Brain Mole
A Barbarian Totem Animal
Drawing on the animal spirits of his mountain home, a stout dwarf clad only in light armors laughs boomingly as he shrugs off the psionic assault of his clan's mindflayer foes. With a mighty axe-swing, he smashes through their line, opening the way for his people to fend off the brainstealers.
A deep gnome squats beside his party's campfire, medi-tating in silence. In the flickering light, he has noticed the presence of the brain moles he emulates, and with a gentle telepathic prod, he makes inquiry, hoping to offer thanks to the creatures - and thereby receives their warning of fast app-roaching danger: a young behir that he now could prepare for.
An old, iron-like woman smashes her maul into the cloud giant jester's side, having already resisted his charms and arcane tricks. The giant reels as her mind clouds over in pain - and the woman drinks deep of the giant's mental drain.
The shadowy tunnels of the Underdark are home to a numerous host of strange animals that live far from the light of day, from the relatively mundane cave bear and the peculiarly magical deep rothé, to more alien beasts with otherworldly psychic power. The brain mole is one such animal, and some barbarians, particularly those hailing from Underdark homelands, draw inspiration from it as a totem animal, honing psionic powers in admiration.
Barbarians that adopt the brain mole as their totem
spirit are frequently looked to by their people as envoys
to the paranormal, as their psychic powers grant them a defensive edge against dangerous and invasive magic. Like the brain mole they revere, these barbarians may shy from conflicts they know they can't match, preferring to live long enough to well feed body and mind. However, in battle they are no less fierce than any other barbarian, able to use psionics to ward off harm and drain energy from their foes.
Path of the Totem Warrior
If you follow the Path of the Totem Warrior from the Player's Handbook, you have access to the brain mole options presented here.
Totem Spirit
The brain mole is an option available to you when you choose a totem animal at 3rd level.
As with the spirits in the Player's Handbook, adopting the brain mole as your totem spirit requires a physical object incorporating some part of the totem beast, and you might acquire minor physical attributes associated with it, such as a long, twitching nose or slightly milky eyes.
Brain Mole. While raging, you are immune to psychic damage and have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. The spirit of the brain mole bestows psionic resilience.
Aspect of the Beast
This brain mole aspect is available to you when you choose a totem aspect at 6th level.
Brain Mole. You gain the alien powers of the brain mole. You are immune to any effect that would sense your emotions or read your thoughts. You also learn the `mind meld cantrip and can cast it without somatic components, and you gain the ability to telepathically speak to any creature you can see within 30 feet of you. You don’t need to share a language with the creature for it to understand your telepathic messages, but the creature must be able to understand at least one language or be telepathic itself.
Totemic Attunement
At 14th level, this brain mole option is available to you when you choose an attunement.
Brain Mole. While raging, once per turn when you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can inflict an extra amount of psychic damage to it equal to your Constitution modifier, and you gain temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt. Like the brain mole, you drain the vitality of your prey.
Brain Mole
Tiny beast, unaligned
- Armor Class AC 11
- Hit Points 5 (2d4)
- Speed 15 ft., burrow 5 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 3 (-4) 13 (+1) 11 (+0) 6 (-2) 12 (+1) 7 (-2)
- Skills Perception +3, Stealth +3
- Damage Immunities psychic
- Condition Immunities charmed, stunned
- Senses tremorsense 20 ft., blindsight 30 ft. (blind beyond this radius)
- Languages telepathy 10 ft. (emotions and images only)
- Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)
Creature Sense. The brain mole is aware of the presence of any creatures within 60 feet of it that have an Intelligence score of 4 or higher. It knows the distance and direction to each creature, as well as each creature's Intelligence score, but can't sense anything else about it. A creature protected by a mind blank spell, a nondetection spell, or similar magic can't be perceived in this manner.
Innate Spellcasting (Psionics). The brain mole's innate spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 11). It can innately cast the following spells, requiring no components:
At will: `blind spot, detect thoughts
1/day: dissonant whispers
Limited Telepathy. The brain mole can only send images of things it has seen or emotions (fear, curiosity, frustration) with its telepathy.
Telepathic Shroud. The brain mole is immune to any effect that would sense its emotions or read its thoughts, as well as to all divination spells.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 piercing damage
Psychic Leech. The brain mole targets a creature it can see within 30 feet of it. That creature must succeed on a DC 11 Intelligence saving throw or take 1d8 psychic damage. The brain mole gains hit points equal to the amount of psychic damage inflicted. Creatures with an Intelligence score of 3 or less automatically succeed on the saving throw.
