Daily Power Points for Psionic NPCs

printed here supersede any previously published versions by the same name.

Automatic Quicken Power [Metapsionic]

You can manifest any of your lesser powers with a moment's thought.

Prerequisites: Quicken Power, Psicraft 30 ranks, ability to manifest 9th-level powers.

Benefit: You can manifest all 1st-level powers as quickened powers without expending your psionic focus (though you must be psionically focused). The normal limit to the number of quickened powers you can manifest per round applies. Powers with a manifesting time of more than 1 round can't be quickened. You still must pay the requisite number of extra power points to manifest these quickened powers.

Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time you take it, the powers of your next level can be quickened without the expenditure of your psionic focus. Thus, a psion who took this feat twice could quicken his 1st-level and 2nd-level powers with no expenditure of psionic focus.

This feat doesn't decrease the manifesting time for powers that normally require a full-round action to manifest in metamagic form.

Epic Power Penetration [Psionic]

Your powers are tremendously potent, overcoming power resistance with ease.

Prerequisite: Greater Power Penetration, Power Penetration.

Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on manifester level checks made to overcome a creature's power resistance. This bonus stacks with the bonuses from Power Penetration and Greater

Power Penetration.

Epic Psionic Endowment [Psionic]

You can endow your manifestations with epic focus.

Prerequisites: Greater Psionic Endowment, Psionic Endowment, ability to manifest at least one 9th-level power.

Benefit: You can expend your psionic focus and add 1 to the save DC of a power you manifest. This bonus stacks with the bonuses from Psionic Endowment and Greater Psionic

Endowment.

Improved Combat Manifestation [Psionic]

You heighten your ability to manifest powers while threatened without fear of being attacked.

Prerequisites: Combat Manifestation, Concentration 25 ranks.

Benefit: You gain a bonus equal to one-half your manifester level on Concentration checks made to manifest a power, use a psi-like ability, or achieve psionic focus while on the defensive or while you are grappling or pinned. Improved Overchannel [Psionic]

You burn your life force without limit to strengthen your powers.

Prerequisite: Overchannel, Psicraft 25 ranks.

Benefit: While manifesting a power, you can increase your effective manifester level to a value up to twice your actual manifester level, but in doing so, you pay a price. For each level you increase your effective manifester level above your actual manifester level, you take 2d8 points of damage.

For example, a 23rd-level psion could increase his effective manifester level to 30th to manifest a particular power.

However, as a result of the seven-level increase, he would take 14d8 points of damage.

The effective change in manifester level increases the number of power points you can expend on a single power manifestation, as well as increasing all manifester leveldependent effects, such as range, duration, and overcoming power resistance.

Normal: Your manifester level is equal to your total levels in classes that manifest powers.

Psionic characters manifest powers through an expenditure of their daily available power points. Their base daily allotment of power points is given on their respective class tables. In addition, they receive bonus power points per day if they have a high key ability score (see Table 21: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Power Points, EPH 18). They might gain additional bonus power points per day from their race, feats, or items.

While this usually works well for player characters who can refrain from burning through all their psionic power points during the first encounter of the day, the opposite is true for psionic NPCs. From a metagame perspective, what reason do they have to hold back? Their first encounter of the day is probably their last. It behooves them to use their power points as quickly as possible, which means they might dump unrealistically augmented and/or overchanneled powers onto PCs. Thus, DMs should consider adding the following variant rule when using psionic NPCs in an encounter.

Conserved NPC Power Points (Variant): For any given encounter, treat a psionic NPC as if he had only half of his total power points to use during the encounter. This makes the NPC into a more realistic opponent, who believes that he will survive the encounter and potentially need power points for a later altercation that same day. More important, it helps alleviate a somewhat unfair advantage that all monsters and NPCs have over player characters (whether they are psionic or not), but which is slightly magnified when it comes to the expenditure of power points.

ABOUT THE DESIGNERS

Christopher Lindsay is an author and staunch supporter of the RPCA, though Complete Psionic is his first foray into the profes sional design arena. He lives in Washington State with his wife. Pamela, a horde of kids, and a cat that is gracious enough to share the same living space. Bruce Cordell’s design credits include Expanded Psionics Handbook, Magic of Eberron, Weapons of Legacy, and Libris Mortis. He has written a couple of FORGOTTEN REALMS novels, and is slated to write a few more. Bruce is already hard at work on his next D&D project, but in his free hours enjoys rollerblading, reading science fiction, kickboxing, and spending time with his wife and house hold of affectionate pets.