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General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
3.5 Psions Broken?
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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 9107294" data-attributes="member: 907"><p>The main issues with the actual psion class are:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Even bigger nova potential than a wizard, on account of PPs rather than spell slots. A 10th level wizard with Int 20 can cast 6/5/4/4/3 spells per day. A 10th level psion with Int 20 has 113 PPs, which is the equivalent of 12 5th level spells and one 3rd level if they go all out (though it's slightly less powerful than that given that damage powers in particular need to be augmented to have damage scale with level – sort of like 5e in that way).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Getting access to some stuff at intermediate levels rather than the more differentiated approach wizards get. Just to use a very simple example: Wizards get <em>charm person</em> as a 1st level spell (charming humanoids for 1 hour/level), and <em>charm monster</em> at 4th (charming anything that isn't immune and lasting for 1 day/level). Psions get <em>psionic charm</em> at 1st level as well, at which point it is similar to <em>charm person</em>, but they can augment it for +2 PP (the equivalent of one spell level) to affect a selection of relatively mundane creature types, or +4 PP to affect most types of creatures; as well as +4 PP to increase duration to days. That means they can charm a Monstrous Humanoid as the equivalent of a 2nd level, or charm a humanoid for days for a 3rd level spell, or charm almost any creature for a 3rd level spell but with a shorter duration.</li> </ul><p>Those are the main structural advantages of a psion over a wizard. There are also a number of disadvantages. For example, wizards have access to all the wizard spells. The core psion list is significantly smaller, with most of the really cool powers being on the discipline lists. This is basically the equivalent of the wizard class only getting <em>lightning bolt</em>, and only evokers getting <em>fireball</em>. Then you of course have individual powers that may or may not be perfectly balanced.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 9107294, member: 907"] The main issues with the actual psion class are: [LIST] [*]Even bigger nova potential than a wizard, on account of PPs rather than spell slots. A 10th level wizard with Int 20 can cast 6/5/4/4/3 spells per day. A 10th level psion with Int 20 has 113 PPs, which is the equivalent of 12 5th level spells and one 3rd level if they go all out (though it's slightly less powerful than that given that damage powers in particular need to be augmented to have damage scale with level – sort of like 5e in that way). [*]Getting access to some stuff at intermediate levels rather than the more differentiated approach wizards get. Just to use a very simple example: Wizards get [I]charm person[/I] as a 1st level spell (charming humanoids for 1 hour/level), and [I]charm monster[/I] at 4th (charming anything that isn't immune and lasting for 1 day/level). Psions get [I]psionic charm[/I] at 1st level as well, at which point it is similar to [I]charm person[/I], but they can augment it for +2 PP (the equivalent of one spell level) to affect a selection of relatively mundane creature types, or +4 PP to affect most types of creatures; as well as +4 PP to increase duration to days. That means they can charm a Monstrous Humanoid as the equivalent of a 2nd level, or charm a humanoid for days for a 3rd level spell, or charm almost any creature for a 3rd level spell but with a shorter duration. [/LIST] Those are the main structural advantages of a psion over a wizard. There are also a number of disadvantages. For example, wizards have access to all the wizard spells. The core psion list is significantly smaller, with most of the really cool powers being on the discipline lists. This is basically the equivalent of the wizard class only getting [I]lightning bolt[/I], and only evokers getting [I]fireball[/I]. Then you of course have individual powers that may or may not be perfectly balanced. [/QUOTE]
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