D&D 5E Psionics in a sci-fi D&D

[Paul Farquhar]

And, considering the way the wind is blowing with the release of the Monsters book from WotC, more complicated is not a direction they seem to be heading. If anything, I think you will see a lot of simplification in the game mechanics in the next five years.

This is a @Morrus project, not a WotC project. 3PPs can take things in a different direction. One of the reasons we need them.

 

[Maxperson]

Sure, there is (somewhat vague) difference in flavour. But all that requires is having a thematically appropriate spell list.

I love when people try to tell us what is "all that is required." Your preferences are not ours. What is required to make you happy fails to be sufficient for us.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I love when people try to tell us what is "all that is required." Your preferences are not ours. What is required to make you happy fails to be sufficient for us.

What is required, and what various individuals might want are two different things.

And remember we are not talking about official rules here.

 

[Aldarc]

So, the same as the Mystic.

If anyone is being honest and fair in their assessment? No, it's not.

 

[Maxperson]

What is required, and what various individuals might want are two different things.

Not really. For me to accept psionics, I require it to be a completely new system and not a reskin. That's a fact.

And remember we are not talking about official rules here.

I'm coming into the middle of this, but I don't see how it matters. Official or unofficial, for me to accept a psionics system I require it to be new and not a reskin.

 

[Maxperson]

Psylocke is a psion. Not very magey to me. Also, the toolbox of pretty much every fictional psion in sci-fi I can think of is incredibly limited compared to even D&D half casters. Even Paul Atreides is outrageously powerful more in scale than in scope. It just isn't a good fit, in my opinion.

Psylocke was a Soulknife.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I'm coming into the middle of this, but I don't see how it matters. Official or unofficial, for me to accept a psionics system I require it to be new and not a reskin.

It matters, because we are not talking about a psionic system for the game as a whole. We a talking about a psionic system for a specific reskin of D&D to Science Fiction.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If anyone is being honest and fair in their assessment? No, it's not.

So the difference is, has the features of the Mystic (powers, spell points etc), but not suck.

Good luck with the unicorn.

 

[Aldarc]

So the difference is, has the features of the Mystic (powers, spell points etc), but not suck.

Good luck with the unicorn.

There's more to fair analysis than shallow, superficial reductionism phrased in snark. You should try it sometime. Preferrably sooner rather than later as I don't think that it's particularly fruitful for the pertinent discussion. If you want to claim that the psionic system in WWN is just "the same as the Mystic," then that's fine, but don't expect anyone to take your argument with anything more than a fine grain of salt.

 

[Mind of tempest]

We have absolutely no idea what @Morrus has in mind. There are many different subgenres of science fiction for a start. Is it Space Opera (Star Wars)? Planetary Romance (John Carter's Mars)? Post-Apocalypse? Portal/Cross-Genre (Barrier Peaks)? Something I haven't though of?

Sub-genre and general tone has a big bearing on what sort of psionics you would want.

so we must wait on basic setting answers.

This is a @Morrus project, not a WotC project. 3PPs can take things in a different direction. One of the reasons we need them.

when it comes to basic player-facing things I would prefer simple as the more time it takes to learn the longer it takes away from the game time also as the only non-dm here I know the pure player side more than most.

So the difference is, has the features of the Mystic (powers, spell points etc), but not suck.

Good luck with the unicorn.

the mystic did not suck it was unbalanced which is far harder to correct but easier to understand.