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Dreamscarred Press / Roleplaying Games / Pathfinder RPG / Core

Ultimate Psionics (PFRPG)

4.70/5 (based on 11 ratings)
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Ultimate Psionics is just that—the ultimate book on psionics, combining nearly all of the material in Psionics Unleashed and Psionics Expanded into a single hardcover book. But not only does Ultimate Psionics contain existing content, over seventy pages of brand new material has been added (separately released as Psionics Augmented for those who already have Psionics Unleashed and Psionics Expanded), giving more character options, advice for game masters on using psionics, and even an example of completely altering the theme of psionics from the power of the mind to runic magic, to help you understand how easy it is to change the feel of psionics without changing the system so that it can easily fit into any campaign.

Ultimate Psionics is an over-400 page hardcover book that includes:

  • Ten psionic races, including the brand new forgeborn and noral, with racial archetypes, advanced racial options, and more
  • Ten psionic classes from the psion and soulknife to the aegis and vitalist, giving everything you need to have an all-psionic party
  • Psionic skills and feats, including over forty brand new psionic feats such as Assassin's Venom, Deep Focus, and Telepathic Link
  • Over 100 pages of psionic powers, including 0th level psionic talents new powers like T’Nail’s Ardent Legion
  • Nineteen psionic prestige classes, including the brand new Dark Tempest prestige class
  • More psionic items than could ever be found in any treasure horde, including legendary items like the Heartstaff and the Dancing Robes of Sharatwan and over 10 pages of brand new psionic items like the greater psicrystal staff, the tactician's chessboard, and more.
  • An entire section for advice and tips for game masters on introducing and using psionics, including the most commonly encountered rules mistakes, how to handle transparency, and variant themes if you don't want mental power and prefer psionics to be a form of magic.
  • And much more!

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4.70/5 (based on 11 ratings)

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5/5 —

At the time of writing this review there are 10 reviews of it already. Plus each expansion has reviews and the first product has 13 reviews. There are threads on Paizo's forums and other places on the internet. The book is often on the top ten list of Paizo's third party sales. There are arguments about the power level and articles about it and the publishers have two more entire subsystems coming out with a Kickstarter money, forums of fans and is often quoted as the only third party publisher allowed at certain tables.

What the heck am I supposed to say after all that?! I can't review this. Its probably the most acclaimed third party product in all of Pathfinder. Everybody loves it, and if you don't you probably aren't going to be too thrilled with any other third party product or someone is going to come along to explain why you not liking it makes you a dirty poopy-head, and they're right! Well if you're okay with the very idea of psionics to begin with.

What's going on in this book is that it's a compilation of the psionic stuff that came out before it making for a fat book rivaling the Pathfinder Core Rulebook, detailing new races, new classes, magic items, feats, archetypes and prestige classes all supporting psionics. In fact it might as well be the core rulebook for psionics. If you get this book you have pretty much a core rulebook full of information on an entire class of magic and enough classes and subclasses and prestige classes and options to keep you busy for years.

But what are psionics? In a nutshell it's 'mind magic'. If you want to make a crystal ball massaging gypsy curse dealing psychic you're going to be disappointed. This is more like Esper or Psychic Pokemon variety mind magic making it feel kind of like psuedo-scientific ESP stuff than talking to spirits or new age tarot reading. But these guys aren't just bending spoons, they're generating mind-light sabers and shooting psychic lasers. This is all centered around a new way to cast their spell-like 'Powers' with a pool of points representing their psionic energy. Its a neat system, especially if you're tired of spell slots, but not each of the classes in here are based around the powers. you get a few that use their mind to do other things like create armor and weapons, plus you get some feats so anyone can tap into their mind and do a few tricks. Its a new world, a whole new way to play. Once you crack it open and start playing it's hard to dismiss. Its just a cool bunch of options.

So why did I buy this? What made me go "okay, I'm going to use this." Well for one you can see most of the options on d20pfsrd.com, which helps you figure out if you think this system is more broken than a core rulebook wizard. I went ahead and did the legwork of comparing the best powers to Magic spells and how well they can cast and found powers to be overall weaker than magic with superior casting options but way less variety so the strongest psionic class comes off about as powerful as a well made Sorcerer. I also liked having the option of presenting casting that felt less ole-timey for when I wanted to run a steampunk or space campaign. It's also the most 'complete' alternate system experience I've ever seen, and trying it with newer players they were able to pick it up much and understand it faster than vancian casting. So it won me over. Five stars all around. You just cant lose with this book.

