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Psionics versus Spellcasting: A Deep-Dive into the Lore Separation Between the Two, and the Rivalry Between Them
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 8460620" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>The reason why I really can't get too worked up about any of it, nor feel like there is anything missing or being held back or being categorized incorrectly is that there really absolutely no rhyme nor reason to how D&D actually puts their magic together anyway.</p><p></p><p>I mean come on... we keep getting told that Wizards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks all use "arcane" magic. Why? What possible description or explanation of how those three classes gain magical power would make anyone combine them into one category of thing?</p><p></p><p>And likewise... why do so many people continually insist that Clerics and Druids both use "divine" magic (other than they have just been conditioned to over the past several decades?) What * is * "divine" magic then? Obviously it's not from the gods, because that's not from whom Druids get their magic. And it can't just be "granted" power, because then Warlocks would also use "divine" magic by that categorization (and depending on the granting power, Rangers and Barbarians would fall into that group as well.)</p><p></p><p>If you go with the "primal" magic idea from 4E... that the planet itself has natural spirits that allow some people access to their power, then your Druids, Rangers, and Barbarians all have somewhere to get their magic from. But then the question is "If everything on the planet has a spirit you can tap into for magical power... then why don't we categorize the power of each individual person as "primal" as well then? They have spirits, don't they? As much spirit as a rock does. So Psionic classes, Monks, Sorcerers... they should all fall into "primal" as well, because what's the difference between the spirit of a tree or rock, and the spirit of an animal / humanoid?"</p><p></p><p>And this is why this whole discussion with regards to generic Dungeons & Dragons is pointless. Because no one has ever bothered to actually make it make sense. Like so much of the game... the designers just threw in for consumption all the stuff that most people just generically thought of as "D&D-isms" into the game with no real concern for their usage... knowing that any individual DM who really cared was going to just strip the game for parts and rebuild it themselves in the manner they wished for. Which explains to a T why the design of psionics in 5E has <em>never</em> been concerned about things like having or not having material components for psionic abilities. I mean they all know that 99% of all the tables out there playing the game don't use them and don't care about them at all... but they include them in the game because of tradition and for the 1% that do care. And for that 1%, they aren't going to potentially unbalance anything by putting in a psionic system that doesn't use them-- even if all the psionics devotees out there keep demanding that psionics CAN'T have material components. Because from their way of thinking... none of us use them anyway despite their inclusion in the books, so who gives a gosh-darn whether a new book with psionics includes them too?</p><p></p><p>Whether it's magical power sources, spell components, encumbrance, alignment, stealth rules, metal-averse druids, the reasoning for human/elf and human/orc hybrids (but no others), etc. etc. etc... they are haphazardly in the game because at one point in the past they were added and seemed important to <em>somebody</em>... and so in 5E they just threw it in again with little to no concern. Assuming (quite rightly I might add) that every single DM was going to make the game their own anyway and just pick and choose all the bits they actually wanted.</p><p></p><p>So getting bent out of shape about how any of this stuff works is I think missing the forest through the trees.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 8460620, member: 7006"] The reason why I really can't get too worked up about any of it, nor feel like there is anything missing or being held back or being categorized incorrectly is that there really absolutely no rhyme nor reason to how D&D actually puts their magic together anyway. I mean come on... we keep getting told that Wizards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks all use "arcane" magic. Why? What possible description or explanation of how those three classes gain magical power would make anyone combine them into one category of thing? And likewise... why do so many people continually insist that Clerics and Druids both use "divine" magic (other than they have just been conditioned to over the past several decades?) What * is * "divine" magic then? Obviously it's not from the gods, because that's not from whom Druids get their magic. And it can't just be "granted" power, because then Warlocks would also use "divine" magic by that categorization (and depending on the granting power, Rangers and Barbarians would fall into that group as well.) If you go with the "primal" magic idea from 4E... that the planet itself has natural spirits that allow some people access to their power, then your Druids, Rangers, and Barbarians all have somewhere to get their magic from. But then the question is "If everything on the planet has a spirit you can tap into for magical power... then why don't we categorize the power of each individual person as "primal" as well then? They have spirits, don't they? As much spirit as a rock does. So Psionic classes, Monks, Sorcerers... they should all fall into "primal" as well, because what's the difference between the spirit of a tree or rock, and the spirit of an animal / humanoid?" And this is why this whole discussion with regards to generic Dungeons & Dragons is pointless. Because no one has ever bothered to actually make it make sense. Like so much of the game... the designers just threw in for consumption all the stuff that most people just generically thought of as "D&D-isms" into the game with no real concern for their usage... knowing that any individual DM who really cared was going to just strip the game for parts and rebuild it themselves in the manner they wished for. Which explains to a T why the design of psionics in 5E has [I]never[/I] been concerned about things like having or not having material components for psionic abilities. I mean they all know that 99% of all the tables out there playing the game don't use them and don't care about them at all... but they include them in the game because of tradition and for the 1% that do care. And for that 1%, they aren't going to potentially unbalance anything by putting in a psionic system that doesn't use them-- even if all the psionics devotees out there keep demanding that psionics CAN'T have material components. Because from their way of thinking... none of us use them anyway despite their inclusion in the books, so who gives a gosh-darn whether a new book with psionics includes them too? Whether it's magical power sources, spell components, encumbrance, alignment, stealth rules, metal-averse druids, the reasoning for human/elf and human/orc hybrids (but no others), etc. etc. etc... they are haphazardly in the game because at one point in the past they were added and seemed important to [I]somebody[/I]... and so in 5E they just threw it in again with little to no concern. Assuming (quite rightly I might add) that every single DM was going to make the game their own anyway and just pick and choose all the bits they actually wanted. So getting bent out of shape about how any of this stuff works is I think missing the forest through the trees. [/QUOTE]
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