Brain Mole
Brain moles look much like their mundane cousins, but they only feed on grubs and insects when they cannot acquire psionic nourishment. Their preference is to sneak up on creatures for a quick psychic snack before scurrying away. At the first sign of trouble, a brain mole will use its dissonant whispers to try and drive dangerous creatures away from it.
Psionic Spells
You may notice that some spells mentioned throughout the subclasses are marked with an asterisk ( * ). These are spells that are found in Xanathar's Guide to Everything. Other spells are marked with a backtick ( ` ). These are additional psionic cantrips, detailed at the end of this compendium, which originally are from "Mental Magic: Mind Over Matter" by Kamidio. Some spells are marked with a quotation mark ( " ). These are from Metabot's Magical Maneuevers by /u/_Metabot and are detailed on the page wherein they're mentioned.
Variant: Brain Mole Familiars
Brain moles can be summoned by warlocks casting find familiar using the Pact of the Chain feature, and are especially appropriate as familiars for those serving the Great Old One.
Other spellcasters may also be able to have a brain mole as a familiar if it is willing. Such brain moles have the following trait:
Familiar. The brain mole can serve another creature as a familiar, forming a magic, telepathic bond with that willing companion. While the two are bonded, the companion can sense what the brain mole senses as long as they are within 1 mile of each other. While the brain mole is within 10 feet of its companion, the companion shares the brain mole's Telepathic Shroud trait. At any time and for any reason, the brain mole can end its service as a familiar, ending the telepathic bond.
Enigmas
A Bardic College
A tiefling garbed in the tunic and robes of an ascetic, her ears plugged with wax, plays a curious, warbling tune upon pan pipes for a noble court. Several of her audience have had their ears similarly plugged with wax, and some have plugs that they remove and replace intermittently: the better to hear the psychic melody humming just beyond her simple notes.
The deafened gnome jester seems to almost skitter across the battlefield, using a series of psychic "jumps" to cover the distance his feet will not. Appearing here, then there, he pushes his psychic music to its limit to cover his allies' needs.
Chuckling inwardly, a halfling silently and signlessly trans-mits counsel and advice to her colleagues: they are unfamiliar with the intricate simplicities of shire culture and would have to be led by the hand through this grand multi-clan dinner.
Bards of the college of enigmas know that sometimes silence is the sweetest of sounds, allowing reflection upon the puzzles and mysteries of life. Through such meditation, these bards learn to spin psychic melodies, treating minds like sheet music and brain waves like notes. The silent chords of this college come together as a defiant acknowledgment of the mystery of life: though the world cannot always be understood, the mortal mind can be enough to endure.
Erudite universities can serve as gathering places for the college of enigmas, though its members are just as likely to be found as hermits in the wilderness or in common taverns, sharing a tankard as they recount true tales of absurd woe and strange joy.
Bards of enigma who pursue the adventurer's life often do so in an effort to better familiarize themselves with life's absurdity, or as a type of pilgrimage to hone their psionic talents. Wherever they travel, they make natural guides and supporters, leading infrequently, but assisting always.
Sound of Silence
When you choose this bardic college at 3rd level, your mind awakens to a silent symphony of psionic power. You no longer need verbal components to cast your spells. If a spell only has verbal components, you instead cast it with somatic
components. Furthermore, a creature does not need to be able to hear you to receive a Bardic Inspiration die from you.
You also learn the message cantrip if you don't already know it, and it doesn't count against the number of bard cantrips you know. When you cast message, you can do so without any verbal, somatic, or material components.
Enigmatic Dance
At 3rd level, creatures can dance to a mystical tune through your psionic powers. As a bonus action, you can expend and roll one of your Bardic Inspiration dice and teleport to an empty space you can see that is no further away from you than a number of feet equal to half the total of the die roll (rounded up) x 5. Any creature that has one of your Bardic Inspiration dice can use a bonus action to expend the die it has and teleport in the same manner.
Paranormal Accompaniment
Beginning at 6th level, you can generate a psychic echo of your performances, amplifying their effects. When a creature recovers extra hit points from your Song of Rest feature, it gains a number of temporary hit points equal to the extra hit points it recovered.
Additionally, creatures affected by your Countercharm are immune to being charmed or frightened. If a creature is already charmed or frightened, the effect is suspended for as long as it is affected by your Countercharm.
