Now you See Me, Now You Don't
Psychoportation is the title Ialdaboros gave to psionic manifestations associated with psychic displacement of various kinds, from something as simple as fouling the aim of an archer to effects as complex as teleportation through space and even across the planes. Psychoportation is a broad discipline that also covers the activities a psion may take in the Dreamlands, a universe shared by all sentient creatures that sleep, but known to only a few, and manipulated only by psions of this discipline and its own native creatures.
Modes
The attack mode for this WIS-based discipline is
Daze. It does standard attack mode damage that increases with level, the psionic's proficiency score x 1d8. It swamps the conscious mind of the target with displaced visions, contradictory desires and misaligned goals, leaving the person
paralyzed, vapor locked in their own mental maze, unable to take actions or even fall down.
The defense mode for this discipline is
Tower of Iron Will, a potent bulwark against contradictions and mental derivatives. Psions with this discipline active receive advantage on their saves against any effect that would result in paralysis.
Signature Manifestations
Psychoportation is most obviously represented by Astral Travel, in which the psion is mentally and, at high enough levels, physically moved across the planes to some other location. Other effects approximating closeup card-and-coin magic are sometimes used by people with a propensity for this discipline but often no formal training. At high levels it can relieve a vault of treasure or a prison of its prisoner, but there is always some danger in the transit as well.
Where Psychokinetics is the discipline utilized for (otherwise) normal linear motion of an object with the use of the mind, psychoportation breaks the laws of physics and replaces it with the chaos of dreams - or quantum dislinearity, if you prefer. Its manifestations mimic a host of magical effects, but powered from within, by the mind, rather than an external weave, divine power, or spiritual servants.
- Hedge magic - like druidcraft, thaumaturgy, and prestidigitation - can be replicated with this ability at the cost of 1PPP per effect, with a skill check against a DC set by the DM for anything not trivial. The psion can burn PPP to increase their bonus up to the limit of their Psychoportation skill (wisdom bonus, plus proficiency if they have been trained in the skill) to improve their roll, at the cost of 1PPP + the bonus - or to a hard limit of their remaining PPP.
- Dreamwalking - the unique property of this discipline is the ability to visit other minds while they sleep. This always requires a skill check of a minimum DC of 15, and interacting with the dream in any manipulative way, rather than merely observing or interacting with the sleeper, will increase the difficulty. The psion can create illusory objects, sounds, places and more while in the shared dream. Contacting hostile minds can result in damage to the psion, and any injuries suffered while in the dreamlands come out of the PPP pool first regardless of their in-dream nature (crushed by a falling elephant? That's still psychic damage in the dreamlands). Leaving the dream requires a single PPP, so there is some danger of entrapment or death if things go very badly, because if you die in a dream, you may die in real life...certain creatures, like Fey, Celestials, and Fiends, can be even more dangerous in dreams than in real life. Encountering a hag in her dreams is a dangerous prospect indeed. And yet these creatures may hold, in their collective consciousness, an entirely new and bizarre plane of existence known as the Dreamlands...
- Astral Travel - slightly less perilous than dreamwalking, astral travel is actually easier via psionics than by magic; any psion with the psychoportation discipline can move their consciousness into the Astral plane as an action with a single PPP. Note that this doesn't move the physical body, however, so its tactical use is somewhat limited. A psion can take a risk even in combat, however, by leaving their physical body dormant and using their consciousness in the Astral plane to interact with things on that plane, including Astral gates which can move both the mind and the dormant body to a different plane in an instant. Traveling this way requires a full action to travel - meaning a full action to return, as well as any time spent on the astral plane in between.
- Quantum Motion - the psionic can make objects that are not worn or carried instantly move from one location to another within the psion's line of sight. More complicated items like a full mug of beer or a coinpurse with coins inside require a higher DC roll, with bonus points operating as usual for psionic skill checks. Massive failure on the rolls can lead to damage to the items, or nothing happens at all. The psion can attempt to move themselves or others using the same non-linear motion, but at a higher DC and potential PPP or even hit point/non-psychic damage for massive failure.
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