Was the augment/pp system for Psionics always present through the editions? Anyone know if it was done just to be different from magic, or if there was a specific reason for it?
I am just curious why Psionics in D&D has always been associated with the PP/augment thing. I can't really think of the 'augment' eever popping up in fiction.
A quick history of psionics in D&D:
Psionics were introduced to original D&D in the Eldritch Wizardry suppliment along with Druids, Demons, and Mind flayers. They were basically an add-on to your normal abilities and having them reduced other abilities. Theives for instance were less dexterous depending on how much psionics they had. You roll for your 'chance' (8%?) of having psionics and gained some attack/defense modes (kind of a rock paper scissors of who gets the upper hand in combat) and some other powers. The cost of using psionics was x number of psionic points per round. Interestingly, back then which powers you could get were based on class. There was one power list for fighters(including Paladins, rangers) plus thieves(including assassins), one list for mages, and one list for clerics. Druids and Monks did not have psionic potential, nor did non-humans.
The jump from OD&D to AD&D 1st edition was pretty straight forward. You still rolled for your chance to have psionics but your chance was even less. What were 'basic/superior abilities' (powers) became 'Disciplines' of either the 'Devotion' level or the 'Science' level. You still had a pool of points and a set of combat modes. Psionic combat isn't pretty. Basically an use of psionics lets everyone else who is psionic nearby know you are there and they usually come running. Once in psionic combat, there was a pretty good chance that you were going to at least put someone in a coma or be there yourself. If you lost and were resurrected, your psionics would be gone.
AD&D 2e kept the roll for psionics option but added in the option to have it in a class: The Psionicist. As a class, the psionicist actually resembled a supernatural rouge in that he was lightly armored, wasn't carrying around a whole lot of tools of the trade. It didn't hurt that the psionic system was something of a skill based system using the same structure as Non-weapon profeciencies (as they were called back then). 'Discipline' stopped refering to Powers and instead became the way Sciences and Devotions were categorized.. Telepathy, Psychometabolic, Clairsentience, etc. The psionic combat system became the corner stone of the Telepathy discipline as you needed to beat a psionic opponent in psionic combat if you wanted to use a telepathy power on them.
D&D 3.0 kept the disciplines for the most part, replacing the Metapsionic discipline with the 'metacreation' discipline. The uses of the old discipline had more or less been subsumed by the d20 feat system and this helped spread out what would otherwise be a very large telekinetic discipline. You no longer roll for wild tallent, instead handling this through multiclassing. Psionic points stayed with point costs for powers now mapping pretty much to spell levels. Psionic combat did its best to keep the deadly rock paper scissors feel by dealing ability damage. This became even more deadly when you took into account that each discipline was now tied to an ability score. (Yes, there were strength based casters).
D&D 3.5 ditched combat modes, turning them into telepathy powers. Wild tallents could be handled either through multiclassing or with a feat. The multiple ability requirement was removed, making psions INT based, Wilders CHA based, and pretty much all other psionic classes WIS based. The augmentation mechanic was put in place primarily as a method of dealing with power scaling (Fireballs do 1d6 per caster level. In a spell point system you have to pay for those extra dice). Finally, they added a 'psionic focus' mechanic which was really readying a little extra oomph in your mind. I'd probably do it as a stance in 4e.
I don't think I've covered everything but hopefully this covers the highlights for you.
