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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lord-Archaon" data-source="post: 7866472" data-attributes="member: 7017713">Count me very much into that crowd (although I wouldn't want "everything" with different mechanics, I do see cases for reusing), and I will tell you why by quoting [USER=6801228]@Chaosmancer[/USER]See, this is the first fallacy. We don't have "mechanics for telekinesis". We have an arcane spell, cast using Vancian magic, requiring chanting of magical words accompanied by gesturing, that happens to be called Telekinesis.First of all, they screwed up by naming it like that. In line with the Arcane, it should have been called Bigby's Hand and it should have had some kind of visual display, just like Mage Hand has. Because as it is now it steps over Psionics, and not the other way around. But this is a detail we can't change unfortunately, and my point is another.The point is, as I said, we just have one spell with the name, not everything that can ever be called Telekinesis. Sure, makes no sense to change it if we want to do exactly the same, but who said we would want to do the same, with Psionics?Long story short: the vocal crew who insists everything (not true, not everything) should be using distinct mechanical structure, insist that the effects should be different, not the same.In Psionics, Telekinesis would be very different from what is portrayed by the spell inaptly called like this. And that's what would set it apart, not just the mechanical way we make the same effect.You can see why I am against this now. Because I am against the postulate behind the reasoning, which you make explicit when you say "this piece that does exactly what we want": I don't want to reinvent stuff that does exactly what we want. I am saying that possibly NONE of the current spells does exactly what we want, save for the spells that were created exactly for this purpose, and by doing so they actually make things worse, because they force the effects as they should be on a system that conveys the flavor terribly. First because of spell components, second because of how Vancian magic is (although admittedly this is solved somewhat by the spell point system).Psionics is supposed to be completely different from magic, or there would be absolutely no need for it. There is a need for a different force, because magic is in essence the manipulation of external forces that are bigger than the caster. Psionic on the contrary is the controlling of hidden potential within the user, and doesn't borrow power from anywhere or anything else.This is why it needs to be way more flexible than Vancian Magic: because the user has full control on it. And that's why it needs different mechanics.If you just think of psionics as the collection of effects it produces, and not the way they are produced, and the niche they should fill when it comes to player's fantasies, you are better off just expanding the spell list and producing subclasses, like they are doing.But here I touch my last point: there is a need, from the players' perspective, of Psionics as something different. It has to do with the psychology behind the role-playing. It's important for some players to feel like their character doesn't rely on external forces and the manipulation of something mysterious and inhuman like magic. You could say it's about the flavor, and I refer back to my previous point: the flavor is not conveyed by the spell mechanics. Not at all. These type of players don't want just a story: they want to feel that difference at the table, in the gaming aspect. They want to feel like they are harnessing a different system.If you don't feel the same, it doesn't mean you should deprive these players of this possibility. The point of 5e, at least in its beginning, was to have a system that is modular, with players and DMs deciding what to use and what not to. By not making a different system you lose everything I described, for no good reason: because you could have the different system and just avoid using it, ESPECIALLY since you think we already have all the elements needed to recreate the effect. YOU could have Psionics with existing elements. People who are invested in it cannot, and you shouldn't root for this outcome, because you have nothing to lose in this, but they do.</blockquote>

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