Dark Tempest

Secretive to the extreme, the Dark Tempests are so called for their ancient warrior techniques, melding mastery over the inner self with the physical manifestation of the mind blade. Their techniques revolve around the fusion of their weapon and their mind into a deadly force capable of crushing an enemy’s body and mind. Each of the tempests must find his own path through the darkness, to arrive on the other side filled with their personal discoveries. Legends claim that the tempests force a prospective candidate to meditate alone in utter darkness for a week, with but a bowl of water and a piece of bread. Those that survive the ordeal are welcomed, but only those that prepare for years manage it.

Alignment: Any.

Hit Die: d10

Requirements

To qualify to become a dark tempest, a character must fulfill the following criteria:

  • Skills: Knowledge (psionics) 6 ranks.
  • Psionics: Ability to manifest 1st level powers, form mind blade class feature, and either enhanced mind blade +2 class feature or Mind Blade Knight* feat.

Class Skills

The dark tempest’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Perception (Wis), Perform (dance) (Cha), and Sense Motive (Wis).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier

Table: The Dark Tempest
Level BAB Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Manifesting/Mind Blade
1st +0 +1 +0 +0 Diverse training, psychic strike +1d8 +1 level of existing class
2nd +1 +1 +1 +1 Expanded power list +1 level of existing class
3rd +2 +2 +1 +1 Power strike (1st level) +1 level of existing class
4th +3 +2 +1 +1 Psychic strike +2d8 +1 level of existing class
5th +3 +3 +2 +2 Blade skill +1 level of existing class
6th +4 +3 +2 +2 Power strike (2nd level) +1 level of existing class
7th +5 +4 +2 +2 Psychic strike +3d8 +1 level of existing class
8th +6 +4 +3 +3 Blade skill +1 level of existing class
9th +6 +5 +3 +3 Power strike (3rd level) +1 level of existing class
10th +7 +5 +3 +3 Power critical, psychic strike +4d8 +1 level of existing class

Class Features

All the following are class features of the dark tempest prestige class.

Dark Tempest Powers

1st—deceleration, déjà vu, energy ray, entangling ectoplasm, feat leech, mind thrust, slumber, stomp

2nd—cloud mind, ectoplasmic grapnel, ego whip, energy push, id insinuation, psionic lion’s charge, recall agony, swarm of crystals

3rd—crisis of breath, dispatch, Lanis’s energy bolt, eradicate invisibility, expose weakness, hostile empathic transfer, psionic blast, telekinetic force

4th—barrage, mindwipe, personality parasite, psychokinetic charge, schism, shatter mind blank, telekinetic maneuver, vanishing strike

5th—adapt body, baleful teleport, catapsi, energy current, mind probe, psychic crush, shrapnel burst, summoning strike

6th—breath of the black dragon, brutalize wounds, co-op concentration, decerebrate, defer fatality, disintegration, retrieve, temporal acceleration

Manifesting

At every level, the character gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if he had also gained a level in any one manifesting class he belonged to previously. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of either class would have gained (bonus metapsionic, or item creation feats, and so on). This essentially means that he adds the level of dark tempest to the level of whatever other manifesting class the character has, and then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly. If a character had more than one manifesting class before he became a dark tempest, he must decide to which class he adds each level of dark tempest for purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level.

Mind Blade

At every level, the dark tempest increases his soulknife level for the purposes of his enhanced mind bade class feature. This does not grant the dark tempest increased soulknife level for any other purposes (such as gaining bonus feats or blade skills).

Diverse Training

A dark tempest adds his level to any levels of soulknife he might have for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites and benefits of feats and blade skills (such as Mind Blade Knight*). He may also use any blade skills with a weapon he has summoned using call weaponry as if it were a mind blade. He also adds his level to any levels in a manifesting class for the purpose of meeting the prerequisites for feats.

Psychic Strike (Su)

A dark tempest gains the ability to charge his mind blade, or a weapon he has summoned with call weaponry, with a psychic strike, as per the soulknife ability. This starts at 1d8 damage at 1st level and increases by +1d8 every three levels thereafter (2d8 at 4th level, etc.). If the dark tempest already possesses the ability to charge a psychic strike, he may add those dice to these when determining the damage dealt.

Expanded Power List

At 2nd level, the dark tempest adds the following powers to his class power list, if they are not already on his class power list. If the power is already on his class power list, the dark tempest can choose either level when selecting that power. If the dark tempest possesses more than one manifesting class, he must choose one class power list to add these powers to.

Power Strike (Su)

At 3rd level, when the dark tempest expends his psychic strike upon confirming a successful hit, he may choose to forgo the usual psychic strike damage and instead use the energy to fuel one of his psionic powers. The power manifested must be a power he knows from the above Expanded Power List, and must be able to target areas or creatures other than the manifester. This is a swift action which counts as a Quickened power and does not provoke attacks of opportunity. The power is manifest as if the dark tempest had spent 2 pp per die of psychic strike damage, up to a limit of his manifester level, and automatically hits the struck target (Saves and power resistance may apply as normal). If the power would normally affect an area or multiple targets, it instead affects only the struck target and any other targets the dark tempest subsequently hits with a mind blade or called weapon that round (for example, manifesting energy ray would only affect a single target, but manifesting stomp would affect all targets hit during a full attack or bladewind attack). Any given target can only be affected by this ability once per round, even if the dark tempest strikes him multiple times or has multiple psychic strikes charged. At 3rd level, the dark tempest may only use this ability to manifest 1st-level powers. This improves to include 2nd-level powers at level 6 and 3rd-level powers at level 9.

Blade Skill

At 5th and 8th level, the dark tempest gains a bonus blade skill from the following list: Absorbing blade, bladewind, deceptive blade, dual imbue, exploding critical, furious charge, improved furious charge, knife to the soul, mental power, powerful strikes, reaper’s blade, reflective blade. The dark tempest must still meet all prerequisites for the selected blade skills.

Power Critical (Su)

At 10th level, any time a dark tempest successfully confirms a critical hit, he can manifest a power as a swift action. The power must include the target of the attack as one of its targets or in its area of effect. Manifesting this power does not provoke an attack of opportunity. Alternately, he may instead expend his psychic strike and use power strike to manifest any power he knows from the expanded power list of a level up to the total number of psychic strike dice (for example, if he has a 5d8 psychic strike, he may manifest a 5th level power he knows from the list as if he had spent 10 pp, affecting struck targets as per power strike).

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Ultimate Psionics, © 2013, Dreamscarred Press

scroll to top