Psionics--the Poll!

[Jacob Lewis]

Thematically speaking? If psionics has a distinct place in the setting that adds to the narrative of the game world, and not just another niche to fill within the overused and crowded bucket of "magical" powers, then sure.

But then it has to offer something unique, not just another "wizard" with a "weird mind-magic" overlay. And that is kinda where traditional D&D systems has trouble making space for it. They always default to make everything possible a "spell". That's essentially the core of their powers and abilities options because it's easy to plug in, endlessly flexible, and has built in controls (level, format, class specificity, etc).

The one that managed to incorporate psionics better was 4th edition. It integrated seamlessly with the core structures, balancing evenly against both player progression and challenge scaling. It felt unique with it's own identity rather than trying to share similar spaces with arcane, divine, or primal classes. Even the classes themselves had distinctive features so they played differently at the same table, but shared just enough similarities to distinguish themselves to be properly classified as 'psionic'.

That said, I did not care for their approach to try to squeeze psionics into the "Far Realm", "madness", and "abberations" buckets of low-hanging fruit. That's the one piece of lore and setting that I couldn't vibe with.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Once again, the discussion on the ENWorld forums has returned to Psionics. There are a lot of cool ideas, interesting points of view, and personal experiences being shared in a couple of places, and I don't want to detract from that discussion...I just want to gauge folks' interest as a whole.

It's a simple yes-or-no question: would you like to have Psionics in your game?

Search your heart, and vote for the option that is closest to what your heart tells you. Then post a comment below to explain all of the caveats, exceptions, qualifiers, and other nuances that your response didn't capture. And if you're feeling particularly verbose, go ahead and tell us what kind of game you're running.

I'm impressed that this poll got the ratio that basically every survey on this since 3E has done - 70 yes, 30 no.

 

[Corinnguard]

Now in some other game, weird modern paranormal investigation or some soft scifi, sure.

Psionics could probably fit into the Urban Fantasy genre.

 

[Desdichado]

I like the idea of psionics. I once ran a campaign in the 3e era that replaced magic with psionics. All spells that had supernatural abilities or any kind of spellcasting progression were disallowed, and you could use the EPH and CH options instead to get your supernatural f/x stuff. Although I didn't really get a lot of psions or wilders; I had a rogue/fighter, a barbarian, a swashbuckler, two soulknifes (soulknives?) and... another rogue, if I remember correctly. But I think everyone (correctly) saw that as a gonzo swashbuckling game rather than a superheroes game, which a lot of magical and/or psionic stuff tends to feel like.

I've really only ever liked the 3e psionics, though. And even then, like the Complete series, they kind of overcompensated for the old paradigm that the 2e splatbooks were over-powered, and kind of underpowered a lot of these classes. I always modified the soulknife to have fighter BAB progression, for instance.

 

[Voadam]

've really only ever liked the 3e psionics, though. And even then, like the Complete series, they kind of overcompensated for the old paradigm that the 2e splatbooks were over-powered, and kind of underpowered a lot of these classes. I always modified the soulknife to have fighter BAB progression, for instance.

I did not find the 2e psionics splat book overpowered. Roll to activate with possible power fumbles, three touches to establish telepathic contact, etc. The closest to overpowered was probably the possibility of a save or die disintegrate and even that was after spending a lot of points and succeeding on the activation roll (with self disintegrating fumbles a possibility).

I did not find the psion PC in my 2e game a problem.

Similarly a lot of the Complete X handbooks seemed underpowered, most of the complete priest options seemed less powerful than a PH cleric for instance. You had to hunt for things like the bladesinger in the Complete Elf or specific specialty priests in things like the FR god books or Legends and Lore to get fairly powerful stuff beyond something like a free weapon specialization as the benefit from a kit.

 

[Umbran]

Psionics could probably fit into the Urban Fantasy genre.

Psionics in an urban setting is apt to read as sci-fi, rather than fantasy.

 

[Corinnguard]

Psionics in an urban setting is apt to read as sci-fi, rather than fantasy.

It could also be read as a science fantasy where science, the paranormal and magic co-exist.

 

[Umbran]

It could also be read as a science fantasy where science, the paranormal and magic co-exist.

Then you don't call it "psionics". That term has its origins in 1950s sci-fi, and has mostly been used in sci-fi and academic parapsychology since then, with D&D as one outlier fantasy use.

Call it "psychic powers", or some such, if you want to divorce it from the sci-fi connotations.

 

[Desdichado]

I did not find the 2e psionics splat book overpowered. Roll to activate with possible power fumbles, three touches to establish telepathic contact, etc. The closest to overpowered was probably the possibility of a save or die disintegrate and even that was after spending a lot of points and succeeding on the activation roll (with self disintegrating fumbles a possibility).

I did not find the psion PC in my 2e game a problem.

Similarly a lot of the Complete X handbooks seemed underpowered, most of the complete priest options seemed less powerful than a PH cleric for instance. You had to hunt for things like the bladesinger in the Complete Elf or specific specialty priests in things like the FR god books or Legends and Lore to get fairly powerful stuff beyond something like a free weapon specialization as the benefit from a kit.

I meant the 2e splatbooks overall, not specifically the psionics ones. I never actually paid much attention to psionics until 3e.

 

[Corinnguard]

Then you don't call it "psionics". That term has its origins in 1950s sci-fi, and has mostly been used in sci-fi and academic parapsychology since then, with D&D as one outlier fantasy use.

Call it "psychic powers", or some such, if you want to divorce it from the sci-fi connotations.

So, why did D&D in its' various editions decided to have psionics in its' fantasy settings to begin with? They could have called it Psychic Magic or Occult Magic like PF1 did. But they didn't.