Psionic Harmony
By 14th level, your mastery of psionic tones allows you to push your mystic melodies beyond normal limits. While you are concentrating on a bard spell, you can cast another bard spell that requires concentration and maintain concentration on both spells simultaneously until the beginning of your next turn, at which point you must choose to end your concentra-tion on one or both of the spells. These spells must be cast using slots of 4th-level or lower. You can only concentrate in this manner on up to two spells at once, and if you fail a concentration check while maintaining concentration on two spells simultaneously, you lose your concentration on both spells.> ##### Catchy Title
Useful Information
Psionics
A Cleric
Divine Domain
A red dragonborn kneels in meditation and
communion, and his mind expands with his
god's instruction. There is another side
to magic, he understands. His mind is
more than a tool for memorizing the chants
and patterns: it is a wellspring of power in
itself. Sardior speaks into his intellect, and
someday he will do the same. Sardior brings
enemy minds and magic itself to yield, and so
shall he. For today, though, the lesson is simple:
move the rock. He has already begun to sweat.
Pain explodes across the gnoll's mindscape,
and its band beats a hasty retreat as it screams. It,
however, is stuck in place, its mind too addled to spark
limbs into motion. The armored gnome who had thus affl-icted the gnoll eagerly points out the advantage for her allies.
Bound and gagged, the elf and his fellow travelers huddle in a grimy pit of their Yuan-Ti captors' jungle temple. Here they are to await their own sacrifice to fell serpent gods of evil and malice, and bound so well the Yuan-Ti have assumed the best and left the warriors to their own devices. The elf, however, is unperturbed. With a silent prayer to his mindful god, he connects his party in telepathic contact, and with another he undoes the knots on the rogue's hands. With no words spoken, the group soon devises a plan to escape.
Psychic talents are uncommon in most worlds, but gods such as Sardior, Zuoken, and Ilsensine still manifest the powers of the Psionics Domain to diligent followers, invoking the innate magics of an unfettered intellect. The psionic gods have diverse focuses in their doctrine - some preach domination of the minds of others, while others uphold the nobility of striving to attain mental perfection - but all teach their clerics to incorporate psychic talent with their divine magic as dual spellcasters and psions.
Psionics Domain Spells
| Cleric Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 1st | *cause fear, dissonant whispers |
| 3rd | detect thoughts, phantasmal force |
| 5th | hypnotic pattern, sending |
| 7th | confusion, dimension door |
| 9th | *synaptic static, telepathic bond |
Psychic Focus
Beginning when you choose this domain at 1st level, you are able to maintain an elevated state of mind, activating benefits of your choice. Choose one of the following psychic focuses to maintain. The effect of the focus lasts until you finish a long rest, at which point you choose to either maintain the same focus or change to a different one.
While you maintain a psychic focus, you gain the ability to cast an associated psionic cantrip. This cantrip counts as a cleric cantrip for you, and it does not count against the number of cleric cantrips you know. These psionic cantrips are detailed at the end of this compendium.
Mentalist. You gain resistance to psychic damage and can cast the mind meld cantrip.
Glamour. You can cast disguise self without expending a spell slot and regain the ability to do so when you finish a short or long rest. Also, you can cast the `delusion cantrip.
Hypnotist. You gain proficiency in your choice of either the Deception or Persuasion skills, and you can cast the `mystic charm cantrip.
Kineticist. When you score a critical hit with a cleric spell attack, you can roll one of the spell’s damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit. You can cast the `energy beam cantrip.
Transcendence. You don't need to eat, breathe, or sleep. To gain the benefits of a long rest, you can spend 8 hours engaged in light activity, rather than sleeping during any of it. You can cast the `mystic grasp cantrip.
Channel Divinity: Eschew Components
Starting at 2nd level, you can invoke your alien god to cast a spell using only the power of your mind. When you cast a cleric spell, you can use your Channel Divinity to cast it without any verbal, somatic, or material components that do not have a listed cost. When you do so, the spell you cast cannot be the target of a counterspell.
Channel Divinity: Mind Blast
Beginning at 6th level, you can unleash a blast of psychic power using your Channel Divinity. As an action, choose one creature within 30 feet of you. That creature must make an Intelligence saving throw. On a failed save it takes 3d6 psychic damage and is stunned until the end of its next turn. On a successful save a creature takes half as much damage and is not stunned.
Nightmares
Potent Spellcasting
Starting at 8th level, you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any cleric cantrip.
Brainstealer
At 17th level, you learn the feeblemind spell, which counts as a Domain spell for you, and gain proficiency in Intelligence saving throws. If you are already proficient in Intelligence saving throws, you instead gain proficiency in Charisma saving throws. Also, when a creature is stunned by your Mind Blast, it repeats the saving throw at the end of each of its turns. On a success, it is no longer stunned. On a failure, it remains stunned.
