Aldarc
Legend
Yes, which still put it below casters like clerics and druids. But that was the best that psionics had to offer in 3.X so I would say that it did a better job then of power parity.So only Tier 2, then?
Regardless of its terminological origins, psionics basically has entered general parlance for a type or flavor of "magic" within both science-fantasy - because the moment you introduce psionics into a world, it essentially becomes fantasy (hello, Star Wars) - and more traditional fantasy as well. However, psionics are generally not depicted as "spells," but as a subtle and mystical art.While I in no way begrudge folks who want them their psionic classes, for me it always seemed the problem with psionics - and the reason game designers kept resorting to novel mechanics for it - is that it's not really that different, in fluff, from magic. A lot of what people who believed in magic would have called magic, is what we'd today call a 'psychic power' (or a temporal lobe seizure, as the case may be). If anything, some you might be wishing for psionics for something that feels /more/ like real/traditional magic than D&D fireball & lightning SFX. The difference is context, "psionics" was coined for science fiction, it brought psychic powers/magic into the realm of the science-sounding 'electronics' or 'cryonics' or 'bionics' or psychotronics (brace yourself & google it) or whateveronics that were buzzing mid-century, the way "dot-com" did at the turn of the millennium.
For that matter, arguably, Sorcerers & Warlocks are mainly differentiated from Wizards by the mechanics, because the fluff distinctions among them aren't as robust as they might be. (Though, I suppose history really says the opposite: the Sorcerer was introduced as a vehicle for spontaneous casting, and the Warlock for at-will casting. The fluff was just making excuses. ::shrug:
Dreamscarred Press did an incredible job of adapting and EXPANDING 3.5 psionics for Pathfinder. You could even run a full party with nothing but their psionic classes, including a Vitalist as a healer.The only time psionics has ever been balanced is because it used normal mechanics. The powers were transparent with the spells that other classes used. The 3e Psion of the Expanded Psionic Handbook used a spell point system. The 4e Psion used the same at-will, per-encounter, and per-day powers that other classes used.
I liked the 3.5e and 5e Psionic systems, but I also like skill-based psionics such as the 3.X Psychic Handbook (Green Ronin), Blue Rose (also Green Ronin), or the sci-fi OSR game Stars Without Number (Sine Nomine).
I also liked Starfinder's Mystic class, which basically rolled the Psion, Cleric, Shaman, and Druid all into one Wisdom-wielding mystical class of telepathy, enlightenment, and insight.