Psionicist

Psionicists, also known as psions, mind mages or amaunors, were individuals that used the powers of the mind―or psionics―to supernaturally influence the world around them.
==Culture==
Psions were among the most commonly found form of psionics users in the Realms. Among human regions, they most frequently arose in areas that were built overtop of the ruins of ancient psionic civlizations. This included the Vilhon Reach, where the psiocracy of Jhaamdath once stood, and anywhere that stood above duergar or illithid cities. Psions could also frequently be found in areas with strong wild psionic fluctuations. Other regions where psions could commonly be found included Chult and Tashalar.
These individuals were said to seek out and strive for enlightenment in all aspects of life, whether they were overworked to the point of exhaustion, or found in serene completion of their world. They were introspective souls, who sought to unite every part of their life into a single, cohesive manifestation. Only through intense self-discipline, inner-reflection, and meditation could they truly tap into the full power of their mind.
While psionic powers could arise innately for a psion, the Invisible Art could also awaken through intense meditation and asceticism. Additionally, the majority of psions required some form of schooling in the form of a mentor, teacher, or book on psionics in order to further unlock their powers. A few schools in the Realms even specialized in teaching psionicists, such as the College of the Eclipse.
While psionicists could arise from almost any race, some races in the Realms tended more towards the path of a psion than others. A great deal of duergar were psionicists, blue goblins tended to be psions when raised in communities of their own kind, most elans tended to be psions, many in the philosopher caste of the grell, psions were moderately more common among ghostwise halflings than other hin, many illithids chose to hone their natural abilities, half-illithids, and even some among the naturally psionic githyanki and githzerai chose to become psions.
===Alignment===
Due to their introspective world view, psions typically leaned towards the alignments of neutral evil, neutral good, or true neutral. While some could be found that were chaotic-aligned or lawful-aligned, chaos was generally anathema to the disciplined life that psionicists led.In AD&D psionicists were restricted from having a chaotic alignment, to the point that an alignment changing to chaotic made a psionicist gradually lose their disciplines. In 3 & 4 edition, no such restrictions were in place, though this cited 3 edition text suggests to players that psions are thematically best suited towards neutral-alignments. Good-aligned psions often sought out what was best in the world and would attempt to use their powers to preserve it. Evil-aligned psions, whether openly or discretely, often sought to mold others to meet their desires.
===Religion===
Many psions were not particularly drawn to one deity or another; the common reliance on their own will tended to make psions poor supplicants. During the time of Jhaamdath, psions within the empire typically worshiped Auppenser. Later generations of psions commonly worshiped Sardior.
On other worlds, such as Nerath, psions could be found worshiping either Corellon, Ioun, Sehanine Moonbow, or even Vecna.
Duergar psionicists were largely worshipers of Deep Duerra, whose legendary exploits were credited for their innate ability to wield the Invisible Art. In 1371 DR, pure psionicists made up 22% of Deep Duerra's clergy across Faerûn, while about three-quarters of her clerics and norothor were also psions. Similarly, the other duergar god, Laduguer, had about two-thirds of his clergy made up by cleric/psions. Duerran priests also typically acted as teachers for duergar youth, helping them to develop their innate talents.
Among illithid psions, the deity Ilsensine was commonly worship. Some evil psions of other races were also known to form cults to the power, as it did not discriminate in its promises of power and dominion.
===Reputation & Relationships===
Psionicists were considered in some areas of the Realms, such as in the Dalelands, to be strange and dangerous people. But for most of the general populace in the Realms, psionics and psionicists alike were unrecognized or barely understood, often confusing them with traditional spellcasters of magic, hence the term "mind mages". Consequently, a commoner's view of a psionicist could differ little from their attitude and reactions towards arcane spellcasters, which in many cases could mean a sense of distrust or being viewed as heretics by the barbarian tribes of the North. In some circumstances, however, a barbarian tribe in the North might afford a psionicist the same respect they would to a shaman.
