D&D General So… psionic powers are no longer purely mental?

[Belen]

Is there any reason you cannot take the 3e powers and retrofit them to 5e?

They both use a d20 kernel.

It’s been 15+ years since I looked at the 3e Psion but it may be an option.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Because all indicators about player feedback point to it.

Regardless it is funny to me to see someone claim that the simplest solution that aligns with how 5e works is the worst of all worlds.

I play D&D still. My contempt for the psionics solution doesn't show up in your data.

1. I'm not upgrading to 5.5

2. Pre 5.5 I stopped engaging with the play tests when the psionics-die version of the psion was buried because it was "too complex".

I think there are a lot of 5e players like myself who have just given up on trying to get the game they want and instead are just making do with the tool at hand.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I play D&D still. My contempt for the psionics solution doesn't show up in your data.

1. I'm not upgrading to 5.5

2. Pre 5.5 I stopped engaging with the play tests when the psionics-die version of the psion was buried because it was "too complex".

I think there are a lot of 5e players like myself who have just given up on trying to get the game they want and instead are just making do with the tool at hand.

Have you heard of OtherRPGs(TM)?

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Have you heard of OtherRPGs(TM)?

Holy crap!! There are other RPGs besides Dungeons and Dragons? I have never once encountered such a thing in the 40 years I've been into the hobby. Can you suggest a few? /s

Funny thing though....what I DO see is that like it or not, D&D is the "speaks common" of role-playing as a hobby. I have 6 players at my table and 4 of them are there specifically because they "Want to learn how to play D&D". They want to learn to speak common so they can go off and teach that to their friends.

I WISH that it was equally likely I could find a group that wanted to play WEG Star Wars or TORG instead of D&D....but it very clearly isn't going to happen.

Source: Formed a group because of a post on a social media site that isn't safe to mention around Eric's Grandma but which had a bunch of wayward "interested in learning DnD" folks.

Source: Im on session 10 and they still struggle with basic things like to hit and damage numbers or the difference between ability checks and saves. I'm not gonna try rolling out Pathfinder or 3.5 so someone can play a psion.

 

[MGibster]

I think there are a lot of 5e players like myself who have just given up on trying to get the game they want and instead are just making do with the tool at hand.

D&D really can't be all things to all people. No game can, so it's unreasonable to expect such a thing D&D. If you're not getting what you want out of D&D then the best course of action is to find another game. I've found over the years that D&D scratches a particular itch for a certain style of fantasy roleplaying. But I have to engage D&D on its own terms. It's very, very silly terms.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

The idea of Psionic disciplines back in 2e and carrying over into 3e and beyond has some basis in the Hindu concept of Siddhis

With the 8 classical Siddhis as an example:

• Aṇimā: the ability to reduce one's body to the size of an atom.
• Mahimā: the ability to expand one's body to an infinitely large size.
• Laghimā: the ability to become weightless or lighter than air.
• Garimā: the ability to become heavy or dense.
• Prāpti:the ability to access any place in the world.
• Prākāmya: the ability to realize whatever one desires.
• Īśitva: the ability to control all material elements or natural forces.
• Vaśitva: the ability to force influence upon anyone.

Which is how things like Psychometabolism and Psychoportation have often been included in the idea of Psionics since at least 2e. 3e included a bunch of Victorian concepts like Ectoplasm and the Tibetan idea of Tulpas which were called Astral Constructs

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Source: Im on session 10 and they still struggle with basic things like to hit and damage numbers or the difference between ability checks and saves

Which is why D&D is the way it is - easy mode. You aren’t going to add a new system for psionics when players are still struggling with wizards.

Although WEG Star Wars is easy enough, so I guess there just aren’t enough Star Wars fans out there.