Words can't describe.

5/5 —

This book is absolutely amazing. Dreamscarred Press show us once again that they're the undisputed masters of flavorful, balanced psionics. This beautiful book has a place of honor on my shelf right next to my Core Rulebook, and if I could only pick one rules supplement to use in a campaign, it would be this one by far.

The Essential Psionic Book

5/5 —

It's been said a hundred times, but Dreamscarred Press creates fantastic products. Where they shine the most is in their psionic material. This book is *the* book for psionics, hands down.

I don't have anything to add that's not already been said. So I'll keep this very short. This book's cover was done by Wayne Reynolds, appropriate for a book of this quality. However, plenty of the artwork in this book is less than stellar. I expected more from a giant of a 3pp company (as giant as they get, anyways).

Despite some of the underwhelming art, the text inside is filled with as much psionic crunch and flavor you could ever ask for. There's a reason this is the go to book for psionics. It has absolutely everything you need and more. If you're thinking about adding psionics to your game, don't wait. Get this book now!

Awesome Book!

5/5 —

Gotta say that having it in my hand makes it even more impressive than the PDF I fell in love with. Now that I can't rely on PDF word search I am really impressed by the formatting in the book.

Everything is easy to find. When I have a question it's very easy to find an appropriate answer by perusing the ToC. The title "Ultimate Psionics" really applies as just about all the character concepts I could want as a Pdionic can be made from all the Base Classes, Archetypes, and Prestige Classes detailed!

The only downside was that my mailman stuffed it too roughly into my mailbox and it bent in some of the back cover's corner. The damage is pretty minor and impossible to see on my bookshelf, so I'm not getting too down over it.

The only singular problem with this book is that the pages are a bit more fragile than I would like.

Edit: After about a year of using this book on the table I can say that it still deserves 5 stars, excellent book.

THE Definitive Psionics Book

4/5 —

This won't be a long review, because I can't compete with Endzeitgeist's excellent reviews. It's really a small list of glitches that affected my impressions of the books.

First, the good stuff. Fixes to original base classes are great and were necessary, as well as changing some of the feats and the addition of 0 level powers. All good. The expanded list of powers is amazing, and the new classes, for the most part, are pretty interesting. More on that in a second.

The artwork is good, not stellar but, but good. My only gripe with it is once again a female ophiduan was shown with hair and breasts. They're reptiles for Pete's sake, and it clearly says in their description they are hairless. Grr.

There are an uncomfortable number of typos and some awkward sentence structuring, but it's easy enough to extrapolate what's being said in each case. I wish that they'd proofread things a bit more thoroughly.

My biggest "gripe" is the Dread seems unnecessary in my book. It's focus is very narrow and would've made a better psion prestige class, in my opinion, just as the marksman would've been a better psychic warrior PrC.

Overall I'm going to give the book 4 stars, largely for the truly amazing amount of work that went into it. But the glaring typos and curvaceous ophiduan really bugged me.

Addendum. I received two copies 4 days apart with the same order number, though I only purchased one. I've been in touch with Paizo Customer Service and as soon as I get paid I'll be sending the extra copy back so that someone else might enjoy it.

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Anguish wrote:
TheLoneCleric wrote:
Woof. 80 book. Good, but woof.

Not to keep championing Jeremy's pricing, but... the black & white version is $60.

Rappan Athuk is about 600 pages, B&W, and is $100. Slumbering Tsar is about 800 pages, B&W and $150. Tome of Horrors Complete is about 700 pages, B&W and $110.

Really, this isn't unreasonable. It's just big. But awesome.

Think PFRPG Core plus APG in terms of game-usable content.

not at all. PF Core numbers 574. I believe Unleashed and Expanded number 229 and 217 for a total of 446. Add the 80 pages of bonus content and you are still 50 pages short of the Core book, but certainly comparable. I don't know what compelled you to add another 300 something pages that is the APG to yur comparison though. I'm not knocking the price, just stating facts. Im very confident its gonna be worth every penny of $80

jimibones83 wrote:
not at all. PF Core numbers 574. I believe Unleashed and Expanded number 229 and 217 for a total of 446. Add the 80 pages of bonus content and you are still 50 pages short of the Core book, but certainly comparable. I don't know what compelled you to add another 300 something pages that is the APG to yur comparison though. I'm not knocking the price, just stating facts. Im very confident its gonna be worth every penny of $80

To be fair, I wasn't home where my books are to count pages. That said, I admit I was deliberately discarding the huge swath of Core that is rules fundamentals. Yeah, you need them to play but in terms of the meat & potatoes classes, feats, and spells the analogy is still reasonably apt. The 3e "DMG" component is important, yes, but it's really the "PHB" component that most people think about.

