[FOCI]
Planar Character Options
"I am starting to remember the war at the edge of the multiverse . . . or was it a war at the end of time?"—Culator, a psychic war veteran
Someone who Was Scarred by the Psychic War (often referred to as a psychic war veteran) has lived far longer than the average beginning adventurer, having spent at least a decade in a mysterious war at the "edge of the multiverse." But psychic war veterans are unsure of the details, suspecting only that aberrations were involved. The reason for their clouded memory is that they seem to have suffered a mental wound so devastating that most of who and what they were was wiped away. Having to start over from almost nothing, and contending with a lingering mental condition referred to as the "shivers," many turn away from attempting to recapture their former life.
However, a few try to regain what was stripped from them, picking up hints of mental abilities they previously possessed. These few include you. As a psychic war veteran, you meditate on time, space, psychic awareness, and the nature of the shivers that come over you from time to time, trying to turn it from a detriment into a psychic asset.
With practice, you gain some measure of control over your mental malady, realizing it's not really a condition at all, but a window into memory and a way to become more of what you once were. When everything seems to shake, reality quivers around you, too, allowing you to modify it, though only in small ways at first.
They—whoever "they" are—broke you; you know that now. But who? Anger is your only answer, until the war summons you back.
Those witnessing a psychic war veteran's use of mental abilities sometimes notice a visual shimmer around the character.
You gain an aura of three psychic slivers. The slivers are composed of concentrated psychic energy condensed from dimensions of mind and thought. For each level of Effort you apply, you gain one additional sliver. Whenever you use this ability, psychic slivers from any previous use of this ability dissipate. While you retain at least one psychic sliver, you are trained in Intellect defense rolls. In addition, you can use your slivers in various additional ways as described in associated abilities; however, each use destroys a sliver.
Action to initiate.
You use one psychic sliver produced by Psychic Aura to enhance the damage of another attack or special ability, inflicting 1additional point of damage with psychic energy. Alternatively, you attack a target within long range by spearing that target with a psychic sliver, inflicting 4 points of psychic damage if the attack hits.
You use one psychic sliver produced by Psychic Aura to gain +2 to Armor against one attack, or +5 to Armor against an attackthat inflicts psychic damage.
Alternatively, you use one psychic sliver to give one creature within short range an immediate extra defense roll against one ongoing malign mental influence affecting them (such as if they are being mentally commanded, possessed, frightened, and so on).
Enabler to gain Armor; action to end malign psychic influence.
Ability Choice: Choose either Enhanced Intellect Edge or Recalling Perfection as your tier 3 ability.
You gain +1 to your Intellect Edge. s
Recalling another life when you fought aberrations at the end of the universe, you treat a naturally rolled 19 on an attack roll as if it was a 20, thus gaining the benefit of a major effect.
You use one psychic sliver produced by Psychic Aura to grant yourself or an ally within short range an immediate, free, one-action recovery roll (or heal an NPC up to 5 points of health). Once a target benefits from this effect, they can't benefit again until they rest for ten hours.
Once per turn as part of another action, you can make a ranged attack with one psychic sliver produced by Psychic Aura against a target a short distance away. If successful, you don't deal damage and the sliver is consumed as it transforms into a psychic command of complete physical and mental paralysis, causing the target to lose their next turn. You can choose to keep the creature helpless for up to one minute, as long as you continue to use your action each subsequent round, concentrating on the creature to keep them motionless.
Action to initiate.
Ability Choice: Choose either Mind Rip or Psychic Mirror as your tier 6 ability.
You mentally attack a target held with a Psychic Sliver of Mental Paralysis, which grants you an asset to your attack. If the attack succeeds, cascading waves of psychic fury inflict 10 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) and the target is stunned, losing their next turn. Even if you fail, the target takes 2 points of Intellect damage (ignores Armor) but is not stunned. Either way, the mental hold you had over the target is lost.
Protections endowed in a secret war at the edge of the multiverse, dimly recalled, grant you enhanced defenses against psychic enemies. You are specialized in Intellect defense rolls.
In addition, if your successful Intellect defense roll allows you to avoid a mental attack that would otherwise inflict damage or attempt to mentally influence you, you can spend 4 Intellect points to cause the attack to bounce back on the attacker as if you were the source of the attack. Make an unmodified attack roll against the target to determine if you succeed (do not use any of your or the target's modifiers on the attack roll, but you can apply Effort for accuracy).
GM Intrusions: Nightmares sometimes impede gaining the full benefits of rest but can't be fully recalled the next day. Sometimes the shivers get out of a psychic war veteran's control for a brief time if they encounter something that reminds them, however obscurely, of the secret war.