Psionics and You
milotha
First Post
I've played/GMed in 1ed and 2ed games that had numerous psionic characters and had psionics incorperated into the setting and plot.
For 1ed, they were just incorperated from the begining in most of my campaigns due to the Appendix. They worked fairly well, since they were uncommon and you only got a few powers. This really made your character feel special if you happened to roll well and got them. Yes, these characters were more powerful, but they specifically were also more vulnerable, so it worked well balance-wise. Besides, the psionic monsters were great. Who doesn't love illithids and the gith. This worked much better than having them tacked on afterwards.
For 2ed, they started to develop that tacked on feel that they have now. I think we didn't notice it as much, because you could still run 1ed monsters and powers in a 2ed campaign. There weren't many changes that needed to be instituted. I should also note, that we just keep using the old Appendix and sometimes a supplement from Dragon Magazine whose name I've forgotten. When the Complete Psionics Handbook came out, we switched over to using it in our next campaigns. I think that it wasn't as balanced. You had some extremely powerful abilites mixed with some useless ones, and the rest of the world was wide open to mind attacks. Not to mention that the psionic combat rules were awful. We threw them out and had a set of common house rules in all the groups I played/GMed. We did have some great characters out of this version- most of them were multiclassed.
3.X. Well, I don't have the new rulebook, but I don't think it could be any worse than the last one. Almost no one has played a psionic character, and the two that I have seen were so pathetic, it didn't encourage me to try. I think this was the worst version of psionics I've seen. The starting powers and the number of them was, well, pathetic. And now, since you can't use the old monsters and the old psionics without major rewrites, you are stuck with these rules.
For 1ed, they were just incorperated from the begining in most of my campaigns due to the Appendix. They worked fairly well, since they were uncommon and you only got a few powers. This really made your character feel special if you happened to roll well and got them. Yes, these characters were more powerful, but they specifically were also more vulnerable, so it worked well balance-wise. Besides, the psionic monsters were great. Who doesn't love illithids and the gith. This worked much better than having them tacked on afterwards.
For 2ed, they started to develop that tacked on feel that they have now. I think we didn't notice it as much, because you could still run 1ed monsters and powers in a 2ed campaign. There weren't many changes that needed to be instituted. I should also note, that we just keep using the old Appendix and sometimes a supplement from Dragon Magazine whose name I've forgotten. When the Complete Psionics Handbook came out, we switched over to using it in our next campaigns. I think that it wasn't as balanced. You had some extremely powerful abilites mixed with some useless ones, and the rest of the world was wide open to mind attacks. Not to mention that the psionic combat rules were awful. We threw them out and had a set of common house rules in all the groups I played/GMed. We did have some great characters out of this version- most of them were multiclassed.
3.X. Well, I don't have the new rulebook, but I don't think it could be any worse than the last one. Almost no one has played a psionic character, and the two that I have seen were so pathetic, it didn't encourage me to try. I think this was the worst version of psionics I've seen. The starting powers and the number of them was, well, pathetic. And now, since you can't use the old monsters and the old psionics without major rewrites, you are stuck with these rules.
Leorix
Explorer
Well, what do you know, this is my very first post!
I've liked the concept of Psionics since 2e but it was hard to implement and my players struggled with the whole MAC & MTHAC0. Now with 3e it's much better and one of my players has a Psion which he's raised from 1st level through to 10th so far. I have found that it can be unbalanced at times as I've not given his character sufficient challenges and his Mind Blast has been able to take out many monsters (and his comrades who got caught in it
) that would otherwise have caused more problems.
I will be getting XPH very soon as I'm hoping that it's been significantly improved. Only time will tell.
I've liked the concept of Psionics since 2e but it was hard to implement and my players struggled with the whole MAC & MTHAC0. Now with 3e it's much better and one of my players has a Psion which he's raised from 1st level through to 10th so far. I have found that it can be unbalanced at times as I've not given his character sufficient challenges and his Mind Blast has been able to take out many monsters (and his comrades who got caught in it
) that would otherwise have caused more problems.I will be getting XPH very soon as I'm hoping that it's been significantly improved. Only time will tell.
MonsterMash
First Post
For some reasons the groups I've played in have never really used the psionics, not out of a big objection as such, but just lack of desire to add some more rules to the game.
MonsterMash
First Post
For some reasons the groups I've played in have never really used the psionics, not out of a big objection as such, but just lack of desire to add some more rules to the game.
Mystery Man
First Post
Every time you play with psionics, God kills a kitten. Please. Save the kittens!
In 25 years of playing, I've never had a GM who would allow psionics, for various reasons stated above. I like the 'flavor' and idea, so I kept asking in the numerous groups I've played in. The answer has always been, "No" and "Never", so I've developed my own campaign (over 20 years) and have recently had the chance to GM 2 groups in it. I like it, but none of my players has a psionic character (yet). I'm thinking of "granting" them a 'Wild Talent' (as the result of an adventure in the near future) and one power to use the power points on just to see if they'll even touch it.
I statrted design with 3E psionics, but can easily switch to Expanded (3.5) Psionics.
I statrted design with 3E psionics, but can easily switch to Expanded (3.5) Psionics.
Evilhalfling
Adventurer
Lets see .. I think one Psionist every other campaign..
Dark Sun - lots of broken psi powers but PC's died so often
that troubling random combos just got killed.
2nd ed. party had two psionists, both broken
3rd ed Psionic warrior/Soul Knife - not the most exciting
3rd ed. the psionist was rumored to be a prophet and rp circumstances
overpowered his actual ablities.
3.0 Psionics is now a major part of a homebrew world,
with female halfling psions leading the halfling clans.
and packmind wolves (stolen from the book Fire In The Deep)
not to mention the dreaded gaint psionic naked mole rat!
widely discussed, never confirmed.
Hey even fantasy games should have imaginary creatures
Dark Sun - lots of broken psi powers but PC's died so often
that troubling random combos just got killed.
2nd ed. party had two psionists, both broken
3rd ed Psionic warrior/Soul Knife - not the most exciting
3rd ed. the psionist was rumored to be a prophet and rp circumstances
overpowered his actual ablities.
3.0 Psionics is now a major part of a homebrew world,
with female halfling psions leading the halfling clans.
and packmind wolves (stolen from the book Fire In The Deep)
not to mention the dreaded gaint psionic naked mole rat!
widely discussed, never confirmed.
Hey even fantasy games should have imaginary creatures
FungiMuncher
First Post
I've used psionics in one iteration of my campaign world, using the 3.0 rules. I used it as an ancient form of magic, held secret from the current ruling social class. After previously playing members of that social class, the players were kind of enjoying the subversive take this time around. I personally found the extra set of rules and monsters to be a bit of a chore. Had to constantly remind myself to add the psionic stuff in.
In a friend's campaign, one of the PCs had an aversion for cleric types. We used a psion as the party healer. That seemed to be the main motivation for the DM to include them.
In a friend's campaign, one of the PCs had an aversion for cleric types. We used a psion as the party healer. That seemed to be the main motivation for the DM to include them.
