Eberron Campaign Guide June 09

[Imaro]

So one thing I'm wondering is... will psionics be a part of the new Eberron? As of right now they are not in the PHB II and unless they will be in the Eberron Players Guide (which I think would irritate alot of people to no end.). Where are the Psionics? I think with Sarlona, the Kalashtar and the Quori (I think that's right) and the abundance of aberrations, I'm just wondering how WotC is going to handle this. According to their stated plans, if psionics are in a PHB then it would be a year after the release of Eberron that people would be able to get them.

 

[amethal]

So one thing I'm wondering is... will psionics be a part of the new Eberron? As of right now they are not in the PHB II and unless they will be in the Eberron Players Guide (which I think would irritate alot of people to no end.). Where are the Psionics? I think with Sarlona, the Kalashtar and the Quori (I think that's right) and the abundance of aberrations, I'm just wondering how WotC is going to handle this. According to their stated plans, if psionics are in a PHB then it would be a year after the release of Eberron that people would be able to get them.

I'm far from an expert on 4th edition rules and design.

However, I think you can simply say "Sarlonna is controlled by the psionic quori" without needing rules for exactly how they do it. Monsters will have whatever abilities they want to give them, which will be in the monster description rather than requiring you to look at separate psinics rules to see what the do. PC kalashtar may have some racial ability called "psionic aptitude" or similar but this will be described like all the other racial abilties.

You won't be able to play psions yet, but there's nothing stopping you calling your wizard a psion if you want.

 

[Imaro]

I'm far from an expert on 4th edition rules and design.

However, I think you can simply say "Sarlonna is controlled by the psionic quori" without needing rules for exactly how they do it. Monsters will have whatever abilities they want to give them, which will be in the monster description rather than requiring you to look at separate psinics rules to see what the do. PC kalashtar may have some racial ability called "psionic aptitude" or similar but this will be described like all the other racial abilties.

You won't be able to play psions yet, but there's nothing stopping you calling your wizard a psion if you want.

I agree with you about monsters... but Eberron has a PC race (Kalashtar) that are based around psionics. I don't know how that would fly with old players of Eberron, and I think it would cheapen the race in that they should have some benefits that deal with psionics (especially racial feats)... however if the powers don't exist yet they can't. Or if they do and haven't been published yet...then the benefits won't really be that great because the system they're meant for isn't available.

Another possible hiccup is that the campaign settings are two book affairs, so there's a limited window to publish the basics of the setting (and I think psionics qualify as a basic conceit in Eberron). I know the worst thing WotC could do is sell me what amounts to incomplete campaign books then try to make it so I have to subscribe to DDI for the rest.

 

[Khairn]

You won't be able to play psions yet, but there's nothing stopping you calling your wizard a psion if you want.

Hopefully WotC won't use that as a crutch for not providing what is an integral part of the Eberron setting. I really do expect psionics to be available once the setting guide comes out. Its a cornerstone to the entire setting.

To have it otherwise would be the same as having FR without bards, half-orcs, barbarians, gods, ... err ... uhmm ... nevermind.

 

[Rechan]

Among other things, it's not so much that "You can run Eberron without psionics", but that Eberron was the first setting after Dark Sun that made Psionics an integral part of the setting, from day 1. Psionics in other settings have always came across as a footnote tacked on to the very back just in case someone might be interested in it.

So it's a disservice to just not support it.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Hopefully WotC won't use that as a crutch for not providing what is an integral part of the Eberron setting. I really do expect psionics to be available once the setting guide comes out. Its a cornerstone to the entire setting.

To have it otherwise would be the same as having FR without bards, half-orcs, barbarians, gods, ... err ... uhmm ... nevermind.

I would disagree... Liek Rechan said, Psionics are part of Eberron while other settings have them tacked on like an afterthought.. the Psions always evoked a 'where did that come from?', at least for me.
I have been running Eberron since it came out.. and have not had a single Psionic PC yet...but if one of my players wanted one, the setting has the answer to where this ability comes from.

I am looking forward to the 4e version of the setting and wish it were sooner..despite the rack of 3x books in my den...

 

[LightPhoenix]

I think everyone is jumping the gun a little bit here. We know the FR book will have the Swordmage... why wouldn't the Eberron book have a Psion class in it?

 

[Rechan]

I think everyone is jumping the gun a little bit here. We know the FR book will have the Swordmage... why wouldn't the Eberron book have a Psion class in it?

A few reasons.

1) WotC would sell more books if they put Psionics in a non-setting-specific book. Those that want Psionics will buy that book, those that want Eberron will buy those books, and those that want both will buy both. It would be harder, imho, to make Psionics fans swallow buying an Eberron book just to get their mind-fu.

2) The setting book is going to have classes and races that are unique to that setting. You say to someone "psionics", they don't think of Eberron first; you say "Artificer", they do. The same with the Warforged. Psionics, while given a place in Eberron, are not a unique entity of it. If Any setting would have psionic classes dropped in the book, it'd be Dark Sun, where Psionics are the default (because Magic is kinda out of player hands).

3) Psionics is going to require, or at least it's going to have, three to four classes. Why do I say this? The Soulknife was real popular (and the Lurk was nicely constructed), so I expect to see it again. The Psion (or some version) is a necessity, and they've said as much that they're coming back. And I expect to see some sort of psionic defender. We might get some weird Telepathy-Society Mind leader. So that's 3-4 classes. Each class gets 15 pages (as per the PHB spread). That's 45-60 pages, just of psionic classes. For just an aspect of Eberron. It doesn't fly.

 

[Evil DM]

The entries in the MM are not meant to be permanent PC races. They're just placeholders primarily meant for running NPCs. (See Warforged.)

Does that mean the warforged article in the Dragon Magazine superscribes the one from the MM?

That would explain why the warforged resolve is different in these two sources. So is the warforged now (according to the new racical power) able to use his racial power if he is not bloodied. But gains more HPs if he is bloodied?

Cheers, Evil DM.

 

[drothgery]

3) Psionics is going to require, or at least it's going to have, three to four classes. Why do I say this? The Soulknife was real popular (and the Lurk was nicely constructed), so I expect to see it again. The Psion (or some version) is a necessity, and they've said as much that they're coming back. And I expect to see some sort of psionic defender.

I think you could probably get by with a Soulknife/striker and Telepath/controller to start with. The all-purpose psion probably is gone (and the better-at-fireballs-than-wizard kineticist likely isn't ever coming back); whatever they do with the replacement for the psion, it won't be anywhere near the generalist of the 3.x version. And a psionic defender runs into the basic problem of 'how is this guy different from a reflavored swordmage or paladin?'.

Not that I don't think you're right; psionics will be in a PHBx (probably PHB3) or a psionics book, with maybe one psionic class in the Dark Sun book (if there is one).