D&D: Five Spells for Channeling Your Character’s Inner Professor X
Unleash the unlimited power of your mind, or at least the hard-to-resist power of psychic damage with these psychic spells for D&D.
If you’ve been watching X-Men 97, you know just how amazing a theme song can get. You’ve probably also discovered the sheer number of times Professor X does something bad that fuels the plot of any given episode. And while D&D and X-Men don’t have a ton in common, you can actually do a pretty passable psychic-powered character, with the right spells.
You’ll have to accidentally imperil your allies on your own. But, if anyone’s going to figure out how to accidentally endanger their whole party by doing something that sounds seemingly good, it’s a D&D player.
Mind Sliver
Mind Sliver is where it all begins. It’s a psychic-powered cantrip, which means it can be used at will. Of course, all it can do is drive a disorienting spike of psychic energy into the mind of one creature within range. But, it does a little more than your average cantrip, because in addition to dealing 1d6 psychic damage on a failed save, it also makes the target subtract 1d4 from the next saving throw it makes before the end of your next turn, meaning you can use this spell to set up a powerful combo.
Detect Thoughts
Let’s start with the easy one. Detect Thoughts is baby’s first real psychic spell. You can listen in to someone’s surface thoughts, or probe deeper and more actively, but your target ends up knowing that you’re rooting around in the corridors of their mind palace. It’s probably the most basic psychic spell out there, but it opens the doors (and the mind). Plus, you can use this spell to detect creatures who may be hiding or even invisible, as long as they aren’t behind 2 feet of rock, 2 inches of metal that isn’t lead, or a thin sheet of actual lead, which has its own problems.
Raulothim’s Psychic Lance
Here’s a debilitating psychic attack spell that fits in line with the whole “Professor X” thing. Because Professor X often doesn’t need to see the people he’s communicating with. And Raulothim’s Psychic Lance is one of a very few spells in D&D that allows you to cast it without a line of sight to your target.
All you need is your target’s name (and to be within 120 feet of them). Cast this spell, and your target takes 7d6 damage, which is a bit on the low side for a 4th-level spell, but if they fail they’re Incapacitated until the start of your next turn.
Dominate Person
Of course, the real psychic stuff is all about Mind Control. And while Professor X swears up and down he wouldn’t do that, it’s only a matter of time before either aliens possess him or it’s just really inconvenient not to mind control someone.
You don’t need that excuse. You’re a D&D adventurer, and can freely do whatever you want. And with Dominate Person, you can make anyone freely do whatever you want. As long as they fail their saving throw and you maintain concentration on the spell.
Telepathic Bond
Finally, there’s the Telepathic Hub spell, which lets up to eight willing creatures telepathically communicate with each other, as you psychically link them with a magical link. Through this power, you can communicate telepathically at any distance (though not to other planes), meaning you can perfectly coordinate any plan at the speed of thought.
What are your favorite psychic spells in D&D?
