D&D 5E In your Years of Gaming, How many Psionic Characters did you See played

[Coroc]

That's a very disingenuous interpretation. I suspect a great many of those who have "used" psionics have done so because they have played Dark Sun*, and you can't play Dark Sun without psionics. It doesn't imply that they would want psionics in a setting other than Dark Sun.

*In my case, I haver played Dark Sun once. So I have used psionics. And even then, it was only the wild talents that all 2nd edition Dark Sun characters got. No one actually played a psion or other psionic based class.

Well it doesn't say that the 20% using it all the time only play darksun, I would rather guess that many of these are playing eberron kalashtar or are using psionics for their FR campaign.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well it doesn't say that the 20% using it all the time only play darksun, I would rather guess that many of these are playing eberron kalashtar or are using psionics for their FR campaign.

I think 20%* is reasonable for the proportion of players who really want psionics. It's your assessment of 50% who responded rarely/almost never among people who want a psionic class that I would dispute.


*taking account of the selection effect: this forum skews towards older and more hardcore players. Most of my players have never played anything other than 5e.

 

[NaturalZero]

You know, I thought about things people never play and I realized that I've never, ever, ever, seen anyone play a halfling in the 20 years and countless random groups I've played in.

 

[ccs]

I guess the next question might be, how many people actually played Dark Sun? I did in 4e, but, completely ignored it in 2e. There does seem to be a fair overlap between those who played Dark Sun and obviously have a vested interest in Psionic rules, and those who didn't.

During 2e:
I played a one shot adventure at a local con.
I played in one short DS campaign with the home group.

My vested interest in Psionic rules is: I dislike them & hope that they don't return - even though I'm sure that they will.

 

[FireLance]

Went with "pretty frequently", with the caveat that the psionic options tend to get introduced later in an edition cycle, so it's more accurately "pretty frequently, once they are available".

In 1e, I DMed a campaign with a cleric character who legitimately rolled well enough to get decent psionic powers.

In 2e, my regular group ran a Dark Sun campaign at one point.

In 3e, we ran an all-psionics campaign when Complete Psionic was released.

In 4e, we would see psionic characters played quite regularly once PH3 came out.

It seems my experience is atypical, though.

 

[Hussar]

@FireLance - I totally get that. I was the same with gnomes. We played Scarred lands for a couple of years before one of the players asked me about gnomes. I hadn't actually realized that SL didn't have gnomes in the main campaign setting. No one had asked before.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I never played in Dark Sun, but saw and/or played myself maybe a dozen over the 40 years I've been playing. Now, all of these were in 1E and 2E.

As a AD&D fan (1E) I prefer the idea of Psionics available outside of class, but I can understand the appeal of a class and played the Psionicist in 2E as well.

 

[Aldarc]

Problem being psions has always been a problem.

3E hot mess, and variant Sorcerer

It was a problem in the first round, but it turned into a far more well-balanced (arguably more so than other PHB full casters) by the time of Expanded Psionics, which was the basis for Dreamscarred Press's more polished version.

That's a very disingenuous interpretation. I suspect a great many of those who have "used" psionics have done so because they have played Dark Sun*, and you can't play Dark Sun without psionics. It doesn't imply that they would want psionics in a setting other than Dark Sun.

Of the 3-4 times that I have played a psionic character - so not even talking about other players with psionic characters - none of which was for a Dark Sun campaign.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Of the 3-4 times that I have played a psionic character - so not even talking about other players with psionic characters - none of which was for a Dark Sun campaign.

Not the point. You can play psionics without Dark Sun, but you can't play Dark Sun without psionics. So anyone who has ever played Dark Sun MUST have used psionics, even if they hate psionics.

 

[cmad1977]

I don't think I've seen a single psionic D&D character in play in my presence... for over 25 years?

Same.