Psionics Handbook

[IronWolf]

Psionics Handbook: A Review, a Rebuttal, and a Response

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As those who have been coming to my site know, I've had a psionics system up for a while. As those who talked to me about psionics also know, I've been complaining about what I had seen of the Psionics Handbook. After purchasing my own copy, and reading it through, I wrote a review. Since I found Bruce Cordell's (the author of the book) e-mail address, I decided I would be polite to forward it and ask for his rebuttal. However, since I'm me, I'm also going to respond to the response, in this post. He can certainly feel free to write me back, and I'll add his responses to my responses (if he wishes to) when I get them.

This will read somewhat interview style; the original text is normal, anything with BRC: is Bruce's response to that review, and things with an N: will be my reponses to his responses. I'm going to put lines between exchanges, just to make things a bit clearer (or confuse you more). Again, I want to thank Bruce for taking the time to respond to my review.


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I really, really, really wanted to hate this book. I wanted this book to suck more ass than a vampiric proctologist (try and get the picture out of your head... I dare you). A lot of what I read on the net annoyed the Hel out of me, and I was certain I wasn't going to like it. I bought it mostly so I could completely shred it in review. However, it didn't work out that way. While I'm not going to be singing its praises from every mountaintop, in the end, I have to say it's not bad... its not psionics, IMO, but its not bad.

First off, let's talk physical features of the book itself. There are none of the annoying background lines in this book, and there seems to be a lot more whitespace, especially in the powers section (likely a result of putting two, rather than three columns of type in the powers section). Though a side-by-side comparison shows that they aren't, the text feels larger in this book as well, and overall, it's a lot easier to read. The art is pretty good, though some sections (like the burning ray illustration on pages 56 and 57) feel "cartoony"; compare the young lady on page 34 with her picture on page 56, and you'll see what I mean.

If its not psionics, though, what is it? Simply put, its magic with a different vocabulary, and slightly different side-effects. You don't "cast spells", you "manifest powers". Rather than wave your arms and shout, letting everyone know you're casting a spell, weird things happen around you, letting everyone know you're manifesting a power.

BRC: Yes, otherwise, why would a psionic effect ever reasonably draw an attack of opportunity? We already know from the DMG and Monster Manual that psionics are considered a "spell-like" ability, and that spell-like abilities draw attacks of opportunity. And luckily so-if spell-like abilities like psionics didn't draw attacks of opportunity, balancing a psionic character with a spell-caster would have been a nightmare.

N: However, since all spell-like abilities provoke attacks of opprotunity, and not all of them are psionic in nature, presumably they reasonably draw them some other way... such as the look of complete concentration and obliviousness that comes from focussing on your inner power. Also, see my response below, as you seem to have missed the point of the statement.


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You don't brew potions, you scribe tattoos.

BRC: Yes, which you activate by touching and willing their effects. You can also transfer tattoos between two creatures-that tattoo skitters over your skin and on to your friend's.

N: In magical terms, you give a potion to a friend. You can even take it off their dead body; essentially, you've changed the outward appearance of things, without making anything really original out of it.


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You don't scribe scrolls, you encode stones. It goes on like this, ad nausem; even many of the spells/power are the same.

BRC: Ad nauseum? Ouch. Yes, several of the powers share names with spells because the Monster Manual shows us this is true-the mind flayer, the aboleth, and the yuan-ti have 'psionics' which are listed as spell names. There is obviously been some convergent evolution at work in the world of fantasy. However, you fail to mention crystal capacitors, crawling tattoos, psychoactive skins, crystal anchors, etc.. these obviously do not have a direct magical equivalent, nor should they.

N: Well, that Psionic monsters were out before anything describing psionics was is another rant altogether (same with Demons, Devils, and Celestials with regards to the Outer Planes). Basically, what I take issue with is the failure to make anything truly unique out of these things. Incidentally, a crystal capacitor looks suspiciously like a Pearl of Power. Crawling Tattoos, while somewhat original, bear suspicious resemblance to potions designed for throwing (such as oil of fiery burning from old editions). A crystal anchor seems to be a gem with a Contingencied Hold Person, set to go off when a certain spell is used within its radius. You have me on psychoactive skins; those are unique. Still, of your four examples, three have direct connections to things from the past, and the fourth is pretty close to quite a few rings.

N: I just re-read that, and I'm a little over-harsh. I don't expect authors to be completely original, or otherwise the game would become quickly unplayable. However, my point is that the feel is very similar between the types of items; it doesn't take long to see what the various types of items are supposed to replace. The feel of psionics should be, IMO, different from magic. The Psionics Handbook doesn't accomplish this; it simply changes the vocabulary.


