Psychic and Psion in use: experiences?

[Turanil]

Well, I am still deciding which system of psionics to allow in my campaign, or maybe allow both, or none...

I have both books: Expanded Psionic Handbook 3.5 and the Psychic's Handbook (by Green Ronin). Psychics are much more different than spellcasters, which is a good thing, yet seems to me they are weak. On the other hand, Psionic classes look more enjoyable to play, but seem just another kind of magic.

In fact, I haven't tried to play (PC or NPCs) neither of them. So my question is: Has anyone played (either as a PC or NPCs) a Psychic (the skill'n'feats system) or a Psionic classes (D&D 3.5)? What could you say about your experience: Powerful? weak? Enjoyable? Boring? Flawed? Fine? etc.

Thanks

 

[Someone]

I used a NPC kineticist in my last game; it went as expected. Very powerful (overchannel to manifest an empowered energy ball), annoying (Ectoplasmic wall) and tough (Vigor) but expended almost the entire cartload of PPs in the encounter.

 

[Telperion]

I'm hoping to play one should someone take the DM chair in my group for a little while. The XPH Psychic Warrior is looking very nice .

No experiences so far, and that's mainly because the Scarred Lands campaign setting I'm using isn't exactly friendly to psionic characters. O' sure, you can play one, but if anyone realizes what you are the whole world (excepting a few extremists) wants you dead sooner than you can blink your eyes.

 

[Yair]

I have no experience with the psychic system, but I do have some with the XPH.
I run a party with some psionic characters, and also will soon start playing one as a player (haven't yet). As a DM, I find the psionic characters to run out of power quicker than the other characters, but be more powerful when they do decide to step in. One character outshines the others, being really uber powerful, but I suspect that has to do more with the player's min/maxing than with the system itself (a wilder psion whose forte is astral constructs). I've had one player complaint about the limitations of her character (a wilder, meaning she has very few powers known), but that is mainly due to her overspecializing. The other two players of psionic characters seem to be enjoying their characters (the astral-construct character and another playing a telepath); both have feel akin to sorcerers, with innate powers ebbing out.
Overall, I think the flavor is good and the book allows you to do stuff you couldn't with arcane or divine magic; I think the balance is good, the fluff enjoyable, but the magic does step a bit into the area of arcane magic (though not completely).

I am pretty sure my own character will be fun to play, or I wouldn't make it. And it is certainly a concept that wouldn't have come around without the XPH. It will be weak, but that's by design - I tend to sacrifice efficiency for character concepts. But as I haven't played it yet, I can't comment on how powerful, fun, or flawed it will be. Soon.

So, in my experience the XPH is fine, and really allows very neat concepts that the core doesn't. How it compares to the psychic's handbook, I have no idea.

 

[DragonLancer]

There is a PC Psion in my current group, using the XPH, and there have been no power issues at all. In fact, the new rules are fairly well balanced as far as my group has worked out. Sure, with the right combo's you can twink to no end, but thats the same with any D&D class.

 

[HellHound]

Not dissin' the psychic here, but I have had GREAT experiences with the XPH and found the Psychic to be weak compared to core classes.

But then again, I LOVE the XPH.

 

[Spatula]

I own both books but have only seen the XPH in play. There are editing and balance problems with both books.

My only real problem with the XPH is that in general psions are much better than sorcerers - more powers known, more flexible powers, bonus feats, can use Quickened powers. More specifically, a psion kineticist is a much better blaster "mage" than any sorcerer, which I feel screws with the archtypes (if you're not using sorcerers in your game this may not be a problem). The psion will burn out faster if he's throwing around powers that are augmented to the max, but his powers do more damage and are very flexible when it comes to dealing energy damage (fire, sonic, etc.) and even what type of saving throw the enemy makes - to the point where defending against a kineticist is basically impossible unless you're high level.

The Psychic's Handbook has the same problem that psionics had in earlier versions of D&D - it's possible to have a character with access to high level effects (teleportation, domination, etc.) at very low levels. Which can make a DM's life much more difficult, especially if you're not used to dealing with some of those effects.

So, there are definitely things to watch out for. I'm sure Thanee will be by at some point to list all the ways in which the XPH is broken.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I'm playing an Erudite, which is an XPH wizard style variant published in Dragon, so far I love it.

The weird things are:

You have some amazing buff options, but most of them apply to you which is of limited usefullness given your d4 hitpoints.

You certainly have to be very careful about how you use your powers since you will hit your limit in any given session. The trade-off of which are the amazing buff options I mentioned above.

As a result I so far feel like a sort of indirect cleric, or a very aggressive support character depending on how I decide to hit the monster that encounter.

 

[Thanee]

I'm sure Thanee will be by at some point to list all the ways in which the XPH is broken.

Nah, just reading.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Samurai]

I'm playing a 7th level Telepath from the XPH. It is only slightly less combat-capable than a Kineticist since Energy Ray, Wall, Retort, etc are all General powers, but he also has quite a few other useful abilities from the Telepath list like Read Thoughts, Suggestion, Empathic Transfer - Hostile, and Brain Lock. I'd say he is definitely more versatile and powerful than a Sorcerer, but he is a blast to play. Hopefully this will be a prototype for Magic (or at least Sorcery) in D&D 4th ed.