D&D General What’s The Big Deal About Psionics?

[Maxperson]

What killed 3e was the sheer number and speed of splatbook releases. When it got to the point that things like Magic of Incarnum were being released, the writing was on the wall.

 

[James Gasik]

Oh man, the Hulking Hurler. I remember when a Theory Op guy asked what the hardness of the planet's mantle would be, to see if he could throw a rock so hard it would destroy it. This reminds me of another cool thing from the 3.x era, the Psychic Warrior. He carries a sword, he wears armor, he can pounce and grow to huge size and do everything that a high level Fighter would like to do.

Also one of my favorite Prestige Classes: the War Mind. Sweeping Strikes was super fun.

EDIT: I still don't understand why extra books is considered a problem. You don't have to use them. You don't have to buy them. It's just an option, it's existence shouldn't hurt the game in any way, save from some theoretical optimization approach. If the DM clears Magic of Eberron and Dragon Magic and Races of the Dragon for his campaign, that's certainly not the fault of the authors. Sure, maybe they wrote some hot garbage, but then the DM takes out the trash.

Now one thing I WILL fault 3.x for when it came to churning out books was "errata you had to pay for".

 

[Yaarel]

Ok I have to stop you right there. You act like "system bloat" is an expectation. Like, oh hey, we printed a book about playing on Theros, well better add centaurs to the Sword Coast! Or wow this supplement introduced a new spell from Strixhaven! Obviously, my Wizard in a Curse of Strahd game has access to it! Until something changes, any book beyond the basic ones needed to play the game are OPTIONAL. They only add to "system bloat" if people purchase them and add them to their game.

I want the D&D anniversary edition core to support Psion, side by side with Wizard and Fighter in the Players Handbook. This requires solid, well tested, well understood, mechanics for the Psion.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I want the D&D anniversary edition core to support Psion, side by side with Wizard and Fighter in the Players Handbook. This requires solid, well tested, well understood, mechanics for the Psion.

They are 100% not going to do that. They might reprint the Aberrant Mind subclass, and even that's a long shot. Literally all they care about is making new players happy, and that means continuing to simplify the game and push modern sensibilities.

 

[James Gasik]

Now that is different, if we make an option core, then system bloat is more likely to become an issue. But I don't see that as ever happening. Psionics is a divisive part of D&D's history, as this thread proves. It's perfectly fine as an option for those of us who like having Shardminds and Ardents running around our worlds, but even Gary (who loved this sort of thing) realized it was best to squirrel Psionics away in an Appendix. Sure, DM's are fine to veto core options as well, but I would anticipate a lot of wringing of hands and bemoaning the fate of D&D's future if Elan and Psions were in the PHB. : )

 

[teitan]

What killed 3e was the sheer number and speed of splatbook releases. When it got to the point that things like Magic of Incarnum were being released, the writing was on the wall.

Ding ding. 100% right here. 3.5 wasn't that bad, it was just super heavy under all that weight. Usually most of the "builds" that showed how broken it was were extreme exercises in minmaxing and nobody played that way that I know of from any message board but they sure did argue about it. When I see people talk about rules bloat in 5e I laugh like David Lopan and mock them like a school yard bully... in my head. In reality I count the number of splats, not adventures, splats, and compare them to 4 months of 2e-4e era release schedules because they all blew past the total splats for 5e in 4 months that we have gotten for 5e in 8 years, including monster books.

 

[teitan]

Ok I have to stop you right there. You act like "system bloat" is an expectation. Like, oh hey, we printed a book about playing on Theros, well better add centaurs to the Sword Coast! Or wow this supplement introduced a new spell from Strixhaven! Obviously, my Wizard in a Curse of Strahd game has access to it! Until something changes, any book beyond the basic ones needed to play the game are OPTIONAL. They only add to "system bloat" if people purchase them and add them to their game.

Shhh you'll upset the "the DM's Job is to always say yes" crowd and Twitterati/Tubers/Influencers.

I'll add though... even some of the stuff in the core, a LOT of it, is also optional. Feats, races, tactical combat. So much in the core two is ways to tweak that base game to make it play how you want and people think feats are, for example, a necessary and crucial aspect of the game that is sacrosanct and part of the rules. No, they aren't.

 

[Aldarc]

I never played 2e. But 3e doubled down on the Greek technobabble names instead of standard D&D spell names. It made psi sound like scientific names for animals. It doesnt need to be like that. Psi can use normal D&D terms, like "teleportation" (not psychoportation), "shapeshift" (not psychometabolism), "conjuration" (not metacreativity), and so on. Use normal D&D terms and flavor.

I'm not all that peturbed by the "Greek technobabble names." Greek and Latin "technobabble" has been fairly common and widespread throughout a variety of European, North African, and West Asian cultures in academia, theology, and occultism long before 20th century sci-fantasy. I would honestly expect far more "Greek technobabble names" if magic spells were rooted in real world history.

 

[Yaarel]

They are 100% not going to do that. They might reprint the Aberrant Mind subclass, and even that's a long shot. Literally all they care about is making new players happy, and that means continuing to simplify the game and push modern sensibilities.

Psionics too must simplify and push modern game design sensibilities.

I'm not all that peturbed by the "Greek technobabble names." Greek and Latin "technobabble" has been fairly common and widespread throughout a variety of European, North African, and West Asian cultures in academica, theology, and occultism long before 20th century sci-fantasy. I would honestly expect far more "Greek technobabble names" if magic spells were rooted in real world history.

Heh, you know that and I know that, but enough 5e fans seem unable to handle even the word "species".

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Why not to hire Dreamscarred Press team as outsiders?

And let's rembember today lots of players are used to power points pool thanks videogames. And maybe some players thinks we should "borrow" some ideas from Paizo's Pathfinder "occultist powers".