History Main / PsychicPowers

Stories can have both PsychicPowers and FunctionalMagic, but they'll usually be treated as fundamentally different. This does not preclude them from being related or even the same thing; supernatural powers are still supernatural powers, [[MagicByAnyOtherName no matter what they're referred to as]].

* Most of the ''witch'' powers in ''Anime/WitchHunterRobin'' are standard PsychicPowers, and are sometimes referred to in this fashion. One character uses psychometry, while Robin herself is a pyrokinetic. Telekinesis, projective empathy and psychic healing were all demonstrated by various witches.

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', psychic abilities are present in the form of Stands -- (usually) humanoid ethereal bodies whose powers range from the typical (clairvoyance, pyrokinesis) to the rare (time manipulation, age alteration, preventing truth-telling) to the utterly... well... bizarre (summoning rods -- as in the urban legend skyfish, creating deadly viruses, trapping people and objects in paper). Oh, and apparently anyone and ''everything'' can have PsychicPowers. A sword and ''plankton'' have formed their own stands.
* The eponymous Geass abilities in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' are an assortment of all kinds of PsychicPowers: suggestion, mind reading, pseudo-"[[TimeStandsStill time stopping]]", memory manipulation, precognition ([[spoiler:Nunnaly in an alternate manga]])... take your pick. It apparently depends on each individual who is granted a Geass how exactly it'd work in their case.

* ''KatsuhiroOtomo'' seems to like this trope. His first manga was a rather forgettable one about cops investigating psychic crimes, next was ''{{Domu}}'', a story of a heroic little girl with telekinesis who must save a city pitted against an equally-powered PsychopathicManchild, finally culminating in ''Manga/{{AKIRA}}'', which was about the government trying to replicate the powers they saw in [[{{Domu}} Etsuko's]] story.

* Manga/{{Akira}} includes psychic characters such as the infamous Tetsuo, as well as the titular Akira, who [[spoiler: levels all of Tokyo in a massive psychic explosion.]]

** TheFlash's enemy Gorilla Grodd is a [[IntellectualAnimal fully-sapient]] [[EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys gorilla]] {{supervillain}} with PsychicPowers.

* A full list of comics characters with PsychicPowers would probably crash this server, so let's just conclude with "lots" and leave it at that.

* LoneWolf and the other Kai are essentially Psychic {{warrior monk}}s, not unlike the Jedi. The various Kai skills are nearly all PsychicPowers, ranging from clairvoyance/danger sense, resistance to poison and hostile environment, psychic defense/attacks, animal empathy, and telekinesis.

* Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''JohnCarterOfMars'' and his fellow Barsoomians used telepathy to control their [[HorseOfADifferentColor riding thoats.]] The first book justifies the universal language spoken throughout Mars as 'partially telepathic' and backs this up by indicating that ''written'' languages vary from area to area. One book introduces an isolated community with more advanced PsychicPowers, primarily in the creation of illusions.

* ''Film/MinorityReport'' by PhilipKDick, and the TomCruise film [[InNameOnly loosely based on it]], concern the problems of precognition.

* Many of Creator/StephenKing's novels (and [[TheFilmOfTheBook the film adaptations]]) concern someone with PsychicPowers; the origin may be scientific or magical/occult depending on the novel.

* Many of the ''WildCards'' characters have PsychicPowers -- in fact the case has been made in the books that nearly ''all'' of the super-powers displayed are [[MetaOrigin actually psychic in origin]] or were caused by people having unconsciously bio-kinetically reshaped their bodies during their transformation. The [[HumanAliens Takisians]] are also ruled by a caste of telepaths.

* ''The Dead Zone'', based on the Creator/StephenKing story (see below) is entirely based on the premise of PsychicPowers.

* On ''Series/{{Fringe}}'', William Bell and Walter Bishop tested a drug on young children that was supposed to give them PsychicPowers in adulthood. Several have been encountered by the team so far, including [[spoiler: Olivia]]. They seem to have both telekinetic and telepathic powers, and apparently have an easier time [[spoiler: crossing to other universes]].

