Experiences with Psionics in 3rd (and 3.5) Edition

[Plane Sailing]

But a psion maxing out his powers several rounds in a row is no different really from a sorcerer casting fireball every round.

I'm not sure about that...

Compare, say, 10th level (to give the sorcerer maximum edge). He'd got say 4 x 5th level slots (assuming great Charisma) with which he can cast empowered fireballs. He only takes 5ft steps, since it is a full round action for him.

Each fireball does avg 35 *1.5 = 42.5 damage, Ref save DC 18 for half.

The psion can have the meditation feat that allows him to recover focus as a move action, so as long as he isn't unlucky he'll probably be able to use his metapsionic feat each round (assuming concentration = 13 ranks, +4 from Con would be +17 on a DC20 check).

So each round he casts an overchannelled maximised energy ball (fire), spending 12pp (his normal maximum of 10, +2 for the overchannel. A previous application of vigour could have given 50 temp hit points, so we won't worry about the damage from overchannelling).

Each fireball does 8d6+8, maximised = 56 damage, Ref save DC 20 for half.

At the end of those four rounds the sorcerer has used all his 5th level slots, the psion has used 48pp out of 113pp, less 10 for that vigour, means that the psion still has 55pp handy - so he could drop another four of those fireballs if he wants...

...assuming he doesn't have to worry about more encounters per day, as said above

Cheers

 

[Steel_Wind]

I've been running an Age of Worms campaign for over a year and a half now.

One of the PCs is a psychic warrior/ elocator.

I have had absolutely zero problems with it. The Warmage and the the Mystic Theurge are far more difficult to deal with in terms of balance issues than psionics.

I'm running it RAW, with ZERO problems.

 

[DragonLancer]

The XPH psionics (3.5) are a vast improvement over what has gone before. I find them balanced (bar the couple exceptions above) and worth including in a game. IMX I find them less annoying than standard magic. But thats just me.

 

[Bacris]

I've got to know - all the folks complaining about the direct damage the psions are putting out - are these campaigns based solely on enemies created in a silo with no thought to the party? I mean, sure, there are going to be enemies that have no clue about the party's makeup, but by the time they're 6th+ level, if they've stayed in the same area, they're going to be known, at least to a degree, about the style of tactics they use.

And, I mean seriously, I've seen clerics / wizards / sorcerors / druids dish out some nasty Save or Dies that the psionic classes just can't touch.

Each side of the coin has its own benefits for sure and I definitely recommend
a) understand the psionic rules - namely augmentation, psionic focus, and psionic-magic transparency
b) understand the character your player wants to make - namely the powers he's going to use and the feats he's going to take

Armed with the above, he may come up with some great tactics, but you should be able to know how his powers / feats work. We're really not talking about a huge amount of extra work here at the low levels - understanding how maybe 5 powers and 4 feats work doesn't seem to be asking a lot

From my own personal experience playing: kineticist from 1 to 24, psychic warrior from 2 to 8, egoist from 5 to 8, psychic warrior 10 (1-shot game), ardent from 1 to 4 (current character), erudite for a few months... and probably a few I'm forgetting, the 3.5 psionic ruleset is by far the most balanced of SRD magic systems (never tried Incarnum / Pact / Shadow / Binding). It's not perfect, but it's far better balanced than 3.0 psionics.

 

[Henry]

Not much to add, other than I would probably reduce the power points gained after 4th level by half -- in other words, from 17 points at 4th level and 25 points at 5th level to 21 points, and from 25/35 from 5th to 6th down to 21/26, etc. On reflection, they give a heck of a lot of power after 4th, more than what the Psion needs for five or six encounters per day! --especially counting high ability scores and racial bonuses.

 

[Psion]

Or at least make sure that resting isn't an automatic and safe option.

I was about to say. So long as your players think they might have to worry about more encounters, you are generally good to go.

I wouldn't shoot for 4 encounters a day... too predictable. 1d6 or 1d4+1 is about right by me.

 

[MarkAHart]

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.

I found this out the hard way...I tend to prefer fewer, bigger fights rather than more numerous, smaller combats.

 

[avr]

If a psions main shtick is damage dealing, rather than buffs or save-based effects, the number of combats per day is a poor balancing factor. The psion will do about the same amount of total damage whether nova'ing or not, and the usual result is a player who shines for the first 2-3 combats in a day and gets bored or wanders off to do the dishes for any more. Like wizards but worse.

 

[PrinceXaxor]

The Expanded Psionics Handbook is the book you want. Casters should not have Multiple Ability Dependency. None of the core casters have it.

The RAW is rather balanced. Energy Missile should have its augment changed to reflect the other energy powers, and you might want to get rid of Metamorphosis, but only if you don't like polymorph and shapechange. Astral Construct is fine as is, especially when you have Druids throwing around Summon Nature's Ally V for 1d3 Dire Apes. It takes multiple rounds for a Shaper to create that many.

Yeah, they can go "nova." Big deal. I'd still take Finger of Death over Crisis of Life (telepath only, mind you) or any Energy power. No [Mind-Affecting] descriptor for one thing, and a whole six levels of unexpended spells left for the day! Wizards and Sorcerors have it easy. Free scaling! No need to actually micromanage! And Wizards don't even need to stick to the same power list!

Complete Psionics was an insult to the system. Avoid it.

 

[Spatula]

The new psionics is decent; certainly it's a vast improvement over 1e and 2e psionics that had their own peculiar sub-systems of rules that didn't interact well with everything else. There are some problem powers and feats, but then that's true for magic users as well. The mechanics do encourage players to blow their power points in 1-2 encounters and then go off to recover, and while you can plan against that, it is more work on your part. And the players might get sick of always operating under tight deadlines.

I personally don't like that the 3e psion is a better damage dealer than wizards or sorcerers, but that's more of a question of feel.