an extra attunement slot, you have a chance to not spend charges when using a magic item, and you can use spell scrolls.

Picking Locks, Disarming Traps, Thieves' Tools, Sleight of Hand

Take a deep breath, because this one is confusing.

In the 2014 rules, you used proficiency in Thieves' Tools to disarm traps and pick locks. Sleight of Hand was used almost exclusively for picking pockets. Baldur's Gate 3 changed that when adapting the 5e rules for a video game.

In the 2024 rules, there is some confusion. Page 221 of the Player's Handbook details tools and their uses. Thieves' Tools list "Pick a Lock' and "Disarm a Trap" as two uses for the tool, which means that you apply proficiency with Thieves' Tools when performing those actions. This is the same as the 2014 rules.

The confusion sneaks in with the Thief Rogue's Fast Hands feature's Sleight of Hand option.

"Make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check to pick a lock or disarm a trap with Thieves' Tools or to pick a pocket"

The lack of commas or formatting makes this text somewhat confusing. If it was intended to be three bullets, there would be commas. "Pick a lock comma disarm a trap with Thieves' Tools comma or pick a pocket". Instead, we can split your options with Fast Hands (Sleight of Hand) into two bullet points to clarify it:

Make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check to pick a lock or disarm a trap with Thieves' Tools

Pick a pocket

This means that the Thief Rogue and only the Thief Rogue can use Sleight of Hand to pick locks and disarm traps while using Thieve's Tools. In fact, to do this as a Bonus Action, they're required to use Sleight of Hand. As per the rules for tools on Page 220 of the Player's Handbook, if you're also proficient with Thieves' Tools, you get Advantage on this check. All fantastic for the Thief Rogue and their ability to pick locks and disarm traps, especially since you can no longer get Expertise with tools, but you can get Expertise with Sleight of Hand.

If you are not a Thief Rogue, nothing has changed. Thieves' Tools are used for picking locks and disarming traps.

[source]

[mongen]

Hive fleet Panoptes consumes all who enter the jungle!

Cut off from the primary hivemind by unseen psionic blockers, a cluster of genestealers found themselves marooned on a massive jungle world. To survive among the hostile megafauna, they adapted camouflage. To thrive they integrated their genes with the local sapient reptilian life forms. To conquer, they could not call their fleet, but instead grew their own from the biomass of the planet.

Now Hivefleet Panoptes has set its many eyes on the skies. They must escape this psi-blocking atmosphere and rejoin the greater swarm.

-

This display terrain was a mess to build. The foliage is now all over my apartment, and the little rippers were a real challenge for my printer. It was still fun, but I probably wouldn’t use these same techniques and materials in future projects.

Basing these bugs was also really cathartic. The rough jungle terrain gave me a lot of opportunities to get creative with the basing bits and diorama dirt. The resin swamp goo, saliva, and brain slime were frustrating when I just had a pen UV light, but getting a wall-plug light made it almost trivial and let me experiment more with mix-ins.

Overall I’m really happy with how this display turned out, and if I ever learn how to actually play this game I’ll probably enter this in Armies on Parade.

[diamond-draws]

Phantom Theives & their personas Headcanons: Powers

When awakening the user gains some subtle abilities withing the real world. For example Joker's third eye. Most commonly the thieves can use their elemental skills a little in the real world. Ryuji can control electricity, Yusuke with ice, Makoto with nuclear power, ect.

Their personas can also communicate with them telepathically, they can talk to each other too but the user can only hear their respective persona. Each of the Phantom Thieves aside from their skills have unique abilities that cross to the real world.

Ren: As already mentioned he has his third eye ability which works as it would in the game, but he can also increase it's power to sense things (think of it as Spiderman's spider sense) prolonged use of it however can cause some serious fatigue. Arsene's curse skills also carry on into the real world, when activated at will Ren can break down anything he touches with just his finger tip. He also gains heightened agility with he gets better control over thanks to "Kasumi's" training. He can hear the voices of other personas he has equipped too, you'd expect that to get rather noisy within his head but Arsene & the others usually keep to themselves for the most part. Since ice skills are Arsene's weakness, Ren is sensitive to colder temperatures as a result. He gets really cozy at home during winter & fall.

Morgana: With Zorro Morgana can make gusts of wind and even utilize his healing skills in the real world, albeit they aren't as strong as in the metaverse but he can at least stop an open wound from bleeding. He can also jump higher and much farther than the average cat (as if he wasn't much of a regular cat to begin with XD)

Ryuji: Surprise, surprise Ryuji can generate electricity at his fingertips or even his whole body if he concentrated enough. It's usually static but he is capable of giving someone a real shock if he wanted to. He can also jump higher and endure physical hits more. His general speed is increased too but not by much due to his messed up leg.

