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<blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8716766" data-attributes="member: 2629">Skill checks would not be the right mechanic because the probability range of 1d20 doesn't work for what I want to achieve, but the basic idea is that you roll&nbsp; dice with a bonus, compare it to a table, and the result would tell you the costs, etc...&nbsp; It might be a better comparison to say that you have psionic health, and using psionics inflict psionic damage to you, and as you advance you gain psionic DR.Spells can do anything.&nbsp; They're magic.&nbsp; They can make your wizard into a fighter, for example.&nbsp; However, I'm proposing a mechanical core design.&nbsp; It isn't just something they could do - it is part of the framework.&nbsp; ....Again, spells can - and pretty much do - do anything.&nbsp; Why have fighters in the game if you can have wizards that can cast Tenser's Transformation?&nbsp; Pass Without Trace makes a Dex 8 PC in Platemail stealthy enough to sneak past typical guards better than a first level rogue with expertise.&nbsp; Whether you can do it with spells doesn't mean we should settle for spells as the catch all solution.&nbsp; They are a good cornerstone for the established classes, but psionics deserves to feel different.&nbsp; Heck, to me, sorcery should also move away from spells in the next edition and have unique mechanics because it also deserves to be different.&nbsp; Why?&nbsp; Because the origin of sorcerers is sufficiently different from wizards that it should have a different feel in play.&nbsp; The question to me goes back to what I said at the start of my post: Psions and Psychic Warriors should (to me) feel like comic book characters, not like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones characters.&nbsp; What mechanics best support that feel?&nbsp; I do not believe spells are suitable.&nbsp; What is suitable likely has commonalities with spells, but it needs to have more to it ... more strain, more personal cost, more intensity, ... more internal cohesiveness.&nbsp; I could describe a battle between Xavier and the Shadow King in terms of spells ... but that is far from the best way to manifest it.&nbsp; My design has decades of tuning towards that goal - and it works.&nbsp; It has been through as lot of evolutions, and the current version is very loose mechanically because I have both not had a need to fine tune it in 5E, and I wanted to be able to adapt to whatever 5E psionics were coming (as I constantly have assumed they were right around the corner).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jgsugden, post: 8716766, member: 2629"] Skill checks would not be the right mechanic because the probability range of 1d20 doesn't work for what I want to achieve, but the basic idea is that you roll dice with a bonus, compare it to a table, and the result would tell you the costs, etc... It might be a better comparison to say that you have psionic health, and using psionics inflict psionic damage to you, and as you advance you gain psionic DR. Spells can do anything. They're magic. They can make your wizard into a fighter, for example. However, I'm proposing a mechanical core design. It isn't just something they could do - it is part of the framework. .... Again, spells can - and pretty much do - do anything. Why have fighters in the game if you can have wizards that can cast Tenser's Transformation? Pass Without Trace makes a Dex 8 PC in Platemail stealthy enough to sneak past typical guards better than a first level rogue with expertise. Whether you can do it with spells doesn't mean we should settle for spells as the catch all solution. They are a good cornerstone for the established classes, but psionics deserves to feel different. Heck, to me, sorcery should also move away from spells in the next edition and have unique mechanics because it also deserves to be different. Why? Because the origin of sorcerers is sufficiently different from wizards that it should have a different feel in play. The question to me goes back to what I said at the start of my post: Psions and Psychic Warriors should (to me) feel like comic book characters, not like Lord of the Rings or Game of Thrones characters. What mechanics best support that feel? I do not believe spells are suitable. What is suitable likely has commonalities with spells, but it needs to have more to it ... more strain, more personal cost, more intensity, ... more internal cohesiveness. I could describe a battle between Xavier and the Shadow King in terms of spells ... but that is far from the best way to manifest it. My design has decades of tuning towards that goal - and it works. It has been through as lot of evolutions, and the current version is [I]very[/I] loose mechanically because I have both not had a need to fine tune it in 5E, and I wanted to be able to adapt to whatever 5E psionics were coming (as I constantly have assumed they were right around the corner). [/QUOTE]

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