Countermeasures offers plenty of anti-psionics for both those of the mind and non-psionic characters. It includes an interesting background that can be easily discarded if the flavor doesn’t taste right. And besides the various psionic items, poisons, and creatures are a few feats and the psychic disruptor. Overall it gave the feel of cursed psionic items, but it all tied together very well for a wide variety of uses. The Fellowship of Freedom has one agenda, eliminate those with psionic ability. The only way a psionic being may avoid their wrath is to join the order in eliminating psionicists. However, the deep hatred of psionic creatures held by all members of the order forces its leaders to keep this most powerful weapon secret. A host of psionic items are included to combat psionic creatures, with only a few useable against non-psionic creatures. However, these items could easily be adapted for other uses, such as a dominating villain powering his abilities through his captives. The feats range from countering powers, disrupting manifesters more effectively, to trapping psionic items for their next use. An interesting feat, Resonating Interference inhibits the ability to expend or gain psionic focus. Obviously, the poisons and creatures are mostly designed to inhibit psionic characters (considering Brain Mole oil doesn’t even affect non-psionic characters). My particular favorite is the tape worm, since it burrows into the flesh and feeds on power points; particularly nasty to get out by mundane methods. In addition, a sidebar was included explaining how to adapt these various items to spellcasters if the psionic-magic transparency rule exists. Then there is what I consider the crowning touch of this supplement, the psychic disruptor. Essentially a psychic disruptor is a walking null psionics field, but gains a few other abilities as well. Damage and attack bonuses against psionic creatures, power resistance, and the ability to attack character’s manifesting score make for a well-rounded psion killer. The capstone ability enables a psychic disruptor to put a null psionics effect on one creature for a full hour, but it has its drawbacks. Really, there isn’t a lot to be said about Countermeasures that isn’t self-explanatory. It delivers on its promise of anti-psionic content very well. Blending non-psionic as well as psionic measures in a sound fashion, this is a great addition for any campaign including psionics.

As the title suggests, this supplement is the long awaited boost to Soulknife options. Boasting three variant soulknives, as well as a new class that manifests Mind Armor, a multitude of feats, and items created for and even BY soulknives. The variants allow the Soulknife to comfortably fill entirely new niches in a group. It is now much easier to be a hulking bruiser, a nimble wielder of two blades, or a master of ranged combat, and still be a Soulknife. In addition, these variants include explanations for who the variants work with the Racial Substitution Levels from UTP. As for the Soul Bastion, it is a defensive approach to the Soulknife’s Mind Blade that flows amazingly well. While the offensive capabilities are limited, it receives unique abilities allowing it to actually control the battlefield and serve as a party tank. My favorite ability was Trade Blows; when damaged in melee, the attacker also takes a percentage of that damage. The drawback is the lack of options outside of multi-classing. All of the feats are Kensai feats, originally introduced in UTP, meaning they all help the multi-classing Soulknife. Besides offering attack options, a few feats also enable a Soulknife to manifest Soul Armor/Shield. Finally, all of these feats are also Fighter Bonus feats. And the items are crystal receptacles for Mind Blades. If a Soulknife manifests his mind blade through a crystal hilt, the mind blade strengthens and can be enhanced. In addition to the single hilt are double hilts, crystal bows, and even crystal gauntlets. Also, the creation of these crystal weapons has been adapted into a series of skill checks. Overall, I had two miniscule problems with HP-Soulknives: Editing and the Soul Bastion options. Fortunately, the process of correcting text errors is well underway. And a Soul Bastion mini-supplement, while not promised, may come along in the future. I definitely feel this product easily deserves the best rating on any scale!