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On the one hand, this makes the system very adaptable to a core game; its pretty much a plug and play book.

BRC: The ability to use this book with the core rules was my number one priorty-I'm glad I accomplished that .

On the other hand, its annoying because not only do they reprint a lot, but they change all these things without there being a reason to. Why is there something specifically called "Power Resistance" if its identical to spell resistance in every way, even stopping spells? Do I need "Combat Manifestation" if I already have "Combat Casting"? Does Use Psionic Device need to be separate from Use Magic Device, Remote View from Scry, or Psicraft from Spellcraft? I think it adds a level of complexity to the game; one that they seemed to be trying to avoid by making psionics so similar to magic. It has a use if you're using one of the optional rules (Psionics is different from magic), but that could have easily been handled in that alternate rule, by noting that the Psionic and Magical versions of X, Y, and Z must be bought separately.

BRC: You've uncovered on a very important aspect of the book. This book is the Psionics Handbook. It was written first and foremost for psionic characters. It was determined early on that it would be particularly unsatisfying if, in order to access knowledge about psionic powers, you had to make a 'spellcraft' check or, in order to resist a psionic power being used against you, you had to rely on your Spell Resistance. Instead of engaging in a lot of handwaving and text to the effect of "even though it is a skill called Spell craft, for you, it works with psionics. weird, huh?"

N: The previous two points I will grant.


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Psionic feats are another major problem. Many of these are quite powerful; its pretty much worth it to pick up a level of Psychic Warrior just to pick up Inertial Armor, and have access to Psionic Weapon and other such feats for most classes...

BRC: I can see why that might seem like a good idea at first blush; however, you'd probably want to rethink taking Inertial Armor if you have free access to medium and heavy armors-armor bonuses don't stack, and it would turn out to be a wasted feat for you.

N: Brain Fart... I had meant to specify that it worked best for_most_ classes; Bard, Druid, Monk, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, and Wizard will all benefit from this. Barbarians, Fighters, Clerics, and Paladins don't, since they aren't harmed by wearing medium armors. Still, that _is_ 7 out of 11 classes who would gain a definite advantage.


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by level _2_, a human Monk can be making all of his Unarmed attacks as touch attacks if he picked up a level of psychic warrior right off the bat.

BRC: Hrm, that is a little off-using the feats that allow your attacks to resolve as touch attacks each cost 5 power points. A starting psychic warrior gets 2 psionic power points a day-you have to take a few levels in order to use this even once, let alone allowing you to make ALL your unarmed attacks as if touch attacks.

N: Another point to Bruce; I misread the power.


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Not a bad trade-off, and enough to make me look askance at most of the feats. On the other hand (yes, I am a thri-kreen, so I get this many other hands), I can see one feat that is very much missing: Wild Talent. I could easily see Wild Talent being a general feat, allowing someone to manifest 1 talent from the psion or psychic warrior list once per day per level; no more, since most people taking it wouldn't have Power Points to use. Wouldn't have touched game balance in the least, and would have made for some neat customization of characters.

BRC: I can see where you are coming from, but it goes against a basic tenant of 3e to allow spellcasting to be picked up by a non-spellcasting class, unless they multiclass into it. The same goes for psionics.

N: Not your fault, Bruce, but I think that's a stupid tenet. From what I understand, one of the central ideas behind 3e was to clear up some of the stupid mistakes of the previous two, and to allow people to make sacrifices in one area (a feat) to gain a little something (a Wild Talent or Cantrip). To an extent, this was done; the confusion as to why a thief was the only one able to learn to pick pockets is cleared up with cross-class skills; but a fighter's abilities are still open to all, as are most of a rogues, and a wizard's are still completely opaque.

BRC:Besides, many of the rules of the game rely on whether or not you are a 'psionic' character. Would giving this 'wild talent' feat make you a psionic character? Yes? Then you open yourself up to psionic combat modes. but you don't have any defenses. Then, you might be tempted to provide some defenses to go along with the feat. but defenses cost power points to put up. Then, you might be tempted to provide power points to go along with the feat. and now you, the DM, are wondering, "why the heck doesn't this character just take a level of psion?"

N: Again, I see it as being about choices. Someone who chooses this feat knows they're going to make themselves vulnerable to psionic combat. To me, taking a level in a class can lead to a major betrayal of character concept. Wizards, Clerics, and Psions aren't forced to do this if they want to pick up a sword or pick a pocket; they must simply pay a price. The price for Warriors and Rogues is far higher, and the reward is far more than they may wish. To use an analogy, every character class is like a case of soda. If a Wizard wants some Fighter Brand Soda, he only has to buy a single can. If a Fighter wants some Wizard Brand soda, he has to buy a whole case. If he only has enough money for one soda... well, then, tough noogies. It becomes even more pronounced when you talk about Paladins and Monks, who _can't_ just pick up a level of a class which has some abilities they admire, unless they're prepared to never drink another Paladin Brand Bottled Water again.


