Psychoportation (WatW)

Arlik crouched behind the boulder, peering down the rocky slope at the raider camp below. Watchfires and sentries surrounded the bandits' home; they were experienced marauders and guarded against any reprisals by their victims. In the center he could see the mekillot-bone cages the captive lay in.

Beside Arlik, a dark figure cleared his throat. Can you get us in?" asked Sorennok. The mul nervously gripped his swords hilt and waited for an answer.

Arlik frowned. "It's about 400 yards from here to the supply tents." He paused. "I can do it."

Sorennok nodded and turned to whisper to his warriors. "The mindbender can get us in. Everyone, form a line behind Zaros, there." The slave warriors quietly rose and moved in to position, waiting with weapons bared.

When Arlik thought the warriors were ready, he closed his eyes and called upon the Way. Directly before him, a dim blue portal appeared in midair. Through it he could see the darkened interior of a tent. "Go swiftly," he whispered to Sorennok. "I can't maintain the doorway for long."

The mul clapped his hand on Arlik; shoulder and leaped through, his men following in quiet, deadly succession.

Psychoportive Advancement

Psychoportation is not often chosen as a primary discipline, but it often comes second. The psychoporter possesses an array of valuable powers that can bypass almost any obstacle and confound any enemies. The psychoporter works with the very fabric of space, time, and reality itself to achieve her goals.

The Role of Psychoportation

True psychoporters are rare. They lack the combat abilities of a psychokineticist or a psychometabolist and are not as good at information gathering as the others. While their powers are expanded considerably in this book, they are still basically good for one thing only: going places.

On Athas, psychoporters mostly work as scouts, messengers, or couriers. Their ability to cover distance fast and avoid trouble makes them very valuable to commanders and merchants. Most large merchant houses have a psychoporter agent who can carry small. valuable parcels without fear of interception. The psychoporter's ability to bypass any normal defense also makes her useful in espionage, burglary, or covert strikes.

A psychoporter can be a valuable addition to an adventuring party. While she won't inflict great amounts of damage. she is fairly safe in a fight‚ as she is able to get out of harm's way. She's especially useful when used as a long-range scout or to get the party to places they could not reach otherwise. In a melee, the psychoporter should look for an opportunity to attack the enemy from the rear with a teleport or dimensional door.

The psychoporter is flexible in her advancement, but should take teleport as her first science since many powers list it as a prerequisite. It's possible to advance without it‚ but not far.

Almost all psychoportive powers are defensive, but the psionicist should use both tactical and strategic defenses. Dimensional door and teleport are strategic; they get the character out of the fight. Defenses like blink and dimension screen are tactical, since they give one an improved defense.

Attack powers are rare. but several powers can be used creatively to defeat opponents. Teleport object can be used to disarm an enemy, as can phase object. Time shift is also a useful means of attack. Of course, the true utility of a psychoporter lies in her ability to go anywhere at anytime. She is most effective when she uses her powers to bypass fights.

Psychoportive Powers

Many psychoportive powers can be difficult to adjudicate. In most cases, the DM will simply have to make the best call he can. Some of the specific powers include:

Summon Planar Creature: If the DM does not have access to MC 8, The Outer Planes Appendix, he is perfectly within his rights to require the psionicist to summon creatures from the elemental planes only. Possible elemental creature summonings would include:

Air: Elemental (lesser, standard, or greater), invisible stalker, aerial servant, genie (djinn), sylph.

Earth: Elemental, xorn, genie (dao), pech, sandling.

Fire: Elemental, fire snake, salamander, genie (efreet).

Water: Elemental, water weird, genie (marid).

It's assumed that if the psionicist reaches one of the Outer Planes, he contacts either the Abyss, Baator (the Nine Hells), Limbo, a generic Lower Plane, or a generic Upper Plane. Note that planar powers can't be summoned with this science.

An asterisk (*) indicates a Monstrous Manual entry

The Abyss: Bebilith, bodak, tanar'ri (alu-fiend, babau, balor*, bar-igura, cambion, chasme, dretch, glabrezu, hezrou, manes, marilith*, molydeus, nabassu, nalfeshnee, rutterkin, succubus, vrock).

