Psionic

Class Features

Spells Known of 1st Level and Higher

At 1st level, you know two 1st-level spells of your choice from the Psionic spell list.

The Spells Known column of the Psionic table shows when you learn more Psionic spells of your choice of 1st level and higher. A spell you choose must be of a level no higher than half your Psionic level rounded up. When you reach 5th level, for example, you learn a new Psionic spell, which can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level.

Additionally, when you gain a level in this class, you can choose one of the Psionic spells you know and replace it with another spell from the Psionic spell list, which also must be of a level no higher than half your Psionic level rounded up.

Spellcasting Ability

Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your Psionic spells, since you cast them by mastering the power of your psyche. You use your Intelligence whenever a spell refers to your spellcasting ability. In addition, you use your Intelligence modifier when setting the saving throw DC for a Psionic spell you cast and when making an attack roll with one.

Superior Concentration

Starting at 7th level, you can add your proficiency bonus to Constitution saving throws made to maintain concentration (this stacks if you are proficient with Constitution saves).

If you would lose concentration on an effect (such as by failing a concentration check or by concentrating on a second effect), as a reaction you can spend 1 Psi point to maintain concentration on that effect for one round. You cannot concentrate on more than 2 effects at once this way.

Partitioned Mind

Your psychic thought shield has grown in power. Starting at 11th level you gain the following benefits:

• So long as you have Psi points remaining equal to at least your Psionic level minus 5, you have immunity to psychic damage and resistance to bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage.
• So long as you have at least 5 Psi points remaining, you have resistance to psychic damage.
• As a bonus action on your turn, you can spend 1 Psi point to end the charmed or frightened condition on yourself.
• As a reaction when someone tries to read your mind, you can spend 1 Psi point to cause them to read whatever you wish instead of the truth.

Superpower

At 15th, 17th, and 20th level, you learn a Superpower associated with one of the Disciplines you know.

Scion

At 20th level, you can spend one minute in quiet meditation to regain 2d6+8 Psi points. Once you use this feature, you cannot do so again until you complete a long rest.

Revelations

Devouring Maw

Starting at 10th level, you can magically draw forth a manifestation of the outer beings' insatiable hunger. As an action, choose a point you can see within 60 feet of you. For 1 minute, a mass of translucent tentacles surrounding an inky black maw manifests in a 10-foot radius centered on that point. Each creature in that area when the maw appears must succeed on a Strength saving throw against your spell save DC or be restrained. Any creature that starts its turn in the maw’s area takes 3d6 psychic or necrotic damage (your choice when it takes the damage). As an action, a restrained creature can repeat the saving throw, ending the restraint on a success. At the start of your turn, if there is a creature in the maw’s area, you gain temporary hit points equal to your Psionic level.

Once you use this feature, you can’t do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Unleash the Depths

Starting at 14th level, you gain the ability to call upon the outer beings for aid. As an action, you choose a point within 30 feet of you where one of the great old ones tears through reality, manifesting a measure of its terrible power in the form of spectral eldritch tentacles. Choose one of the following effects to issue from this manifestation point.
After you use either effect the tentacles vanish, and you can’t use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

Transport. You and up to five willing creatures of your choice that you can see within 30 feet of the manifestation point are grasped by spectral tentacles and yanked through the space between spaces. The tentacles teleport you and the chosen creatures to a point of your choice within 100 miles that you have visited within the past 24 hours.

Fury. You can direct a barrage of spectral tentacles to issue forth and strike up to five creatures you can see within 30 feet of the manifestation point. Each target must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, the creature takes 6d10 psychic or necrotic damage (your choice) and is knocked prone. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage and is not knocked prone.

The Epiphany

The Embryo

Imago

At 20th level, you reach maturity as a true Mind Flayer. You lose all racial features and instead gain the following:

Your Mind Blast feature now has (Recharge 5-6) and it deals 4d8 + your Intelligence modifier psychic damage. The stun effect now lasts one minute, but the target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns to end the stun effect. You can no longer retract your tentacles, but they now deal 2d10 + your Intelligence modifier psychic damage.

The DM may take control of your character at this point, or they may allow you to forgo this feature and maintain control.

Each Discipline is a series of incrementally stronger Powers. To the left of each Power is a number, indicating the number of Psi points you must expend to activate that Power. Unless otherwise noted, activating a Power is an action. When you activate a Power, you can also activate any number of cheaper Powers in the same Discipline as part of the same action (unless that would be contradictory or impossible) without spending additional Psi Points. You cannot spend more Psi points on a Power than half your Psionic level, rounded up.

