Nijineko's Unseen Ways 3.5 conversion project

Unless someone provides me with an itemized list of why each power from the 2e Unseen Ways that was skipped was not converted, and also assuming that said reasoning is still sound today… or if no one remembers the reason, then there is no reason not to update the entirety.

Those powers were all deemed setting appropriate back then, so I feel it is logical to review the reasons that Athas.org choose to skip them before deciding to skip them again.


You want to include the powers from the 2e Complete book in this project? What is your logic for doing so?


You also want to include material from another book, The Will and the Way, in this project? What is your logic for this request?


Mostly the fluff, possibly some of the mechanics would be the primary targets for an Athas adapted version of a power.

Converting and including the MPL was my initial thought, but perhaps that is too ambitious and too much material for this project.

I should probably start with the initial book first and then see what the cleaned up page count is before committing to that much. More scope can alway be added later, but it is better to start with less scope at first. I shall hold off on the MPL for now.

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Ooh.

Um.

Hmm.

That is a very tempting request, actually…

That is kinda part of why I wanted to Athas-ize the MLP, it would make all of those 900+ powers that most people don’t know exist available to the general community in a form that doesn’t trespass copyright.

Just new powers, eh? Not a revamp of the psionics system?

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I’ve seen the list you produced. Of these, almost all are readily available and known to anyone in the community. The Planeswalker.com power have fallen down the memoryhole, so they merit inclusion, but have to be vetted and/or revised if necessary.

Having new powers would be adding real value.

No. Need to maintain compatibility with existing statblocks, campaigns, and so on.

I guess your circles use psionics more than the groups in my region, most people here barely know anything about psionics other than the two main books.

New powers, I will take that under advisement.

I have partial revamps of the existing system that are backwards compatible, but suite yourself.

There is this one Planeswalker power that is in need of serious editing that immediately springs to mind, lol. A simple omission caused it to become an uber power.

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New powers. Athas themed psionic items with costs fully detailed. And perhaps details of a psionic academy in each city state?

This, by the way, appears to be more comprehensive than your list.

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For the most part unnecessary. The Will and the Way already provides info on the psionic schools etc in each of the Seven Cities. I believe Mindlords of the Last Sea details Saragar’s academy (but I can’t be certain) and CBtSS has zero info on how users of the Way learn/are organised in New Giustenal.

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All of them? Ninjineko is our resident expert on psionics. I am sure he can come up with some original contributions of psionic schools that are not rehashes of what is the The Will and the Way.

IIRC the mindlords were professors at the Saragar Academy.

They are also illegal, unlike mine which requires ownership of the sources.

They are also less complete, as they are missing a number of official powers which I have included in my list.

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Probably a good moment to remind you that you can’t use any non OGL material from 3.5e in Unseen Ways either. The agreement with WotC doesn’t cover that. The Athas.org official materials never reference non OGL material. That means none of the powers from Complete Psionic. Since you have dropped your plan to include all 900 powers in the master list, it probably isn’t relevant at this point, but a few days ago you were planning to do what you say is illegal for this other guy.

Have you read what the previous team did with Unseen Ways yet? Its right here. I am not suggesting that you follow what they were doing. There is a reason it wasn’t finished (it was a mess).

I have long been fully aware of the legal limitations. Yet another reason why I kept mentioning adapting an Athas version of all of the MPL, which is exactly what would make it legal, just to help you connect the dots of what I have been saying from long ago.

And you are only partly correct, we CAN use non-OGL content as specifically outlined in the OFS license. That is actually the whole point of the existence of Athas.org from the beginning.

Are you okay? You don’t seem to be tracking things very well. I ask this sincerely, with no malicious or humorous intent.

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You’d have to ask the current and previous teams about that. They’ve been able to use Dark Sun Intellectual Property, but not any non OGL classes, spells and so on. @Templar can explain.

Addendum: The official site agreement is here.

Yes… that would be the site agreement I actually posted a copy of here on these forums, long ago. I’ve been known for quoting it an awful lot in the past as I urged people to make more 3.5 content…

By the way, it seems @flip is a behind the scenes person over at Birthright, too, for those of the general community who did not know that.