Baator: Baatezu (abishai*, amnizu, barbazu, cornugon, erinyes, gelugon, hamatula, lemure, nupperibo, osyluth, pit fiend*, spinagon).

Limbo: Githzerai*, slaad (red*, blue*, green, gray).

Upper Planes: Aasimon (agathinon, astral deva, modanic deva, movanic deva, light, planetar), air sentinel, archon (hound, warden, sword, tome), bariaur, lammasu*, adamantite dragon, enheriar, marut, moon dog, noctral, per, phoenix*, warden beast, zoveri.

Lower Planes: Gehreleth (farastu, kelubar, shator), hordling, maelephant, night hag*, nightmare*, vaporighu, yugoloth (arcanaloth, dergholoth, mezzoloth, nycaloth, piscoloth, ultroloth‚ yagnoloth).

Astral Plane: Githyanki*, aasimon (astral deva, movanic deva), slaad (gray), tanar'ri (nabassu. succubus, glabrezu, vrock), baatezu (amnizu, erinye), githzerai*, lammasu,* shedu*, rakshasa*.

Ethereal Plane: Aasimon (monadic deva), gloomwing*, tenebrous worm*, lammasu*, shedu*, rakshasa*, any elemental or genie.

There are no guarantees with this power. The summoned creature is under no obligation to obey the psionicist and will probably be quite angry with him. The psionicist uses this power at his own risk.

Dimnension Door: One of the two portals created must appear in front of the psionicist, one to four feet from his body. The portal by the psionicist is oriented to his body, so that if he is lying on his back, the door is actually a horizontal plane hovering above him. If the psionicist is so close to something that the door must appear in a solid object, the power fails.

A psionicist can only maintain one dimensional door at a time, so one character can't cage an opponent with such doors. However, two or more psionicists can cooperate to place their portals very close together. Remember, one of the portals will have to be right next to the initiating psionicist, so placing one next to an enemy may simply bring him right to you.

If a psionicist tries to place a dimensional door in a position that will force another character to fall or step through it unwillingly, the victim gets a saving throw versus paralyzation to step around the portal and avoid the trip.

The portal of a dimensional door has only one side. It has no thickness, and from its "back" side it does not exist. This means that a psionicist can't use the dimensional portal in front of him to screen missile attacks or to force an enemy in melee with him to be transported. The doorway works in both directions, but each portal only exists on one side.

If the dimensional door is maintained over several rounds, both portals must remain in the exact spot where they first appeared. The psionicist can create a set of portals and then move away from the nearer one, as long as he continues to pay the maintenance cost. In a combat situation, up to five characters per round can pass through the door; if the party prepares by lining people up and going in order, as many as 10 per round can use the door.

The Psychoporter Template

The powers listed below are the recommended progression by level for an NPC psionicist. The DM should feel free to substitute as he or she sees fit. As always, a character must have twice as many devotions as sciences in any given discipline, and may not have as many sciences or devotions in a secondary or tertiary discipline as he has in his primary discipline.

Level	Power Gained
1	Teleport (S), duo-dimension, dimensional door, dimension blade
2	Astral projection, time shift
3	Teleport other (S), teleport object; TELEPATHY: Contact
4	Ethereal traveler, TELEPATHY: Life detection
5	TELEPATHY: Mindlink (S), psychic crush
6	CLAIRSENTIENCE: Radial navigation
7	Summon planar creature (5); TELEPATHY: ESP
8	Time dilation
9	Summon planar energies (S), phase
10	PSYCHOMETABOLISM: Cell adjustment
11	CLAIRSENTIENCE: Clairvoyance (S), know location
12	Pocket dimension
13	TELEPATHY: Domination (S); PSYCHOMETABOLISM: Chameleon power
14	PSYCHOKINESIS: Control light
15	Spatial distortion; PSYCHOMETABOLISM: Metamorphosis (S)
16	TELEPATHY: Post-hypnotic suggestion
17	Time travel (S); PSYCHOKINESIS: Soften
18	METAPSIONICS: Prolong
19	TELEPATHY: Probe (S), ego whip
20	Time/space anchor