ALL IN YOUR MIND
Psionics as Magic in GURPS
by Stephen Kenson (c) 1996, GURPS is copyright Steve Jackson Games,
all other works are the copyrights of their respective authors. No
infringement is intended.

The GURPS system draws a distinction between magic and psionic
abilities. Magic involves channeling the mysterious energy known
as mana to achieve certain effects. It involves numerous skills
(spells) and rituals and has a very broad range of possible effects,
although each spell or ritual is usually very specific. Psionics
calls upon the inner powers of the mind. Psionic abilities are no
more difficult to use than any other act of thought, and psionic
skills tend to be broader in scope than spells, but there are fewer
of them and significant psi ability is generally expensive.

In the game-world, however, there might not be as clear a distinction
between magic and psi. Adepts might use both to perform their
amazing feats. They might differentiate magic from psi, like the
Heralds of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series do between the Herald
and Mage Gifts, or they might consider them to be two aspects of
the same thing.

It is also possible that a game-world might have a magical system
that is based entirely on the use of a person's inborn psychic
abilities. Some occult theorists and parapsychologists claim that
"magic" is nothing more than a misunderstood use of psi cloaked in
legend and primitive speculation. These psychic abilities would be
focused and refined with training in concentration and meditation
through the use of magical mantras, gestures and the other trappings
associated with spellcasting. Such a "psychical magic" campaign
would make no use of "actual" magic whatsoever, since every mage
is actually a psi! Katherine Kurtz's Deryni novels are a good
example of a race of powerful psionics who treat their abilities
as a form of magic and use them accordingly.

PSYCHICAL MAGIC

This form of magic is based on the user's inborn psychic/psionic
abilities. All wielders of psychical magic possess one or more
levels in various psionic abilities (see the Basic Set, pp. B165-176
or GURPS Psionics). Minor seers, healers, soothsayers and hedge
magicians might have only one or two abilities, but true adepts
will have levels in most if not all of the psionic powers.

These psychic abilities are normally brought out of latency through
long periods of training and initiation using various psycho-metabolic
techniques such as meditation, hypnosis, drugs and altered states
of consciousness. Those with latent psionic powers are considered
to have "the Talent" and the potential to become magicians.
Occasionally rare individuals will develop their Talent spontaneously,
usually as a result of some psychical trauma that releases their
hidden abilities. These individuals often have trouble dealing with
their abilities and can be dangers to themselves and others if they
are not properly trained to control their powers.

People with psychic abilities might be considered specially blessed
(or cursed) or touched by the gods or spirits. Psis might even be
considered a separate race from "normal" humanity, strange and fey.
The Deryni are once again examples of this.

Individual psi abilities might go by many different names, especially
in pre-modern cultures. Each psionic power will generally be
considered a separate branch of study, perhaps even an individual
"school" or "college" of magic. Apprentices will be trained in
their primary areas of skill and magicians will likely break up
into groups based on their areas of expertise. The individuals
powers and skills and their likely permutations are discussed below.

Antipsi

Also known as Shielding, Blocking or Warding, the Antipsi power
will, along with Mind Shield, form the basis for most magical
defenses for psychical magicians. Apprentices are taught to use
the Psi Static skill as a means of protecting themselves and others
from hostile magicians, and Neutralize is used as a means to rob
another magician of his powers.

The Psi Static ability can also be used to create an area that is
difficult to penetrate with clairvoyance or in astral form, creating
magical "wards" that block the passage of psychic energy. A Quick
Contest of Skills would be required for the magician to penetrate
the ward. These wards might last only as long as their creator
maintains them or they might be sustained by some sort of psychic
power source (see Foci, below).

At the gamemaster's option, the Neutralize skill might be used in
combination with Mindwipe to permanently remove a character's
psionic powers (at least until the Mindwipe was reversed). This
technique might be used as a punishment inflicted by other magicians
on criminals who abuse their psychical "gifts" as well as by evil
magicians to destroy the powers of their enemies.

Astral Projection

Also called Spirit Travel or the Second Road. Psychical magicians
use Astral Projection to travel in spirit form to spy or communicate
over great distances as well as to see any astral forms that might
be lurking nearby. Many magical feats of remote viewing and visions
will be performed by a magician through astral projection while in
a trance state. Astral Projection can be used as a form of spirit
combat and individuals who lose their body while astral projecting
might be the source of legends about ghosts and spectres, especially
if they have telepathic or psionic vampire abilities as well. A
disembodied psi-vamp would make a very effective ghost.

Journeys to the inner astral planes (Psionics, p.51) are a common
means of introspection for the development of greater psychic
mastery and skill. At the gamemaster's option, astral space might
be inhabited by various ghosts, spirits and other psychic entities
to challenge the magician on his quests.

Electrokinesis

Electrokinesis would be a poorly understood psychic ability in a
pre-industrial culture, since there is likely no real theory of
electricity or electromagnetism. Some of the Talented might very
well have this power, but some of the skills are not useful until
electricity comes into widespread use.

