Psionic Talent and Augment

Psionic Talent and Augment explained.TGTom Gmail <tom.g.moser@gmail.com>Sat 6/26/2021 3:13 PMTo:

•  Jon Diener;
•  Matthew Clay

Cc:

•  Jon Pemberton

Here is how the Psionic Talents and Augments work.

— First, it’s helpful to reference the rules for Combat Actions on page 189 of the PH. (Under “Your Turn”)

“On your turn, you can move a distance up to your speed and take one action.” …

Then, under “Bonus Actions”

“… You can take a bonus action, spell or other feature of the game states that you can do something as a bonus action.”

“… you can take only one bonus action on your turn, so you must choose which bonus action to use when you have more than one available.”

SO, you get a Move, Action and sometimes a Bonus action.  Action can be a move, but most importantly, it’s the combat action (some exceptions with bonus actions, but they are described in the bonus action).

— Now, Psionic Talents and Augments.

Taking the example of the “Mind Thrust” Talent (pg 62) and the “Psionic Blast” Augment (pg 94).

The Mind Thrust is CAST as a bonus action, but what that does is engage the focus.  Once the focus is established, you can either use a mind thrust or augment it into a “psionic blast” (or another augment that uses mind thrust as the focus).  In the description of Mind Thrust, it states: “While you focus on this power, you can use your action to target one creature you can see within range [… causing damage] “

In order to use the “Psionic Blast” you manifest the augment in your action.  Causing damage as part of the manifest of the augment.

In other words, one attack action.

Dropping focus is a free action, but establishing focus is a bonus action.  SO, you can only establish focus on your turn in a bonus action.  You can only attack on your turn as your “action”.

Does that make sense?