Sell me on Psionics
- Thread starter kaomera
- Start date
Nifft said:
Actually, it's balanced by the threat of more than one encounter per day. That's a big difference
And encounter does not equal combat, as so many like to stereotype will argue
I've had psions who have used a lot of power points in non-combat encounters simply because the rest of the party didn't have a way to account for the problem.People need to stop pigeon-holing encounter as combat. Sure, it's dungeons & dragons, but it's not all Gygaxian hack & slash.
Nonlethal Force
First Post
Nifft said:
Exactly. I don't find psionics to be any more broken that wizards, especially as power increases. As others have said, wizards can nova, psionic characters can nova. What balances this is having a game that follows the expected rules of encounters/day, random encounters, etc.
Nonlethal Force
First Post
Bacris said:
I don't think Nifft was pigeon-holing.
I read Nifft's coments to mean "it is balanced by putting the players in more than one situation where they need to expend their class resources. Whether it is combat or out-of combat doesn't matter."
Forgive me if I am putting words in your mouth, Nifft.
Thanee said:
I agree that psionics can be unbalanced if there are too few encounters per game day. I think this is more DM style related than player abuse. If the DM has fewer, but harder encounters, it favors the psions point based system where the can manifest more higher level powers at the cost of fewer lower levels. No good adventurer will tap out their points too early as someone said you need reserves, but the DM must be aware of this and plan more encounters.
David
Nonlethal Force said:I don't think Nifft was pigeon-holing.
I read Nifft's coments to mean "it is balanced by putting the players in more than one situation where they need to expend their class resources. Whether it is combat or out-of combat doesn't matter."
Forgive me if I am putting words in your mouth, Nifft.
Sorry, that comment wasn't directed at Nifft
Nifft is good people and he and I are typically on the same page when it comes to psionics. It was more of a proactive response to those who so often like to say "fighting 4 times per day is unrealistic"
Nonlethal Force
First Post
Bacris said:Sorry, that comment wasn't directed at Nifft
Ahh. Thanks for clarifying!
In that case, you can add me to the list of people who are one the same page as you, then.
Nifft
Penguin Herder
I hereby take no offense from anything said up to now.
Four encounters need not be combat, for sure, but combat encounters are a bit harder to walk away from without expending resources than, say, a locked door or a chasm.
Also, they're less likely to sneak up on you when you're camped.
Cheers, -- N
PS: But I suddenly want to spring a wandering pit trap on my PCs...
PPS: (edit) BUT THE WHOLE POINT IS... if you allow players to pick how many encounters they want to do each day, the casters will want to do ONE encounter. And they will beat it easily. ("Casters" here includes Psions.) You want to sometimes have more encounters than a Barbarian has daily Rages, more than a Paladin has Smite attempts, etc. ... and more than a caster has renewable resources to easily defeat. Not always, but sometimes. The players should sometimes fear casting their last spell / using their last power points / etc.![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Four encounters need not be combat, for sure, but combat encounters are a bit harder to walk away from without expending resources than, say, a locked door or a chasm.
Also, they're less likely to sneak up on you when you're camped.
Cheers, -- N
PS: But I suddenly want to spring a wandering pit trap on my PCs...
PPS: (edit) BUT THE WHOLE POINT IS... if you allow players to pick how many encounters they want to do each day, the casters will want to do ONE encounter. And they will beat it easily. ("Casters" here includes Psions.) You want to sometimes have more encounters than a Barbarian has daily Rages, more than a Paladin has Smite attempts, etc. ... and more than a caster has renewable resources to easily defeat. Not always, but sometimes. The players should sometimes fear casting their last spell / using their last power points / etc.
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Nonlethal Force
First Post
You could spring a random acid storm upon them ... damage 1d6 per round until they find shelter impervious to acid!
shilsen
Adventurer
Nifft said:
Depends on the DM, IMNSHO. In the campaign in my sig, the vast majority of the time the PCs face only one encounter in a given game day. Sometimes two. Last session was the second time in the campaign (47 sessions) that the PCs had three fights in the same game day. The PCs include one single-classed wizard and two single-classed druids. They also happen to be very buff for their level and usually equipped far better than is recommended for their level.
I have absolutely no problem challenging the PCs with one combat per day, often with encounters against much lower level, significantly underequipped enemies, and the casters find it just as difficult as the non-casters. I have a rule allowing PCs to survive a killing blow/effect via action pt use, and without that, there would have been 24 deaths in 47 sessions. Interestingly, the only complete non-caster in the group has the least number of "deaths".
Sure, attrition of resources can be an important component to challenging PCs. But you can challenge them just as easily without that ever having to be a factor.
You want to sometimes have more encounters than a Barbarian has daily Rages, more than a Paladin has Smite attempts, etc. ... and more than a caster has renewable resources to easily defeat. Not always, but sometimes. The players should sometimes fear casting their last spell / using their last power points / etc.
That fear, as mentioned above, comes up very rarely, if at all in my game. That doesn't prevent them having the fear of having their asses handed to them, which happens often enough.
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