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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 4988516" data-attributes="member: 32740">They were not well designed and IIRC Gary said as much at a later date, or at the least he admitted it was a mistake to have included them as they were not properly developed. There are a number of problems inherent in the system and its presentation:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Very high stat requirements</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Very low chance of getting psionics</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Insanely imbalanced chances of having a ton of psionic points or too little to even be useful</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Powers themselves able to place an excess of power in a 1st level character (though if you read the system carefully this aspect is not as bad as many wound up playing it)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How psionic combat works is badly explained</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">How psionic combat mixes with normal combat also badly explained</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Method of selecting psionic disciplines is completely random, both in the amount the PC gets and what the disciplines actually are</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Combat is "blind mans bluff" which is a Great Wall of China in the path of any real strategy or tactics usage</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Combat chart is nigh impenetrable making it even more difficult to employ strategy/tactics</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Practical result of combat in ANY case is that the combatant who starts with more points wins almost every time - so if your PC has fewer points than the opponent your psionics is a DEATH SENTENCE, not an advantage.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Psionic combat, at 10 exchanges per round at the start of every round, is nigh instantaneous unless participants have enormous amounts of points. So combats including psionic exchanges typically start with one or more psionic participants dropping dead/incapacitated prior to the first sword swing or spellcasting</li> </ul>Some of these issues can be fixed. Others can be overlooked. There are elements of what might have eventually been an adequate system in there. The system as a whole presented as-is, however, is hopelessy f'd up and only someone completely ignorant of any of the above issues would try to run it as-is. There are people who apparantly DO, which amazes me, but clearly those campaigns are quite unique and the DM takes a heavy hand in determining what the PC's go up against in the matter of psionics.</blockquote>

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