I get it the raw price is high. But I know the value is also. Given I'm in for something like triple this thing's price via the Kickstarter, I believe that strongly. And that's from someone who's already got PU and PE. And certainly not bottomless pockets.

I kickstartered enough for the B&W Hardcover, really wish I could have splurged for the Color after seeing some of the artwork they are putting in.

can't wait to get my copy and I got my NeoExodus campaign ready to go
Anguish wrote:
jimibones83 wrote:
not at all. PF Core numbers 574. I believe Unleashed and Expanded number 229 and 217 for a total of 446. Add the 80 pages of bonus content and you are still 50 pages short of the Core book, but certainly comparable. I don't know what compelled you to add another 300 something pages that is the APG to yur comparison though. I'm not knocking the price, just stating facts. Im very confident its gonna be worth every penny of $80

To be fair, I wasn't home where my books are to count pages. That said, I admit I was deliberately discarding the huge swath of Core that is rules fundamentals. Yeah, you need them to play but in terms of the meat & potatoes classes, feats, and spells the analogy is still reasonably apt. The 3e "DMG" component is important, yes, but it's really the "PHB" component that most people think about.

I get it the raw price is high. But I know the value is also. Given I'm in for something like triple this thing's price via the Kickstarter, I believe that strongly. And that's from someone who's already got PU and PE. And certainly not bottomless pockets.

I see what yur saying now and I'd have to agree

Publisher, Dreamscarred Press

I just want to say I appreciate all of the support!

I'm currently going through all of the Beta playtest feedback and working on finishing up all of the new content. :)

Did you ever make a final decision on the race-point cost controversy?

I thought for sure someone would comment about the Christmas carol I rewrote to be about ultimate psionics releasing by Xmas lol. I guess ya had to be there...
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press

I spent the weekend running my first convention booth and Monday playing catch up, but I will make sure to it out!
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook Subscriber

What is the glowy purple weapon the guy on the right is wielding? Is that a double sword?

Also: I gave in and pre-ordered even though I know nothing about psionics. I really need to work on my will save...
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press

It's a legendary item that will be in the book that takes the mind blade the soulknife can make and turns it into a double weapon. It's essentially made of crystal and powered with psionic energy.
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press
jimibones83 wrote:

I'm dreaming of a psi christmas

just thought Jeremy should know
where pyros crispin, and telepaths listen
And go places you don't want them to go...

I'm kind of concerned with what those telepaths are doing.

Makes me want to develop some sort of legendary item to block those shenanigans!

And a psi Christmas would be fantastic to me!

Psi Christmas!

For those interested, Psionics Augmented: Volume 1 has just gone live!

Next year, I'll be getting this next year as part of the bundle reward that I paid for in Psionics Miniatures Kickstarter. This and the bestiary. I can hardly wait.

Is Ultimate Psionics going to contain all of the Psionics Expanded books or just the Advanced Psionics Guide?
Shadow Lodge

Ultimate Psionics is going to be essentially a compilation of everything in Psionics Unleased, Psionics Expanded (all the volumes), and some extra bits that were released as Psionics Augmented.

Ok cool thank you for the clarification.
Webstore Gninja Minion

Product description updated—Ultimate Psionics will include stuff from Psionics Augmented as well. :)
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press

Thanks, Liz!

Does this book incorporate mythic rules? Does it have any mythic archetypes in it? I'm going to buy this book because my brother always wants to be a psion even since D&D 3rd edition. Are there going to be mythic psions in future books if not?
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press
1 person marked this as a favorite.

No mythic in here.

But we are working on them. They will be their own book.

Good, I can't wait

This looks GORGEOUS.
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press

Thanks! I'm working on layout for Chapter 8 (Psionic Items) right now!

We're aiming to have the PDF done this month. Right now, five chapters are complete, with 3 left to go.
Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Very good; like everyone else here, it seems, I'm looking forward to this.

