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2 years ago ::
Aug 15, 2011 - 3:25PM
#21
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Date Joined:
Jan 29, 2005
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(idk what these are called) the robotic like people I've seen them on d&d online any magic really Is sci-fi and there are alt of magic classes
Warforged. Sentiant golems. They were created for the game world called Eberron which if I recall is where D&D online is.
That's the biggest obstacle people can't seem to get over. They're not robots at all, they're constructs.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 15, 2011 - 3:47PM
#22
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Date Joined:
Aug 28, 2005
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Haters gonna hate.
That's pretty much it.
Why, yes, as a matter of fact I am the Unfailing Arbiter of All That Is Good Design (Even More So Than The Actual Developers) TMSpeaking of things that were badly designed, please check out this thread for my Minotaur fix. What have the critics said, you ask? "If any of my players ask to play a Minotaur, I'm definitely offering this as an alternative to the official version." - EmpactWB "If I ever feel like playing a Minotaur I'll know where to look!" - Undrave "WoTC if you are reading this - please take this guy's advice." - Ferol_Debtor_of_Torm "Really full of win. A minotaur that is actually attractive for more than just melee classes." - Cpt_Micha Also, check out my recent GENASI variant! If you've ever wished that your Fire Genasi could actually set stuff on fire, your Water Genasi could actually swim, or your Wind Genasi could at least glide, then look no further. Finally, check out my OPTIONS FOR EVERYONE article, an effort to give unique support to the races that WotC keeps forgetting about. Includes new racial feature options for the Changeling, Deva, Githzerai, Gnoll, Gnome, Goliath, Half-Orc, Kalashtar, Minotaur, Shadar-Kai, Thri-Kreen, Warforged and more!
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2 years ago ::
Aug 15, 2011 - 4:49PM
#23
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Date Joined:
Aug 22, 2007
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Conceptually, I have no problem with psionics. In fact I think they offer a lot of great flavor. I once played in a 3.5 all-psionics game that remains one of the best gaming experiences I've ever had.
I also loved 3.0 and 3.5 psionic mechanics. Largely because I was deeply unhappy with the 3e magic and spell memorization system and the notion that you had to prepare your spells ahead of time. Since you rarely knew what you'd be up against, most people memorized a few broadly applicable combat spells every day, and nearly never memorized more specialized spells. Psionics seemed to solve that problem neatly. Anything you needed to cast, you simply cast on the spot, so long as you had sufficient power points and you had access to the power in question.
But in 4e, I'm not a fan of the psionic mechanics. Since the whole memorization system was scrapped and all the classes were given a very similar mechanic, I no longer saw a reason to avoid playing a wizard, nor did I see the benefit of playing a psion. In fact, because the 4e psionic classes have their encounter attack abilities tied to their at-will power choices, it actually seems more restrictive than the mechanics of the normal classes. And so I don't see that 4e psionics are solving a problem like they were in 3e, instead I see them as limiting the number of choices I can make for my character.
Monks are excepted. Despite being "psionic", I'm a big fan of the 4e monk as they get a very different set of mechanics which is really fun. Since every at-will and encounter power is a "full discipline", I feel like I'm basically getting a movement utility tacked on to every attack power for free. How great is that? Answer: very great.
All of this is just to explain why I'm not drawn to any of the power-point using classes. I'm perfectly happy to play games with other people who use psionic characters.
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2 years ago ::
Aug 15, 2011 - 9:53PM
#24
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Date Joined:
Sep 20, 2010
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Psionics feeling 'sci-fi' is an individual thing. I personally think psionics feels more like magic than magic because it's internal, whereas wizards tool over formulas and books, studying the material rather than feeling it and meditating over it. In other words, wizardry is more like science, whereas psionics is more mystical.
Quoted for truth.
I always liked Psionics because it gave me the sense that there was an inner power that people could use without invoking the will of a higher power. A very existential power source, everyone has the will to use it(at least in dark sun).
Primal - Granted by Nature
Arcane - Granted through spell books and pacts.
Divine - Granted by a God
Psionic - Found within yourself
Shadow - Granted through the Shadowfell
Martial - Trained to be that good.
Ant Farm
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2 years ago ::
Aug 16, 2011 - 7:30AM
#25
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Date Joined:
Nov 30, 2005
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but they are not the same and have diffrent mechanics, this seems to contradict itself,
The fluff is the exact same, or with small tweaks can be so. The mechanics are totally different.
5e comments and thoughts all in one place. Check it out to provide feedback, mock, or steal ideas.