** Shawn Spencer does the same thing on ''{{Psych}},'' except he doesn't mind grabbing the PhonyPsychic trope with both hands and giving it a big, warm, wet kiss in every episode. Even if doing so freaks everyone else out. Which only makes it even more hilarious.

* ''WhiteWolf'' also has their discontinued [[TabletopGame/TrinityUniverse Trinity series]], which focuses on this exclusively. All the players are different flavors of Psions with their splat specific PsychicPowers which cover every form of _____-kinesis there might be.

* ''On a Clear Day You Can See Forever'' is all about discovering PsychicPowers.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'', the [[{{Precursors}} Chozo]] (and by extension, Samus Aran) are heavily implied to have some degree of PsychicPowers. In particular, Samus can usually summon her [[PoweredArmor Power Suit]] just by thinking about it.

* There are too many people with PsychicPowers in the ''GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse'' to mention. Oracle and Delphi are mother-and-daughter telepaths who may well be the most powerful psychics on Earth. However, in an interesting subversion, not only are PsychicPowers the rarest of all super powers (only 10% of all superhumans have them), most psychics in the ''Global Guardians Universe'' are driven insane by their own powers. Because of this, most mentalists in the setting are villains.

* In ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers'', Niko has inborn PsychicPowers which are amplified by her [[AppliedPhlebotinum Series 5 implant]].

* ''WesternAnimation/RoughnecksStarshipTroopersChronicles'' took the movie's wimpy PsychicPowers and turned them UpToEleven.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutron'' has TheDitz Sheen develop vast PsychicPowers and declare AGodAmI when Jimmy boosts his brain to cheat on a test-- which is par for the course for Jimmy's experiments.

** Satori Komeji, being a... well, [[SpeciesSurname satori]], a mind-reading species of {{youkai}}, has the power to read people's hearts and minds with her [[ExtraEyes third eye]]. Satori uses her powers for MegaManning superpowers from other people, making her a functional CallBack MirrorBoss. [[OhGodDidSheJustHearThat Her powers]], combined with her [[MindOverManners species' compulsion]] [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead to say people's thoughts out loud]], [[DeconstructedTrope has made her one of the most disliked beings amongst humans and youkai alike]], which in turn eventually lead her to exile herself to [[FantasyGhetto the Underground]] where she lives with her animal pets; the only beings that appreciate her being able to understand them.

** ''TheDeadZone'': clairvoyance and precognition.

** ''Catseye'': The protagonist has mindspeech with his enhanced animal companions, without technological assistance (unlike the handlers from whom he rescues them).

** ''Storm Over Warlock'' and ''Ordeal in Otherwhere'': The female Wyverns of Warlock are mistresses of illusion (a GenderRestrictedAbility) and have mindspeech.

** D&D 4th Edition introduced the Psionic power source in the Player's Handbook 3, which includes the Psion, Battlemind, Ardent, and Monk classes. As with [[BrokenBase many other parts]] of the edition. Plot-wise it is mentioned to have been produced by the world in the humanoid races as a defence against the many EldritchAbominations coming from [[EldritchLocation The Far Realm]]

* The little girl in the B-Horror movie version of ''{{Film/Firestarter}}'' had pyrokinetic abilities but suffered from PowerIncontinence, which proves unfortunate for the people who kept her and her father prisoner with the aim of trying to weaponise and copy her abilities.

* On ''MyFavoriteMartian,'' Martin the Martian had telekinetic "levitating" ability as well as "telepathic" antennae.

* Noctis Lucis Caelum of the upcoming ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVersusXIII''. For now the only apparent ability he has is telekinesis and teleportation.

** Kes's species on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' also had some telepathy, as did Species 8472. Kes later developed powerful telekinesis.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has a city devoted to artificially inducing esper powers. The process has a success rate of about 60% and no side effects at all, it's mentioned that magic was invented specifically to grant supernatural abilities to non-espers. One deadly side effect to the combination of esper and magic powers is that they counteract with one another, causing severe damage to the body when one person uses both abilities.

* The movie ''{{Next}}'' starring NicolasCage had him as a precognitive who can always see two minutes into the future.

