Abilities

doesn't stop the psicrystal. Its laying ways serve the psion in good stead when she is forced to attempt the same.

Meticulous: The meticulous psicrystal has a hard time discerning between important details and those that are irrelevant. In describing itself, it would say it is “punctilious in its attention to the roles of etiquette, and furthermore marked by extreme care in the treatment of details.” Sometimes maddening, this trait is sometimes useful to the psion who attempts a precise study of his environment.

Observant: “Did you see that?” is the most common communication between a psicrystal and its owner. Often enough, me psion has seen the proffered sight and ignored it as, unimportant. Sometimes, though this observant quality allows the psion to note things she might have otherwise passed by.

Poised: The ability to be constantly aware of your body and how it interacts with your surroundings is something often lost in the welter of more important thoughts. Not so for this psicrystal, which is perfectly poised and sure of itself, if not its owner. It often preaches the importance of equilibrium and the readiness for action, and its influence actually grants the psion a bonus in situations where balance is important.

Resolve: A quality everyone wishes they bad, this psicrystal has it in spades. It is firm in purpose and belief, and its advice and observations are characterized by firmness and determination. Or, as the psion might say, it is a stubborn soand-so. Still, this unshakable faith aids the psion in all contests of will.

Sage: This splinter personality attempts to be a mentor to its owner, even though it is drawn from the owner's mind. Still, unfettered with any other personality type, the sage sees itself as the be-all, end-all master of spiritual and philosophical topics, not to mention the area of Knowledge in which it is specialized. Beyond its specialization, the sage psicrystal's advice is sometimes suspect.

Singleminded: The ability to focus in on the task at hand, ignoring all other environmental and emotional factors, is the personality seeded in this psicrystal. Sometimes the psion has a very difficult time getting the psicrystal's attention if it is focused on a specific task, but its influence also magnifies the psion's own concentration abilities.

Sneak: Why announce your presence with loud footfalls when you could just as easily glide in with less noise than a breath of air? Or so asks the sneaky psicrystal, who believes wholeheartedly in the role that silence is golden. It is given to hushing its owner, and its owner's companions, at higher levels. Still, its expertise in the area of quiet locomotion can't be denied.

Sympathetic: This quality allows the psicrystal to see into the hearts of other living things by putting itself in their shoes. Unfortunately, the psicrystal also spends a lot of rime analyzing the psion and his companions, commenting on their mental states, and making pronouncements about the fitness of their actions of course, this is useful when the psion wants to determine the motives of a potential enemy.

Psion Level: The level of the psion.

Psicrystal Ability Descriptions: All psicrystals have special abilities that depend on the level of the owner. These abilities are cumulative.

TABLE 1–5: PSICRYSTAL SPECIAL ABILITIES

Psion Psicrystal

Level Intelligence Special 1-2 6 Sighted, empathic link 3-4 7 Telepathic link 5-6 8 Self-propulsion 7-8 9 Speak with other creatures 9-10 10 11-12 11 Power resistance 13-14 12 Sight link 15-16 13 Channel power 17-18 14 19-20 15

Intelligence: The psicrystal's Intelligence score. Psicrystals are smart, but their personality trait colors all empathic, telepathic, or verbal interaction.

Sighted: Though it possesses no physical sensory organs, a psicrystal can telepathically sense its environment as well as a sighted, hearing creature can. Darkness (even supernatural darkness) is irrelevant, as are areas of supernatural silence, though a psicrystal still can't discern invisible or ethereal beings. The psicrystal's sighted range is 40 feet.

Empathic Link: The psion has an empathic link with his or her psicrystal to a distance of up to one mile. Psions cannot see using the psicrystal's sighted ability, but they can communicate empathetically. The empathic link between a psicrystal and its owner limits communication to strong feelings, such as confidence, fear, uncertainty, resolve, and so on, so misunderstandings are always possible.

Telepathic Link: The psion has a telepathic link with his or her psicrystal to a distance of up to one mile. Psions cannot see using the psicrystal's sighted ability, but they can communicate telepathically. The telepathic link allows actual communication. For instance, a psicrystal placed in a distant room could relay the activities occurring in that room. psicrystals know all the languages their psion owners know.

Self-Propulsion: If the psion pays the cost of 1 power point, his or her psicrystal forms spidery, ectoplasmic legs for a day. The legs grant the psicrystal a speed of 30 feet. The psicrystal can climb walls and ceilings with its legs like a real spider at a speed of 20 feet. The legs fade to nothingness when their duration expires, or if the psicrystal takes 1 or more points of damage that penetrate its hardness.

Speak with Other Creatures: The psicrystal can communicate mentally with its owner, other creatures, or psicrystals within 60 feet, using any language known to its psion owner (other creatures must speak aloud to return communication, except for the owner and other psicrystals). To those familiar with the psion, the psicrystal's mental voice sounds very similar; however, all exchanges are colored by the psicrystal's particular personality trait.

Power Resistance: The psicrystal's power resistance (PR) equals the psion owner's level plus 5. To affect the psicrystal with a power, an enemy manifester must make a manifester level check (1d20 + enemy's manifester level) at least equal to the psicrystal's power resistance. Unless the Psionics Are Different option is used (see Chapter 4: Psionics), the psicrystal's spell resistance (SR) equals its power resistance.

Sight Link: Once per day, the psicrystal's owner can see what the crystal sees for a period of 1 hour, as long as the psion and the crystal are not separated by more than one mile.