Practical Guide to Skills and Spells

Psionic

Updated 10/20/06
Contributed by Bloodsong, Teliel, Viegah (and merged by Ascidiella)
Primary Attribute – Sanity

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Psionic Class

Strengths

1. Psionic is more a simple, pk-oriented class than any of the other mage classes. You don't need spellbooks, memorization, reagents (for the most part), and you can do some pretty nasty things to other players.
2. One of the nice things about psionic casting is the way we cast. Our spells are all silent cast (no telegraphed spells), and they're all cast non-verbally, non-somantically. Thus, every single psionic spell goes through web filter, goes through silence, and can't be seen coming, which makes it a little harder to counterspell. This is also wonderful when sneaking up on another player - being able to web someone when they can't see it coming is an advantage we have alone.
3. Even by people who don't really like psionic, it's been said that we have a major advantage in the spell Irritation: the psionic version of plague. Irritation can't be resisted by players in the conventional manner: if the saving throw is made, it only affects them for half the time. This gives us a bit of an advantage over druids, who tend to rely on salt invocation to remove plague - one or two casts of salt invocation always costs a lot more sp than one casting of irritation.
4. Psionics can also spook other mobs away and give a little bit of respite, which is especially useful with the summoner type of hunters. This also works against other players - got someone that's chasing you that you don't really want to fight? Cast spook, then RUN.

1. Outside of pk, psionics are a little more limited. Mobs don't have to memorize their spells, rendering mem drain and mental disruption useless, some mobs are able to resist irritation, and we have MANY less ways to deal with mobs than wizards can.
2. We can't silence, can't enervate, can't throw up a room shield for a few minutes of rest.

[ # ] [  Proficiency Name  ] [ Type ] [ Cmplx ] [ Lrnd ]
   1   dagger                  WEA        1%        1%
   2   hand to hand            COM        1%       25%
   3   hide                    TEK       30%        0%
   4   mace                    WEA        1%        1%
   5   meditation              MYS       40%        0%
   6   magical items           MYS        5%       10%
   7   whip                    WEA        1%       40%

Dagger
Max
Many weapons are available and can be used with the skill backstab in other classes

Hand to hand
Max
This is sometimes useful, especially coupled with monk’s martial arts. To be disarmed by a player or a mob especially while blind would be disastrous if you don’t have hand to hand practiced. However, weapon damage is almost always better than hand to hand.

Hide
Some practices (20-40%)
This is a skill especially useful if you wish to avoid casual observers from knowing who you are when they enter your room. When you are hidden, if there is a large enough level difference, you will not appear in the room description at all. If there isn’t a large level difference, you will either appear as a hidden life form or a faint red outline if the person has the racial skill or spell sense-life or infravision.

Mace
Personal preference
There are relatively few weapons of this type. Practicing this would be more for show than use. However, you should choose to eventually practice flail or mace for bash-type damage.

Meditation
Max
This is an automatic skill that helps you regain spell points faster when resting or sleeping than if you did not have this skill.

Magical Items
Max (100%)
This skill is especially important for monks otherwise it only needs to be at 60% or so. This is the skill which determines whether or not a magical item (staff, orb or wand) will work when used. In combination with multiply magic, it is an extremely useful skill.

Whip
Do not practice
This is an extremely low damage slash-type weapon. Axe and sword both do a lot more damage. Again practicing this would be more for show than use.

[ # ] [    Spell Name    ] [ School ] [ SP ] [ Cmplx ] [ Lrnd ]
   1   bar                    THO      102      22%        0%
   2   disrupt sight          THO      122      30%        0%
   3   domination             THO      122      30%        0%
   4   describe               THO       49       0%        1%
   5   esp                    THO       83      14%        0%
   6   force field            THO       65       7%        0%
   7   forget                 THO      255      85%        0%
   8   float                  THO       68       8%        0%
   9   irritation             THO       85      15%        0%
  10   induce aggression      THO      176      44%        0%
  11   knock                  THO      102      22%        0%
  12   mesmerize              THO      170      50%        0%
  13   mimic                  THO      122      30%        0%
  14   memory drain           THO      206      65%        0%
  15   mind shield            THO      185      56%        0%
  16   mental disruption      THO      263      88%        0%
  17   pense                  THO       58       4%       25%
  18   spook                  THO      146      40%        0%
  19   sensory enhancement    THO      131      34%        0%
  20   telesmatic force       THO      146      40%        0%
  21   telekinetic punch      THO       51       1%       45%
  22   telekinetic pierce     THO      128      33%        0%
  23   telekinetic slash      THO      158      45%        0%
  24   telekinetic explosio   THO      412      70%        0%
  25   teleview               THO      219      70%        0%
  26   telekinetic bash       THO      122      30%        0%
  27   telekinetic shield     THO      185      56%        0%
  28   transference           THO      143      39%        0%
  29   telekinetic wave       THO      438      65%        0%

Bar
Little practices (10-15%)
Magic lock without reagents or the always-expensive scroll. Can be very useful in certain circumstances to restrict access, especially in pk, although it tends to annoy people greatly.

Disrupt sight
Max
Psi blind. Doesn't seem as easily resistable as other blinds, although I could be wrong there. Almost always useful.

Domination
Little or no practices
Psi charm. About as useful as regular charm, which is to say... usually, not very.

