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Untapped Potential: New Horizons in Psionics; the Expanded Edition. Produced by Dreamscarred Press and written by Brian Dupuis, Michel Fiallo-Perez, Gres Jacob and Jeremy Smith. The cover is by Brandon Gore and interior illustrations are by J.R. Dart, Brandon Gore, Gerald Lee, Alex Leonard, and Kevin Miller.
Untapped Potential is a 208 page PDF product that strives to expand the “core†psionic rules found in the Expanded Psionics Handbook (XPH). It also often refers to the Malhavoc Press product “Hyperconscious†by Bruce Cordell, and although that product is not required to use Untapped Potential, it will add to the utility. There is a complete table of contents but no index. The OGL takes up one page.
The new rules, creatures and classes are loosely framed together by the invention of an island of Dream-stuff called Rajrin, which has somehow found it’s way to the material plane. As an attempt to facilitate the introduction of the new rules it is at least passable. For all the real impact on the rules themselves, I was unimpressed.
Untapped Potential does have a lot to offer. First, they provide racial paragon classes for all the XPH races. This goes a long way to help flesh out the details of the “standard†psionic races. Then they present racial substitution levels for various classes. Both sets of options seem fairly well balanced and will be interesting to play.
Chapter three covers the new base classes. A variant “Devoted†psion, is a psion who specializes their powers in a particular discipline (egoist, nomad, etc). They gain powers specific to their devotion and the more usual boosts specialists gain to their normal psi abilities.
The marksman is a full on fighter-type class that uses psi power to enhance their ranged attacks. They eventually (7th level) choose a signature style (bow, crossbow or thrown weapon styles are presented but there is no reason why other sorts of ranged weapons, (e.g. firearms) couldn’t be worked into the class. Their style provides increasing abilities similar to the ranger weapon styles.
The real gem of the book is the third new base class, the society mind. This class builds mind networks of willing allies and can manifest their powers to or through the other members of the network. Their powers known can change from day-to-day providing tremendous flexibility. They can be psionic buff masters, strong support characters or truly innovative “masterminds†(pardon the pun).
There are well over forty new feats and additional psionic feats called Mantra’s that provide a passive bonus once you’ve meditated for your psionic focus and which also provide a different effect when you expend the focus. This is an interesting concept that I would like to see expanded on in future works.
The prestige classes are interesting and flavorful. For the most part they are 10 levels (a couple of five level classes are included). They cover a fairly wide range of types- a psionic acrobat, a shaping expert that can reshape constructs too, a specialist in creating/using crystal limbs and crystal constructs and so on. They all look balanced, if perhaps a trifle under-powered.
The book then presents a new psionic NPC class, the augur, a sort of “hedge-wizard†among Psionics. Then we get a number of organizations with some interesting fluff, some with a handful of substitution levels that the groups can provide to better tie prestige classes into the goals of the organizations. This is another nice idea that would be good to see expanded upon.
Next up are a boatload of new and modified powers for both the new and the existing psionic classes. Some of the more interesting powers include the Mirror Shot, which calls into reality the potential paths of your projectiles and creates duplicates which strike at a target all using the same attack roll. Or Disrupting Lash that telepathically strikes at a target to force a concentration check. The powers seem to be well built to tie in with existing OGL powers and give plenty of support to the new classes introduced here.
Items are up next and all seem workable if somewhat predictable. Such things as crystals that store form impressions for shape-changing, or various powers the user can then manifest; somewhat like psionic scrolls but using the manifesters own power points. Psicrowns can hold multiple related psionic powers as well as a reservoir of power points to manifest them.
Then we dip into some new monsters: the Astral Juggernaut that can be used by it’s creator as a sort of ectoplasmic exo-skeleton. A pair of true dragons focused on Law or Chaos. The Nameless, creatures formed from the stuff of nightmares and the Dreamscarred, those humans touched by Nightmare while in the womb, but who survive and grow to be psionically empowered beings. There are details given for making Dreamscarred PCs. Several new constructs and a few templates are also included.
