Elans and Psionics


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion


If the Elan Race from D&D 3.5, and the Psionics... stuff have been "pathfinderized" then could I be directed to where such could be found.
I have the 3.5 Materials but I am finding any conversion of either the race or (Psionics) system a rather daunting task. if anything I'd like some assistance in rebuilding the Race. more than the (Psionics) system isself.


Enjoy.


thank you.


If you get the Ultimate Psionics pdf from Dreamscarred Press (available in the Paizo store), it'll get you all sorts of Pathfinderized Psionic goodness (and not all of them have made it to d20pfsrd)


Elans are OP though.


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Andor the Great & Powerful wrote:
thank you.

To extend Azten's one-word answer, the entire 3.5x psionic system has been updated and rather dramatically extended by Dreamscarred Press. While much of it exists on d20pfsrd, just to let you know, there are actual (beautiful) books that exist, along with PDFs. This may or may not interest you, depending on how much you're looking to dabble, or immerse yourself.

Here's the way it is. Which is lightly confusing for historic reasons.

Bits & Bites
============
Psionics Unleashed
This is basically the 3.5e Expanded Psionics Handbook, updated to Pathfinder's standards. It's black & white, softcover (or PDF), and has the content you knew and loved. This includes your Elan, and the usual powers. Pretty much the only thing missing here are those monsters that Wizards of the Coast kept back from the Open Game License.

Psionics Unleashed-Revised
This is the above, only (recently) updated with some tweaks that have cropped up in the several years since PU was released. For example, it now includes the idea of "psionic talents", which are 0th-level powers. PU didn't originally have those. Also, now in colour.

Psionics Expanded: Advanced Psionics Guide
More of the system, but this is all new content for you. It includes several new classes, a bunch of new feats, and a bunch new powers. This stuff is all heavily play-tested and has been out for a couple years as well. Again, black & white, softcover (and PDF). This is the companion to PU.

The Whole Shebang
=================
Ultimate Psionics
This is basically the content from PU, plus PE:APG, further updated. (This is where the updates in PU-Revised come from.) So, if you want it all, this is the book to get. This thing is a gorgeous full-colour hardcover, and is the best choice if you want lots of psionic content. Also of course, in PDF.

Psionic Bestiary
The monsters in the first book, PU, got the same full-colour update treatment that the basic rules content got in Ultimate Psionics, but separated into a second physical book due to pagecount. This is the result of that. Full-colour, softcover (or PDF), this is the DM complement to Ultimate Psionics.

So. If you want to dabble, there are some of the smaller, older books that Dreamscarred grew through as they converted the 3.5e rules then built on them. If you want kind of "everything", you'd want Ultimate Psionics plus the Psionic Bestiary. That contains everything in PU and PE:AGP, only better.

Final comment. There are some additional products available to support the system, like a psionic version of the NPC Codex, and the recently released Seventh Path (adds a sort of necromantic discipline for psions to choose). Just look at the general offerings by Dreamscarred Press from one of the links above to browse their offerings. There are even some new mythic psionic rules. The psionic system is alive and well, and growing, under DSP's management.

Full disclosure: I am a fan and user of DSP's materials. I have also done some editing for some of their books on a volunteer basis.


Zilfrel Findadur wrote:
Elans are OP though.

I wish I had just replied like this instead of the way I did. <Grin>


Anguish wrote:
Zilfrel Findadur wrote:
Elans are OP though.
I wish I had just replied like this instead of the way I did. <Grin>

I'm going to intentionally misinterpret Zilfrel Findadur's post as claiming that the Original Poster, Andor the Great & Powerful, is an Elan.


I lowered the Resistance ability from +4 to +2 and dropped the Repletion ability completely in my modification from the original to fit my homebrew.


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To the OP, if your interested in the Elan, Jon Brazer Enterprises will be releasing Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Elan this month I believe.

As to DungeonmasterCal, what problem do see with the Repletion ability?
Or Resistance for that matter?


RCM wrote:

what problem do see with the Repletion ability?

Or Resistance for that matter?

I think the deal is that some people object to a race that can spend some of its irreplaceable daily ability to do useful things with the ability to not be dead is overpowered. Mainly because no other race has anything like it, and unique is bad, right?

But maybe there's another argument. I've never seen one.


RCM wrote:

To the OP, if your interested in the Elan, Jon Brazer Enterprises will be releasing Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Elan this month I believe.

As to DungeonmasterCal, what problem do see with the Repletion ability?
Or Resistance for that matter?

There's not really a problem with them if someone wants to run an Elan straight out of the book. I just lowered them a little to better fit my concept of a psionic human race. In my homebrew they're not created aberrations, but are born and die like any other race. It's a concept that goes back over 20 years in my setting, and the Elan, with a few minor tweaks, just seemed to be the perfect solution.


DungeonmasterCal wrote:
RCM wrote:

To the OP, if your interested in the Elan, Jon Brazer Enterprises will be releasing Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Elan this month I believe.

As to DungeonmasterCal, what problem do see with the Repletion ability?
Or Resistance for that matter?

There's not really a problem with them if someone wants to run an Elan straight out of the book. I just lowered them a little to better fit my concept of a psionic human race. In my homebrew they're not created aberrations, but are born and die like any other race. It's a concept that goes back over 20 years in my setting, and the Elan, with a few minor tweaks, just seemed to be the perfect solution.

Call me crazy now, but how exactly does a +4 bonus instead of a +2 and the ability to psionically sustain themselves change their concept? Cause I cannot see a flavor reason that requires those to be removed. And since Elans are well balanced as is, I'm guessing the issue isn't a power level issue.

Genuinely curious here since you'd let people run them out of the book, which seems strange when combined with the above. Is there anyone who chooses *not* to play them out of the book? Or does your version have some other benefits to compensate?


No, I didn't say I let folks run them out of the book, but meant that it was fine for those who wanted to in their games.

For me I thought a +4 to the save was a tad high, and the ability to sustain themselves by psionic points also seemed a bit over the top for the concept I had in mind. Those are the only two things I changed, and I feel they're minor changes at that. It's not a thing I expect everyone to understand or care about, but it works for me and my group. There's only one player in my group who plays a psionicist, and it's a Human, at that.

In my setting they're a race called Ransoori, which goes back as far as 1991. They've always been a "race of former conquerors, now defeated and exiled to far away places", so they were really an NPC race for most of the years. With the Elan, I was able to make them the way I envisioned them.

I'm also a pretty flexible GM. IF, and that is IF, someone wanted to play an Elan as it comes from the book, I MIGHT let them. Since no one has ever mentioned playing either an Elan or the homebrew Ransoori, it's not been a big issue. Again, it's really a flavor thing over mechanical, and it works for us.

President, Jon Brazer Enterprises

RCM wrote:
To the OP, if your interested in the Elan, Jon Brazer Enterprises will be releasing Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Elan this month I believe.

Your belief is correct. Thank you for mentioning this. I just sent it out to the editors for final approval last night and it should be available for download on the 14th (those that subscribe to the Book of Heroic Races: Advanced Compendium Subscription can download it as soon as it's done). 22 pages of nothing but elans, written by George "Loki" Williams. We've got archetypes for psionic classes and archetypes to psi-up non-psionic classes, new powers and equipment, and more, all of which elan-themed. We're really excited about this and know that elan fans are going to love it.

Speaking of which, we're doing previews of the book all week over at JonBrazer.com. The first should pop in a number of hours.

[/shameless plug]

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