Additionally, when a creature is stunned by your Mind Blast feature, and you are within 5 feet of it and can touch it, you can use an action to attempt to annihilate its mind. If the creature has 100 hit points or fewer, it is immediately killed as you rend its intellect. If the creature has more than 100 hit points, it takes 10d10 psychic damage.
Once you use attempt to annihilate a creature's mind using this feature, you can't do so again until you finish a long rest.
A Druid Circle
A lizardfolk, scales turned white from darkness and age, sits with a wide-eyed stare amongst the council of druidic circles. His people had feared that some of the other circles were losing resolve, and so rather than speak, he quietly probes each representative with his mind, reading their streams of consciousness like so many pages out of a book.
With but a thought, a firbolg pulls a gnarled yew staff toward her as she stands from meditation. With another, she dons a pack, and with the last she parts a curtain and exits her tent. It seems the world has not been destroyed. Yet.
With psychic exertion, a half-orc soothsayer transmits awful doom into the minds of the ogre minions he and his compatriots are battling, launching them into a terrified frenzy before he tears apart the seams of reality to reveal a hole into inky, awful nothingness. Fed up with the druid's magics, the beholder leading the evil gives a sharp glance, and the half-orc's flesh is locked into stone. However, all does not go dark: the druid just watches from his prison, patient.
Druids of the Circle of Nightmares know the grim, portentous truths of the universe. Whilst most druidic circles venerate natural gods or Mother Earth itself, these druids dedicate themselves to pacifying and servingeldritch monstrosities, great old ones of grim affect which care little for the needs, interests, or even existences of mere mortals.
Druids of Nightmares toil with mad diligence to appease these horrors through sacrifice and circumspection. Some offer the blood of beasts in accordance with the will of dread powers. Others tend to ancient ley lines to maintain ancient connections to the Far Realms.
These circles are the doomsday cults, the visionary sects, and the ancient traditions which foretell the arrival of living comets and indifferent gods. Immersed in the weird influence of their abstruse masters, such druids learn and cultivate psionic magics - the better to shore up their men-tal fortitude against the endless tide of madness.
Minor Kinesis
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you learn the `mystic grasp cantrip if you don't already know it, and it doesn't count against the number of druid cantrips you know. When you cast mystic grasp in this way, you can do so without somatic components.
Doomspeaker
When you choose this circle at 2nd level, you can psychically emit a sense of doom that afflicts creatures with either apathy or terror. As an action, you can cause each creature in a 10-foot cube originating from you to make a Wisdom saving throw against your druid spell save DC. The creatures that fail their saving throw are
all charmed or frightened by you (your choice) until the end of your next turn.
Once you use this feature, you can't use it again until you finish a short or long rest.
Circle Spells
Your mystical connection to the Far Realms has awakened your mind to certain psychic spells. At 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th level you gain access to these circle spells.
Once you gain access to a circle spell, you always have it prepared, and it doesn’t count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. If you gain access to a spell that doesn’t appear on the druid spell list, the spell is nonetheless a druid spell for you.
Circle of Nightmares Spells
| Druid Level | Circle Spells |
|---|---|
| 3rd | detect thoughts, misty step |
| 5th | fear, hunger of Hadar |
| 7th | banishment, confusion |
| 9th | *synaptic static, telekinesis |
Body Horror
At 6th level, as your infectious madness reveals that all are mere flesh, you learn how to sacrifice the few for the sake of
the many. When a humanoid fails its saving throw against your Doomspeaker feature, you can choose for the creature to be instantly destroyed, converted into misshapen flesh, if its challenge rating is at or below a certain threshold, as shown in the Body Horror table.
Body Horror
| Druid Level | Destroys Humanoid of CR... |
|---|---|
| 6th | 1/2 or lower |
| 10th | 1 or lower |
| 14th | 2 or lower |
Eldritch Ward
Starting at 10th level, you can't be charmed or frightened by aberrations or monstrosities, and you gain resistance to psychic damage.
And I Must Scream
By 14th level, your psychic visions provide maddening insights. You have advantage on initiative rolls, you cannot be surprised, and you are always aware of your surroundings, even when you're unconscious.
Enlightenment
A Paladin Sacred Oath
The treasure hunters strain against the rubble of the cave-in, and for a moment some seem to lose heart - they lack the strength to escape. One, however, pauses to breathe and looks inward. In a moment, his eyes glow with mystic fire and his limbs bring a supernatural strength to bear as he pushes the rocks aside as easily as a thought.
