Empathic Mind

by Celestro

Search GM Binder Visit User Profile

Empathic Mind

An Empathic Mind is a being whose strength is channeled through their emotions rather than through the mind like most psions. Though empathy is experienced by many, these individuals are empaths in the most literal sense. They are not limited to truly feeling the emotions of others but also manipulating them, bringing out the most extreme of emotions in those around them or even harnessing their own for the sake of self-empowerment.

These psion can vary from diabolical oppressors to uplifting leaders. In their allies they extend the feelings of courageousness and hope for a brighter future while in their enemies, they instill absolute fear and disarray into even the most seasoned of warriors.

Empathic Mind Features

Psion Level Feature
1st Emotional Control, Uncanny Insight
3rd Empath's Specialty
6th Empowered Empathy
10th Empath's Mastery
14th Empathic Network

Emotional Control

At 1st level when you select this archetype, manipulating emotions and connecting with others becomes an innate power of yours, granting the psionic discipline of Empathy.

Uncanny Insight

Additionally at 1st level, you possess keen insight into how other creatures think and feel through emotional detection. You gain expertise in the Insight skill, allowing you to add twice your proficiency bonus to ability checks using it.

However, if you make an Insight check against a creature that is immune to being charmed or frightened, you only add your proficiency bonus to the check.

Empath's Specialty

Starting at 3rd level, you adopt a particular specialty in the use of your empathic abilities that focuses on emotional empowerment, empathic wards, or emotional resonance. When you gain this feature, choose one of the following specializations:

Empathic Ward

You gain the Empathic Transfer talent. If you already have the talent, it does not count against your Psionic Talents known but cannot be switched out on leveling up.

When a creature would gain temporary hit points from the Empathic Transfer, you can choose for the creature to instead gain an empathic ward with hit points equal to the temporary hit points the creature would've received. This ward fades away at the start of your next turn or when you use Empathic Link in this manner again. When this ward fades away, you regain hit points equal to half of the ward's hit points that remained.

When a creature with the ward takes damage, the ward takes the damage instead. If this damage reduces the ward to 0 hit points, the creature takes any remaining damage.

Embodied Emotions

You gain the Empathic Weapon talent. If you already have the talent, it does not count against your Psionic Talents known but cannot be switched out on leveling up.

In addition, when you use Empathic Link on yourself, you can embody an emotion of your choice from the Embodied Emotions table below, gaining its passive and bonus effects until the start of your next turn.

Embodied Emotions Table
Emotion Passive Bonus
Fury Your melee weapon attacks can use your Intelligence instead of Strength or Dexterity for the attack and damage rolls. Your next melee attack deals an additional 1d4 damage on a hit but you take an additional 1d4 damage the next time you take damage.
Joy You can use your Intelligence in place of your Dexterity for calculating your AC with or without armor. You gain a +1 bonus to your AC but your attack rolls are reduced by 1d4.
Fear You can use your Intelligence in place of Dexterity for initiative rolls and Dexterity saving throws against area effects you can see. Your movement speed is increased by 10 feet but you cannot make opportunity attacks.
Emotional Resonance

You gain the Emotional Spike talent. If you already have the talent, it does not count against your Psionic Talents known but cannot be switched out on leveling up.

In addition, once per round, when a creature succeeds on a saving throw against your Empathic Link, it gains Emotional Resonance until the end of your next turn. A creature can only have one Emotional Resonance at a time. Choose one of the following resonance types:

  • Irritated (Fury). The creature has disadvantage on the first weapon attack roll it makes against a creature other than you.
  • Spooked (Fear). If the creature moves closer to you on its turn, it treats that movement as difficult terrain.
  • Exhilarated (Joy). The creature can’t make opportunity attacks against you, and you have advantage on any ability check you make to interact socially with the creature.

If you use Empathic Link against an unwilling creature that has Emotional Resonance or is charmed by you, frightened of you, or under an Empathy effect that imposes disadvantage on its attacks, it makes that saving throw with disadvantage.

