Psionics Redux

[MerricB]

I have never used Psionics in any great extent in my campaign. They've never been available to my players, and perhaps one or two "unusual" villains have had them.

Then the XPH came out, and I bought it and showed it to my players.

The result? Three different players all want to play Soulknives.

Well, as I was running a main campaign and a mini campaign, one player got his chance in the main campaign, another got his chance in the mini campaign, and the third player will be playing a Psychic Warrior/Pyrokineticist in the main campaign.

Incredible. I guess I'll get to see on Sunday how the main campaign progresses with these new characters.

Cheers!

 

[dead]

I'm introducing the XPH to my second campaign, too. And guess what? Three out of 4 players want to play psionic characters!

And in my game I'm using the "Psionics are Different" option!

Even if I were'nt using this option, I'd still think psionics would be fairly rare in a standard D&D world.

How can one introduce psionics without the entire player group becoming psions!? You can't just let one play a psion coz this would be unfair. And if all play psions in a standard D&D game then you've got quite an unusual group (too unusual?).

In fact, what is the frequency of psions in a community as opposed to wizards, priests, sorcerers in the standard D&D game?

 

[Psion]

I typically only have one psionic PC in a group at a time. Nothing planned, it just rolled out that way.

 

[Telperion]

I scare my players into submission.

There's no better way to cut down on psionic character than to explain to them what your average god worshiping mortal will do if he/she/it finds out you are a psionic character.

Leaving out the ugly details usually works even better, since the human mind can come up with a lot more interesting solutions than what I can imagine .

 

[Robbert Raets]

Retcon Wild Talent, like I did.

 

[vulcan_idic]

And if all play psions in a standard D&D game then you've got quite an unusual group (too unusual?).

While it is true the group would be unusual, it would also make a certain amount of sense. If such abilities are so rare it would stand to reason that when people with such talents met each other they would tend to stay together for the very reason that they are similar in a way that few others in the world are... it gives them a sense of kinship. Birds of a feather flocking together and all that.

There's no better way to cut down on psionic character than to explain to them what your average god worshiping mortal will do if he/she/it finds out you are a psionic character.

Frankly, that's always been one of my biggest attractions to playing a psionic character. Then again, maybe I've been reading too many X-Men comics, groovin' to the "fighting to save a world that hates and fears you" jive... Come to think of it, that reminds me of several episodes of Stargate SG-1 where Teal'c... but that's going *way* off topic!

 

[Henry]

I scare my players into submission.

There's no better way to cut down on psionic character than to explain to them what your average god worshiping mortal will do if he/she/it finds out you are a psionic character.

I don't think he meant that his situation was a bad thing.

In our Eberron game, there are no psionically manifesting characters, though there is one kalashtar cleric taking full advantage of those neat Psionic Feats. That's good enough for me, because it creates an avenue to introduce psionic NPC's, items, and plots based on them.

 

[Piratecat]

Interesting that everyone wants to play a soulknife; they're generally considered the weakest and least interesting psionic class. I'll be curious to hear how it goes.

If everyone wants to play a psionic character, it makes sense to use that as a common theme bonding the characters. I'd probably posit that they all come from the same monastary/organization/region, which allows for plenty of plot hooks.

 

[MerricB]

A really great idea for a class (soulknife) trumps slight underpowering every time. Personally, I much prefer the soulknife as a class and not a prestige class, as I like the ability to start at 1st level.

Back a couple of years ago, the PCs in my campaign rescued Zuoken, who had been imprisoned by agents of the Scarlet Brotherhood.

This current campaign is set in the southern Great Kingdom, quite close to where the Scarlet Brotherhood work. Suddenly having a couple of psionic characters in the group opens up a plot thread that I thought was closed. This is going to be fun!

(Of course, first they have to go back to the Isle of Dread for the third time...)

Cheers!

 

[Sir Elton]

I love the new rules, but I thinking on changing around the Psychic Warrior's BAB. The Base Attack Bonus for the psychic warrior seems weak for such an offensive character (hehe!).

In my Pseudo-Greek Campaign I'm starting up, I'm thinking about making a plot hook around someone who hates psionics but is actually psionic himself. Although I think I'm going to do something with the elans in another subplot.