*sigh*
You know, I could be working on something rather than explaining myself, but here goes; I have said repeatedly in the past that I'm always willing to explain why I do or change something.
First off, the Psionc gets exhausting magic when nobody else does because
he casts his spells in a different way. From my own house rules:
Psionics, while powerful, require a great deal of effort on the part of the Psion to use, as they represent a direct generation of the planar discontinuities necessary for magic use through pure force of will.
That is to say, they make their own magic rather than using what's already there. It's a heck of a lot more exhausting than what any of the other classes do. I used the rules I did because they were what is presented in
Unearthed Arcana and I don't like reinventing the wheel if I don't have to. I briefly considering working up some rules involving temporary negative levels (sprained life-force), but that would really screw over psionic characters and it would be an unholy pain to balance. As it is, psions have lost the ability to blow through their whole power point reserve in a half-hour without penalty, which I like, and gained the ability to cast all day if they pace themselves, which makes them somewhat more unique and interesting than overpowered sorcerers with spell points.
I also briefly considered having Con determine bonus power points, but decided against it. This was partly because of mechanical reasons - the old psionics had way too much MAD and nobody wants to see that again - and partly because of flavor reasons - the fatigue in this case is mostly mental, which is why only rest heals it and your mental power (Wis or possibly Int, I went with Int for simplicity's sake) determines how long you can muck with reality without fatiguing yourself.
I also talked it over with DemonWolfZero, the only player of a psionic character at the time, and made some changes based on his recommendations. Even when offered the chance to play an Ascetic (from the
Psychic's Handbook), he elected to play Adinal as a psion. I think, and he presumably agrees, that the change in question is pretty much a wash in terms of power level. If it weakens psions, it isn't like they can't afford it anyway. If I was making a change to the Cleric or Druid I would also err on the side of underpowered for the same reasons.
I'm not altering hp to cause fatigue because that would cause nightmarish balance issues and I have no official sources even advising how to handle it. It would be way too much work to apply a false standard of realism to hit points, which are already one of the most abstract numbers on a character sheet.
And I will change powers and spells I don't like if someone takes them. The energy powers and
mind thrust are pretty much the whole list at the moment. Well, that and that psionic power that lets you totally reselect all of your feats, skills, and powers. But it's way down on my list of things to do since nobody's tried to make an artillery psion yet, and if Adinal has
mind thrust he's never used it.
I have part of Dromus done: you'll find it below.