Empowered Empathy

Starting at 6th level, when you deal damage with an Empathy psionic power or when a creature would gain temporary hit points from one of your Empathy effects, you can increase the damage dealt or temporary hit points by your Intelligence modifier.

Empath's Mastery

Starting at 10th level, you become even more proficient in your empathic specialization. You gain the following benefits based on your chosen Empath's Specialty feature:

Empathic Ward

You learn to permanently take away the pain of others. When a creature would gain temporary hit points from Empathic Transfer, you can instead restore hit points equal to half the temporary hit points it would have gained.

Additionally, if you would regain hit points after the temporary hit points or empathic ward granted by Empathic Transfer fades, you gain temporary hit points equal to any hit points that would exceed your hit point maximum.

Embodied Emotions

You've learned to steady your embodied emotions and change them accordingly. You ignore the drawback listed in your Embodied Emotion's Bonus entry. You can also embody two emotions instead of only one when you use Empathic Link on yourself.

Emotional Resonance

You learn to “ride the wave” of an enemy’s faltering will to dictate exactly how your emotions take hold. When you use Empathic Link against an unwilling creature, you choose which Empathic Link modifiers to apply after the creature fails its saving throw, instead of when you choose the target.

Additionally, on a successful save, the creature still takes the 1d4 penalty from Empathic Link on their next attack roll, ability check or saving throw.

Empathic Network

Beginning at 14th level, you can connect yourself to a multitude of creatures all at once through your psionic abilities. When you use Empathic Link, you can spend 1 psi point to allow it to target an additional creature within the power's range, up to 3 psi points. If empowered, only the original target of Empathic Link receives the modifier effects. You can use Psionic Mastery points on this feature.

While at least one creature is under the effects of your Empathic Link power, you can use one of the following effects based on your chosen Empath's Specialty feature. Once you do so, you cannot do so again until you finish a short or long rest.

Empathic Ward

Your bonds become a shared bulwark, turning one's pain into a distributed burden carried across the link. When a creature within 30 feet of you would take damage, you can use your reaction to ward it for that instance of damage. Choose any number of creatures under the effects of your Empathic Link (minimum 1). Divide the triggering damage by 1 + the number of chosen creatures (rounded up). The target, you and the chosen creature(s) each takes that amount of damage of the same type.

Embodied Emotions

You harness the heightened emotions of every creature linked to you. Each bonus below for your Embodied Emotion is multiplied by the number of creatures affected by your Empathic Link:

  • Fury. The damage die of your next melee attack.
  • Joy. Your AC bonus.
  • Fear. Your movement speed bonus.
Emotional Resonance

When multiple foes crack under your empathic pressure at once, their collective instability feeds back into you as a surge of volatile, weaponized feeling. When you use Empathic Link on one or more unwilling creatures, you gain Resonance equal to the number of unwilling targets that failed their saving throw against Empathic Link. You can spend Resonance as follows:

  • 1 Resonance. Apply Fuming, Jubilating, or Harrowing to one of the failed targets.
  • 2 Resonance. Apply Fuming, Jubilating, and Harrowing to one of those failed targets.

Any unspent Resonance is lost at the end of your turn.

Empathy Discipline

Empathy is the ability to sense and manipulate the emotions of creatures using your psionic abilities.

Empathic Sense

You can attempt to sense the emotions of creatures within 30 feet of you. Once during your turn, you can make a Wisdom (Insight) check contested by a creature’s Charisma (Deception) check. On a success, you learn whether the creature's surface emotion is love, anger, pain, fear, calm, or something else, and you have advantage on your next Insight, Persuasion or Intimidation ability check against it within the next minute. Additionally, until the end of your next turn, you learn if that creature’s emotional state shifts to a different category. You cannot use this feature on the same creature again until the start of your next turn.

Empathic Healing (Prerequisite: Empathic Transfer or Empathy)

At the start of your turns, if you took damage when using the Empathic Transfer or Empathy talent or from the warding bond spell during the previous round, you can use any number of hit dice to regain hit points equal to your hit die + your Intelligence modifier. However, the hit points regained cannot exceed the psychic damage that was taken.

