Psionics for Shayakand

Edited by Jonathan Jacobs

Shayakand is an upcoming Nevermet Press campaign setting that draws inspiration from the Vedic Age of India, the Funan and Chenla empires of southeast Asia, and the Meiji Period of Japan. The goal of the Shayakand project is to develop a setting for the Pathfinder RPG. When thinking about how magic works in light of the Pathfinder ruleset, one idea keeps asking to be addressed.

What about yogis?

Traditionally, yogis possess mystical abilities. The most notable of these include the ability to levitate and the ability to disappear. When thinking about these abilities for a type of Vedic spell caster, neither magic nor channeled energy from a deity fit very well. In other words, it’s not that a yogi eschews materials to cast a spells – the ability is more effortless than that. Then again, although a yogi draws from spiritual inspiration, enlightenment comes more from oneness with the universe rather than the will of a deity. At this point, the best fit in terms of game mechanics appears to be psionic ability.

To put it another way: In a typical stock fantasy setting (i.e D&D), clerics use divine power that comes from outside the physical world. Their power comes from a deity residing somewhere in the Outer Planes who sends it to each cleric directly. Wizards and Sorcerers use power drawn directly from the physical world. This could be nature, ley lines, even the Positive/Negative Energy planes. Psionics, on the other hand, draw power from an inner world. The power comes from the mind reaching out and manipulating the universe.

Aside from the metaphysics of it, an issue occurs when dealing with psionics in the Pathfinder system. Should a GM just bring over the d20 rules? Is it worth the time to work up a different kind of skill and feat system? Maybe the answer is something altogether different.

To start the discussion – here’s one sketch of an idea and some of my own background thoughts. Descartes explained that psionics come from the soul, through the pineal gland into the higher brain and then out of the body to affect the physical universe. As such, psionics have an outside power source and a biological function. In some forms of yoga, the Kecharimudra attunes a person’s spiritual enlightenment by pushing towards the pineal gland. Not only would this speak to a physical reason for psionic powers, but provide a means to channel energy from that power source.

In thinking about actual statistics and class features, psionicists share certain aspects of the other three spell casting classes.

• A psionicist could use something like the Channel Energy ability and the associated feats, but targets are not determined by alignment. The Selective Channeling feat would almost seem like an automatic feat for a psion.

• Borrowing from d20, psionicists could use something akin to the Wizards’ Arcane School ability. In this case,  the ‘schools’ could be Mental Disciplines. The Disciplines would include Clairsentience, Metacreativity, Psychokinesis, Psychometabolism, Psychoportation and Telepathy.

• Thinking about the biology of psionics, there could be a genetic reason for this kind of power. In that way, a psionicists could have bloodline powers like Sorcerers.

Assuming that Psicrystals and Psionic item creation feats are gone, would some amalgam like this work at all? Does a psioncist need to have psicrystals?

What do you think? How would you handle psionics? In a broader sense, do you think psionics are necessary to convey the flavor of certain mystics?