Constructs and Harbingers (WatW)

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In mental combat, attacker and defender strive to find forms to best their opponent's. The defender assumes the form of an impregnable tower; the attacker takes the shape of a so-ut, a beast that can destroy any building. The defender responds by changing into a forest in which his psyche cannot be found; the attacker becomes a withering flame to burn the trees away. The various forms are known as harbingers, for attack modes, and constructs, for defenses.
The use of harbingers and constructs is voluntary. The psionicist need not trouble with the symbology of combat. However, the images are excellent for focusing the mind and can provide significant advantages to those who use them well. If a character uses a construct or harbinger in combat against a foe who does not, the character using the imagery receives a +1 modifier to power score checks in addition to the normal modifiers provided by the Attack Mode vs. Defense Mode Table.
 Attack Mode vs. Defense Mode Table
Attacks	-----Defenses-----	-----Defenses-----	-----Defenses-----	-----Defenses-----	-----Defenses-----
Attacks	M- 	TS 	MB 	IF 	TW
MT 	+5 	-2 	-4 	-4 	-5
EW 	+5 	0 	-3 	-4 	-3
II 	-3 	+2 	+4 	-1 	-3
PsC 	+1 	-3 	-1 	-3 	-4
PB 	+2 	+ 3 	0 	-1 	-2
: MT: Mind Thrust
: EW: Ego Whip
: II: Id Insinuation
: PsC: Psychic Crush
: PB: Psionic Blast
: M—: Mind Blank
: TS: Thought Shield
: MB: Mental Barrier
: IF: Intellect Fortress
: TW: Tower of Iron Will
In addition, harbingers and constructs make for a colorful mental battle. Instead of simply rolling dice, the players can imagine their characters taking the forms of unique variations on the standard attacks and defenses.
The tradition of Tarandas recognizes 10 psionic combat modes: mind thrust, ego whip, id insinuation, psychic crush, and psionic blast for attack; and mind blank, thought shield, mental barrier, intellect fortress, and tower of iron will for defense. Each of these modes possesses four common harbingers or constructs, for a total of 40 symbols. Dozens of variations exist, and almost every master of the Way will customize his symbology to reflect his own tastes and strengths and his unique set of abilities
The Harbingers vs. Constructs Table sums up the combat effects of the various symbols. Cross-index the attacker's harbinger with the defender's construct to find the modifier to the attacker's power score check. These modifiers replace the modifiers from Table 14 of The Complete Psionics Handbook, Attack vs. Defense Modes. (Table 14 is reprinted on page 32 for your convenience.)
: Example: Koren is psionically attacked by a gith! Quickly he decides to throw up his mental barrier defense and chooses a construct of pure Will. The gith is attempting to ego whip him, using a harbinger of the Slave. The Will is strong against the Slave's despair. and the gith suffers a -5 penalty to his attack instead of the normal -3 penalty for using ego whip against mental barrier.
A DARK SUN game psionicist begins play as a 3rd-level character with two defense modes. He is allowed to select three constructs between the two defense modes. Each time the character gains a level, he may learn a new construct. If he gains a new defense mode, he automatically gains one construct from that mode in addition to the construct he gains for increasing in level.
When a character learns an attack mode, he automatically gains one harbinger in that mode. He may also learn a new harbinger each time he advances in level, so it is possible to learn two harbingers in one level increase. A character cannot learn a harbinger or a construct for an attack or defense mode he does not know.