Finally, there is an appendix which makes an attempt to upgrade the Soulknife and the Wilder classes to provide some more interesting options and incorporate some of the new ideas presented in the book. For those who engage in epic-level play, there are details on using the three new classes at those lofty heights.
The art in this book is fair, some of it looking a bit washed out (even when printed on a color laser-jet). There are some typos scattered throughout the work but it is easy to see the intended meanings so that is a minor ding.
Overall, this is a solid product to build out the psionic content of a campaign. A goodly number of ideas are included to spark Gamemasters’ creativity and plenty of room to innovate from the seeds planted in this book. It was a generally interesting read and would be a fine addition to anyone playing in a psionic campaign.
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High Psionics: Psicrystals Expanded (PE) is relatively small supplement that provides new rules and types of psicrystals for players and DM’s alike. With what is quickly becoming the standard for Dreamscarred Press, the production values are top notch. I was very pleased to find my download included both a full color and a black/white version, and that everything in the PDF’s was bookmarked for easy searching. The editing and layout are both well done and smooth. But now, we must venture into what we are all here for: Content!
The supplement leads off with a section of Alternate Psicrystals. Overall: a valuable resource for psionic characters. However, a number of these can make the Improved Psicrystal feat quite unappealing in comparison. I will now explore each to give both a sort of preview and review.
The Awakened Psicrystal essentially gives the psicrystal the ability to manifest a few (generally) low level powers to manifest a few times a day. The wording on the powers is potentially ambiguous; whether or not each power is usable twice a day, or twice a day the psicrystal can manifest one of the selected powers. Despite that, the Awakened Psicrystal is well done. It requires a feat later introduced in the book.
Now, while the concept of the next psicrystal is both interesting and worthy of development, the “Implanted Psicrystal†alternative strikes an odd nerve with me. The psicrystal is quite fine for lower levels, but at high levels, I can see potential for abuse. The Implanted psicrystal essentially gives up mobility to give bonuses to its master. It’s an interesting trade for your average player, but it is not a stretch to see someone taking it at high levels for a number of significant bonuses, which could potentially tally up to 3-5 feats worth. I think it could use some more play-testing, as I do enjoy the concept- I would like to see the mechanics worked on. Note, this does not cost a feat, rather, 100xp and someone with several ranks in heal.
The Cognizance psicrystal is definitely solid. It gives more use to the otherwise weak Craft Cognizance crystal feat.
The Psycrysmal is also very good, similar in concept to the Combat Familiar’s introduced in Complete Warrior by Wizards of the Coast. One minor quip: the psycrysmal shares its power resistance with its owner. I believe it should be changed to the way alertness is set up (e.g.: if within 5 feet of the master)
The psicrystal weapon is both quality and unique. It is easily a good option for any kind of psionic character. It would be interesting to see some kind of development for use with a soulknife, though.
The feats section lists the feats required to use some of these alternates, as well as some more options for psicrystal weapons. Dreamscarred also introduces a new “Fleshcrafting†feat, which can be used to implant psicrystals and is *hinted* that it will be used in future supplements.
PE is a great resource for the psionic minded, and it will definitely see use at my table. Very well done.
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High Psionics: Psicrystals Expanded includes five new types of psicrystals, five new feats, and two new psicrystal monsters. As a bonus, the revised Psicrystal Affinity feat detailing the effects of a psicrystal’s death is also included.
Most of the new psicrystals are actually additions onto an already existing psicrystal, enhancing its capabilities. The Awakened Psicrystal gains several psi-like abilities; the Implanted Psicrystal grants more bonuses to the owner due to the bond between them. Moreover, a Cognizance Psicrystal allows power points to be stored for the owner. A Psicrysmal is the result of creating a psicrystal using Crysmal shards. Finally, a Psicrystal Weapon allows an offensive splinter of your personality to become manifest.
