D&D 5E What is the appeal of psionic characters for players?

[Bacon Bits]

I guess I have trouble seeing how mental powers don't fit pretty easily into most fantasy world settings? Telepathy and telekinesis seem like fantasy staples to me.

The same way that guns don't. Or clerics. Or elves.

Most settings aren't kitchen sinks of lore. Many have very strictly defined sources of supernatural power that work in very narrow ways, and introducing lore that just ignores that kind of spoils the tone or upsets the central conceit of the setting.

 

[Maxperson]

I am currently reading the Soulknife rogue and psi warrior fighter from Tasha's cauldron of everyhting and I am just curious as to what draws a player to these psionic characters from a roleplaying persepctive. Does anyone have positive experience with these subclasses? I find the concept of psionics a little jarring personally and I am not quite sure how my characters would roleplay with them; they seem to either train their mind like monks, learn in academies like wizards or gain it from more stressful/natural situations like the sorcerer (why not all 3?). I am sure that there are players that could make this character interesting (one that pretends to just be a wizard or monk because it is easier to explain to others comes to mind); but I mostly just anticpate players using the subclass because it sounds cool but not doing anything with their character to give myself and others anything to bounce off so they end up just sat their at the table rolling dice.

I view psionics as internal power. Wizards and Sorcerers draw on external magics and manipulate energies beyond them. Clerics petition gods and other powers external to them for their powers. Warlocks make pacts with others. Psionic characters harness their own personal power.

 

[Maxperson]

How would you roleplay with a Jedi-like character? Or any of the comic book heroes with mental powers? Psionics have always intrigued me in play. I have a harder time suspending disbelief with Vancian spell casting than psionics.

Jedi are Wizards or Sorcerers with a mental focus for their "spells." The Force would be like the Weave. Psions don't manipulate the Weave/Force like that.

 

[Minigiant]

I see it as 3 possible sources for psionic love

1. Fluff: The lore of Psionics itself
2. Crunch: The mechanical differences of Psionics and Magic when they aren't the same in the setting
3. Spice: The idea of expanded mental powers beyond what D&D allows magic at those levels

 

[TwoSix]

The same way that guns don't. Or clerics. Or elves.

Most settings aren't kitchen sinks of lore. Many have very strictly defined sources of supernatural power that work in very narrow ways, and introducing lore that just ignores that kind of spoils the tone or upsets the central conceit of the setting.

Sure, but the OP said they were running a general homebrew setting. I can understand it not fitting in a specific setting, but fitting it into a general D&D fantasy type setting doesn't seem hard.

 

[grimslade]

Jedi are Wizards or Sorcerers with a mental focus for their "spells." The Force would be like the Weave. Psions don't manipulate the Weave/Force like that.

Really? A Jedi concentrates and things happen. Sounds like the Will and the Way to me. I don't see any components or focii. Jedi don't lose the ability to Mind Trick after they do it once for the day. There are no incantations or even outward demonstrations of the power. You can't just take any smart kid off the street and teach them to be a Jedi, they need to be force sensitive. The force is how a Jedi can influence things outside himself, but the power level is contained within the Jedi. Otherwise, there is no difference other than experience between Anakin and any other Jedi.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

It's very much this:

I see it as 3 possible sources for psionic love

1. Fluff: The lore of Psionics itself
2. Crunch: The mechanical differences of Psionics and Magic when they aren't the same in the setting
3. Spice: The idea of expanded mental powers beyond what D&D allows magic at those levels

---

I think it mainly comes from the fluff, but mechanics and spice are definitely big parts of it. Who doesn't want to play Jean Grey or Eleven or Professor X? I want to be able to pop people's brains with my mind-power, or mentally kill people with Psylocke's psychic blades, or force-choke people as I slice them in two with a lightsaber.

However, there aren't a ton of psionic mechanics in 5e, and most of them are just spells or superiority dice that are flavored as being psionic. This is an underwhelming way of doing it IMHO, but at least we have some rules to represent cool psionic characters.

 

[Maxperson]

Really? A Jedi concentrates and things happen. Sounds like the Will and the Way to me.

Belgarath was a Sorcerer. And so are Jedi. Sorcerers without components, sure, but psionics uses nothing outside of the user. The Force makes it not psionics. And while the Will and the Way could use purely the users power, most often they drew from around them accessing whatever Weave/Force existed in that world. They didn't have enough personal power for big things.

 

[DND_Reborn]

So far, there has been no appeal towards psionic characters.

I'll never use the material WotC puts out on psionics unless the do a better job at it more towards my liking. shrug

 

[Maxperson]

So far, there has been no appeal towards psionic characters.

I'll never use the material WotC puts out on psionics unless the do a better job at it more towards my liking. shrug

Then don't. Plenty of us will.