A paladin shouts a prayer, and the putrid, oozing hag reels with a shriek. Finally having had enough, it disappears in a flash of mist, teleporting to safety. Before her compatriots can groan in frustration, however, the paladin raises a hand, smiles, and points. The hag's mental trail leads that way!
The red dragonscale is nearly impenetrable, and most of her fellow warriors have retreated to protect their magician allies from its elemental minions. The knight, however, has one last trick up her sleeve: a technique taught by her mystic sisterhood. She reaches out with her mind and swings twice with her blade, and its flickering, otherworldly edge cuts not through the dragon's hide, but instead through its mind.
Each of these warriors is a paladin bearing the Oath of Enlightenment, a sacred vow of self-development sworn by servants of psychic gods and orders of mystic practitioners. Called mindswords, these paladins blend their divine magics with rigorous self-discipline to hone unique psionic powers.
Such paladins uphold the virtue of knowledge and acumen, viewing truth as power and cunning as life. By dedicating themselves to ascetic living and ponderous meditation, they unlock powers of the mind to bolster their strength in battle.
Tenets of Enlightenment
The oath of enlightenment rejects the rest of the world, preferring to find might and right in personal development.
Pursue Learning. Every new piece of knowledge is growth for your brain, an increase of what is true power.
Deny the Body. Your sword is not the weapon, and your shield is not the defense. Control all physical appetite.
Turn Inward. Instead, hone the true weapon: your mind. Look to yourself for power, rather than the world or others.
Embrace the Emptiness. When you truly unlock the secrets within yourself, the world is shallow in comparison. Embrace the void - it is independence and strength in itself.
Oath Spells
You gain oath spells at the paladin levels listed.
Oath of Enlightenment Spells
| Paladin Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| 3rd | command, comprehend languages |
| 5th | *mind spike, misty step |
| 9th | dispel magic, sending |
| 13th | confusion, locate creature |
| 17th | dominate person, telekinesis |
Channel Divinity
When you take this oath at 3rd level, you gain the following two Channel Divinity options.
Mind Over Matter. As an action, you augment your body with the might of your mind, using your Channel Divinity. For 1 minute, you can add your Charisma modifier to Strength ability checks, Strength saving throws, and damage rolls for melee weapon attacks using Strength.
Phantom Smite. You can invoke psychic power to cut through a creature's mind instead of its flesh. As a bonus action, you can use your Channel Divinity to choose one creature within 30 feet of you. For 1 minute, you gain a bonus to melee weapon attack rolls against that creature equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of +1). Additionally, your reach when targeting that creature is considered 5 feet longer, your melee weapon attacks against it deal psychic damage instead of their normal damage type, and if you use your Divine Smite with attacks targeting the creature, all the damage of your Divine Smite becomes psychic damage.
Extrasensory Aura
Beginning at 7th level, while you are conscious, you and friendly creatures within 10 feet of you have resistance against psychic damage and can telepathically communicate with each other. In order to communicate telepathically in
this way, creatures do not need to share a language, but a creature does need to understand at least one language or
be telepathic itself.
At 18th level, the range of this aura increases to 30 feet.
Alien Endurance
At 15th level, you can generate a mental ward to sustain your body in response to danger. As a reaction when you take damage, you can gain resistance to the damage type of the triggering damage until the beginning of your next turn. If you take more than one type of damage, you choose which damage type to resist.
Once you have used this feature a number of times
equal to your Charisma modifier, you must complete
a long rest before you can use it again.
Paranormal Ascendancy
By 20th level, your mastery of psionics has unlocked
the most potent capacity of your mind. As an action,
you gain the following benefits for 1 minute:
- You are immune to psychic damage and cannot be charmed or frightened.
- You gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed.
- You can cast your paladin spells without any verbal, somatic, or material components without a listed cost.
- You automatically succeed on any saving throws made
to maintain concentration on a paladin spell you cast. - You can cast the spell *psychic scream once without
using a spell slot.
After using this feature, you must finish a long rest
before you can use it again.
Proficiencies for Paladins
For interested DMs and players, the following optional feature can be included as part of the Oath of Enlightenment at 3rd level. Intended to occupy a role of limited mechanical but valuable thematic significance, this feature can be compared to the Spirit Seeker feature of the Path of the Totem Warrior, the Arcane Archer's Lore feature of the Arcane Archer, or the Bonus Proficiencies feature of the Way of the Drunken Master.
Mentalist
You can discern others' feelings through your sixth sense. Also at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in the Insight skill.
Stars
A Philosophical Thesis
Her quill flying across the page, an old woman indulges in
a grin as she applies the finishing touches to her Spellbook of Stars - the history of her life is herein, and with it the power to survive. Within her own mind is everything she needs.
