D&D General So, how much did/do you use psionics?

[Cadence]

We rolled for it every time, got it a few times, and used the monsters appropriately.

Were there ever times psionic monsters with psionic blast showed up when the party had no one with psionics (or even worse I guess when someone in the party had psionics but not very good defenses?).

 

[Stormonu]

I tried using it in 1E for a couple monsters (Mind Flayers, Intellect Devourers, Su Monsters), but I think I only had one player who ever ended up with psionics and I don't remember what happened to said PC. I do remember it was a hassle to comprehend and a bigger pain to run and I'd fudge the monster side whenever it came up or just not use it.

We played Dark Sun in 2E, and my wife always wanted to play a psionic character so they got a lot of use in that edition. Not the best system, and it evolved several times of the life of the edition, but it was usable.

I got the 3E rules, but after breaking the class in half in that game building an NPC, I banned it.

My wife's introduction to 4E was playing a psion. After her character used, I think it was Mind Thrust on a skeleton, we both walked away from playing 4E.

For 5E, I've been working on a psion class that is point-based, using Warlock Mystic Arcanum to handle 6th+ level Major Sciences. Haven't had a chance to try it in action yet.

 

[Lanefan]

Were there ever times psionic monsters with psionic blast showed up when the party had no one with psionics (or even worse I guess when someone in the party had psionics but not very good defenses?).

Yep.

Those with weak psyonics are often referred to as "psyonic punching bags" - having those abilities can be a curse as well as a blessing!

 

[billd91]

We used them like a bunch of munchkins in 1e when I was a teen, but they were a real mess.
I got the psionic handbook in 2e but really hated most of it, so it never got any use.
3e was the first version of psionics I actually kind of liked and I used it for NPCs, though we never had a player pursue them.
Didn't play 4e long enough for a psionic PC to come up.
And while there are some characters who are capable of psychic damage in the 5e games I'm in, none are really psionic.

 

[Yaarel]

• In the other older ones, including OD&D, 2e, 3/3.5e did you use them?
• Did you like having them front and center in 4e?
• Does 5e have enough, too much, or not even close?

With 1e old school grognards, every character rolls to see if it gets psionics. Sometimes it happens. We enjoy the psionic discipline powers. We normally never use the psionic combat mini game, but occasionally do for a separate mini game.

4e resolves all the issues with psionics, and presents it among the power sources. It took too long to come out with players options.

3e has the best Psionics so far. The Psion is awesome.

5e presents Psionics well as a kind of magic, including innate spell casting, and is heading in the right direction. I miss the Psion.

Now, the indy LaserLlama Psion is the best Psion so far.

The Psion class needs to be in the Players Handbook ... and, heh, it needs to be a version I like.


For D&D, I prefer Psionic uses normal D&D mechanics. But the Short Rest spell points are a better mechanic in its own right. The flavor is medievalesque animism of the innate power of each persons "soul" (psyche). Psionic must be innate and personal.

I like less the flavor of crystals and farrealms. But crystals is perfect for a Psionic Artificer subclass (merging with the Archivist). Warlock patron is a good place to put the farrealms flavor.

 

[CleverNickName]

I voted "Never played 1E, but boy do I have comments." So I guess I have to make a comment now.

The first time I ever had a player ask for psionics, it was back in the early days of 3E D&D. A friend had bought the Psionics Handbook and was really excited about it, and wanted to know if he could use it for his character. I flipped through the book and nothing really jumped out at me, so I allowed it. Psionics didn't look remarkably different from spells, so I told him that psionics would use the "same as magic" rules in the first chapter. (Meaning that psionics could be dispelled or interrupted just like spells could, they wouldn't function in an anti-magic field, etc.)

"Never mind," he said with a sigh, and put the book away. He ended up playing something else...a sorcerer, I think?

Nowadays, I play 5th Edition D&D and when one of my players asks to play a psionic character, I have a lot more choices to offer. My personal favorite is the Esper class in Paranormal Power, but most of my players prefer the Psi Warrior or the Soul Knife from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. Well, except for That Guy, who was perfectly happy playing the "psion" he built out of the PHB sorcerer + Spell Points.

 

[ezo]

It only showed up a few times, because the chances of getting it was extremely low! It was ALWAYS AVAILABLE, and if monster had it I used it. So, I used it in all my 1E games I guess, if it showed up...

 

[Ath-kethin]

Never played 1e by itself. I loved psionics in 2e - the proficiency/skill based mechanics and approach made it feel distinctly different from the more traditional wizard and cleric magic. We used it all the time in the 2e campaigns.

Once 3.x made it just another spellcasting system I lost interest more or less completely.

 

[Distracted DM]

I use psionics for NPCs and monsters in my 5e games... Usually to make them "alien" or strange because they're largely not abilities the PCs have.

I like it where it fits, like eberrons kalashtar, but I don't like just any character having access to it.

For players, I would also like it to be very different from other character options. I need to check out MCDM's Talent one day. iirc 3e psionics were kind of just sorcerers with spell points

 

[Clint_L]

Another thread brought up how the question of how central psionics were to 1e. While this poll is just about 1e, the thread is about any version of the game so chime in below!

Maybe about things like:

• In the other older ones, including OD&D, 2e, 3/3.5e did you use them?

The only time I've ever used them is as a player in other people's campaigns. When in Rome.

• Did you like having them front and center in 4e?

This was one of many aspects of 4e that did not work for me.

• Does 5e have enough, too much, or not even close?

Too much. Because more than zero.

• If you didn't use them in 1e, what did you do if a monster was listed as having them?

I didn't use them as a DM, and avoided those monsters or ignored their psionic abilities. I can't recall what other DMs did. I strongly disliked the soft sci-fi concept of psionics in my D&D, and I hated the implementation, which was unbalanced, unfair, and complicated. Just a trash fire on every level.