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<blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011949" data-attributes="member: 18387">Expanded Psionics Handbook&nbsp; &nbsp; Psionics have always had an interesting place with in the world of D&amp;D.&nbsp; They never quite made it to be in the standard game always just hanging around on the fringe.&nbsp; First edition had them as a character add on based on a percentage chance assuming one had stats good enough to even make the attempt.&nbsp; Second edition brought in amore organized if a bit out of balance with the rest of the game.&nbsp; Now third edition has brought us a more balanced version and a revised and expanded version of that of which this review is of.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The Expanded Psionics Handbook is by Wizards of the Coast and written by Bruce Cordell.&nbsp; It is full color, nicely layout and even has an index.&nbsp; It is so much nicer to see books with indexes in them, makes finding things that much easier.&nbsp; The book is hardbound like most of the book Wizards makes these days and the price is a little on the high side at thirty five dollars.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The Psionics Handbook has a lot of very interesting ideas and uses in it.&nbsp; There are new races, new classes, new skills, new feat, new monsters, and of course pages upon pages of new powers.&nbsp; However, I think that psionics in general really should have been created more differently from normal magic.&nbsp; The powers have levels from first to ninth just like spell casters.&nbsp; The pretty much have the same option of feats like Empower, Quicken, Extend, etc just like the other caster.&nbsp; Psionics do use a point system instead of a spell slots making them a little more versatile but for me it just is not enough.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; One are that they did do a good job with is the feats.&nbsp; There are the metapsionic feats as I mentioned above like extend and the others, but there are other psionic feats that are interesting and allow the character to do things not otherwise possible.&nbsp; There are movement feats like Mental Leap, Speed of Thought, and Up the walls that allow for tremendous movements.&nbsp; I think the feel of psionics is really shown in the feats more then anywhere else.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; The classes are pretty standard.&nbsp; The Psion is the main psionic user and Psychic Warriors are more fighter oriented with some psionic powers to back that up with.&nbsp; The Soulknife can create a psionic like weapon and is great at fighting with that.&nbsp; The Wilder is lie the psion but relies more on chaos and emotion then deep thought.&nbsp; There are epic version s of the classes presented as well, and that is very nice to see included.&nbsp; More companies I feel should be doing this.&nbsp; There are a number of prestige classes as well, but for the most part they like the base classes just failed to really excite me about the whole psionics thing.&nbsp; There is the Metamind which is the super powerful psionic, the Illithid Slayer a hunter of those foul creatures.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Overall I just feel that Psionics was not made different enough to really warrant having them.&nbsp; They just feel like a not so different form of magic in mechanics and approach.&nbsp; The book does the job of covering psionics well and offering a few options for people to use.&nbsp; So, it is psionics that people will already be a bit familiar with and should make it fast and easy to add into a game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Messageboard Golem, post: 2011949, member: 18387"] Expanded Psionics Handbook Psionics have always had an interesting place with in the world of D&D. They never quite made it to be in the standard game always just hanging around on the fringe. First edition had them as a character add on based on a percentage chance assuming one had stats good enough to even make the attempt. Second edition brought in amore organized if a bit out of balance with the rest of the game. Now third edition has brought us a more balanced version and a revised and expanded version of that of which this review is of. The Expanded Psionics Handbook is by Wizards of the Coast and written by Bruce Cordell. It is full color, nicely layout and even has an index. It is so much nicer to see books with indexes in them, makes finding things that much easier. The book is hardbound like most of the book Wizards makes these days and the price is a little on the high side at thirty five dollars. The Psionics Handbook has a lot of very interesting ideas and uses in it. There are new races, new classes, new skills, new feat, new monsters, and of course pages upon pages of new powers. However, I think that psionics in general really should have been created more differently from normal magic. The powers have levels from first to ninth just like spell casters. The pretty much have the same option of feats like Empower, Quicken, Extend, etc just like the other caster. Psionics do use a point system instead of a spell slots making them a little more versatile but for me it just is not enough. One are that they did do a good job with is the feats. There are the metapsionic feats as I mentioned above like extend and the others, but there are other psionic feats that are interesting and allow the character to do things not otherwise possible. There are movement feats like Mental Leap, Speed of Thought, and Up the walls that allow for tremendous movements. I think the feel of psionics is really shown in the feats more then anywhere else. The classes are pretty standard. The Psion is the main psionic user and Psychic Warriors are more fighter oriented with some psionic powers to back that up with. The Soulknife can create a psionic like weapon and is great at fighting with that. The Wilder is lie the psion but relies more on chaos and emotion then deep thought. There are epic version s of the classes presented as well, and that is very nice to see included. More companies I feel should be doing this. There are a number of prestige classes as well, but for the most part they like the base classes just failed to really excite me about the whole psionics thing. There is the Metamind which is the super powerful psionic, the Illithid Slayer a hunter of those foul creatures. Overall I just feel that Psionics was not made different enough to really warrant having them. They just feel like a not so different form of magic in mechanics and approach. The book does the job of covering psionics well and offering a few options for people to use. So, it is psionics that people will already be a bit familiar with and should make it fast and easy to add into a game. [/QUOTE]

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