A young half-elf, his gaze unfocused yet intense, marches toward the hobgoblin frontline, and in a flash of light, a shimmering blade of psychic power appears in the man's free hand. Soon, his barrage of spells punctures the line as his weapon arcs over the distance to strike devastatingly true.
While chatting over a pint after a harrowing but successful foray into Undermountain, the naturalist and magician find themselves in agreement as to the peculiarity of their goliath friend: her mystical focus is unbreakable, and she casts and attacks with such speed - but how weak and frail she is, of body and mind! Obviously, the magician says, a consequence of the goliath spending too much time in her own head, and the naturalist drinks to that with a barking laugh. It's too true!
The Thesis of Stars is the belief that personal pursuit is the greatest ideal. Each mortal survives on its own, and the selfish interests of many individuals come together to form a world of actualized people making valuable craft they believe in. By believing in the power of one, these philosophers become capable of doing everything for themselves. With selfishness derived from the mystic, a follower of this
thesis becomes a shining star able to fuel its own ambition.
Spellbook of Stars
When you choose this philosophical thesis at 3rd level, you've written your autobiography in your spellbook, and it is all you need. While you're holding your spellbook, you can manifest a weapon of pure psionic energy in one hand as a bonus action. You can only manifest one such weapon at a time, you can’t hold anything in that hand while manifesting the weapon, and the weapon vanishes when you are no longer holding it. It is considered a simple melee weapon with the finesse property and deals 1d8 psychic damage on a hit. When you make a melee weapon attack, you can choose to make the attack roll with the lowest of your Strength or Dexterity modifiers instead. If you do and you hit, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to the highest of your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifiers (minimum of 1).
Line by Line
By 7th level, you are your own ally. When you use your action to cast a cantrip, you can make a single melee weapon attack as a bonus action. If the cantrip hits and you target the same creature with both the cantrip and the weapon attack, your reach for that weapon attack increases to 30 feet.
Personal Autonomy
Also at 7th level, whenever you make a saving throw to maintain concentration on a spell that only targeted you, you can add a bonus to the roll equal to your Dexterity modifier (minimum of 1).
Self-Direction
Beginning at 10th level, you are your own guide through life. Moving through nonmagical difficult terrain costs you no extra movement, and you have advantage on saving throws against effects that would move you against your will.
Survival of the Fittest
At 15th level, you are a predator of the weak and vulnerable. Once per turn when you target a creature with a spell, you can force it to make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failed save, it is knocked prone. You can use this feature a number of times equal to the highest of your Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma modifiers (minimum of once), and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Self-Made Man
By 18th level, you are everything. Whenever a creature succeeds on a saving throw against one of your Theorycraft spells or philosopher class features, you can use your reaction to force it to make the saving throw again. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Dexterity modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Gaeanist
A Warden Combat Discipline
With another deft swing, a mithral-clad elf connects yet another strike against the death dog, and this blow bludgeons its mind more than its body as mystical fear grips the monster. When she swings again, the hound is already in flight, and she shouts a taunt after it. The road is now safe.
A cadre of sellswords reels back as their Gehennan enemies take the offensive, slinging ancient magic and inflicting fiendish wounds. A bulbous-headed generalissimo takes the lead, blasting the armored lizardfolk in front with otherworldly fire. The lizardfolk, however, is unfazed: being familiar with the yugoloths' preferred spells, he had through meditation inured his mind and body against such energies.
The dark naga whispers foul enchantments, nearly snatching away a hoary-haired hermit's mind. Nevertheless, as the warrior steels himself he raises a hand to cast his own, and soon the monstrous serpent is striving to resist. However, the knightly occultist concentrates, nearly to the point of overwhelming himself, but the effect is well worth it as his foe yields easily to his own charm, temporarily pacified by force.
Even though most see the creatures of the primal world as unintelligent, even mindless, wardens who undergo the shamanistic combat training of the Gaeanists learn to tap into nature's psionic potency. Sometimes referred to as the earthmind, or Gaea, this primitive psychic network permeates much of the natural world. It is a wellspring of animal instinct, of bestial endurance, and, for wardens that practice this combat discipline, of psychic magic that augments their esoteric martial talent.
Gaeanist Spells
You learn an additional spell when you reach certain levels in this archetype, as shown in the Gaeanist Spells table. The spell counts as a warden spell for you, but it doesn't count against the number of warden spells you know.
