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<blockquote data-quote="IceFractal" data-source="post: 4532020" data-attributes="member: 27704">The balance to using psionics is the same as the balance to using arcane magic - you have a limited amount of personal power, and once you use it up it's gone until you can rest and recover it.&nbsp; Material components have never been a balancing factor - bat guano is cheap, you can literally buy a cart of it - the reason you don't cast Fireball all day is because you have limited 3rd level slots.&nbsp; The reason you don't use powers all day as a Psion is because you have limited power points.What I was trying to convey is that in many fantasy settings, magic works one of several ways:* It's always difficult and/or dangerous to do, so it gets used very rarely.* It can be used pretty much at will.* It can be used at will, but has a significant cost - corruption, for instance.* It can be used a limited amount, until the mage is tired out / has expended their store of personal energy.D&amp;D pretty much only does the last of those - all spellcasters: Wizards, Clerics, Psions - work the same way, limited in how much energy they have available in a given day.&nbsp; The difference is that while the Wizard and Cleric have that energy divided up into specific parcels and portioned out ahead of time, the Psion just has the energy as one big pool that gets drained as needed.&nbsp; This is more typical in fantasy than the &quot;specific parcels&quot; thing.Incidentally, D&amp;D magic isn't even Vancian, so much as &quot;pseudo-Vancian&quot; - mages in Vance's novels had much fewer spells prepared, and could use some of their weaker stuff at will.&nbsp; And many were good swordsmen, for that matter.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="IceFractal, post: 4532020, member: 27704"] The balance to using psionics is the same as the balance to using arcane magic - you have a limited amount of personal power, and once you use it up it's gone until you can rest and recover it. Material components have never been a balancing factor - bat guano is cheap, you can literally buy a cart of it - the reason you don't cast Fireball all day is because you have limited 3rd level slots. The reason you don't use powers all day as a Psion is because you have limited power points. What I was trying to convey is that in many fantasy settings, magic works one of several ways: * It's always difficult and/or dangerous to do, so it gets used very rarely. * It can be used pretty much at will. * It can be used at will, but has a significant cost - corruption, for instance. * It can be used a limited amount, until the mage is tired out / has expended their store of personal energy. D&D pretty much only does the last of those - all spellcasters: Wizards, Clerics, Psions - work the same way, limited in how much energy they have available in a given day. The difference is that while the Wizard and Cleric have that energy divided up into specific parcels and portioned out ahead of time, the Psion just has the energy as one big pool that gets drained as needed. This is more typical in fantasy than the "specific parcels" thing. Incidentally, D&D magic isn't even Vancian, so much as "pseudo-Vancian" - mages in Vance's novels had [I]much[/I] fewer spells prepared, and could use some of their weaker stuff at will. And many were good swordsmen, for that matter. [/QUOTE]

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