Saturday, November 22, 2025

New Clairsentient Psionic Powers [2e]

Vision (Clairsentience Science)

Power Score: Wisdom -3
Initial Cost: 40
Maintenance Cost: 0
Range: Touch
Preparation Time: 6
Area of Effect: Personal
Prerequisites: Precognition

Vision allows a Clairsentient to expand their precognition from the immediate future and into the beyond. The subject (either the Clairsentient or a person they are touching) asks a question, and the Vision provides a single image in answer.  

On any successful check, the DM should provide a single sentence description of the image. It should include a simple description of things that would be obvious to the seer (such as one would get describing a picture) and a vague awareness of time; "Your sister will marry a dwarf before the next High Sun"; "The Dragon's Successor shall arrive before the next King's Age"; "You will meet your grandchild before you die".

What is included in the description are things the seer themselves would know and notice; if the seer knows the dwarf in question, the description should be "Your sister will marry the dwarf Telemachus before the next High Sun"; if the seer somehow has no idea what a dwarf is, then it may be "Your sister will marry a very short man before the next High Sun." The image itself may be shared via Mindlink (or ESP, if the subject has that ability), which may reveal additional information (such as the identity of a dwarf known to the questioner, but not the seer); however, clarifying questions are based exclusively on the seer's power check.

Depending on the power check result, the seer can ask a number of yes or no questions about the vision itself.

1: No Questions
2-3: One Question
4-6: Two Questions
7-10: Three Questions
11-15: Four Questions
16+: Five Questions

If the result is the power score, one additional question may be asked. If the result is a 20, the seer must rest for eight hours before asking for a Vision again.

A seer may attempt another vision of the same event (slightly rewording the question may provide a glimpse of the same event from a slightly different perspective, but it is still the same event). However, it is made at a penalty of -8 to the power score. This penalty decreases by 1 every 3 hours.

 

Portent (Clairsentience Devotion)

Power Score: Wisdom -8
Initial Cost: 0
Maintenance Cost: 0
Range: Personal
Preparation Time: 5 hours
Area of Effect: Personal
Prerequisites: Precognition, Vision

A portent is a spontaneous vision that comes to the psychic during sleep or meditation. Any time the psychic sleeps or meditates, they may receive a portent any time they have rested enough to restore 60 PSPs above their maximum; they must have maximum PSPs, and rest for 5 hours beyond that (the preparation time). At that time, they may make a power check for Portent, and receive a Vision chosen by the DM.

Unlike Vision, a seer my not usually ask questions of a Portent; they receive the image, but no clarifying questions. However, a Portent happens unbidden, and may be of anything, including questions previously asked, of important things to come, or things that the seer would never have considered asking on their own.

Power Score: The player may ask clarifying questions, as with vision.
20: The character has disturbing, chaotic dreams, but no coherent vision. They are -2 to save against fear or confusion for 1 turn upon awaking.

 

My goal for writing these was actually to get to Portent; Vision is a helpful "see the general future" power that I felt was missing, but I really wanted a power where seers would just wake up having had a prophetic vision... especially effective as a GM tool, since you can make scores of seers wake up to disturbing dreams about something.