The Psychic

This week we introduce another of the new classes included in the Tome of Whispers. The Psychic is a primary spell-casting class, but it approaches magic very differently than any of the other magic classes. There are those who study magic to master is secrets. There are others who are granted magic by a powerful outside force, and there are still others who are born with magic literally coursing through their veins. For the Psychic, however, magic is sheer force of will. A Psychic hones the power of their mind until the world itself bends to their preferences.

Psychics are potent magicians. They can be difficult for other spellcasters to deal with, since they lack many of the usual "tells" with their magic. The mind can be a fragile thing, however, and Psychics must take care to remain in full control of their faculties at all times, lest an inability to focus shuts down their magical abilities altogether. Indeed, stress itself if both a Psychic's greatest friend and fiercest foe.

Because psychic magic is a purely mental exercise, it does not need any hand gestures or words of power to use. Instead, all of its casting actions are converted to a new type of casting action, Mental Casting. Mental Casting does not provide any clues to its nature to other spellcasters, unless they can read minds, and as such anyone that attempts to counterspell a Psychic must attempt to do so blindly. Mental Casting is not without its drawbacks, however. It cannot be used at all if you are dizzy, scared, or stressed out. We'll talk about being stressed out more when we look at how Psychics use Stress when casting spells.

Psychics also differ from other spellcasters in that their magic is without tradition. They have a few spells that they know in their repertoire, but these spells can be pulled from any tradition without restriction. A Psychic need not concern themselves with proficiency in a magical tradition either. They use their Will proficiency to determine the effects of their spells. Spell attacks use their Will modifier as an attack, while saving throws must be made against their Will DC. A Psychic can also freely choose which of their mental abilities is their Key Ability for their Will saves.

Stress

Psychics do not have spell slots like other casters. Instead, a Psychic must accept Stress in order to cast a spell. Unless the spell is a cantrip, which does not cost Stress to cast, a Psychic must accept a number of points of Stress equal to the base level of the spell. They can accept additional Stress to further heighten a spell as they cast it. The only restriction to how high you want to push your spell is how much Stress you are willing to accept.

Casting spells is not the only way that a Psychic can accumulate Stress, however. Each time you increase your scared or dizzy value you also gain Stress equal to the value of the condition inflicted. Taking mental damage is also stressful, and a Psychic also increases their Stress level by 1 for every 10 HP lost to mental damage at once.

A Psychic can only handle so much Stress. If your current Stress value is ever greater than your Will modifier, you become stressed out. Being stressed out makes mental tasks harder to focus on. If you attempt a check with Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as the key ability while you are stressed out, you have to roll twice and take the worst result. This includes your Will saves, making you highly vulnerable to mental attacks if you have too much Stress. Furthermore, due to the nature of Mental Casting, you can no longer cast spells at all while you have the stressed out condition.

Fortunately, your Stress level reduces itself over time. You recover one point of Stress for each hour of Rest, though using an Extended Rest resets your Stress level to zero automatically. Psychics can also use actions in combat to calm their minds, spending actions to reduce their Stress levels, and possibly also their scared and dizzy conditions while they're at it. Because you must take Stress to cast your spells, but too much Stress makes casting impossible, a Psychic must always carefully manage their Stress level to ensure that they remain effective.

Disciplines

Each Psychic has a discipline, which represents a category of magic that comes more naturally to them than others. When a Psychic casts a spell from their discipline, they reduce the total Stress of that casting by 1. A Psychic must also choose an opposition discipline, whose magic comes less naturally. A Psychic can still cast spells that belong to an opposition discipline, but doing so increases the total Stress of that casting by 1. A Psychic can freely choose which disciplines are which but must choose carefully. Once made, these decisions cannot be reversed.

Collaborator

A collaborator is naturally inclined to working together with others, making a group much more than the sum of its parts. This discipline includes any spell which provides a bonus to an ally's checks, or which provide additional actions or reactions.

Contortionist

A contortionist is flexible in both mind and body. This discipline includes and spell which has the morph or polymorph trait.

Medium

A medium channels and collates information from beyond the veil. This discipline includes any spell with the detection, revelation, or scrying trait.

Psychotherapist

A psychotherapist is committed to the health and wellbeing of those around them. This discipline includes any spell which cases a target to recover Hit Points or removed harmful conditions or afflictions. If a spell is used to deal Hit Point damage, such as using heal against undead, it does not count as a spell of this discipline for that casting, even though it would be if used to restore Hit Points instead.

Reaver

A reaver is focused on dealing as much damage to others as possible. When you choose this discipline, you also choose three damage types. This discipline includes every spell which deals damage of a type you chose. If a spell is used to restore Hit Points, such as harm against undead, it does not count as a spell of this discipline for that casting, even though it would be if used to deal damage to living creatures instead.

Saboteur

A saboteur is naturally inclined to undermine foes and often prefers an ironic and long-lasting affliction to more direct methods. This discipline includes any spell with the curse trait, or which inflicts a harmful condition, poison, or disease.

Telekineticist

A telekineticist has strongly developed the ability to manipulate the physical world with just the power of the mind. This discipline includes and spell with the kinesis or summons trait.

Telepath

A telepath has developed the ability to read and influence the minds of others. This discipline includes any spell with the mental trait, or which influences the target's language or communication skills.

Traveler

A traveler is naturally inclined to move about and is often uncomfortable staying in one place too long. This discipline includes any spell that has the teleportation trait, or that adds or alters the target's movement types. This also includes spells that increase the target's swift value, or which grant it extra actions on its turn.

Class Perks

Many Psychic class perks have improved effects for one or more disciplines. With the exception of each discipline's signature perks, which are exclusive to members of that discipline, any Psychic can take any class perk. This allows the boundaries between types of Psychics to be somewhat fuzzy. You don't have to be a traveler, for example, to be good at movement magic if you want to have your focus elsewhere.

Psychics are the ultimate generalists. In addition to not being boxed into one magical tradition, Psychics can even add a class's exclusive powers to their repertoire. Class powers can't normally be chosen during level-up, however, and must be taught to the Psychic by someone else that knows it. This flexibility is further enhanced by many Psychic class perks that grant your Psychic a functional imitation of other class features. For example, you might use your psychic power to manipulate elements like an Elementalist, or to call forth a bonded creature like a Conjurer. You might even do both with the same Psychic!

---

The Psychic is an incredibly versatile class, but the complicated nature of its Stress-based spellcasting is why it is found in the Tome of Whispers instead of the core rules. Still, for those who delve into the secrets of this class, the freedom from traditional spell slots makes Psychic casting a unique and rewarding experience. Next week we return to the Realm of Runes Card Game to look at an overview of the round of play, so stay tuned!