Dreamscarred Press - High Psionics - Phrenic Diseases and Mental Maladies.pdf - high psionics - chomikuff

High Psionics:

Phrenic Diseases & Mental Maladies

Author: Jeremy Smith

Editing: Andreas Rönnqvist

Design / Layout: Jeremy Smith

Cover Design & Illustration: Duncan Walker, Jeremy Smith

Interior Illustration: Duncan Walker

Special Thanks: Garrett C. Swaim

Requires use of the Dungeons & Dragons® Third Edition Core Books and

the Expanded Psionics Handbook , published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

This book utilizes updated material from the v. 3.5 revision.

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This edition of High Psionics: Phrenic Diseases and Mental Maladies is produced

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High Psionics

Phrenic Diseases and Mental Maladies

New Psionic Diseases

D iseases of the mind are illnesses to be

feared, as in the world of psionics, perception

can very easily be reality.

Presented herein you will find new

afflictions, diseases, and maladies of a psionic

nature. Included with each entry is a

description of the sickness, its symptoms,

effects, and how to cure it, if a cure is even

possible.

While most of these afflictions specifically

hinder those characters with increased mental

abilities such as manifesters, they are not

restricted to these characters. Several have

identical effects for those with or without

psionic abilities.

Unless otherwise noted, these diseases are

extraordinary in nature and are not affected by

effects such as a null psionics field .

Additionally, these afflictions can only affect

living creatures.

Each entry also has an associated Challenge

Rating (CR) to indicate how difficult the item

is to overcome and how much experience

should be awarded to characters that surmount

the situation. This reward should not be given

if the disease, affliction, or malady is never

actually acquired; exposure but not actually

contracting a disease does not qualify as

overcoming the challenge.

Many manifesters will already know of these

afflictions through their studies of psionics.

Treat each affliction as a knowledge (psionics)

check with a DC equal to 10 + the affliction’s

CR. If the individual makes a successful

check, they know what the affliction is and are

able to recognize it by its symptoms. They are

not familiar with the cure unless they exceeded

the knowledge check by at least 5.

In addition, seven entries have an example

adventure hook on how to introduce the

affliction into your current game. It is up to

your discretion if you choose to use these

adventure ideas or create your own.

Finally, you will find a new psionic power

for use with some of these new psionic

diseases.

Cerebral Retrovirus

Particularly dangerous to those with

increased mental capacity such as manifesters,

the cerebral retrovirus is a tiny organism

transmitted from creature to creature that enters

an individual’s body through blood or

inhalation and then makes its way to the

target’s brain, where it begins to feed on the

individual’s mental energy.

Acquired: Cerebral retrovirus is spread

through the air from one infected individual to

another. The virus cannot live long without a

host, but if two individuals are within 5 ft. of

each other and one is infected, there is a 5%

chance that the virus is passed from the

infected individual to anyone within 5 ft. If the

virus is spread, the target host’s body can

attempt to fight off the virus with a successful

DC 15 Fort save.

Symptoms: Those infected by a cerebral

retrovirus find that their mental capacity is

hindered, although the effect is slow to

develop. Initially, they may simply feel

mentally drained, as if they can’t concentrate.

Later, as the virus grows and propagates, the

infected party may feel as if they cannot

concentrate.

Effect: In the first week of illness, the

infected individual has a slightly smaller power

point reserve, resulting in a net loss of 5% of

the total power points per day available

(rounded up) and a -1 penalty to concentration

checks. Each week, the individual suffers the

same effect (10% of total power points and -2

to concentration checks on week 2, etc.), until

on the 20th week the individual’s power point

pool is perpetually mentally exhausted by the

virus and unable to manifest powers or

concentrate.

Cure: Cerebral retrovirus can be temporarily

cured through the targeted use of psionic

healing effects, which restore the power points

for one day, but heal no actual damage. A

permanent cure requires the use of restoration .

Adventure Hook: A powerful manifester,

busy with important endeavors, asks the

High Psionics

Phrenic Diseases and Mental Maladies

players to retrieve an item from a ruin and

deliver it to the local psionic organization as a

gift. Before leaving, he gives the party an

amulet designed to protect them from any

problems recovering the item.

Getting the item is suspiciously easy and

once delivered, the members of the psionic

organization are all quickly struck by cerebral

retrovirus. Knowing what the disease is and

the timing, the guild suspects the party of

intentionally afflicting them with this disease.

The requester of this gift has mysteriously

vanished from his now abandoned home and

cannot be found for questioning. Interestingly,

none of the party members seemed to have

acquired the cerebral retrovirus, although, in

fact, the amulet is suppressing the effects of the

virus and, once removed, all members of the

party suffer the effects.

CR: 6

cascading obsessive compulsion must make a

successful DC 16 Will save every time they

take a standard or full-round action or suffer

from the déjà vu power for one round. This

sequence repeats on each subsequent standard

or full-round action, including any action that

is a result of cascading obsessive compulsion.

This affliction is supernatural in nature and is

suppressed in areas where psionics are negated.

Cure: Cascading obsessive compulsion can

be cured through the use aura alteration or

more powerful effects that repair mental

damage.

Adventure Hook: An entire city is afflicted

with this horrendous disease. Despite their

best efforts, citizens continue to spread the

disease faster than it can be cured. The players

must find a way to either transmit a cure to the

entire city/town or somehow stop the cascade.

