Why is preventing psioninc DC augmenting bad?

[Storyteller01]

I let it be known that I houseruled psionics so that you couldn't raise the save DC's of a power via the power points. Several responses were along the lines of 'HOLY NERF BAT DICE MAN!!'.


Why is preventing this bad?


My apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

 

[Nightfall]

Because there's little preventing the same from happening in arcane or divine magics. Indeed there are ways to increase the DC depending on what items you have, what feats you take, all for magic users.

Why should psionics suffer the same, especially when they were designed to be "tougher" so as they could get past a) Spell Resistance and b) make something of the powers they use.

 

[Storyteller01]

If the only answer is 'they have to raise their save DC's in the same manner as spellcasters', then I don't see a problem with this.

Not being snary. Just looking for something more concrete as a response.

 

[Particle_Man]

Ok, lets assume that all DCs are static for Psionic powers.

The most logical result is that people would only use their "top" powers that had save DCs, and would have a lot of "Redundant" powers. Thus they would have less variety in play. This might make playing such characters boring. Especially wilders, who have such a limited selection of powers to begin with.

Some players would stop playing psionic characters altogether. Others would use augmentable powers that did not rely upon save DCs (Astral Construct is an obvious example).

One possible way to mitigate this would be to allow for a psionic character to "trade out" old powers for other powers when they gained levels.

 

[Nightfall]

Or we can let particle argue logically for me. This is why I prefer not to get that involved with game mechanics.

 

[Sejs]

A good chunk of psionics are designed around the idea that there is not a built-in Fireball ~> Delayed Blast Fireball ~> Meteor Swarm progression, with otherwise redundant but higher level powers appearing later on. Instead the idea is you take a lower level power (fireball, to keep the analogy) and you augment it via power points to where it'd have the same cost as a Delayed Blast Fireball and have the same effect as a Delayed Blast Fireball.

Saying you can't increase the save DC via augmentation means that your Delayed Blast Fireballs and your Meteor Swarms have the same DC as a normal, 3rd level Fireball.

 

[Charke]

Psionic Power augmentations are a little frustrating. They prevent low level powers from becoming obsolete but they allow the Psionicist to spend power points very quickly for dramatic results. The result is a character who can be very dangerous over the short term - and in D&D who cares about the long term anyway - one sleep and you're back to full. Just dodge encounters until then. - That is the probably I think you're encountering.

The solution isn't to hinder the augmentations. It's not a bad solution, but it can be very frustrating for the players. The better solution is to throw many encounters at the party within a single day. The psion who quickly expends all his power points will find himself a unglorified warrior near the end of the day.

If one power is becoming a problem in particular, you may wish to discuss and limit it. I have found that Vigor, at higher levels, is hideously broken because the bonus hit points come off first. Making them come off last fixes the power instantly, otherwise you need to limit the augmentation. I saw a 10th level psion use Vigor to absorb over 100 points of damage without losing any of his "real" hit points. (Cough it was my character).

If a psionicist is willing to burn the extra power points, I think he should be rewarded with a greater chance for success. As the DM you need to punish him by having more encounters/day.

Try not to opt for the "they won't get sleep" trick. The 3.5 rules make it almost impossible. For every interuption the characters need only 1 more hour of sleep. Eight encounters a night gets a little silly. Five tough encounters in a single day is beleiveable.

Also using stat damaging creatures, psionic draining opponents and opponents with high saving throws or anti-magic or illusions to waste powers on, can whittle down the psions.

Mark Charke

 

[I'm A Banana]

They keep low-level powers viable. And because there are some low-level powers that become the core of the psion's arsenal, those low-level powers need to be viable.

If you're a Wizard, you just replace your weak magic with better magic -- Invisibility to Improved Invisibility, * Person to * Monster, etc. This works because you have a lot of possible spells to know (and if you're a sorcerer, you can just "upgrade"). The spells are designed to replace each other.

If you're a Psion, with a more limited power selection, you need to be able to boost the DC's so that you can fill your role admirably. There's not an "improved energy push." There's just Energy Push. So unless you want them to not be able to Energy Push after a certain point at all, let them keep raising their DC's.

 

[Nightfall]

*is glad to see people supporting the idea that preventing augments is bad*

 

[blargney the second]

What are you hoping to accomplish by removing psionic augments?
-blarg