This is post 250, a Paper Pill about a psionic ability.

One of the things that can be tricky with psionics is the dreaded table in the 1e PHB that determined one-off psionic talents. I keep thinking that there should be one-off talents available that are not listed as powers for a psion. I also think that there should be a similar table for the freak ability to be able to cast a cantrip or 1st level spell (not Magic Missile).

One of the psionic abilities included in the one-off talent table is Vikayra. Vikayra represents the ability to morph one object into another. The rules governing this ability are pretty straight-forward:

  • The target cannot have flesh.
  • The target object cannot be worn by a living or undead creature.
  • This ability cannot be used to create something that the wielder has never seen.
  • This ability cannot be used to create a construct (though it can be used to destroy one)
  • This ability cannot be used to create a living thing, except for non-magical plants.
  • This ability cannot be used to create complex objects like armor, weapons or machinery.

Basically, the wielder could use this power to turn lead into gold, a sword into bread or an unworn set of armor into a small stand of trees.

What prevents the wielder from becoming their own private factory or personal mint is that the transformation requires some value to be lost. When using Vikayra, the resulting object is always of less value than the original object.

In game terms this means that an object worth 100gp can be transformed into another object with a value of less than 100gp. At the first level of ability, the new object would be 5gp value max. At higher levels, the value climbs to a peak of about 95 gp.

Another limiting factor of Vikayra is the range of effect. When the power first manifests, the wielder can only affect an object that he or she can touch. As the wielder grows in their ability, he or she can affect objects at some distance away. To affect object at a distance, though, the wielder must be looking at the object he or she is attempting to transform.

Lastly, while practitioners of the transformative art grow in their craft, they can train to reduce the amount of value lost *or* train to affect objects at a distance.

Any other ideas are totally welcome. I'm hoping to hammer this out into something more detailed and useful.