Abilities for a psionic dwarf who doesn't know he's psionic

[GiantOctopodes]

This is in Palladium, for what it's worth, though that hardly impacts anything other than the slate of options available. The concept is a Psionic Dwarf who doesn't know he's psionic. Instead, he assumes his abilities are natural, inherent characteristics of being a Dwarf. I have parsed down to 6 abilities from which I need to pick 5, and am having trouble making the final cut. As such I'm hoping others can weigh in.

- Suppress Fear: Dwarves don't get scared! Makes it so you can shrug off horror effects and auto pass checks against them for a while. He 'steels his resolve', and it just so happens to be very, very effective.
- Impervious to Poison: It takes more than that to kill a dwarf! Makes it so poisons already impacting you have half the normal effect, and future poisons of which you're aware don't have any effect. The idea would be once he realizes he's poisoned, it 'pisses him off', and go figure, the poison does next to nothing to him.
- Resist Magic: He won't be felled by vile magicks! Makes it so spell effects have half duration, gives a bonus to save vs future effects. Same as fear, he 'steels himself' against vile magic, and it just so happens to be effective, even more so than the standard dwarven resistances.
- Resistance to Damage: Tough as a dwarf! Makes it so he gains what is effectively EHP, and thus takes more physical battering to wear down, making him more tough than the average dwarf.
- Strength of Mind: Strong as a dwarf! Makes it so he gains a bonus to strength, like a surge of adrenaline, letting him accomplish that which would normally be beyond his means. Much like the grandma lifting a car, it's mind over matter, and besides, dwarves are all strong, it's not his fault if puny humans and elves with their stick arms aren't as strong as he is!
- Alter Aura: Shhh! Makes it so that his psionic abilities are not detectable to any who would otherwise observe this. The idea being he would subconsciously have this running at all times, so not only would he be unaware of his abilities, everyone else would be as well, though they might suspect something.

I must choose 5 of those 6. Other than Alter Aura, all of the abilities are simply playing up or enhancing things dwarves are already good at in this setting, and so the difference, between luck and personal variance in dwarves, could be explained away in that he's just an exceptionally tough, resilient dwarf, who can step up in terms of strength when he needs to. The last one is on a different sort of track and is more about keeping up pretenses against anyone who cares to look deeply, and it's just a matter of how much self-denial he has and how deeply rooted his sense of identity might be, that he's not a psionic individual.

For what it's worth, he's a Dwarven "Strongbowman", who uses a modified longbow which suits his height and tremendous strength. He left his clan because they insisted that he abandon his silly obsession with bows, which are far too elven and wooden and ill-suited to dwarves for a proper dwarf to use. In reality, he was drawn to them because of the moment of intense clarity and perfect focus which precedes taking the shot. They basically force him to get into the proper frame of mind to be attuned to himself psionically, and in the use of them is when he first 'awakened' as a psionic individual, though he has no idea this is the case. In case any of that is helpful in ruling something out. Regardless, thanks much all for your time and guidance!

[Lord Torath]

You've got to keep Strength of Mind, as it's part of what makes his archery effective.
Alter Aura is also probably a keeper, as it plays directly into his self-delusion.

Of the remaining four, I would probably drop the Resistance to Poison. Either that or the Suppress Fear.

My two coppers. Take 'em or leave 'em.

[LibraryOgre]

I'm not familiar with Resist Magic, Resistance to Damage, or Strength of the Mind in Palladium.

But you might think of Summon Inner Strength and Mind Block. Bio-regeneration, if you've got some healing selections, might work, though you'd likely have to skin that as "He does this subconsciously while he sleeps"

[GiantOctopodes]

I'm not familiar with Resist Magic, Resistance to Damage, or Strength of the Mind in Palladium.

But you might think of Summon Inner Strength and Mind Block. Bio-regeneration, if you've got some healing selections, might work, though you'd likely have to skin that as "He does this subconsciously while he sleeps"

Thanks for the replies so far!

They're custom to the GM, he has made them available for use, since you know of the others here's what they do, so you can weigh from a balance standpoint:

Resist Magic: Halves duration of active spell effects, halves damage taken from spells while active, gives +3 to save vs magic, duration 5 min/level, 15 ISP

Resistance to Damage: Generates a biofeedback field that subtly reduces incoming damage. Field has SDC equal to ME+3/level, half damage taken, even straight HP damage, goes to the field until its SDC is exhausted. Duration 10 min/level, 8 ISP

Strength of Mind: +10 PS, +5 PE, +20 SDC as a "mind over matter" sort of thing. 5 min/level, 10 ISP. If this seems broken, a) it is a bit, and b) as a bowman, the increased PS does nothing at all for me in combat. This would be used when trying to lift doors, throw heavy objects, smash locks, that sort of thing, which is to say, object interaction scenarios.

Right now I'm most strongly leaning towards either Resist Damage, as it's relatively low flavor (it's just EHP), and low power, or Strength of Mind, as it might be Too strong, and too difficult to explain away the burst of superhuman strength as just being that strong or adrenaline.

If it helps, the area they're going into is one filled with necromancers attempting to raise armies of undead, which is why I expect there to be poison, magic, and horror factors a plenty. Which is not to say it still might not be the right call to drop resist poison or fear, just something to consider.

Also thanks for the suggestion re: alternate powers. I had actually considered all of the ones you listed. I ultimately dropped Mind Block and Bio Regen as they seemed too 'active', and too obvious in their non-natural origins. It's tough to explain away wounds healing overnight as "dwarves are just tough folk!" after all, and the moment a Psionic individual saw mind block up they would know what was what, even if the dwarf did not. Summon Inner Strength I decided against conversely because it was too weak to compete with Strength of Mind, though as I'm considering dropping Strength of Mind for being too strong, maybe that's not a bad thing!

[LibraryOgre]

Thanks for the replies so far!

They're custom to the GM, he has made them available for use, since you know of the others here's what they do, so you can weigh from a balance standpoint:

Resist Magic: Halves duration of active spell effects, halves damage taken from spells while active, gives +3 to save vs magic, duration 5 min/level, 15 ISP

Resistance to Damage: Generates a biofeedback field that subtly reduces incoming damage. Field has SDC equal to ME+3/level, half damage taken, even straight HP damage, goes to the field until its SDC is exhausted. Duration 10 min/level, 8 ISP

Strength of Mind: +10 PS, +5 PE, +20 SDC as a "mind over matter" sort of thing. 5 min/level, 10 ISP. If this seems broken, a) it is a bit, and b) as a bowman, the increased PS does nothing at all for me in combat. This would be used when trying to lift doors, throw heavy objects, smash locks, that sort of thing, which is to say, object interaction scenarios.

Those are INSANELY good powers, assuming they're minors. As Supers, they're close to too good. As minor powers? They're no-brainers. I mean, Summon Inner Strength is the closest comparable, and it adds 10 SDC, and a bit of a bonus against poison and coma, an some resistance to fatigue. Strength of the Mind doubles that, plus PS and PE.

Also thanks for the suggestion re: alternate powers. I had actually considered all of the ones you listed. I ultimately dropped Mind Block and Bio Regen as they seemed too 'active', and too obvious in their non-natural origins. It's tough to explain away wounds healing overnight as "dwarves are just tough folk!" after all, and the moment a Psionic individual saw mind block up they would know what was what, even if the dwarf did not. Summon Inner Strength I decided against conversely because it was too weak to compete with Strength of Mind, though as I'm considering dropping Strength of Mind for being too strong, maybe that's not a bad thing!

I can see that.