Experiences with Psionics in 3rd (and 3.5) Edition

[Kryndal Levik]

I talked to a friend of mine earlier tonight, and he has responded to my open call for new characters in our ongoing 3.5e campaign with a request to add a psionic character. He ran a psionicist in 2nd edition (with me as DM), and I have to say I really didn't enjoy the experience. The system was really messy, and too open to abuse. He was really good about it- usually- but it was still a bit of a pain.

That being said- I want to at least give some thought to his request. I've got the 3rd edition Psionics book, but didn't really read it in too much detail. It's never seen use in my campaigns, and I've not yet looked into any of the 3.5 updates or done any other research.

How does the new system play out? Does anyone have any recommendations about whether or not the RAW are balanced? Would you recommend another class (closer to "core") with similar flavor? I seriously considered steering him toward a sorceror, but, again, didn't want to dismiss psionics outright. He said he's flexible (he knew that his other character was somewhat of a pain to manage in my last campaign), so any thoughts folks have would be greatly appreciated.

 

[The Lost Muse]

The expanded psionics handbook is excellent, and fairly well balanced imho. You can read most of it at d20srd.org

 

[Herobizkit]

Most people that have problems with psionics haven't read them, or used them to any great extent. The mechanics are both elegant (and IMO, should be the base from which all D&D magic should be made... I'm looking at YOU, 4e!) and easily adaptable. I think the lack of familiarity is what turns most DMs off: someone casts a Magic Missile, you know what happens (because everyone knows what magic missile does), but the first few times someone hucks an Energy Ray the DM is like WTF!?

That said, I'd strongly suggest hitting the SRD (or instructing your player to) and printing off a page for each power he has; that way, you have it handy w/o having to reference the book or ask him all the time.

 

[Asmor]

Gotta say, I was kind of hesitant about the psionics rules at first just because I really didn't want to learn a new system...

Truth of the matter is, it's really, really simple. It's a lot like the regular magic system, except it's point-based instead of vancian. One thing I personally like is that it's a lot more mathematically-sound... For example, while they provide a table for bonus power points for high ability scores, it's based on a simple mathematical formula... Off the top of my head, I believe it's .5 * manifester level * ability bonus, rounded down. If only the psion's base PP/day were so easy to remember...

Biggest thing to worry about for balance, imho, is magic-psionic transparency. I reccomend that, unless you're making psionics a heavy focus of your campaign (and honestly, even if you ARE), magic and psionics should be treated as the same... Spell resistance should work against powers and power resistance should work against spells, and stuff like that. Otherwise the psion essentially gets a free pass on SR unless you make it a point to use psionic monsters.

 

[Rabelais]

I've played a low to mid level Psion, up to 10th, and while it's pretty powerful, it's not a huge jump powerwise over a sorcerer.

The PrC's based off of the Psionics books however, are boring and entirely useless, but that's another thread. Stick with the base classes, ignore the PrC's.

 

[MerricB]

Warning! Warning!

If you have fewer than four combats per day - especially if you use 1 combat/day - do NOT allow Psionics in your game. It's totally unbalanced in such a format.

If your party adventures until the wizards run out of spells, then rests, do NOT allow Psionics, as you'll be doing it after every combat or two.

Psionics is sort of ok, but runs into severe balance problems in those two situations, both of which I've experienced. Give me Magic of Incarnum any day over Psionics.

Cheers!

 

[Glyfair]

If your party adventures until the wizards run out of spells, then rests, do NOT allow Psionics, as you'll be doing it after every combat or two.

Or at least make sure that resting isn't an automatic and safe option. Have the opponents of the PCs follow and harass them when they try to rest, for example.

 

[Graf]

MAKE SURE YOU KNOW THAT THEY CAN NEVER SPEND MORE POINTS ON A POWER THAN THEIR MANIFESTER LEVEL.

Sorry. I know all caps is tacky/inappropriate but 90% of psionics problems come from abusive players who "slip" in an extra point or two. (another 9% is people who don't properly keep track of the points...)

Whatever the source, whatever the excuse they can't spend more points on a power than their Manifester level. If you see someone doing something weird/powerful 'pause' the game and make them count out the points.

Personally if they've been a problem player in the past I'd give them poker chips or something to represent their power points and make them turn them in when they're using a power.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If you have fewer than four combats per day - especially if you use 1 combat/day - do NOT allow Psionics in your game. It's totally unbalanced in such a format.

I think that depends upon the character of the combats. A single drawn out conflict- say, hit & run tactics of well-DMed kobolds (a la Tucker)- can be quite draining for any PC.

PS- I like the poker chip idea!

 

[Glyfair]

PS- I like the poker chip idea!

M&Ms work well, also.

Advantages: Smaller, can be eaten when used.
Disadvantages: Lose PP when nearby hungry players grab some when you aren't looking.