PSYCHIC DUELS Prychie duels are battles in which combatants’ minds become intertwined within a binary mindscape (see page 239). Though peychie spellesters wield tgemendous power in such battles other creatures can also wield mental might 7 with surprising potency. 7 INSTIGATING A PSYCHIC DUEL A payehie spelleaster ereates a binary mindscape when a target falls its save against instigate psychic duel (ee page 174). "The caster and target's minds ae then merged in apaychiec duel within thst mindscape until either the spell’ duration ‘ends or the peychic duel reaches ite conclusion, Ifthe duel ‘begins during combat, each of the dueling characters tetains its initiative order and the psychic duel goes on in conjunction with the initial combat. If the duel begins outside combat, the initiator can jake a owt ation to create a supernatural eet called a EY chic manifestation ee belo) upon entering the binary smindscape, before her opponents frst turn, ‘While locked ina psychic duel, the combatants’ physical bodies become unresponsive. They retain their positions, Dut they can take no actions and lose their Dexterity bonuses to Armor Class forthe duration of the duel, RUNNING PSYCHIC DUELS Esch combatant ima prychic dul attacks her opponent and defends herselwiththe power ofherimapination and force of her personality. Such combatants appear in the binary ‘indscape much as they appear in reality (unless using a ‘mental mask; se page 258) but thee abilities and attacks ate enhanced in some ways and Limited in others by the steange laws ofthe binary mindscape While the illusion of physical movement exists in the sindscape’s reality, such things as speed and position Shave little Bearing on a paychic ducl. Combatants are WP mmtedto purely mental actions speech, and the creation “of psychic manifestations (see below), With very few } exceptions, spells and spell-like abilities can't be used T (see Concluding a Pyehie Ducl on page 205) [© When acharacterenters binary mindscape, she uses the following ttistieasthey were prirtoenteringchercurrent xe points ability scores; ACand touch AC; Reflex, Fortitude, and Will saving throws; highest mele attack bonus; and hhighest ranged attack bonus. These attack bonuses apply con mele and ranged offensive manifestations, respectively (Gce page 203, Regeneration and fast healing ae the only special bilities that apply na psychic due uncanay dodge and damage reduction, or example, do not. Bonses and penalties granted by stems, as well as spells and effets ative before entering the mingscape, apply to thete statistics, as such items and effects guin payehic equivalents when a creature enters a mindscape. However, while the mind is engaged in psychic duel, only damaging and healing spells and effects cast on the body ofa combatant have an effect on the battle ‘Manifestations retain many of the manifestor's combat capabilities, Phe nature ofthe binary mindscape translates martial prowess into peychic parallels; after all, euch prowess comet from training, muscle memory, and other subconscious components of the mind. This means that while martially inclined characters have fewer resources in a paychic duel, they can still make powerful attacks saguins\ their foes with great accuracy, Conditions gained during a psychic duel razely carry overintothereal world, but damageis dealt tothe physical ‘body of the duclist, so it's possible for combatants to die. Similarly, unlike all other effects that occur in the real world aftera psychic duel begins, damaging and healing 4 duclist's physical body eaery over to the psychic duel. PSYCHIC MANIFESTATIONS While engaged in a psychic duel, the combatants don't attack or cast spells normally. Instead, the combatants create psychic manifestations, abilities that can be used only within a binary mindscape; these represent changes to the mindseape’s fabric (see Mindseapes on page 234) Generating Manifestation Points Psychic manifestations are fueled by peychic energy, represented by manifestation pointe (MP), Each combatant hasamanifestng evel equal ethertoitshighest caster evel or hal ts number of Hit Dice, whichever is higher. The ‘maximum number of manifestation points a combatant can spend when creating a manifestation is equal either to {he highes-level spell the combatant can cast ofits HD {esinimum x and maximum 3, whicheveris higher tn order to create a peychic manifestation, a combatant must generate MP in any of four way: fom ab ftom clase features, by sactficing spells, o by sacrificing spell-lke abilities. She can use each ofthese methods only once pet manifestation, For example, a character who is a gunslinger s/wiard 8 could generate 1 MP fom ability scores, MP ffom grit, and 2 MP by sacrificing a and-level, spell, thus reaching her per- manifestation limit of ¢ ME, Dut she couldn't do so by sacrificing fou different 1tlevel spells. If combatant doesn use all ofthe manifestation points it generates immediatly, the extra points are lst Generating MP from bility scores doesa't deplete the y tore, but ithas other consequences fora combatant once the duc is concluded (ge below) All other sources of DMP deplete the spent resources inthe real world aswell. Generating MP from Ability Scores: Every combatant begins a peyehic duel with a pool of MP equal to thecombatants HD + the average of her Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma seores. Asa five action, 2 combatant ean dras? from this poo! to generate MP. A combatant who draws any ‘number ofpoints from this poo! is fatigued upon leaving the binary mindscape. A combatant who draws half or more of these points is exhausted upon leaving the mindscape, and takesa— penalty to Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma for 24 hours thereafter, Ifa combatant expends the entire pool, she becomes unconscious after leaving the mindscape. The fatigued, exhausted, and unconscious conditions and the 4 penalty ignore all immunities and last for 2g hous; they can't be removed before that time except by a ish ora miracle Generating MP from Select Class Features: As a fice action, a combatant with an arcane, grit, ki, panache, or phrenic pool (or any other similar clas feature the GM chooses} can spend points from these pools to generate MP ata rate of: MP per point spent Sacrificing Spells to Generate MP: As a ftee action, 4 combatant