The local psionic guild has been working on

such a cure, but, having all become infected,

they have been unable to progress in the

research. If the party can successfully cure the

guild without allowing them to get infected

again, they may be able to manifest an

appropriate cure.

CR: 7

Cascading Obsessive Compulsion

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a condition

where an individual feels an overwhelming

need to perform specific actions, often times

performing the same action multiple times in

rapid succession. A psionic version of this

disorder results in individuals literally passing

this compulsion to each other.

Acquired: Cascading obsessive compulsion

is inflicted by proximity to an affected

creature. Anytime an affected creature repeats

an action as a result of cascading obsessive

compulsion, any creature within 30 ft. must

make a successful DC 14 Will save or become

infected by cascading obsessive compulsion.

Those within 30 ft. need not have line of sight

to the infected individual. This is a mind-

affecting effect, so those immune to such

effects cannot be afflicted by cascading

obsessive compulsion.

Symptoms: Evidence of cascading obsessive

compulsion is easily detected, as the afflicted

individual will perform the same activities

repetitively, seemingly without any control.

They may actually be frustrated with having

the urge to constantly repeat what they just did

or feel that they didn’t do it “just right.”

Effect: An individual suffering from

Hallucinations

Overuse of or overexposure to powers that

augment or modify the senses can sometimes

disrupt the way the individual's mind processes

stimuli around him or her. This can result in

perceiving things that are not actually there,

also known as hallucinations.

Acquired: An individual can be affected by

hallucinations if they fail a saving throw

against an effect that alters perceptions.

Typically, they will not be affected by

hallucinations unless they fail their save

against these perception-altering effects a

number of times equal to twice their character

level, after which they must succeed on a DC

14 Will save.

Symptoms: Sufferers of hallucinations see,

hear, or feel things that aren’t really there.

They may think someone is talking to them, or

something is attacking them, or feel as if

someone is touching them when no such

High Psionics

Phrenic Diseases and Mental Maladies

activity is taking place. In a realm where

invisible creatures and telepathic

communications are real, this can make it

extremely difficult for an afflicted individual

and even those nearby to know what is real and

what is not.

Effect: Individuals suffering from

hallucinations are constantly subjected to a

penalty on all attack rolls as if their intended

target had concealment; the target may or may

not be real. In addition, all spot and listen

checks suffer a -10 penalty, as the individual

cannot determine if what they hear is real or

false. In cases where the appropriate check

results in a negative value, the individual

believes they heard or saw something not really

there.

Cure: A simple aura alteration can repair the

psyche of someone afflicted by hallucinations.

Adventure Hook: A highly-respected local

city official has started to act as if he has lost

his mind: talking to people not in the room,

shrieking at every touch, and weeping

uncontrollably. While there are other officials

to help handle the extra workload, the city is

starting to suffer and the citizens want to help

their official. The city does not have a local

psionic organization to realize what is affecting

the official, but have sent out a call for help

from those who better understand the matters of

the mind. When cured, the official will inform

the party that he was accosted by a telepath

who sought to use the official’s influence to

perform a smuggling operation.

CR: 8

Intellectual Regression

Very rarely, an incredibly intelligent

individual can have their mind regress,

reverting to a more primal or child-like state.

In some instances, this results in individuals

who become incredibly aggressive, while

others see their friends and acquaintances as

parental figures.

Acquired: The onset of intellectual

regression is a deterioration of the brain. The

most common source of this deterioration is a

tiny type of parasite that is attracted to those

individuals that give off a strong psionic aura.

This parasite enters through an individual’s

skin and enters the bloodstream until it is

carried to the brain, where it begins to feed and

reproduce. The affected individual’s immune

system can sometimes fight off the parasite if

the individual makes a successful DC 16 Fort

save. Creatures with no Intelligence score

cannot be affected by intellectual regression.

Symptoms: An individual afflicted with

intellectual regression becomes less logical and

more emotional as time passes. This typically

means they act more primal or childlike,

putting their own emotions before any logical

reason or any sense of friendship or familial

ties. As the parasite spreads and more damage

is done, the individual begins to act more

animalistic, perceiving virtually no form of

communication.

Effect: Initially, the subject suffers one point

of ability drain to Intelligence, Wisdom, and

Charisma. Each week the parasite is left

unchecked, the subject suffers another

cumulative point of ability drain and the

Spellcasters & Psionic Diseases

Diseases of the mind are not restricted to manifesters. Those diseases that impact a manifester’s ability to use their

psionic talent have similar effects to those who cast spells, assuming the use of the psionic / magic transparency

rules as presented in the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Presented below are the effects of the diseases that have

special effects for spellcasters when contracted.

In addition, all of the psionic maladies presented within this product count as magical diseases.

Cerebral Retrovirus: For a spellcaster, this effect translates to losing access to the half of the lowest level spell

slots available per week, starting with half the 0th level spell slots on the first week, all 0th level spell slots on the

second week, half the 1st level spell slots on the 3rd week, etc.

Psionic Hemorrhage: Spellcasters under the effect of a psionic hemorrhage lose a random spell slot equal to one

half the level of spell being cast. If the spellcaster has no remaining slots of the appropriate level, they lose a ran-

dom spell slot of the next highest level.

Dreamscarred Press - High Psionics - Phrenic Diseases and Mental Maladies.pdf

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