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Community
General Tabletop Discussion
D&D Older Editions
Could someone provide a quick primer on how D&D 3.5 psionics work?
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<blockquote data-quote="Plane Sailing" data-source="post: 1549803" data-attributes="member: 114"><p>In a nutshell, psions and their ilk gain powers, and they have a gradually increasing pool of power points (pp).</p><p></p><p>Powers are ranked by level, 1-9. Psychic warriors have their own separate tables, plus there is a much shorter table of "domain specialty" powers which are available for selection by telepaths/kineticists/shapers etc. (others can gain access to powers from these list for a feat).</p><p></p><p>powers typically don't automatically scale with caster level like spells do, but they can be "augmented" by pushing extra pps into them - akin to casting them as a higher level spell. Not all powers can be augmented, but those that can describe the benefit (e.g. a 3rd level energy power might do 5d6 damage for 5pp, and every pp added gives +1d6 and +1/2 DC).</p><p></p><p>Metapower feats can be applied spontaneously and also increase pp usage (plus expend psionic focus... more on that later).</p><p></p><p>You can't spend more pp in an action than your level. Thus a 9th level psion could augment his 3rd level energy power by +6pp so that it does 11d6 with a save DC of 16+INT bonus, or he might augment it by +4pp and empower it for +2pp so that it does 9d6*1.5 with a DC of 14+INT bonus. Either way he can't spend more than 9pp.</p><p></p><p>(there are feats that start making exceptions, this is just the basics)</p><p></p><p>psionic characters can make a DC20 concentration check to get psionic focus. This focus can be expended to enable a number of psionic feats... it helps provide a balancing factor for what would otherwise be too good as feats.</p><p></p><p>---------</p><p></p><p>For a PC, there are a lot more "run time" options that can be selected when manifesting a power - they are more flexible than any other caster type and some players might not be able to handle this well (the ditherer type).</p><p></p><p>For a DM it is worth noting that a fully buffed psion or psywar is pretty fearsome... and like wizards and clerics they will quickly dominate if there is only one big encounter each day. Lots of little encounters that force them to husband their pp's make for more balanced adventures.</p><p></p><p></p><p>----</p><p></p><p>Does that help any?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Plane Sailing, post: 1549803, member: 114"] In a nutshell, psions and their ilk gain powers, and they have a gradually increasing pool of power points (pp). Powers are ranked by level, 1-9. Psychic warriors have their own separate tables, plus there is a much shorter table of "domain specialty" powers which are available for selection by telepaths/kineticists/shapers etc. (others can gain access to powers from these list for a feat). powers typically don't automatically scale with caster level like spells do, but they can be "augmented" by pushing extra pps into them - akin to casting them as a higher level spell. Not all powers can be augmented, but those that can describe the benefit (e.g. a 3rd level energy power might do 5d6 damage for 5pp, and every pp added gives +1d6 and +1/2 DC). Metapower feats can be applied spontaneously and also increase pp usage (plus expend psionic focus... more on that later). You can't spend more pp in an action than your level. Thus a 9th level psion could augment his 3rd level energy power by +6pp so that it does 11d6 with a save DC of 16+INT bonus, or he might augment it by +4pp and empower it for +2pp so that it does 9d6*1.5 with a DC of 14+INT bonus. Either way he can't spend more than 9pp. (there are feats that start making exceptions, this is just the basics) psionic characters can make a DC20 concentration check to get psionic focus. This focus can be expended to enable a number of psionic feats... it helps provide a balancing factor for what would otherwise be too good as feats. --------- For a PC, there are a lot more "run time" options that can be selected when manifesting a power - they are more flexible than any other caster type and some players might not be able to handle this well (the ditherer type). For a DM it is worth noting that a fully buffed psion or psywar is pretty fearsome... and like wizards and clerics they will quickly dominate if there is only one big encounter each day. Lots of little encounters that force them to husband their pp's make for more balanced adventures. ---- Does that help any? [/QUOTE]
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Community
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Could someone provide a quick primer on how D&D 3.5 psionics work?
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