The Anger Discipline
As with other spellcasters, when it comes to psychics, there is always the question of where their magic came from. For sorcerers, it’s blood, and there’s a whole slew of different bloodlines to choose from. Wizards get their power from study, and they can pick an area of focus in which to “major” in their studies. Witches get their magic from patrons, who can influence their bonus spells. And psychics, as anyone with a copy of Occult Adventures will tell you, have disciplines. Today’s article presents a new psychic discipline, whose name is something of an oxymoron, as these psychics draw upon their volatile and powerful anger and rage for their magical might.
New Psychic Discipline
Discipline of Anger
Your psychic powers are suppressed by powerful mental blocks. Typically, this is because early manifestations of your powers at a young age caused traumatic events, which have left you subconsciously conflicted about the nature of your powers. Whatever the case, you’ve learned that in order to get around these blocks and access your psychic talent, you need to allow yourself to be overcome by anger and rage.
Phrenic Pool: Charisma.
Bonus Spells: bane (2nd), bull’s strength (4th), rage (6th), malicious spiteUM (8th), righteous might (10th), vengeful outrageUM (12th), ki shoutUM (14th), clenched fist (16th), symbol of strifeUM (18th).
Discipline Powers: The more that you channel your anger into your magic, the easier it is for you to become angry, and the greater your rage becomes, forming a vicious cycle as rage empowers magic, and magic empowers rage.
Psychic Rage (Su): By surrendering to her rage, and giving in to the temptation to respond with overwhelming magical force, the psychic can perform feats of psychic might that she is otherwise incapable of performing. She can enter a psychic rage as a free action. While in a psychic rage, she treats her caster level as 2 higher for all spells that she casts, and the saving throw DCs of her spells increases by 1. However, each round that she remains in a psychic rage, she must cast a spell using one of her highest-level spell slots. If all of her highest-level spell slots have already been used for the day, she must instead cast a spell using the highest-level spell slot that is currently available.
If all of her spell slots of 1st level or higher have been expended, she automatically ends her psychic rage. Otherwise, in order to end the psychic rage, she must succeed on a concentration check (DC 10 + 1/2 her caster level). Attempting this concentration check is a free action, but the psychic can attempt it only once per round. The psychic can spend a number of rounds per day in a state of psychic rage equal to 3 + her class level. Once the psychic ends her psychic rage (whether because she ran out of rounds per day, ran out of available spell slots, or willingly ended it), it becomes more difficult for her to cast spells until she can arouse her anger again. She treats her caster level as 2 lower than it actually is for all spells she casts, and the saving throw DCs of her spells are reduced by 1. These penalties last for a number of rounds equal to twice the number of rounds that she was in a psychic rage. The psychic can spend make a concentration check as a full-round action (DC 10 + 1/2 her caster level) to end these penalties early. The psychic cannot enter a psychic rage while suffering these penalties.
At 7th level, the psychic treats her caster level as 3 higher while in a psychic rage, instead of 2 higher. At 11th level, she increases the DC of her spells by 2 while in a psychic rage, instead of by 1. At 15th level, she treats her caster level as 4 higher while in a psychic rage, instead of 3 higher.
Clarity of Rage (Su): At 5th level, the psychic learns to use her rage to protect her mind from external forces attempting to act upon it. She gains a +4 bonus on saving throws made to resist mind-affecting effects while she is in a psychic rage. Additionally, when she enters a psychic rage, she can immediately make a new saving throw to resist any mind-affecting effects she is currently suffering from, and this bonus applies. She can only make one additional save in this way for any given effect, even if she enters and leaves a psychic rage multiple times while suffering from it.
Vengeful Magic (Su): At 13th level the psychic’s ire is truly terrible to behold. Whenever the psychic casts a spell that deals damage to a creature that had dealt damage to her since the end of her last turn, that creature suffers 2 additional points of damage per damage dice.