Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Arkhandus" data-source="post: 5538299" data-attributes="member: 13966">Yes, psionics is more of a tacked-on addition in 3.x D&D and perhaps other editions.  The 2E psionics book was more flavorful and cool, but also rather unbalanced (some options were just pathetic, and a few others were probably too strong, though most of it was more moderate in potency/value).  Psionics was in the 1E DMG, but only as a short section IIRC and rather different from the way magic worked (as has also been the case in later editions, though less so in 3.x in some ways).I do like psionics in D&D/fantasy/sci-fi, but it's been kind of mishandled in D&D.  1e/2e made it different enough but still very similar to magic in its effects and presentation (aside from the flavor-text and some names being more scientific).  But it was still somewhat too complex and too wierd for some gamers.  3e made it a LOT more like magic spells with just minor differences, and 3.5 further stripped away differences between magic and psionics (aside from the whole augmentation mechanic, but even that was basically just a built-in metamagic/metapsionic ability, so not too different).  3e, and especially 3.5, integrated crystals and some wierd/lame races/items, whereas earlier psionics only had the slightest bit of crystal-use.I like Dark Sun and its use of psionics, but still.........  Also, the XPH's pathetic excuse for psionic races was terrible and lame.  Duergar and such fit, and half-giants at least had a place in Dark Sun, but otherwise.......bleh.  Plus the half-giants have that wonky Powerful Build mechanic that makes practically no sense given how it works.  They could have at least worked in more Dark Sun races and included descriptions for using them in other settings.  Or actually tried to be creative and thrown in some interesting new psionic races.  Dromites and Elans were at least decent concepts, but poorly executed.Eberron sorta helped by using more of a dreamscape-related flavor for psionics, but still used the rest of 3.5's psionics material besides the scientic patina.Psionics has an undeniable place in D&D.  It's been there since early on, and I hope it sticks around.  I'd just like to see a little more effort/attention given to it by the designers so they stop trying to shoehorn it into "magic by another name with magic points by another name, like most non-D&D fantasy games and video games" or "wierd-ass pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo that doesn't jive with what most folks think of as fantasy gaming."They need a balance of "different, but not too different" and with a broader scope to the flavor-text presentation (and in the naming/theme of powers/items/classes).</blockquote>

Verification