Medium (Variant Psion)

- Harry Houdini

Note: The medium uses material from the Expanded Psionics Handbook and Complete Psionic supplements. It is recommended that you have access to those books in order to use this variant psion.

In the 1800s, mysticism came into vogue, and suddenly the rich were trying to outdo one another with séances, magic shows and other displays of the paranormal. It was only a matter of time before true psychics began to model themselves after the charlatans that bilked the rich and influential out of their money.

A medium, is a psion who, instead of learning one of the traditional disciplines, has, for one reason or another, focused on a specialized path that duplicates or improves on the abilities of other so called 'psychics'.

There can be a few reasons why a psion would choose to focus on these kinds of abilities. For instance, like those they pattern themselves after, the medium might wish to use his powers to make money and build influence. Others might wish to ease the emotional pain of others or even use their powers to steal secrets or treasure.

Mediums often establish their practices in large cities, where they can be close to their marks. Using their talents, they can integrate themselves into high society in order to ply their trade, whether legitimately or as part of a fraud.

Adventuring mediums act as the eyes and ears of a party. Their well-honed abilities allow them to experience the recent past or push their senses beyond normal limits and boundaries, even past the veil of death.

Alignment: Any. The social aspect of the medium usually lead them towards a lawful path, but chaotic ones can find work just as easily if shunned in high society. Mediums have no clear preference for good over evil, and many are neutral in that respect.

Hit Die: d4.

Class Skills

The medium adds the following skills to the standard psion class skills:

Bluff (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Listen (Wis) and Sense Motive (Wis).

Game Rule Information

The medium is a variant psion. Unless otherwise noted, a medium advances in the same manner as a psion (same base attack bonus, saving throw bonuses, skill points and so on). When a character elects to take a level of psion or medium, he may not later take levels in the other class. This prevents the character from gaining the benefits of a 1st-level psion twice.

A medium can manifest as many powers per day as a regular psion.

Discipline: Just like a regular psion, the medium has specialized in a discipline of psychic powers, but they use a specific discipline that is not available to non-mediums. These powers focus on both contact with the supernatural world and duplications of many common parlor tricks.

The medium's discipline powers can be found below in Table 1-01. Powers marked with an asterisk can be found in the supplement Complete Psionic.

Psicrystal Affinity: At 1st level, the medium gains Psicrystal Affinity as a bonus feat. Mediums often use their psicrystals to spy on others. Creating a psicrystal in the shape of a crystal ball is very popular among mediums as it makes them more 'authentic' for their customers.

Spirit Trance (Su): As the medium advances, she learns the secrets of entering a deep concentration to aid in her manifesting. While psionically focused, the medium receives a +2 circumstance bonus to Bluff and Sense Motive checks and manifest Clairsentience powers at a +1 manifester level.

Bonus Feats: A psychic medium gains a bonus feat at 10th, 15th and 20th level. This feat must be a psionic feat, a metapsionic feat or come from the following list: Alertness, Autonomous, Investigator, Negotiator, Open-Minded, Psionic Affinity.

Table 1-01 - Medium Discipline Powers Level Spells 1st control object, precognition 2nd clairvoyant sense, object reading, psionic see invisibility*, sensitivity to psychic impressions 3rd false sensory input, psionic speak with dead* 4th control body, remote viewing 5th clairtangent hand, mind probe 6th greater precognition 7th dream travel 8th hypercognition 9th metafaculty Table 1-02 - The Medium Class

Level Special 1st Discipline, psicrystal affinity 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Spirit trance 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th Bonus feat 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th Bonus feat 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th Bonus feat

Using the Medium in Your Campaign

Mediums are designed to be played in the 1800s campaign. The rise of spiritualism in the 1800s in the the United States and Europe allowed mediums such as the Fox sisters, Edgar Cayce and Paschal Beverly Randolph to spread their influence and make good livings from their claimed abilities. It was largely through the work of stage magicians such as Harry Houdini that spiritualism fell into disrepute in the early part of the 20th Century. Despite this, mediums such as John Edward and Sylvia Browne are still able to ply their trade today.

Mediums fit best in gothic campaigns. Their abilities and overall flavor work well in darker, horror-themed settings, where the ability to contact the dead, or to make people think that you can comes in handy. For the same reason, they also fit well in settings where technology is beginning to displace magic. The medium's psychic powers, while not flashy, do provide an insight into the supernatural that many people find lacking as traditional sources dwindle.

In the Eberron campaign setting, most mediums live in large cities like Sharn. Wherever there are enough gullible nobles with too much money on hand, a medium cannot be far behind, eager to separate them from their coins in exchange for a few demonstrations of psychic abilities.

Likewise, in the Ravenloft campaign setting, mediums can be found in many of the larger cities, plying their trade for a few coins. These characters could be unwittingly manipulated by the Dark Powers into providing a twisted prophesy as a catalyst towards some darker end. They may also be found among the Vistani people, using their abilities to assist their tribes in navigating through the Mists.

Mediumship and You: a Primer

There are many kinds of mediumship (that is, the powers displayed by a medium) that were demonstrated in the past. Here is a short list of some of these displays and how they can be reproduced by psionics.

Mental: Mental mediumship involves mediums receiving information from spirits in the form of telepathy. They may be receiving traditional communication, or it may be through other senses. A medium can produce these effects through their clairvoyant sense power.

Trance: Trance mediumship is when a medium enters into a trance in order to allow a spirit to take control of their body and communicate directly with others. This remains a popular form in modern mediumship. A medium can simulate this kind of ability by using their control body power, or more commonly through their spirit trance class ability.

Physical: Physical mediumship was very popular during the heyday of séances. It involves the medium allowing a spirit to manipulate the physical world around them, producing a visible or audible effect for the observer. Mediums can duplicate a physical mediumship with the control object and false sensory input powers.

Direct Voice: A medium who is using a direct voice is manipulating ectoplasm into creating a device that a spirit can use to speak through. This can be duplicated using the false sensory input power, or even through the act of ventriloquism. Powers that summon and manipulate ectoplasm could be used as well to enhance the visual effect.

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