In addition, whenever you finish a short or long rest, you regain an additional Hit Die.

Empathic Transfer

You can empathetically transfer pain into yourself temporarily. When you use Empathic Link, you can choose to use the power with a range of touch instead of its default range on a target that is missing any of its hit points. When you do so, you can take an amount of psychic damage up to your proficiency bonus and the target of the power gains temporary hit points equal to twice the damage you took. These temporary hit points fade away at the start of your next turn or when you use Empathic Link in this manner again. Psychic damage taken in this manner cannot be reduced or prevented in any way.

When these temporary hit points fade away, you regain hit points equal to half of the temporary hit points that remained.

Empathic Weapon

You gain the ability to create an empathic bond between yourself and a non-sentient melee weapon. You undergo the process of establishing this bond over the course of 1 hour, which can be done during a short or long rest. The weapon must be within your reach throughout the process, at the conclusion of which you touch the weapon to create the bond. You can only affect one weapon in this manner and if you attempt to bond with another weapon, you must break the bond with the first.

While bonded to a weapon, it is capable of communicating how it feels and its emotion to you as though it was a sentient magic item and you know its general location while it isn't being carried by you as long as you are on the same plane as it. Additionally, when you make an attack as part of the Attack action with your bonded weapon, you can target yourself with Empathic Link as a bonus action.

Empathy (Prerequisite: Telepathy or Empathy Discipline)

You can psionically link yourself to other creatures. As a reaction to a creature you can see within 120 feet of you taking damage, you can grant them resistance to the damage taken, but you take psychic damage equal to the damage they take (after resistance). The damage you take can’t be reduced or prevented in any way.

If the damage would inflict any further negative status effect on the target, you can choose for that effect to affect you instead.

If you have any form of telepathic bond that allows long-distance telepathic communication affecting the creature taking this damage, the range is unlimited and you do not need to be able to see them.

Empowered Link (Prerequisite: Empathy)

You can strengthen the empathetic link you establish with other creatures. While an allied creature is under the effects of your Empathic Link or the warding bond spell, you gain the following benefits:

  • You can use the Empathy talent to transfer any damage you take to the target instead.
  • When you take damage from the warding bond spell, you have resistance to that damage.

Hostility Sense

You can acutely sense the hostility of creatures even when you're unable to see them, allowing you to predict when they would mean you harm.

When you make a successful check using your Empathic Sense feature against a creature, you are aware of the target's location for the duration of the feature's effect. While you have this knowledge, the target can’t become hidden from you, and if it’s invisible, it gains no benefit from that condition against you.

You can affect creatures in this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus and cannot do so again until you finish a long rest.

Emotional Spike

You can target an unwilling creature with your Empathic Link, allowing its modifier to gain different effects when added to the power. A target that is not willing can make a Wisdom saving throw to avoid the effects, only suffering the effect on a failure. On a failed save, until the start of your next turn, the target receives a 1d4 penalty to their next attack roll, ability check or saving throw (your choice).

  • Compelling (0+ psi points). The target suffers an emotional backlash the first time it deals damage or targets another creature with a harmful ability for the power's duration. The target takes (1 + the number of psi points spent)d8 psychic damage.
  • Poignant (1 psi point): The d4 penalty is applied to all of the target's ability checks, saving throws and attack rolls.
  • Fuming (1 psi point): The target has disadvantage on attack rolls against creatures other than you until the end of your next turn.
  • Jubilating (1 psi point): The target is charmed by you or another creature you can see within 30 feet of the target until the end of your next turn.
  • Harrowing (1 psi point): The target is frightened of you or another creature you can see within 30 feet of the target until the end of your next turn.

Mood Management

Your empathic control lets you shoulder emotional distortions or smother them through sheer force of will. When you use Empathic Link on a creature that is charmed or frightened, you can spend 1 psi point to remove the condition from the target and apply it to yourself for its remaining duration. You can use Psionic Mastery on this ability.

Additionally, as a bonus action, you can concentrate (as if concentrating on a spell) to suppress the effects of the charmed and frightened conditions on yourself. These conditions resume if your concentration ends.