 Harbingers vs. Constructs Table
AttackModes	AttackModes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes	Defense Modes
AttackModes	AttackModes	M- 	M- 	M- 	M- 	TS 	TS 	TS 	TS 	MB 	MB 	MB 	MB 	IF 	IF 	IF 	IF 	TW 	TW 	TW 	TW
AttackModes	AttackModes	Voi 	For 	Mud 	Rns 	Shd 	Eun 	Arm 	Wal 	Tru 	Wll 	Acc 	Den 	Cha 	Btl 	Dra 	Bra 	Tow 	Ram 	Gat 	Cra
MT 	Swd 	+5 	+5 	+5 	+5 	-4 	0 	-2 	-2 	-4 	-2 	-6 	-4 	-2 	-6 	-6 	-2 	-2 	-6 	-4 	-6
 	Cht 	+6 	+5 	+5 	+4 	0 	-4 	-4 	0 	-2 	-2 	-6 	-6 	-4 	-2 	-4 	-6 	-6 	-3 	-8 	-3
 	Inc 	+8 	+3 	+4 	+5 	0 	-4 	0 	-4 	-6 	-6 	-2 	-2 	-4 	-4 	-2 	-6 	-6 	-6 	-5 	-6
 	Fla 	+1 	+7 	+6 	+6 	-4 	0 	-2 	-2 	-4 	-6 	-2 	-4 	-6 	-4 	-4 	-2 	-2 	-5 	-3 	-5
EW 	Tmp 	+3 	+7 	+6 	+4 	0 	-2 	0 	+2 	-4 	-1 	-5 	-2 	-3 	-3 	-6 	-4 	-4 	-3 	-3 	-6
 	Nob 	+4 	+6 	+6 	+4 	+1 	-2 	-1 	+2 	-2 	-2 	-2 	-6 	-5 	-6 	-1 	-4 	-4 	-2 	-2 	-4
 	Sla 	+6 	+4 	+4 	+6 	-1 	+2 	+1 	-2 	-3 	-5 	-2 	-2 	-4 	-2 	-3 	-7 	-7 	-3 	-3 	-2
 	Drg 	+7 	+3 	+4 	+6 	0 	+2 	0 	-2 	-3 	-4 	-3 	-2 	-4 	-5 	-6 	-1 	-1 	-4 	-4 	0
II 	Wyv 	-4 	-2 	-1 	-5 	+2 	0 	+2 	+4 	+4 	+6 	+3 	+3 	-3 	+1 	+1 	—3 	—3 	-3 	-3 	-2
 	Scp 	-5 	-1 	-3 	-3 	+3 	+1 	+3 	+1 	+4 	+5 	+5 	+2 	+1 	-1 	-3 	-1 	-1 	-2 	-2 	-4
 	Cry 	0 	-4 	-5 	-3 	+2 	+4 	+2 	0 	+3 	+5 	+3 	+5 	0 	-3 	-2 	+1 	+1 	-3 	-4 	-2
 	Slk 	-3 	-5 	-3 	-1 	+1 	+3 	+1 	+3 	+5 	+3 	+2 	+6 	-2 	-1 	0 	-1 	-1 	-4 	-3 	-4
PsC 	San 	+3 	0 	+1 	0 	-1 	-4 	-2 	-5 	-1 	-1 	-2 	0 	-4 	-g 	-2 	-1 	-1 	-4 	-7 	-1
 	Mek 	0 	+2 	0 	+2 	-5 	-4 	-2 	-1 	-1 	0 	-1 	-2 	-3 	-4 	-3 	-2 	-2 	-5 	-3 	-5
 	Hor 	+1 	0 	+3 	0 	-1 	-3 	-4 	-4 	0 	-3 	0 	-1 	-3 	-1 	-3 	-5 	-5 	-4 	-2 	-4
 	Bdr 	0 	+2 	0 	+2 	-5 	-1 	-4 	-2 	-2 	0 	-1 	-1 	-2 	-2 	-4 	-4 	-4 	-3 	-4 	-6
PB 	Sot 	+3 	0 	+1 	+4 	+3 	0 	+4 	+5 	0 	+2 	-1 	-1 	0 	-3 	0 	-1 	-1 	-1 	-1 	-5
 	Slt 	+2 	+4 	+2 	0 	+4 	+2 	+4 	+2 	+1 	0 	0 	-1 	-1 	0 	+1 	-4 	-4 	-3 	-1 	-2
 	Kir 	+1 	+3 	+2 	+2 	+3 	+5 	+2 	+2 	+1 	0 	0 	-1 	-2 	0 	-2 	0 	0 	-2 	-3 	0
 	Tern 	+2 	+1 	+3 	+2 	+2 	+5 	+2 	+3 	-2 	-2 	+1 	+3 	-1 	-1 	-3 	+1 	+1 	-2 	-3 	-1
Cross-index the harbinger against the construct. The result is the modifier to the attacker's power initiation check for that round.