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/28835423/Krusks_5e_Design_Goals?sdb=1
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2 years ago ::
Aug 23, 2011 - 9:18AM
#26
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I've never witnessed this phenomenon in 4e. In previous editions, absolutely. Psionics were wonky, and the fact that they usually came straight out of their own book usually lead to that book simply being disallowed at many tables.
Personally I think this is mainly the big reason. Psionics has never been a core power source and no core class has ever had any psionic powers. Ever. They've always come out of some random source book a year or so after the core books were released and didn't really work the same way any other class did. For instance all spell casters work very similarly and all non spell casters work very similarly. Psions have had their own mechanics. Also in an edition like 3e where pretty much everything got broken if you added supplementary books to the mix it was something asking to be OP or just not allowed because it wasn't in core.
I've not used psions much in 4e but the little that I've used of that power source in 4e they seem to be balanced enough compared to all the other classes.
Resident Grouch and Corrupting InfluenceA Monster AppearsI'm Black and Blue how 'bout you?
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2 years ago ::
Aug 23, 2011 - 9:38AM
#27
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Date Joined:
Jul 26, 2009
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Psionics don't bother me but I think that it's because I came to D&D having played Warhammer 40k for a long, long time. A place where a Wizard and a Psyker can do the same reality-warping stuff and it's all the same. Mechanics wise, Psionic classes with the Power Point option are different but whatever, I tend towards Arcane and Martial characters so it doesn't really matter.
Spiteful Wizard and Voice of Reason of the House of Trolls
The Silent God of the House of Trolls
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2 years ago ::
Aug 24, 2011 - 6:04AM
#28
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I think in the future I might just lean towards refluffing everything. Tossing a dagger can be refluffed to be the casting of a spell. You also have only so many daggers as well as spell usages (unless it's 4e but then we can just assume you have a magic dagger where it comes back to your hand after toss). And heck I can decide that the dagger or magic missile is instead a blinding beam of holy light or a dark whip of necrotic taint. Different feel but all would use the same mechanics. Oh or I could just say an invisible force hit the dude over there because I wished harm on them or something. So psionic power with the same mechanics. Actually that might be a good idea. Could turn a fighter into any class imaginable with just a little fluff. 
Resident Grouch and Corrupting InfluenceA Monster AppearsI'm Black and Blue how 'bout you?
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2 years ago ::
Aug 24, 2011 - 8:07AM
#29
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Date Joined:
Jul 22, 2001
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Mutable fluff is one of the best things about the fluff light 4.0 books.
Sergent at arms of the house of trolls.
Est Solarus oth Mithas
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2 years ago ::
Sep 02, 2011 - 11:21AM
#30
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Date Joined:
Sep 21, 2009
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personally, i dislike the way the 4e psionics are handled.
However, my answer to your question wouldn't involve that at all.
I think that people tend to dislike/ignore/shy-away-from psionics due to the game setting.
think about it! most settings feature plenty of "fighters" in the form of guards, thugs, bravos, mercenaries, etc.
most settings feature several thief-types, ranging from guttersnipe up to the regional spymaster.
most settings feature religious or holy adventurers - priests in local churches, paladins of knightly orders, as well as the long-established cleric and paladin PCs and NPC adventurers.
most settings feature a HUGE abundance of magic. Wizards, sorcerors, bards, random portals, floating cities, traps that magically flood a room in fire.....even in Dark sun, one of the least "magic-y" settings, there's a GIANT multicolored ziggurat in Tyr and the veiled alliance of wizards is working to keep magic from finishing off the destruction of the feywild.
now, contrast this with psionics, which has virtually no place in eberron, only traces in the forgotten realms, and tends to be completely overlooked in most homebrew settings (where martial power or amazing wizards tend to be the movers and shakers of the past and present world).
in fact, the aforementioned Dark Sun campaign setting seems to be the only campaign setting where more than a cursory effort has been made to integrate psionics. Dark Sun actually goes so far as to say that psionics is the norm and magic must be practiced in secret!
my answer to the question has been given. Now, my suggestion to you, if you're looking to play in a game where psionics are more "mainstreamed" and accepted, is to check out that campaign setting....you mentioned soulknife, so i assume you're playing 3.x, but even the 4e dark sun campaign setting book, while not having any real mechanical effect on a 3.x game, will be able to help players and DMs alike to concieve of an entirely new system that MIGHT allow your psionics and the rest of the party's lack of psionics to coexist more peacefully.
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