Each Discipline is capped by a Superpower. You learn a Superpower at level 15, 17, and 20. You must know a Discipline to learn its associated Superpower. Unless otherwise noted, Superpowers are constant.

Though several Powers duplicate the effects of spells, Powers are not spells and do not require any components. You cause their effects through sheer psychic prowess. They do still require concentration if the spell requires it.

Chakras

(If your target is unwilling, you must make an attack with an unarmed strike as part of the same action to touch them.)

• 0: A touched creature who is charmed, frightened, stunned, or unconscious as the result of failing a saving throw may reroll that saving throw, ending the condition on a success.
• 1: As part of the above action, include the blinded, deafened, poisoned, and paralyzed conditions as well. The creature also gets advantage on the reroll.
• 3: Touch a creature and choose one:

-- It is poisoned for one minute.

-- It is stunned until the end of your next turn.

-- It takes 3d10+your Intelligence modifier psychic damage

• 5: A touched creature is paralyzed for one hour.

Akshobhya: When you deal psychic damage to a creature with a melee weapon attack (including unarmed strike), you can spend 3 Psi points to implant imperceptible psychic vibrations in the creature, which last for a number of days equal to your Psionic level. The vibrations are harmless unless you use your action to end them. To do so, you and the target must be on the same plane of existence. When you use this action, the creature must make an Intelligence saving throw, taking 10d10 psychic damage on a failure, or half that much on a success.

You can have only one creature under the effect of this feature at a time. You can choose to end the vibrations harmlessly without using an action.

Clairvoyance

• 0: The range of all of your senses is doubled for one minute.
• 1: Designate a creature you can see within 30 feet of you. For up to one hour, you see and hear through that creature's senses instead of your own.
• 3: You cause the effects of a clairvoyance spell.
• 5: You cause the effects of a scrying spell.

Farsight: The range of Powers in this Discipline and Divination spell effects you cause is increased by 100 miles or doubled, whichever is greater, and their duration is increased by 24 hours or doubled, whichever is greater.

Fortune

• 0: You gain 1 Luck point. You must finish a long rest before you can do this again.
• 2: You cause the effects of an augury spell.
• 4: You cause the effects of a divination spell.

Forethought: You gain 1 Luck point whenever you finish a short rest. You can use your Luck points on behalf of other creatures you can see within 30 feet of you.

Illusion

• 0: You cause the effects of a minor illusion spell, but you can create both a sound and an image with the same activation.
• 1: You cause the effects of a silent image spell.
• 3: You cause the effects of a major image spell.
• 4: You cause the effects of a hallucinatory terrain spell.
• 5: You cause the effects of a seeming spell.

Reality Trick: You can cause the effects of a major image spell as an action at will.

Mind over Matter

• 0: You gain proficiency with up to four weapons of your choice for one minute.
• 1: You can use your Intelligence score in place of your Strength score for one minute.
• 3: You can use your Intelligence score in place of your Constitution score for one minute. If this would increase your maximum hit points, you gain temporary hit points equal to the increase instead.
• 5: You can use your Intelligence score in place of your Dexterity score for one minute.

Psychical: You can use your Intelligence score in place of your Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity score for any ability check or saving throw that uses one of those scores.

Kinesis

• 0: You cause the effects of a mage hand spell, except the spectral hand is invisible.
• 1: You cause the effects of a catapult spell.
• 3: You cause the effects of a levitate spell, but you can move the target at up to a 45 degree angle.
• 5: You cause the effects of a telekinesis spell.

Phase Shift: As an action, choose a contiguous area of unattended nonmagical matter no larger than a 5 foot cube that you can see within 30 feet of you. Over the course of the next minute, so long as you maintain concentration, that matter shifts by one phase and changes temperature accordingly: you can cause a solid to melt, a liquid to freeze or evaporate, or a gas to condense. The transition happens gradually, starting from the outer edges and working toward the center at a rate of 1 inch per second (6 inches per round).

You can spend Psi points as part of this action to affect an additional area of matter at the same time for each Psi point you spend.

Levitation

• 0: You cause the effects of a levitate spell targeting yourself.
• 1: You gain a flying speed of 20 feet for one minute.
• 3: You gain a flying speed of 60 feet for one hour.
• 5: You gain a flying speed of 90 feet for eight hours.

Hyperflight: You have a flying speed of 120 feet.

Mind's Eye

• 0: You gain Darkvision 120 feet for one minute.
• 1: You can see normally in darkness, including magical darkness, up to 120 feet for one minute.
• 3: You can sense any creature with an Intelligence score of 3 or higher within 60 feet of you for one minute.
• 5: You gain Blindsight 30 feet for one minute.

