The Complete Psionics Handbook

full_moon_draw · 4th October 2005, 01:18 PM

Greetings,

I was wondering if anyone's done a converstion of the Complete Psionics Handbook? (AD&D 2nd Edition)

Just I'm rebooting an old campaign & there's a high level Psion who's going to start be-moaning the absense of the meta-psionic discipline in D&D 3.5!

I'd rather be able to mirror his existing powers under the new rules set - than tell him to throw out all the things he used to be able to do & start again.

Can anyone offer any assistance? Or how have others handled this matter?

Cheers - FMD

BOZ · 4th October 2005, 04:20 PM

whoo, that's a lot of work!

i had started on the powers a little, i'll try to get that to you later.

full_moon_draw · 5th October 2005, 02:46 PM

Yeap! You're spot on Boz - it's a lot of work!

I started an attempt to map the AD&D 2nd edition powers to the 3.5 powers - just to see what hadn't been taken across - It's not straightforward as there's a lot of re-naming in there.

I'd certainly be interested in seeing what you've done! Any short cuts would be extremely useful!

I'd also be interested in knowing how others handled the conversion from the old system! It's starting to look like the path of least resistance is to get the guy to generate a 3.5 psion "based" upon his old character rather than a conversion!

Cheers - FMD

BOZ · 5th October 2005, 04:12 PM

i thought i had posted this somewhere already, but i can't find where it was.

full_moon_draw · 5th October 2005, 07:24 PM

Thanks for that Boz - I'll compare with what I've done & see what comes out of the process - Hmm, am i getting enjoy this sort of pain! Ahh - who cares :-)

Cheers - FMD

full_moon_draw · 6th October 2005, 01:00 PM

Right then (here goes),

I've had a look through Boz's mappings & surprisingly enough they are pretty much spot on the same as mine (though I'll admit I messed up on Prolong & mapped it to the Extend power Feat - what a dopey name for a power that increases the range/area of effect of a power!)

Other Mappings I'd Suggest - Here's a few more mappings that I'd suggest in addition to yours Boz! Ok, some of them aren't spot on mappings, but they provide most if not all of the functions of the original powers (i think?)

Absorb Disease to Emapthic Transfer
Astral Projection to Astral Traveller
Displacement to Concealing Amopha
Gird to Solicit Psicrystal
Identity Penetration to True Seeing, Psionic
Phobia Amplification to Insanity
Probability Travel to Astral Traveller
Psychic Drain to Psychic Vampire
Psychic Impersonation to Aura Alteration
Retrospection to Call to Mind
Soften to Matter Manipulation
Synaptic Static to Null Psionic Field
Teleport Other to Baleful Teleport
Wrench to Dismissal, Psionic

Powers that I'd have thought would have been dropped - There are a couple of powers that really don't need to be converted (IMHO). As the system has changed so much that they are no longer required to make the system "work"

Martial Trance - As it refers to Psionic combat (which is no more)
Ejection - As it relates to Contact
Contact - As it's concept is no longer part of the system

What NOT to convert - There's a fair few "healing" powers in the complete psionics handbook that they dropped in 3.5. Do we convert them or keep them dropped! I'd imagine that the rationale was that Clerics are the class with the focus on healing & much like any healing magic was dropped in Arcane magic - it should also be dropped in Psionics! Having said that there are a couple of 3.5 Psionic powers that you can use to heal yourself - so why not convert the rest?

What do you think? Ideas? Opinions?

Cheers - FMD

full_moon_draw · 10th October 2005, 12:41 AM

Well, no ideas or opinions - thus i must have got it spot on

<which i doubt - not being that naive!>

However, I have to press on! So for those interested (and for my own records) here's what I'm going to write converstions for.

Powers to be Converted

Awe; Body Weaponry; Cause Decay; Combat Mind; Complete Healing; Daydream; Death Field; Detonate; Dimension Walk; Enhanced Strength; Heightened Senses;
Incarnation Awareness; Intensify; Invincible Foes; Invisibility; Life Detection; Life Draining;
Mass Domination; Molecular Rearrangement; Poison Sense; Psychic Clone; Psychic Messenger; Repugnance; Share Strength; Spirit Sense; Splice; Stasis Field; Summon Planar Creature; Truthear

Powers to be dropped (for reasoning - see above post)

Contact; Ejection & Martial Trance

I'll post my progress for those that are interested - but I may not start for a few days!

Cheers - FMD

full_moon_draw · 25th October 2005, 05:42 PM

I'm still having a go at this conversion (not that too many people seem bothered - but what the hey

).

I've found another couple of resources that people with an interest in Psionics conversions might find of use.

The 1st ,& the one I'm slapping my head for not having thought of, is the Dark Sun conversion to D&D 3.5 available at http://www.athas.org

The 2nd is a thread on the Wizards of the Coast's messegebaords - in the other worlds, Dark sun section entitled - power conversions. http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=519454

The 3rd is the document by Wizards user Brun01 that the above thread links to http://www.sederqvist.com/ao/3e/psipowers.doc

I hope all that makes some sense - I'll be quoteing & crediting in my final conversion! Which with luck will be done by the end of the week.

Cheers - FMD

solates · 26th October 2005, 10:42 PM

Hrrmm

Well you might LIKE converting 2nd ed to 3.5 ed but its not something i would tie into easily.

