Psionic Combat

[SableWyvern]

Psionic combat in 1E always intrigued me - probably because I never actually saw it in play, and it was back in the very optional, special appendix.

I spent hours reading the 2E rules, looking for the part I missed. I never found it. As best I could tell, using an attack mode cost more PP than the average damage you were going to do with it. The only way an attacker was guaranteed a fair chance of doing more damage to the enemy than himself was if the defender bothered to raise a defence.

So, after hearing no-one laud 3e psi-combat, and plenty of people say bad things, I was expecting something terrible. Having just got PsiHB, it looks all right to me.

So, I'm just wondering what the problem is. I can see a few probable reasons people have not had good things to say:

1. It may be balanced and all, but it's just awkward, unwieldy and generally a pain in the rear to pick attacks and defences, crossreference the modifier matrix, make rolls, add numberers etc...

2. I've missed something in my brief peruse, and the system is horribly broken or as pointless as the 2e version.

3. Psionics just sucks.

4. Any other reason that I haven't thought of.

So, in summary, what is the reason that YOU don't like psionic combat.

Or do you?

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

The biggest problem is how it affects non-psionic creatures. That makes psionic combat very limited if you want it to be effective.

The other problem, iirc, is the cost of the abilities is rather high- and the psion would usually be better off letting off a damaging power against the psionic attacker- then bothering with a counter attack.

The powers did not scale and there were no high level attacks, so as the levels of the psionics go up - they become less threatening.

Finally, any aspect of a combat that requires you to constantly refer to a chart is not going to get a lot of love from me.

Respectfully submitted
FD

 

[Hammerhead]

Because the non psionic buffer means that psionic attacks are more effective against psions. It's more of a weakness for psions than an advantage, especially since psionic creatures activate their attacks and defenses for free.

 

[Vaxalon]

I'm houseruling it that psions and psionic warriors get the first three activations of each attack and defense mode for free, just like monsters.

 

[Cheiromancer]

Maybe psionic characters should get a half-strength buffer against monsters?

 

[Duncan Haldane]

Psionic combat in 1E always intrigued me - probably because I never actually saw it in play, and it was back in the very optional, special appendix.

Since no-one else has mentioned this:

in 1e, Psionics worked 10 times faster than normal combat. This meant that if you had a group that wasn't all psionic involved in a psionic combat then the psionic monsters and characters got 10 actions for every one round that non-psionic characters got.

This sucked big time.

Duncan

 

[absurdum]

This sucked big time.

Unless you were a psionisit

 

[Davelozzi]

Someone on these boards posted an idea for psionic combat using cards in which the player and DM each pull a card for the attack or defense that they want to use and then flip it over and compare. I thought this was a great idea and made up cards for myself and my player who has a psion and it works great. Each card has a one sentence description of the damage it deals or hardness it provides and a list of DC modifiers relative to the other attacks/defenses. If someone wants to see them, let me know and I'll email you.

I also allow my player's psion to have a pool of Psionic Combat Points seperate from his normal Power Points. So far I've been allowing the same amount in both pools but he's only at second level. As he goes up, I may very well consider scaling down the number of PCPs relative to PPs, depending on how things work out. Vaxalon's idea of three free activations may be a better solution, although I haven't had any problems yet.

 

[dagger]

Well we are going to get too see how Bruce Cordell would have done it with hindsight and much more acutal play.


Minscapes by Bruce Cordell, Published by Malhavoc Press



Text from above for you (bold is mine):

"This class book for psionicists is just what the fans have been clamoring for! It offers a variety of new prestige classes for psionic characters, as well as an alternate psionic combat system and some new feats and powers as well. Mindscapes also offers lots of all-new psionic creatures -- several of which were inspired by the art of Alan Pollack."


from and interview on same sight:

"Bruce: That's exactly what this is, at least in part. I noticed that a lot of people have been wanting more prestige classes. So the first part of this book is going to focus on that, a lot of types and themes for prestige classes.

Another thing that has not fallen on deaf ears is an alternate psionic combat system. Along with Monte I've developed a variant psionic combat system, which works differently than the current system. The DM can keep using the current system, but they can alternately use this variant. I really like the original system, and have fond affection for ability damage, but I thought I'd explore a different way of doing it. One of the criticisms of the ability damage system is: Why would a psion character spend time draining ability points when you could use the power brainlock, which has a more immediate effect? This alternate system will address that issue."

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Minscapes by Bruce Cordell, Published by Malhavoc Press

Salutations,

Yeah, I recall seeing this and getting excited.. until I saw when it would be available- Feb 2003?

I would rather have not known about it until it came out- then to sit through this wait. heh.

7 months and counting....
FD