cin sacrifice a single spell slot Qf he's a spontancous caste) or prepared spell (if he's a prepared caster} to generate a number of MP equal to the level of the spell slot or prepared spell sacrificed, Alchemists and investigators can sacrifice an extract slot as ifit were a spell slot, but only if that extract slot is currently open and not already invested in a physical extract. Sacrificing Spell-Like Abilities to Generate MP: A combatant can sacrifice ause ofa spell-like ability inaway similar to sacrificing spells to generate MP. However, cach at-will spll-like ability can be sacrificed only once during 4 single psychic duel;it is nota source of infinite MP. Creating Psychic Manifestations Psychic manifestations have three main types: offensive manifestations, defensive maniféstations and thoughtform creatures. For the purpose of concentration checks, creating manifestation is considered casting a spell with spell level ‘qual o the number of MP spent to creat the manifestation. ‘The combatant creating the manifestation treats her ‘manifesting level as her caster level for such checks Offensive Manifestation (Full-Round Action) hie type of manifestation is a direct attack on an) ‘opponent, a thought-form creature, or both, An offensive ‘manifestation can attack a variety of defenses, dependingon the number of MP spent and the desires of te creator. ‘Greating an offensive manifestation requires three steps Step 1—Create Sensory Effects: Combatants creating psychic manifestations are limited only by their Imaginations s tothe look, sound, fe, and smell ofeach raniffsation; these sensory effets guide combatants in their later choices. For example, sf combatant envisions am offensive manifestation a a giant ball of lva he throws Pp abs orponet that might spas hate atc bool PE oreo 1 Reflex saving throw rather than targeting the ‘opponent’ AC. Regardless of the effte’s form, damage Aealt bya manifestation is always untyped damage, and ean Ue nitigated only by defensive manifestations Step 2—Determine Attack Type: By deft, an offensive manifestation acts af cither a melee or ranged attack (creators choice) that resolves against a single targets AC. ‘The creator can have the manifestation resolve aguinst touch AG instead by increasing the cost by 2 MP. ‘Alternatively, the creator cap instead force both his | opponent and any thoughtform creature it controls to tempt a saving throw to avoid the eect this increases the cost by 1 MP. ‘The DC is equal to 10 «the total uraber of MP spent «the Intelligence, Wisdom, {he xeator (whichever is highest)-The creator choose which ind of saving throw—Fortinude, Reflex, or Will—the target must attempt. By default, «succesful save negates the manifestation’s damage, but the creator cam increase the cost by an additional 1 MP to cause the manifestation to deal balf damage ona succesfal sve {fn offensive manifestation’ effects can be negated or reduced with a saving throw, the creator can increase the ostto have the manifestation apply a condition (ee Step). Step 3—Determine Damage and Conditions: After determining the manifestations attack type, the ceator Alelermines ite number of damage dice. ‘The creator rst spend at leat x MP on damage, which grants the manifestation 1 damage di, but she can spend more to {increase the number of dice, as shown onthe abl below. Charisma bonus of ‘Number of Bamage Dice Tae ‘4 dce 6 dce ede ww dee mde dice 16 dice 1 die per creator's manifesting level (maximum 20 dice) “The manifestation’s damage die type depends on the source of the manifestation’s MP. Psychic spells and spell-like abilities sacrificed grant dfs, Arcane spells and other spell-like abilities grant ds, All other methods of generating MP (including mixed methods) grant dqs. If the manifestation’s attack resolves against AC or touch AC, 4 natural 20 on the attack rol threatens a critical hit for double damage. Ifthe manifestation allows a saving throw, the creator can spend additional MP toadd one condition from the list below (che must still spend at least x MP on damage). A successful saving throw always negates the condition. Conditions gained in a psychic duel end if the duel ends before the condition’s normal duration expires, The conditions below otherwise follow the normal rules for those conditions, withthe fllowing exceptions and additions Blinded (5 MP}: Affected creatures ar blinded for x round; they can't use offensive manifestations that require saves. Confused (g MP. "The affected creatures are confused for 1 round, breaking concentration automatically. fan affected creature is forced to attack the nearest creature i attacks its opponent's Uhoughteform cresture if one exists, of the ‘opponent ifnot. A confised combatant never stacks her own ‘hought-form creature, or vice vers, This condition can be applied only to manifestations that require Will swves. Dazed 4 MP}: The affected creatures ae dazed fora round. [Adazed combatant can continue to concentrate on thought- formeresturesand create defensive manifestations, butean't create thought-form creatures or offensive manifestations. "This condition can be applied only to manifestations that require Will save. Entangled (2 MP) 'The affected creatures are entangled until they take a full-round action to end this condition. "This condition can be applied only to manifestations that require Reflex saves. [Nauseated (4 MBP} The affected creatures are nauseated for round, A nauseated creature can ereate only defensive manifestations. ‘This condition can be applied only to ‘manifestations that require Fortitude saves Shaken (1 MP} The affected creatures are shaken for 1d4 rounds. This condition can be applied only to ‘manifestations that require Will saves Defensive Manifestation CAction Type Varies) Defensive manifestations protect a combatint from her opponent's manifestations, A combatant in a psychic duel ‘can manifest the following defensive abilities. oasive Mind a or more MP; swift action): The combatant gains a 42 bonus on all saving throws and gains evasion for a number of rounds equal to the number of MP she spent to create this manifestation. Hanlened Mind (1 to 4 MP; swift action) For 1 round, the combatant’s Armor Class increases by an amount equal to the number of MP she spent to create this manifestation, and her touch AC increases by half that (minimum +0}.