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+<div id="content">
+<h1 class="title">PsionicSchools</h1>
+<p>
+<code>=</code> Schools of Psionics <code>=</code>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From what I've seen, the most recent few 5e Unearthed Arcana dealing
+with "Psionics and the Mystic" have been getting somewhat mixed
+reviews. I don't think this is because of the mechanics–or rather
+not COMPLETELY because of the mechanics. Mechanics for psionics have
+always been weird, and the 5e style is good for D&D, so maintaining
+that is good and won't get any gripes from me.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I think that no matter what purely mechanical tweaks the UA team
+has planned for the Mystic, the general lukewarm reception isn't going
+to change unless we get something else squared away first. Something
+a little deeper–something that helps us grasp Psionics in the same
+way we grasp Magic: with a complete and intuitive system.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With Weave-based magic there are schools which somewhat delineate
+magical effects (conjuration, divination, etc), but that's not exactly
+what I mean. Not to bash the magical schools (any system will have
+inconsistencies–mine notwithstanding), few people really
+understand what it means to be a wizard by what school of magic they
+specialize in. An enchantment wizard isn't fundamentally different
+from an evocation one. But a wizard is different than a bard or a
+warlock. These "Schools of Psionics" are as much about the state of
+mind of the manifester and the method for manifestation as they are
+about the outcome of the manifestation (there are several of my
+Psionic "schools" that may each manifest effects in the transmutation
+school of magic for instance, but each according to its own particular
+rules).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What I mean is this:
+</p>
+
+<table border="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="6" rules="groups" frame="hsides">
+
+
+<colgroup>
+<col class="left" />
+
+<col class="left" />
+
+<col class="left" />
+</colgroup>
+<thead>
+<tr>
+<th scope="col" class="left"> </th>
+<th scope="col" class="left">Introvertion (a)</th>
+<th scope="col" class="left">Extroversion (b)</th>
+</tr>
+</thead>
+<tbody>
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Mind (1)</td>
+<td class="left">Cogitation</td>
+<td class="left">Domination</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Body (2)</td>
+<td class="left">Sympathy</td>
+<td class="left">Manifestation</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Time (3)</td>
+<td class="left">Prescience</td>
+<td class="left">Anticipation</td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td class="left">Space (4)</td>
+<td class="left">Metapsionics</td>
+<td class="left">Apportation</td>
+</tr>
+</tbody>
+</table>
+
+<p>
+There are eight categories split into two primary focuses and four
+topical domains, and each of the eight describes HOW a power is
+manifested. It tells us what our character is DOING to get the
+blasted power to work. As a D&D culture, we know how wizards do it,
+careful study and recitation, memorization, etc. We know how Bards do
+it, they hear the music of creation and wrap their words in it. All
+these effects are propagated through Mystra's Weave and are bound by
+it's limitations. But nobody has a clue how Psionics works. Or
+rather, we all have half-baked ideas that don't jive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In order for this to work, we need to know in canon, what it means to
+BE A PSIONIST and manifest powers. I'm probably no different than
+anybody else in my half-baked understanding, but as a Physicist and an
+editor I feel it is my duty to try to make sense of this mess.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+First off, since we don't have a Weave, but all magic needs a medium,
+lets make one. Lets call it the Psionic Field. Created spontaneously
+from the first thinking being (or Source), the Psionic Field exists on
+any plane containing thought. Some sources of psionic power are
+stronger than others, but all thinking things produce some connection
+to the field (some might wonder if magic and the Weave itself is
+naught but an echo of Mystra's or Auppenser's mind–and in that light
+perhaps the Psionic Field is not so foreign after all).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+With that medium in place, the world of Psionics slowly falls into
+place as well. Detailed descriptions of the eight schools follow:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1a) Cogitation - Clarity of thought, memory, action, and connection to
+the Psionic Field.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Cogitation is often one's first exposure to Psionics. It's a
+clear-mindedness that opens up your own mind to see itself for the
+first time, and beyond that, to sense the edges of the minds of
+others. It includes the stereotypical bloody-nosed mind reading,
+mimicry, and perfect recall.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Examples of Cogitation include "Detect Thoughts" and "Mind Meld" and
+the ability to learn or borrow skills and proficiencies directly from
+the minds of others.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+1b) Domination - Exert dominating willpower over other minds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Once you've encountered sources outside yourself it is only natural to
+try to influence or even dominate them. Exerting your will into the
+minds of others isn't the same as reading their thoughts, you might
+not know what your target is thinking, only that it will succumb.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Examples of Domination include "Command", "Suggestion", and "Dominate
+Person".
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2a) Sympathy - Exerting influence upon sympathetic objects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Psionic Field is produced by thinking creatures, but it can leave
+an imprint on even mundane objects and materials. Objects may be
+imbued with Psionic energy to produce a variety of effects, and may
+soak up ambient energy by just sitting within the Psionic Field which
+can be later be discerned by a Psionist to know about an object's
+history. This is done by expanding your sense of self outward from
+your mind and body and into the object.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Examples of Sympathy include "Psychometry", "Animate Objects", and
+"Guards and Wards".
