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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5427712" data-attributes="member: 4937">And there we have it.&nbsp;&nbsp; Because the origin of 'psi-onics' is exactly 'the science of magic' or 'magical science'.&nbsp; In fact, the word originally meant 'machines that help one harness their magical energy' (note the relationship to the word 'bionics').&nbsp; Psionics are themselves about envisioning magic in a modern post-scientific manner.&nbsp;&nbsp; To the extent that you can reclothe psionics in different magical traditions, you can do the very same thing to the sorcerer with (IMO) equal effectiveness.It's very hard from most fantasy texts to draw exact conclusions about how magic works.&nbsp;&nbsp; Most of the time, magic is merely a plot device and its particulars are not explained and are difficult to systemize.&nbsp;&nbsp; Likewise, if you were to novelize most D&amp;D adventures, assuming that you avoided alot of explicitly metagame language and unnecessary pedantry, the particulars of the system would also tend to be difficult to discover.&nbsp; The fact is that 'Gandalf is a 6th level Wizard' is at least a possible interpretation of his abilities, and yet Middle Earth is by no means an explicitly 'Vancian' world.&nbsp; 'Gandalf is a 6th level Psion' is no more or no less accurate.&nbsp;&nbsp; The important thing isn't the mechanical resolution, but the results.&nbsp; 'Vancian' magic manages to well emmulate alot of other forms of magic because it emmulates the story structure of magic which, in novels at least, really is usually nothing more than a plot device limited by narrative conventions.&nbsp; That convention is chiefly that magicians refrain - for whatever reasons of their own - from performing magic all the time.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 5427712, member: 4937"] And there we have it. Because the origin of 'psi-onics' is exactly 'the science of magic' or 'magical science'. In fact, the word originally meant 'machines that help one harness their magical energy' (note the relationship to the word 'bionics'). Psionics are themselves about envisioning magic in a modern post-scientific manner. To the extent that you can reclothe psionics in different magical traditions, you can do the very same thing to the sorcerer with (IMO) equal effectiveness. It's very hard from most fantasy texts to draw exact conclusions about how magic works. Most of the time, magic is merely a plot device and its particulars are not explained and are difficult to systemize. Likewise, if you were to novelize most D&D adventures, assuming that you avoided alot of explicitly metagame language and unnecessary pedantry, the particulars of the system would also tend to be difficult to discover. The fact is that 'Gandalf is a 6th level Wizard' is at least a possible interpretation of his abilities, and yet Middle Earth is by no means an explicitly 'Vancian' world. 'Gandalf is a 6th level Psion' is no more or no less accurate. The important thing isn't the mechanical resolution, but the results. 'Vancian' magic manages to well emmulate alot of other forms of magic because it emmulates the story structure of magic which, in novels at least, really is usually nothing more than a plot device limited by narrative conventions. That convention is chiefly that magicians refrain - for whatever reasons of their own - from performing magic all the time. [/QUOTE]

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