D&D (2024) Psionics: What Do You Want?

[SkidAce]

Sidetrack but I used to love Babylon 5 when it aired. I tried watching it just a couple weeks ago--man, it is really bad. I couldn't even get through the first episode. I honestly didn't remember it being that terrible to me.

Wow, my friend and I are watching end to end, started a month ago. At the beginning of Season 3.

Graphics out dated? Yeah, but tolerable. Everything else still resonates.

 

[Flights of Fancy]

We must be reading different books, because it's not even close to the only trope .

They never said "only", they said "common", which I agree it is a fairly common trope.

Wow, my friend and I are watching end to end, started a month ago. At the beginning of Season 3.

Graphics out dated? Yeah, but tolerable. Everything else still resonates.

Enjoy it then! I am just speaking for myself.

 

[SkidAce]

We must be reading different books, because it's not even close to the only trope .

didnt mean to imply it was, merely giving examples to a different posters question if the was any difference between psi and magic in the game, and I think there is.

 

[Kannik]

Sidetrack but I used to love Babylon 5 when it aired. I tried watching it just a couple weeks ago--man, it is really bad. I couldn't even get through the first episode. I honestly didn't remember it being that terrible to me.

I haven't watched it recently, but what I remember from way back when was that the first season was very rough. Even worse in the pilot, where the main themes and nuances weren't fully worked out (and as such it was more caricatures than characters and characterization of the different species), but the whole of the first season was very much actors feeling out their characters (leading to stilted or awkward acting) and the writers feeling out the flow of the show. It gets better in later seasons.

(And then the need to cram 2 seasons into 1 lead to the last season being rough from a storytelling standpoint, but at least the actors were firing on all cylinders by that point.)

 

[Kannik]

I have never understood this particular distinction. Nearly every magic media at least strongly suggests that will power and mental stamina are important for "wizardry." Hell, even D&D fiction leads heavily into the trope. Why are psions special for this?

Fair enough -- and a power point system might well fit better with most media when it comes to how wizards operate. However, from my D&D Vancian casting perspective and experience, with its discrete slots and fixed spells and the like, it doesn't tie into personal stamina so much as it ties into either divine granting or pre-imprinting elements of the magic weave into yourself to unleash with a trigger later.

I would like psionics to feel different, and tying it both more closely to stamina and reserve as well as to the flexibility within specific disciplines would accomplish this. Which, indeed, mhich may well match how wizards are described in a lot of fiction! But not so much in how it;s been set up in D&D, and I don't want psionics to become just another version of the magic weave.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I think less powers, but they can be powered up with points or dice or something. I think. I'll admit, I'm not in the mood for the complexity of the past, even if I'm nostalgic for it.

I posted in the main thread I wanted points, but I'm not sure that's actually true. Really, really, good fiction and theme might be enough even with regular spellcasting.

but I THINIK I want abilities you can scale up and down....but I don't want it as complicated as the past was (just my opinion, yours may vary).

How do you feel about scaling by Spellcasting check? Ie, there is a minimum result, and thresholds of your check, upgrading as you hit higher thresholds.

 

[Aldarc]

I still think that the Warlock is the best design structure for any new D&D class: strong theme based mechanics with some built in versatility and progression that isn't overwhelming. So if I were to make a psion it would look a lot like the Warlock, with psionic powers replacing invocations. Bespoke powers rather than spells would help make it feel unique, while still being familiar enough to not put off players. I am not sure I agree that a psion "must" have the ability to dump power points in. I don't think that is any more "psionic class fantasy" than a wizard being able to pour their magical energy into a big spell. If anything, everyone needs the ability to overchannel at the risk of burning out (martials included).

That would be fine with me. If I were to make a Warlock, it would look more like a summoner who actively made pacts and bargains with angels, demons, spirits, and extraplanar entities. More in the vein of Elric of Melniboné and John Constantine.

 

[Reynard]

That would be fine with me. If I were to make a Warlock, it would look more like a summoner who actively made pacts and bargains with angels, demons, spirits, and extraplanar entities. More in the vein of Elric of Melniboné and John Constantine.

Interestingly, that is what a "sorcerer" is traditionally. The Warlock actually nails the classic definition of witch pretty well: entered a pact with The Devil for magical power.

 

[Aldarc]

Interestingly, that is what a "sorcerer" is traditionally. The Warlock actually nails the classic definition of witch pretty well: entered a pact with The Devil for magical power.

Maybe, but my ideal warlock is something much closer to the Order of Goetics in Monte Cook's Invisible Sun. IMHO, the Warlock is too passive. The pact happens off screen. There is little to no active bargaining that is part of play. It lacks the feel and fantasy of the archetype. Call it a sorcerer. Call it a warlock. Doesn't matter. But something that strikes that chord.

 

[mellored]

• Psionics should be capable of overload.

My main worry about this is that you end up going nova and then sleep.

....Maybe if the downside was short, like 1 turn?

Overload.
Your attack deals maximum damage and then you are stunned until the end of your next turn.