The Campaign Builder's Guild

This class presumes use of the Expanded Psionics Handbook and the 'Psionics is Different' rule.

THE CEREBRAL SINGER

It is said that music has a special magic, but magic is nothing to psionics. With both, however, one can become more powerful than any other...

Adventures: Cerebral Singers adventure to find more music, more powers, and more magic. Although not as skillful as the common bard, nor as powerful as the common psion, he possesses both spells AND powers, and seeks more constantly.

Characteristics: Cerebral Singers create music, magic, and powers equally - in fact, they are synonymous with one another. The Singer requires music to act as his medium, and requires both a strong mind and strong personality to get himself across. Although he knows few spells and few powers, merely knowing both is a powerful ability not forgotten by others. Intriguingly, Singers weave magic and psionics together in a way never seen before - despite hundreds of experiments, psionics and magic have never interacted with one another truely.

Alignment: Ever-wandering, Singers are rarely lawful. However, it is possible to be such a one, and discipline is useful whilst using powers to further your ends.

Religion: Boccob is a common god for Singers, as there is no true god of psionics. A few worship Ilsensine or Zuoken, although these individuals are rare, and several follow Olidammara or Fharlangn.

Background: An apprentice Singer is generally not trained, at least in the arts of magic (although music tutelage is important). Instead, he will probably have found that he has a gift for music at a young age and slowly begun manifesting powers and spells spontaneously as he reaches puberty. Singers' talents for magic and psionics generally show themselves as a sorcerer's do, except that they occur more often when the Singer plays music. Some Singers, on the other hand, train in bardic colleges. Here they are accepted or possibly thrown out (depending on the college's thoughts on Psionics).

Races: Cerebral Singers can be of any race, although strangely enough half-elves seem the most common. It is believed that this is because they share the adaptability of the human mind, perfect for psionics, with the love of the arts and magical talent of the elf. Humans and elves are also common, whilst gnomes and halflings are less common. Least common of all are half-orcs. From the Psionic races, maenads and half-giants are the most common.

Other Classes: Singers commonly work with other classes, and although most martial classes accept them as another type of bard, psions, wilders and bards especially rarely see eye-to-eye with them. Bards either love or hate Singers, as their talents are extremely similar, whilst psions and wilders see them as some form of mutation. Either way, it all depends on the individual.

Role: A Singer provides many things to a group. The lesser spells and powers, minor healing abilities and charismatic, persuasive abilities. Although not as good in combat as a fighter, as powerful mentally as a psion, or as deadly in magic as a wizard, Cerebral Singers create a combination of the three that includes almost all of the utility spells and powers as well as several mind-affecting ones. With an offensive mage in the party, a Singer can provide the illusory, persuasive and social backup that the party needs. Alternatively, with a rogue in the party, a Singer can provide magical and skillful backup. He makes an excellent support character, and although not as individually powerful in damage as a wizard or psion, or as tough as a fighter, he can serve as an intermediary between both.

 GAME RULE INFORMATION

Abilities: A Cerebral Singer requires two main abilities - Intelligence and Charisma. Intelligence affects his manifesting, his skill points, and the amount of spells/day and PP he gains. Charisma affects his spell DCs, his major class skills, and his class abilities. Dexterity and Constitution are helpful, as they help the bard survive in a fight, as is Strength, which makes him hit harder. Wisdom is useful for Will saves. His most important abilities, however, are Intelligence and Charisma.

Alignment: Any.
Hit Die: D6.

 Class Skills  

The Singer's class skills (and the Key Ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Bluff (Cha), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Decipher Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (N/A or Int, if you use my speak language skill), Spellcraft (Int), Use Magic Device (Cha) and Use Psionic Device (Cha).
Skill Points at 1st Level: 4 + Int Mod x4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int Mod.

[class=The Cerebral Singer]
[bab=rogue]
[will=good]
[special][/special]
[special=SP][1]2[/1][2]3[/2][3]4[/3][4]5[/4][5]8[/5][6]10[/6][7]11[/7][8]15[/8][9]18[/9][10]19[/10][11]25[/11][12]29[/12][13]30[/13][14]38[/14][15]47[/15][16]48[/16][17]58[/17][18]64[/18][19]70[/19][20]76[/20][/special]
[special=Max. Spell/Power Level Known][1]1[/1][2]1[/2][3]1[/3][4]2[/4][5]2[/5][6]2[/6][7]3[/7][8]3[/8][9]3[/9][10]4[/10][11]4[/11][12]4[/12][13]5[/13][14]5[/14][15]5[/15][16]6[/16][17]6[/17][18]6[/18][19]6[/19][20]6[/20][/special]
[special=PP][1]2[/1][2]3[/2][3]4[/3][4]6[/4][5]15[/5][6]18[/6][7]21[/7][8]36[/8][9]40[/9][10]45[/10][11]66[/11][12]72[/12][13]78[/13][14]105[/14][15]112[/15][16]120[/16][17]153[/17][18]162[/18][19]171[/19][20]180[/20][/special]
[/class]

 Class Features

All the following are class features of the Cerebral Singer:

Weapon and Armour proficiency: The Cerebral Singer gains proficiency with light armour, small shields and all simple weapons.

Spells and Powers: The Primary Class Feature of the Cerebral Singer is the ability to cast spells and manifest powers. He does this using Song Points, or SP. Although he prepares his songs ('songs' is the term used from now on to describe both powers and spells), he can do this in an extremely short amount of time compared to other spellcasters. He knows an amount of spells and powers depending on his level + 1 for every point of intelligence bonus. (He can buy powers OR spells with his extra spells from intelligence bonus). He gains these songs at level-up, and can also learn them (see below).
Casting Spells and Manifesting Powers: To cast a spell or manifest a power, a Cerebral Singer must first prepare it. He can do so at the beginning of the day if he wishes, but he has the ability to do so by taking time equal to one standard action per level of the song (or one full-round action per every two levels of the song). He cannot do so whilst unable to sing, speak, or recite poems (basically he cannot do so whilst gagged or muted, or under the effect of a silence spell etc). Preparing the Song uses up a number of Song Points equal to the Song's level. The Singer can then cast or manifest it as he would normally.
Learning spells and powers: A Singer can learn songs from Songbooks as well as those gained at level-up. Learning a song takes 1 hour/level, and he can learn a maximum amount of songs equal to twice his Int modifier before gaining a new level (at which point it is 'reset').

The DC for a Singer's power is equal to the level of the power + 10 + his Int modifier.

The DC for a Singer's spell is equal to the level of the spell + 10 + his Cha modifier.



<Feats, more class abilities etc will be coming. Suggestions?>

Edited with PP, UP and max spell level known columns. D'oh!