Warlocks or Psions. Which matters more to you?

[Jhaelen]

Yea, I know psionics can be flavored differently, but it generally has too much overlap with magic or has the wrong flavor (sorta like monks in pseudo medieval europe settings).

Actually it's magic that has too much overlap with psionics. Remove telekinesis, teleport and mind-affecting spells and make them the province of psionics, where they belong.

It's A LOT easier to distinguish typical psionic effects from spell effects than to clearly define what is divine magic and what arcane.

WotC really missed a big chance, imho, by not including psionics as a system (or power source) right from the start. Here's hope they get it right in 5E...

 

[Urlithani]

I feel that Psionics is a red-headed stepchild because it gets its own book and is not in the core PHB.

Also, Psionics and magic are pretty much the same thing as far as fantasy goes. You could take every Psion power, give it a Wizard/Sorc or Cleric level, then play a wizard/sorc and RP yourself as a psion and nobody would notice the difference, imo.

Making pacts with otherworldly powers is so much more interesting, to boot. So I voted Warlock, no contest.

 

[Flynn]

Personally, I'm cool with neither, but that's not an option, so I won't be voting. If I were forced to make a choice, I'd choose warlock because I feel that the warlock fits the fantasy genre better than psions do. YMMV, and that's cool with me.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[Psion]

<--

You left out "neither".

Go to your local movie rental (or put in you NetFlix or Blockbuster queue) "War Games", and come away wiser.

 

[Psion]

Also, Psionics and magic are pretty much the same thing as far as fantasy goes. You could take every Psion power, give it a Wizard/Sorc or Cleric level, then play a wizard/sorc and RP yourself as a psion and nobody would notice the difference, imo.

My experience "faking" a psion with a sorcerer while waiting for the book suggests otherwise.

Making pacts with otherworldly powers is so much more interesting, to boot. So I voted Warlock, no contest.

AFAIAC, Wizards and Sorcerers should be making pacts with dark powers (optionally, with right character options, etc.) The warlock as presented in 3.5 is about the blasty-blasty, not dark pacts.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

I do not care for warlocks, so I choose the psion.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

Actually it's magic that has too much overlap with psionics. Remove telekinesis, teleport and mind-affecting spells and make them the province of psionics, where they belong.

It's A LOT easier to distinguish typical psionic effects from spell effects than to clearly define what is divine magic and what arcane.

WotC really missed a big chance, imho, by not including psionics as a system (or power source) right from the start. Here's hope they get it right in 5E...

How is teleport the province of psionics? Astral travel, yes, definitely but teleport? I don't think so.

 

[Sir Brennen]

I do not care for warlocks [...]

Would you eat them in a box?
Would you eat them with a fox?

 

[Gundark]

Warlocks. Psions and Psionics seem so un-D&D to me.

 

[Mad Mac]

The new Warlock looks cool. Psions...their primary appeal across editions was having a non-Vancian magic system. To bring Psions into 4th edition, they're going to have to go back to the drawing board and come up with something new.

Psionics has enough fans that they will do it eventually. But I do think making primary spellcasters more interesting is going to naturally leech away a good bit of support for psionics. If the core magic system is good enough, fewer people will be looking for an alternative.