Opinions of Expanded Psi-handbook
- Thread starter Caspian Marqine
- Start date
Ok I just got my copy and I haven't even finished reading all the power descriptions. but heres my take so far.
Anyone who thinks this is even close to being balanced is high. I mean REALLY REALLY HIGH. I mean: That must be good stuff, can I have some, does it show up on drug tests, high!
The new Psi-warrior is NUTS. At 7th level he can get a touch attack that does 50 points of damage on a will save for 1/2 and he heals that much damage????? And by 11th level is a 90 point damage touch attack.....
Thats NUTS. And Thats not even their most broken power.
As a 1st level power they can enlarge themselves.. and at low-mid levels they can enlarge themselves 2 class sizes! So A 1/2 giant, who can weild large weapons, gets enlarged and his 2 handed sword is now considered a GARGANTUAN WEAPON. Add to that an elemental resistance they can call up essencially in response to an incoming fireball. "Oh.. I'm being fireballed? I put up my elemental resistance and absorb the first 20 points..." The ability to do so being a low level effect....
Let us turn our attention to the Psion... A Class that was certainly underpowerd in its 3.0 incarnation. Seer's Destiny Dissonance.. A 1st level power with a touch attack no save that sicken for 1 round per level.... No Save....
Telepaths, the ability to belt out 3 spells a round.
Kineticists, with a "Fire Platform" capability that would put any mage to shame. Maybe not the stamina to keep belting them out, but infinite customizeability and more actaull stopping powerthan a Mage can produce.
And the Wilder, who possessing 1/2 a brain burns a feat to pick up the ability to summon astral constructs... With the ability thusly to produce summoned creatures 1 or 2 levels higher than rationality would indicate.
It goes on... The broken-ness is manifest and pervasive...
Hello.... HELLO? Is this microphone on? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
River
Anyone who thinks this is even close to being balanced is high. I mean REALLY REALLY HIGH. I mean: That must be good stuff, can I have some, does it show up on drug tests, high!
The new Psi-warrior is NUTS. At 7th level he can get a touch attack that does 50 points of damage on a will save for 1/2 and he heals that much damage????? And by 11th level is a 90 point damage touch attack.....
Thats NUTS. And Thats not even their most broken power.
As a 1st level power they can enlarge themselves.. and at low-mid levels they can enlarge themselves 2 class sizes! So A 1/2 giant, who can weild large weapons, gets enlarged and his 2 handed sword is now considered a GARGANTUAN WEAPON. Add to that an elemental resistance they can call up essencially in response to an incoming fireball. "Oh.. I'm being fireballed? I put up my elemental resistance and absorb the first 20 points..." The ability to do so being a low level effect....
Let us turn our attention to the Psion... A Class that was certainly underpowerd in its 3.0 incarnation. Seer's Destiny Dissonance.. A 1st level power with a touch attack no save that sicken for 1 round per level.... No Save....
Telepaths, the ability to belt out 3 spells a round.
Kineticists, with a "Fire Platform" capability that would put any mage to shame. Maybe not the stamina to keep belting them out, but infinite customizeability and more actaull stopping powerthan a Mage can produce.
And the Wilder, who possessing 1/2 a brain burns a feat to pick up the ability to summon astral constructs... With the ability thusly to produce summoned creatures 1 or 2 levels higher than rationality would indicate.
It goes on... The broken-ness is manifest and pervasive...
Hello.... HELLO? Is this microphone on? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
River
Thanee
First Post
Hey, you cannot say that without years of playtesting experience!River said:
The book has a list of playtesters in it (lower than the number of playtesters of the original very-well playtested 3.0 PsiHB, tho, so playtesting probably hasn't been as thorough and well done as with the original, but it shouldn't be too bad, after all WotC playtesters are total experts on their field! Obviously! Especially when it comes to psionics!)
Maybe I should stop being so sarcastic... or is that cynical?
Bye
Thanee
P.S. You probably won't even get this, so sorry for the confusion!