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Psychic combat is another rough spot. Its not that bad, so long as you're only fighting other normal psions and psychic warriors. However, most psychic monsters have attack and defense modes they can activate for free, and you have to pay from every attack and every defense... not just one defense a round, either, but you have to pay for a defense against every attack that comes in. One psion, even a high-level one, against two of kind of psychic monster will quickly become a drooling idiot because of this.

BRC: While it is true that monsters with psionic attack and defense modes manifest them freely, your characterization of psions always losing to monsters because psionic character have to use power points is inaccurate. Regardless of their power pool, monsters still take ability damage from attacks made against them, and are just as likely to be put out of action during the course of a psionic combat as a character. And, because your average psionic character is going to have more psionic attack and defense modes than your average monster, the psionic characters are going to be at an advantage. Sure, they have to use power points while the monster doesn't, but if the monster's Wisdom is brought to 0 through psionic combat, then its nighty-night all the same for the poor monster.

N: Yes, being able to do it for free is a heck of an advantage; even if the psychic avoids taking any damage (which isn't likely), he's still depeleting his power pool. While the monster may be taking damage, he's not depleting his power pool... he can afford to switch from mental attack to mundane or external attack, because he can still defend without cost. And this assumes its a one-on-one fight, or even the monster against a party.. not the monster and a bunch of his friends against the party.


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Another spot that bugged me were powers, specifically those that did or repaired damage. There was no scalability with these. A first level psion throwing Firefall or Dissipating Touch is going to do the same damage as a 20th level psion. While the argument was, during the playtesting stages, that it kept a psion from using cheap, low-level powers to completely destroy someone, the same goal was achieved with wizard spells by putting level caps on damage dice. As it is, one power is made obsolete by the next one up the line; there is little reason to cast... whoops, "manifest" Concussion when you have Greater Concussion, because they're both doing 1d6 per power point; you just put more of them into Greater Concussion.

BRC: Though you point it out as a flaw, in fact not allowing psionic powers that do damage or heal to ramp is the saving grace of the system. Playtest after playtest showed the folly of the first rule set where powers ramped like spells-a power point system is too fluid to allow it. If I can pay 1 power point for a 1st level power that does 5d6 damage because I'm a 5th level caster, why the heck would I ever, ever spend 5 power points for a 3rd level power that does the same thing? Power points and ramping damage/healing really do not go together, and I have my playtesters, in and out of house, to thank for bringing this fact to light.

Ironically enough, they got it right with one power (Call Weaponry), which uses one power, at increasing cost, to summon better and better weapons, but they seem to have forgotten to do the same for powers like Concussion or Firefall/Whitefire.

BRC: For powers that didn't do direct damage or allow direct healing, the restriction against ramping does not necessarily apply. In this case, Call Weaponry seemed like a fine power to 'be everything at every level' to the psychic warrior, instead of creating a spell chain.

N: You seem to miss my point here, Bruce. The choice of Call Weaponry was very delibrate, because the more powerful effects are also the more expensive. I think it would have made a lot more internal sense if it worked that way for more scalable powers; If I'm 20th level, I can spend 1 point and do 1d6 damage, or I can spend 17 points and do 17d6. I don't see a balance conflict, there.


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What didn't bug me? Though Psicrystals were hokey, they worked fairly well. The division of powers into levels worked better than I thought, though since Power Point costs seem intrinsically linked to level (Level*2 -1 for those who haven't figured it out, yet), it means that someone creating a new psionic class won't easily be able to rearrange power levels. The free activation of talents is wonderful, and should have been instituted for Wizards with regards to cantrips. I thought having a use for Dull Gray Ioun Stones was neat, as well, and the Psiblades simply rock.

BRC: Thanks!

I was glad to see Githyanki and Githzerai updated, though they carry my standard gripe about Optional PC Races in Monster Sections (namely, what is their modifier if I want to play one as a character? Level +1? No modifier?)

BRC: That's a great point. In fact, the githyanki and githzerai Equivalent Character Level will be shown to be level +2.

I'm half-glad and half-disappointed to see that Thought Eaters no longer look like undead platypi; it was always fun to beat people up with an undead platypus, but at least you don't have to blush with shame just for describing one...

BRC: Glad we agree on that one.


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The prestige classes were pretty cool, as well, and the Slayer is a welcome add-on to the Ranger; someone who planned could take it by second or third level. I did find it annoying that the Metamind was required to "be able to manifest two different powers, one of which must be 2nd level or higher". So far as I can tell, there is no possible way to be able to manifest only one power if one of them is 2nd level. Perhaps I missed something?

