The Psychic and Spiritual Handbook (formerly Psionic Rules Set) is now updated.
The Dreamscape has been retooled to better serve as a framework for DMs.
Classes have been renamed. Psion is now Savant, Psychic Warrior is now Transcendent, and Wilder is now Channeler.
New powers added, new subclass for Savant, and lots of errata updates. See Change Log for more details.
Change Log
General:
- Now called the Psychic and Spiritual Handbook
- Compatible with Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
- Changed certain names to avoid conflict with WotC:
– Wilder renamed Channeler
– Psion renamed Savant
– Psychic Warrior renamed Transcendent
– Soul Knife subclass renamed Transient Blade - Features sharing names with official published materials have been renamed unless they are the same function
– Wild Surge feature (Channeler) renamed to Unleash Id - Various balance edits and description revisions for clarity
- All classes that know powers can now replace a known powers when they advance in level
Class:
Channeler
- Volatile Mind feature removed
- Unleashed Id renamed Untapped Potential
- Shaper
– Power point cost to manifest evocations increased to 3 per spell level (up from 2)
Savant
- Will of Way feature renamed Esoteric Order
- Subclass feature at 14th level moved to 18th level.
- Psi-focus renamed Greater Psicrystal and is now a 14th level feature
- Introspective Manifester and Willful Expression merged into Clairsentience and Telepathy class features respectively to reduce feeling of feature bloat
- Order of Force
– Greater Telekinesis is now Terrakinesis and its effects are more consistent with other Kinetic Expressions
– Kinetic Mastery renamed Dampening Field
– Improved Kinetic Expression renamed Kinetic Mastery - Order of Foresight
– Hidden Viewer renamed Mind Shroud - Order of Thought
– Thought Shield renamed Guarded Thoughts - New Esoteric Order: Order of Substance added as a psychoportation-specializing subclass
Transcendent
- Martial Focus no longer provides advantage to charm and fear, this function is now the 6th level Impervious Mind feature
- Eclectic Attunement features are now at 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, and 18th level.
- Impervious Mind’s effect moved to Adamant Resolve which is now the 13th level
- Second Mind moved to 9th level
- Blade and Will moved to 10th level
- Absolute Focus moved to 14th level
- Psionic Reserves now kicks in when you roll initiative with fewer than 2 power points (up from 0 power points)
- Nomad
– Energy Burst is now proficiency bonus times per short/long rest
– Opportunistic Strike replaced with Exploitative Steps with a new effect
– Projection now changes weapon damage into force damage and its multihit function changed to a Dex save (previously attack rolls)
– Energy Absorption now gives temporary hit points as its only feature
– Phantom Steps rewritten to allow more freeform teleporting and to interface with Exploitative Steps - Transient Blade
– Bladewind now requires a Dex save (previously attack rolls)
– New feature Serenity added to further their nature as spies and assassins
Subclasses
- Dervish (Fighter)
– Unarmored Defense moved to 7th level and now acts like other Unarmored Defenses
– Slashing Winds no longer provides an additional attack during the attack action - Way of Insight (Monk)
– Fixed table error giving them more powers than they should have
– Ki Battery inherently goes both way but can now only be used once per short rest - Oath of the Ardent (Paladin)
– Invoke Mantle now just changes the active mantle
– Mantles rebalanced (particularly Death, Destruction, Fate, Force, Resolve, Storm, and Tremors) - Metaphysicist (Ranger)
– Features have been shuffled and replaced
– Now uses a Psionic Energy die and options (formerly maneuvers) are gained at 3rd level
– Focused Archer is now the 7th level feature
– Phase Arrow moved to 11th level
– New feature Psionic Adept added as 15th level feature - School of Cerbromancy (Wizard)
– Renamed (from Cerebromancer) to better fit Wizard subclass naming convention
Powers:
- 5 new psychoportation powers added (crystalline construct, enveloping darkness, spatial void, starcall, and stasis) bringing the total number of powers to 74 and allowing psychoportation to act as a stand-alone discipline
- Control light revamped and expanded to better match the intended flavor
- Intellect fortress renamed bastion of thought
- Stasis function of inertial barrier moved to proper stasis power; inertial barrier still slows movement through psychokinetic force, stasis alters the passage of time.
- Mind blade expanded to support greater than 10 power point expressions
- Mind thrust redesigned to be a maintained power
- Numerous errata across nearly all powers
Gameplay:
- Esoteric skill renamed Occult
- Spells now include options for artificers
- Dreamscape overhauled to have more rules and clarity to better equip DMs in crafting adventures using it. The rules presented are to offer guidance and direction, not firm boundaries given in the plane of Dreams possibilities are endless.
FAQ
Does TCoE Supernatural Regions replace Spiritfonts?
The two systems are compatable. WotC’s Regions tend to be more explicit effects, while PSHB’s Spiritfonts are more mechanical in nature allowing DMs to build environments. One way to put it is that the Spiritfont mechanic is a toolbox, while Supernatural Regions are display model products. Both are useful in different ways, and you can leverage either or both when building adventures and scenarios.
The [insert psychic class] does too little / too much damage.
The main culprit has been rest cycles. Too few short rests and psychics fall behind, too many and they pull ahead. The other is efficiency. By design round 1 and 2 psionic damage powers are intended to be less efficient than other classes, catching up in round 3, and then surpassing over time (unless they lose concentration). Trying to play a psychic like a sorcerer or evocation wizard will result in poor damage more often than not. In situations where spells like blade barrier and wall of fire are powerful, many psionic powers will likewise be powerful. If you suspect a power is out of line, as always, report the circumstances.
* Note that nondamage concentration effects are intended to be approximately equally efficient to spellcasters.
I don’t have enough power points.
Related to the above, this can occur when you get less than 2 short rests per long rest. The other common reason is manifesting powers at maximum power point cost instead of spending fewer points on more powers. If you manifest at max power point cost, you’re supposed to burn out fast. You have 1/3 the effective resources of an equivalent caster, so you should be mixing in lower level effects with the higher level effect. Also, non-maintenance powers should be used sparingly – psychic classes are built around maintenance and over time efficiency.
Why do some powers get free damage upgrades (e.g. crystalline construct, singularity)
This happens when the power should have effective damage, but do to how power point allocation works, in order to deliver that damage the primary (or secondary) effects would have to cost few power points, allowing them to be used at lower levels than intended. The automatic empowerment function is used to address this.