Hack Sun: Multiclass Psychics

It will be helpful to see my Mindhacks system for this.

 Fighter/Psychic

The fighter/psychic is a very common combination on Athas; with most people having some degree of psychic power, and wars and raids being common occurrences, warriors who can combine the two are in large demand.
Many Fighter/Psychics focus on Somatics, increasing their physical abilities. Also popular are Telekinesis and Pyrokinesis, but the strategic and tactical uses of Divination are lauded by some. Beguilement and Telepathy are less common among fighter/psychics.
Like fighters, multiclass fighter/psychics begin proficient in shields and all armors, and receive proficiency with Minimal Skill Weapons for free, and further weapon proficiencies for half cost. Unlike multiclass mages, multiclass psychics do not suffer from wearing armor with which they are proficient. Specialization is purchased at a base of 7 points. Proficiency in a talisman requires only 1 BP.
They receive a mastery die in Appraisal: Arms and Armor, and may purchase further dice at half price. At character creation, they may purchase Psionic Lore for for half price (5 points, on Athas, 10 in other worlds), and receive free mastery points on odd levels equal to their Intelligence mastery modifier.
All fighter/psychics receive the Psychic Ability talent for free; Athasian psychics also have the ability to acquire Natural Psychic Talent and Talisman proficiency at half cost (this is not an additional benefit for the fighter/psychic). Familiarity with any discipline costs only 4 BP. Mastery in their first discipline costs 6 BP, their second 7, third 8, fourth 9th, usw.
Like full Psychics, Fighter/Psychics gain a bonus to activate their psychic powers; like fighters, they gain a bonus to attack, speed, and initiative. Like other multiclass characters, they acquire these at a slower rate than their full classes.

 

Level	Hit Die	Attack Bonus	Initiative	Speed	Activation Bonus
1	d6	0	0	0	0
2	re-roll	0	0	0	0
3	d8	+1	0	0	0
4	re-roll	+1	0	0	0
5	d6	+1	0	0	+1
6	re-roll	+2	0	0	+1
7	d8	+2	-1	-1	+1
8	re-roll	+2	-1	-1	+1
9	d6	+3	-1	-1	+1
10	re-roll	+3	-1	-1	+1
11	d8	+3	-1	-1	+2
12	re-roll	+4	-1	-1	+2
13	d6	+4	-1	-1	+2
14	re-roll	+4	-2	-1	+2
15	d8	+5	-2	-2	+2
16	re-roll	+5	-2	-2	+2
17	d6	+5	-2	-2	+3
18	re-roll	+6	-2	-2	+3
19	d8	+6	-3	-2	+3
20	re-roll	+6	-3	-2	+3

 

Mage/Psychic
Mage/psychics are the double-domed adepts of two exacting mental practices, though the techniques of mental discipline aid them in both endeavors. No time for physical pursuits, they wield weapons poorly, find armor constricting, and always get picked last for dodgeball.
Mage/Psychics do not, as a group, have favored disciplines to study, though many who focus their mental abilities on one aspect tend to neglect it magically; why learn Charm Person if you a master beguiler, after all? The exception is diviners, who will often focus on both magical and psychic divnation at the same time. None of this is mandatory; you're not a cleric, with someone to dictate your choices to you.
All Mage/Psychics begin with the Natural Psychic Talent ability, and are able to achieve familiarity with psionic disciplines for 4 BP. Mastery in their first discipline costs 6 BP, their second 7, third 8, fourth 9th, usw..  As mages, they advance more slowly than full mages, beginning with only two apprentice level spells, but they have the Magical Transcription proficiency, and use the mage cognition table normally.

At character creation, they may acquire their first mastery die in Arcane Lore for 5 BP, and their first mastery die in Psionic Lore for 10 BP (5 BP on Athas). They will receive their Intelligence mastery bonus at every odd level in whichever lore(s) they acquired at character creation. They also have a free purchase of Literacy in their native language.

They begin with no proficiency in weapons or armor. Armor does not interfere with psychic powers, but it does with magery, so many eschew it. They may acquire any weapon proficiency at standard cost, and require 10 BP per category to specialize. Proficiency in a talisman requires only 1 BP.