Gaeanist Spells
| Warden Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| 2nd | wrathful smite |
| 5th | "psi blade |
| 9th | fly |
| 13th | charm monster |
Mystical Armaments
Your psychic magics are not hindered by cumbersome equipment. You gain proficiency with heavy armor. Also, whenever you hit a creature with a weapon attack, you can choose to inflict psychic damage instead of the weapon's normal damage type.
Psychic Dissonance
Starting at 6th level, as a reaction when a creature makes an attack targeting you, you can expend and roll a power die and subtract the result from the creature's attack roll. If the attack
misses, the creature
takes psychic damage equal to the result.
You can choose to use this feature after the
creature makes its roll, but before the DM determines whether the attack roll succeeds or fails. Creatures that are immune to psychic damage cannot be affected by this feature.
You can do this a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (a minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Mystical Shroud
At 10th level, you can choose one damage type when you finish a short or long rest. You gain resistance to that damage type until you choose a different one with this feature. Damage from magical weapons ignores this resistance. You must spend at least ten minutes of the rest meditating in order to gain this benefit.
Psychic Surge
By 14th level, you can impose disadvantage on a target’s saving throw against a warden spell you cast by expending 2 power dice. If it fails the saving throw, you can roll the expended power dice and cause the target to take additional psychic damage equal to the total of the roll.
Psi Blade
2nd-level evocation
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 5 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous
You coalesce an aquamarine blade of distilled pain, having the unique property of phasing through armor and carapace. When you cast this spell, you make a melee spell attack at a creature within range. You treat your target as having an AC of 10 + its Dexterity modifier. On a hit you deal 2d12 psychic damage.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 3rd level or higher, you deal an additional 1d12 damage for each slot level above second.
Psionic Cantrips
Mental Magic: Mind Over Matter
These cantrips are based on the Psionic Talents of the Mystic class published in Unearthed Arcana and have a special tag: psionics. Such spells are cast normally, but the psionics tag indicates that their magic specifically references and interacts with the mind and psionic power.
Credits
Designer: Kamidio
Psionic Talents by: Wizards of the Coast
Special Thanks: Discord of Many Things for their suggestions and balancing tweaks.
Bard Spells
Cantrips (0 Level)
- Blade Meld
- Blind Spot
- Delusion
- Light Step
- Mind Meld
- Mystic Charm
Cleric Spells
Cantrips (0 Level)
- Blade Meld
- Energy Beam
- Light Step
- Mind Meld
Druid Spells
Cantrips (0 Level)
- Energy Beam
- Light Step
- Mind Meld
- Mind Thrust
- Mystic Grasp
- Soul Strike
Sorcerer Spells
Cantrips (0 Level)
- Blade Meld
- Blind Spot
- Delusion
- Energy Beam
- Light Step
- Mind Meld
- Mind Slam
- Mind Thrust
- Mystic Charm
- Mystic Grasp
- Psychic Hammer
- Soul Strike
Warlock Spells
Cantrips (0 Level)
- Blade Meld
- Blind Spot
- Energy Beam
- Mind Thrust
- Mystic Charm
- Soul Strike
Wizard Spells
Cantrips (0 Level)
- Blade Meld
- Blind Spot
- Delusion
- Energy Beam
- Light Step
- Mind Meld
- Mind Slam
- Mind Thrust
- Mystic Charm
- Mystic Grasp
- Psychic Hammer
- Soul Strike
Blade Meld
Transmutation cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 bonus action
- Range: Self
- Components: S, M (a one-handed weapon)
- Duration: 1 minute
A one-handed melee weapon you hold becomes one with your hand. For the next minute, you can't let go of the weapon nor can it be forced from your grasp.
Blind Spot
Illusion cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 120 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: 1 round
You erase your image from the mind of one creature you can see within range; the target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw, or you are invisible to it until the end of your next turn.
Delusion
Illusion cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: 1 minute
You plant a false belief into the into the mind of one creature within range. You can create a sound or an image. Only the target of this spell perceives the sound or image you create.
If you create a sound, its volume can range from a whisper to a scream. It can be your voice, someone else’s voice, a creature’s roar, a musical instrument, or any other sound you pick. It lasts for 1 minute.
If you create an object, it must fit within a 5-foot cube, and can't move or be reflective. The image can’t create any effect that influences a sense other than sight. The image lasts for 1 minute, and disappears if the creature touches it.
Energy Beam
Evocation cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 90 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous or 1 minute
You target one creature you can see within range. The target must succeed on an Dexterity saving throw or take 1d8 cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage (your choice).
Alternatively, when you cast this cantrip, you can surround yourself in a harmless sensory effect for 1 minute. The effect changes based on the damage type chosen.
