Do you give out psionic treasure?

[Psion]

Psionic NPCs and creatures tend to have psionic treasure. The players tend to like tattoos.

 

[Heathen72]

I've had my GM tell me that "psionic items are hard to find" or "psionics itself is rare in this world," which both more or less lead to the same thing. And then of course there was "you are the only psion in the entire world" -- lack of helpful equipment has actually been the barrier against me wanting to play a psion ever again.

Given that you are "the only Psion" in the world" that might be fair enough. If that is the case though, you should be reaping the rewards of a virtually no Magic/Psionics transparency. Magic or Spell resistance shouldn't work against you, for instance, which means you could really kick ass against demons and so forth. That could providing a balancing element to counter your lack of magical items

If you are not entirely happy with that, or that isn't the case you probably have a legit gripe. Maybe you could ask your GM's if he would be willing to include a non psionic race that you could encounter. Mind flayers are always a good example. If he wants something less obvious, or less overtly campaign changing, perhaps a race of Crystalline, or Ooze Psion creatures that live in vast catacombs beneath the surface. They wouldn't move or act the way other creatures do (if they moved at all) and you might be the only being capable of communicating with them.
Alternatively, maybe your GM could allow for an extinct and now long gone psionic race. They may have made psionics items that you could use - if you can find them (and if you want to risk it). Any of these groups could have some really nifty psionic items that, all things being equal, you would be the only person capable of using. (I'm assuming that with no magic/psionics transparency you can't use items made for wizards and vice versa)

You can raise these concerns with the GM out of the game. Another way to approach it, however, is to start investigating the possiblities of other psions existed, in game, as your character. It must be very lonely being the only psion in the world, not knowing where your powers come from (I'm presuming here that this might be the case) and having no sense of kin. Why don't you have your character investigate psionics. Were there ever any famous psionicists in the past? Perhaps famous sorcerors from history were actually Psionicists. If you studied a few you could probably figure out if they were. Are there any races that have "psionic like" abilities. You could investigate them and find out if they are or not. Finally, what about your family? Did charismatic Uncle Gregor ever do slightly odd things, that upon reflection, seem psionic? Maybe he was a Telepath! Great Grandad Autard, the luckiest warrior alive? or maybe a psionic warrior! The need to find other beings like you, to see who you are and if you are "not alone" could be a very powerful motivation for your character. And Your GM is maty well look more favourably on your request if it is one driven by you character. We're odd like that.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Given that you are "the only Psion" in the world" that might be fair enough. If that is the case though, you should be reaping the rewards of a virtually no Magic/Psionics transparency. Magic or Spell resistance shouldn't work against you, for instance, which means you could really kick ass against demons and so forth. That could providing a balancing element to counter your lack of magical items

I think that this is going way, way, way overboard.

If psionics is rare enough that there is no psionic treasure, then noone will ever counterspell you, work out what whacky power you used to create an effect, recognise (or use) the psionic treasure that you own etc etc. If you work on the right angles, that's an awesome advantage.

 

[Arkhandus]

If your DM is allowing you to play a psionic character but refuses to put any decent psionic items in the treasures your group finds, even if only once in a while, he or she is being terribly unfair and should remember that Player Characters are heroes and exceptional individuals, who have the luck and adventuring spirit to go out and find (or happen to come upon) rare treasures in the course of their exploits.

Even if psionics is rare, it wouldn't be unreasonable for you to find some psionic item once every other level or so, from a dorje of astral construct II to a psionatrix of telepathy, a crawling tattoo of hold person or +1 power storing dagger. Of course, you could also take one or two item creation feats like Scribe Tattoo and Craft Psionic Arms & Armor or Craft Universal Item. (I'm using 3.0 references because I haven't bought into 3.5 yet and am too poor to spend money on the XPH right now) :-/

If your character is psionic, there's got to be a reason for it. Maybe there's a psionic culture on the far side of the world and you just need to get a ship (or winged boots) to go find it. Maybe you can find a Gate or portal to someplace else where fellow psions reside. Perhaps you could track down some mindflayers and barter with them for psionic items.

Or your DM could just make some magic items available that boost psionic abilities one way or another, and stop being an ass.

Edit: By the way, if your character is 'the only psionic in the world' then you have every right to demand the DM use the Psionics Are Different rules to their extreme. If you're the only psion, no one is ever going to be able to recognize your powers because you're the only person who knows psionics. It'd be hellishly stupid for someone to identify your power through Spellcraft or Knoweldge (Arcana) if you're the only psion in the world, because there's no way in hell that they could have learned what a psionic power does and what displays indicate which power. Psionic powers can't be counterspelled to begin with, so that's not even an issue.

If your power is unique, it's unlikely that creatures with Spell Resistance are going to be capable of resisting your power the way they resist magic. If only because they never would have evolved a defense against it, nor been engineered with such a defense, and besides you're harnessing a new personal energy, nothing like what those berks with the Spell Resistance have ever been exposed to. Your Negate Psionics power (if any) won't likely work against magical effects, nor will your Null Psionics Zone, but there's still a plethora of other powers that will work.

An enemy mage may detect a Symbol left on the ground and Erase it, but his arcana won't be able to detect the never-before-discovered force hiding in the same place from your psionic Crawling Tattoo of Agonizing Touch slithering through the bushes beside him. Because if psionic power was never discovered before, why should magic suddenly be able to detect its presence now?