Poignant Safeguard (Prerequisite: 10th-level Psion)

You can rebuff attempts at influencing your emotions and rebound their force. Once per round, when you succeed on a save against being charmed or frightened, you can choose to fail instead. The effect applies, but is suppressed as if through the calm emotions spell.

While you have a suppressed charm or fear, when a creature attempts to charm or frighten you, you can use your reaction to force it to make a Wisdom save against your psionic save DC. On a failure, it becomes charmed or frightened by you (matching the attempted effect) until the end of its next turn.

You can use this reaction even if you’ve already used your reaction this round, but only once per round.

Reflected Agony (Prerequisite: Empathy or Telepathy Discipline)

When a creature within 120 feet that you can see deals damage to you, you can use your reaction to spend 1 or more psi points (up to your psi limit) to share the pain you experienced back at them, dealing 1d10 psychic damage per point spent. The damage this deals can’t exceed the damage taken from the attack.

Shared Threshold

When a creature you can see within 30 feet would be reduced to 0 hit points, you can use your reaction to instead reduce it to 1 hit point. When you do so, you immediately take psychic damage equal to your proficiency bonus and cannot use this talent again until you finish a short or long rest. The damage dealt by this talent cannot be reduced or prevented.

Fusion Talent

Emotion Eater (Prerequisite: Psionic Synthesis, Consumption Discipline, Empathy Discipline)

You gorge on the emotions of those in the area and those you target with your psionic abilities. When you or a creature within 30 feet of you would be subject to an effect that causes you or them to be frightened or charmed due to a spell, you can expend a number of psi points equal to half of the spell's level (rounded up) and use your reaction to remove the effect.

Additionally, if you deal psychic damage to a creature with a psionic power that is frightened, charmed or under an effect that influences their emotions, you can remove the effect and regain hit points equal to the number of psi points spent on the psionic power. If the creature isn't under an effect that causes them to be frightened, charmed or any effect that influences their emotions, you can reduce their speed by half for a number of rounds equal to the psi points spent on the power instead as they become devoid of emotion.

Empathic Transference (Prerequisite: Psionic Synthesis, Empathy talent, Bilocation Discipline)

Your empathic link with your duplicates runs deeper than form or thought as your pain and theirs become one. You gain the following benefits:

  • Shared Burden. When you would take damage while you have at least one active duplicate created by your Psychic Double power, you can use your reaction to gain resistance to the triggering damage. After taking the damage, you can then reduce it further by dividing it by any number of your duplicates within 120 feet of you. After the damage is reduced in this way, the remaining amount is dealt to you as its normal damage type and to your duplicates as psychic damage.
  • Willing Transfer. When one of your duplicates would take damage, you can choose to take the damage instead (no action required). When you do so, you gain resistance to that instance of damage.

Soulforged Weapon (Prerequisite: Psionic Synthesis, Empathic Weapon talent, Spiritism Discipline)

When you bond with a weapon through your Empathic Weapon talent, you forge a sliver of your soul into it. In addition to the normal benefits of Empathic Weapon, the weapon awakens further: it understands the languages you know, and it can see and hear out to 30 feet. As an action, you can perceive through the weapon’s senses until the start of your next turn. While doing so, you are blind and deaf with regard to your own senses.

Additionally, you can perform somatic components for psionic powers with a hand carrying the weapon and you gain proficiency with the weapon if you weren't already proficient. While Soul Integration is active, when you use Empathic Link to target only yourself as a bonus action, the next Soul Integration modifier you apply to a weapon attack this turn costs 1 less psi point (minimum 1).

If a hostile creature attempts to wield your bonded weapon, the weapon resists its control. The creature is treated as not proficient with the weapon and has disadvantage on attack rolls with it.

Telempathetic Connection (Prerequisite: Psionic Synthesis, Telepathy Discipline, Empathy Discipline)

You gain the ability to add Telepathic Intrusion modifiers to Empathic Link.

