Hmm. Psionics. What is that at all?

[Shin Okada]

Well, I have been avoiding psionics for DnD. In AD&D, that rule was, IMHO, broken and just a sauce of cheese. Also, I did not like to introduce that pseudo-scientific tricks into a world of sword and sorcery. We already have a magic, a way of mind. Why do we need another set of mental powers?

I did not even used psionic handbook for 3e. I have heard that the book was not that broken. But I still could not understand why the hell we should need another suit of mental tricks. And using the word "psionics" in a fantasy world does not seem to be "right" for me.

Now, I have got the Expanded Psionics Handbook. It seems OK. But I am still wondering what can this book add to my D&D campaign. Why we should introduce slightly different way of using mind to do tricks? Why we need psionics when we already have Sorcerers, people who naturally have magical abilities? I am just wondering.

So, tell me POSITIVE reasoning why I should use this book. And tell me what is the critical difference between psionics and magic spells. And tell me what those rules can give us.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Asking 'Why add another type of magic' is like asking 'Why add another kind of fighter' in regards to a samurai, for example. Flavor, variety, different mechanics or options, take your pick.

In my opinion, the psion is a wonderful replacement for the sorcerer. It maintains the 'fire on the fly' type mechanics of the sorcerer, but is otherwise quite different. Many complain that the sorcerer is too similar to the wizard in most respects -- adding the psion would address that type of complaint.

Also, anyone that chafes at the Vancian 'fire'n'forget' magic has a ready-made spellpoint-based caster ready to go.

 

[Ravellion]

They are very good for a complete change. Remove the wizard and sorcerer and replace them with psions! People haven't gotten used to them yet, as they have done with wizards. Take a cue from Dark Sun for example.

Rav

 

[derelictjay]

Mechanically, there is no difference, psionics is just another form of magic.

However, psionics does brings a new flavor to wet your appetite. With power points and the psionic feats, you can make the more mundane character races (humans and halflings) have a more supernatural and exotic feel to them.

All of a sudden your human, can run real fast in heavy armor, while throwing death from his mind, all without a chance of failure.

 

[Shin Okada]

Hmm. One thing I can't understand is why we need this long new power list to use a point based spell system. Many of the powers seem to be just renamed version of spells. Why we couldn't just use power based system with existing spell list? That class could be there in PHB as Sorcerer, or a new substitution for Sorcerer. It is not so fun for me to read and understand this new, very long, yet not so novelty, list.

Maybe "flavor" is the biggest problem for me. It seems that I have an allergy on bringing "psionics" to the worlds of Sword and Sorcery. So as many of my friends. Yet there are so many monsters in MM and MM II which use psionics (though we can ignore and just give them ordinal spell-like abilities). That is very ... eh ... itchy.

 

[uzagi_akimbo]

Hmm. One thing I can't understand is why we need this long new power list to use a point based spell system. Many of the powers seem to be just renamed version of spells. Why we couldn't just use power based system with existing spell list? That class could be there in PHB as Sorcerer, or a new substitution for Sorcerer. It is not so fun for me to read and understand this new, very long, yet not so novelty, list.

Maybe "flavor" is the biggest problem for me. It seems that I have an allergy on bringing "psionics" to the worlds of Sword and Sorcery. So as many of my friends. Yet there are so many monsters in MM and MM II which use psionics (though we can ignore and just give them ordinal spell-like abilities). That is very ... eh ... itchy.

As for the allergy - call psionics "Mentalism" or whatever takes your fancy. Its a label, to be exchanged as flavour demands it. And to be honest, I personalyl always had the feeling that D20 FRP lacked some strong and flexible enchantment/mental magics.

As for the "spell list" - well, a lot of powers look like duplicates but are either far more personal (with a very limited range) in use or very flexible, yet limited in their effectiveness (just compare damage output of a non-specialised psion against that of a sorcerer of equal level - or the fact that several powers require a constant expenditure of energy to maintain over any prolonged period ).
A psion, simply through the nature of its class is always a specialist, too (something a sorcerer is only rarely), with the mandatory access to one set of powers blocking out the other six specialty ranges. Which makes them less generic, more distinctive than sorcerers, but keeping the flexibilty that a wizard lacks. Wilders are... hmm interesting, but I don't think, all that powerful, Psychic Warriors are another interesting class (and rather essential for some interesting NPC races like the Githyanki, Githzerai and Duergar).

I am not so sure about the races added by the XPH - but these are the easiest thing to pick and discard. And some of the powers are almost ridiculously abusable, but well, any GM can just decide to alter/ban their effects in his personal campaign. They are hard-pressed to do any traditional item creation, too.

And they do break the classic fantasy mold - something not be scoffed at.

 

[Oscar carramiñana]

The psionics are the Third way of "magic" (arcane-divine-mentalism) Some powers are similar to spells as the same with arcane-divine spells.
The psionics are another way to do the same with some changes
open your mind and add a lot of new characters