+</p>
+
+<p>
+2b) Manifestion - Creating both illusory and physically manipulable
+constructs of pure thought.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By focusing and condensing ideas down to their most concrete forms,
+Psionists can manifest the essence of a thing as either an illusion or
+as a real physical object made of Astral matter (ectoplasm). Astral
+matter is most commonly associated with the Astral plane (or plane of
+thought) where it occurs naturally, but can exist anywhere with a
+sufficient psionic field for a Psionist to conjure it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Examples of Manifestation include "Mage Hand", "Conjure Astral
+Construct", and "Programmed Illusion"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3a) Prescience - See and feel other places and times.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Because the actions of thinking things (sources of psionics) are not
+stagnant, their movements create ripples in the Psionic Field.
+Births, deaths, and exchanges of knowledge leave their marks. By
+studying these echos and patterns, Psionists can discern events that
+occurred in distant parts of the world or even in the past or future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Examples of Prescience include "Detect Poison and Disease", "Scrying",
+and "Foresight".
+</p>
+
+<p>
+3b) Anticipation - Solidify expectation and possibility into reality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In many ways the Universe itself is just composed of the interactions
+of groups of sources of psionism and the objects being pulled in their
+wake (albeit a rather large number of each). With an awareness of the
+way ripples propagate in the Psionic Field and by using the techniques
+of Sympathy but directing them outwards, a Psionist can begin to
+subtly manipulate expectation and the laws of Physics themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Examples of Anticipation include "Heat Metal", "Telekinesis", "Reverse
+Gravity", and "Time Stop".
+</p>
+
+<p>
+4a) Metapsionics - Manipulating sources of Psionism and their direct
+effects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The way that thinking creatures interact with the Psionic Field is
+complicated and diverse, just as the creatures which produce it are
+themselves. By studying how the minds of Psionically-attuned
+creatures create Psionic and even Magical Weave-based effects, a
+Psionist can learn to imitate or manipulate psionic effects as they
+see them (and sometimes use what they've learned to imbue limited
+psionic potential into others).
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Examples of Metapsionics include "Detect Magic", "Counterspell", and
+"Awaken"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+4b) Apportation - Pulling and pushing on planar boundaries with the
+Psionic Field.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since the material plane is not the only one with thinking creatures,
+some far-minded Psionists can detect the Psionic Field existing on
+other planes of existence and pull on these remote fields of power.
+Doing so can banish alien creatures, abjure harmful elemental effects,
+or even tear open portals to distant planes and places.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Examples of Apportation include "Dimension Door", "Banishment", and
+"Whitefire Portal"
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<code>= Post Script =</code>
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Q: Specifics (where do these fit in?) - A: Answer
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What about Soul Knives??? - A soul knife is just an adept who uses a
+combination of Manifestation and Sympathy to conjure a blade and imbue
+it with different Sympathetic effects. In a similar way, you can use
+these eight to extend specific domains on to different classes.
+Psionic warrior? Uses Sympathy to strengthen his body and Prescience
+to predict the strikes of his enemy. Psionic rogue? Apportation to
+teleport around or Cogitation to read minds to cheat at cards (or
+memorize the deck). Once the system is in place, the variations build
+themselves because you know what's possible and what isn't.
+Restriction breeds Creativity. You gotta know the rules to use them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What's all this about "Psionist?" Isn't it "Psion" - In my
+understanding a "Psion" is a mystic who uses metapsionics to
+manipulate her own mind into casting spells with the Weave. It is
+also a term that gets some use for a general practitioner of psionics.
+It is also one of those 4e tattoo addicts… just a really overloaded
+term really. Psionist sounds the best to me as a general term like
+"mage."
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What's the difference between Sympathy and Anticipation when
+moving/lifting things? - In Sympathy, you convince the object to move
+by extending your sense of self into it and lifting it yourself, in
+Anticipation, it moves because you trick the Universe into thinking
+the object should already be moving and so the Universe does it for
+you. Expanding self is all monk-like vs. essentially casting Luck
+Bending spells.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Apportation includes an allusion to "Whitefire Portal". What's that? -
+Oh, just this cool thing I made:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+<b>Whitefire Portal</b>: You burn a temporary hole through the Astral Plane
+and into another plane of your choice. Once per long rest, centered on
+a point within 300 ft of you, you summon raw Astral ectoplasm which
+burns with hellish, white-hot fury. Any creature standing within 20
+feet of the whitefire must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 12d10
+fire damage or half on a successful save. Inanimate objects in the
+area also take the damage and flammable objects may catch on fire. A
+portal then opens to the chosen plane as with a Gate spell and remains
+open for 1 minute as the planes slowly knit themselves back
+together. Alternatively, instead of a specific location on a plane of
+your choice, you may choose to have your portal open into a generally
+inhospitable location in one of the elemental planes or the planes of
+positive or negative energy. If you do so, creatures who enter or
+begin their turns within 20 feet of the portal take 6d10 damage of the
+appropriate elemental or energy type.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I'm actually working on an entire Psionist class for eventual
+publication on the Dungeon Master's Guild (or as part of my
+"MagnumOpis-MagicOfTheMultiverse" which covers EVERYTHING magical as I
+understand it). Of course if somebody #wotcstaff wants to buy it
+and/or hire me, I'd be totally up for #theorycrafting for a living.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+–
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thanks for Reading!
+Andrew Murrell
+ImFromNASA@gmail.com
+</p>
+</div>
+<div id="postamble" class="status">
+<p class="date">Created: 2016-12-28 Wed 21:09</p>
+<p class="creator"><a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">Emacs</a> 24.5.1 (<a href="http://orgmode.org">Org</a> mode 8.2.10)</p>
+<p class="validation"><a href="http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=referer">Validate</a></p>
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