Another base class for my Magipunk setting. WIP. This idea is inspired by the character of Gilbert Gosseyn from the World of Null A (A.E. Van Vogt). EDIT: Not so much anymore... I'm severely editing this to make it more interesting.
Mentalist
Picture Credit: Google Image Search "To first approximation, all beings are alike; the trick is in enforcing reality to conform to the first approximation."-Sarvik Solmon, Professor Emeritus at Elder University, during his lecture series "Mentalism and Conflict".
A mentalist is one who has learned to use their minds in incredible ways, altering the world around them by looking for universal similarities.
MAKING A MENTALIST Thing
Abilities: Intelligence, intelligence, intelligence.
Races: Any.
Alignment: Any.
Starting Gold: As psion.
Starting Age: As psion.
Class SkillsThe Mentalist's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Athletics (Str), Concentration (Wis), Negotiation (Cha), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Psi (Int), and Scholarship (Int).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (2 + Int)x4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 2 + Int
| Table: The Mentalist | HD: d4 |
| |
Level | | 1 | | 2 | | 3 | | 4 | | 5 | | 6 | | 7 | | 8 | | 9 | | 10 | | 11 | | 12 | | 13 | | 14 | | 15 | | 16 | | 17 | | 18 | | 19 | | 20 |
| | | Base
Attack
Bonus | | +0 | | +1 | | +1 | | +2 | | +2 | | +3 | | +3 | | +4 | | +4 | | +5 | | +5 | | +6 | /+1 | | +6 | /+1 | | +7 | /+2 | | +7 | /+2 | | +8 | /+3 | | +8 | /+3 | | +9 | /+4 | | +9 | /+4 | | +10 | /+5 |
| | |
Fort
Save | | +0 | | +0 | | +1 | | +1 | | +1 | | +2 | | +2 | | +2 | | +3 | | +3 | | +3 | | +4 | | +4 | | +4 | | +5 | | +5 | | +5 | | +6 | | +6 | | +6 |
| | |
Ref
Save | | +0 | | +0 | | +1 | | +1 | | +1 | | +2 | | +2 | | +2 | | +3 | | +3 | | +3 | | +4 | | +4 | | +4 | | +5 | | +5 | | +5 | | +6 | | +6 | | +6 |
| | |
Will
Save | | +2 | | +3 | | +3 | | +4 | | +4 | | +5 | | +5 | | +6 | | +6 | | +7 | | +7 | | +8 | | +8 | | +9 | | +9 | | +10 | | +10 | | +11 | | +11 | | +12 |
| | |
Special | | Hyperawareness (skills), similarization +1 | | Mindspike | | Resonance 1 | | Mindwhirl | | Similarization +2 | | Memorize (move) | | Extra focus | | Hyperawareness (Reflex saves) | | Similarization +3 | | Brainspike | | Resonance 2 | | Memorize (swift) | | Similarization +4 | | Extra focus | | Hyperawareness (initiative) | | Brainwhirl | | Similarization +5 | | Memorize (immediate) | | Resonance 3 | | Assumption |
| | | Power
Points/
Day | | 2 | | 6 | | 11 | | 17 | | 25 | | 35 | | 46 | | 58 | | 72 | | 88 | | 106 | | 126 | | 147 | | 170 | | 195 | | 221 | | 250 | | 280 | | 311 | | 343 |
| | |
Powers
Known | | 2 | | 3 | | 4 | | 6 | | 8 | | 10 | | 12 | | 14 | | 16 | | 18 | | 20 | | 21 | | 22 | | 23 | | 24 | | 25 | | 26 | | 27 | | 28 | | 29 |
| | | Max Power
Level
Known | | 1st | | 1st | | 2nd | | 2nd | | 3rd | | 3rd | | 4th | | 4th | | 5th | | 5th | | 6th | | 6th | | 7th | | 7th | | 8th | | 8th | | 9th | | 9th | | 9th | | 9th |
|
Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: Mentalists are proficient with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, quarterstaff, and shortspear. They are not proficient with any type of armor or shield. Armor does not, however, interfere with the manifestation of powers.
Power Points/Day: A mentalist's ability to manifest powers is limited by the power points he has available. His base daily allotment of power points is given on the table above. In addition, he receives bonus power points per day if he has a high Intelligence score. His race may also provide bonus power points per day, as may certain feats and items.
Powers Known: A mentalist begins play knowing two mentalist powers of his choice. Each time he achieves a new level, he unlocks the knowledge of new powers, chosen from the mentalist power list. A mentalist can manifest any power that has a power point cost equal to or lower than his manifester level. The number of times a mentalist can manifest powers in a day is limited only by his daily power points. A mentalist simply knows his powers; they are ingrained in his mind. He does not need to prepare them (in the way that some spellcasters prepare their spells), though he must get a good night’s sleep each day to regain all his spent power points. The Difficulty Class for saving throws against mentalist powers is 10 + the power’s level + the mentalist's Intelligence modifier.
Maximum Power Level Known: A mentalist begins play with the ability to learn 1st-level powers. As he attains higher levels, a mentalist may gain the ability to master more complex powers. To learn or manifest a power, a mentalist must have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the power’s level.