Two new feats allow you to obtain either an Awakened Psicrystal or a Psicrystal Weapon. Then the Fleshcrafting feat allows the character to attach additions onto creatures, namely the Implanted Psicrystal; although there is not a lot of information at this point, a future installation of High Psionics promises to expand upon Fleshcrafting. The remaining feats improve the options for Psicrystal Weapons, allowing them to hold psionic focus and obtain it after striking a creature down.
Lastly, the two monsters presented are the psicrysmal and the shardling. Since the psicrysmal was introduced earlier, the shardling is the more intriguing of the two new monsters. Long has it been asked, what happens when the psicrystal dies, but what happens to the psicrystal when the master dies? A predator hunting for mental energies, the shardling comes into existence when its master comes to a violent demise.
Overall, the best of this product is its failing. Psicrystal options were expanded so much; I felt there had to be more! In addition, the Implanted Psicrystal seems a little odd mechanic-wise initially, but time will tell. Still, these eleven pages will see a lot of use in any campaign where psionics plays a role.
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First off, I would like to note that the production quality in Untapped Potential (UP) is quite good for a 3rd party resource, especially in its first foray into the field. I was pleased to find the PDF version was all bookmarked appropriately. However, I would have liked to see the art inked, as the majority of it is penciled illustrations. At least in my copy, I saw some typesetting errors. Nothing is too obvious except for your average anal attentive reader (guilty!). Though one cannot help but cringe when seeing the “Skill points at first level†info taking up two lines.
The book is setup in the familiar Players Handbook setup, which is worth noting, because some other companies fail to pick up on that.
The Racial levels in UP are well thought out and flavorful, and nothing unbalancing from a mechanics standpoint. The Replacement levels are also a welcome addition.
UP gives us 2 new base classes and a variant on the psion. The Devoted Psion is better than the specialist wizard, but still feels a little lacking until the 20th level capstone. The Marksman is the “Full-warrior†class that psionics has been lacking, even with the advent of the Complete Psionic by Wizards of the Coast. It has a number of interesting abilities, but would like to see options for sling users and/or firearms. The Society mind is generally the high-point and gem of the book. It gives psionics users the party-support class they’ve been starving for. Although power acquisition is a tad wonky, and the Planar Network range has potential for abuse, it is quite an attractive class that is well worth the addition into any game with psionics included.
The feats are all worth adding to your game as well. The poison feats seem a bit out of place in a psionics supplement, though not unwelcome. The racial feats are flavorful and well thought out, and the mind blade feats were a necessity. The newly introduced Mantra Feats are well done, providing an interesting new way to utilize the Psionic Focus mechanic.
The prestige classes all continue the same great psionic prestige class design, in that they are all well balanced (if not balanced, than actually underpowered). Nothing glares out at me as game breaking, and none of it is too specific to cause DM’s trouble integrating it into their games. (All too common in some supplements)
UP provides us with a Psionic NPC class. The Organizations have good fluff, and again, aren’t too specific as to be unusable.
The psionic powers are a worthy addition to any psionic character’s repertoire. I was glad to see some clarifications and fixes to troublesome powers in the past.
The items are both familiar and fresh at the same time. Familiar in that they work well and fit the theme of existing psionic material, and fresh in the sense of a welcome variety. Some prices seem a tad off, but nothing obvious.
The monster section is well done. Likely to keep players on their toes, and the CR are fitting.
UP offers two “fixes†for existing base classes. The Soulknife variant gives the otherwise lacking class more of a niche. The multiple throw still needs to come earlier, however. The Wilder fix does alleviate some of the issues with enervation and wild-surge, as well as provides some more flavorful and useful abilities.
In all, it is a great addition to any DM or player who enjoys psionics. It was worth every penny I bought it with, and save for a few minor things, it is the best psionic product to have come out since the Expanded Psionics Handbook!
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Very good book. Much better psionics offering than WotC's own Complete Psion.
Standounts include the Mantra feats, working off of psionic focus, the powers section, and the Society Mind class.
