When Scott and I first worked on the original sangehirn, we tossed around many ideas for how we could create a psionic healer that would benefit an all-psionic party the way a cleric benefits a standard party. I started work on the new powers and Scott worked on the basics of the prestige class. By the time we were done, we had a pretty powerful healing prestige class and a dozen new powers. When I started converting the prestige class for the current edition, I tried a few different variations. I created a five-level prestige class and a twenty-level base class, and then I even tried adding turning abilities. In the end I decided that keeping as true to the original concept gave me the best results.

Sangehirns have learned that the best way to stay alive in a dangerous world is to know how to heal. They focus their minds on the body and learn how to keep it fit. They see the body as a simple pattern of blood flow, muscle, and bone -- easily repaired. As they advance in levels, this belief manifests itself in their own bodies, causing incredible healing capabilities.

Those that begin the path of the sangehirn have a true concern for their fellows. They usually worry more about their friends than themselves. Nonplayer character sangehirns are not too uncommon in a psionic-rich world. They typically live in areas where their skills are needed most, but the occasional "miracle" healer charges outrageous fees for his or her services.

Hit Die: d6.

Requirements

To qualify as a sangehirn, a character must meet the following criteria.

Skill: Heal 9 ranks.

Feats: Mind Over Body, Psionic Body.

Psionics: Manifester level 5th.

Class Skills

The sangehirn's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Concentration (Con), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (any) (Int), Profession (any) (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Swim (Str).

Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All the following are class features of the sangehirn prestige class.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Sangehirns gain no proficiency with any weapons or armor.

Powers Known: Beginning at 2nd level, a sangehirn gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if he had also gained a level in whatever manifesting class he belonged to before he added the prestige class. The sangehirn can choose powers from the sangehirn power list below only. He does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained (bonus feats, metapsionic or item creation feats, psicrystal special abilities, and so on). This essentially means that he adds the level of sangehirn to the level of whatever manifesting class the character has, then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly.

If a character had more than one manifesting class before he became a sangehirn, he must decide to which class he adds the new level of sangehirn for the purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level.

Healing Focus (Su): Starting at 1st level, the sangehirn gains the ability to harness psionic energy from deep within his body. This ability allows him to expend his psionic focus to aid with Heal checks. When the sangehirn has psionic focus, he can expend that focus on any single Heal check made thereafter. When the sangehirn expends his focus in this manner, he gains a bonus on his next Heal check equal to his level of sangehirn.

Damage Reduction (Su): At 2nd level, the sangehirn gains the supernatural ability to shrug off physical attacks and is fortified by the positive energies within his body, which grants him damage reduction 1/--. This increases by 1 every other level, up to a maximum of damage reduction 5/-- at 10th level.

Healing Touch (Su): At 3rd level, the sangehirn gains the ability to change the range of some of his powers. Powers that have a range of "personal" and that are marked with an asterisk below can be changed to "touch." Only the powers from the sangehirn powers list can be affected this way. Using this ability requires expending psionic focus. Once the sangehirn has expended focus, the effects of healing touch persist for a number of rounds equal to his level of sangehirn. The sangehirn can alter any of the aforementioned powers during the duration of the effect.

Fast Healing (Su): At 5th level, the sangehirn gains the supernatural ability of fast healing. The sangehirn regains hit points at an exceptionally fast rate -- usually 1 or more hit points per round -- as given in the table entry. Except where noted here, fast healing is just like natural healing (see page 129 of the Player's Handbook). Fast healing does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation, and it does not allow a creature to regrow or reattach body parts. This ability is active only when the sangehirn has psionic focus.

About the Authors

Mark A. Jindra has been a fan of Dungeons & Dragons for the past 25 years and has organized RPGA Network events for many conventions and game days, including Origins and Winter Fantasy. In 1998 he landed his dream job as a web developer for Wizards of the Coast and is currently the developer of the D&D website. Mark has authored or coauthored various tournaments for the RPGA Network, and he also coauthors the monthly Mind's Eye feature on the Wizards of the Coast website.

Scott Brocius has been "kicking around" with the D&D game since being introduced to it 1980. He has been an RPGA member for several years and has helped organize and run RPGA events for several conventions, including Origins. The new edition of D&D has renewed his love for and interest in the game. Scott also coauthors the monthly Mind's Eye feature on the Wizards of the Coast website.