Wild Talents in D&D 3E 


DETERMINING WILD TALENT POTENTIAL 

The base chance for a character to be a wild talent is 0%. It is modified by: 

- Whichever of the Int, Wis, or Cha modifiers is the highest. 
- -2% for spellcasting or psionic characters, including paladins et al. 

The rationale behind the penalty is that spellcasters are more likely to turn away from their psionic potential, and the wild talent potential is likely to be entirely replaced by formal psionic training in the form of a psion or psychic warrior class.

The DM may grant other modifiers at his/her discretion - a family history of wild talents, for example, should grant at least +10% to this roll. Bonuses to the power rolls (below) may also be applicable. 

The check for wild talents is made during character creation. A later use of Psychic Chirurgery can attempt to unlock latent potential, granting another roll. This reroll can only be made once in the character's life, and has no special bonuses. 


WILD TALENT POWERS 

If the character is a wild talent, roll a d20 on Table 1 (below) for the granted power. Multiple powers are possible but very rare - most wild talents have a single power, such as a touch of pyrokinesis, supernatural 
empathy, et cetera. 

A wild talent has a store of 1d20 power points, or just enough to use his/her most demanding power once, whichever is higher. 
The manifester level for a given power is 1d4 + the relevant ability modifier, or the minimum level that would ordinarily be needed to gain that power, whichever is higher.

If the wild talent also is a member of a psionic character class, the power points and power knowledge stack.  Manifester level does not stack.

Table 1 - Minor Powers 

1 - Detect Psionics 
2 - Control Shadow 
3 - Far Hand 
4 - Distract 
5 - Missive 
6 - Telempathic Projection 
7 - Know Location 
8 - Firefall 
9 - Object Reading 
10 - Matter Agitation 
11 - Empathy 
12 - Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions 
13 - Sudden Minor Creation 
14 - Detect Thoughts 
15 - Control Sound 
16 - Mindlink 
17 - Aura Sight 
18 - Immovability 
19 - Dimension Slide 
20 - roll on Table 2 

Table 2 - Major Powers 

1 - Sense Psionics 
2 - Ectoplasmic Armor 
3 - Brilliant Blast 
4 - Metamorphosis 
5 - Teleport 
6 - Mind Probe 
7 - Precognition 
8 - Null Psionics Field 
9 - Suspend Life 
10 - Retrieve 
11 - Mass Suggestion 
12 - Improved Telekinesis 
13 - Energy Conversion 
14 - Ultrablast 
15 - Hypercognition 
16 - Dream Travel 
17 - Astral Projection 
18 - True Metabolism 
19 - Foresight 
20 - roll twice 

(Note that Table 1 contains powers of level 0-4, and Table 2 contains powers of level 5-9.) 


(This document written primarily as a means of preserving backwards compatibility with 2E campaigns.  As the author discovered, trying to turn 2E wild talents into multiclasses 3E characters can be impractical.)