* {{Teleport|ersAndTransporters}}ation; A subset is Apportation -- the ability to transport objects or people from location A to B without transporting yourself. A bit like the transporter in ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Usually the psychic will either [[SummonMagic call things to him]] or has to touch them to send them away to someplace else. If he's really powerful, he can use Clairvoyance instead and move objects from/to both target locations from afar while physically being in location C.

** ''TheForgottenDoor'': Little Jon is telepathic (which lets the author HandWave how quickly he learned English), an ability which carries over to reading the thoughts of animals. He is also telekinetic in that he can 'lighten his feet' to run and jump unusually fast.

* AlanDeanFoster examples:

* A few people from ''Manga/PokemonSpecial''. [[KillAllHumans Lance]] and [[TheMedic Yellow]] both can read Pokémon's minds and Yellow has the added bonus of limited telekinetic powers. Sabrina can 'see' even if her physical eyes are blinded and can track things and people by putting her energy into her Alakazam's spoons. Morty has the ability to see with his mind whatever he's looking for.

** His sister Manami has demonstrated the ability to [[{{Technopath}} erase videotape with her mind]].
** Cousin Akane can [[MoreThanMindControl appear to be someone else to others]], while other cousin Kazuya has all of the powers Kyousuke has, but much stronger.

In general, the more powerful and [[PstandardPsychicPstance dramatic]] the psychic, the [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness softer]] the SciFi -- psychic powers are one of the most common ways of including MagicByAnyOtherName and [[RecycledInSpace recycling Magical Tropes in space]]. The extreme cases are largely confined to the horror, CosmicHorrorStory and superhero genres (with exceptions, such as ''StarWars''), but the weakest powers can [[PsychicDreamsForEveryone crop up even in mainstream shows]].

In general, the more powerful and [[PstandardPsychicPstance dramatic]] the psychic, the [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness softer]] the SciFi -- psychic powers are one of the most common ways of including MagicByAnyOtherName. The extreme cases are largely confined to the horror and superhero genres (with exceptions, such as ''StarWars''), but the weakest powers can [[PsychicDreamsForEveryone crop up even in mainstream shows]].

* AlexanderKey examples:

* The ''BatmanBeyond'' episode "Mind Games" had the Brain Trust, a secret society of psychics that uses a fake school-for-the-gifted to recruit [[PsychicChildren suitably talented children]].

* '''Past Life Regression:''' A process of hypnosis or meditative visualization for reliving or discovering previous experiences of one's previous lives.

*** Certain versions of Pyschometry have [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower combat applications]] in that a Psychometer who picks up a weapon may theoretically be able to [[InstantExpert absorb the skills of anyone who's ever wielded that weapon]].

* Empathy -- the talent of TheEmpath, the ability to sense another person's emotional state. At times, even [[ISenseADisturbanceInTheForce disturbances in the force]] and [[TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne how strong the force is with someone]].
** Sometimes includes the ability to send emotions the other way.

** Mindspeech is the ability to have conversations psychically. It usually requires a common language. Sometimes, though, as it is supposed to be direct thought-to-thought contact, any and all language barriers are [[TranslatorMicrobes completely overcome]].
** A PsychicLink is an intense, (usually) permanent telepathic connections between two (usually) partners. Subtropes include TwinTelepathy, MentalFusion, MindlinkMates, and BondCreatures.

** [[ShockAndAwe Fulgurkinesis]]/Astrakinesis - the ability to create electrical discharges and lightning bolts, and/or to control the flow of electrons inside machines. Sometimes encompasses the control of magnetic fields, too, if the author had a passing grade in high school science. (This is sometimes confused with the word "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrohydrodynamics#Electrokinesis electrokinesis]]" which, incidentally has nothing to do with psychic powers.)
*** A variant of this is [[{{Technopath}} Machine Empathy or Technopathy]] -- the ability to mentally link to and control computer systems.

* {{Teleport|ersAndTransporters}}ation -- [[FetishFuel with or without your clothes]]
** A subset is Apportation -- the ability to transport objects or people from location A to B without transporting yourself. A bit like the transporter in ''Franchise/StarTrek''. Usually the psychic will either [[SummonMagic call things to him]] or has to touch them to send them away to someplace else. If he's really powerful, he can use Clairvoyance instead and move objects from/to both target locations from afar while physically being in location C.