Toggle Theme

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen
Occult Rules / Psychic Duels / Psychic Manifestations / Creating Psychic Manifestations

Offensive Manifestation (Full-Round Action)

Source Occult Adventures pg. 202
This type of manifestation is a direct attack on an opponent, a thought-form creature, or both. An offensive manifestation can attack a variety of defenses, depending on the number of MP spent and the desires of its creator. Creating an offensive manifestation requires three steps.

Step 1—Create Sensory Effects: Combatants creating psychic manifestations are limited only by their imaginations as to the look, sound, feel, and smell of each manifestation; these sensory effects guide combatants in their later choices. For example, if a combatant envisions an offensive manifestation as a giant ball of lava he throws at his opponent, that might suggest that the attack should force a Reflex saving throw rather than targeting the opponent’s AC. Regardless of the effect’s form, damage dealt by a manifestation is always untyped damage, and can be mitigated only by defensive manifestations.

Step 2—Determine Attack Type: By default, an offensive manifestation acts as either a melee or ranged attack (creator’s choice) that resolves against a single target’s AC. The creator can have the manifestation resolve against touch AC instead by increasing the cost by 2 MP.

Alternatively, the creator can instead force both his opponent and any thought-form creature it controls to attempt a saving throw to avoid the effect; this increases the cost by 1 MP. The DC is equal to 10 + the total number of MP spent + the Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma bonus of the creator (whichever is highest). The creator chooses which kind of saving throw—Fortitude, Reflex, or Will—the target must attempt. By default, a successful save negates the manifestation’s damage, but the creator can increase the cost by an additional 1 MP to cause the manifestation to deal half damage on a successful save.

If an offensive manifestation’s effects can be negated or reduced with a saving throw, the creator can increase the cost to have the manifestation apply a condition.

Step 3—Determine Damage and Conditions: After determining the manifestation’s attack type, the creator determines its number of damage dice. The creator must spend at least 1 MP on damage, which grants the manifestation 1 damage die, but she can spend more to increase the number of dice, as shown on the table below.

MP Spent on DamageNumber of Damage Dice
1 MP1 die
2 MP4 dice
3 MP6 dice
4 MP8 dice
5 MP10 dice
6 MP12 dice
7 MP14 dice
8 MP16 dice
9 MP1 die per creator's manifesting level (maximum 20 dice)


The manifestation’s damage die type depends on the source of the manifestation’s MP. Psychic spells and spell-like abilities sacrificed grant d8s. Arcane spells and other spell-like abilities grant d6s. All other methods of generating MP (including mixed methods) grant d4s. If the manifestation’s attack resolves against AC or touch AC, a natural 20 on the attack roll threatens a critical hit for double damage.

If the manifestation allows a saving throw, the creator can spend additional MP to add one condition from the list below (she must still spend at least 1 MP on damage). A successful saving throw always negates the condition. Conditions gained in a psychic duel end if the duel ends before the condition’s normal duration expires. The conditions below otherwise follow the normal rules for those conditions, with the following exceptions and additions.

Blinded (3 MP): Affected creatures are blinded for 1 round; they can’t use offensive manifestations that require saves.

Confused (3 MP): The affected creatures are confused for 1 round, breaking concentration automatically. If an affected creature is forced to attack the nearest creature, it attacks its opponent’s thought-form creature if one exists, or the opponent if not. A confused combatant never attacks her own thought-form creature, or vice versa. This condition can be applied only to manifestations that require Will saves.

Dazed (4 MP): The affected creatures are dazed for 1 round. A dazed combatant can continue to concentrate on thoughtform creatures and create defensive manifestations, but can’t create thought-form creatures or offensive manifestations. This condition can be applied only to manifestations that require Will saves.

Entangled (2 MP): The affected creatures are entangled until they take a full-round action to end this condition. This condition can be applied only to manifestations that require Reflex saves.

Nauseated (4 MP): The affected creatures are nauseated for 1 round. A nauseated creature can create only defensive manifestations. This condition can be applied only to manifestations that require Fortitude saves.

Shaken (1 MP): The affected creatures are shaken for 1d4 rounds. This condition can be applied only to manifestations that require Will saves.