Describe
Little or no practices
Psi ID. If you've got lore, this is relatively redundant. It also has an unusually high surge rate - just ask Teliel.

Esp
Little or no practices
The poor person's scan. Not nearly as useful as scan - casting time, sp requirement, chance of failure. But, if it's all you have, use it.

Force field
Some practices (20-25%)
Psi shield. Castable without practicing, but always useful.

Forget
Personal preference
Psi-only. Very limited, but VERY useful during those situations. If you've got someone that's trying to track you, cast forget. They lose track (pardon the pun). Probably the most useful application is getting hunters to, well, forget about you.

Float
Little or no practices
Psi levitation. Low complexity, castable without practicing.

Irritation
Max
Psi-plague. As mentioned previously, one of the most blatantly useful spells we get.

Induce aggression
Do not practice
Psi-only. So far, the only real use for the spell I've been able to see is that it allows you to use steel gloves (or gauntlets, I don't remember)

Knock
Little practices (10-15%)
Psi Magic Unlock. Useful if you... don't have bash, or lock picking, or pass-door. Actually, it's most useful against someone with magic lock - this is about the only way you can get rid of it.

Mesmerize
Max
Psi Web. Very, very useful - seems to connect better than most forms of web, too. A few problems with it, though. One, it doesn't last for nearly as long as other forms of web. Two, they HAVE to be able to see you - as a psi, always web before you blind. Three, it's a four-second spell.

Mimic
Some practices or Max (personal playing preference)
Psi-Only. Being able to take the form of an item can have a few advantages besides recreational uses - if you're trying to hide from someone on where for whatever reason and it's daytime, this is the only real way to do it. If you plan to pk get this to at least 40-50%

Memory drain
Do not practice or Max (personal playing preference)
Psi-only. Immensely useful in pk, completely useless elsewhere. Draining spells from a player can be battle-winning in many occasions, especially if one of those spells is cure blind. If you plan to pk, max this because it strips away 1-5 spells a player has memorized and it must be cast before combat. If you dont want to pk, don't bother practicing it.

Mental disruption
Do not practice or Max (personal playing preference)
Psi-only. Prevents players from memorizing additional spells, and imposes a heavy filter on players trying to cast spells from spellbooks. Can be used in conjunction with mem drain to screw over players even further.

Mind shield
Little practices
Psi-only, provides resistance vs mental with a constant drain on stamina. Not particularly useful, since the only mental damage spell is tk punch, which isn't used terribly often, and it probably does not provide resistance to disrupt sight, mesmerize, etc.

Pense
Little practices
Psi Sense Life.

Spook
Max
Psi-only. Incredibly useful in a few situations, such as against players or mobs with elementals, dealing with aggro players, against no-flee mobs or for breaking up forms of mobs. It comes into use more and more as you gain levels and eventually hero/archon.

Sensory enhancement
Some practices (25-30%)
More fun than useful most of the time. Can be used to hear players in adjacient rooms. Can also be used to tell when other players are tracking you.

Telesmatic force
Some practices or max
Very useful in pk, occasionally useful against mobs. Disarming a player after blinding him is one of the quickest ways to win a battle. Stopped by death grip. If you plan to pk, max this, if not 35-45% works fine

Telekinetic punch
Max
Almost universally useful. Wonderful damage-to-sp ratio, easy to cast, mental-based damage.

Telekinetic pierce
Little practice or Max (personal playing preference)
Pierce damage. Not quite as useful as telekinetic punch, and I don't have a whole lot of experience with this spell. If you're waiting for slash or another, more powerful tk attack to be available this works. Not as good as slash, but something to keep in mind.

Telekinetic slash
Max
Probably the best one of the tk spells at most times in pk. Best damage-to-sp ratio, three-second spell.

Telekinetic explosion
Max
Massive sp cost, massive damage, and the highest damage spell a psionic gets. Area lightning damage, hits while blinded. 4-second spell. Can occasionally cause lightning lag, which is awesome in pk.

Teleview
Some practices or Max (personal playing preference)
Psi-only (although witches can get a quest item from Rigel that does the same). Always useful for freaking out players, and useful in a few other circumstances (hunting people, checking on outlaws, ctf, finding quest mobs, etc). Costs a focusing crystal. Practice to 30% if you don't plan to pk, and max if you do.

Telekinetic bash
Max
Decent damage and a good chance to surge make this a good standby replacement for counterspell if you need one. This can sometimes be used instead of counterspell because it can damage in addition to the surge chance, especially against bard songs.

Telekinetic shield
Some practices (+25%)
Psi-only. Very useful spell (when defense is set to auto). While it does drain sp, it also raises armor and throws up another chance for a shield block, which can be incredibly useful against dracon, people using projectile spells such as magic dart, fireball, lightning bolt, etc.

Transference
Personal preference
Psi-only, transfers half of the caster's sp (after casting) to another player in the caster's form. It can be useful in helping another player heal themselves after an enervation.

Telekinetic wave
Max or personal playing preference
Psi-only, 4-seconds. High damage (though not usually as high as tke), only hits torso, incredibly high sp cost - higher than tke. Rather useful spell, as it hits two to three formmates, does good damage, frags items, and can disband forms even indoors, but the sp cost makes it not universally as useful.