Honestly 3.5 ed psions are fine, even slightly more than fine as they are.

As a dm i would take a look through the 3.5 ed psions(expanded psionic handbook, where they once again revised the psion, psychic warrior, and added soulblade to the list of psionic classes). The 3.5 psion is on equal ground if not more than any arcane or divine caster.

This really jump starts at epic levels but thats for a different thread.

I did have a 24th lvl athasion psionisist but after looking through the 3.0 and later 3.5 rules i just went ahead and went with rogue

But thats mostly because not many dms or other players are keen on learning the specifics of psions, i mean everyone knows what to expect if you say "casting a fireball" but everyones dumbfounded when you say "activating energy burst".

I would suggest you have your player actually PLAY a 3.5 ed psion for awhile and just decide as a group to either stay in 2nd or advance to 3.5. Some groups did not advanced to 3.5 because they did not like the ruleset, others(most) had no issue and saw the change as good.

Solates

full_moon_draw · 27th October 2005, 01:27 PM

I do know what you mean Solates!

We've been playing with psionic characters in the various campaigns for many years now & I have to agree that we perefer 3.5 psionics over 3.0 or 2nd edition.

It's not the 2nd edition Psionics "system" that I'm converting here. It's some of the "forgotten" powers! There are some nice powers that "got left behind" (some of them deservedly so

) & when I'm doing a conversion I like to ensure that as much of the flavour of the original (as is possible) is taken across into the new version! I like a converted character to have as much of his original capability as is possible! Unless there's a very good reason not to do so, I'd prefer it if he can map his 2nd edition Psionic sciences & devotions onto 3rd edition powers.

I've got the map done, i've just got to convert the powers that require converting.

It's not a tuff job - I just have to arrange a free evening or two

OK, i realise that mapping like to like is not for everyone - but i prefer it. Personally, I'd find it hard to convert a 24th level psionisist into a Rogue, I'd have thought it would virtually have been a different character?

You are of course spot on - that all sorts of strange jumps start to happen at epic!!!

Cheers - FMD

BOZ · 27th October 2005, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by full_moon_draw

when I'm doing a conversion I like to ensure that as much of the flavour of the original (as is possible) is taken across into the new version!

i feel the same way!

full_moon_draw · 3rd November 2005, 07:54 PM

Well,

Here you go - this is the conversion that I'll be using in my up & coming game! I think I've mapped all the powers from the Complete Psionics Handbook & only had to drop three powers:

Contact - dropped as it's no longer an element of the Psionics system in D&D 3.5
Ejection - dropped as it's the power that's a last ditch defence against contact
Splice - As to translate it one would have to side step the manifester level rules. Possibly it would map over an an Epic Metapsionic feat - but I ran out of time.

Some of the mappings of old powers to new powers I'm still not 100% happy with. BUT, i think that in every case the new powers that i've mapped to mirror most if not all the capabilities of the old powers. In some cases, the new power grants more power than the old, in some cases a little less - I think that it balances out in the end. I've only done a conversion (or borrowed someone elses conversion) where I haven't been able to find any mapping at all.

Anyway - let me know what you think of the conversion. Many thanks to those that helped with their previous conversions - - - I'd have taken a hell of a lot longer to do this without all that assistance

Cheers - FMC

PS - I don't know if this is worthy of going in the conversion library or not! I'm not convinced that it obeys all the rules! That & it's not all my own work & I couldn't be asked to do all the legal stuff

the Jester · 10th November 2005, 11:28 AM

Could you post some of it for discussion, other than as an attachment?

Heck, all of it?

I am pretty much never motivated to download attachments, but would like to check out what you've done.

Dragonhelm · 10th November 2005, 06:00 PM

Oh, hell yes! This is exactly the type of stuff I was looking for.

I'll have to compare with a few old characters and see how it works out.

full_moon_draw · 15th November 2005, 01:26 AM

Hi Dragonhelm,

Glad it was some help to someone else! That was one of the reasons for putting it up here in the first place! I'll be VERY interested to know how it goes when you "compare & contrast" - please let me know what you think!!

Hi Jester,

I'd be more than happy to discuss!!!!!! However, if I were to post the whole thing It would make one hell of a LONG post - I'd rather not do that (I find these things hard enough to read as it is). So if you could motivate yourself to read the attachment - we can discuss! I mean, I went to all that trouble to type it up nice & pretty - be a shame if you never got to see it

Thanks for making the time to leave feedback you two! I look forward to hearing more if you get the time & the inclination!

Cheers - FMD

BOZ · 15th November 2005, 03:17 AM

you can always discuss it in sections.

Dragonhelm · 20th November 2005, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by full_moon_draw

Hi Dragonhelm,

Glad it was some help to someone else! That was one of the reasons for putting it up here in the first place! I'll be VERY interested to know how it goes when you "compare & contrast" - please let me know what you think!!

One of the things I didn't like about the 3.0 Psionics Handbook was that there was no conversion guide. I've found that converting old 2e psionicists to be a bit of a pain. I've been looking for a conversion guide for quite some time now, so this helps.

I haven't toyed with it yet, but I'll try to post something when I do.

Thanks again for the hard work.