Strain-Based Psionics (3.5e Variant Rule)

Strain-Based Psionics!
This rule pretty much only exists as the obnoxious younger sibling of Surgo's strain costs. A not insignificant lot of my players play spellcasters and psychics, and the weird disparities between the two has been a niggling issue that probably bothers me more than anyone else. But I don't like niggling issues.

So this is my attempt at addressing the issue. The idea is simple enough: the system is nearly-identical to Strain casting with a few tweaks to keep the general thrust of the psionic manifestation system.

Okay, but how does it work?
Almost identically to the strain casting system - you have a strain limit, which is equal to your Manifestation Attribute (yes, the attribute itself) plus half of your level in psionic classes, i.e., the things that clandestinely grant you the psionic subtype.

Where one spent one power point per level of a psychic a class, never exceeding the value of their manifester level, now one spends 0.5 Strain per Manifester Level above the Original level, never exceeding the Original Cost of the power. Basic Costs are calculated to go below 0, but the minimum strain cost of a power remains 0 - you cannot gain power points by manifesting a power.

You Used Words. Define Them.
Well, okay...

Psychic: "Psionic character" is a clunky phrase. I'm going to use "psychic" to refer to that concept in this document instead.

Strain Tolerance: Like Surgo said, this is mana (or in this case power points per day) by a different name. Instead of counting power points down, psions accumulate Strain and have a limit on how much they like having at once. This counts up from 0 to whatever, where "whatever" is equal to the psychic's Manifestation Attribute value plus half their levels in psionic classes, because counting up is usually easier on the fly than subtracting.

Strain Cost: A table is coming. It will... show you the strain cost of each power level. If they look cheap compared to the Wizar-- I mean Mage values, remember that psionic classes will pretty much be paying for literally every goddamn thing they do. So they're cheaper to address the fact they don't get five-ninths of their powers for free. Strain costs increases slightly with power level because of course they do, and the costs decrease with additional levels gained in psionic classes. Strain costs are rounded up, because nothing is free.

Original Level/Cost: The manifester level a psychic was when first unlocking a level of powers - for psions, this is Level 1 for 1, Level 3 for 2, Level 5 for 3, and so forth. Original Cost refers to, of course, how much powers cost at their Original Level. A psion cannot spend strain on a power that exceeds its Original Cost.

Basic Level/Cost: Basic Cost is the Strain Cost of a given power when manifested as its Original Level of efficacy (so a Manifester Level of 1 for a Level 1 Power, 3 for a Level 2, etc.) at levels above the Original Level. Strain Cost decreases by 0.5 per level, so a level 10 psychic wanting to manifest one of her Level 1 Powers as lazily as possible (adding no Manifester Levels) accrues 0 Strain for doing so.

Manifester Level: This means something a little different with this system; it's the effective level at which a psychic is manifesting her powers. It costs a psychic 0.5 Strain for every manifester level beyond the Original Level - so a level 20 Psion wanting to manifest a level 1 power at a Manifester Level of 20 determines the following things: 1) the difference in levels between their intended Manifester Level (20) and a Level 1 Power's Original Level (1) - it's 19, by the way, and 2) the added cost - which is 0.5*19, AKA 9.5. This is added to the Basic Cost of a Level 1 Power at level 20 (0, but secretly -6.5) to give the psion a Strain Cost of 3 to manifest a Level 1 Power at her maximum Manifester Level. If you want in on a secret, it will always cost a psychic her Original Cost to manifest any given power at her maximum Manifester Level. Secrets, Yeah!™

The Rules
That was a lot of words, wasn't it? Well, get ready for more.

Strain Tolerance
You strain tolerance is equal to your primary manifestation ability score (again, the actual score, not the modifier) plus half your level(s) in psionic classes and classes that add to your manifester level. Your strain-determining ability score is equal to the one that would determine your bonus power points per day in the old system.