Additionally, when you use Empathic Link or a spell from your Empathy Alternate Effects list on a willing creature, you both become mentally synchronized for the power or spell's duration. When making an attack roll, saving throw or ability check that uses Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma while synchronized, you or the linked creature can use a reaction to add the applicable ability modifier of the other creature to the roll instead of their own ability modifier.

Appendix: Spells

Frighten

1st-level necromancy

  • Classes: Troubadour, Warlock, Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 action
  • Range: 60 feet
  • Components: V, S, M (a melee weapon you are proficient with worth at least 1 sp).
  • Duration: Concentration, 1 minute

You invoke a sudden fear within a creature you can see within range. The target creature must succeed a Wisdom saving throw, or become frightened for the duration. The frightened target can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a 2nd level or higher, you can target one additional creature for each slot above 1st.

Injunction

5th-level enchantment

  • Classes: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 minute
  • Range: 60 feet
  • Components: V
  • Duration: 30 days

You magically bind a creature that can understand you within range to either complete or abstain from some action or activity. It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed by you for the duration. Once per turn while charmed in this way, the target's current and maximum hit points are reduced by 5d10 if its behavior contradicts your instructions. This reduction lasts until the spell ends.

You can issue any command you choose, though the spell ends if you issue a suicidal command. The creature's death does not end the spell.

As an action, you can end the spell early. Remove curse cast at the spell's level also ends the spell. Greater restoration ends the reduction of the target's hit point maximum, but it does not end the spell.

At Higher Levels. The spell reduces maximum hit points by an additional 1d10 for each slot level above 5th. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 7th or 8th level, the duration is 1 year. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 9th level, the spell lasts until it is ended by one of the spells mentioned above.

Symbol of Resilience

3rd-level abjuration

  • Classes: Cleric
  • Casting Time: 1 action
  • Range: Self
  • Components: V, S
  • Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You create a tiny symbol above you, which radiates hope in a 30-foot radius until the spell ends. The symbol can take whatever form you choose, such as that of your deity. As a bonus action on your turn, you can move the symbol up to 30 feet.

Each nonhostile, living creature in the symbol's radius (including you) has advantage on Wisdom saving throws, adds your spellcasting ability modifier to its death saving throws (treating rolls equal to or above 20 as a natural 20), and regains the maximum number of hit points possible from any healing.

The first time a nonhostile, living creature starts its turn in the symbol's radius, it can use a bonus action to spend two Hit Dice to regain hit points as if it had taken a short rest. If the creature had fewer hit points than half its hit point maximum, it also gains an equivalent number of temporary hit points until the spell ends.

At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the amount of Hit Dice a creature can spend increases by 1 for each slot level above 3rd.

Unbridled Fury

2nd-level enchantment

  • Classes: Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
  • Casting Time: 1 action
  • Range: 120 feet
  • Components: V, S
  • Duration: Concentration, up to 1 minute

You plant an unquenchable rage in the mind of one humanoid you can see within range. The target must make a Wisdom saving throw or become charmed by you, their eyes glowing with a fiery light. When you cast the spell, or as an action on subsequent turns, you may activate this rage.

If their rage is activated, at the beginning of the target's turn, they must move up to their speed towards the closest other creature and use their action to make 1 melee attack against them. If their rage is not activated or they cannot reach another creature, the target may take their turn as normal. Regardless, they may attempt a Wisdom saving throw at the end of their turn, ending the spell on a success.

At Higher Levels. If you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the target makes 2 attacks if they possess an ability that would normally allow them to make more than one attack on their turn.

Changelog

v0.1

  • Revamped a number of things so almost virutally back to being a rough draft (but also want to track changes in general)
Credits & References:

All systems and spells used with permission of their creator.

Mechanics

Spells

  • by KibblesTasty: Frighten
  • by somanyrobots & Omega Ankh: Captivate, Injunction, Power Word Nap, Symbol of Resilience, Unbridled Fury
Fan Content Policy

This work is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.

5E SRD Content

  • This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available here.

  • The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available here.

WWW.GMBINDER.COM

 

This document was lovingly created using GM Binder.


If you would like to support the GM Binder developers, consider joining our Patreon community.