On Athas, the mind is the last weapon no tyrant can confiscate. Every living creature on the dying world carries within it a thread of the collective unconscious — the vast, silent psychic substrate that underlies all thought. Most never feel it. A few, through training, trauma, or sheer force of will, learn to pull on that thread. What emerges is not magic. It does not draw from the land, does not require a gesture toward forgotten gods, does not leave ash in its wake. It simply is — a direct expression of mind made briefly, precisely real. Psionic Talents are the most accessible form of this power. They are not grand manifestations. They are the cantrips of Athasian mental discipline — small, repeatable, and deeply personal. A flicker of bioluminescence. A blade of violet thought. A moment of perfect, predatory calm before the blow lands. Each one is a habit of mind, worn smooth by repetition until it costs almost nothing to invoke. Almost.
What Is a Talent?
Psionic Talents are the cantrips of Athas — minor but versatile expressions of mental power available to any character with psionic training. Unlike Psionic Augments, Talents cost 0 Psi Points to manifest and can be used freely, limited only by the action economy.
Each Talent has two distinct components that together define how a practitioner relates to that discipline:
Active Effect. The deliberate, triggered use of the Talent. Manifesting requires an action of some kind (Magic Action, Bonus Action, or Reaction depending on the Talent) and produces an immediate effect. This is the power in use.
Passive Resonance. A persistent, ambient benefit that reflects deep attunement to the Talent’s discipline. The Focus is always subtle — a sharpened sense, a physical adaptation, a shift in how the world responds to you. It does not require activation beyond entering a Focused state.
Focus
Maintaining a Focused state on a Talent represents the quiet, constant hum of a disciplined mind holding a particular mental posture. It is not concentration in the mechanical sense — it does not prevent you from concentrating on spells or psionic powers — but it requires genuine cognitive commitment.
Activating Focus: As a Bonus Action, you enter a Focused state on one Talent you know, gaining its Passive Resonance immediately.
Duration: Your Focus persists until one of the following occurs:
One Focus at a Time: You can only maintain Focus on a single Talent at any given moment. Choosing to attune to a new Talent’s Passive Resonance immediately releases the previous one. There is no partial Focus, no splitting of attention between disciplines.
This constraint is intentional. A mind that tries to hold two mental postures simultaneously holds neither. Even the most accomplished psionicist on Athas focuses on one discipline at a time — depth over breadth.
Intensify
Many Talents grow in power as your psionic discipline matures. These improvements are noted under each Talent’s Intensify section and activate automatically at the listed levels — they require no additional choices, feat slots, or actions. The Talent simply deepens.
Intensify thresholds follow a standard track unless otherwise noted:
Treshold Level
Displays
Every psionic power on Athas has a Display — a sensory signature that accompanies its use. Displays are divided by sense:
Display Type
Displays are primarily narrative and atmospheric. However, a perceptive observer may notice them. A creature that succeeds on a Wisdom (Perception) check against your Psionic Save DC while you manifest a Talent can identify that a psionic power was used, though not necessarily its nature or source.
On Athas, being identified as a psionic user can carry significant social weight — reverence in some quarters, fear or suspicion in others. The templars of the sorcerer-kings keep lists.
Talents and Psionic Augments
Talents are distinct from Psionic Augments in several important ways:
Talents
Augments
Cognitive Projection abilities
Psionic Talent (Psychokinesis)
Touch one object no larger than 10 ft in any dimension:
Psionic Talent (Psychometabolism)
Grant a creature 1d6 Temporary Hit Points.
Psionic Talent (Clairsentience)
Your mind reaches beyond conscious thought, threading itself into the flow of combat. Time seems to slow at the edges. You do not think about where the next blow lands — you simply know. The trance is not rage, not instinct — it is clarity, cold and total, drawn from the deepest layer of your own psyche.
You enter a heightened state of psionic combat awareness. For the duration:
1d8 (unless already higher).Psionic Talent (Telepathy)
You do not become invisible. The light still bends around you the same way it always has. What changes is subtler and more unsettling — you reach into the minds of those nearby and quietly convince them there is nothing worth looking at. A gap in attention. A skipped heartbeat of perception. You are there, and yet the mind slides past you like water around stone.
You broadcast a subtle psychic signal that causes nearby minds to overlook your presence. Until the start of your next turn:
Psionic Talent (Metacreativity)
Psionic Talent (Psychokinesis)
1d8Psionic Talent (Metacreativity)
60 ft.Psionic Talent (Psychokinesis)
You manipulate the inertia of a willing creature to reposition them safely.
Kinetic Slide: Choose a willing creature within range other than yourself. You move that creature up to 10 ft. in a straight line horizontally.
