Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)
(3rd Party Book Release) Paranormal Power: A Psionics Option for 5e and A5e, written by Steampunkette!
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 8901961" data-attributes="member: 6796468"><p><h2>Psionics and Magic: How do they interact?</h2><p></p><p>Is a question I do not answer in Paranormal Power, for four reasons.</p><p></p><p><strong>Firstly</strong>, Antimagic Fields exist not only to disable spellcasting, but also magical equipment. There is no psionic equipment in this book. Mostly because I find that magical items are a core piece of D&D/Level Up/Fantasy gaming's specific narrative fantasy. While Psionic Equipment really isn't a specific "Thing" with narrative weight to it. And to some degree I wanted to avoid 3e's "Everything is Crystals" psionic items.</p><p></p><p><strong>Secondly</strong>, they do so largely for the benefit of players rather than NPCs since players have greater agency to prepare such spells. It's a specific function of an aspect of magic to shut itself down to weaken a magical foe. Personally I've never felt it made sense to apply it to psionics for that reason. And resulting from that: There is no anti-psionic power for players to wield against NPCs.</p><p></p><p><strong>Thirdly</strong>, The Psionics presented in this book are slightly weaker, for combat purposes, than spellcasting. Using the split basic augment, for example, allows an Esper to hit more targets than normal, but any psi dice put toward splitting a power to make it hit more people is a die that could have increased the damage of the power, outright. And with a maximum of 9 psi dice total, even their maximum power on a single target is about 10d8.</p><p></p><p><strong>Finally</strong>, it's going to be a setting dependent decision in most cases. In a gonzo high fantasy setting like the Forgotten Realms where all power is tied into Mystra's Weave, it makes sense for psionics to be suppressed if psionics is an interaction with the weave. While in Dark Sun, the aggressive and often feral nature of psionics being capable of bypassing defiling magic gives espers a chance to overthrow the Sorcerer Kings.</p><p></p><p>Personally, I don't feel that Psionics need to be suppressed by an antimagic field for these reasons. But I ultimately did not make that choice for the system, instead leaving it up to a given Narrator or Dungeon Master, based on their own personal preference and setting's rules of psionic and magical interaction.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Steampunkette, post: 8901961, member: 6796468"] [HEADING=1]Psionics and Magic: How do they interact?[/HEADING] Is a question I do not answer in Paranormal Power, for four reasons. [B]Firstly[/B], Antimagic Fields exist not only to disable spellcasting, but also magical equipment. There is no psionic equipment in this book. Mostly because I find that magical items are a core piece of D&D/Level Up/Fantasy gaming's specific narrative fantasy. While Psionic Equipment really isn't a specific "Thing" with narrative weight to it. And to some degree I wanted to avoid 3e's "Everything is Crystals" psionic items. [B]Secondly[/B], they do so largely for the benefit of players rather than NPCs since players have greater agency to prepare such spells. It's a specific function of an aspect of magic to shut itself down to weaken a magical foe. Personally I've never felt it made sense to apply it to psionics for that reason. And resulting from that: There is no anti-psionic power for players to wield against NPCs. [B]Thirdly[/B], The Psionics presented in this book are slightly weaker, for combat purposes, than spellcasting. Using the split basic augment, for example, allows an Esper to hit more targets than normal, but any psi dice put toward splitting a power to make it hit more people is a die that could have increased the damage of the power, outright. And with a maximum of 9 psi dice total, even their maximum power on a single target is about 10d8. [B]Finally[/B], it's going to be a setting dependent decision in most cases. In a gonzo high fantasy setting like the Forgotten Realms where all power is tied into Mystra's Weave, it makes sense for psionics to be suppressed if psionics is an interaction with the weave. While in Dark Sun, the aggressive and often feral nature of psionics being capable of bypassing defiling magic gives espers a chance to overthrow the Sorcerer Kings. Personally, I don't feel that Psionics need to be suppressed by an antimagic field for these reasons. But I ultimately did not make that choice for the system, instead leaving it up to a given Narrator or Dungeon Master, based on their own personal preference and setting's rules of psionic and magical interaction. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition (A5E)
(3rd Party Book Release) Paranormal Power: A Psionics Option for 5e and A5e, written by Steampunkette!
Top