 

Hit Die (d4)	Attack Bonus	Initiative	Total Spell Points	Maximum Spell Level	Saving Throw Bonus v. Spells	Activation Bonus
1	0	+1	60	Apprentice	0	0
1+rr	0	+1	100	Journeyman	0	0
2	0	+1	140	1	+1	0
2+rr	0	+1	190	2	+1	0
3	+1	+1	225	2	+1	1
3+rr	+1	+1	260	3	+2	1
4	+1	+1	300	3	+2	1
4+rr	+1	+1	340	4	+2	1
5	+1	+1	385	4	+3	1
5+rr	+1	+1	430	5	+3	1
6	+2	0	480	5	+3	2
6+rr	+2	0	530	6	+4	2
7	+2	0	585	6	+4	2
7+rr	+2	0	640	7	+4	2
8	+2	0	700	7	+5	2
8+rr	+2	0	760	8	+5	2
9	+3	-1	825	8	+5	3
9+rr	+3	-1	890	9	+6	3
10	+3	-1	960	9	+6	3
10+rr	+3	-1	1030	10	+6	3

 

Thief/Psychic

Thief/Psychics run the gamut of disciplines, though they tend to avoid Pyromancy, unless they fancy arson as a career. Not great combatants, they nonetheless have a variety of skills, supplemented by the wily arts of the mind.
Initiative Bonus: Fast reactions come from their illicit skills; they get a bonus to initiative starting at level two, and their initiative die improves starting at level five. Additionally, they have the Psychic Ability Talent, which means they do not gain the maximum on initiative dice.
Backstab: A thief/psychic may backstab with a knife or dagger. The attack penetrates on both the maximum and maximum -1; when the character reaches 14th level, they inflict an additional d4 of damage, which also penetrates on a 3 or 4.
Rearward Strike: When a thief/psychic attacks an opponent from behind, they eliminate 1 point of their foe's damage reduction for every 3 levels they possess, though only with certain weapons (see the thief class).
Coup de Grace: Thief/Psychics may dispatch helpless opponents in 5 seconds.

Proficiencies: Thief/Psychics begin with proficiency in both dagger and kinfe for free. They may purchase other weapon proficiences at cost. They also begin with the Light Armor proficiency, and, while they may learn them, few develop proficiency in Medium or Heavy armors; shields are a bit more common, but must be learned. Proficiency in a talisman requires only 1 BP.
Weapon Specialization: Thief/Psychics can specialize in knives and daggers for 7 BP per category, and pay only 7 BP for Attack Bonus, Damage Bonus, Parry Bonus, and Swiftblade with these weapons. Short swords may be specialized at 8 BP per increment; all other weapons require 9 BP per category.

Luck Points
Thief/Psychics receive 10 +1 per odd level in luck points each level. In addition to the uses full thieves put them, psychics can use their luck points to add to an activation roll. Unused luck points at the end of a level are lost, replaced with the new set.

Psychic Powers
As mentioned above, thief/psychics have the Psychic Ability talent. They may achieve familiarity in any discipline for 4 BP, and mastery in their first discipline costs 6 BP, their second 7, third 8, fourth 9th, usw.. As with all psychics, they receive an Activation bonus as they advance in level.

Skills
Core Skills: A beginning thief/psychic receives their first purchase of four of the following eight skills for free (no BP cost): Climbing/Rappelling, Disarm Trap, Hiding, Identify Trap, Listening, Lock Picking, Pick Pocket and Sneaking.
Core Skill Progression:This specialized skill progression is handled somewhat differently than that of other character classes. At 2nd and each subsequent level, a thief/psychic receives (at no BP cost) one roll of the appropriate mastery die in any two of the core thief skills. A character may only take one roll of the mastery die in a particular skill during advancement (but may spend BPs to purchase further mastery die rolls in that skill.
Purchasing Other Skills. The following list of skills represent some special domains of thief/psychics: Acting, Appraisal, Current Affairs, Disguise, Distraction, Escape Artist, Fast Talking, Gambling, Glean Information, Observation, Salesmanship, Scrutiny and Seduction (Art of ). If a thief/psychic  purchases (or receives for free) any of these skills, modify their mastery roll by +2 or by the relevant ability score modifier, whichever is greatest.

