Complete Psionic - heal my ignorance

[cmanos]

Complete Psi is to Expanded Psi Handbook as CW, CA, CD and CV are to the PHB. It expands on what exists. CompPsi is not a stand alone. You'll need XPH. Granted I believe XPH is a phenomenal book.

XPH sort of gives you the fighing and the plastic characters, CP gives you a sneaky psi and a couple cleric/paladin like psi's.

You will need XPH to use CP. But XPH is phenomenal.

 

[Razz]

Hi.

I've never been much of a fan of psionics but I've heard good things about Complete Psionic.

You've heard GOOD things about that book? That's surprising.

There's hardly anything good about it other than if you have XPH, then go ahead and grab Complete Psionics as well. It's the only psionic support you will receive for a long long time. That being the case, it's the crappiest support ever given. It ranks in the negatives compared to the other Complete series books.

There are many things wrong with the book, but I still find almost half of it useful for my games. What I am concluding is, it's worth getting if you really like and want more psionics in your game, no matter how crappy the psionic material is.

 

[Psion]

I'm not as down on the book as I was. The big things that stand out sort of let me down. The classes don't impress me, the racial classes are a waste of paper, and they really did a hatchet job on Steve Kenson's Talaire stuff. But reading through it a little deeper, the feats and powers seem to have potential.

I guess that really puts it more on par with Complete Warrior than Complete Divine for me, which is a one step improvement.

 

[delericho]

I liked it.

Granted, it could have done some things a lot better (they botched the use of the new stat block format, they should have used the more concise PrC format for that book to give us more classes, and they wasted a lot of space on Soulknife Exotic Weapon feats when one feat would have done), but I enjoyed reading it, liked the flavour, and was very glad to see psionics getting some proper support.

 

[MatthewJHanson]

Despite CompPsi's mediocre performance, I think we can all agree that Psionics as a whole are pretty sweet. I'd advise checking out the Expanded Psionics Handbook first. Then if you like it go ahead and add on Complete Psionic (which is not as good, but not awful).

 

[Nonlethal Force]

Agreed with most of the above posters. If you don't have the Expanded Psionics Handbook, BUY IT! That is a sweet book - probably in the top three non-core WotC books I own. [The other two being Player's Handbook II and Unearthed Arcana ... although the Draconomicon is also pretty sweet if you like dragons.] Complete Psionic is really only good if you need to build a fire. I mean, I think it is at least combustible....

There are a few things in the Complete Psionic that are okay, but as a whole it isn't worth the money in my opinion. What really got me down about the book were all the typo-s and places where the text and table didn't match. The book is going to have a huge errata suppliment. I bought the other complete books and loved them (Even Complete Divine - I love that book. Although, I make it a point to not play with powergamers ... no most of the "broken stuff" in Complete Divine isn't "broken" in the games I play in because the other players don't like to break the game either. I do admit that Complete Divine can be abused heavily. But I digress...) In general I think all the Complete Books are worth buying ... but I myself even couldn't bring myself to plunk down the cash for Complete Psionics.

But ... as one poster brought up above - if you need Psionic Suppliments, you almost have to buy it because WotC isn't going to put much else out soon. Which, if Complete Psionics is any indication, is a good thing.

If you want Psionic support after you have the Expanded Psionics Handbook, pick up Hyperconsciousness. That book almost always gets the same kind of support as Expanded Psionics Handbook.

 

[thorian]

If you want to use psionics, I'd suggest the following purchases (in order):

1) Expanded Psionics Handbook: This is THE source for 3.5 psionics. If you have net access at the gaming table, you can get most of it in the SRD.

2) Hyperconscious: This is from Bruce Cordell, author of most things psi in 3.5. It is far and away better than Complete Psionic. It is from Malhavoc Press.

3) Madness: This is just the code name right now, but several members of the WotC psionics board have created a sourcebook, and are beginning to show some previews on the message boards. PDF will be released eventually.

4) Complete Psionic: Easily the worst of the "Complete" series. There have been numerous threads explaining how crappy this book is, so I won't elaborate here. The main faults are boring racial feats, the lack of good prestige classes, and some questionable nerfs.

 

[Psion]

3) Madness: This is just the code name right now, but several members of the WotC psionics board have created a sourcebook, and are beginning to show some previews on the message boards. PDF will be released eventually.

4) Complete Psionic: Easily the worst of the "Complete" series. There have been numerous threads explaining how crappy this book is, so I won't elaborate here. The main faults are boring racial feats, the lack of good prestige classes, and some questionable nerfs.

I should go check the WotC psionics board. I haven't been there in a while. Last time I was there, there were fans fighting tooth and nail insisting that energy missile needed no fix. I'm guessing now that they are eating crow, there is probably more gnashing of teeth over there than there is here...

Edit: Heh. It seems like its the Astral Construct nerf that is drawing the fire...

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I should go check the WotC psionics board. I haven't been there in a while. Last time I was there, there were fans fighting tooth and nail insisting that energy missile needed no fix. I'm guessing now that they are eating crow, there is probably more gnashing of teeth over there than there is here...

Edit: Heh. It seems like its the Astral Construct nerf that is drawing the fire...

The fans (well, some of them) continue to defend Energy Missile as having been "balanced" and dismiss the errata. Really, that just gives psionics a bad name. They need new editors at WotC. Where do I apply?

 

[kigmatzomat]

XPH is a great book. A few of the powers are debateable but then, so are a few spells in each book. The mechanics are tightened up even more than before and I'm quite pleased with it. If I hadn't decided my next d20 campaign will be UA I'd probably use the XPH as the foundation of a psi/magic-point system.

CPsi.... Meh. It wasn't bad but it wasn't good. It was like oatmeal; the kind made with water and no extra flavorings. Nutritious but bland. Felt like a book by committee. I was rather disappointed since the PsiHB never had a 3.0 splat book and there was so much room for expansion.

The ardent is neat and actually fits the same description as some of the clerics in my world (adherents to concepts, not gods). The soulbow is a good option for soulknives but the rest of the classes were...underwhelming.

I didn't feel Astral Constructs needed nerfing since they lack the spells and SLAs that some Summons have. Energy missle....meh. I don't think the nerf makes it too weak but I also wasn't too threatened by the original. I'm the kind of DM who will allow a caster to hemorage their spells and make resting 8hrs a tactically poor decision. Energy missle is such a power point sink that it wouldn't give any great advantage.