Psionics-Love it or Hate It?

[Ezrael]

The last D&D campaign I ran used both Psionic and Magic, and worked rather well, I thought.

Personally, I love the idea that Psion powers and Magic are basically the same energy manipulated differently...I've seen it used in fiction and other games and I've always enjoyed it. The way I interpret it in games I run is that both magic and psionic energy are generated by the existence of masses of sentient, sapient beings. A being can learn to control how much of this energy he releases and channel it into him/her/itself for personal use (psionic classes) or can learn to tap the pool of energy generated by all living things (Arcane magic) or can be granted a direct line of power by a divine entity (Divine magic). You can think of it as quantum synchronicty in action, or morphic resonance generated by the interaction of mental fields with higher dimensional space, or zero point energy...doesn't really matter, since you ultimately end up with the same thing.

The interesting thing there is that an active psion, in essence, is diminishing the pool of energy arcane magicians draw from, since he or she or it is internalizing their own energy reserves rather than leaking them into the pool. So there's a built in reason for arcane magicians to distrust psions, since they can (consciously or unconsciously, depending on it it's known in a campaign) be viewed as the inevitable death of magic. Those that have the talent, especially if they can teach it, weaken the very fabric of magic as they withold and teach others to withold their 'inherent tithe' of energy.

 

[rounser]

But so what? Just because YOU can explain it away doesn't make it any less mystical. Most of technology now could very well be magic for all I understand it. A wizard could explain quite easily how he casts spells if I had a few years. An engineer could easily explain how a computer works in the same time. A mystic could very well explain how he reached enlightenment in a similar time. All three would make about as much sense to me without the explanation.

I think you've missed my point. Enlightenment is about "knowing the unknowable", whereas (as Psion pointed out earlier in this thread) psionics is traditionally a parapsychological handwave explanation to fit supernatural powers into a sci-fi or contemporary setting. The keyword here is "explanation".

Magic can be formulaic (especially hermetic magic), which implies that there is a magical science of it's own behind it, or it can be mystical and unable to be broken down into formula (such as much innate, bloodline, or spontaneous magic). Usually it seems to be a combination of the two.

Psionics tends to fit firmly into the pseudo-scientifically explainable category in order to make it fit a sci-fi setting without completely delving into not-even-pseudo-scientific mysticism, whereas spiritual enlightenment tends to fit firmly into the mystical and unscientific (which means unpseudo-scientific as well, and therefore by implication unpsionic) category.

The spiritual and the scientific (even the pseudo-scientific) are usually at odds, and eastern mysticism is anything but scientific...whereas psionics errs towards pseudo-science.

 

[s/LaSH]

I think you've missed my point. Enlightenment is about "knowing the unknowable", whereas (as Psion pointed out earlier in this thread) psionics is traditionally a parapsychological handwave explanation to fit supernatural powers into a sci-fi or contemporary setting. The keyword here is "explanation".

Magic can be formulaic (especially hermetic magic), which implies that there is a magical science of it's own behind it, or it can be mystical and unable to be broken down into formula (such as much innate, bloodline, or spontaneous magic). Usually it seems to be a combination of the two.

Psionics tends to fit firmly into the pseudo-scientifically explainable category in order to make it fit a sci-fi setting without completely delving into not-even-pseudo-scientific mysticism, whereas spiritual enlightenment tends to fit firmly into the mystical and unscientific (which means unpseudo-scientific as well, and therefore by implication unpsionic) category.

The spiritual and the scientific (even the pseudo-scientific) are usually at odds, and eastern mysticism is anything but scientific...whereas psionics errs towards pseudo-science.

The question is, Would psionics still be pseudoscientific if you changed the names of all the powers? If instead you could do all this weird stuff (I don't have the PsiHB, so I'm not quite certain of all the terms here and my grasp of the extent of psionics is a little shaky) and just call it enlightenment.

Things like accelerated healing or some kind of teleportation or turning your hand into a sword are just abilities, not methods. Look at DragonBallZ. Do they tell you precisely what the molecular configuration is that allows them to resist explosive damage, raise pyramids with their minds, or fly above the clouds? No. In fact, they do all these things with acute self-awareness (having watched the show I know this), which is one aspect of enlightenment, about as far from pseudoscience as you can get.

(And while I'm here: Do people have an opinion on whether DragonBallZ would be best modeled by a monk/sorceror or a monk/psychic? (Either class, I'm not clear on the differences.) I've been wondering this for a while.)

My point: It takes very little work to rip apart the psionics system and turn it into something that works exactly the same but has a very different flavour. Don't look at names, they will only limit your mind.

 

[Psion]

The question is, Would psionics still be pseudoscientific if you changed the names of all the powers? If instead you could do all this weird stuff (I don't have the PsiHB, so I'm not quite certain of all the terms here and my grasp of the extent of psionics is a little shaky) and just call it enlightenment.

The terms in the 3e Psi HB already do dispense with psuedo-scientific terminology.

 

[BBrendolfus]

I do not like psionics.

I do not want to learn more rules. I have trouble enough dealing with the ramifications of arcane/divine spell use.

The actual concept of mind power is cool but too many magics and it all seems less magical. Psionics would have to replace something but it is too bad for now (until I master adjudicating spells).