D&D 3E/3.5 New Psionics System: Powers per Day <3.5>

[LuckyBoneDice]

My buddy HATES the power point system, but wants to run a 3.5 Dark Sun campaign. So, I need a hand on balancing a Powers/day system based on the Spells/day system. Here's my ideas:

Psion manifests as a Wizard casts Spells (lots of powers known, fewer per day)

Wilder manifests as a Sorcerer casts Spells (lots of powers/day, but few known)

Ardent manifests like Cleric casting

Psi Warrior manifests like a Bard

Divine Mind manifests like Paladin


did I miss any, and would the system work, in practice?

 

[Celebrim]

I just use 'Sorcerer' for all psionic concepts.

I use bloodline feats (based off the Dragon article, not the splat book), so a psionic in my campaign is just a sorcerer with an appropriate bloodline (mentalist, kineticist, fire, etc. depending one what flavor you are going for).

 

[LuckyBoneDice]

I just use 'Sorcerer' for all psionic concepts.

I use bloodline feats (based off the Dragon article, not the splat book), so a psionic in my campaign is just a sorcerer with an appropriate bloodline (mentalist, kineticist, fire, etc. depending one what flavor you are going for).

I like how I'm not the only one who thought of this!

However, I think every class should be based on another other than Sorcerer. This way, you mimic the original class' manifesting

 

[Celebrim]

If you are going for real Dark Sun feel, you don't need Wilders, Ardents, Psi Warriors, and Divine Minds. Dark Sun has none of those. The setting came out in 1991, long before any of those things were thought of.

In fact, Dark Sun has no 'sorcerers' either, so the fact that sorcerers are reskinned as psionicists presents no problem.

If I was going to play Dark Sun, I'd use some sort of quasi-gestalt class system.

1) Pure 'Psion': Sorcerer with a +2 bonus to spell DC but spell list limited to spells thematically appropriate.
2) Normal: Gain a gestalt level of sorcerer for every two levels you gain in other classes. Spells again limited to those that are thematically appropriate.
3) Mundane: Normal class but with some sort of bonuses like a 10% bonus to experience and a +4 bonus on saving throws vs. 'psionic' effects.

Wizards of course replaced with Defilers and Preservers.

Clerics probably ought to be limited in some fashion as well. At the very least, most domains are inaccessible to would be clerics as there are no gods.

 

[Eldritch_Lord]

If you are going for real Dark Sun feel, you don't need Wilders, Ardents, Psi Warriors, and Divine Minds. Dark Sun has none of those. The setting came out in 1991, long before any of those things were thought of.

In fact, Dark Sun has no 'sorcerers' either, so the fact that sorcerers are reskinned as psionicists presents no problem.

If I was going to play Dark Sun, I'd use some sort of quasi-gestalt class system.

1) Pure 'Psion': Sorcerer with a +2 bonus to spell DC but spell list limited to spells thematically appropriate.
2) Normal: Gain a gestalt level of sorcerer for every two levels you gain in other classes. Spells again limited to those that are thematically appropriate.
3) Mundane: Normal class but with some sort of bonuses like a 10% bonus to experience and a +4 bonus on saving throws vs. 'psionic' effects.

This works in general, but I would have the sorcerer learn powers off the psion, telepath, and kineticist lists; the sorcerer list is identical to the wizard list, and psionicists are noticeably different from arcanists in Dark Sun, so I doubt just using thematically appropriate spells would really work too well.

Wizards of course replaced with Defilers and Preservers.

Technically, defilers and preservers are wizards, with preservers working as normal and defilers getting a boost in exchange for being hunted down and killed at every turn. Original DS had them gain XP faster, the DS Dragon article for 3e suggested free metamagic, but you can really do whatever you want.

Clerics probably ought to be limited in some fashion as well. At the very least, most domains are inaccessible to would be clerics as there are no gods.

I wouldn't say most domains are inaccessible; they worship elemental powers, but that doesn't mean that every single domain besides Fire, Air, Earth, and Water is gone. The only ones I'd remove would be the alignment-related (including the BoED and BoVD ones) and race-related domains, because the Powers don't care about alignment and the races are different in DS.

 

[Celebrim]

This works in general, but I would have the sorcerer learn powers off the psion, telepath, and kineticist lists; the sorcerer list is identical to the wizard list, and psionicists are noticeably different from arcanists in Dark Sun, so I doubt just using thematically appropriate spells would really work too well.

One of the problems I've had with Psionics in D&D for a long time is that name changes aside, most 'psionic' powers are just reskinned spells.

Sure, you would probably remove a lot of the splashier wizard/sorcerer spells from the 'psion' list, but you'd still be left with alot of spells that are thematically appropriate in their effects and many more that would be arguable.

Just looking at the 1st level spells in the SRD:

'Telekinesis'
Hold Portal
Shield
Featherfall
Jump
Animate Rope

'Telepathy'
Charm Person
Hypnotism
Sleep

'Extra Sensory Perception'
Detect Secret Doors

I wouldn't say most domains are inaccessible; they worship elemental powers, but that doesn't mean that every single domain besides Fire, Air, Earth, and Water is gone. The only ones I'd remove would be the alignment-related (including the BoED and BoVD ones) and race-related domains.

I generally agree except that I interpret 'alignment related' quite broadly to include things like 'Justice', 'Community', 'Balance', 'Renewal', 'Truth', 'Family', 'Knowledge' and the various other domains related to abstract concepts or mortal communities. I'd probably limit all the available domains to 16 or so domains that thematically link to the elements (for example, Travel could be an 'Air' domain, Healing a 'Water' domain, Descruction a 'Fire' domain, etc.)

 

[Eldritch_Lord]

One of the problems I've had with Psionics in D&D for a long time is that name changes aside, most 'psionic' powers are just reskinned spells.

This is unfortunately true, but there are still a bunch of things psionics does better than magic and a bunch of things psionics just can't do (and vice versa for magic). Just taking thematically-appropriate spells and saying "Ta-da! Psionics!" isn't going to preserve that and will just make them seem more similar.

I generally agree except that I interpret 'alignment related' quite broadly to include things like 'Justice', 'Community', 'Balance', 'Renewal', 'Truth', 'Family', 'Knowledge' and the various other domains related to abstract concepts or mortal communities. I'd probably limit all the available domains to 16 or so domains that thematically link to the elements (for example, Travel could be an 'Air' domain, Healing a 'Water' domain, Descruction a 'Fire' domain, etc.)

I see it similarly, though not quite as broadly as you do (I'd think Renewal would work perfectly for Rain clerics and Truth for Sun, for instance, given the whole "rain renews the earth" and "blinding light of truth" thing). Really, I'd leave any non-alignment non-racial domains open and then have the DM okay any particular combination based on how they fit the character.