Solid crunch. A lot of it is several feats compiled from other sources, but many new ones as well. With five general feats to choose, the vast majority (57 to be precise) are naturally, psionic feats. A few Mantra feats (originally introduced in Untapped Potential: New Horizons in Psionics) with full rules for Mantras, also made the cut. And finally for those oft ignored fans of Epic games, five feats have been included. With a well-organized table layout, there are clear superscripts to help browsing through the feats. The psionic and epic psionic feats tables both explain if psionic focus must be expended or retained in order to use a particular feat. Another nice touch is the inclusion of the Diehard feat, clarifying one of the Mantra feats. A few of the psionic feats grant three bonuses based on three prerequisite powers. All of these types of feats grant a wide variety of new actions for a small cost, and seemed like they would be a lot of fun. However, the overall layout could be improved. First of all, the first few lines of several feats begun on one page, but the majority of the text was located on the following page. Another annoyance was the prerequisite feats did not have superscripts listing the original sourcebook. And some of the psionic feats were similar in design to tactical feats; separating them from the rest of the psionic feats would have been another boon. Still, the only real complaint is the lack of artwork. Since this sort of product is naturally devoid of a lot of fluff, some well-placed artwork would have been a welcome distraction. Nonetheless, these feats add many options for enhancing a character. Two that really stuck out were Psionic Gift and Rapid Constructor. Psionic Gift allows one character to aid a manifester in increasing effective ML by taking damage, but this increase in ML also stacks with Overchannel! Finally, Rapid Constructor enables faster manifestation of Astral Construct. Definitely worth the price.

A master of casting projectiles, a Talon of the Thrush specializes in throwing a single powerful attack in order to dazzle opponents or have that single attack suddenly become many. Add to this a small repertoire of versatile psionic powers, and a truly devastating combatant is born. Third in a series of marksman prestige classes, the Talon of the Thrush focuses on the Thrown Weapon Style of the Marksman at the cost of manifesting ability. In addition to a faster Signature Style progression, a Talon gains a flash ability allowing the character to intimidate groups of enemies in a surprising fashion. And besides a couple of bonus feats, a Talon also discovers unique ways of furthering the abilities of the Thrown Weapon Style. A particularly interesting one is the split throw. When attacking with a thrown weapon, a Talon may psionically create an identical weapon. Both of these weapons may also be affected by the ricochet ability at the same time, meaning you would have two weapons bouncing across at the battlefield in tandem. However, these masters are not necessarily self-taught or solitary. An organization with roots growing from the martial teachings of the original Thrush taught to his “talons” is briefly detailed along with a full write-up of its current long-lived leader. If The Talons of the Thrush appeal, there is enough information that fully fleshing out the group should be no problem. Still, this organization can easily be separated from the prestige class for those who find its favor lacking. Overall, Talon of the Thrush is a solid prestige class. The only major drawback is the built in limitation of its appeal. Without access to the Marksman base class, this prestige class is nigh useless without major conversions. Had either suggestions for altering this prestige class to a more widely accessible pool of characters or had Talon of the Thrush been bundled with the Marksman for sale, this product would have earned the highest rating.

High Psionics: Psicrystals Expanded includes five new types of psicrystals, five new feats, and two new psicrystal monsters. As a bonus, the revised Psicrystal Affinity feat detailing the effects of a psicrystal’s death is also included. Most of the new psicrystals are actually additions onto an already existing psicrystal, enhancing its capabilities. The Awakened Psicrystal gains several psi-like abilities; the Implanted Psicrystal grants more bonuses to the owner due to the bond between them. Moreover, a Cognizance Psicrystal allows power points to be stored for the owner. A Psicrysmal is the result of creating a psicrystal using Crysmal shards. Finally, a Psicrystal Weapon allows an offensive splinter of your personality to become manifest. Two new feats allow you to obtain either an Awakened Psicrystal or a Psicrystal Weapon. Then the Fleshcrafting feat allows the character to attach additions onto creatures, namely the Implanted Psicrystal; although there is not a lot of information at this point, a future installation of High Psionics promises to expand upon Fleshcrafting. The remaining feats improve the options for Psicrystal Weapons, allowing them to hold psionic focus and obtain it after striking a creature down. Lastly, the two monsters presented are the psicrysmal and the shardling. Since the psicrysmal was introduced earlier, the shardling is the more intriguing of the two new monsters. Long has it been asked, what happens when the psicrystal dies, but what happens to the psicrystal when the master dies? A predator hunting for mental energies, the shardling comes into existence when its master comes to a violent demise. Overall, the best of this product is its failing. Psicrystal options were expanded so much; I felt there had to be more! In addition, the Implanted Psicrystal seems a little odd mechanic-wise initially, but time will tell. Still, these eleven pages will see a lot of use in any campaign where psionics plays a role.