Hyperawareness (Ex): A mentalist can enter a state of focus in which he is in tune with his surroundings to almost mythic proportions. Whenever a mentalist is psionically focused, he gains an insight bonus equal to Intelligence modifier on Perception checks. At 8th level, his awareness improves, granting him an insight bonus equal to Intelligence modifier on Reflex saves while psionically focused. Finally, at 15th level, he gains an insight bonus equal to his Intelligence modifier on initiative checks whenever he is psionically focused.
Similarization (Ex): In his state of extreme concentration, a mentalist can see the underlying similarities between all things, allowing him to exploit these similarities to his advantage. Whenever he manifests a power, a mentalist may expend psionic focus to gain a +1 bonus to his manifester level for that power; this bonus increases by an additional +1 for every 4 levels after 1st. Alternatively, he can expend his psionic focus while manifesting a mind-affecting power to allow him to use that power on a creature which is normally immune to mind-affecting effects, though the creature receives a +4 bonus on its save.
Mindspike (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a mentalist can use the immediacy of contact to cause damage to his opponent's psyche. The mentalist may expend his psionic focus and make a melee touch attack as a standard action to deal 1d4 Intelligence damage to his target.
Resonance (Ex): At 3rd level, a mentalist learns how to capitalize on the resonance between his mind and the essence of his targets. Whenever a creature fails a save against one of his powers, that creature gains a Resonance point for 24 hours. A creature receives a -1 penalty on all saves against the mentalist's powers for each Resonance point it has. At 11th level, each failed save grants the target 2 Resonance points, and at 18th level it increases again to 3 Resonance points per failed save.
Mindwhirl (Su): Once a mentalist of 4th level or higher has established Resonance with a creature, it becomes easier to affect them with his powers. As a standard action, a mentalist can expend his psionic focus to damage the mind of a creature currently affected by his Resonance ability. The target takes a number Intelligence damage equal to the number of Resonance points the creature currently has, with no save. This removes all Resonance points from the target.
Memorize (Su): Beginning at 6th level, a mentalist learns to memorize his surroundings in great detail, and by enforcing similarity between himself and a particular location he has memorized, he causes the greater to bridge the gap to the lesser. Whenever the mentalist gains psionic focus, he may choose to memorize the square he is in at the time. If he does so, at any later date, he may expend psionic focus as a move action to instantly teleport himself to the memorized square, provided the square is within 10 feet per class level of his current location. The memorization lasts indefinitely, until the mentalist chooses to memorize a new square. At 12th level, the mentalist may teleport as a swift action instead of a move action. At 18th level, he becomes able to teleport as an immediate action instead of a swift action, allowing him to avoid an attack of which he is aware if he so chooses (and has a focus to expend).
Extra focus (Ex): At 7th level, and again at 14th level, the number of simultaneous psionic foci that a mentalist can gain is increased by one.
Brainspike (Su): Beginning at 10th level, whenever a mentalist uses his Mindspike ability, he deals 1d4 each Charisma and Wisdom damage in addition to the Intelligence damage with a successful melee touch attack.
Brainwhirl (Su): Whenever a mentalist of 16th level or higher uses his Mindwhirl ability, he additionally deals an amount of Charisma and Wisdom damage equal to the amount of Resonance points the target has. This removes all Resonance points as normal.
Assumption (Su): Upon reaching 20th level, a mentalist has such an awareness and understanding of other creatures' psyches that he learns how to draw upon their mental energies for himself. As a full-round action, the mentalist may expend three psionic foci to force an opponent with which he has Resonance to make a Will save (DC 10 + 1/2 mentalist level + Intelligence modifier), subject to the penalty from Resonance. If the opponent fails the save, all the creature's Resonance points are removed, the opponent's Intelligence is reduced to 1 for 1d4 minutes, and the mentalist gains a bonus to Intelligence equal to the number of Resonance points the creature had, for the same length of time. Any existing Intelligence damage the creature suffered before being subject to his ability is suppressed for the duration of the effect, though any new Intelligence damage applies normally. A mentalist cannot benefit from more than one Intelligence bonus due to this ability at any given time; if two or more uses of this ability overlap, the mentalist benefits from the largest bonus only.
PLAYING A MENTALISTThing.
Combat: Thing.
Advancement: Thing.
MENTALISTS IN THE WORLD"Thing."-Guy
A brief description of how your class is persevered in the world and how he interacts with the world.
Daily Life: Some general information about the typical day in the life of your class.
Notables: Make up some cool information about notable figures in the history of your class. It's best to give a little information from one of the good alignment and evil alignment (unless it's a good or evil only class).
Organizations: Thing.
NPC Reaction This is an in detail description of how NPC's would perceive your class and the immediate generalization that people would give of your class.
MENTALISTS IN THE GAME This is a good place to provide a quick note on how your class will effect game play statistically.
Adaptation: This is a place where you put in detail how people can adapt your class into their campaign setting.
Encounters: This is a place to describe what sort of encounters PC's will have with NPC versions of your class.
Sample EncounterGive an example of how one might encounter a member of this PrC.
EL x: Give the encounter level and description of a sample member of this class and a stat block for him/her.
GUYThing
Init +0,
Senses: Listen +, Spot +,
Languages ------------------------------------------------
AC , touch , flat-footed ()
hp ( HD)
Fort +,
Ref +,
Will +
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Speed 30 ft. (6 squares)
Melee Base Atk +,
Grp +
Atk Options Combat GearSpells Prepared Supernatural Abilities -----------------------------------------------
Abilities STATS
SQ Feats Skills Possessions
