Psychic Warrior, very rough

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sturtus
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Psychic Warrior, very rough

Post by sturtus »

Hi forums!

My campaign was begging for some flavor, and a few of the players and myself the GM were playing some DCC on the side, so we decided to throw caution to the wind and convert all the characters from DnD 4e to DCC. This was easy for the fighter, cleric, dwarf, and paladin (thanks to the excellent paladin posted by Jose Lira), but my battlemind player was a little more hard to nail down. Although the player volunteered to just roll up a new guy, I figured I would take a shot at making up a DCC version.

My thought on a DCC take on psionics is evident after the first read, and much is left unsaid to be discovered by the player and myself. I strongly feel that psionic power has always been overpowered, and a system like DCC could put it in its place with some risk! Therefore, psionic classes and characters could risk their minds as they draw on their powers, similarly to disapproval and corruption. The challenge was to keep the flavor of a warrior class that fights like a fighter but instead of raw strength and speed uses some kind of psionic power to fight.

I started with the SRD's Psychic Warrior and modified him heavily to look more like a warrior/wizard. Psionic Powers listed in SRD will need to be rewritten for scaling spell check results (haven't begun this). The Mighty Deed of Arms reflects the psychic warrior's mental prowess in battle, giving him telekinetic flare in combat. I've read a few reviews of new classes that use Mighty Deed of Arms and reactions seem to be that this should be reserved for the warrior and dwarf classes. To offset their use of this flavorful power, psychic warriors do not increase their threat die, have lower hit die than warriors, and roll on a roller crit table than warriors and dwarves. To keep their spellcasting abilities in check, they can only use their psionic spells/powers a few times per day using the SRD power point system with the option to spell burn to earn points.

The Derangement table (still AWIP), consists of a number of personality altering and mission style effects that either force certain behavior, withdraw the character from reality thereby affecting attack and skill checks, cause some psychotic episodes, or drastically alter the alignment of the character. Recovery for most, though is possible through meditation, focus, or some kind of re-alignment.

Still missing:

1. Derangement Table.
2. Meditation and Attunement Table
3. Spell Descriptions and filtered down SRD psychic warrior spell lists (lot of redundancy that can be replaced with scaling powers).
4. Some Titles


Psychic Warrior
By Ryan Sturt

In the depths of the cosmos, beings of immense eldritch power emanate cosmic rays that pierce every mote of matter in the universe. These psionic rays resonate in the minds and bodies of mere mortals far away, and in some very special cases they can awaken innate abilities that manipulate these cosmic forces and stretch the very fabrics of reality, forever changing the world and the tortured mortals that wield such alien power.

You are a victim of your innate talents, a shunned wanderer sellsword, a mystical warrior seeking understanding, or a berserker brute that cannot be contained. Psychic warriors have limitless potential on the battlefield, but they must fight to maintain their identity in the face of the very forces that give them their violent psionic powers.

Hit Points: A psychic warrior gains 1d10 hit points per level.

Weapon Training: A psychic warrior is trained in weapons much like a warrior. A psychic warrior is trained in the use of these weapons: battleaxe, club, crossbow, dagger, dart, flail, handaxe, javelin, lance, longbow, long- sword, mace, polearm, shortbow, short sword, sling, spear, staff, two-handed sword, and warhammer. Psychic warriors wear whatever armor they can afford.

Alignment: The minds and bodies of psychic warriors are constantly strained as they bend great psionic power to their will, so staying on a straight path is a great challenge. Exposure to cosmic rays affects the psychic warrior’s alignment and without diligent focus and meditation can drive the psychic warrior to withdraw from the world as he becomes more mentally deranged from the power. Psychic warriors seeking greater causes to fight for and who look for meaning in the empty cosmos are lawful. Berserker and insane warriors, those that have given in to psionic power, are the worst kinds of villains, relishing in their exposure to the cosmos and constantly seeking ways to open new doors in their mind for more power to erupt. Psychic warriors that look within to seek harmony and acceptance with their power are balanced and neutral.

Attack modifier: Just like warriors, psychic warriors do not receive a fixed attack modifier at each level. Instead, they receive a randomized modifier known as a deed die. At 1st level, this is a d3. The psychic warrior rolls this d3 on each attack roll and applies it to both his attack roll and his damage roll. On one attack, the die may give him a +1 to his attack roll and damage roll. On the next attack, the die may give him +3! The deed die advances with the psychic warrior’s level, climbing to d7 by 5th level, and then higher up to d10+4 at 10th level. The psychic warrior always makes a new roll with this die in each combat round. When the psychic warrior has multiple attacks at higher levels, the same deed die applies to all attacks in the same combat round.

Psychic Deeds: Psychic warriors use their attunement to cosmic forces to perform great feats of telekinetic battle mastery. Like warriors, they can perform Mighty Deeds of Arms in combat. See the warrior entry for a complete description.

