Psionics: Balance and Integration

[Rystil Arden]

Help me out: Name the psionic powers. Then name the monsters that use them.

Dispel Psionics works against anything, and several of the XPH's critters have that, notably the Crystal Golem which has it at will as a free action.

Specifically against constructs? That'd be Dismiss Ectoplasm. The poor constructs in a 30-ft burst get a Will save (they have a +0 to this save at first, but it creeps up to +1 by a 3th-level AstCon and all the way up to +2 by a 5th-level AstCon). No monsters use Dismiss Ectoplasm, but there are many other strategies that can beat up on monsters that don't work so well against NPCs.

 

[SJ]

In a home Eberron game I play a kalashtar telepath. We don't have a wizard/sorc, and we use the psi-magic transparency.

I think it's working pretty well.

My character is set up for diplomacy, and he can do some damage when needed, but mostly he fills in the gaps and finds lots of things to do. There's been no notice of him overpowering the game or any such. It's been a lot of fun in the social (and combat) situations being able to manipulate minds, but it's really like an enchanter who also knows lightning bolt and such.

My advice is to absolutely put psionics into Eberron. The setting makes many opportunities for its use, and at 5th level (played from 1st) we haven't missed having a wizard, even when we ran into the vampire. Yikes!

As a player, I tried to take advantage of every rule, of course, but with the transparency and normal saving throws, it seems to be to be well balanced.

 

[Rystil Arden]

In a home Eberron game I play a kalashtar telepath. We don't have a wizard/sorc, and we use the psi-magic transparency.

I think it's working pretty well.

My character is set up for diplomacy, and he can do some damage when needed, but mostly he fills in the gaps and finds lots of things to do. There's been no notice of him overpowering the game or any such. It's been a lot of fun in the social (and combat) situations being able to manipulate minds, but it's really like an enchanter who also knows lightning bolt and such.

My advice is to absolutely put psionics into Eberron. The setting makes many opportunities for its use, and at 5th level (played from 1st) we haven't missed having a wizard, even when we ran into the vampire. Yikes!

As a player, I tried to take advantage of every rule, of course, but with the transparency and normal saving throws, it seems to be to be well balanced.

Actually, my namesake Rystil Arden is also a Diplomacy-inclined Telepath (Level 4). He's rather weak at combat, and lost a test fight against 3 housecats until I gave him swarm of crystals. Still loads of fun to play though!

 

[Mr. Kaze]

So I love most things about the 3.5 Psionics but it's mostly because I don't think there's enough of a distinction between Arcane & Divine magic. So if you simply call Psionics "Arcane", they work out a bit better.

That said, there's two major balance weaknesses for damage-dealing psions:

1) Crystal Shard. 1st level power, scales at 1d6 per point. This isn't unreasonable. What is unreasonable is that it's a ranged touch attack that doesn't allow SR. At 10th level, a Psion with an 11 int and a high dex can be scary-effective fighter for a few rounds -- even against magic-immune golems. Comparatively, Magic Missile has to go through SR and can be negated by Shield, while Acid Arrow is a second level spell that only does 2d4 damage in a single round (though it goes for a few rounds) and is subject to acid resistance. Frankly, I think this is more indicative of WotC screwing up the definition of Spell Resistance and Spell Immunity than anything...

2) All of the Energy Spells allow the caster to swap out energy types on the fly -- which is a real snub to sorcerors who get stuck with "Fire" when they choose "Fireball" (unless they take some optional feats to get around it which they don't really have to spare). I would suggest that this can be somewhat balanced by making the psion choose a primary energy when they take their first Energy spell and then they can gain the ability to use other energy forms by taking an "Expanded Energy Mastery" feat per additional energy form or somesuch. (Your NPC wizards and clerics will appreciate this as their "Energy Resistance" spells may be useful for more than the first round of combat, too.)

I've got plenty of other opinions on what I've read, but those two items are what I've actually seen in-game.

Cheers,
::Kaze()

 

[Rystil Arden]

So I love most things about the 3.5 Psionics but it's mostly because I don't think there's enough of a distinction between Arcane & Divine magic. So if you simply call Psionics "Arcane", they work out a bit better.

That said, there's two major balance weaknesses for damage-dealing psions:

1) Crystal Shard. 1st level power, scales at 1d6 per point. This isn't unreasonable. What is unreasonable is that it's a ranged touch attack that doesn't allow SR. At 10th level, a Psion with an 11 int and a high dex can be scary-effective fighter for a few rounds -- even against magic-immune golems. Comparatively, Magic Missile has to go through SR and can be negated by Shield, while Acid Arrow is a second level spell that only does 2d4 damage in a single round (though it goes for a few rounds) and is subject to acid resistance. Frankly, I think this is more indicative of WotC screwing up the definition of Spell Resistance and Spell Immunity than anything...

2) All of the Energy Spells allow the caster to swap out energy types on the fly -- which is a real snub to sorcerors who get stuck with "Fire" when they choose "Fireball" (unless they take some optional feats to get around it which they don't really have to spare). I would suggest that this can be somewhat balanced by making the psion choose a primary energy when they take their first Energy spell and then they can gain the ability to use other energy forms by taking an "Expanded Energy Mastery" feat per additional energy form or somesuch. (Your NPC wizards and clerics will appreciate this as their "Energy Resistance" spells may be useful for more than the first round of combat, too.)

I've got plenty of other opinions on what I've read, but those two items are what I've actually seen in-game.

Cheers,
::Kaze()

Crystal Shard is subject to DR though, so the golem does get to reduce the damage.

 

[Nail]

Better in what way? Can you please run through some numbers?

Sure! ...but this could take awhile. I've got the SM numbers already.....

