Any pitfalls to psionics replacing magic?

[Particle_Man]

I am thinking of running a campaign where there is no divine or arcane magic. I will use psionics and call it magic. And I will scavenge this thread for renaming various psionic powers and classes:

http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=470229

Thus I am not worried about flavour issues. I am, however, worried about mechanical issues.

One mechanical detail I was worried about was lack of access to easy healing. I am going to go with the Reserve Point system in Unearthed Arcana (also Iron Heroes) to address this. Would this be enough, or should I import something else?

Otherwise I am only allowing psionic classes (as per XPH, not Complete Psionic since I don't have it) and some non-magical classes (Fighter, Knight, Barbarian, Swashbuckler, Rogue, Scout, some prestige classes (I'll have to look at these in more detail)).

All that said, are there any other mechanical holes I should watch out for?

 

[Pyrex]

It's not just a healing problem you'll have, but in general all the abilities to remove status effects (Cursed, Blind, Negative Levels, Ability Damage, Ability Drain, Posioned, Diseased, etc) are all divine magic. Not to mention the big daddy, Resurrection magic.

You'll get along just fine without Arcane magic, but losing Divine magic will definately reshape the assumed D&D landscape.

 

[kenobi65]

Agree with Pyrex. The psionics rules have tons of ways to blow stuff up, and tons of ways to affect/buff yourself, but are rather thin on ways to heal or buff allies.

 

[FnordBear]

People's opinions about the book aside, I would not try to run the type of campaign you suggest without Complete Psionic. It has psionic healing powers in it among other things that allow psionics to cover some of the pitfalls of not having certain casters in your group.

 

[Deekin]

Comp Psi sucks, grab Untapped Potential instead. It has 3 new psionic base classes, including the Society Mind, which can function as a healer/buffer role for the group. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is what Comp Psi should have been.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

Just a suggestion for more healing, the Dragon Shaman's Touch of Vitality ability(PHBII) with healing and removing negative effects would be a strong addition to this game. (Maybe strong enough to give a version to other 'divine' casters like rangers and paladins.

Even with Complete Psionic healing will be far far behind what an equal level cleric can pull off. I think it is a good idea for a campaign, butthe hit point paradigm really requires some easy way to restore hit points.

 

[Particle_Man]

Hmmm...the Dragon Shaman's ability gives me an idea. What if I beefed up the current "I take your pain" power in XPH "empathic transfer" to be able to remove all the conditions a high level dragon shaman can remove, but the person using the power optionally takes the transfer as hp damage? Then the person can use one of the "self heal" powers that are available (body adjustment, or vigor for those that think ahead).

All that would be missing would be the "buff others" ability; would that make the game unplayable or just different in tone?

 

[Psion]

Comp Psi sucks, grab Untapped Potential instead. It has 3 new psionic base classes, including the Society Mind, which can function as a healer/buffer role for the group. I cannot recommend this book enough. It is what Comp Psi should have been.

Were I to run a straight up psionics-only game, I think the Ardent would be much more conducive to filling gaps in the lineup than anything in UP... though I'd want to use the society mind from UP as well.

 

[Bacris]

I have to agree about the ardent. While I love the society mind, even though I was not one of the creators of it, the ardent as a class can really do well in a wide variety of roles - and healing is one of them. It's one of the few items from Complete Psionic I'll use without hesitation.

That being said, the Society Mind can do very well as a buffer and decently well as a healer