How do you like you psionic flavor?

[Lonely Tylenol]

An old BBEG in a campaign I aborted years ago was actually several BBEGs in a permanent metaconcert from their respective Fortresses of Solitude. They maintained a puppet Psion King who was actually just a brain-damaged human that could easily be controlled from a long distance off and who was completely expendable. Their master plan was to unite a series of artifacts that would break down the barriers between all minds so that, essentially, there would be only one mind. Everyone in the world would be inside each other's heads in a permanent union, and the physical world would fade away into nothingness. All conflict would end, there would be no more strife as perfect understanding came over all sentient beings as they were assimilated into the overmind.

Of course, the PCs weren't about to let that kind of new-age crap happen...

 

[marune]

I have no problem with the crystal thing, however, because in FR psi was named the "Invisible Art" in previous lore/game accessory, I have some problems with the default visual/audible effects.

 

[wedgeski]

My campaign is pretty traditional: psionics have been around for a couple of generations, but they *all* stem from the dreams of one 'source', whose subconscious greatly affects the way psionics manifest. (This is partly a conceit to balance out the fact that arcane power is similarly unpredictable under certain circumstances, but it has supplied several adventure opportunities as well.) So in general, I think I prefer the 'dreamstate' approach to the 'crystal new age' approach, but that may just be the way things have worked out rather than from any real preference on my part. My main goal was to give them a distinctly different feel from the arcane stuff around which a lot of the campaign revolves.

/shrug

 

[Arrgh! Mark!]

Personally, I prefer a kind of scientific "Evolved human" type psionics.

Unlike magic, but mysterious mental abilities that humans are not quite ready to use. I prefer a form of psionics that is limited in it's combat application but more useful for psychometry, mind-readings and some mental wipe-style stuff.

You know, modern conspiracy style psionics. Whenever I see new age crystal stuff or other type of magic I just wonder; why use the word psionics? I can see mind-magic or what not, but using the word psi- often has connotations of the psy disciplines in the real world.