Weaknesses of the Psionic Classes

[Shadowdweller]

First off, what I am not saying: I am not claiming that psions are in any way, shape, or form weaker than other casters. I am not claiming that psions need to be improved in some way, nor that they need to be nerfed.

I have, however, noticed some areas in which psions are vulnerable. Thought I would share, and hope to see what others have noted. Hopefully from personal experience with the classes.

* Psionic characters seem particularly vulnerable to energy drain. Assuming the text of "Mindwipe" is not solely specific to that power, psionic characters not only lose the power points necessary to manifest one of their highest level powers (equivalent to the loss of a spell slot), they also lose KNOWLEDGE of one of their highest level powers. Since the number of powers known is limited, especially for wilders, this hurts quite a lot. Enervation is a good example of superior arcane spell.

* Although not very common, spells such as Shout and Great Shout can be highly debilitating to psions, with their penchant for crystal items.

* With a few notable exceptions (ie. Control Body which is discipline-specific), psions seem to lack good fort-save maladictions.

* Other than by simple blasting (which, IMO, tends to be pretty PP intensive) psions seem to lack good means for dealing with the undead.

Thoughts? Comments, anyone?

 

[Darklone]

Except for the crystal stuff, that's nothing most other character classes suffer in similar ways.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

First off, what I am not saying: I am not claiming that psions are in any way, shape, or form weaker than other casters. I am not claiming that psions need to be improved in some way, nor that they need to be nerfed.

I have, however, noticed some areas in which psions are vulnerable. Thought I would share, and hope to see what others have noted. Hopefully from personal experience with the classes.

* Psionic characters seem particularly vulnerable to energy drain. Assuming the text of "Mindwipe" is not solely specific to that power, psionic characters not only lose the power points necessary to manifest one of their highest level powers (equivalent to the loss of a spell slot), they also lose KNOWLEDGE of one of their highest level powers. Since the number of powers known is limited, especially for wilders, this hurts quite a lot.

Yeah, that's a big one.

Enervation is a good example of superior arcane spell.

It's kind of broken, too, so I'm not sad that Mindwipe is weaker.

 

[Nail]

First off, what I am not saying: I am not claiming that psions are in any way, shape, or form weaker than other casters.

Glad we got that out of the way.

* Other than by simple blasting (which, IMO, tends to be pretty PP intensive) psions seem to lack good means for dealing with the undead.

In one of my games (APL 7), the psion was doing okay vs unintellegent UD. Some power called "Sever the Tie", or some such. The psion was doing better than the sorcerer, actually.

As for the "simple blasting": most classes have only this to fall back on when dealing with UD. Think of the poor rogue, for instance! Our ranger, too, had trouble. Only the cleric has any special help in this area.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Sever the Tie isn't in 3.5, however, although you could always bring it over.

 

[Piratecat]

I've noticed that telepaths completely suh-huck against undead, constructs and creatures similarly protected from mind-affecting powers.

Touch of Idiocy is a great spell to use against anyone psionic, especially maximized. Reduce their prime req enough, and that's a psion who won't be using his highest level powers... and if he does, the DCs will be poor.

Certain creatures and items drain power points. These are fun to use in conjunction with companion monsters, because they're much less of a threat against non-psionics.

 

[Kelleris]

I think the original poster is looking for problems that are specific to psions and their ilk, not all casters or even any of the core casters, so touch of idiocy doesn't really count as a psionic class weakness, since it applies equally to anyone who uses Int to cast, from Assassins to Wizards.

As mentioned in other threads, psionic characters have a tendency to max out every power they use. This isn't a weakness by itself, since they do get every bit of what they paid for, but the fact that the rules practically force you to do it is, since it reduces the psionic classes' ability to use their power points in a flexible way.

Another sort-of weakness is the preponderance of psi-nerfing feats in the XPH. I've never actually seen anyone take them, because they're useless unless the game is loaded for bear with psionics, but the DM can always give them to monsters and the occasional NPC.