Psionicist class

My version of Psionicist will somewhat follow Pathfinder’s Psychic class. Whereas PF2e considers psionics a form of magic, I consider it a source of internal mental energy. Mind and body need to be tuned to produce the energy needed to produce greater abilities. No midi-chlorians in my system.

Key Attributes: Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma

All three are key to a Psionicist. Intelligence fuels offensive abilities, Wisdom for defense and Charisma for telepathic strength of character abilities. Depending on what you want to focus on will determine what abilities to increase. At 1^st level, the class grants an ability boost to two of the three key attributes.

Hit points: same as Psychic

Initial Proficiencies: same as Psychic, with the following difference.

Skills: Trained in your choice of Arcane, Nature, Religion or Occultism, plus additional skills equal to 3 plus your Intelligence modifier.

Class Features:

Ancestry, Background, Initial Proficiencies, All Feats, Skill Increases, and Ability Boosts will follow the Psychic through level 20. There will be some special rules for levels 21-23 in the Canthyanic Order of Psionicists.

Expert Reflexes at level 5

Expert Psionics at level 7

Expert Fortitude at level 9

Expert Perception at level 9

Master Will at level 11

Expert at simple weapons and unarmed attacks at level 11

Weapon Specialization at level 13

Master Psionics at level 15

Legendary Will at level 17

Legendary Psionics at level 19

Disciplines and Talents:

The main difference between my Psionicist and the Psychic is how the Psionicist gains abilities. Instead of spells, the Psionicist trains the mind in various Disciplines and Talents.

Talents are individual abilities which require psi-points to use. Each psi will have a pool of psi-points to use during the day. The pool hasn’t been vetted, so the number of points and how to regain psi-points has yet to be determined. Some talents are embedded in Disciplines, others are standalone. Standalone talents will have prerequisites and are gained at every even level.

Disciplines are sort of benchmarks within a psi’s training for the different paths a psi can take. Disciplines will have a combination of cantrip-type and/or talent-type abilities.

All Psionicists start with Basic Psi Training. They will gain three cantrip-type abilities and two talent abilities. These abilities will span Telepathy, Telekinesis and Mind Over Body classes of abilities. As the psi progresses, they will have choices to continue the Telepathic, Telekinetic or Mind Over Body disciplines, or move into Microkinetic, Quantumkinetic or Temporal disciplines. Each discipline will have prerequisites to follow that path. Disciplines are gained at every odd level.

The Order is structured based on low-tier-level Stars, mid-tier Circles and high-tier Triads. There are twelve levels of Stars, seven Circles and three Triads. Add those up and you get twenty-two levels, not twenty. The first level Triad is, yes, level 20. In order to become a Triad or gain the other two levels of Triads, it’s trial by combat. If you win against a higher level Triad, you gain their position, another Discipline and Talent. The loser will drop a level and all gains from the level.

There are twenty-one First Triads, seven good, seven evil and seven neutral. There are nine Second Triads, three good/evil/neutral. There are three Third Triads. Yes, one of each. You’ll note I mentioned there was level twenty-three available. Level 23 belongs to the being known as The Traveller.

The Traveller is a legend, a myth, a figment of people’s imaginations, yet very real. The Traveller is said to have challenged and defeated all three Third Triads at once and is the master of all disciplines and talents in existence. There is only one Traveller and there will ever only be one. More about this being in the Canthyanic Lore.