Is this the kind of thing you could use in your project? Its a conversion of the Programmed Amnesia spell that should have been psionic in the first place, not magical.

Memory-Weave

Telepathy [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Telepath 9
Power Points: 17
Display: Auditory, mental, and visual
Manifesting Time: 10 minutes
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One creature
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: Will negates
Power Resistance: Yes

When you manifest this power, you are able to access the target creature’s mind like an open book. You have the ability to rewrite their memories, removing, altering, or implanting them as you see fit. This power gives you complete access to the target’s thoughts and memories, allowing you to implement a variety of specific effects.

Memory Erasure: You can erase specific memories from the target’s mind, including knowledge of events, people, or places. You can erase up to one week’s worth of memories in total.

Memory Implant: You can create false memories in the target’s mind, such as memories of being friends with an enemy, events that never took place, or betrayals by trusted friends.

Negative Levels: You can bestow a number of negative levels on the target, up to a maximum of 1/2 the target’s character level (rounded down, minimum 1st level). These negative levels represent the loss of class knowledge and training, but they will not become permanent. They can only be removed by powers such as restoration, and will return at a rate of one level per day.

Persona Rebuilding: You can erase the target’s previous personality and implant a false set of memories, allowing you to create a new persona for the creature. This can alter their alignment, beliefs, values, and personality traits, and may affect their class abilities if their alignment is changed.

Programmed Trigger: You can program the power to delay its effects until a specific trigger event occurs, or to end its effects under certain conditions.

However, the nature of this power means that the target may suspect that their new memories are false if your programming is not thorough enough. For example, if you alter a templar’s alignment to good without providing a believable explanation for the change, they may become aware of the gap in their memories and take steps to negate the power’s effects.

To use this power, the target must be willing or restrained in some way to prevent them from interfering with the manifesting. Programmed amnesia cannot be dispelled and is generally permanent, unless you specify conditions that will end its effects. It can only be removed by powers such as psychic chirurgery or reality revision, or magical effects of similar scope such as wish or miracle.


You said previously that you wanted psionics to be at the forefront of the setting. Here is a paired down version of limited wish that psions can use to emulate spells.

Manifested Spell

Metacreativity [see text]
Level: Psion/wilder 7
Power Points: 13
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: See text
Target, Effect, or Area: See text
Duration: See text
Saving Throw: None; see text
Power Resistance: Yes

The manifested spell power allows you to produce affects similar to magical spells at the cost of your internal energies. The manifested spell power can do any of the following things:

Duplicate any sorcerer/wizard spell or cleric spell of 3rd level or lower.

Duplicate any spell from any other class list of 2nd level or lower.

A duplicated power allows power resistance and spell resistance as normal (but the save DC is for a 7th-level power).

When the manifested spell power duplicates a power that has an XP cost, you must pay that cost or the XP cost specified below, whichever is more.

When manifesting a spell with expensive material components, you must spend an additional 2 power points in lieu of the material components.

XP Cost The base XP cost of the spell powers depend on the level of the spell. 1st: 100 XP. 2nd: 200 XP. 3rd: 300 XP. There could be additional costs (see above).

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I am not sure if this is the kind of thing that you are looking for, but here are some more powers. Some are based on spells from pathfinder and altered to make them suitable as psionic powers.

Credulity

Telepathy [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Psion/wilder 1
Display: Olfactory
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One creature
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Power Resistance: Yes
Power Points: 1

The target fails to see through subterfuge. The target of this power takes a –10 penalty on any Sense Motive checks.

Augment: You can augment this power in one or more of the following ways.

  • For every 2 additional power points you spend, the power’s save DC increases by 1 and the power can affect an additional target. Any additional target must be within 15 feet of another target of the power.
  • If you spend 2 additional power points, this power’s duration is 10 minutes per level rather than 1 round per level.

Aarakocra’s Eye

Clairsentience
Level: Psion/wilder 2
Display: Visual
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Effect: psionic sensor
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: None
Power Resistance: No
Power Points: 3

Aarakocra’s eye creates a psionic sensor directly above you. The sensor can appear anywhere above you, to a maximum height equal to the power’s range. You can see from this vantage as if you were there, rotating your viewpoint 360 degrees.