The thief/psychic may make one purchase of Psionic Lore for half price (5 BP on Athas; 10 BP elsewhere) during character creation. If they do, they gain free mastery points in this skill equal to their Intelligence Mastery Die Bonus upon advancing to each odd-numbered level.

Level	Hit Die	Attack Bonus	Initiative	Initiative Die	Activation Bonus
1	d4	0	0	standard	0
2	reroll	0	-1	standard	0
3	d6	0	-1	standard	0
4	reroll	0	-1	standard	0
5	d4	+1	-1	one better	1
6	reroll	+1	-1	one better	1
7	d6	+1	-1	one better	1
8	reroll	+1	-1	one better	1
9	d4	+1	-1	one better	1
10	reroll	+1	-1	one better	1
11	d6	+2	-1	one better	2
12	reroll	+2	-2	one better	2
13	d4	+2	-2	two better	2
14	reroll	+2	-2	two better	2
15	d6	+2	-2	two better	2
16	reroll	+2	-2	two better	2
17	d4	+3	-2	two better	3
18	reroll	+3	-2	two better	3
19	d6	+3	-2	two better	3
20	reroll	+3	-2	two better	3

 

Hack Sun: Defilers and Preservers

  The magic of Athas is channeled through the elements, and through life. Clerics have pacts with the elemental forces; Druids have a pact with a spirit of nature. Templars receive their spells through their sorcerer-king. But Mages... Defilers and Preservers... draw energy from the plant life that surrounds them, and shape that magic into spells.

As in Hackmaster, Defilers and Preservers are Mages. As such, they may memorize one spell per level per day, and may cast any spell they know at an increased cost. They may upcast spells for a greater price, adding more damage, time, range, or whatever the spell allows. However, their magic works very differently than the Mages of Tellene, because they are unable to generate or hold spell points. Instead, they must gather their spell points from the surrounding plant life, and use those to cast their spells.  Preservers, as the name implies, maintain the health of the land from which they draw energy; defilers destroy it.

Wizards are not well-liked on Athas, partially due to the results of defiling. Their Honor is often degraded by the fact that they are wizards, and wizards are, in the mind of most Athasians, untrustworthy scum. Casting spells may incur damage to one's Honor if observed, but will take that honor no lower than the character's Fame; if everyone knows you're a wizard, casting spells doesn't hurt your Honor.

Gathering Energy

Before casting a spell, the mage must gather energy equal to that required by the spell (including any upcasting) and they may begin casting during the second on which the last point is gathered (so, if capable of gathering 30 points per second, they would be able to cast an apprentice level spell at their usual casting time). While gathering energy, they are vulnerable, as if they have spell fatigue. If hit while gathering energy, they must make a spell volatility check as if they normal-cast all the points they had gathered to this point, possibly resulting in a mishap (if the character is preserving, they may add the mental saving throw bonus from their Wisdom to the spell volatility check, but never suffer a penalty for low wisdom, for this purpose).

Gathering energy is very noticeable in clear conditions, including in the darkness; if being unnoticed is important, the mage may roll an opposed test between Arcane Lore and Observation; however, this must be purposefully chosen by the mage. The mage gains a bonus to Arcane Lore for this test by reducing the speed of their gathering; when defiling, each point per second subtracted adds +2 to their Arcane Lore for this purpose; preservers add +5 per point per second subtracted.

Defiling and Preserving

With each spell cast, a mage has the choice to defile or preserve. When a character defiles, they strip the soil of life; plants all die, and the soil is infertile for years. The more powerful the spell, the more ground that is destroyed. The more energy gathered in the same place, the more ground that is destroyed; an inch of radius per spell point. Preservers don't do this; their method of gathering energy shares the power with the affected plants and soil, leaving it healthy.