I'm not yet changing this on a per-class basis because wilders are a one-trick pony class reminiscent of a NPC class and psychic warriors are pretty dull. So yeah, all the little psychics of the world have the same strain tolerance. Equality, Yeah!™

Manifesting a Power
When a psion manifests a power, she has to channel wacky energies through her brain. As one can imagine, this can really tucker someone out after a while, and this strain is the basic limiting factor that determines how many powers a psion can do without resting. Every power has a Strain Cost, which depends on the level of the power and the level of the manifester, as shown on the tables below. At high class levels, some powers have a negative Strain Cost - this counts as a Strain Cost of 0 - and this is pretty much okay. Powerful psychics can do basic things forever without expending effort and have that reflected by the fact that they don't strain themselves doing it.

Whenever a psychic manifests a power, she accrues Strain equal to either the Basic Cost - unless she wishes to manifest the power at a higher manifester level. Then she determines her current Basic Cost for the power, the Level Differential between her intended Manifester Level and the power's Original Level, and adds 0.5 Strain per Level Differential to the Basic Cost.

... anyway. As a psychic uses more powers, she accrues more Strain. Just like with Surgo's system, as long as a character's total Strain is lower than her Strain Tolerance, they suffer no ill effect. Continuing to manifest powers once Strain is greater than Strain Tolerance is a Bad Idea™.

As soon as a psychic's total Strain exceeds her Tolerance, she becomes fatigued (even if she's normally immune to this condition; no, fvck you). If a fatigued psychic wishes to manifest another power, she must first make a Will save with a DC equal to (20 + the power's level + the amount of Strain she has over her Tolerance). If the save is successful, the psychic manifests the power as normal. If the save is failed, the power fizzles with no effect and the psychic becomes exhausted (again, even if she is normally immune). An exhausted psychic made some serious mistakes in her life on that day, and may not manifest any more powers. A psychic ceases to be exhausted after an hour of complete rest. An exhausted psychic loses her psionic focus and may not regain it until she's had the just-mentioned hour of naptime, or whatever it is she's doing for an hour of complete rest.

Recovering Strain
A psychic loses Strain equal to 1⁄2 her character level, minimum 1 (but never more than her casting stat modifier) per hour if she doesn't do anything strenuous for that hour. Strenuous things include intercourse, power manifestation, fighting, running, jumping, climbing trees, and so forth. A psychic who is fatigued due to excess Strain ceases to be fatigued as soon as her total Strain is no longer over her Tolerance. Psychics recover no Strain while exhausted.

Resting is a great way to reduce Strain - characters completely remove all Strain after 8 hours of rest.

Strain Costs
A power level has an Original Cost of Strain when a psychic first receives access to it. This cost decreases by 0.5 points of strain (and becomes the Basic Cost) as a psychic's character level increases beyond the Original Level for these powers. Strain cost is always rounded up, the minimum possible cost is 0, but a psychic must remember her power's negative values for Basic Costs for the purposes of Augmentation, Manifester Level, and Metapsionics.

Where "power points" are referred to in Metapsionics and Augmentation, replace them with added Strain Cost at the rate of 0.5 Strain per power point.

Anyway, on with the Original Strain Costs for powers.

As a reminder, a power's Strain Cost may never exceed its Original Cost. Unless you're a wilder. Then you can exceed it at a rate of and additional 0.5 Strain per added Manifester Level. Shine on, you crazy diamond.

Example Time: The Psion
I promised a table. I did, I did. And here you are: a table, representing the strain costs for psions, but not those filthy wilders. As you might notice, negative values are listed, but do not be alarmed: like I've said, psions don't gain power points for manifesting easy powers. They're just there to remind you that while your Basic Cost for a level 1 Power at 20 is 0, chunking on a buttload of additional Strain (through metapsionics and augments) might not still cost 0 points!

Example Time: The Wilder
Who plays a wilder? Nobody. Why am I doing this? Masochism. I do have a fun variant of the wilder that'll use this table, though. So whatevs.

Example Time: The Psychic Warrior
Who plays a psywar? Accountants. Actuaries. Come, friends! Tirelessly till the topsoil of tedium... with STRAIN!

Additional Recovery Mechanics
There are some powers and things that add power points. I'm getting to those. Hang on.

Bestow Power, or: The Cancer That is Killing Psionics
This power doesn't function for its intended or hilarious purposes with Strain-Based Psionics, though in its mutilated, faecal-scented corpse I smell potential... a niche for psychics in a world that rejects them! SMW::off

SMW::on