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<blockquote data-quote="Guest 6801328" data-source="post: 7969300">IMO, what goes on in movies and comic books (in terms of broadcasting psionics) is irrelevant. In those media the goal is almost always to signal something to the reader/viewer, not to other characters. (I guess in some cases Eleven's nosebleed is a signal to Mike and the others, but mostly it's for us.)In an RPG it's the interplay of game rules that matter.&nbsp; &quot;Simple rules, complex implications&quot; is my mantra.So my question is: what role in decision-making does the broadcast of psionics, to PCs and NPCs, play?&nbsp; For example, I think part of what makes VSM-less casting from monsters so scary and effective is that you don't know where it's coming from.&nbsp; I remember a great session from the endgame of Out of the Abyss where we couldn't tell who was mind-controlling our party members.&nbsp; It was awesome.&nbsp; So I see a good reason to give those abilities to monsters.But given to PCs they are a straight-up increase in power, without any &quot;suspense&quot; benefits.&nbsp; So if we (by which I mean &quot;WotC&quot;) is going to give that power boost to psions (lower-case), the question is why?&nbsp; What's the thinking behind it, in terms of interesting interplay of rules?&nbsp; The answer must be that it leads to decision-making that is different from the decision-making of regular casters.&nbsp; As an example, Sorcerers have this ability, but it costs a resource, a resource they get as recompense for having fewer spells to choose from.What would be some good counterbalances for psions, that are both flavorful and lead to a new, different kind of trade-off?&nbsp; For example, I could see a solution in which psions can choose to use their abilities without VSM, but it causes more strain to do so, which in turn carries risks.&nbsp; But it's safer to hold up the power crystal and speak the words out loud.&nbsp; Or whatever.&nbsp; Here's an example:When using your psi-die abilities, you can do so without any components, but you must make a Constitution saving throw versus a DC of 15.&nbsp; If you fail, your die size is automatically reduced by one step. You may use a smaller psi-die to reduce the saving throw: each step down reduces the saving throw by 5.So at higher levels you get better at VSM-less psionics, because you have more die steps to play with, because you can use them at a level that is easy for you.&nbsp; Except you can't do that when you're already &quot;tired&quot;.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Guest 6801328, post: 7969300"] IMO, what goes on in movies and comic books (in terms of broadcasting psionics) is irrelevant. In those media the goal is almost always to signal something to the reader/viewer, not to other characters. (I guess in some cases Eleven's nosebleed is a signal to Mike and the others, but mostly it's for us.) In an RPG it's the interplay of game rules that matter. "Simple rules, complex implications" is my mantra. So my question is: what role in decision-making does the broadcast of psionics, to PCs and NPCs, play? For example, I think part of what makes VSM-less casting from monsters so scary and effective is that you don't know where it's coming from. I remember a great session from the endgame of Out of the Abyss where we couldn't tell who was mind-controlling our party members. It was awesome. So I see a good reason to give those abilities to monsters. But given to PCs they are a straight-up increase in power, without any "suspense" benefits. So if we (by which I mean "WotC") is going to give that power boost to psions (lower-case), the question is [I]why[/I]? What's the thinking behind it, in terms of interesting interplay of rules? The answer must be that it leads to decision-making that is different from the decision-making of regular casters. As an example, Sorcerers have this ability, but it costs a resource, a resource they get as recompense for having fewer spells to choose from. What would be some good counterbalances for psions, that are both flavorful and lead to a new, different kind of trade-off? For example, I could see a solution in which psions can choose to use their abilities without VSM, but it causes more strain to do so, which in turn carries risks. But it's safer to hold up the power crystal and speak the words out loud. Or whatever. Here's an example: [I]When using your psi-die abilities, you can do so without any components, but you must make a Constitution saving throw versus a DC of 15. If you fail, your die size is automatically reduced by one step. You may use a smaller psi-die to reduce the saving throw: each step down reduces the saving throw by 5.[/I] So at higher levels you get better at VSM-less psionics, because you have more die steps to play with, because you can use them at a level that is easy for you. Except you can't do that when you're already "tired". [/QUOTE]

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