BRC: I guess you should read it as "be able to manifest at least two different powers, one of which must be 2nd level or higher." This is written this way for two reasons: one, in order to manifest 2nd level powers, you have to be at least a 4th level psion, and 2, if you are a monster attempting to qualify for the prestige class, you must be able to manifest at least two different powers (not just one).

N: Psionic monsters with prestige classes didn't even cross my mind. Guess I did miss something.

Overall, I give the book a fist, as opposed to a thumbs up or a thumbs down. There is a lot that could have been done better, but there is a lot of stuff that's worth stealing to use elsewhere.


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[Messageboard Golem]

The 3e Psionics Handbook is an improvement over previous versions, rules-wise. However, it is not very original or interesting game-wise.

The new Psionics Handbook has fairly straight-forward and easy-to-use rules compared to previous editions. These rules tie in well to the d20 game system. There are two character classes, the psion and the psionic warrior. They gain psionic powers, which are now divided into 9 levels like spells, similarly to clerics and wizards. That is, they have a power progression chart that is similar to the wizard's spell progression chart. The book also contains psionic-related magic items, monsters,and 4 prestige classes.

Overall, I will admit the rules work well from what I have seen. My main gripe is the presentation of psionics. Many of the powers are more like a super-hero's than mental disciplines. The easiest way to describe this is that a psion is just a sorcerer with a different list of spells. The super-hero aspect is strengthened by the Psylocke, er, Soulknife prestige class and the Carnage-esquePscyhoactive Skins. I was really hoping for *mental* powers that would differentiate the psionicists from divine and arcane spellcasters.

I also don't like how the Psychic Warrior receives the Fighter's only special ability, bonus feats, and gets psionics on top of that. I guess a lower HD and BAB are supposed to make up for this.

If you buy the Psionics Handbook, you will find the best set of DnD rules on psionics yet. These rules are workable and fit well with the rest of the game. However, I feel that this tome will add little in the way of flavor to your game. If you are interested in different powers, just create new spells or convert your favorite old ones. There's not much difference between psionicists and sorcerers anyway.

 

[Morrus]

The Psionics Handbook is a hardcover book, not as thick as the other core rules books from WotC, but certainly adequate in size.

The layout is very similar to the Player's Handbook - it begins with classes, and moves on to skills, feats, psionics rules and then psionic powers. Then comes the 'DMG' part of the book, including prestige classes, psionic items and, finally, monsters. Everything is covered well, and there appear to be no areas missing.

The general appearance of the book is similar to the PHB, but without the background lines. The text is laid out in two, rather than three columns; I personally don't feel that that makes much of a difference, but I know that some find it easier to read. The artwork is similar in style to that in the PHB - full colour pictures of high quality.

The classes chapter introduces the two main psionic classes - the psion and the psychic warrior. If I had to use an analogy, I would say that the psion is the psychic equivalent of the sorceror, and the psychic warrior is the equivalent of a fighter-sorceror. The chapter also introduces the concept of the psicrystal, an intelligent psionic item similar to the sorceror's familiar; this crystal grows in intelligence and power as the psion's level increases, and is imbued with a distinct personality selected at creation (this is chosen from a list).

The skills and feats largely echo the magic-related skills and feats in the PHB. Thus spellcraft becomes psicraft, combat casting becomes combat manifestation. This is a theme repeated throughout the book (spells, skills,feats etc.) and seems slightly pointless to me: much easier would be a list of skills and feats which are used by psionic characters and their alternate, psionic names indicated. Some of the skills and feats are, of course, new and these do not appear unbalanced.

Next we have a chapter that deals with psionic rules in general. These rules tell you how to manifest a power, how many power points this will cost and how psionic combat works. Those who have seen previous D&D psionics rules will be familiar with the five attack and defense modes - fortnately these rules are far more streamlined than in previous incarnations and fit neatly into the 3E core rules.

Next we have the powers. These are presented in the same way as the spell lists in the PHB. First you have the master list of powers for each of the two classes, with a brief one-line description of that power. Psionic characters have cantrips just like spellcasters, but these are renamed talents. The powers are then dealt with in alphabetical order with familiar entries: level, target, duration, saving throw and a description. A couple of new, psi-related entries are also included ('display' and 'power points'). The powers themselves are divided into different disciplines (for that read 'schools' or 'domains') and many echo spell abilities of the same or a similar name. However, there are loads and loads of abilities not covered by spells. The powers scale from levels 1 through 9 in the same way as spells, and are far less unbalancing than in previous incarnations.

