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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dausuul" data-source="post: 7673669" data-attributes="member: 58197">Semantics aside, what are the distinguishing features of psionics that set it apart from "spellcasting magic?" As others have pointed out, there is not a lot of room to have it do things that spellcasting magic can't do, because spellcasting magic can do just about anything. But psionics could do certain things better, or in different ways.I would say the distinguishing traits of psionics should be:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">No external tools, ingredients, or actions. Using psionics is a purely mental activity. You can do it--at full power--while chained, gagged, and naked. (This means none of the New Age crystals-and-chakra stuff.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Psionics does not create free-standing effects. It does not summon creatures or create objects, and any ongoing psionic effect requires concentration. There is no such thing as a "psionic item."</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Psionics is not dispellable. Not only do dispel magic, counterspell, antimagic field, and the like not work, but there are no psionic equivalents of those things. If you want to stop a psion from doing something, you have to target the effect, not the psionics; for example, physically holding still an object that the psion is trying to move with telekinesis.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Psionics ignores physical barriers. Where psionics is concerned, there is no difference between "line of sight" and "line of effect." A wall of force blocks spells, but psionics can go right through it. Furthermore, most psionic powers can be used "over the wire" of a scrying effect, either magical or psionic.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Psionics can be developed by non-specialists. Someone with the Wild Talent feat (I assume this will be a feat) has access to the same array of powers as a full psion. The psion can just put a lot more oomph behind those powers, and can master a greater number of them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Psionics can't compete with magic in raw power. Psionics ignores a lot of the restrictions and countermeasures that magic-wielders have to deal with; the flip side is that magic-wielders pack a harder punch. Put a psion and a wizard of the same level in an arena, and the wizard will usually trounce the psion.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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