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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nameless" data-source="post: 1503902" data-attributes="member: 1543">Psions seem to be better at blasting than either Wizards or Sorcerors, it's hard to argue otherwise. The versatility of Psions, however, is extremely limited compared to arcane spells. Wizards are a different enough that it's tough to compare them to Psions, but Sorcerors seem fair enough. They might have a greater number of "effective" known powers than Sorcerors, but arcane spells simply can do a wider variety of things than Psionics.First off, very few beneficial psionic powers can be used on others. Like monks, psions are great at protecting themselves, but lousy at keeping the rest of the party alive and together. Psionics are also apparently unable to make illusions of any kind, except by messing with the minds (and everything that goes with offensive power use instead of passive illusion) of the targets. If you look at psionic powers, almost every one would fall into evocation, transmutation, or enchantment (though there are exceptions for many iconic spells). Psionics are almost always strictly offensive, and almost always allow a save.The power list has another serious drawback, and that's in staying power. Many arcane spells can be cast once, and be an effective attack for the entire combat (Evard's Tentacles, Cloudkill, Polymorph/Shapechange, etc). It's usually more effective to use another spell each round, but sometimes it's important to conserve spell slots and win the battle, so the big spells are still left for then you really need them. Psions don't have that flexibility, because they need to keep spending PP to keep being effective.Given everything on the table, psions can't do more in an encounter than a well-prepared wizard. Psions do have greater staying power than a wizard, for high level effects anyways, but not nearly as much versatility, and in noncombat challenges, wizards really shine. Sorcerors probably don't have the raw combat power of a psion, but they do have a more open list of spells and can contribute a good deal outside of combat. Sorcerors also have more staying power than a psion, between being able to use less spells per combat, and being able to use more relevant (though not maximum level, lower level sorceror spells can still be useful, where unaugmented powers frequently aren't),So I think that psions are not equal to the arcane spellcasters, but each has unique advantages (wizards unlimited potential, sorcerors vast reserves, and psions quick adaptability).</blockquote>

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