You perceive with your normal visual senses. A manifester using aarakocra’s eye can easily see for a considerable distance. The spell does not penetrate any solid surface, although it is unaffected by foliage and the like.

Augment: If you spend 2 additional power points, this power’s duration is 10 minutes per level rather than 1 round per level. If you spend 4 additional power points, this power’s duration is 1 hour per level rather than 1 round per level.

Unnatural Lust

Telepathy (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Psion/wilder 2
Display: Mental
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One creature
Duration: 1 round
Saving Throw: Will negates
Power Resistance: Yes
Power Points: 3

Now is the time , the mindbender thought to himself. Jasmina is Pasha Roosan’s favourite concubine. He will execute Malabar as soon as he lays hands on Jasmina. Moments later, the mindbender was in Malabar’s mind, filling him with unnatural lust.

Your target is filled with lust and desire for a single creature or object as designated by you at the time of manifesting. That creature or object must be within the power’s range and perceivable by the target of the power. The target is filled with the compulsion to rush to the subject of its lust and passionately kiss or caress that subject on its next turn, taking no other actions. If the target would not normally have lustful feelings toward the designated creature or object, it receives a +4 bonus on its saving throw.

Augment: For every 2 additional power points you spend, the power’s save DC increases by 1.

Implanted Projection

Telepathy (Charm) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Psion/wilder 3
Display: Visual
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Medium (100 ft. + 10 ft./ level)
Target: One creature
Duration: 1 day/level
Saving Throw: Will negates
Power Resistance: Yes
Power Points: 5

This power functions as telempathic projection, except its mood-altering effects remain dormant in the target’s mind. Upon manifesting this power, the caster designates a command word or phrase, of which the target retains no memory. The next creature to speak the command word or phrase to the target triggers the implanted telempathic projection, treating the speaker as the original manifester.

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Here is another power, a conversion of the 3.5e Glassteel spell, which was cut due to space (leading people to wonder how Glassteel could exist). It makes sense that Athasians would have a psionic power like this. It’s high enough level that it won’t make a dent in the metal shortage.

In the harsh expanse of the Athasian wasteland, the mul psion Kael stands at the edge of a rocky outcrop, an obsidian sword held firmly in his grasp. With his eyes closed, he channels his mental prowess, perceiving and altering the very internal structure of the obsidian. Time stretches and bends as Kael’s mind orchestrates an unseen symphony within the heart of the blade. When he finally opens his eyes, the world resumes its normal course. The obsidian sword, once brittle, retains its sharp edge, but is now as resilient as the hardest steel, forever transformed by the sheer force of Kael’s mind.

Mentalurgy

Discipline: Metacreativity (Creation)

Level: Psion/Wilder 7

Display: Visual, Material

Manifesting Time: 1 standard action

Range: Close (25 ft. + 2 ft./level)

Target: One nonmagical object of up to 100 cu. ft./level

Duration: Permanent

Power Points: 13

Power Resistance: No

This power increases the hardness and hit points of the targeted object to match that of iron or steel (hardness 10, 30 hit points per inch of thickness). If the object already has a higher hardness score, the power has no effect.

Augment: For every 2 additional power points you spend, the hardness of the object increases by 1, up to a maximum of 20 (the hardness of adamantine). The hit points per inch of thickness increase correspondingly by 3.

Objects affected by this power cannot be turned into permanent magical or psionic items.

Here is another conversation of a Pathfinder spell to psionics.

Subliminal Speech

Discipline: Telepathy [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Psion/wilder 2
Display: Auditory
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Personal
Target: Self
Duration: 10 minutes/level
Power Points: 3

This power grants you the ability to send secret messages embedded within your normal speech. This is similar to the secret messages ability of the Bluff skill, but no check is needed; your intended recipient always understands the hidden message perfectly, while others cannot perceive the message at all. You can send only one message at a time, though you can send that message to multiple recipients.

