I just learned the Psionic rules, and I have questions.

[irdeggman]

Things to always keep in mind:

1. pp limit per power. A psionic character can only put as many pp into a power as he has manifestor levels (for augmentation purposes).

2. Range. Psionic powers are usually of shorter range. Most are either close or medium in range.

3. Limitied targets. Very few psionic powers affect more than one target at a time.

4. Focus. Keep track of psionic focus. Using a metapsionic feat expends the focus (so only one can be applied at a time, unlike a sorcerer/wizard).


Using 2 and 3 a single psionic foe should be fairly easily handled by a group of PCs. At best he could take down 1 a round. But the others could close within a round, 2 max. Once engaged psionic characters have a lot of trouble surviving melee - manifesting definsively is the way to avoid the AoO generated but still. . . .

A psionic PC will do real well against a single foe in a day. But if there are more encounters his pp start to run out, if there are more foes in a combat the same issue - and his powers generally only affect a single opponent at a time.

 

[Plane Sailing]

3. Limitied targets. Very few psionic powers affect more than one target at a time.

What, like:

# Energy Ball (20ft radius)
# Energy Bolt (120ft line)
# Energy Burst (40ft radius!)
# Energy Cone
# Energy Stun (5ft radius)
# Energy Wall
# Energy Wave (120ft cone)

With augmentation and energy selection they have a huge range of choices... and then there is:

# swarm of crystals (15ft cone)
# hail of crystals
# ultrablast
and more...

 

[Henry]

On the "too much bookkeeping for DMs" issue: The easy answer is to use the Phrenic template. All the abilities are psi-like abilities usable at will or x times per day. Plus, OTHER than the mind flayer, most of the creatures in the XPH are basically "Phrenic" rather than having a power pool. Heck, for me, spell slots are too much bookkeeping, so I usually just limit each ability to three times and be done with it. Nine fights out of ten, that creature's not lasting more than ten rounds, anyway.

 

[irdeggman]

# Energy Ball (20ft radius)

- Psychokineticist level 4 power - range long

# Energy Bolt (120ft line)

- good one that is 1 available to any psion (w/o expending a feat) - range 120 ft

# Energy Burst (40ft radius!)

- Psychokineticist level 3 power - range 40 ft

# Energy Cone

- Psychokineticist level 3 power, range 60 ft

# Energy Stun (5ft radius)

- Psychokineticist level 2 power - range close

# Energy Wall

- Shaper level 3 power, range medium must be w/i 10 ft of wall to suffer damage

# Energy Wave (120ft cone)

- Psychokineticist level 7 power, range 120 ft

With augmentation and energy selection they have a huge range of choices... and then there is:

never meant to imply that they weren't adaptable (energy selection is great).

# swarm of crystals (15ft cone)

- Shaper, level 2 power, range 15 ft

# hail of crystals

- Shaper, power level 5, range - medium

# ultrablast

- general psion level 7 power, range 15 ft. Another good one available to all, but still a very short range power
and more...

So from the list you provided:

2 powers are available to all psions
5 are only available to psychokineticist (w/o expending a feat per power)
3 are only available to shapers (metacreative)


5 are either short range or 60 ft or less (fixed range)
4 are either medium or 120 ft or less (fixed)
1 is long range


So it would still appear that there are few non-single target powers and their range is closer than a spellcasters.

They do have tremendous flexability (with energy substitution).

I don't want to start yet another psion versus spellcaster thread. I gave limitations on psionic powers and my observation is still valid.

 

[Particle_Man]

Things to always keep in mind:

1. pp limit per power. A psionic character can only put as many pp into a power as he has manifestor levels (for augmentation purposes).

Also, if you have an item like a cognizance crystal that gives you more than one pp, you have to keep the pools separate. A particular power could come from personal power points or one cognizance cystal's power points but not both. Similarly, multiple items can't pool their power points.

Oh, and the XPH has four standard classes (as well as some prestige classes): Psion, Wilder (sort of the answer to sorceror), Psychic Warrior (the answer to the fighter/mage), and SoulKnife (a jedi without the mind tricks - you get a glowing sword you make from your mind and can go all swashbucklery). The latter doesn't have to use any psionic powers, so can be dropped into a "Straight up magic" campaign with few changes.

