D&D General So… psionic powers are no longer purely mental?

Maxperson said:

Heh. I always ran it as purely mental. The psion is releasing a great amount of mental energy that washes through the area. In doing so it triggers sounds, smells, and sights in the minds of those nearby. So for example, if a psion is using charm and it sets off the sound of bells, it's triggering the areas of the brain in those nearby so that they "hear" bells. If someone was scrying on that person, they would not hear bells since they are too far away for the energy to affect the brain.

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I jest, but in TV comics and mangas, « mind powers are often accompanied by visual and auditory cues. Even if it’s just a wooosh and visible shockwaves, not to mention the psion straining/bracing themselves. These media are not as good to convey olfactory cues but they wouldn’t be hard to imagine.

Laurefindel said:

I jest, but in TV comics and mangas, « mind powers are often accompanied by visual and auditory cues. Even if it’s just a wooosh and visible shockwaves, not to mention the psion straining/bracing themselves. These media are not as good to convey olfactory cues but they wouldn’t be hard to imagine.

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Honestly, the perfect encapsulation of what D&D psionics should look like is right here.



Somatic components flavored as the head tap? Check.
Clear energy visual to show effect? Check.
Grimaced face to show strain and creator of effect? Check.

Simple but fitting a world of high magical ability.

Remathilis said:

Honestly, the perfect encapsulation of what D&D psionics should look like is right here.

View attachment 430119

Somatic components flavored as the head tap? Check.
Clear energy visual to show effect? Check.
Grimaced face to show strain and creator of effect? Check.

Simple but fitting a world of high magical ability.

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There's no visual in the fiction there, though. Those red circles are for the reader so the reader can visualize what he is doing. IN the fiction they just see him holding his head. Other times he does it without holding his head or grimacing, and no visuals for us.

Remathilis said:

Honestly, the perfect encapsulation of what D&D psionics should look like is right here.

View attachment 430119

Somatic components flavored as the head tap? Check.
Clear energy visual to show effect? Check.
Grimaced face to show strain and creator of effect? Check.

Simple but fitting a world of high magical ability.

Click to expand...

I always thought that the waves were there to show the viewer (4th wall) and that they were actually not seen by anyone.

Yes, some psionic powers could create special smells, like psychometabolism (too much sweat for example), psychoportation (that faint smell of sulfur when the mutant Nightcrawler is teleporting) or metacreativity (Mmmmmm! it smells like my grandmother's astral constructs!). The display of telepathic powers could be a light headache, not so much to bother you too much, but enough to make you realize and to start to suspect. Psychokinesis could create sounds and visual displays like flashes of light. The display for clarisentience would be eyes roll back.

Now let's imagine the PCs are hired to escort a criminal prisoner with psionic powers toward a maximum security prison.

Other way is to create magic items against one psionic discipline and a linked magic school, for example telepathy and enchantment, psychometabolism and transmutation(only living beings), psychoportation and conjuration, evocation and psychokinesis, clairisentience and divinitation, metacreativity and transmutantion(only inert matter).

SkidAce said:

I always thought that the waves were there to show the viewer (4th wall) and that they were actually not seen by anyone.

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Well that's hard to tell, especially in comics. Sometimes the energy signatures are commented on as if they are visible, sometimes they are not. For example, Psylocke, when she uses her telepathy, has a purple butterfly appear over her forehead that others have commented on as her signature. Gambit's cards sometimes glow with pink energy and leave a comet tail, while other times they just fly fast and explode with no signature. Depends on the writer, the artist and the medium.

I would assume D&D would be as visible as spellcasting except when specifically called out (IE invisible mage hand). So if the spell calls on a specific visual or audio effect (like knock's loud bang) I would say the psionic version should as well. No more. No less.

Remathilis said:

Well that's hard to tell, especially in comics. Sometimes the energy signatures are commented on as if they are visible, sometimes they are not. For example, Psylocke, when she uses her telepathy, has a purple butterfly appear over her forehead that others have commented on as her signature. Gambit's cards sometimes glow with pink energy and leave a comet tail, while other times they just fly fast and explode with no signature. Depends on the writer, the artist and the medium.

I would assume D&D would be as visible as spellcasting except when specifically called out (IE invisible mage hand). So if the spell calls on a specific visual or audio effect (like knock's loud bang) I would say the psionic version should as well. No more. No less.

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Sure, but not professor X. His cues are all for the audience. He doesn't have to hold his head, grimace, or have waves of invisible to the fiction, but visible to use circles come from his head.

Remathilis said:

Well that's hard to tell, especially in comics. Sometimes the energy signatures are commented on as if they are visible, sometimes they are not. For example, Psylocke, when she uses her telepathy, has a purple butterfly appear over her forehead that others have commented on as her signature. Gambit's cards sometimes glow with pink energy and leave a comet tail, while other times they just fly fast and explode with no signature. Depends on the writer, the artist and the medium.

I would assume D&D would be as visible as spellcasting except when specifically called out (IE invisible mage hand). So if the spell calls on a specific visual or audio effect (like knock's loud bang) I would say the psionic version should as well. No more. No less.

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This is exactly why i think most people are fine with psionic spellcasting working mostly the same.

Maxperson said:

Sure, but not professor X. His cues are all for the audience. He doesn't have to hold his head, grimace, or have waves of invisible to the fiction, but visible to use circles come from his head.

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As far as the grimaces go, I thought it just depended on how much effort he was putting into things. Even Superman shows signs of visible straining when lifting something especially heavy. Depending on what source material you're looking at, psionics might have very visible cues like sizzling air or waves of energy, they might require the Psion to utter some mantra to help him concentrate, they might make funny gesticulations to make the magic, uh, psionics happen.

The magic in Wheel of Time is very much like psionics in my opinion. You can't see someone else channel (cast) unless you yourself are a channeler. And while they don't use verbal components, that I can recall, some of them do use somatic components. Not because it's necessarily require but just because it's how they were taught to weave the one power for a particular effect.

I dislike psionics immensely in D&D, so I don't have a dog in this race. I don't really care what WotC decides to do with it, but they've got to decide on something. And it's probably not a good idea to have three or four different ways to handle psionics.

MGibster said:

As far as the grimaces go, I thought it just depended on how much effort he was putting into things. Even Superman shows signs of visible straining when lifting something especially heavy. Depending on what source material you're looking at, psionics might have very visible cues like sizzling air or waves of energy, they might require the Psion to utter some mantra to help him concentrate, they might make funny gesticulations to make the magic, uh, psionics happen.

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I wasn't saying that Professor-X's occasional grimace wasn't in the comic fiction. I'm saying that it's a fact that he doesn't need to grimace or show any other signs of his psionics.

If a PC wants to have his PC grimace when low on power or when he is trying something difficult, that would be great roleplay. Such things should not be required. V, S, and M should not be a part of psionics.

MGibster said:

The magic in Wheel of Time is very much like psionics in my opinion. You can't see someone else channel (cast) unless you yourself are a channeler. And while they don't use verbal components, that I can recall, some of them do use somatic components. Not because it's necessarily require but just because it's how they were taught to weave the one power for a particular effect.

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No. The magic in the Wheel of Time isn't anything like psionics. It's far closer to sorcerery. They aren't using their personal power to do anything, like psions do. The Aes Sedai are literally accessing the "weave" called the One Power to do their magic.