If #psionic Precognition is "the Gift" of fortune-telling, it should also be a gift that can be temporarily granted by drugs (herbal or otherwise) which are reputed to grant visions. For example, the Oracle of Delphi's prophetic visions were supposedly granted by fumes in the oracular cave.

https://greekreporter.com/2023/12/01/did-the-earths-fumes-drive-pythian-prophechies/

Villains who want to destroy the prevailing social order will try to recruit scared/persecuted #psionic characters. I'm tempted to go all out and have genuine #ADnD devils recruit them. I can lean into the 1970s psychic horror aesthetic and create covens of psionic devil worshippers!

If players don't figure out what's going on, they'll be so confused by a coven of witches who never trigger "Detect Magic" spells. That's the kind of confusion that actually scares players!

Now we're drifting into rules-driven #worldbuilding. I like to think my #ADnD campaign world is more medieval than most, so it's got an Inquisition. My twist is that it's run by priests of the Gods of Magic, so its defined job is hunting wizards who use unapproved magics.

Maybe my Inquisition is accidentally or intentionally persecuting #psionic characters as abnormal magicians? Even if they're not, psionic characters might fear being investigated. So they hide in plain sight!

Alchemists in #ADnD have three documented jobs and all three are about helping magic-users. Do alchemists have any reason to exist beyond being lab assistants?

I figured they're doing what real alchemists did: Trying to create gold, failing, and doing other work to pay the bills. I'll even concede (in game) that some #alchemy (like dyeing gems and making medicine) works. They're not *total* frauds.

But now, I have to ask myself... What if some alchemists are secretly #psionic?

So, I try to minimize the friction between #ADnD spellcasting and other petty occult systems by thinking outside the magic box. #Astrology and #Alchemy can be dismissed as semi-legitimate crafts: Non-magical, but they can accomplish some small things. Most folk divinations are bunk. Other topics, I'm still pondering.

So, I was *this* close to forgetting about mushroom-powered astral travel, when I thought "Hey, wasn't there a #psionic power for astral travel?"

Holy shit! There is! THAT'S IT!

@Yora

"It seemed to have been treated as a given, but there's nothing saying that psions have to be people born with a rare special power."

Yes. I sort of love the idea that psionics could come from genetics OR be acquired in various ways later on.

If of any interest, I made a d20 random table for psionic origins in a supplement:

https://kisnerp.itch.io/itloags-stats-psionics-expansion

Non-D&D, but is CC-BY, so you can port it over if interested.

#TTRPG #Psionic