AD&D1 Psionics

[Bullgrit]

Were the psionics rules in AD&D1 Player's Handbook well designed?

Bullgrit

 

[darjr]

I don't think they were. We never used them as is, but I loved them anyway. We heavily modified them for use at the table.

 

[diaglo]

they get their start in Supplement III Eldritch Wizardry

by the time they saw print in 1edADnD they were already mixed up

 

[amerigoV]

Poorly designed - but we still rolled to see if our PC had them (wasn't it like a 5% chance or something? Will now have to crack out the 1e DMG - the best archaic tomb ever!).

 

[grizzo]

The stat requirements were too high and the percentage roll was slim. There was no way to keep the players with psionics from dominating the other non psionic characters.

 

[jamorea]

Being Psionic was too random. The power level once you were Psionic was too random. The whole system just seemed tacked on. I don't think even Gygax was a fan of 1E Psionics.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Not well designed or balanced in any way but a boatload of fun anyway. We used them in some games and not in others.

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

They were not well designed and IIRC Gary said as much at a later date, or at the least he admitted it was a mistake to have included them as they were not properly developed.


There are a number of problems inherent in the system and its presentation:

• Very high stat requirements
• Very low chance of getting psionics
• Insanely imbalanced chances of having a ton of psionic points or too little to even be useful
• Powers themselves able to place an excess of power in a 1st level character (though if you read the system carefully this aspect is not as bad as many wound up playing it)
• How psionic combat works is badly explained
• How psionic combat mixes with normal combat also badly explained
• Method of selecting psionic disciplines is completely random, both in the amount the PC gets and what the disciplines actually are
• Combat is "blind mans bluff" which is a Great Wall of China in the path of any real strategy or tactics usage
• Combat chart is nigh impenetrable making it even more difficult to employ strategy/tactics
• Practical result of combat in ANY case is that the combatant who starts with more points wins almost every time - so if your PC has fewer points than the opponent your psionics is a DEATH SENTENCE, not an advantage.
• Psionic combat, at 10 exchanges per round at the start of every round, is nigh instantaneous unless participants have enormous amounts of points. So combats including psionic exchanges typically start with one or more psionic participants dropping dead/incapacitated prior to the first sword swing or spellcasting

Some of these issues can be fixed. Others can be overlooked. There are elements of what might have eventually been an adequate system in there. The system as a whole presented as-is, however, is hopelessy f'd up and only someone completely ignorant of any of the above issues would try to run it as-is. There are people who apparantly DO, which amazes me, but clearly those campaigns are quite unique and the DM takes a heavy hand in determining what the PC's go up against in the matter of psionics.

 

[rogueattorney]

I liked the 1e psionic system. Or at least, I loved what it tried to do.

The basics were that it grafted a class-less spell point magic system onto the mainframe of AD&D. With that extra power came horrible vulnerability to some really awesome monsters.

The basic campaign arc of a character with psionics was that he was the most powerful character in the party until he met up with a psionic monster, at which point his brain would be turned to goo. A classic live fast, die young paradigm and a wonderful exemplar of AD&D's "balance schmalance" attitude (which I share).

If the DM ran the rules as written and a quarter of all wandering monster rolls after psionics or related powers were used were done on the psionic table, walking around with a psionic character was like having a "GOOD FOOD HERE" neon sign pointed directly at the Abyss.

It painted a nice, grim Cthuloid picture of the D&D world, and also did a lot to explain why there weren't magic factories, magic hospitals, etc. due to the fact that so many magical spells attracted so many foul creatures.

To me, it was just part of the whole kooky fabric of 1e. Sometimes I use it, some times I don't. But I always find it interesting and imaginative. I liken all the peripheral sub-systems in the 1e core to the Beatles song catalog. I like pretty much every song the Beatles recorded, but I'm not going to try to sit down and listen to every song in one sitting.

 

[Wombat]

They were ... terrible