QUALITY: Very Good
VALUE: Satisfied
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High Psionics: Phrenic Diseases & Mental Maladies is a short product from Dreamscarred Press. The zipped file is just under a megabyte in size, and contains two PDF files, one in color, and the other in black and white. Both are eleven pages long, with a page for the cover, a page for the credits/legal, and one for the OGL. Both have full bookmarks, but no table of contents.
The full color version has no illustrations (save for an arcane design on the cover), but the pages are all cream-colored, making them look like parchment. The black and white version reduces the cover to grayscale, but all of the other pages are a plain white, adorned only with a simple grey border around the edges. Printing out the latter version of the PDF should not be a problem for anyone.
Unlike standard diseases, the mental sicknesses given here do not follow the standard d20 disease format. Instead, the first half-page of the book explains each of the eleven diseases given has a listing for how it is acquired, what its symptoms are (a fluff description), and its effects (the crunch). Additionally, each has notes on how specifically to cure it, a possible adventure hook, and a Challenge Rating, since overcoming these diseases is worth experience.
The eleven diseases here run the gamut from quite interesting (such as manifested daymare, where a person unconsciously projects their nightmares onto others while they are awake) to the fairly mundane (such as hallucinations). A sidebar is given midway through the product detailing using these diseases for spellcasters instead of (or in addition to) psionicists. Finally, the book ends with a psionic version of the contagion spell, so that evil manifesters can deliberately cause these diseases.
Overall, Phrenic Diseases & Mental Maladies does a good job of presenting psionic-specific diseases. Between the sidebar for spellslingers and the new psionic power, it covers its bases well, and while the new disease format may be slightly disconcerting at first, it quickly feels intuitive to what is presented here. This High Psionics book gives psionicists good reason to fear the term "mental illness."
LIKED: Several of the new diseases were quite innovative. The sidebar on how these can affect spellcasters was a nice touch, and new psionic power was a pleasant easter egg.
DISLIKED: A few of the diseases, while still natural choices for psionic characters, felt slightly less than inspirational.
QUALITY: Very Good
VALUE: Very Satisfied
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Wherein a lot of publishers have steered fairly clear of Psionic content, Dreamscarred Press has embraced the world of Mental Powers, Ilithid Madmen and Telekinetic Abilities by creating new variants and additions to the exotic add-on system. Following on the heels of their successful Untapped Potential (and an extended version), Dreamscarred introduced us to Phrenic Diseases and Mental Maladies, which, unlike its predecessor, suffers from a bad case of poorly designitis. .
Phrenic Diseases presents 11 diseases and ailments that are psionic in nature. The combination of psionics and diseases introduced a new breed of adversary for PCs. They are not transmitted like most diseases, instead these ailments effect psionic creatures whom under go a particular action. For instance, Mental Feedback might happen if a psionic creature enhances their powers too frequently.
Each of the 11 entries contains how it is acquired, the symptoms, the effects it has in mechanical terms and the cure. Two have adventure hooks that can be used to introduce the ailment or integrate the sickness into a plot. The entries are strong, but feel incomplete as if there should be more.
Phrenic Diseases has some nice content, but it is very difficult to read. I believe the artists were attempting to mimic a medical journal, but the idea falls off flat in the PDF form. The text is really small and there is no font differences to distinguish when a new disease starts. The first time I read through the book, I found myself reading the intro and going straight into the first disease. Phrenic Diseases also suffers from can?tcountaitis as the marketing entry says the book is 11 pages, though there are only 10 pages of PDF and only 6 of them actually have content. The book is well bookmarked, which seems like a smack in the face considering how there are multiple entries on the pages that seem to run into each other.
For the DM
There is some nasty repercussions for psionic creatures in a psoinic campaign. I liked the Psionic Hemorrhage ass a constant problem for psionic PCs in combat.
The Iron Word
Phrenic Diseases and Mental Maladies fills rushed, cramped and incomplete. Many of the illnesses inside relate to a specific power in the game and many others feel like an annoying tick to a PC as opposed to a real problem. Outside of detailing how three diseases effect spellcasters, there is little else in here that discusses effects on other classes. I was hoping for more plague impact illnesses that could really build a campaign on. Add the averageness of the entries to the poorly executed design, and Phrenic Diseases does not quite get off the operating table.