 

[Heathen72]

I think that this is going way, way, way overboard.

If psionics is rare enough that there is no psionic treasure, then noone will ever counterspell you, work out what whacky power you used to create an effect, recognise (or use) the psionic treasure that you own etc etc. If you work on the right angles, that's an awesome advantage.

But it works both ways, you see. A lot of his psionic defences are useless against magic, as well as most of his detection abilities. (He can't detect magic, for instance) Besides, he should have some sort of advantages given how unique he is. If there were more psionicists around, then creatures and mages would develop resistances and spells versus psionicists. But there aren't and hence they won't have.

 

[Saeviomagy]

But it works both ways, you see. A lot of his psionic defences are useless against magic, as well as most of his detection abilities. (He can't detect magic, for instance) Besides, he should have some sort of advantages given how unique he is. If there were more psionicists around, then creatures and mages would develop resistances and spells versus psionicists. But there aren't and hence they won't have.

Yeah, but he can bank on that, and his foes can't really bank on being unable to counter him.

If you use the psionics-magic transparency rules, his only disadvantage vs magic is that he might not bother to take spellcraft and knowledge(arcana). That's it. He detects magic just fine. Dispel psionics gets rid of magic effects etc etc.

Meanwhile his foes are getting "nope, the guy's not casting any spell you know" whenever he fires something off - and it's possible they might not even recognise what he's doing as spellcasting.

Beyond that - all the regular magical items work just fine for a psion. He's just complaining about not getting items that are specifically targeted at him.

 

[Heathen72]

*Snip* By the way, if your character is 'the only psionic in the world' then you have every right to demand the DM use the Psionics Are Different rules to their extreme. If you're the only psion, no one is ever going to be able to recognize your powers because you're the only person who knows psionics. It'd be hellishly stupid for someone to identify your power through Spellcraft or Knoweldge (Arcana) if you're the only psion in the world, because there's no way in hell that they could have learned what a psionic power does and what displays indicate which power. Psionic powers can't be counterspelled to begin with, so that's not even an issue.

If your power is unique, it's unlikely that creatures with Spell Resistance are going to be capable of resisting your power the way they resist magic. If only because they never would have evolved a defense against it, nor been engineered with such a defense, and besides you're harnessing a new personal energy, nothing like what those berks with the Spell Resistance have ever been exposed to. Your Negate Psionics power (if any) won't likely work against magical effects, nor will your Null Psionics Zone, but there's still a plethora of other powers that will work.

An enemy mage may detect a Symbol left on the ground and Erase it, but his arcana won't be able to detect the never-before-discovered force hiding in the same place from your psionic Crawling Tattoo of Agonizing Touch slithering through the bushes beside him. Because if psionic power was never discovered before, why should magic suddenly be able to detect its presence now?

Hear him! Hear Him!

 

[Heathen72]

Yeah, but he can bank on that, and his foes can't really bank on being unable to counter him.

If you use the psionics-magic transparency rules, his only disadvantage vs magic is that he might not bother to take spellcraft and knowledge(arcana). That's it. He detects magic just fine. Dispel psionics gets rid of magic effects etc etc.

Meanwhile his foes are getting "nope, the guy's not casting any spell you know" whenever he fires something off - and it's possible they might not even recognise what he's doing as spellcasting.

Beyond that - all the regular magical items work just fine for a psion. He's just complaining about not getting items that are specifically targeted at him.

That makes him into little more than a spell point using magic user, and takes some of the fun out of playing a psionicist, in my opinion.

 

[Timeboxer]

I feel that I ought to mention that the "you are the only psion in the entire world" case was me being transported -- before the game, I might add -- through deific power from Faerûn to (as far as I knew) a "closed" alternative prime material plane that didn't have easy contact with other planes. I found out later that only magic existed there, and psionics was unheard of.

But, largely I am wondering if it is unrealistic for me to expect that if I play a psion, I will have some access to psionic items.

Of course, you could also take one or two item creation feats like Scribe Tattoo and Craft Psionic Arms & Armor or Craft Universal Item.

Actually, my solution to the problem, because I just got Tired of it, was to pour a level's worth of cross-class ranks into Use Magic Device, just so I could use all of these scrolls/wands/etc. Which I suppose is okay, but takes a lot of fun out of being a manifester when I could just be buying or coming across power stones or psicrowns or whatever.

Also, keep in mind that the amount of items a psion can make is severely limited because of the number of powers I have. I'd been considering taking Craft Universal Item, but decided that it wasn't worth it because I just couldn't fulfill enough prerequisites for it to be worth taking. If I'm the only psion in the world, then, well, I'm the only source of psionic powers in the world...

If only because they never would have evolved a defense against it, nor been engineered with such a defense, and besides you're harnessing a new personal energy, nothing like what those berks with the Spell Resistance have ever been exposed to.

I don't really have anything to say here, except that you have reminded me that Planescape chant has been slipping into my vocabulary lately. >.>

 

[Heathen72]

While we are on it, what are the rules with regards to learning new powers as a psion. I always found them a little confusing. It says that you can "meditate" to learn new powers, but is a little hazy on how many you are allowed to learn. It seems to imply that you can't know more than your ordinary limit, but that seems to negate the idea in the first place!

Anyone?