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

[Mind of tempest]

In practice it means you need to cripple your character to use your class features. Like the berserker barbarian. Terrible design.

so make it way more optional with a better bang for your buck?

 

[Minigiant]

In practice it means you need to cripple your character to use your class features. Like the berserker barbarian. Terrible design.

If designed correctly no.

The idea is that a psionic character can be effective by staying under the first threshold and having normal short rests. But if things go south or if you are reckless, you will build up to the thresholds.

It's basically like using powers a tier above your current one. At level 1 you have access to you level 1-6 powers. But if you do your level 4 power at level 1, KO. Level 5? KO plus long term penatly. Level 6? Roll death save.

 

[Micah Sweet]

This thread isn't about psionics in the game, it's about psionics in a hypothetical science fiction reskin of the game.

If you want to add psionics to your game there are already a whole bunch of options to select from.

Sure, but you could easily already use a magic reskin in a hypothetical sci-fi version of 5e. Why actively discourage a new design? It doesnt affect you.

 

[Aldarc]

What's incorrect? Bizzard reskinned their fantasy game into a science fiction game - pretty much exactly what is being asked about in the OP.

Jein. Blizzard initially did start Starcraft as a reskin of Warcraft II; however, an utterly disasterous game preview at their 1996 E3 showing of Starcraft caused them to go back to the drawing-board and do more than reskin the game. (This disasterous showing is incidentally where its derision as "orcs in space!" originally came from.) In particular, Blizzard wanted the game to be more credible within the realm of the science-fiction genre with improved art, more than two factions, and a new game engine. They needed Starcraft to be more than just "Warcraft in space."

Just because you can do something differently doesn't mean you have to do it differently. WoW has never been reskinned into a successful science fiction game.

Honestly after having played both, I would say that Star Wars: The Old Republic feels like a WoW sci-fantasy reskin but as done with the usual Bioware fanfare. While there are other sci-fi MMOs out there, I also think that we are seeing a decline of WoW-style MMOs across the board. Once upon a time, I certainly would have enjoyed a Starcraft MMO, but that was before Blizzard's decline and the recent trainwreck revelations.

It is all made up, none of it is 'scientifically plausible.'

Of course, but psionics tap into a wonderous idea of the psychosomatic human potential. As such, while psionics break physics and defies scientific plausibility, it also tends to have a little more thematic/aesethetic constrain and less whimsy than D&D's wizarding magic. A wizard can summon a tiny hut or a rope into a pocket dimension. I suspect that even you wouldn't predict such spells on a psion/psychic/mystic spell list. Even if your favorite psychics/telepaths/telekineticists in superhero comics started doing more Dr. Strange, Zatanna, or John Constantine wizard/warlock/magician type magic, it would probably be a shock for people since mind powers typically focus on more psychosomatic power sets.

Again, I agree that I think you can reskin the pre-exiting magic system for psionics, but I don't think that this argument somehow requires us to pretend that there isn't a different aesthetic or thematic scope between what we commonly find for psionics and wizarding magic.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Of course, but psionics tap into a wonderous idea of the psychosomatic human potential. As such, while psionics break physics and defies scientific plausibility, it also tends to have a little more thematic/aesethetic constrain and less whimsy than D&D's wizarding magic. A wizard can summon a tiny hut or a rope into a pocket dimension. I suspect that even you wouldn't predict such spells on a psion/psychic/mystic spell list. Even if your favorite psychics/telepaths/telekineticists in superhero comics started doing more Dr. Strange, Zatanna, or John Constantine wizard/warlock/magician type magic, it would probably be a shock for people since mind powers typically focus on more psychosomatic power sets.

Again, I agree that I think you can reskin the pre-exiting magic system for psionics, but I don't think that this argument somehow requires us to pretend that there isn't a different aesthetic or thematic scope between what we commonly find for psionics and wizarding magic.

Sure, there is (somewhat vague) difference in flavour. But all that requires is having a thematically appropriate spell list.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

And when I say 'use the existing magic system' I don't mean that there couldn't be new spells or classes and whatnot. Of course a scifi setting will require new stuff. I just mean use the existing mechanical framework and those of the already existing assets that are appropriate, and then add some new stuff that works in that framework. Just like in a scifi game we would presumably have new weapons and armour with their own stats, but we wouldn't completely redesign the combat system.

 

[Aldarc]

Sure, there is (somewhat vague) difference in flavour. But all that requires is having a thematically appropriate spell list.

Again, in general, I don't disagree. I would potentially provide a greater range of at-will abilities (or ways to augment them) and less of the high power shenanigans. A lot of answers to @Morrus's hypothetical depends on a lot of unknowns that we aren't privy to, such as whether wizards and/or other spellcasters would also be in this sci-fi D&D game.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Sure, there is (somewhat vague) difference in flavour. But all that requires is having a thematically appropriate spell list.

several thematically appropriate lists one for each subclass.

honestly, if you want to use the wizard chassis use it for a more hacker techy type as I have seen that done once before.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

several thematically appropriate lists one for each subclass.

honestly, if you want to use the wizard chassis use it for a more hacker techy type as I have seen that done once before.

I'm not exactly sure why people keep bringing up the wizard. I agree that wizard with spell book and memorisation and massive amount of learnable spells is bad fit for a psion. But that's just one specific class, not the underlying magic system. Something more similar to sorcerer or warlock would work just fine. Limited amount of thematically appropriate spells, with some extra shenanigans added on top.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Again, in general, I don't disagree. I would potentially provide a greater range of at-will abilities (or ways to augment them) and less of the high power shenanigans. A lot of answers to @Morrus's hypothetical depends on a lot of unknowns that we aren't privy to, such as whether wizards and/or other spellcasters would also be in this sci-fi D&D game.

I'll go out on a limb and say this: even if it's a spell-casting-free setting, just using the sorcerer as written probably isn't going to make for a great psychic class. It's still a little too rooted in spells as a thing.

It wouldn't take much (mostly tweaking the component rules and creating new subclasses) to make the sorcerer work, but it's more than zero changes needed.