LIKED: - There were a couple of real standouts in the document such as Mental Feedback and Psionic Hemmorrhage.
- The setup of each of the sicknesses is done well.
DISLIKED: - Some entries such as Psychic Dissociation scream for DM's to abuse it.
- the design and layout of the book makes a cramped difficult read.
QUALITY: Disappointing
VALUE: Disappointed
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Publisher Reply: |
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At Dreamscarred Press, we appreciate candor and honesty and strive to ensure quality.
Unfortunately, as Nathan says, it sounds like the layout just didn't come out how we intended, so a new version of this with an altered layout will be made available by the end of the day, including changing how the entry headers are presented and expanding the border to allow more text to fit within the page.
The text size will also be increased to make reading easier. |
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Untapped Potential
Psionics have always felt like an add on to D&D and to the d20 game. They exist in there own book and get little support in the many additional books for the system. Here is a new book that expands on psionics and does so in a very standard and good way. I say standard since the book gives one more of the usual material. There are new classes both base and prestige, new powers, new feats, new monsters, new items, and info on psionic races. And while this is all well done it does not branch out and present things that are not in every other book these days. This is more of the same of stuff though it is nicely done.
Untapped Potential: New Horizons in Psionics is by Dreamscarred Press. The PDF is one hundred and seventy eight pages long and has a really basic layout. There is very little art in the book and the look just is not that good. There is a lot of extra white space it is just a lot of text with nothing to really break it up. It should be noted though that the company is hoping to be able to generate some money by selling this PDF to get some good art and even get the book to print. It would be nice to see that happen as the lack of art and the layout are really the biggest complaints I have about what is otherwise a finally written gaming book.
As a book on psionics it does a very good job of building on the options that are already presented. It gives the reader the options that exist for other classes and races but have not been given nearly as much to the psionic end of things. It starts with giving some good paragon racial classes for the psionics races. There are ones for the Dromite, the Duergar, the Elan, the Half Giant, the Maenad, and the Xeph. These are about of the same power levels as the original ones presented in Unearthed Arcana. Then each of those six races gets a pair of classes that they get racial substitution levels for. Again these are very similar to the ones found in many of the Races of book Wizards of the Coast has put out. I like the options her e and they are enough like what people see in the other books that one should easily be able to tell if they like them or not.
There are three new base classes that deal with psionics here. The first is the Devoted Psion that is a variant on the psion class. It seems pretty good but I am not a fan of just variations on old classes as I am with new classes. The Marksman is a very cool class that is similar to the Psychic Warrior. They deal well with ranged combat and use their abilities mostly to that ends. Then there is the Society Mind possible the most creative item in the book. It can tap in the worldthought as they call it, the collection of thoughts of everything. They get abilities that reflect this though as neat as the concept is I would have liked to seen it taken a little farther and perhaps take a few more risks with unique abilities.
The book has plenty of new feats and this should make psionic fans happy. There are also plenty of prestige classes and new powers. They are well done but I feel the strength of the book is in the first half. For the prestige classes they have:
Amalgamist: Master of Crystalics and the Crystalic limb
Anyform Savant: Infinite Flexibility in Form
Energist: Energy powers are his forte
Enlightened Exemplar: Scholarly student of peace and reason
Enlightened Protector: Guardians of the Exemplars
Knight Meditant: Calm of Mind, Strong of Body
Maverick Voidshaper: Reality bends at her whimsy
Phenotype Impressionist: Reshape Constructs as you do your body
Psicrystal Imprinter: Psicrystal becomes more like its master
Sighted Seeker: Ultimate
Inquisitive and bounty hunter
Those descriptions are straight from the book.
Over all I like what is here. This will greatly aid people looking for good and solid psionics options. It is nice that is nothing here that is way out in left field so much of it will easily be useable. But at times I do like to see some of the more wide open creativity that writers have. It will be nice if this is successful to get some art and hopefully a better lay out as it would really benefit this book greatly.