Ann: Much like Morgana she can also do some minor healing. Ann can as expected make fire, sometimes when she mad her hair will ignite slightly but go out immediately as she calms down. She's also bothered more by the cold too but she at least has an easier time keeping warm than poor Ren. Ann has more flexibility than normal which amazes even her when she successfully lifts her leg over her head.

Yusuke: He's more tolerant to the cold, it's hotter days he suffers a little. Yusuke can create ice and frost at will, he uses this at home during summer. He also has better agility like Ren.

Makoto: She can harness nuclear force into her fists, metaverse nuclear is not as lethal as real world nuclear (doesn't even involve radiation) she doesn't quite use her ability in the real world as often as the others. Her power can sometimes affect electronic devices when she's in a bad mood (or scared), from causing tv screens to go static to bursting a few nearby lightbulbs. Faint blue markings on her face resembling her mask can appear on her face under uv light, as well as glowing streaks in her hair. Her physical strength is also increased resulting in stronger than usual punches in the real world.

Futaba: She unfortunately doesn't have too much going on, being a navi and all but she can sense some things in the real world, much like Ren's third eye but a little weaker.

Haru: She also has an increase in muscle, moving bags of fertilizer has never been more efficient. As for her psi abilities in the real world that one is tricky to describe, suffice to say she can easily get a better idea as to how some of her friends might be feeling. She is likely to also generate small psionic blasts too.

Akechi: Akechi can also utilize curse in the real world too like Ren, through thanks to Robin Hood he can also utilize bless as well which in the real world is basically just lighting up a dark space with the palm of his hands. His signature Call of Chaos skill can be used irl too but he's not allowed to do so for OBVIOUS reasons.

Sumire: She can also create light in her hands, she can also do minor healing as well in contrast to the savage everyday Akechi. XD

[turtblurts-pkmnirl-hub]

// i walk into your askbox with a mustache on

hello person ive never talked to before, what about the redux psychic lore are you willing/able to reveal at this time and how is it different from the pre-redux psychic lore

hello person ive never talked to before!

well definitely one thing i can say for certain is that i am CLAWING AT THE WALLS trying to restrain myself from having my psychic characters interact with other psychic characters about openly psychic shit. like whenever someone has their character talk about their experiences with their psionics and/or asks about others’ experiences im like HURGHURGRHUGRHURGRH BE STRONG TURT BE STRONG

hopefully i can let them be out soon :)

but anyways! hmmmm what can i say about psychics that isnt spoilers….

oh well i definitely think i can mention that like. a key difference between my pre-redux and redux psychic lore is that in predux (thats what im gonna call it now) jaime and victoria were VERY open about being psychic. in fact victoria had practically made it her entire personality. and because of this overall openness of psychics, there were entire institutions centered around education, law, and a whole lotta other shit. and there was this assessment of skill level to determine what areas that a psychic in training may need to improve (though many also used these assessments as a tool to rank psychics by hypothetical power). this was called the PSI: the Psychic Skill Inspection. and while i could talk up a storm about how the PSI used to work or all the nuances of the old Psychic lore. im just gonna. not. bc much of it hardly applies anymore anyways lmao

in redux, because of the more hidden nature of psychics, there isnt NEARLY as much research or institutions put in place specifically for psychics, so stuff like the PSI doesn’t really exist. ive learned my lesson from predux: dont do number shit. the minute you start actually calculating numbers n stuff it quickly leads into a power creep where others are like “well my psychic has BIGGER numbers”. but yea with no PSI, there are no “rankings” so no one really knows who the “strongest” psychic is. no one really knows the true limits of a psychic’s power.

no one really knows much about them at all

which makes them seem all the more terrifying if you aren’t psychic

[wanderlust-psifang]

Psi & Vampirism

Psi is the study of the human mind and how it interacts with other minds and the environment at large through passive and active methods. Passive methods have to do with the minds ability to read information from other people and situations. In magic we call this concept empathy and divination, respectively.

Vampirism is the feeding on living human energy, or lifeforce, and the ability to not only feed on it, but to cycle it, transmute it, and transfer it.

Touch itself is a powerful act for both psi and vampirism. In psi it can contribute to psychic impressions of the touched object or person (psychometry) in vampirism it is the most basic form of energy feeding.

When the body of a vampire touches the body of a regular human the vampire naturally absorbs their lifeforce. This is one origin of the narrative of vampires being parasites. Once the vampire knows this they can control it. Meditation, ritual, and the basics of psi can help a vampire regain control of their inherent feeding habits. A lot of psi is interwoven in psychic vampiric practices as is, but is not always acknowledged.

The concepts of Linking, Cycling, Shielding, Filtering, Warding, and Signatures all stem from psionics with authors such as Blueflake, Winged Wolf and online forums like PsiPog and Veritas Society (now defunct).

There is a difference between the Online Energy Community (OEC) and the scientific study of psi from groups like the Noetics Institute, Monroe Institue, or Silva Mind Control. Even the government studied psi with Project Stargate, performed by the CIA in the early 20th Century, which can now be found in full and unedited online.