D&D - Psionics, your opinion?

Can't speak for 4E- because I refuse to use the system- but the 3.0/3.5 psionics were very well done. It comes from being one of the "newer" casting mechanics, much like the Unearthed Arcana classes and Tome of Battle. While standard arcane and divine casting are pretty much shit from the beginning and only got worse with every new splatbook.

 

I find it one of the more... balanced systems in D&D. Granted, some of the stuff is bad, but compared to problems of arcane and divine magic, Psionics is better. Especially with Eberron.

 

3.0 psionics had problems, when is was redone in 3.5 with the XPH, I felt they were fairly fine. Well expect for the Soulknife. Then Complete Psionics comes out and nerfs Astral Construct in order to make a prestige class from Complete Psionics do something it also released some of the more overpowered powers and near useless ones. Never touched 4E and haven't reviewed 5E/Next yet. 3.5 psionics also didn't get anywhere near the support that magic got. Eberron books, Dragon Magic, Lords of Madness. Still more than the Binder, Warlock, and Shadowcaster Tome of Battle classes got.
Playing the Truenamer has been shown to cause the player to lose their ability to taste ice-cream.

 

In my playgroup almost no one ever used Psionics. The only person who played with Psionics decided to play a Soulknife, and I felt as though he contributed very little to the group. He apparently really liked it though, as he went on to play it in a few other campaigns. I do seem to recall the mechanics behind Psionics to be balanced, at least, in comparison to ordinary spellcasters. I also really love the concepts behind the psionic classes that I've seen. (I'm talking about 3.5, as I have no experience with anything else)

 

Unfortunately, most of my D&D experience comes from fanfics and TG posts, so I don't really know that much about Psionics. That said, I like the fluff but from what I can tell the mechanics range reasonably balanced and fun to hideously over or underpowered and stupid, depending on the exact system you're using.

 

The main part I like about D&D Psionics, at least the 3E/3.5E version, is that they work on the mana system rather than a slot system. You have x number of psi points and each ability costs a certain amount to use, mix and match as you please. Also it works on power pre-reqs rather than being limited by level which in one campaign was extremely important for me. I knew our DM was kinda a dick and so were a few of the other players so I specialized and got Psionic Disintegrate at level 4. Yeah it cost 40 PP to use and my max was 44 PP but when the DM threw a beholder at us when the highest party member was lvl 5 for shiggles, I rolled a 20 on my initiative, dumped everything I had, and we gained a level when the beholder failed its save. The DM was kinda annoyed at that as was the player who talked him into it.

On a related note, psions are also some of the best in the standard "You have been captured and must escape" scenarios since without special psionic disruptors they can't be disarmed. Take away a priests holy symbol or a mages spell book/reagents and they are damn near crippled. Sorcerers are good too though since their magic is innate but they still work on the slot system which kinda annoys me in general.

4E is not D&D, it's D&D Lite for casual tabletop gamers.

I have no idea what 5E is even rumored to be like so I can't comment on it.

 

The house rule we used was that magic protections gave half their resistance vs psi and the same in reverse. It made one not completely rape the other without penalties but still encouraged finding resistance for both.

 

Ummm, Psionic/ Magic transparency is the default rule. Spell resistance and Power Resistance both protect against spells and powers aat equal rate. Having magic not affect powers and vice verses is a variant rule.

People not understanding this is one of the things that gives psionics a bad name. Another one is that you can only spent power points equal to your manifester level, unless you have an ability that allows otherwise.

 

I like psionics, they can be over powered if you only have one encounter a day, but the same is true of regular spell-casters.