Confuse can be used to stun opponents and disrupt another magician's
concentration. The Lightning skill (coupled with Energy Sense)
could allow a magician to direct discharges during storms to attack
certain targets. Energy Shield can protect against such lightning
attacks as well as natural lightning strikes. Energy Sense could
provide an infallible "internal compass" ability to sense magnetic
north and provide a +3 to Navigation skill. Photokinesis could be
used to create mirages or render the user invisible, although
telepathic invisibility through the use of Illusion will probably
be far more common (see below). Since photokinetic constructs shed
light, they can also be used to create "witchfire," cold flames
that shed light like the "handfire" of the Deryni.

In a modern or futuristic setting, Electrokinesis becomes much more
effective, allowing magicians to control and influence electrical
devices of all kinds. Dampen can be used to shut down many types
of machines (including computers and robots), Surge can cause
overloads as "poltergeist" effects and with Cyberpsi, a psychical
magician in a cyberpunk setting could access the Net without even
using a cyberdeck! (see Joan Vinge's Catspaw for an excellent
example of this application of psi).

ESP

ESP is commonly referred to as "the Sight" or "Second Sight" by
psychical magicians. People who have ESP are regarded as seers,
mediums, sensitives or visionaries. Many consider it to be a primary
ability for becoming a magician, although many people with the
Second Sight may have it as their sole psionic ability. Skilled
users of Clairvoyance, Psychometry and Precognition gain a reputation
as soothsayers and fortunetellers, and many powerful people will
desire their services. Many (if not all) seers will take a Limitation
on their ESP skills that requires the use of some kind of focus
such as a crystal ball, mirror or tarot cards as well as extensive
time required to gain a clear "vision." Some magicians will only
have visions while in a deep trance, as well.

Clairsentience abilities will be used for scrying and information
gathering. Psychometry can be used by magicians to learn the history
of a place or item, as well as read psychic impressions from a
murder weapon or the like.

Healing

Healing ability will likely very highly prized, and powerful and
skilled healers will be valued, especially if they are the height
of medical technology in an otherwise primitive setting. Trained
Magician-Healers would tend to combine their psychic abilities with
practical skills such as Physician and Diagnosis along with a
knowledge of herbal remedies. In a more technologically advanced
setting, psychic healing would be used as a compliment for other
forms of medical treatment.

Metabolism Control would be considered a basic ability for any
adept with Healing, and healer training would tend to begin with
teaching the student how to understand and control his own body.
This knowledge of biology and anatomy can allow psychokinetic
healers to do considerable damage if they chose to use their psychic
abilities aggressively (Psionics, p.35), but professional Healers
would most likely take oaths not to use their abilities to cause
harm (the Pacifism disadvantage).

The Sense Aura ability would also be a basic magical skill, allowing
the magician to read a subject's emotional state and giving a healer
information on the subject's state of health.

Adepts might use the Life Extension skill to lend truth to stories
about magicians being immortal or having very long life spans. This
would create awe and no small amount of jealousy on the part of
normal people and could lead to very old and powerful adepts who
accumulate skill and power over the centuries.

Psychic Vampirism

Psychic Vampirism could form the basis of vampire legends, as well
as necromancers who use their magic to steal the life force and
vitality of others. Perhaps vampires are not undead at all, but
powerful adepts using their psychic abilities to steal life from
others and magically extending their own lives.

The Steal Power skill could also be used somewhat more humanely as
a means for several magicians to freely give some of their power
to another for a particularly difficult psychic feat. In this case,
a successful Steal Power roll is all that is required, the subject
does not resist. This would allow a single magician to gather Power
for difficult psychic feats. Less scrupulous magicians, of course,
can still use unwilling subjects for this purpose. If everyone is
latently psychic (Psionics, p.102), then even normal people can be
drained for 1 point of Power each!

Psychokinesis

Psychokinesis (aka Fetching or Shaping) is the "workhorse" power
of psychical magic and is used by adepts to perform virtually all
of their physical feats of magic, from levitation to spontaneous
combustion. Telekinesis especially would be used to move objects,
deflect attacks and strike at foes, allowing the magician to perform
feats like crushing a victim's heart or choking them from a distance.
Using a focus such as a voodoo doll to obtain a Telescan "lock,"
a psychic magician might even be able to inflict psychokinetic harm
on a target from afar. Levitation allows the magician to fly and
PK Shield can deflect most physical attacks (especially in a low-tech
campaign where a little DR goes a long way). Adepts will often
prefer to use Telekinesis to deflect missile attacks like arrows
and thrown weapons.

Some of these abilities might be considered the actions of invisible
spirits by normals, leading to legends of magicians with numerous
spirit helpers to carry out their will.

Telepathy

Telepathy allows psychical magicians to perform all of the classical
feats of mental magic: mind reading, charms, illusions, mental
suggestion and psychic attack. Most classical "wizards duels" will
in fact be mental struggles with telepathy or combats carried out
on the astral plane; or even both at the same time, with astrally
projecting adepts using psychic "weapons" against the mental shields
and "armor" of their opponents.

