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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mouseferatu" data-source="post: 1744772" data-attributes="member: 1288">D&D has always maintained that the sorcerer/wizard is (among other things) the heavy artillery of the group. Fireball, lightning bolt, etc. are staples of the game, something that nobody else can do as well.At least, until now.I love the Expanded Psionics Handbook. It's far and away the best version of psionics to date. But I'm afraid that it may be too good. I like allowing psionics, but I really prefer that the sorcerer/wizard remain the heavy artillery--and I just don't think that's possible anymore.Compare the various energy powers (energy ball, energy bolt, etc.) to the offensive spells available to the wizard.A psion (particularly a kineticist) can choose his energy type on a spur of the moment, allowing him to take advantages of weaknesses and exploit vulnerabilities. The wizard must know in advance to prepare for such, and the sorcerer's out of luck if he hasn't learned multiple spells.The psion can choose which type of save to require (Fort or Ref), allowing him to take advantage of vulnerabilities. The wiz/sor cannot.The psionicist can choose multiple options that do extra damage (+1 per die) or raise the save DC or ignore hardness. The wiz/sor cannot.The psion need only take one or two offensive powers, because they're so easily customizable, and can focus all his other powers on utility and defense. To match that, the wiz/sor must learn many more spells.The psion can blanket a field in offensive spells, pumped to his max damage. The wiz/sor only has a few spells of any given level.It's true that if a psion blows his entire PP reserve like that, he's helpless later, whereas the wiz/sor will still have lower-level spells. But honestly, how often have you folks seen a psion or wizard run completely out of spells. It does happen, but not often.Bottom line? Assuming both have the "standard" array of offensive powers, a kineticist psion can deal far more damage, with fewer spells, and with many more options, than a wizard or sorcerer of the same level. I'm not arguing that this makes the psion a better character, but it does seem to make him a better artillery platform. And honestly, that just doesn't entirely sit right with me.So, am I missing something? Is there a balancing factor I'm just not considering? Or is it simply the case that the kineticist can, indeed, dish out more than the sorcerer? (And if so, am I the only one bothered by that? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />)</blockquote>

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