The secret message is considered to be in the same language you are speaking, and intended recipients hear and understand both your actual speech and the secret message. You can make yourself understood as far as your voice carries.

For example, in the bustling markets of Nibenay, a shrewd slave trader manifests this power before stepping up to auction off his latest acquisitions. All around him, potential buyers hear his enticing descriptions and exciting promises about the slaves on offer. Yet hidden within his public words are secret instructions to his proxies scattered in the crowd, nudging them to raise their bids and stoke the competitive spirit of the market when he sees an eager but hesitant buyer.

Augment: If you spend 4 additional power points, this power’s duration is 1 hour per level rather than 1 round per level.

Here are a few more. They are based on the skill boosting psionic powers in Hyperconscious, and they are reproduced here along with all the corresponding skills in 3.5e. Some of these will be suboptimal considering that there are powers that provide a +10 bonus to certain skills, but they are here for completeness.

Psionic Skill Enhancement Powers

Each of these powers allows you to gain temporary, intuitive insight into executing a specific skill. Your chosen Skill check gains a +2 insight bonus. For each 2 additional power points you spend, you can increase your Skill check by +1.

These powers all have the following shared attributes:

  • Level: Psion/Wilder 1 [+], Psychic Warrior 1 [+]
  • Display: None
  • Mft. Time: Swift action
  • Target: You
  • Range: Personal
  • Duration: One Skill check
  • Cost: 1

Here’s the list of powers and their associated skill:

  • Avaunt (Intimidate) - Psychometabolism
  • Aver (Bluff) - Clairsentience
  • Bound (Jump) - Psychoportation
  • Broker (Diplomacy) - Psychometabolism
  • Discern (Spot) - Clairsentience
  • Gauge (Appraise) - Clairsentience
  • Poise (Balance) - Psychoportation
  • Scale (Climb) - Psychometabolism
  • Centre (Concentration) - Psychometabolism
  • Ingrain (Craft) - Metacreativity
  • Decode (Decipher Script) - Telepathy
  • Disengage (Disable Device) - Psychometabolism
  • Mask (Disguise) - Telepathy
  • Slip (Escape Artist) - Psychoportation
  • Counterfeit (Forgery) - Telepathy
  • Query (Gather Information) - Telepathy
  • Guide (Handle Animal) - Telepathy
  • Mend (Heal) - Psychometabolism
  • Vanish (Hide) - Psychoportation
  • Propel (Swim) - Psychoportation
  • Unlock (Open Lock) - Psychometabolism
  • Perform (Perform) - Telepathy
  • Practice (Profession) - Clairsentience
  • Ride (Ride) - Psychoportation
  • Search (Search) - Clairsentience
  • Unmask (Sense Motive) - Clairsentience
  • Pilfer (Sleight of Hand) - Psychoportation
  • Speak (Speak Language) - Telepathy
  • Channel (Spellcraft) - Clairsentience
  • Survive (Survival) - Clairsentience
  • Tumble (Tumble) - Psychoportation
  • Wield (Use Magic Device) - Metacreativity
  • Knot (Use Rope) - Psychoportation
  • Listen (Listen) - Clairsentience
  • Whisper (Move Silently) - Telepathy
  • Study (Knowledge) - Clairsentience
  • Insight (Psicraft) - Clairsentience
  • Resolve (Autohypnosis) - Psychometabolism
  • Interface (Use Psionic Device) - Metacreativity

Progress update:

  • Form, look, and structure of chapters and pages have been firmed, on track to be finalized.
  • Fonts for headers, logo, and internal text body have been selected.
  • Textual extractions from source materials have begun, and are ongoing.
  • Historical research has finished first and second sweep.
  • Art extraction from sources is complete.
  • Logo design is complete.
  • Refactoring of psionic powers to usable reference material has begun, and is ongoing.
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I would like to bump this thread to remind everyone to please post any psionics, rules mechanics, character, creature, locations, or other suggestions everyone might have for the Unseen Ways 3.5 book!

It is promised that all suggestions will be read and pondered seriously.

Thank you.

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I am just throwing stuff out there for your consideration. Don’t feel obligated. Looking forward to any preview you might have.