Mind Shield is the magician's most basic, first-line defense against
most hostile magic. Apprentices will always be taught the Mind
Shield skill if they are able to learn it at all (and psychical
magicians should be allowed to purchase Mind Shield as a single-skill
Power). Powerful adepts are also able to extend their psychic
shields to protect others near them (Psionics, p.38).

Psychical "signatures" will be used to trace the work of particular
magicians, and individuals with the Signature Sniffer and Psi Sense
skills might be employed as "witch smellers" either to find potential
candidates for apprenticeship or to hunt down any people who have
the Talent for the Inquisition!

Teleportation

Teleportation gives psychical magicians the ability to appear and
disappear at will, perhaps in clouds of smoke or sparks (depending
on the mechanism that teleporting works through) as well as "walk
through walls" (at low Power) and escape from various forms of
bindings and traps. They can use Exoteleport to make items, creatures
and even people (if they have sufficient Power) appear or vanish,
useful for conjuring tricks as well as performing "banishings."
Some or all adepts might even have the World Jumper advantage (see
GURPS Time Travel) and be able to travel to alternate dimensions
or times.

RITUALS

Psychical magicians will use the normal ritual trappings of
traditional magic as a framework for focusing and intensifying
their innate psionic abilities. Some psychical magicians might well
take Limitations such as Preparation Required on some of their psi
abilities to reflect the more elaborate rituals that need to be
performed to activate the ability. This would tend to be more common
for many of the ESP abilities (especially Precognition) which are
not usually performed on the spur of the moment.

A ritual circle of many magicians would most likely form a psychic
gestalt to increase the potential of their power (Psionics, p.37).
This would require that all of the magicians be able to enter into
telepathic rapport, and each must have the ability to be augmented
in order to add to the power of the gestalt. A large enough circle
of magicians could extend their power over a great distance and
perform massive magical feats beyond the ability of any of the
individual members.

MAGICAL ENHANCEMENTS

Foci

Magical items in a psychical magic campaign would be exceedingly
rare, because magic exists solely as a product of the user's psychic
abilities, it does not reside in objects. This will limit magical
power primarily to magicians and no one else.

Magicians might use items intended to focus their concentration
and improve their own abilities. Such an item is called a focus.
A focus has no power of its own, but because of its form, or
something inherent in its structure, the focus improves and
strengthens the magician's concentration. The most common psychic
foci are various crystals, which are believed to amplify psychic
energy. Examples include the shiral crystals from the Deryni books
and the focus stones used by mages in Valdemar.

A focus usually provides a boost to the magician's Power. An example
of this is given for the crystals used by the Disciplines of Change
(GURPS Religion, p.151): each 10 carats of flawless crystal adds
+1 to one Power if the user is in contact with the crystal and
makes a successful Meditation roll. If crystals are useful as
psionic amplifiers, this would explain the tendency for fortunetellers
to use crystal balls and the craze for crystals in the New Age
movement.

Drugs

Even primitive psychic magicians and "witches" might discover plants
and herbs that have natural psi-enhancing properties like Brainstorm,
Mind Hype or even Blue Fire (Psionics, p.78-79). Enhancing drugs
could be used to bring out latent psi powers or simply to enhance
weaker power levels for magicians working more powerful effects.
Likewise those seeking to restrain those with psychic powers might
discover a natural extract that functions like Shatter or Monobloc
(p.79-80). The anti-Deryni drug merasha from Katherine Kurtz's
Deryni books is one example.

Familiars

Another potential focus for a psychical magician is some kind of
catalyst creature (Psionics, p.54). Certain animal pets or companions
might be able to aid the psi's inherent powers while they are
present, others might simply have a tendency to bring out latent
abilities in their masters. Catalyst creatures would take the form
of familiars in a psychical magic setting, and might even be
attributed greater powers than they truly have; even being considered
to be spirits or demons in animal form.

PSYCHIC MAGIC CAMPAIGNS

In a psychical magic campaign, magic becomes a somewhat less
"mechanical" force than it is in most fantasy campaign worlds.
Magicians have great inherent power, but must relies entirely on
their own inner abilities and resources. Magic items are extremely
rare and generally not useful for non-magician characters. This
means that psychical magicians can become very powerful relative
to other characters in the campaign, especially in a low-tech
fantasy world. In such a setting, gamemasters may with to impose
an Unusual Background cost for being a psychical magician. Very
high power levels (10+) in a specific psi power might also call
for an Unusual Background, unless the campaign has characters built
on 200 or more points.

Psychical magic an also allow a gamemaster to add an element of
fantasy to a modern or future science fiction setting. Characters
in a GURPS Space campaign can encounter a primitive world where
the inhabitants have refined their native psi talents into a complex
system of magical rituals. Is it "real" magic or just an application
of psi? Keep the players guessing.