Safety: Because this movement is forced by your psionic power, it does not provoke Opportunity Attacks.
Constraint: You cannot use this ability if your Speed is 0.
Psionic Talent (Metacreativity)
The blade does not come from nowhere. It comes from you — from the part of you that has already decided, already committed, already accepted what this moment requires. It is not conjured so much as admitted. Violet light bleeds between your fingers, hardens into an edge that exists precisely as long as your certainty holds, and no longer.
You crystallise psionic energy into a blade of solidified thought and immediately make a melee attack with it.
Weapon profile:
The blade persists for 1 minute after manifestation or until you release it (no action required). While the blade persists, you may attack with it again using the Attack action on subsequent turns as normal.
If you throw the blade, it dissolves on impact and a new one must be manifested.
The Mind Blade counts as a magical weapon for the purpose of overcoming immunity and resistance to nonmagical attacks and damage. It cannot be disarmed — if a creature attempts to disarm you, the blade simply dissolves and may be re-manifested on your next turn.
| Rank | Damage Die | Additional Effect |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1d8 | None |
| 2 | 1d10 | None |
| 3 | 1d12 | On a hit, the target must succeed on an Intelligence saving throw (DC = Psionic Save DC) or have disadvantage on its next attack roll before the end of its next turn. |
| 4 | 2d6 | The saving throw effect from Rank 3 applies. On a failed save, the target also loses its reaction until the start of its next turn. |
Psionic Talent (Telepathy)
one willing creature you can see within 30 feet.Psionic Talent (Telepathy)
You do not shout into another mind. You find the one thread that is already pulled taut — the flicker of fear, the half-formed doubt, the memory it has been trying not to revisit — and you pull. Just once. Just enough. The creature does not know what hit it. That is rather the point.
1d6 Psychic damage and must subtract 1d4 from the next saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn.Psionic Talent (Psychoportation)
You do not touch the object. You touch the idea of the object — its weight, its position, its stubborn insistence on being exactly where it is — and you renegotiate. Gently, precisely, without drama. The cup slides to your hand. The door unlatches. The stone rolls aside. Nobody needed to move. Nobody needed to ask.
30 ftYou extend a telekinetic tether to an object within range and manipulate it with your mind for the duration. While the tether persists you can:
Limitations:
10 lbs.| Rank | Maximum Weight (lbs) | Range (ft.) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 30 |
| 2 | 30 | 40 |
| 3 | 60 | 50 |
| 4 | 120 | 60 |
Psionic Talent (Psychometabolism)
- Make a Ranged Spell Attack. When hit it deals 1d10 Poison damage.
Psionic Talent (Psychokinesis)
- Manifesting Time: Magic Action
- Range: 30 ft
- Display: Shimmering force impact
- Duration: Instant
- Siege Mind: Double damage vs objects/structures.
- Make a Ranged Spell Attack.
- Hit: 1d8 Force damage; target must save (STR) or be Prone.
Psionic Talent (Telepathy)
- Manifesting Time: Reaction
- Trigger: A creature within 60 ft makes an Ability check.
- Display: Mental buzzing static
- Duration: Instant
- White Noise: Creatures within 10 ft have Disadvantage on Perception checks to hear you or your allies.
- Force a creature to subtract 1d4 from a Skill or Tool check.
Psionic Talent (Clairsentience)
1d4 and add the number rolled to your Saving Throw, potentially turning a failure into a success.Psionic Talent (Psychoportation)
- Manifesting Time: Bonus Action
- Range: Self
- Display: Blurred outline and temporal flicker
- Duration: 1 Round
- Kinetic Recovery: Standing from Prone costs only 5 ft of movement.
- Increase Speed by +10 ft until end of turn.
Psionic Talent (Clairsentience)
- Manifesting Time: Magic Action
- Range: Self (Weapon’s range)
- Display: Eyes turn black with focus
- Duration: Instant
- Prescient Aim: Ignore Disadvantage for Long Range or melee ranged attacks.
1d4.Psionic Talent (Psychometabolism)
- Manifesting Time: Reaction
- Trigger: A creature within 30 ft takes Acid, Cold, Fire, or Poison damage.
- Display: Skin hardens like obsidian; smell of ozone
- Duration: Instant
- Desert Born: Advantage on CON saves vs environmental hazards (heat, thirst, exhaustion).
- Reduce the triggering damage by 1d6.
Psionic Talent (Metacreativity)
- Manifesting Time: Magic Action
- Range: 10 ft
- Display: Sparks of chaotic energy around hands
- Duration: 1 Minute
- Street Fighter: Proficient with Improvised Weapons.
Choose one minor telekinetic effect: