Psychic Acrobat

Psychic acrobats use their psionic abilities to supplement their physical prowess. By tapping the power of the mind, they can effortlessly do what other mortals only dream of, defying gravity with simple movement and sophisticated martial arts. The way of the psychic acrobat is to find methods of maximizing the potential of a small but renewable form of psychic power: the flow of energy known as a psionic focus. With training, a psychic acrobat can concentrate this wellspring of psionic potential to serve as a fulcrum, bending the very fabric of reality to its limits while pushing her mind and body to their own. Psychic acrobats are most often monks, who are no stranger to mobile combat without armor, but it is also common for rogues and soulknives to take levels in this class.

Entry Requirements

To qualify to become a psychic acrobat, a character must fulfill the following criteria.

Skills: Autohypnosis 3 ranks, Balance 9 ranks, Jump 9 ranks, Knowledge (Psionics) 3 ranks, Tumble 9 ranks
Feats: Mental Leap, Speed of Thought, Up The Walls
Multiclass Note: A monk who becomes a psychic acrobat may continue advancing as a monk.

GAME RULE INFORMATION

Class Skills:

The psychic acrobat’s class skills are Autohypnosis, Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Escape Artist, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (psionics), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Search, Sense Motive, Sleight of Hand, Spot, Swim, Tumble, and Use Rope. Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.

Class Features:

All of the following are class features of the psychic acrobat.

Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Psychic Acrobats do not gain proficiency with any additional weapons or armor. Several psychic acrobat class features only function while unarmored and unencumbered; see below for more information.

Improved Mental Leap (Su): Psychic acrobats really know how to squeeze every last ounce of power of their psionic focus, and it shows especially well when they use it to make great jumps. Whenever she uses her Mental Leap feat while unarmored, and unencumbered, she adds her class level and her Intelligence modifier to her Jump check.

AC Bonus (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the psychic acrobat adds up to 1 point of her ntelligence bonus (if any) per class level to her Armor Class. In addition, a psychic acrobat gains an additional +1 bonus to AC at 4th level. This bonus increases to +2 at 8th level. These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the psychic acrobat is flat-footed. She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load. If the psychic acrobat already adds her Intelligence bonus to her Armor Class (such as with duelist levels), this ability does not stack with it.

Mobile Combat Training: A psychic acrobat continues training in her earlier combative talents while honing her mastery of movement. At 1st level, she chooses to continue her training as a monk, rogue, or soulknife – if she has no levels in the chosen class at this time, she instead gains no benefit. A psychic acrobat adds her class level to her levels in the chosen class for purposes relating to certain class features: unarmed strike damage (if she chose monk), sneak attack (if she chose rogue), or mind blade and mind blade enhancement (if she chose soulknife). This effectively means that she uses her original level plus her psychic acrobat level for all purposes relating to those class features. For example, Jaleh, a rogue 6 / psychic acrobat 4, has all the class features of a 6th level rogue, but the sneak attack damage of a 10th level rogue (+5d6). At the GM’s option, alternative classes and class features may be chosen for this ability. Such classes should have a focus on movement.

Fast Balance (Ex): At 2nd level, the psychic acrobat gains the ability to balance easily on a precarious surface. A successful Balance check allows her to move her speed rather than half her speed under such conditions.

Great Leaps (Su): The psychic acrobat uses her mind as a lever, helping to lift her off the ground as if she were moving at an accelerated rate. Beginning at 2nd level, so long as she is psionically focused, unarmored, and unencumbered, she makes all Jump checks as if she were running.

Rising Handspring (Ex): Even without the assistance of her mind, the psychic acrobat is quite physically nimble. She can stand from a prone position as a swift action, and never provokes attacks of opportunity while standing from prone.

Improved Up the Walls (Su): The psychic acrobat can run up walls for an extended amount of time. While unarmored and using her Up The Walls feat, she can take part of a double move action on vertical surfaces instead of part of a move action.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex): The psychic acrobat gains the uncanny dodge ability, as the rogue ability of the same name. If she already has uncanny dodge, or if he later gains it, she instead gains improved uncanny dodge (again, as the rogue ability of the same name).

Improved Speed of Thought (Su): As the quickness of her mind increases, so does her physical swiftness. At 5th level, the psychic acrobat gains a +15 insight bonus to her speed when using her Speed of Thought feat instead of +10. The bonus to her speed increases to +20 at 10th level.

Off the Walls (Ex): A psychic acrobat of 5th level learns to attack from unusual angles, often in defiance of gravity or conventional combat training. She gains a +4 circumstance bonus on melee attack rolls made when attacking from a vertical surface, or leaping from one. Furthermore, she gains a +2 bonus on attack rolls made from higher ground instead of the usual +1.

Spring Attack (Ex): The psychic acrobat is a very mobile combatant. She gains the Spring Attack feat at 5th level, even if she does not meet the prerequisites. Unless she meets the prerequisites, however, she may only benefit from it while unarmored and unencumbered.

Psychogenic Athleticism (Su): A psychic acrobat uses the power of her mind to enhance her great bodily abilities. Beginning at 6th level, she adds her Intelligence modifier to all Balance, Climb, Jump, Tumble, and Swim Checks while psionically focused, unarmored, and unencumbered. This stacks with Improved Mental Leap if the psychic acrobat can somehow expend her focus without losing it (such as through the use of the Subconscious Containment feat).

Wall Mastery (Su): At 7th level, the psychic acrobat becomes extremely adept at traversing vertical surfaces. When using her Up The Walls feat, she may take part of a run action on vertical surfaces when unarmored and
unencumbered.

Perfect Balance (Su): The psychic acrobat has perfect symbiosis of body and mind, and can thus make her body balance on things it physically shouldn’t be able to. While psionically focused, unarmored, and unencumbered, a psychic acrobat of 8th level is treated as being under the effects of the body equilibrium power, although she must still make Balance checks. Add +5 to the DC of a surface if the object could not normally hold the psychic acrobat’s weight (such as the flat of a sword blade or an outstretched arm), and +10 to the DC if the surface is a liquid. If the Balance check fails, or if she loses her psionic focus, the psychic acrobat falls through the surface, as normal. Movement across a surface that causes damage, such as lava or acid, still causes damage as normal.

Evasion (Ex): At 9th level, the psychic acrobat gains the evasion ability (as the rogue ability of the same name). If she already has this ability, or if she later gains it, she gains the improved evasion ability instead.

Slice Time (Su): The easiest way to tell a master psychic acrobat from a student is to fire a barrage of crossbow bolts at them: the student will try to avoid being aimed at, while the master will become a blurry phantom, dancing around the bolts as she leaps towards you to stab a sword neatly in your unprotected back. At 10th level, the psychic acrobat gains the ability to expend her psionic focus as an immediate action to enter an accelerated state. Time seems to dilate, and everything around her appears to move in slow motion while her mind operates at peak efficiency. She may choose to use this ability offensively or defensively.

If she slices time offensively, opponents are denied their Dexterity bonuses to Armor Class against her attacks, unless she would be incapable of flanking them (such as a character with improved uncanny dodge). The psychic acrobat counts as a rogue of her character level when opposing improved uncanny dodge this way. Against creatures that would already be denied their Dexterity bonus to Armor Class against her attacks (such as those unaware of her presence), she gains an additional +1 bonus per two class levels on attack rolls.

If she slices time defensively, she gains a dodge bonus to her Armor Class equal to her class level. This bonus applies against a number of attacks equal to her Intelligence bonus (minimum 1). If she takes the total defense action while slicing time defensively, the dodge bonus equals one and a half times her class level, and it lasts against a number of attacks equal to twice her Intelligence bonus (minimum 2).

In either case, the psychic acrobat also gains a competence bonus to her base speed of 5 ft. per point of Intelligence bonus (minimum +5 ft). All of these effects end after one round (at the beginning of her next turn if she sliced time on her turn, and at the end of her next turn if she sliced time between her turns).

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