Ki versus Psionic: Power Sources Do Battle (in a semantic sort of way)

[Scribble]

It's just the idea of internal "power." You can call it ki, or psionics or mind over matter, or whatever, but the idea is the same.

I don't mind it being psionic, but I also wouldn't have minded a new word or something altogether. It's just a "general" word in my opinion for the game, but it can be re-fluffed as needed by various ingame cultures, and classes.

There's probably one name for it in common, and another in orcish, but the overall meaning is the same.

 

[RefinedBean]

I'd have preferred Heart!

Really? He was the crappiest of the Planeteers.

 

[Felon]

...and generally has a religious connotation.
Rites are integral part of mysticism and can involve external things like prayers to one or several gods and drugs or sacrifices in the case of ancient religions. Mysticism is a specific notion but doesn't translate well in d&d terms. Mystic and mystical however, are really vague and have been used in reference to various kinds of magic, among other things.

Even though arcane and mystic originally meant something similar (secret, hidden), the former is more specific. Arcane generally retains the meaning of "obscure, esoteric", which does fit the d&d wizard (not so much natural casters like the sorcerer) and unlike mystic, arcane can't be used as a synonym for "religious" or "supernatural".

Yes, arcane can be used as synonym for those words in the same sense as mystic. Historically, magic isn't generally thought of as this loose, ambient stuff that some folks just toss around with no strings attached. It came from connecting with some supernatural power--gods, devils, spirits, and so forth. So, mysticism has that association because it's chiefly in the anals of fantasy gaming and lit that you have this other kind of mutant super-power magic that we call "arcane".

 

[mach1.9pants]

...Personally, I've never really had an issue with the idea and flavor of psionics, ...

This is for me too, unless they go back to using crystals. The use of crystals is just the most twee new age rubbish I have ever seen in an RPG. I really really really hope we don't see them in 4E

 

[Nymrohd]

My hope is that they will function in a similar way to warlock pacts. Maybe some, like psychometabolism, are associated with specific classes, such as the monk or psychic warrior. Clairsentience may become a ritual thing. But I could see other psionic powers functioning as "pacts."


By the way, I looked up the etymology of psionics, and it predates the science fiction authors of the 20th century. Per Wikipedia:

Etymology
The word psychic is derived from the Greek word psychikos ("of the mind" or "mental") and refers in part to the human mind or psyche (ex. "psychic turmoil"). French astronomer and spiritualist Camille Flammarion is credited as having first used the word psychic, while it was later introduced to the English language by Edward William Cox in the 1870s.

Wikipedia is wrong on this one probably. Psychikos is actually a lot closer to Ki than psionic since it means "of the soul". Soul is psyche in greek.

 

[FireLance]

In order to make it more palatable to the masses, I suggest we rename Psionic "Syny".

 

[SkidAce]

Also, as a fan of sci-fi who's been reading it since I was seven(I'm 25 now), mostly older stuff of my dad's, the term 'psionics' has absolutely no connection with sci-fi for me. Where are people getting that from, anyway?

Katherine Kurtz, Marion Zimmer Bradley, and Andre Norton?

Granted, I can't recall if they used the actual word, but thats what it was, a rose by any other name...