Truesight: You have Truesight 60 feet.

Mind Reading

• 0: For the next hour, the range of your Telepathy class feature becomes 120 feet, and any creature you speak to with it can respond in kind.
• 1: You cause the effects of a detect thoughts spell.
• 3: You cause the effects of a sending spell.
• 5: Touch or link hands with a number of other willing creatures up to your Intelligence modifier (minimum 1). For the next 24 hours, you and those creatures can communicate telepathically with each other regardless of distance. The effect does not fuction for a creature on a different plane of existence than you. You can dispel the effects of this power at will.
  If you target the same creatures with this Power every day for 10 days, the duration becomes "until dispelled".

Omnithought: You are permanently under the effects of a detect thoughts spell with a range of 120 feet. If a target of your detect thoughts fails its saving throw, it does not become aware that you are probing its mind.

Phasing

• 0: As a reaction when an attacker you can see hits you with an attack, halve the attack's damage against you.
• 1: You phase into the Ethereal plane long enough to move through a wall or other solid obstacle. You can move no further than 10 feet this way, after which you return to the Material plane.
• 3: You cause the effects of a greater invisibilty spell targeting yourself.
• 5: You cause the effects of an etherealness spell with a duration of "up to 1 hour (concentration)".

Ethereality: You can spend 5 feet of movement on your turn to cause or dispel the effects of an etherealness spell with a duration of "until dispelled".

Psi Laser

• 0: You cause the effects of an eldritch blast spell, dealing psychic damage instead of force and adding your Intelligence modifier to the damage rolled.
• 1: As part of the above action, you can cause any creatures dealt damage this way to move up to 10 feet closer to you or further from you in a straight line. (You can choose separately for each creature.)
• 3: As part of the above action, creatures dealt damage this way must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw at your Psionic Spell Save DC or be stunned for one round.
• 5: As part of the above action, creatures dealt damage this way must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw at your Psionic Spell Save DC or be poisoned for one minute.

Quickshock: You can activate any of this Discipline's Powers as an action or a bonus action.

Translocation

• 0: Choose an unoccupied space you can see within 30 feet. Until the start of your next turn, you are considered to be in both spaces at once, as you rapidly oscillate between them. Attacks and other effects can target you in either space, but they have disadvantage. If an attack hits you or another effect deals damage to you, this effect ends and you appear in the space where you were damaged. Otherwise, you appear in the chosen space at the start of your next turn.
• 1: You cause the effects of a misty step spell.
• 3: You cause the effects of a dimension door spell.
• 5: You cause the effects of a teleport spell.

Everblink: You can cause the effects of a dimension door spell as an action at will, and you can cause the effects of a planeshift spell as an action for a cost of 5 Psi Points.

Taboos

Each time you learn a Discipline, either choose a Taboo or roll on the following table. You can also work with your DM to create a custom Taboo fitting your character. You cannot take the same Taboo more than once.

Psionic Spell List

Optional Alternate Psi Method

For those who want Psionics to be more like earlier edition Psionics, or just more different from other current edition spellcasting classes, here is an optional alternate way to handle Psi features instead of Psi points.

Alternate Psionics

You do not have Psi points. Instead, each time you would spend one or more Psi points, make an Intelligence saving throw with a DC of 15 minus your Psionic level. On a failure, you cannot do things that would require spending Psi points until you finish a long rest. On a success, the effect happens, and the save DC for doing this next time is increased by the number of Psi points you would have spent on it.

For example, say you are a level 5 Psionic. You activate the 3 point Psi Laser Power by making an Intelligence save at DC 10. Next round you cast the Catapult spell at 2nd level by making an Intelligence save at DC 13. Next round you activate the 0 point Psi Laser Power without needing to roll a saving throw. Next round, you attempt to cast the 3rd level Fly spell by making an Intelligence save at DC 15, but you fail the save and can no longer do things that would require spending Psi points until you finish a long rest. And so next round you activate the 0 point Psi Laser Power again instead.

Notably, even after failing the save, you can still cause psychic effects with a Psi point cost of 0, including effects whose cost has been reduced to 0 by Sensory Deprivation.

Any time you would regain Psi points (such as when you finish a short rest), the save DC is reduced by the number of Psi points you would regain, to a minimum of 15 minus your Psionic level. Using the 20th level Scion feature also counts as finishing a long rest for the purposes of this feature if you have failed the saving throw since your last long rest.