In the nation of Cormyr there was long debate held over whether or not psions should be allowed in the Cormyrian military, with the War Wizards being considerably suspicious of mind mages. The matter finally was resolved in favor of psions in 1373 DR, when the clairvoyant powers of the young seer Ormion Bowbreaker allowed Castle Crag to be prepared for an impending gnoll raid. After an interrogation to determine their trustworthiness, the War Wizards set about combing Cormyr for prospective wild talents.
In the Underdark, many drow cities had academies that catered towards psions.
Whenever gitzherai got together to form a rrakkma, at least one member of the hunting party was always a psion.
Though they shared some similarities with wilders, in terms of the development of their powers, psions often viewed them with suspicion. This was due to the raw emotional aspect of a wilder's psionic powers being in stark contrast to the disciplined path that psions walked. For similar reasons, some psions viewed ardents with suspicion. Among other users of the Invisible Art, psions most often got along with monks and psychic warriors, as they similarly led disciplined lives and had to actively train in order to master their psionic powers.
==Abilities==
Despite their rarity, master psionicists could be quite powerful. Their powers were said to be capable of reproducing many effects of magical spells; these ranged from devastating mental attacks that dominated opponents, to physical ectoplasm constructs, to "fate links" that could inflict damage linked between individuals.
Psionicists drew upon their own mind and lifeforce for their powers, using methods that needed to be replenished, such as chakra, meditation techniques, yoga, or other mental and physical disciplines. Alternatively, they drew it from innate talents, as was the case with illithids, alhoons, and blue goblinoid psions.
As the use of their powers were not hampered by the need to perform somatic gestures, utilize spell components, or prepare their powers ahead of time with a special special book, psionicists possessed a level of surprise and versatility over priests and wizards. However, for quite some time after the Time of Troubles,The loss and stabilization of psionics mentioned in Forgotten Realms Adventures and The Complete Psionics Handbook are in-universe references to the initial lack of psionics in 2 edition AD&D, and the reintroduction of psionics with a new ruleset, respectively. Though this in-universe explanation is somewhat contradicted by the use of psionics set in Toril's past, such as Netheril: Empire of Magic. psionicists were handicapped in a way that spellcasters were not–when wearing a helmet a psionicist was incapable of manifesting powers. Helmets that were psionically active, or had an arcane enchantment that either affected or stimulated psionics, posed no barrier to a psionicist’s powers.
===Manifestations===
In many of the humanoid races, manifestations of psionic power could lead to a secondary displays that revealed the nature of their power. These included, but were not limited to, visual, auditory and olfactory senses that were triggered when their powers were used. Simple psionic charms and mind-reading abilities often elicited a low, droning sounds, while polymorphic manifestations induced phantom scents of saffron or ginger in others.
For those whom psionics was innate, manifestations could arise at a young age, though they became especially noticeable for during puberty.
As most of these secondary displays are difficult to observe, most tactics used by psionicists can prove surprising to non-psions. If caught unaware, or in the case of a powerful mind mage very aware, a psionicist could be a powerful force to reckon with.
===Psicrystal===
All psions possessed the capacity to create a psicrystal, a physical extension of their own personality. Measuring roughly the size of a human hand, these crystaline constructs had the benefit of granting special powers to psions. Being that they were fragments of the psion's own personality, these constructs had some level of sentience. They exhibited a personality chosen by the psion at the moment of their creation, could understand all languages known by the psion, and could communicate in one language known by the psion.
==Possessions==
Traditionally, psionicists did not need any physical tools or weaponry to practice their discipline, though following the Spellplague some psions began using implements to enhance their abilities. Typically these took the form of orbs and staves, through which psions would channel their psionic energy into powers.
Some psionicists disdained the use of weapons, feeling they were beneath people with such powwer, though their usefulness could not be fully denied. They tended towards weaponry of small or medium size, such as clubs, daggers, dirks and knives, heavy and light crossbows, hand crossbows, hand axes and throwing axes, horseman's picks, horseman's maces, quarterstaves, scimitars, short bows, short swords, spears and shortspears, and warhammers.
In terms of armor, most psionicists preferred to don themselves in either cloth armor, hide armor, padded armor, leather armor, or studded leather. Some also carried small shields.
