D&D General truly strange psionic races trend

[Yaarel]

Githyanki are thematically diverse.

• Necromancy
• Psionic
• Gish

To narrow the themes, possibly the gish is either a Fighter/Necromancer (modified Eldritch Knight to access necromancy school) or a Psi Warrior.

 

[jgsugden]

Well yeah, because most writers are humans, they draw from a base of human experience and imagine exceptions to it. All scifi and fantasy races are ultimately “human, but…” Tabaxi are “human but like a cat.” Tortles are “human but like a turtle.” Likewise, elves are “human but they live forever.”

Again, I think you're missing the distinction. D&D elves are based upon Tolkien elves. Gygax didn't just say, "Immortal humans". He based his elves on Lord of the Rings, and Tolkien based his elves on folklore/myths from Northern Europe (focused on Scandinavian folklore). They're an amalgamation of many different veins of mythos, and those steal from a lot of conflicting sources, but they are a product of cultural identity. They're woven together from many different ideas, and many of those ideas are woven into our culture, from Shakespeare to Santa Claus to Grimm's.

Let's compare that to how we got the Tabaxi. They were made up as monsters from prior editions - and were pretty obscure. They were literally just 'Cat People' to give a bit of variety to the world. They're not based upon Egyptian mythos. They're not based upon Central or South American Mythos. They're literally just "Dude, what if my cat were a person?" Then they've been passed back and forth, wildly twisted, and eventually settled into what we see today.

There is a huge difference between the origin of the two. Elves are far more than 'immortal humans' - they're culturally hisotircally significant myths, and cat-folk are recent inventions that have not developed a significant cultural identity.

 

[GnomeWorks]

Yeah, the shardmind was a cool idea that didn't have enough time in the sun.

They suffer from the naming problem that plagued 4e.

With a better name, I imagine they would have been better received.

 

[Faolyn]

I mean, if you think cat people is just one thing, you don’t know enough about cats. There’s a lot more to them than fur, pointy ears and tails. I also strongly disagree that elves have longer lasting appeal than anthropomorphic animals.

Some of 'em don't even have fur, pointy ears, or tails!

 

[Faolyn]

I have noted that a surprising amount psionic races that are either part human or psionically evolved humans.
any idea why as it seems like a strange idea for one race let alone three.
any even know what the appeal of it is as they seem to not be sufficient departure to be cool and lack most of the fitting analogies of say tieflings or most other half races.
any idea why this could be are they based on something or what the appeal of the idea is?

It may be because beliefs about psychic abilities in the real world are strongly connected to ideas of both precursor races (ancient astronauts, Atlanteans) and far-distant human evolution, where humans have overcome their temporal bodies in favor of a purely mental existence. Or turn into grey aliens and come back in time to steal your gametes. Either type of belief lends itself to a "human-plus" type of character.

 

[Faolyn]

I do not disagree with that but races loving classes helps show what matters to them.

to dwarves, war is fairly common and gods are essential

dragonborn love magic by personality and fighting for their ideals.

elves prefer stealth direct warfare and will change their environment by arcane force.
this show what matters to them to a degree and infers how their civilisations might develop.

That's because the core races are built around the core classes. There's no psionic core class, and there probably won't be any in favor of psionic archetypes, so psionic races are kind of shoehorned into whatever works best.

 

[Faolyn]

They suffer from the naming problem that plagued 4e.

With a better name, I imagine they would have been better received.

Yeah. since I didn't play 4e, I'd assume it was some sort elemental monster. Maybe a floating cloud of hyperintelligent shards of glass that swarms a foe and pokes it to death. I wouldn't have thought PC race.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Yeah. since I didn't play 4e, I'd assume it was some sort elemental monster. Maybe a floating cloud of hyperintelligent shards of glass that swarms a foe and pokes it to death. I wouldn't have thought PC race.

The Psionic race I forgot about, they're basically humanoid-shaped crystalline people.

 

[Mind of tempest]

It may be because beliefs about psychic abilities in the real world are strongly connected to ideas of both precursor races (ancient astronauts, Atlanteans) and far-distant human evolution, where humans have overcome their temporal bodies in favor of a purely mental existence. Or turn into grey aliens and come back in time to steal your gametes. Either type of belief lends itself to a "human-plus" type of character.

true but humans plus is already done by the core races as that was what elves started as, so why not make a psionic elf?

 

[Faolyn]

true but humans plus is already done by the core races as that was what elves started as, so why not make a psionic elf?

Were D&D elves an offshoot of humans? It's not been that way in any PHB I've seen.