The prestige classes are next. There are four of these: the Metamind, a character who concentrates on amassing raw mental power at the expense of some higher level abilities; the Pyrokineticist, who does exactly what it says on the box; the Soulknife, who wields a shimmering blade of psionic energy; and the Slayer, a character who devotes himself to the hunting of and slaying of Illithids (Mindflayers).

These prestige classes are colourful, unique and well-crafted. I was a tad bemused by the power progression tables on each - the character stops gaining powers for a few levels and then starts again with level 0 powers. None of them build on the charcater's existing psionic ability in the same way that most wizard or sorceror prestige classes do.

The prestige classes are followed by a short section on psionic NPCs, similar to the NPC tables in the DMG. If you use the tables in the DMG, you'll be grateful for their inclusion here - otherwise you'll just skip these 6 or so pages.

Psionic Items is the next chapter. The chapter is laid out in exactly the same way as the magical items chapter in the DMG. There are some interesting new concepts - psionic tattoos for example, but nothing earthshattering. Useful if not especially inspiring.

And last, but not least, we come to the monsters. The chapter is laid out like the Monster Manual with full-colour pictures and includes17 creatures plus a psionic template that can be laid over the top of any other monster. All the old favourites are here, although I feel that the Illithids should have appeared in this book rather than the MM. One minor point is that there isn't quite enough information to use any of the monsters as PC races - the Githzerai, for example, has a brief section on using them as PCs but does not provide the equivalent level for balance purposes. I finally used them as level +2, but it was largely a guess.

In conclusion- what we have here is the product that should have been made ten years go. For the first time in my gaming career, I am going to allow psionic characters into my campaign. The rules are balanced, and the psionic classes are equal to the other core classes. If I have any gripes, they are the lack of uniqueness that occasionally crops up (e.g. the renamed magic feats, skills and spells). I feel also that, if you introduce the Psion, you should do away with the Sorceror from your campaign, but that's just me!

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Let me start off by saying I have to judge the new "psionics" system by the other material out for 3e and by the 2e psionics system.

In 2e, psionicists recieved even at higher levels a small number of powers compared to the number of spells a wizard or priest recieved. Most spells scaled based on level. In exchange for not having this psionicists recieved the ability to scale these powers at the cost of spending more PSP's.
In 3e psions recieve a comparable number of powers to the number of spells a sorcerer recieves. Most spells still scale in 3e. Powers in 3e have nearly no scaling based on level, and only by taking upgraded powers can an individual power give the appearence of scaling. This leaves a psion with the choice of having a far fewer number of powers, with a faked ability to scale them, or a wide range of powers, most of which will be worthless in most situations (Unless you like spending adventures beating on normal rodents with a 10th level character).

In 2e a psionicist could be liked to a rogue. A rogue would not win a toe to toe fight against a fighter, a psionicist would not win a spell vs. power fight against a wizard. For the rogue and psionicist to be their most effective they had to strike unexpectedly, otherwise they were greatly overmatched. Psionic powers had no telltale signs of their use until it was to late.
In 3e a psion loses the option of striking unexpectedly because of powers now give some display that will generally warn anyone in the area, including the target.

In 2e a psionicist required 3 prime requisite stats which aided in using their powers. Even if these were at the minimums for the class the psionicist was able to perform as well as a wizard with similar stats.
In 3e a psion in order to match the potential of a sorcerer with a single high stat in their single prime stat requires all 6 stats to be that high. This means only a powergamer can be as effective as a normal sorcerer.

In 2e a psionicist was as effective in their own way as any other class.
In 3e a psion is only at their strongest against another psion and then they are given an additional vulnerability because the psion they are facing is at their strongest.


After talking with the auther, Bruce Cordell, by email I was left with the impression that he did not use psionics in 2e and had never even read the book. His justifications for how things turned out were disappointing to say the least.

When I asked why the powers were made into 10 levels with no scaling he answered that in order to balance things it had to be done that way to begin with, and it would seem sneaky change it to be similar to what existed before after doing that.
My response here is that while it may seem sneaky, it would also make the powers a versatile enough to be effective because as the system is where sorcerers have scaling spells they only need to learn once, psions must take multiple powers to have appear to have a single one that scales.

When I asked why psions were so crippled against non-psionic characters Bruce responded that it was because of how unbalanced psionicists were in 2e and he also gave the example of how strong mindflayers were still in 3e.
The first part of his response here I take as evidence he did not read and understand the 2e psionics handbook, and the second part my response to is the mindflayer is a monster that is meant to be feared. Maybe fighters shouldn't be able to use weapons because of how powerful giants are with them? Maybe wizards shouldn't have spells because of how powerful liches are? Maybe rogues shouldn't be able to sneak and hide because of how strong invisible stalkers are? I won't bother mentioning where this line of thinking would leave us if it was used.