Why defile? If defiling on purpose, it is for speed. If the wizard is preserving, they may gather 10 points, plus 5 points per level, per second; at 7th level, a preserver can gather enough energy in one second to cast an Apprentice Spell. If they choose to defile, however, it is 10 points per level.

Defiling might also be the result of a mishap; if the mishap roll is 1, the mage must make a Wisdom save against the same volatility or lose control of the spell and defile.

Lastly, defiling is addictive; if someone who has defiled recently attempts to gather energy via preserving, they must make a d20p+Wisdom saving throw against d20p + their maximum level of spells; if they fail, they defile anyway (hybrid casters find this somewhat easier than full casters).

But defiling has consequences beyond the destruction of the land; defilers carry with them an ineffable taint of their magic, and suffer a penalty to encounter reactions equal to their saving throw bonus v. spells derived from their class. Additionally, Good and Neutral characters who frequently defile move inexorably towards evil.

The Benefits of Being a Wizard

However, the wizards of Athas do not have to simply eat a shit sandwich; they have two large benefits over the wizards of Tellene.

Firstly, because they do not use their own spell points, they do not suffer spell fatigue after casting a spell; they have something similar during the gathering energy phase of spellcasting, but they do not suffer it after casting. High level mages, capable of gathering vast energies in a short amount of time, can throw spells almost as quickly as they can cast them.

Secondly, and most tellingly, they are not using their own spell points, so they never run out; they do not have a limit to the number of spells they can cast per day, though they must gather energy each spell. This fact makes the wizards of Athas incredibly frightening, and incredibly powerful.

Hack Sun: Templars

 Templars

Templars are the officials of the sorcerer-monarchs, granted access to elemental priestly magic through some unknown source. Others who have ascended to great power, becoming other beings, do not have the ability to grant spells to their followers but, for unexplained reasons, the sorcerer-monarchs of the Tablelands can.

Templars serve as the officers of the state in sorcerer-monarch governments; lower-level templars may serve as sergeants in the guard, while others will be judges, generals, or the head of sanitation. How positions are assigned varies among the city states, though they are often under some sort of High Templar who has direct access to the sorcerer-monarch, with a bureaucracy beneath them for lesser appointments.

Templars have the basic spell abilities of an Evangelist, but use the spell lists of the Assembly of Four Corners... all of them. All templarates, from each city-state, has access to the same spells, leading many to speculate that there is some common source of these abilities, but what it may be is unknown.

Templar Magic

As Evangelists, templars receive one favor token each day, which can be used to cast any spell that they know. At level 6, this becomes 2 tokens per day, 3 per day at level 11, and 4 per day at level 16. These favor tokens may be kept from day to day, up to a maximum of the templar's level, plus a number equal to the starting honor bonus for the templar's Charisma; this is only the bonus, and a penalty will not reduce the templar's maximum below their level.

At each level, a templar chooses one spell, equal to or less than their level, from the list available to the Assembly of Four Corners. These spells may only be changed through Ceremony: Investiture, cast by a higher-ranked (not necessarily levelled!) templar, or by a sufficiently-ranked templar casting it upon themselves; usually, this will be the high templar themselves, but this ability might be granted to certain others by the sorcerer-monarch; such dispensation is exceedingly rare.

Templars also have a number of bonus spells. At 1st level, they receive Ceremony: Consecrate Divine Icon, which they use to create a badge of rank. At 5th level, they receive Ceremony: Annoint, which is used to mark non-templars who serve them (such as non-templar guards), and at 10th level, they receive Ceremony: Investiture, which can be used to create new templars. Additionally, they receive bonus spells known based on their Wisdom, as clerics receive bonus spells per day. They can spend these on additional lower-level spells... a templar with a 20 wisdom would have eight additional spells known, and could choose them all as additional 1st level spells... but once chosen, they can only be changed through a superior's recasting of Investiture, which not all superiors  are willing to cast on a whim.

