Fantasy AGE by Green Ronin: Anyone read/Dm'd or Played it?

[Thomas Shey]

2E's Psionics are much simpler, much more elegant (essentially like general skills), but using power points and skill rolls to see if they triggered. Aside from the range of available abilities, and who can get them, it's almost nothing at all like the OD&D Sup III nor AD&D 1E psionics.

3E's was very much weak sauce - being essentially vancian with a different source and list. And man, the list overlapped. A lot. 5E has almost totally lost the distinctions mechanically.

I thought I remembered 3e era psionics still using power points. Am I completely confused here?

 

[R_J_K75]

2E's Psionics are much simpler, much more elegant (essentially like general skills), but using power points and skill rolls to see if they triggered.

The thing I liked about 2E Psionics was the attack and defense mechanics, it really made it feel different from arcane or divine magic. I cant speak to anything 1E and prior.

3E's was very much weak sauce - being essentially vancian with a different source and list. And man, the list overlapped.

Agreed. I played a "Psion" from the Expanded Psionics Handbook and it really felt no different than playing a wizard.

5E has almost totally lost the distinctions mechanically.

As of now our group has stopped playing 5E, and probably wont switch back to 2024 D&D (that just sounds strange, and felt weird typing it) but I'd like to see psionics as a core class, but I know that's not going to happen.

 

[R_J_K75]

I thought I remembered 3e era psionics still using power points. Am I completely confused here?

Yes I believe they still used power points in 3E. Instead of spell slots you just used points which still felt very much like arcane magic. Although IIRC the only difference was that you could manifest any power you knew as long as you had enough points regardless of the power level. It's been 20 years since I played/read those books so I may be misremembering. Hope that makes sense.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yes I believe they still used power points in 3E. Instead of spell slots you just used points which still felt very much like arcane magic. Although IIRC the only difference was that you could manifest any power you knew as long as you had enough points regardless of the power level. It's been 20 years since I played/read those books so I may be misremembering. Hope that makes sense.

Well, I'm used to most psionics systems, including non-fantasy being "You have a psionic power and it costs points to use it". Possibly with a skill roll. You certainly can get magic systems that take that tact, but at the end of the day, if you're going to have paranormal abilities as a limited resource, there's only so many ways to do it.

 

[R_J_K75]

Well, I'm used to most psionics systems, including non-fantasy being "You have a psionic power and it costs points to use it". Possibly with a skill roll. You certainly can get magic systems that take that tact, but at the end of the day, if you're going to have paranormal abilities as a limited resource, there's only so many ways to do it.

I think a psionic system in a modern game could work something like this. Say hypothetically there are 30 psionic powers in the game, a psion could attempt to manifest any one of them regardless of their power level at any time (no points or slots) just by sheer will and the player makes a check of some sort. Depending on the result the effect works, works greater than expected, it fails or worst-case scenario fails catastrophically. Pretty sure from what little Ive read of ShadowDark this is similar to how spellcasting works in that game, so this isnt a new concept Ive come up with by any means. For all I know, as I havent read the entirety of ModernAGE this may be the case in that game too.

Theres just something about a character's head exploding from overestimating their abilities that I find funny. This is the best I could find

 

[Thomas Shey]

There have been versions of psi (though not unlimited breadth; psi's with broad-band abilities are actually pretty rare in fiction once you get outside of superheroes), but, well, it tends to overfavor the lucky and intimidate those that aren't.

 

[R_J_K75]

There have been versions of psi (though not unlimited breadth; psi's with broad-band abilities are actually pretty rare in fiction once you get outside of superheroes), but, well, it tends to overfavor the lucky and intimidate those that aren't.

The overall effect is the same, which Im fine with, but how do we make the delivery better? I think is the question? I think the answer is to have a micro-system for Psionics based off of the macro-system of whatever RPG youre playing.

 

[Thomas Shey]

The overall effect is the same, which Im fine with, but how do we make the delivery better? I think is the question? I think the answer is to have a micro-system for Psionics based off of the macro-system of whatever RPG youre playing.

Well, you can have a lot of different approaches, honestly, if you're willing to do the heavy lifting, but at the end of the day you can do that with different varieties of magic. Its just whether its worth the design and system overhead to you.

 

[R_J_K75]

Well, you can have a lot of different approaches, honestly, if you're willing to do the heavy lifting, but at the end of the day you can do that with different varieties of magic. Its just whether its worth the design and system overhead to you.

Yes I agree, The mechanics matter to an extent but its the player versus the GM delivery too. I think alot of it comes down to how a player presents their psions abilities and how the GM interprets it. I believe delivery is first, mechanics come second.

 

[Thomas Shey]

Yes I agree, The mechanics matter to an extent but its the player versus the GM delivery too. I think alot of it comes down to how a player presents their psions abilities and how the GM interprets it. I believe delivery is first, mechanics come second.

Well, I'm on record as saying if your mechanics are out of sync with your in-world expression, they don't go together.