High Psionics: Phrenic Diseases & Mental Maladies is a short product from Dreamscarred Press. The zipped file is just under a megabyte in size, and contains two PDF files, one in color, and the other in black and white. Both are eleven pages long, with a page for the cover, a page for the credits/legal, and one for the OGL. Both have full bookmarks, but no table of contents.

The full color version has no illustrations (save for an arcane design on the cover), but the pages are all cream-colored, making them look like parchment. The black and white version reduces the cover to grayscale, but all of the other pages are a plain white, adorned only with a simple grey border around the edges. Printing out the latter version of the PDF should not be a problem for anyone.

Unlike standard diseases, the mental sicknesses given here do not follow the standard d20 disease format. Instead, the first half-page of the book explains each of the eleven diseases given has a listing for how it is acquired, what its symptoms are (a fluff description), and its effects (the crunch). Additionally, each has notes on how specifically to cure it, a possible adventure hook, and a Challenge Rating, since overcoming these diseases is worth experience.

The eleven diseases here run the gamut from quite interesting (such as manifested daymare, where a person unconsciously projects their nightmares onto others while they are awake) to the fairly mundane (such as hallucinations). A sidebar is given midway through the product detailing using these diseases for spellcasters instead of (or in addition to) psionicists. Finally, the book ends with a psionic version of the contagion spell, so that evil manifesters can deliberately cause these diseases.

Overall, Phrenic Diseases & Mental Maladies does a good job of presenting psionic-specific diseases. Between the sidebar for spellslingers and the new psionic power, it covers its bases well, and while the new disease format may be slightly disconcerting at first, it quickly feels intuitive to what is presented here. This High Psionics book gives psionicists good reason to fear the term "mental illness."<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: Several of the new diseases were quite innovative. The sidebar on how these can affect spellcasters was a nice touch, and new psionic power was a pleasant easter egg.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: A few of the diseases, while still natural choices for psionic characters, felt slightly less than inspirational.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Wherein a lot of publishers have steered fairly clear of Psionic content, Dreamscarred Press has embraced the world of Mental Powers, Ilithid Madmen and Telekinetic Abilities by creating new variants and additions to the exotic add-on system. Following on the heels of their successful Untapped Potential (and an extended version), Dreamscarred introduced us to Phrenic Diseases and Mental Maladies, which, unlike its predecessor, suffers from a bad case of poorly designitis. .

Phrenic Diseases presents 11 diseases and ailments that are psionic in nature. The combination of psionics and diseases introduced a new breed of adversary for PCs. They are not transmitted like most diseases, instead these ailments effect psionic creatures whom under go a particular action. For instance, Mental Feedback might happen if a psionic creature enhances their powers too frequently.

Each of the 11 entries contains how it is acquired, the symptoms, the effects it has in mechanical terms and the cure. Two have adventure hooks that can be used to introduce the ailment or integrate the sickness into a plot. The entries are strong, but feel incomplete as if there should be more. Phrenic Diseases has some nice content, but it is very difficult to read. I believe the artists were attempting to mimic a medical journal, but the idea falls off flat in the PDF form. The text is really small and there is no font differences to distinguish when a new disease starts. The first time I read through the book, I found myself reading the intro and going straight into the first disease. Phrenic Diseases also suffers from can?tcountaitis as the marketing entry says the book is 11 pages, though there are only 10 pages of PDF and only 6 of them actually have content. The book is well bookmarked, which seems like a smack in the face considering how there are multiple entries on the pages that seem to run into each other.

For the DM There is some nasty repercussions for psionic creatures in a psoinic campaign. I liked the Psionic Hemorrhage ass a constant problem for psionic PCs in combat.

The Iron Word

Phrenic Diseases and Mental Maladies fills rushed, cramped and incomplete. Many of the illnesses inside relate to a specific power in the game and many others feel like an annoying tick to a PC as opposed to a real problem. Outside of detailing how three diseases effect spellcasters, there is little else in here that discusses effects on other classes. I was hoping for more plague impact illnesses that could really build a campaign on. Add the averageness of the entries to the poorly executed design, and Phrenic Diseases does not quite get off the operating table.

<br><br> <b>LIKED</b>: - There were a couple of real standouts in the document such as Mental Feedback and Psionic Hemmorrhage.

• The setup of each of the sicknesses is done well. <br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: - Some entries such as Psychic Dissociation scream for DM's to abuse it.
• the design and layout of the book makes a cramped difficult read. <br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Disappointing<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Disappointed<br>