==Psionicist Archetypes==
Though all psions were distinguished from other uses of the Invisible Art by their disciplined way of life and the methods by which they developed their powers, psions were further distinguished among themselves by six sub-classes, each one representing a specialty in one of the six disciplines of psionics.
;Egoist: Psions who specialized in the psychometabolism discipline.
;Kineticist: Also known as telekinetic psions, kineticists were psions who specialized in the psychokinesis discipline, honing their skills in manipulating and transforming both matter and energy.
;Nomad: Psions who specialized in the psychoportation discipline.
;Seer: Psions who specialized in the clairsentience discipline.
;Shaper: Psions who specialized in the metacreativity discipline, honing their skills in creating solid constructs and conjuring solid animated psionic projections.
;Telepath: Also known as telepathic psions, telepaths were psions who specialized in the telepathy discipline, honing their skills in manipulating and controlling the minds of other creatures.
Beyond these discipline-based categories there were the spiritualists, psionicists who devoted themselves to an interest in death and the afterlife, becoming akin to the specialist wizards known as necromancers.
==History==
For much of Toril's history, psionics were incredibly rare, though the psionics god Sardior worked towards increasing the population of psions in the world by manipulating unions between sentient races.
During the Founding Time, the most incidence of psions on the planet were in the psiocracy of Jhaamdath, which was ruled by the Bladelords, a council of psions and psychic warriors. Jhaamdathan relics would be gleamed by later generations of the Invisible Art to develop the oldest psionic traditions in recorded history.
In the following age, the Age of Humanity, there were no records of psionicists ever present in the Netherese Empire. They were, however, present across other nations and kingdoms of Toril.
Following the Time of Troubles, psionics appeared to no longer exist in any form in the Realms. Many psionicists found themselves to have lost their abilities and received nothing in exchange. Prior to this event, some dismissed the existence of psionicists and their mind magic all together. However, in time psionic powers began stablizing into a new form on Toril and the planet saw a dramatic rise in the number of psionicists. Some scholars of psionics theorized that reason for psionics changing beyond recognition and human understanding nature occurred as a result of the goddess Mystra's death and her essence merging with that of the land.
The next dramatic rise in the population of psions would occur in the decades following the Spellplague. Some scholars speculated this rise correlated to the substantial changes in Toril's magic that were wrought by the event, whilst others bandied a hotly contested claim that the return of Abeir brought an influx of psionic energy.
==Notable Psionicists==
* Arvin, a Hlondethar psionicist.
* Daltim Flamefist, a Halruaan psion shaper and fire elementalist who commanded a psionic mercenary company known as the Destroyers.
* Driklret, a psion nomad that ruled the warrens of Brikklext behind the scenes alongside Gryxt.
* Gryxt, a psion telepath that ruled the warrens of Brikklext behind the scenes alongside Driklret.
* The Imperator, a massive grell psion shaper that lived deep within the Vast Swamp.
* Kimmuriel Oblodra is a powerful drow psionicist as well as a lieutenant and temporary leader of Bregan D'aerthe.
* K'yorl Odran, matron mother of House Oblodra in Menzoberranzan.
* Laszik Silvermind, a psion who lived in the Jhamdaath empire.
* Ralayn the Occultacle, an alhoon who was exiled from Undermountain and took up residence within the Forest of Tethir in the Lands of Intrigue.
* Rhauron, a mysterious individual that skulked around the Dusk Ports of Laerakond in the decade of the 1480s DR, was speculated by some to be a psion.
* Lord Ryvvik Dlardrageth, the half-elf cambion spawn of Countess Sarya.
* Saed, the vampire lord that ruled over Veldorn as of the mid–14 century DR.
* Sythrilian Sybil, a psion seer in Chult who was a psionics expert and wise prophetess.
* Urnvalt, a dwarven sailor who was taken captive by the Red Wizards, before being freed by Jaan'vald Llanou of the Sha'sal Khou.
*Vhondryl, a female human psion living in Skullport in the 1360s and 1370s DR; one of the most powerful psionicists in the city, and also one of the top two dealers in poisons and potions.
==Appendix==
===Notes===
===Appearances===
===Further Reading===
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===References===
===Connections===
Category:Classes
Category:Psionicists
Category:Psionics