LIKED: Solid work. It builds on the psionic rules with a wide variety of familiar options
DISLIKED: Lay out and lack of art are the big thing. I would have liked to see a little more out there creative options
QUALITY: Excellent
VALUE: Very Satisfied
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Untapped Potential: New Horizons in Psionics is a sourcebook from Dreamscarred Press. The zipped file is 1.36 megabytes in size, and contains a 1.5-megabyte PDF. The book is one-hundred-seventy-six pages long, including two pages for the covers, a page for the credits/legal, a page for the table of contents (and a blank page after that), and a page for the OGL. The product has full bookmarks, but because it?s a beta release, there?s virtually no artwork to speak of.
The first chapter serves as the book?s introduction, talking about how to use the psionic material it contains in your game. It discusses how this book cleverly integrates with material from Malhavoc Press?s book Hyperconscious, a few adjustments to existing rules and terms, and finally, it discusses introducing the new material here into your game by using Rajrin, an island that was long ago lost on the plane of dreams, but is now somehow back in the material world.
The second chapter covers racial information. Rather than presenting any new races here, it offers expanded options for the six (Open Game Content) races from the Expanded Psionics Handbook: the dromite, duergar, elan, half-giant, maenad, and xeph. Each race has its own racial paragon class presented, as well as two classes for which they have racial substitution levels. This makes great sense, as oftentimes these races would have psionic benefits that would otherwise overlap with certain psionic classes.
Chapter three covers three new base classes: the devoted psion, marksman, and society mind. The first of these, the devoted psion, is basically a specialist version of the psion class, dedicating themselves to one particular psionic discipline and excelling in it. The marksman focuses on one category of ranged weapon (bows, crossbows, or thrown weapons) and gains psionic powers related to them. The best new class here, however, is the society mind. This extremely cool and innovative class focuses on creating psychic bonds with other characters. It can then channel powers to the members of its psychic network, empowering and aiding its allies; at higher levels, it can also force people into its network, and then use powers against them through it. This class alone is worth the price of the book for how intriguing a concept it is, and how well it?s executed.
Feats are the subject of chapter four. Most of these are quite cool on their own, such as the feats that let you improve in the combative use of your mind blade (such as momentarily dematerializing it and then forming it again a split-second later to gain a combat advantage), or the feats that let society minds use their psychic network more creatively. Additionally, mantra feats are presented here. Mantra feats allow you to gain a specific power when you gain psionic focus, and when you expend that focus, you lose that but momentarily gain another, related power.
Chapter five deals with ten new prestige classes. The chapter covers what prestige classes work best for what psionic base classes, and also notes that gaining manifester levels also improves a soulknife?s ability to generate their mind blade.
Chapter six starts out by introducing a psionic NPC class: the augur. This class is similar to the NPC adept, in that they only gain up to 6th-level powers, and can?t use that many per day. Three psionic organizations, the Cosmic Echoes, Mindwatch, and the Enlightenment, are then given. Each entry lists the group?s base of operations, alignment, size, members, motto, description, joining, duties, and benefits.
Over fifty new psionic powers are given in chapter seven. In addition to showcasing cool new powers like Dimensional Oubliette (which doesn?t kill the target; but rather reduces their existence to a theoretical concept, essentially removing them from existence), but it also introduces new descriptions for powers. For example, powers with the Network descriptor can be used by the society mind class on other members of its psychic network.
Chapter eight covers new psionic items. Not only are new items like psicrowns and universal items here, but there are also new types of items like crystalics and mindstones. Ferroplasm, a material with which you can construct weapons and armor, is also listed here.
