Special Abilities[]
In addition to ordinary psionic powers, which are the hallmark of the class, psionicists have several special abilities. These include their saving throws, THAC0s, and psionic powers that operate continuously.
Maintaining Powers: Certain psionic powers can operate continuously (Chapters 3 through 8 specify which ones do). Such powers can be "switched on" and kept on without interruption, until the user decides to (or is forced to) "switch them off." This is called maintaining powers.
Each power that is maintained is handled separately. In many cases, maintenance entails expending PSPs by the hour or turn rather than the melee round (the norm for psionic combat). If a psionicist is expending PSPs to maintain a power, he cannot recover psionic strength points that hour. A character cannot spend PSPs to maintain a power when he is sleeping or unconscious; no continuous power that requires strength points can operate during sleep.
A character can maintain any number of powers at one time, but he can "switch on" or initiate only one per round. When maintained powers are deactivated, the character can drop all maintained powers at once, or one per round. He cannot drop two or more in one round and maintain others.
THAC0 and Saving Throws: As shown on Table 7, a psionicist's THAC0 advancement equals that of a rogue. Table 8 lists saving throws. Psionicists gain a +2 bonus on all saving throws vs. enchantment/charm spells and the like. This is in addition to their magical defense adjustment for high Wisdom.
| Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| THAC0 | 20 | 20 | 19 | 19 | 18 | 18 | 17 | 17 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 11 | 11 |
| Level | Paralyzation, Poison, or Death Magic |
Rod, Staff, or Wand |
Petrification or Polymorph1 |
Breath Weapon 2 |
Spell3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-4 | 13 | 15 | 10 | 16 | 15 |
| 5-8 | 12 | 13 | 9 | 15 | 14 |
| 9-12 | 11 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 12 |
| 13-16 | 10 | 9 | 7 | 12 | 11 |
| 17-20 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 11 | 9 |
| 21+ | 8 | 5 | 5 | 9 | 7 |
- 1 - Excluding polymorph wand attacks.
- 2 - Excluding those which cause petrification or polymorph.
- 3 - Excluding those for which another saving throw type is specified, such as death, petrification, polymorph, ect.
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