- Cold. Icy frost forms on your skin, and an icy, snowflake filled haze billows from your body.
- Fire. Smoke and cinders rise up from around your feet, and your eyes flicker with flames.
- Lightning. Electricity crackles around you, and your hair or fur stands on end.
- Thunder. The air around you distorts and a dull thumping sound that can be heard up to 10 feet away emanates from you, throwing about any loose particles, fabric, or hair.
The spell’s damage increases by 1d8 when you reach 5th level (2d8), 11th level (3d8), and 17th level (4d8).
Light Step
Transmutation cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 bonus action
- Range: Self
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous
You alter your density and weight to improve your mobility. For the rest of your turn, your movement speed increases by 10 feet, and the first time you stand up this turn, you do so without expending any of your movement if your speed is greater than 0.
Mind Meld
Divination cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 bonus action
- Range: 120 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous
You can connect telepathically with one willing creature you can see within range. The target must have an Intelligence of at least 2; otherwise this spell fails, and the bonus action is wasted.
You gain access to one memory of the target's choice, gaining perfect recall of what the target did or experienced.
The memories share the same limits as the creature - the memories of a blind person will lack a visual element, a dog may recall smells better than sights, and so on.
Mind Slam
Transmutation cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 60 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous
You target one creature you can see within range with a powerful wave of psychic energy. The target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or take 1d6 force damage. If it takes any of this damage and is Large or smaller, it is knocked prone.
The spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).
Mind Thrust
Transmutation cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 120 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous
You target one creature you can see within range. You create a storm of negative thoughts within the target's mind. The target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw or take 1d10 psychic damage.
The spell’s damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).
Mystic Charm
Enchantment cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 120 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: 1 round
You beguile one humanoid you see within range.
The target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw
or be charmed by you until the end of your next turn.
Mystic Grasp
Transmutation cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 30 feet (60 feet maximum)
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous
You use your mind to manipulate or move an object within 30 feet of you. The object can't weigh more than 10 pounds, and you can't affect an object being worn or carried by another creature. If the object is loose, you can move it up to 30 feet in any direction.
You can use this spell to accomplish simple tasks, such as opening an unlocked door or pouring out a container.
The object falls to the ground at the end of your turn if you leave it suspended in midair.
Psychic Hammer
Transmutation cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 120 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous
You try to grasp one creature you can see within range using a hand crafted from telekinetic energy. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or take 1d6 force damage. If it takes any of this damage and is Large or smaller, you can move it up to 10 feet in a straight line in a direction of your choice. You can't lift the target off the ground unless it is already airborne or underwater.
The spell’s damage increases by 1d6 when you reach 5th level (2d6), 11th level (3d6), and 17th level (4d6).
Soul Strike
Transmutation cantrip (psionic)
- Casting Time: 1 action
- Range: 5 feet
- Components: S
- Duration: Instantaneous
You create a weapon of psychic energy in a free hand to strike a creature in range. Make a melee spell attack against the target. On a hit, the target takes 1d10 psychic damage.
The weapon passes through most solid matter. The target does not benefit from half-cover or three-quarters cover.
The spell’s damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10).
Because Who Needs Mystics?
Thanks to /u/AeronDrake for the formatting guide and watercolor stains.
Thanks to the Discord of Many Things and the UA subreddit for feedback and design assistance.
Credit and thanks to Kamidio for the Psionic Cantrips from "Mental Magic: Mind Over Matter", which are featured here and in part inspired the project.
The Thesis of Stars is a Philosophical Thesis for the Philosopher class by /u/Cometdance.
The Gaeanist is a Combat Discipline for the Warden class by /u/layhnet.
This is part of the Buildbrew Up initiative, an attempt to prevent the constant flow of the same old homebrew by creating content that supports other homebrew content. Search "Buildbrew Up" on /r/UnearthedArcana if you're interested, and feel free to join the movement.
(v2.0)
Created by /u/BunnygeonMaster using
Art Credits
Credit to the following artists for their lovely work:
Cover Pages
Brain Mole
Enigmas
Psionics
Nightmares
Enlightenment
- Dwarf Cleric by Hua Lu
- +STAR CITY I+ by ERA-7
Stars
Warden
Psionic Cantrips
- Ghostly Hands- Magic the Gathering by Jason Felix
- WOTC - Primordial Sorcerer by Mike Nash
- Midnight Recovery by Pete Mohrbacher
"I mean, they traditionally aren't paladins."
Disclaimer: Miraculously, no brain moles, elder beings, philosophy majors, or mystics were harmed in the making of these archetypes. Please don't ask about the bunnies.