 

[moritheil]

Soulknives in play have always struck me as very similar to monks: fast-moving, lightly armored, and generally lethal to most enemies if both are within an AMF.

 

[Enforcer]

Personally, I like the psionics rules better than the magic rules (Vancian has always rubbed me the wrong way--why can't my Wizard remember how magic missle works?). I prefer Sorcerers/Favored Souls/Warlocks for my magic-using classes.

I also like the idea that it takes more energy to have a "hotter" fireball (i.e. no free caster-level scaling, you have to spend more pp instead).

I do wish that psionics got more love from Wizards of the Coast (Complete Psionic was kind of meh, though I don't have a huge hate-on for it like many). Also, the Soulknife, while an amazing concept, really falls flat for me in execution--I view it as being pretty weak. The Mind's Eye (official Wizards article series) that lets you choose to replace Psychic Strike with bonus feats goes a long ways towards fixing it, however, even if they forgot to replace Knife to the Soul with something too.

As for going all-out with psionic NPCs, I really have only one experience to speak from. In my last session, I ran a 5th level kobold telepath against my players' party of six, level 4 PCs. He was almost taken out in one round (by a blinding effect--if the psion can't see, he can't target you, he made his save by 1). He spent most of the time flying around (potion) trying to hit my party with crisis of breath and energy ray. While very effective (the party knew they were in a fight after it was over), he didn't seem over-the-top. Perhaps a kineticist would be different, but crisis of breath knocked out one of my PCs for the whole fight, and ego whip knocked out the Warforged Fighter (an otherwise unstoppable engine of death). He was also out of pp by the time the party got him. I really liked crisis of breath for the decisions it forced the afflicted PC to make. *shrug*

I'd really like to run an all-psionics campaign some time. I did do a psionics-only one-shot with a sort of Wild West theme to it that was pretty fun.

 

[irdeggman]

As for going all-out with psionic NPCs, I really have only one experience to speak from. In my last session, I ran a 5th level kobold telepath against my players' party of six, level 4 PCs. He was almost taken out in one round (by a blinding effect--if the psion can't see, he can't target you, he made his save by 1). He spent most of the time flying around (potion) trying to hit my party with crisis of breath and energy ray. While very effective (the party knew they were in a fight after it was over), he didn't seem over-the-top. Perhaps a kineticist would be different, but crisis of breath knocked out one of my PCs for the whole fight, and ego whip knocked out the Warforged Fighter (an otherwise unstoppable engine of death). He was also out of pp by the time the party got him. I really liked crisis of breath for the decisions it forced the afflicted PC to make. *shrug*

Which falls into one of my other points - numbers are not the friend of a psionic-user.

Their powers tend to be shorter range and target fewer individuals than do spellcasters.

So a single psionic foe against a party of 4 PCs should normally be totally outgunned.

A psionic user against a single foe can do some real damage, especially if there are a few allies to support him - no contest to the single foe.

Multiple enemies are the bane of psionic users - whether they are all in one encounter or spread out over a single day they will wear the psi-user down real quickly thanks to augmentation making powers much more "expensive" albeit more useful.

 

[KarinsDad]

Also, If he's just going to be used for 1 fight, then the DM would most likely dump his max power points into each attack. That's a little unfair vs a Psionic PC since he would be conserving his power points for later combats.

How is that different from an NPC Sorcerer who is just going to be used for one fight? Most combats last 5 rounds or so, so the NPC Sorcerer just throws out his best stuff and doesn't worry about later fights. He's an NPC, not a PC and unless he is typically used to multiple fights per day (like PCs), why would he conserve?

 

[Plane Sailing]

So a single psionic foe against a party of 4 PCs should normally be totally outgunned.

Not my observation - Energy Burst (which is a general power, not a psychokinesis power) lets you blow up in an amazing 40ft radius every round. Being on your own and surrounded by foes is great (the PC in our party who used this last Sunday killed two of his own party as well as damaging all of the enemies and five other party members. A previous party member wiped out an entire pack of dire wolves on his own in one round.

6+ encounters a day seem to slow medium and higher level psions down, less will do the job if the psion goes made at attempting to turn lots of stuff into swift/immediate actions