Untutored One
The powerful manifestations of psionics in Alciyan humans often run in strange courses. Sometimes students with access to the most understanding and powerful of teachers barely master the basics of “The Truth”; sometimes rogue talents of unbelievable strength arise in the most savage of tribes. The untutored one is a psionicist who has learned from no one but himself. He is often found living in unusual places - as an escaped slave or a savage raider of the desert. Most are brilliant blazes that flare and die beyond the sight of civilization, but others have shaken the world with their power.
Role
The untutored one is often a hunted character. Templar and Mages alike often pursue the PC under orders to capture him and learn the secrets of his power. At very high levels, the untutored one often runs afoul of the Order, a secret group of high-level psionicists. Despite this concentration of enemies, the untutored one often escapes their grasp - his abilities are often unknowable and uncontrollable. He is a true wild card who represents a threat to the established powers of Alcirya. By necessity, untutored ones are loners. Other psionicists scorn them, and the non-psionic families that raised them fear their great power. The untutored character is often forced into a wanderer’s life, and few ever call a place or people home.
Distinctive Appearance
None
Special Benefits
The untutored one is completely free to develop his own potential, without the guidance of the established methods of learning the Way. After the untutored one chooses his disciplines, sciences, and devotions, he gains a random wild talent, just like a non-psionicist character. This wild talent does not count against the allowable devotions and sciences he may know when he creates his character, and it does not matter if the talent is in a discipline he does not yet have access to. The normal rules for wild talent PSPs are used, and the total added directly to the psionicist’s normal PSP pool. The character cannot gain more than three devotions or sciences in this way. If the player rolls high enough to gain two or more wild talents, any combination of prerequisite powers and wild talents that would add up to more than three is simply discarded. If the wild talent (or any bonus prerequisites) duplicates a devotion that the character had already selected, he gains a special enhancement of that power but no new talents. Enhanced powers that are successfully initiated (i.e., a power check is made) automatically have the effect listed under the “Power Score” entry in the power description. The only exception is a roll of 1 or 2 on the power check, in which case the power takes effect as normal. A psionicist with an enhanced power never suffers the ill effects of rolling a 1 on his power check.
Special Hindrances
The untutored one is unfamiliar with many of the common teachings of psionics, including psionic defenses. Unlike most psionicists, the untutored one does not automatically gain psionic defenses and so must use new devotions or sciences to acquire them. The defenses are all telepathic powers, and the normal restrictions for choosing devotions and sciences applies when a character selects a psionic defense.
Secondly, the untutored one suffers a -3 penalty to reaction checks with normal psionicists who recognize him for what he is, and a -1 penalty with all other characters except those of his tribe or family. The character is markedly unusual and carries himself awkwardly; the burden of his unasked-for powers and his lack of self-knowledge erodes his social grace.
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