Overall, as you can probably guess, I'm extremely disappointed in the book. This is the first TSR product I have ever considered a waste of money, hopefully future products will not be at the poor quality of work.

 

[Psion]

Wow. I realized that despite my handle, I haven't done a review on this product on ENWorld.

First off, let me dispense with the usual bugbears that follow psionics around. Psionics seems to be a "love it or hate it" thing with most D&D fans. Some love the new dimension afforded by the introduction of psionics ina game, the unique feel associated with characters who can inflict theirwill on reality with their minds.

I am not going to judge this book based on the notions of those who really don't grok the concept of psionics or try to tell you that psionics (which is essentially another brand of magic) don't belong in fantasy or who won't open the cover of the book because of their bad experiences with prior editions.

Let me sell it to you straight: this is the best psionics has ever been in D&D. Prior versions of psionic were abusive and confusing. It fit poorly with the surrounding system and circumvented the rules in ways that made psionic characters very broken. Low level characters could easily access powers that only much higher level mages could, and they bypass defenses like magic resistance while doing it.

As promised, this version of psionics fits in the prevailing system. Psionic characters are not overpowering compared to characters of other classes of the same levels, and the DM doesn't have to worry about an otherwise challenging climax being a cakewalk due to the mere presence of a psion.


Graphical Presentation and Layout

The interior is likewise graphically similar to the PHB with the samegeneral color art style and the same red border motif. Thankfully, thepages lack the same "brown guidelines" backdrop that marred the PHB, making it clearer and more readable.

The color art is stylish and well done, helping lend psionics a flavor all its own in 3e.

The book is sorted into chapters similar to the D&D 3e Core Rulebooks.The chapters, and their contents, are:

Classes

The book presents two new basic psionic character classes: psion and psychic warrior. The psion is the equivalent to wizard or sorcerer of the psionic arts. Like a wizard, psions have specilialties. Unlike a wizard, psions mustselect a specialty in one of the 6 disciplines. However, they are also somewhat like sorcerers in that they only know a number of "powers" dictatedby their level and never learn any more. Unlike either, psions have powerpoints instead of "spell slots", which gives them added flexibility when using their powers.

The psionic disciplines are all keyed to one of the 6 D&D character abilities. The disciplines are Psychometabolism
(Str), Psychoportation (Dex), Psychokenisis (Con), Metacreativity (Int), Clairsentience (Wis), and Telepathy (Cha). Psions receive bonus power points based on the ability score associated with their specialty. Psions have no limitations on how many powers they can draw from otherdisciplines, other than their ability scores, which will necessarily limit them to their specialties in higher level power. For example, a telepath with 16 charisma and 11 strength could use 6th level telepathy power, but only 1st level psychometabolism powers.

Psychic Warrior is a bit more like the Bard class in that it only haspowers up to 6th level, and has some other abilities. The pyschicwarrior has its own list of powers to pick from and do not have specialties. They have a better attacks and hit dice, as well as receiving bonus feats, much like a fighter. The bonus feats can be combat related feats similarto a fighter's or psionic feats.

The psionic characters chapter contains material similar to the DMG characters chapter. This includes prestige classes and quick-NPC charts.

Skills and Feats

The skills chapters expands on the existing skills concentration and adds the new skills autohypnosis, knowledge (psionics), psicraft,r emote view, stabilize self, and use psionic device.

The feats chapter has new feats in three major categories: Psionic feats, metapsionic feats, and (psionic) item creation feats. Some space is devoted to general feats from the PHB that are prerequisites for psionic feats in this book.

Psionic feats are an interesting bit, granting certain abilities or bonuses as most feats do. Many are similar to the general feats. Some seem more powerful, but rely on having a certain power point total, and are useless if depleted. Some examples are inner strength (which gives thepsion more power points), inertial armor (gives the character an armorbonus of 4 as long as the psion has at least 1 power points), deep impact (lets the psionic character treat a melee attack as a touch attack), psionic focus(lets the character boost the DC of psionic powers in one discipline),and mind trap (drains power points from someone bold enough to overcomethe character's psionic defenses.)

Metaspsionic feats function similar to metamagic feats. They allow thepsionic character to enhance their powers at the cost of additional powerpoints. Item creation feats let you create psionic items, which are an analog of magic items.

Overall, psionic feats create a plethora of options for psionic charactersthat promise to make them distinctive from one another.

Psionic rules, combat, and powers

The psionics chapter discusses the actual use of psionics. This is divided into two major divisions: psionic combat modes and psionic powers.