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Piratecat
Sesquipedalian
No, that's sarcastic. You were already cynical.
I actually have an inherent distrust of frenetic and emotional gut reactions from either side. I remember too clearly all the 3e mechanics during playtesting that we thought would be horribly broken and which worked out to be quite good*. Since then I tend to trust my actual gameplay a lot more than my armchair analysis of a rules issue.
A year from now once people have had a chance to use the XPH extensively, I'll be very interested to see how it holds up. I suspect that some of the things we see as problems will be non-issues, and other problems will spring up that we haven't even thought of yet.
* We were SO SURE that the 3e initiative system would suck and ruin the game. We were prepared to absolutely hate it. Sigh. Just goes to show, eh?
I actually have an inherent distrust of frenetic and emotional gut reactions from either side. I remember too clearly all the 3e mechanics during playtesting that we thought would be horribly broken and which worked out to be quite good*. Since then I tend to trust my actual gameplay a lot more than my armchair analysis of a rules issue.
A year from now once people have had a chance to use the XPH extensively, I'll be very interested to see how it holds up. I suspect that some of the things we see as problems will be non-issues, and other problems will spring up that we haven't even thought of yet.
* We were SO SURE that the 3e initiative system would suck and ruin the game. We were prepared to absolutely hate it. Sigh. Just goes to show, eh?
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Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
Against my expectations I liked the 3e psionics rules better than I thought I would - it was the first time I ever used "psionics" in my fantasy game - although I called it mage-craft as a different kind of magic. There were a few things that bugged me though.
* Mental combat. I ditched that.
* Non-scaling powers were a real problem. I fixed that to my satisfaction.
* MAD made high level psions very difficult to create/get up to. I fixed that too.
Now we have the 3.5e XPH... and they have tackled all the things that bothered me about the old one, and made some decent extensions too. I look forward to seeing how it works out in practice.
There is one prognostication that I can make with complete confidence however... games that see one major encounter per day are going to think that they are overpowered, while games that typically get through many encounters a day are going to find them less of a problem - just like wizards and clerics really.
Just my opinion.
* Mental combat. I ditched that.
* Non-scaling powers were a real problem. I fixed that to my satisfaction.
* MAD made high level psions very difficult to create/get up to. I fixed that too.
Now we have the 3.5e XPH... and they have tackled all the things that bothered me about the old one, and made some decent extensions too. I look forward to seeing how it works out in practice.
There is one prognostication that I can make with complete confidence however... games that see one major encounter per day are going to think that they are overpowered, while games that typically get through many encounters a day are going to find them less of a problem - just like wizards and clerics really.
Just my opinion.
Yes, I will agree with Piratecat on testing is the best way to determine the playability of a class. I thought that my psy war would be weaken in 3.5. I have not found that to be the case. The inclusion of many powers as immediate powers is very helpful. Also, expanded knowledge is nice. The psy war has nice self buffing abilities, but highly vulnerable to dispels.
Regarding Soul knives, I have not played them. The ability to due stat damage and customize their mind blades looks nice, but a bad fort save hurts on the front lines.
Regarding Psions, I will keep my comments for the thread in rules.
All in all, the XPH is an excellent product that seems to be playing well in my home group.
-Psiblade
Regarding Soul knives, I have not played them. The ability to due stat damage and customize their mind blades looks nice, but a bad fort save hurts on the front lines.
Regarding Psions, I will keep my comments for the thread in rules.
All in all, the XPH is an excellent product that seems to be playing well in my home group.
-Psiblade
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Thanee
First Post
Heh. Yeah, the only problem now is how much this "less of" actually is in a scaleable quantity and how it compares (that's not really easy to say, tho). If psions are slightly weaker than (arcane) spellcasters with their powers overall, it's fine, but if they are about equal, they are somewhat overpowered, since they have so many fringe benefits, that must have some cost to be balanced. If they are actually better, then they are pretty much broken.Plane Sailing said:
Bye
Thanee
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