Everybody has Potential Psychic Energy, but very few people recognize that potential, and fewer still learn to develop any kind of psychic ability. Most people are too stubborn, fearful and fragile to willingly embark on a journey into the unknown. The fact that they have developed psi-abilities makes psychic player characters unique all by itself. Psychics are among the few who have, throughout history, been able to tap into their inner strength and Potential Psychic Energy. An energy that can be molded and directed by the mind and spirit in a variety of ways: as talent, genius, psionic ability and even magic. For psychic individuals, however, it proves to be an energy that draws them into the mysterious and dangerous world of the supernatural.

Every living thing has P.P.E. - Potential Psychic Energy. It is a part of our very essence and woven throughout the fiber of our being. While a cricket. ant or spider has P.P.E., as do plants and simple animal forms, the energy level is so slight that it barely registers to those who can sense such things. In higher life forms, like dogs. cats and horses, the P.P.E. level is higher, and in intelligent beings, the levels are at their greatest, especially at a young age. The thing is, like any energy, it is used and burned up. The average person has never heard of Potential Psychic Energy and doesn't even know he or she is using it, so it is ignored and burned up on frivolous amusement.

The Elven Monks of Arethane and other enlightened sects focus their untapped Potential Psychic Energy into self-awareness and the power of the mind. That is how they are said to discover their "third eye" - a metaphor for what others might call the sixth sense or E.S.P. This Third Eye makes them aware of the spiritual and supernatural world around them. They use their P.P.E. to develop their untapped psychic potential and develop into Master Psychics with the abilities to see, sense and feel the spirit world. They possess powers of mind over matter, resistance to fire and cold, and some arc able to see the future and read minds.

The seers of Arethane close themselves off from the outside world for two reasons. One is to escape the distractions of the world at large, especially when young and first developing their psychic abilities. Two, because they know the world is not ready for the things they see and know. For without being enlightened, without having your own 'Third Eye' opened, people cannot understand or accept the larger world of the supernatural. Or so the wise ones say.

One can use Potential Psychic Energy in different ways without ever realizing it. Everyone has some measure of Potential Psychic Energy. Everyone. Potential Psychic Energy is at its greatest level during youth because this is when minds are most open to any possibility. It is also when we start to exhibit natural talents and shape our view of the universe. This is when we learn what is possible and what is not.

As a person physically matures with age, their P.P.E. is syphoned off and displaced into skills, hobbies and talents. By the time the person becomes an adult, the psi-energy has been spent and/or locked away as part of the person's permanent P.P.E. base. This is what accounts for tiny flashes of psychic phenomena, such as an unreasoning hunch that pays off, or that nagging feeling that your little sister needs you right now. These are examples of brief instances where an ordinary person, unintentionally, draws on their P.P.E. with psychic results. However, most people who experience such flashes of insight dismiss the occurrence as luck or coincidence, and go about their normal business.

The older they get and the more rigid their thinking ("That's impossible," "ridiculous," "terrifying"), the less likely they are to ever draw on their P.P.E. or develop psychic ability. Besides, by the time a person hits their early twenties, they have already spent their P.P.E. and there's nothing left for psychic development. Of course, once one has developed psionic powers, they are with that person for life, though an individual may refuse to acknowledge or use them. One of the most dynamic examples of focused P.P.E. is the Autistic Savant: A mentally handicapped individual who possesses an unbridled skill that goes far beyond the person's limited capabilities. An adult who may have the mind of a four year old child and can barely manage to dress himself, plays a musical instrument like a virtuoso, or is a genius solving advanced mathematical problems within seconds, without benefit of paper, pencil or device, but can't remember the alphabet. This is Potential Psychic Energy at its most mysterious, but uncontrolled. P.P.E. is as natural and fundamental as electromagnetic waves and light frequencies, but somewhere along life's development, many have forgotten how to tap into it. Ancient masters and their kind recognized and understood psychic energy and used it to merge the mind with the body, to direct and focus their inner strength or "Chi." Once the inner self was conquered, they learned to control and direct their mind in a variety of ways that defy conventional logic. So it is that we have the legendary Masters, fighting monks, martial arts masters, mystics, oracles and seers, each with a different focus and ability.

The key to using and directing one's P.P.E. is focus. That focus usually comes in the form of a goal driven by great personal desire, need or unbridled emotion/passion, sometimes concern or fear. Like most things for humans, personal reward and satisfaction helps keep the person on the path to their goal. In the case of psychic development, P.P.E. is (accidentally) spent on psionic awareness (most normal people end up spending their P.P.E. on work skills, hobbies and other interests, or just let their psychic potential flitter away). Random flashes of insight or awareness is the stirring of psychic Inner Strength stimulated by powerful emotions. The Autistic Psychic Savant has unwittingly focused on something that is pleasurable or amusing. The Genius or Natural has focused on one or more areas of skill or aptitude that provides great satisfaction and accomplishment, whether it be magic or alchemy. Today, the ancient masters who once seemed to have unlocked the secrets of the mind, are gone. Their secrets lost, blurred and muddied by the passing of time and the advent of science and rational thinking. Consequently, most psychics develop their abilities independent of each other, without a teacher to guide them and often by accident. They inadvertently stumble onto their psi-abilities and manage to find their own focus to sustain its development. Thus, each focus will be deeply personal and may even contradict the orientation of other psychics with the same or similar abilities. Likewise, because of the independent development, each psychic will possess a range of different abilities, even though they may fall into the same general psychic category (or P.C.C.).

Determining the character's Permanent P.P.E. Base: Each Psychic Character Class (P.C.C.) will indicate a die roll to determine the character's Permanent P.P.E. Base. The Permanent P.P.E. Base is the amount of Potential Psychic Energy left after the majority of it has been spent on special abilities. For most Psychics their P.P.E. number is very low, because most of their P.P.E. has been spent on the development of psychic abilities and I.S.P. (Inner Strength Points) to power their psychic abilities. For psychics, the P.P.E. base never increases, but it remains with them for the rest of their lives.

Inner Strength Points

The P.P.E. of psychic characters is transformed into Inner Strength Points. I.S.P. is the way we measure and define psionic mind over matter abilities. A certain amount of Inner Strength Points (I.S.P.) is required each time a character uses his psychic abilities. In a game context, this is a simple process of keeping track of spent and recovered I.S.P. as one uses his abilities. Each psychic power/ability will indicate the number of I.S.P. (Inner Strength Points) needed to activate and use that ability. Each ability will also indicate how long it lasts (the duration of the effect), range, damage (if any), saving throw, I.S.P. Cost and other vital information. I.S.P. is recovered with sleep and/or meditation.

I.S.P. Recovery: Recovering Spent Base I.S.P.: Base I.S.P. is automatically restored by sleep at a rate of two Base I.S.P. per one hour of uninterrupted sleep. Normal Meditation recovers Base I.S.P. at a rate of four points per hour of meditation at no I.S.P. cost.