Psionic powers are sorted into 10 levels, numbered from 0-9, like spells. Unlike spells, psionic characters don't use spell slots. Rather, they havea pool of power points. 0 level powers (called talents) have a number of free uses per day, after which they cost 1 power point. 1st level abilitiescost 1 point. Abilities of higher than level 1 cost 2 x the level, -1. Thus a level 9 power costs 17 points to use.

Unlike spells, psionic powers do not have components. Instead,psionic powers have "displays", telltale signs that let people know somethingis up when psionic powers are manifested.

By default, psionics are assumed to be treated as magic (and vice-versa)for the purposes of effects like dispel magic, magic dead zones, globesof invulnerability, and so forth. This is a major departure from the way psionics have been treated in the past, and the author provides you withsome variant rules to balance the campaign if you decide that psionics and magic aren't treated as the same. Personally, I like the concept of treating the two differently, as it solves a variety of balance and otherproblems that existed under previous editions.

Psionic combat maintains the same 10 combat modes (5 attack and 5 defense)that have existed in the game since psionics was first introduced, except that mind blank is renamed empty mind, probably to avoidconfusion with the spell mind blank. Psionic blast is now mind blast, and functions the same as the mind flayer ability.

Psionic attack modes, if successful, do ability point damage to psioniccharacters. Considering that psionic characters rely on their ability scoresto use certain powers, this can really hit them where they live! Non-psionic characters don't have the same mental pathways as psionic characters, and aren't subject to ability damage from the attacks. Non-psionic characters are stunned instead of taking ability point damage, and also receive asignificant bonus when saving against psionic attacks except for the mindblast.

Psionic defenses grant the character a bonus against psionic attackmodes. As in prior editions, the some defense modes are better against certain attack modes, maintaining the "rock-paper-scissors" type of relationship.

Overall, psionic combat seems as if it is more interesting and playablethan most prior editions, yet maintains some of the same flavor.

Psionic Creatures

The last chapter details psionic monsters and other creatures of concern to psionics, such asastral constructs.

The first item in the chapter is the "psionic creature" template. Thisis used to create new psionic creatures or adapt existing psionic creatures to the psionics handbook rules. This should let the DM prepare some nasty surprises for the player.

Psionic creatures are not just creatures with psionic levels. They arecreatures that can use psionics without the expenditure of power points(similar to spell like abilities), which makes them very dangerous opponents.

The chapter includes a few classics (such as brain moles, githzerai,githyanki, and intellect devourers) and a few new surprises (includingthe blue, a psionic goblin, and the cerebrilith, a psionic demon.) The gem dragons and thri-kreen appear in the web supplement.

Astral constructs are creatures created by the metacreative astral construct I-IX powers. Astral construct come in 9 levels of ability, and the creator of the construct can add abilities to the construct frommenus appropriate to the constructs power.

Summary and Conclusions

I think that the psionics handbook is by far the most balanced take on psionics in D&D to date. In addition to being balanced, there are more options to add variety to characters an adventures than ever before. Prior implementations of psionics seem like an afterthought in many ways. While this version of the psionics borrows heavily from the other parts of the D&D 3e mechanics, that is what makes it work. At the same time, the author makes a good effort to make psionics distinctive in flavor and focus from magic.

There are some things that some people aren't going to like, and that even I have some troubles with. For example, I find it a little hard to wrap my mind around the concept that some psionic powers are based on physical attributes. I can sort of understand it from a "wholeness of body" or "body-mind unity" or "chi focus" standpoint, but I still have a little trouble with the concept. Low level psions seem a little weak, and I have already seen many DMs bolster the psion a little.

Overall, however, the book has some solid and flavorful material, a good addition to a campaign.

 

[Jarval]

First Impressions: This book very much follows the design of the core rule books, with good layout and nice clean, consistent art work (most of which is in full colour). They've also dropped the lines behind the text (one of the few flaws of the core books), improving readability.

The book starts with a single page introduction, giving an overview of the book and an explanation of psionics for those new to the idea.

Chapter 1: Psionic Classes
The first chapter details the two psionic classes, the Psion and the new Psychic Warrior. To compare with the standard classes, the Psion class has a lot in common with the Sorcerer, while the Psychic Warrior covers some of the same ground as the Bard. The Psychic Warrior balances well with the core classes, but the Psion fares less well in terms of raw combat power. When compared to the spellcasting classes, they are less powerful. It's not a huge gap, but it's enough to make a difference especially at mid level to the lower high levels. One interesting note is that Psions can freely use their powers while wearing armor, so this helps a bit.

Chapter 2: Skills
New skills and reworkings of magical skills to psionics (Psicraft in place of Spellcraft for example). This chapter only covers four pages and only introduces two new skills, both of which are exclusive to the psionic classes. Autohypnosis strikes me as a little too useful, but fits the psionic concept well.