Each spell cast requires one favor token, regardless of the level of the spell. Truly powerful templars, of 20th level and with a high charisma, might cast 20 or more spells per day, but they would be able to regain only 4 tokens the next day. Excessive spellcasting by templars is said to have an enervating effect on the sorcerer-monarch, and is sometimes observed in times of war, but what truly constitutes "excessive" is unclear. Templars are advised to be judicious with their spells, lest they attract the wrath of their monarch.

In addition to their clerical spells, Templars may attempt to Turn or Command Undead. However, each such attempt also requires a favor token.

Templar Legal Powers

Templars, as they increase in level, gain additional powers of a legal nature. These powers are bestowed on them, not by the sorcerer-monarch, but by the bureaucracy that makes them agents of the sorcerer-monarch. As such, these powers may rarely be granted to someone who is not of the templar class, or a templar may be granted legal powers above their level. Again, however, this is exceedingly rare, and all such usage of these powers has the potential for political fallout. A templar may countermand the orders of any lower-ranked templar, and favoritism, bribery, and other such dealings are common. Additionally, these powers have no effect outside the lands of their monarch's city state; a templar diplomat visiting Urik from Raam has no concrete ability to demand things of Urikites.

1st - The templar may command any slave, and decree any judgement they wish upon a slave for any "crime" the templar may accuse them of. This includes the slaves of high-ranking nobles or officials, but the ramifications of the command or judgement may fall upon the templar.

2nd - The templar may enter the homes of free people. The people have no right to refuse the templar admission (though a templar might choose not to, if they're paid enough).

3rd - The templar may requisition soldiers while within the city-state. The templar will receive 1 soldier per level. These soldiers will be 1st level fighters. At level 5, they will receive a 1st level templar corporal, a 3rd level sergeant at level 10, a 5th level templar lieutenant at level 15. These troops may not be ordered to leave the city without the sorcerer-monarch's express permission (though templars of 15th level or higher likely have such permission).

4th - A templar may accuse a free person of crimes, sending them to prison for the time being. They may not, at this point, issue a judgement against a free person.

5th - A templar now has access to most of the palace's resources; certain areas are still set aside for the sorcerer-monarch or higher level templars and other servants, but access to libraries and council chambers becomes available.

6th - A templar may draw upon the treasury once per month, receiving their level times 1d10 times ten gold pieces. This should be used in the service of the sorcerer-monarch, but few questions are asked in most cases.

7th - The templar may now pass judgement on a free person, declaring whatever punishment the templar desires. As with other political powers, the templar may have to weather any fallout of the judgement (especially if the order is countermanded by a higher templar).

10th - The templar may accuse a nobleman.

15th - The templar may judge a nobleman.

Templars and Alignment

Templars must be of evil alignment, and most often match the alignment of their sorcerer-monarch; a chaotic evil templar will thrive in Raam, but would wither in Urik. A templar may attempt to become Neutral, but, like assassins, will be subject to the Nagging Conscience flaw, without the ability to buy it off.

Templar Skills, Talents, and Proficiencies

Basic templar training includes a mastery die in Administration, Current Affairs, Glean Information, Intimidation, Leadership, and Literacy. Further development of these (and other) skills is suggested, but a Templar is on their own for making sure it happens. However, once a templar reaches 5th level, their access to the palace libraries means that they have an advantage in learning academic skills. If they engage in formal training in the palace, they have a minimum of +2 on all mastery dice for Administration and skills based on Intelligence and/or Wisdom.
They do not receive free mastery of Religion or Divine Lore; for the most part, this is irrelevant to them, though some templarates might encourage Religion (for example, Draj and Urik's sorcerer-monarch hold themselves as deities).

Templars are proficient in light armor and shields, as well as Etiquette/Manners for their city-state. Each city will train its priests in different weapons (per the GM's ruling), but they can acquire additional weapon and armor proficiencies without restriction or additional cost. Because of their early training, they may train up to +1 specialization in any weapon for 6 BP per category; +2 and higher specialization is calculated as if they required 8 BP per category (so, 16 BP for each category to reach a +2, 24 per category for a +3, etc.)

Templars receive Hit Dice, an Attack Bonus, and Initiatve modifier based on the Cleric table on page 68. Otherwise, they are as described here.