How about a quickie:

SM 1 vs AC 1:

Ave Hp: SM= 6 AC = 15
Ave AC: SM= 15 AC = 18
Ave Atk & Dam : same

Misc: AC is a construct, and so is immune to

• all mind-affecting effects,
• poison,
• paralysis,
• stunning,
• disease ,
• necromancy effects,
• critical hits,
• ability damage,
• ability drain,
• any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless).

SM are usually magical beasts or outsiders, and often have the following qualities:

• Smite Evil 1/day,
• resist acid, cold, and electricity 5 ,
• Spell resistance equal to HD +5 (average is SR 6)

So: Even at a lowly 1st level spell/power, the AC wins in the toughness department, and ties in the damage department. Later, it gets worse.

 

[Nail]

Dispel Psionics works against anything, and several of the XPH's critters have that, notably the Crystal Golem which has it at will as a free action.

Specifically against constructs? That'd be Dismiss Ectoplasm.

These look an aweful lot like Dispel Magic and Banishment, their arcane equivalents.

Put bluntly: Astral Constructs are no more vulnerable to psioncs than Summoned Monsters are to magic.

Oh wait: All Summon Monsters are foiled by a first level Sor/Wiz/Clr/Pal spell: Protection/Evil. Huh, there's no psionic equivalent........OTOH, Astral Constructs are not affected by Prot/Evil.

How's this balanced, again?

 

[Rystil Arden]

These look an aweful lot like Dispel Magic and Banishment, their arcane equivalents.

Put bluntly: Astral Constructs are no more vulnerable to psioncs than Summoned Monsters are to magic.

Oh wait: All Summon Monsters are foiled by a first level Sor/Wiz/Clr/Pal spell: Protection/Evil. Huh, there's no psionic equivalent........OTOH, Astral Constructs are not affected by Prot/Evil.

How's this balanced, again?

1) Summoned monsters are outsiders, so they generally have a halfway decent chance of winning the Will save. Also Dismiss Ectoplasm is level 3 and effects multiple targets.

2) Check out the Dissipater weapon. It automatically crits against ectoplasm and ignores hardness and DR for a +1 equivalency. A real bargain if you're fighting a shaper.

 

[Staffan]

First of all, the Psionic Focus is a bit unclear to me. Can a Psionic focus himself and stay that way all day if they don't choose to expend it and don't do anything else particularly taxing?

Yes. It's basically a way of saying the psion only gets one use of it per fight unless they take the time to regain it.

Are all the powers fairly balanced?

Most are. There are some that are a bit troublesome using the rules as written. Notably, Energy Missile (fix: either have the psion split the damage dice between targets, or require augmentation to get multiple targets) and Dispel Psionics (fix: have the augmentation affect the cap on caster level rather than affecting the dispel check directly).

In particular, I worry about some of the damage spells, especialy given that many of them have no top end scale for dice like many of the Wizard spells, and the DR scales for many of them as well. Is there a simple way to balance this? Is this more balanced than it appears due to the fact that more PSPs must be spent while a Wizard gets them for free?

That is precisely why it's balanced. It might seem much to be able to do 15d6 of damage with a 1st level power, but if you do you're paying as much for it as for an 8th level power.

Some additional background on what I am atemting, I am looking to start an Eberron campaign, and while I am not sure that any of my players actualy want to use psionics, I would like to be clear on them so I can offer it to my players, and integrate it better into the setting, if even as a minute detail. The biggest hurdle I've seen in general is that often if a character is psionic, that may be the only use of psionics in the game, which isolates the player/character, or sometimes psionics is used too much, alienating non-psionic characters/players. I want to strike a good balance where it's evident that psionics exist in the world, but it is not anything truely mainstreme and you won't find it as prevelently as magic (Which is what I tend to feel is the appropriate level for psionic inclusion in Eberron).

There are plenty of foes where you should feel justified in using psionics in Eberron. The Inspired and other Riedrans are obvious, but Xoriat (Aberrations, Dragon Below cultists) can also be a source of psionic power - just look at Mind flayers. I'd probably use wilders more than psions with Xoriat-based psionics, however.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Oh, and I guess I'll throw an example of a Shaper in action (and how psionics can be used by the forces of good as well as the forces of twink):

One of my regular players moved to Atlanta, and he was having trouble finding a group. The one he found had an incredibly RBDM who was running the Temple of Elemental Evil. My PC, used to my GMing, didn't know how to react to a giant dungeon crawl. Worse still, the RBDM forced him to make a character one level lower than the lowest party member. And he got killed permanently. Then he had to make a new character one level lower still, so I helped him make a survivable kensai. And the DM had the kensai executed by his own order (something about one of the monsters in the dungeon was randomly the head of the order with an illusion spell on him, or something). So now, the player had to make a level 7 PC and the party had in it level 11 characters (and all of his gear from previous characters, plus he didn't get a share of the treasure he helped earn). So I helped him make Nodieo the Gnome, who needed a 20 to hit AC 10 because of his nonproficient Full Plate and Tower Shield, but who had 33 AC after buffs and used Vigor to get bonus HP, then summoned Astral Constructs. And he was able to help the party, despite being 4 levels lower, but only in very minor ways, and of course he didn't die. This character was twinked out and min/maxed to the best of my ability, and the other characters were basically complete airheads in making their character (the cleric who refused to melee and only healed had also refused to put more than a 14 in any stat, as it would cost 2 points in PB, so he had 14 Wisdom and 14 Strength...). If the psion was overpowered, he should have been comparable to the 4 levels higher players because he was massively min/maxed. But he wasn't. Its my view that a character who is min/maxed to the max and can't outshine poorly-built PCs who varied from 2 to 4 levels above him means that the build is not overpowered.

Of course, this is purely anecdotal.