Quick question about the Githzerai

[Imaro]

Was wondering in editions before 3.X, were the Githzerai naturally psionic. I am trying to convert Planescape over to C&C and see no mention of this in the Players Guide to the Planes. So is this a recent addition or have they always had psionics and I'm not seeing it?

 

[thedungeondelver]

Was wondering in editions before 3.X, were the Githzerai naturally psionic. I am trying to convert Planescape over to C&C and see no mention of this in the Players Guide to the Planes. So is this a recent addition or have they always had psionics and I'm not seeing it?

Yes. They have always had psionic abilities. The Githyanki/Githzerai were slaves of the Illitihids on another plane and had to develop the abilities to fight them successfully. It isn't stated but I always assumed that - given their tendencies - that an aggressive, merciless breeding program ensured that by the time "we" encounter them that only psionically capable members of each race are left.

 

[Voadam]

They first appear in the 1e Fiend Folio and are psionic there.

 

[Ripzerai]

Was wondering in editions before 3.X, were the Githzerai naturally psionic. I am trying to convert Planescape over to C&C and see no mention of this in the Players Guide to the Planes. So is this a recent addition or have they always had psionics and I'm not seeing it?

The stats for githzerai as a PC race in the Planescape boxed set were different from the stats for githzerai as a monster in the Planescape Monstrous Compendium Appendix (and in the Monstrous Manual). From ability scores to planeshifting and psionics, a lot was dropped to make them playable as PCs.

This is true of bariaurs as well. Bariaurs as monsters had seven hit dice, while bariaurs as PCs only had one.

This was just something you were supposed to ignore. There were various fan-created explanations for why githzerai who were exiled from the presence of the Wizard-King lost the ability to planeshift, but the absence of their psionics was just ignored.

Most githzerai NPCs in Planescape were statted as if they were PCs rather than monsters, so the monster stats didn't get used a lot. But they existed.

 

[Land Outcast]

Converting Planescape?
take a look at the link:

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[Clueless]

Link? This one?

It doesn't look like the hotlinked image worked... let me go see if I can correct that.

Edit: Fixed up so that image will appear now.

 

[Ripzerai]

I would say that if you're trying to convert Planescape's githzerai specifically rather than githzerai as they've existed in the monster books since 1st edition, drop the psionics. Githzerai and githyanki were extremely, game-breakingly powerful psionicists in 2nd edition, and it would pretty much ruin their potential as a PC race to convert that directly. None of the githzerai NPCs in Planescape were psionic, except possibly Factol Tollysalmon.

In A Guide to the Astral Plane they dropped references to inherent psionics among the githyanki, too, saying only that many of them had levels in the psionicist class.

The 3rd edition solution, where the gith races have comparatively minor psionic abilities giving them a playable +2 ECL, is another reasonable solution.

It seems like if you're using Castles & Crusades your goal is simplicity anyway, and converting all the psionic rules would be more trouble than it's worth.