Radial Navigation
As long as this power is in use, the psionicist knows where he is in relation to a fixed starting point. In other words, no matter how or where he moves, he still knows the exact direction and distance to his starting point. He cannot necessarily tell someone how to get back to that starting point, however. If he is in a maze or dungeon, for example, he may know the starting point is 500 yards north, but he cannot retrace his steps through the maze automatically. Radial navigation does enhance his ability to do so, however.
Every time the character comes to a decision point - e.g., "should I turn right or left?" - the DM makes a power check for him. If the check succeeds, the character knows which way he came. If the roll fails, he isn't sure. (He can still maintain the power normally, however.)
Radial navigation can be helpful in several ways that are not obvious. For example, Teleport and other extraordinary means of travel become simpler. Let's say a character cannot see a particular location because he's blindfolded. He leaves that location, but uses radial navigation to get a fix on it. That means he can still teleport back there. Furthermore, if the character has a fix on a place, he can reach it through the Astral Plane in just seven hours, the minimum possible (assuming of course that he can travel through the astral plane). And he can reach the same location by Dimension Walking with no chance of getting lost.
Radial navigation can aid in Telepathy, too. If the psionicist wants to make telepathic contact, and he has a fix on the target's location, he doesn't suffer the usual penalties for range. If the character stops maintaining this power, he loses his fix on the location. He can get it back by resuming this power and making a successful power check within six hours. After six hours, the location is lost. Only one location can be fixed at a time unless the character pays the maintenance cost individually for each.
Comments