D&D 5E Psionics in a sci-fi D&D

[Mordhau]

Really? Lots of psionic characters in Marvel and whatnot are not particularly smart or strong personalities - Psylocke comes to mind. Not a character I would associate with that and since she's a mutant - Aberrant bloodline in other words - doesn't she fit the bill? And, note, Jedi, the typical go to for D&D psionics are not based on brain or personality but, simply winning the Mitichlorian lottery - effectively an Aberrant bloodline.

The notion of your Int, Wis and/or Cha raising your chances of being psionic seems pretty much a D&Dism more than something you find in fiction.

If there's an origin for Psionic ability in fiction it would have to be genetics.

So really there should be a separate ability score "Power" which can be used for Psionics (and probably for Sorcerer's to).

There won't be, for obvious reasons, so the go to for this kind of thing is usually Charisma (as the formely mostly useless ability as much as anything). However, we've now reached the point where absolutely everyone is croweded around the Charisma corner.

 

[Mordhau]

D&D is a game that makes distinctions by differentiating mechanics.

I mean really, if Sorcerer, Warlock and Wizard are all distincitive enough concepts to merit different classes, than there's no good argument for not making the Psion it's own class.

 

[Yaarel]

Normal spellcasting mechanics also make normal multiclass characters function normally.

Psion / Paladin
Psion / Eldritch Knight
Psion / Cleric

etcetera

No problem, if an only if, normal 5e spellcasting mechanics.

 

[Minigiant]

Really? Lots of psionic characters in Marvel and whatnot are not particularly smart or strong personalities - Psylocke comes to mind. Not a character I would associate with that and since she's a mutant - Aberrant bloodline in other words - doesn't she fit the bill? And, note, Jedi, the typical go to for D&D psionics are not based on brain or personality but, simply winning the Mitichlorian lottery - effectively an Aberrant bloodline.

The notion of your Int, Wis and/or Cha raising your chances of being psionic seems pretty much a D&Dism more than something you find in fiction.

The Aberrant Sorcerer's rarity is what works it up.

In settings where psionics isn't a patched on afterthought, it is common enough to have bloodline, brain type, and education as sources.

However my argument from the very beginning was that the D&D spell system and 5th editions magic philosophy were not designed to create Jean Grey, Prof X, Magneto, Mr Sinister, or Psylocke.

 

[Yaarel]

The Aberrant Sorcerer required the bloodline.

Psionics usually goes with having a strong enough brain or personality raise your chances. The random charismatic child in some random village being mentored by a roaming psionic.

Plus the Aberrant mind sorcerer had the baggage of the 5e designers seeing it as just a blaster.

But in a scifi near-future setting, a wetware brain implant is moreorless equivalent to a gaining an Aberrant bloodline.

If the assumption is that normal humans dont do psionic effects, there is an augmentation that somehow makes it possible.

 

[Yaarel]

However my argument from the very beginning was that the D&D spell system and 5th editions magic philosophy were not designed to create Jean Grey, Prof X, Magneto, Mr Sinister, or Psylocke.

I can picture Prof X as a 5e Warlock mechanical chassis with its at-will, per-rest, and daily spells.

I dont see the problem.

 

[Mordhau]

In 2nd edition memorising magic was pretty closely linked to some kind of setting reality. The wizard literally in the game memorised a spell held it in his mind, and it disappeared when he cast the spell.

You could refer to this in the game. And people such as Fighter/Magic Users and Bards, were explicitly using the same form of magic.

So given that psionicists didn't memorise spells, it made sense to give them a completely different set of mechanics.

But in 5th edition this isn't really the case any more. It's sort of true for wizards, who at least still memorise spells, but the number of spells they can cast is more abstract, and the same system covers sorcerers and bards who don't memorise anything.

So really, when it comes to the spell slot mechanism, it's basically independent from how the magic is used in the setting. It's just the way that magic functions. So, given that, there's not really a particularly good reason not to use the standard spell slot progression. If it's good enough for the sorcerer then I guess it has to be good enough for the Psion.

On the other hand, that said, it may be that the Psion would prevent an alternative for a completely different magic system for those who don't much like the existing one. But it would be a pretty weak alternative as the vast majority of the existing classes use the existing spell slot mechanic - so using just a new psionics system in a game, would probably gut the existing game.

5e just isn't really that much of a toolkit.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

However my argument from the very beginning was that the D&D spell system and 5th editions magic philosophy were not designed to create Jean Grey, Prof X, Magneto, Mr Sinister, or Psylocke.

Or Gandalf or Ged or Scarlet Witch. So what? D&D does things in D&D way.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

D&D is a game that makes distinctions by differentiating mechanics.

I mean really, if Sorcerer, Warlock and Wizard are all distincitive enough concepts to merit different classes,

I mean they aren't. Sorcerer was a mistake and shouldn't have existed.

than there's no good argument for not making the Psion it's own class.

But sure, Psion could be its own class. I don't think these is a huge opposition to that. What I oppose is designing some bizarre parallel magic system for one class.

 

[Cadence]

I mean they aren't. Sorcerer was a mistake and shouldn't have existed.

I thought it made sense back in PF for example when you had flexibility in spells knowable (Wizard) vs. flexibility in casting (Sorcerer). And then they had the Arcanist, which combined them and is basically like how magic users are in 5e now and just seemed better. And it made both the Wizards and Sorcerers seem like mistakes to me.