Chapter 3: Feats
There's a lot more to the feats chapter however. This book brings in a whole new category of feats: Psionic Feats! These vary quite widely in power, from the average Psionic Metabolism (you heal more Hit Points per day than normal), to the very powerful (Inertial Armor and Trigger Power springing to mind). Psionic feats all have a reserve Power Points prerequisite, or cost Power Points to use, making them psionic characters only. There are also metapsionic and item creation feats.

Chapter 4: Psionics
This chapter details the main rules mechanic for Psionics. The new psionics system is structured in the same manner as magic with powers organised in levels from 0 (or talents) to 9. The main difference between magic and psionics is that the Difficulty Classes to resists the powers is determined randomly. There is no longer a random element involved in manifesting the psionic powers, making them far more reliable than in previous editions. The largest difference between this version and previous versions is that psionics and magic are regarded as the same. So dispel magic will also effect psionics, Power Resistance stops magic and so on. This chapter also includes rules for psionic combat.

Chapter 5: Powers
Just look at the spell lists in the PHB and you'll have a pretty good idea of what this chapter is like. One thing worthy of note is that most psionic powers don't scale with level. So Whitefire (close to a psionic fireball) does a flat 5 dice of damage, rather than fireball's one die per level. This makes most psionic direct damage powers rather weaker that equivalent spells. Once you get past the damage dealing powers however, things really pick up. The utility powers a highly useful, and the Telepathy discipline just rocks! Overall, the new psionic powers keep much of the unique feel of earlier versions, while balancing them better with the other classes.

Chapter 6: Characters
You get four prestige classes in this chapter, as well as 1st to 20th level stats for psionic NPCs. The prestige classes are all well done and have interesting powers, but I can't see too many of them being taken to 10th level, and they all have their own allotment of powers rather than anything akin to the spellcasters +1 caster level.

Chapter 7: Psionic Items
As well as Psionic arms and armor (much the same as magical ones, but some different special powers), dorjes (psionic wands), and psionic tattoos (close to potions), there are many new items. They are very original for the most part (particularly the brilliant, if rather X-Men like, psychoactive skins), and match the power level of magic items well.

Chapter 8: Monsters
And some of your favourite critters return. The Githyanki, Githzerai, Intellect Devourers and Thought Eaters are all back (and if you get the web enhancement, so are the Crystal Dragons and Thri-Kreen). They've also added a host more beasties to battle against. I really like the new monsters, and it's great to see the old ones make a comeback, but the Challenge ratings are rather too low. Bump them all up by two for a more realistic figure.

To sum up, this book does a great job of creating psionic rules to 3rd editions system well, giving it it's best rules set yet. The psionics/magic transparency takes away some of the flavour of the earlier version of psionics, but fortunately the book includes optional rules to make them less compatible, so everyone's happy. A very good book, only slightly marred by underpowering the Psion class.

 

[billd91]

Wow! About time somebody got psionics integrated into the D&D system the right way. Light years better than the 2nd edition Complete Psionics Handbook. That product had me pretty much soured on the whole idea of using psionics in any D&D game. Then, I borrowed this product from friends. I have now changed my tune. I will still keep it as a DM's nasty little secret though...

Basically, psionic powers are not unlike the spells known to sorcerers. They know a limited number of them per level and don't have to prepare them in advance and can use and reuse them as long as they have the energy to do so. Where they differ is in how they account for the powers used. Sorcerers have specific slots that get expended and psion characters use points to pay for their powers. Now, if you were to just tack on a set of point costs per level of spell for the sorcerers, you'd break the system because then some spells would be much more powerful than their points would allow (such as just about any spell that gains in damage as the caster rises in levels). Here's where the designers did their work correctly for psionics. Low level powers that don't cost a lot of points don't gain much as the psion goes up in levels. To get a higher damaging power, you have to pick one up at a higher level. That keeps the potential danger of a point system in balance.

The supplement also goes into how to integrate psionics into the average campaign. Mostly, this is done by assuming that psionics behave just like magic as far as spell/power resistance, dispels, and saving throws go. But there is also discussion of the alternative: psionics being completely different. Some good material for the DM to think about here.

As far as drawbacks, I'm not certain I like the attack modes doing some small amount of temporary stat damage. That seems a bit odd to me, that a psionic attack might sap your dexterity. But, hey, at least you don't have that 2nd edition garbage of establishing 'tangents' or whatever that bizarre system was.

Psionics aren't for everyone or every campaign. But this is well done enough that it's worth a look and a serious evaluation. It's worth considerably more than any previous edition of the psionics rules.