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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Thanee" data-source="post: 1504225" data-attributes="member: 478">Interesting enough, I would rate the energy ... powers among those that look most impressive compared to the arcane versions (energy bolt to lightning bolt, energy ball to fireball - yeah, I know it's 4th level - +/-1 level is still within the parameter of "flavor" as shown with the other classes (i.e. enchantments for bards, dispel magic or flamestrike for druids, etc.)). Now with the errata/clarification, dominate is up there, too.    Really, I havn't seen much in terms of psionic powers, that looks bad compared to equivalent arcane spells (given that you pay the PP to scale, of course).      However, there are plenty arcane spells, which have no psionic equivalent!     The scaling, as the psion has it, does not translate into the sorcerer's world. If it would, the sorcerer would not have spell slots of specific levels to begin with. The non-automatic scaling is the limiting factor for the psion's flexibility to not get completely out of hand (as in hundreds of "magic missiles" per day).    It has the inherent weakness that psions need to augment many of their powers to some degree to keep them effective. Arcane casters have the caps and restricted level slots instead.    And don't forget, that it is just an option for psions to scale low level powers instead of using high level powers. They get twice to four times as many real high level powers to choose from compared to the sorcerer!      More choice is always a benefit.  (Note: Of course, this also applies to the selection, the arcane casters choose their spells from.)    Overall (including scaling and the added flexibility of the PP system) psionic powers and arcane spells seem roughly balanced to me (have said this before).     I believe that it is directly related to the automatic upgrades, so to say (i.e. dispel includes greater dispel, psionic weapon includes greater psionic weapon, etc.). The sorcerer has the swapping ability exactly to do this (upgrade spells to higher versions, or discard spells that - thanks to cap - are useless now, but were good before - otherwise such spells will almost never be used).     Actually, I think those points have been addressed in my critique (that is the scaling issues (non-automatic and costly) and the weaker selection). Anything else I have missed?     Yeah, the differences between the core classes are pretty minor in my opinion.    Clerics, sorcerers, etc. they all are pretty unique also, favoring several different tastes and playing styles. Psions and sorcerers, however, are very similar (even more than sorcerers and wizards I'd dare to say, because of their similarities in design and the general similarities between psionic powers and arcane spells, which are much closer than divine magic to each of them).    I'm pretty sure, that with the XPH included in a campaign, sorcerers (generally) will be played FAR less. Of course, this is pure guess-work.      Bye   Thanee</blockquote>

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