The last chapter of the book deals with new monsters. Several monsters are given here, such as the astral juggernaut (the strongest kind of astral construct that can be created), and my personal favorites, the ego dragons. Ego dragons are psionic true dragons that embody a type of philosophical mindset. The two given here are the logos (representing mental discipline) and pathos (representing freedom of thought) dragons. Perhaps the monsters here with the most use, however, are the Nameless Fears. These dream-based monsters are what happens when the energy of a psionic creature?s nightmare doesn?t dissipate. Several different nameless fear creatures are given, along with a prestige class they can take to increase their powers.
The appendix rounds out the book by covering epic material. It presents the epic progressions for the three new psionic base classes given earlier, and also gives just over half-a-dozen epic psionic feats.
Altogether, Untapped Potential truly does present new horizons in psionics in the d20 system. This book is easily the equal of any other psionic sourcebooks on the market, and sits proudly right next to the Expanded Psionic Handbook and Hyperconscious. If you?re serious about psionics in your game, you need to buy this book immediately. Tap your game?s psionic potential with New Horizons in Psionics.
LIKED: This product has innovative new psionic rules, such as substitution levels for psionic races, or the extremely cool society mind base class.
DISLIKED: Some people might be put off with the references to Hyperconscious (such as the integrated power lists). However, this book doesn't require that one to be used, it just references it where appropriate.
QUALITY: Excellent
VALUE: Very Satisfied
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Untapped Potential: New Horizons in Psionics expands on previous concepts introduced into Psionics by other concepts while presenting several new ideas.
The book weighs in at 176 pages. Despite some bad page layout here and there, the book manages to adequately feel the pages with useful information. There is very little rehashing here. The book assumes you are very familiar with the Expanded Psionics book and hopes you are familiar with the Hyperconcsious OGL Supplement. Untapped Potential does not begin on the best of notes. It starts off with several racial paragons that are not all that unique. Luckily this chapter is not too long, as the book really takes off in the class, feat and prestige classes.
The new classes, Marksman, Devoted Psion and Society Mind could really make an impact on a campaign using psionics. The Marksman is my favorite and a great alternative to the psionic warrior. The Marksman uses his psionic prowess to bend the laws of physics and pull off awesome ranged abilities. The Society Mind is not too shabby either and reveals a major concept of the book, networking. The Society Mind allows that player to network his brain with others to form a psionic internet.
Players will enjoy the Mantras of the Feat section. These are feats that use your psionic focus. It was very useful to have these feats broken out instead of filtered into the rest of the feats. They are often more powerful than normal feats. In the Prestige classes section 10 new PrCs are introduced to help branch out your psionic base class. All of them are pretty good. The Anyform Savant expands on the second concept introduced in the book, formbonding, which allows psionics to master and excel their shapechanging abilities Rounding out the book are some new powers--most of which utilize the new networking, formbinding and shapechanging functions--, new psionic weapons featuring Crysalics?psionically charged crystal and steel and several monsters. Unfortunately, the book seems to end like it began as the monsters bring nothing new to the table. The book does contain an appendix for Epic level play which helps increase its usefulness.
For the Dungeonmaster
The Networking material is one of the best features of the book. The powers, feats and classes associated with it have a weird Children of the Corn type tone to it. I could see a lot of good roleplaying opportunities by introducing this as a society in a campaign.
For the Player
Players will enjoy the Devoted Psion and Marksman classes as well as the nice amount of weapons and items. The Devoted Psion is an alternative of the normal psion that seems to focus the psion even more, giving it a more dynamic role in a party.
The Iron Word
Untapped Potential provides you a plethora of Psionic information for only six bucks. Though the paragons and monsters are pretty typical, the powers, feats, mechanics and classes presented will really increase the playablity of psionics. It also allows DMs and players to branch out into different types of psionics. The expansion upon Hyperconscious is also a nice touch as it is arguably one of the best supplements to come out in the 3.5 era.
LIKED: - concepts like networking and formbonding really take the psionics classes into new levels
- the powers are pretty unique, as are the feats and Mantras
- The epic level material is very considerate
- Great value
DISLIKED: - The monsters were not very original
- Not too much a fan of the paragons and racial substitions
QUALITY: Acceptable
VALUE: Very Satisfied
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