When is this set to be released?
Shalafi2412 wrote:
When is this set to be released?

Well, Jeremy said (an hour before you asked) that the PDF should release this month. Then there'll be a period of customer-review to find any typos and the like, then it's off to the printer. I'm personally guessing I'll see the book sometime in January, but I'm not inside the loop.

Jeremy,

I know it could easily change during layout but do you have an approximate page count?
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press

Right now around 460-470.

Dang.

Yeah, you guys should called it The Tome of Ultimate Psionics

I so want this book.
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press
4 people marked this as a favorite.

I'm currently working on the Powers chapter - going through and making sure they all have the right class / level entries... So far, I've spent about 3 hours on just that, and am maybe halfway through.

But hey, only 2 chapters left in layout to finish the book!
Liberty's Edge

I am interested in this product but not for 80 dollars :( Maybe if the price ever drops to something a bit more reasonable for me I will take a look at this thread again.

I do have one quick question, though. Are there mechanics for adding psionics to other classes such as the way 1st edition AD&D did it? I would be more apt to using psionics if they were available as an add-on instead of a full-on class.
Irranshalee wrote:
I am interested in this product but not for 80 dollars :( Maybe if the price ever drops to something a bit more reasonable for me I will take a look at this thread again.

I wouldn't expect the price to go down. Odds are this is a one-time printing of this thing and the sticker price is being subsidized by those of us that paid via the Kickstarter. Future printings wouldn't likely have the volume, so the per-unit price would increase.

Remember, this is effectively two books, and then some. Also, you might consider the black & white book, which is quite a deal at $60.

Quote:
I do have one quick question, though. Are there mechanics for adding psionics to other classes such as the way 1st edition AD&D did it? I would be more apt to using psionics if they were available as an add-on instead of a full-on class.

Jeremy is better placed to answer this than I, but I can speculate. I suspect there are archetypes included that do that. Otherwise it'll be much like any other form of magic: you want casting, you multiclass.

Publisher, Dreamscarred Press

There are archetypes to allow the non-psionic classes to have some psionic options, but it's limited options. There's also a feat to gain limited psionic ability.

Beyond that, you would need to take levels in a psionic class.

As for the price - Psionics Unleashed is probably more your price range then. Just to keep things in perspective - we have to price our books based on distribution prices, which means we lose roughly 75% of the price to the retailer and distributor. That remaining 25% then has to cover printing and shipping costs, and we don't do enough volume to print overseas and have extremely low print costs. The book is priced to make sure we don't lose money on it - it is hard cover and full color. Both of those come at a premium.
Liberty's Edge

Thank you for your response, Jeremy. Maybe I will save something extra over the next few months and see if I can afford it. I have heard you guys have done a ton of work on the material for these books.

Has the PDF been released yet? I know it was estimated for the end of november, but havent heard anything yet.

I would love to see this for herolab.
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press
4 people marked this as a favorite.

We've only 1 chapter left for layout and then we release the PDF.
Liberty's Edge
Pathfinder Adventure Path, Rulebook, Starfinder Roleplaying Game Subscriber

Cool! Looking forward to it.

Just ordered a full color copy!!! Would also like to see herolab support for this : )

I have mine pre-ordered (in full colour). I would also pick up a hero lab file set if this were made available. Looking forward to having this on the shelf.

I imagine those that have pre-ordered will be charged the full price once the PDF is released, correct? The print copy will then follow the PDF by some months as printing happens?
1 person marked this as a favorite.

MH, if you do herolab for it, i would buy it.
I would even buy/preorder the colored book version if you bundle it with the herolab files! Isn´t that a deal?

Not having preordered anything before, is there a deadline I have to preorder so I can take advantage of the book/PDF combo?
Grand Lodge
1 person marked this as a favorite.

I will own this.I might have to go on a ramen diet but I will own this.
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press
George Velez wrote:
Not having preordered anything before, is there a deadline I have to preorder so I can take advantage of the book/PDF combo?

As soon as I have a street date, I will post it up.

I'm more than halfway done on the final chapter for layout.

Just got my shipping order...which somehow miraculously happened right after I changed my shipping address...whew...

Oof sorry apparently that was my payment confirmation not my shipping one...
Publisher, Dreamscarred Press

Just posted the final chapter up for internal review with the Kickstarter backers. Andreas is working on the Introduction and I'm finishing up the Appendix.
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