NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marcus Smythe" data-source="post: 3002544" data-attributes="member: 43198">Way too much material for me to respond to all at once, Thanee... but definitely food for thought.I still think the individually-superior spells (Evards, Color Spray, Ottos, Mordenkainens) coupled with the XP-Cost differences (several psionic powers have XP costs absent from their magic counterpoints), the PRC and crafting differences (More and better, of both, as options), the feat availability (Psion starts out down 2 feats vs. Magi.. I know you want to compare to Sorc... I really prefer the Mage for this comparison, because I think the Sorceror is a spontaneous caster burdened by a Memorization system.  Both the wizard and psion are fish in their element, for lack of a better way to put it) taken together, redress your concerns.  However, the fact that a Psion stays at 'full burn' until his transformation into a Commoner certainly does change his dynamic!  (Note, in my games, the psion usually tapers off in the last half of his PsPs.. spending less and less, in the intent of having some left over.. but unlike the Sorc, he certainly CAN 'burn it all' if he chooses).Hmm... that seems to be, ultimately, what it comes down to.  No matter how you slice it, anything a Psion can do, an Arcane can almost certainly do better.. and in many situations, especially given a days prep, the Arcanist can do things the Psion could not even imagine.  However, the Psion is always ready to go, and can usually go from cold to full burn in a round or two (sometimes FAR less, with the proper time manipuation/buff prep powers).So, for people who are in situations where the party is pro-active (planning ahead, putting their own plans in motion, etc.) the arcanist, and especially the magi, shine.  Typical freeform gaming, or mid-high level situations.  Also any case where a DM relaxes his death-grip on the fate of the poor players.In situations where the DM retains that death-grip, and forces the players to continually react to being outclassed/outmanuvered/suprised/unable to prepare (or even think) in advance, the Psion is going to SHINE (at least until he gutters out).  If the players cant think, cant plan, cant breathe, and dont know what downtime smells like, the Wizards strengths are masked and those of the Psion are at their height (again, barring exhaustion).Hmm... proposition:  The GMs who maintain tight control over player choices, freedom of action, and 'free will' are those GMs who likely have the most comfort issues with player power of any sort.  When those GMs find that the Psion doesnt fold as quickly under their strictures as the Magi (whom said GMs are used to ambushing, grabbing, etc... and whom said GMs would NEVER allow to sit at home and scry away, planning the assault on the Dark Lords Fortress...)... those GMs go nuts about Psionics, because they cant 'turn it off' as easily as they can Arcane (or Divine.. but the games where the GM is crushing everything under their booted heel are the same games where the GM will likely squish any aspiring CoDzilla before it matures).Not sure, here, but considering the WIDE disparity of observations (from the 'psionics is neat but underpowered vs. arcane' to 'psionics is neat but overpowered vs. arcane'), it might make sense that we really are suffering under some observer bias.. were seeing different things in different games.</blockquote>

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