Magic: A psychic warrior finds he can change reality around him to bend to his will, and by focusing he can make extraordinary things happen. This form of magic is known as psionic magic. A psychic warrior’s caster level is usually his level as a psychic warrior but may be modified under certain conditions. Psionic magic has a limited amount of use in any one day, so the psychic warrior receives a number of psionic power points to use on spells. Once out of psionic power points, the psychic warrior cannot cast psionic spells until he rests or uses psionic spellburn to gain them back.

Known psionic powers are determined randomly. They may be of any level for which the psychic warrior is eligible, as shown in the max spell level column. The psychic chooses the level before making his die roll. Higher-level spells are more powerful but harder to cast – and there are consequences for failure.

To cast a psionic spell, a psychic warrior makes a spell check. The spell check is made like any other check: roll 1d20 + Personality + caster level. If the psychic warrior succeeds, cosmic forces are in his favor and he can manipulate his body and the world around him by spending power points on the spell. Each power point augments the spell in a manner described in the spell description.

If the psychic warrior fails in his spell check, he risks psionic derangement. The forces he wields are too powerful for his mortal shell, or his mind is overcome by a frightening reality brought by a vision from beings from beyond. Each time a psychic warrior fails a spell check, he faces the prospect of becoming mentally deranged by the powers he channels.

Power Points: Psychic warriors receive a number of power points per day determined by Table 1-1. Power points are refreshed after a full rest of no less than eight hours.
Psionic Spellburn: In times of great peril, psychic warriors can push their attunement to the psionic rays and sacrifice themselves for greater effect. This operates exactly the same as wizard spellburn. In the case of using spellburn to regain spells, psychic warriors can spellburn ability score points to regain power points just like wizards use spellburn to regain spell levels.
Derangement: Psychically manipulating the radiation from the cosmos can be hazardous to the mental health of the psychic warrior. A psychic warrior that fails a spell check risks suffering derangement and could potentially roll on the derangement table, possibly permanently altering the alignment of the psychic warrior, withdrawing the psychic warrior further from reality, or causing psychotic episodes. Some derangement can be healed through focus and meditation, but some is permanent.

Speed of Thought: A psychic warrior adds his class level to his initiative rolls.

Personality: Psychic warriors’ mysterious psionic powers of the mind guide their blades and arrows to their targets. A psychic warrior’s Personality modifier is used in place of strength and agility for all melee and ranged weapon attacks.

Action dice: A psychic warrior’s action dice can be used for attacks or psionic spell power checks at any level. At 5th level, the psychic warrior can use two powers in a single round, the first with a d20 spell check and the second with a d14; or he can make two attacks, the first with a d20 attack roll and the second with a d14; or he may combine an attack with a psychic power check.
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Ravenheart87
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Re: Psychic Warrior, very rough

Post by Ravenheart87 »

I think I would make the Deed Die advancement slower, take away initiative bonus and limit power level to 3. Some bonus to Will save would also fit the class. Otherwise it's a cool jedi knight/sith warrior class. :)

Some ideas for titles:
Cenobite
Mystic
Manipulator
Dream Walker
Lucid Warrior
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bripod
Gongfarmer
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Re: Psychic Warrior, very rough

Post by bripod »

+1 on reducing deed die advancement. Even with the lower crit range and table, it seems like this is maybe too close to a warrior with psychic spells -- and deeds are pretty much the signature distinction for the warrior class (despite the crazy deadly crit tables for the vanilla warrior, which may come up only rarely).

Also, I would suggest constricting the weapon proficiency down to one or two -- seems more in line with the weapon being an extension of the psychic warrior's mind, because she's spent countless hours training with the sword or spear or whatever. Maybe choose a specialization from the list of available proficiencies.
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Ravenheart87
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Re: Psychic Warrior, very rough

Post by Ravenheart87 »

Welcome aboard, bripod. I see you're new in town. :)
bripod wrote:Also, I would suggest constricting the weapon proficiency down to one or two -- seems more in line with the weapon being an extension of the psychic warrior's mind, because she's spent countless hours training with the sword or spear or whatever. Maybe choose a specialization from the list of available proficiencies.
I'm with the number of proficiencies. They don't make a big fuss about it in DCC RPG, even wizards can use longswords and longbows. Still, if I had to choose one weapon that fit this class, it would be... the lightsaber. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sebPpFTWI2o
Vorpal Mace: a humble rpg blog with some DCC-related stuff.
sturtus
Ill-Fated Peasant
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Re: Psychic Warrior, very rough

Post by sturtus »

Sounds good. I'll adjust the deed die advancement and reduce the weapon proficiencies. Still working on the spell listings. I will be going the wizard spell route where each spell has its own different derangement effects with a single derangement table when high derangement rolls are made.
sturtus
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Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2013 12:57 pm

Re: Psychic Warrior, very rough

Post by sturtus »

The more I consider this class, I'm thinking that something similar to Mighty Deed of Arms is in order but completely different. Scope is growing.
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