I am considering adding psionics to STAP. My group has no experience with psionics but has expressed an interest in trying it out. I realize that I would need to do some work to modify some NPCs to use psionics, as well as adjusting treasure to include psi items. (As a side note, it would be neat to see some sort of guide psi conversion notes in Dungeon noting that such-and-such recurring NPCs would be good candidates for conversion to psi classes.)
Any psi success/failure stories out there from the previous APs?
I am considering adding psionics to STAP. My group has no experience with psionics but has expressed an interest in trying it out. I realize that I would need to do some work to modify some NPCs to use psionics, as well as adjusting treasure to include psi items. (As a side note, it would be neat to see some sort of guide psi conversion notes in Dungeon noting that such-and-such recurring NPCs would be good candidates for conversion to psi classes.)
Any psi success/failure stories out there from the previous APs?
I'm just now introducing psionics into my AoW game. I'll have a Seer in the party on saturday - but then I've got a couple of special rules that I do with psionics to make them just a little bit more magic-transparent.
knowledge magic and psionics are rolled into one catagory. autohypnosis and concentration are one skill, and use magic device and use psi device are one catagory.
my logic is that if magic and psionics are really just different ways of manipulating the same energy, then why make psionics special in some ways and not so special in others?
anyhow, for the AoW, i'm not changing many NPCs to psionic. the exceptions are Zyxog will play as a straight psionic illithid, rather than a sorcerer. I'm considering changing Moreto into some form of psion, instead of a sorc, and also considering the ominous fabler as some form of psion.
RPG Superstar 2013 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2011 Top 16
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While none of us except the staff know what's coming in the STAP I can tell you that the Yuan-ti from Scuttlecove are probably the easiest to make Psions.
You can easily replace a warrior type with PsyWar's, Diviners for Seers. I'm sure any ship's Captain wouldn't mind having a Nomad or Elocator on board. Soulknives would make interesting pirates. Adding Psionics to the AP seems to me to rather easy!
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I doubt they do so because of the huge amount of explaining sidebars they'd have to print because of the psi rules.
The Expanded Psionics Handbook isn't considered a core rule book so they couldn't just reference it (like they do with references to MM or DMG), they have to explain the mechanism to the readers that don't have this book. I'd be more than pleased to see psionics included as i imagine a wild pirate crew made up of psi-using cutthroats....
But i wouldn't count on it. :(
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haven't played the AP's before, so i can't help you there. but i DO have some experience w/ premade modules and there lack of psionic content.
some general guidelines:
any sorcerer you come across, can fairly easily be made a psion. just take the salient powers to replace their spells/day, and remember, they TOO can be quite charismatic. (especially them Telepaths...)
BBEG's seem tailor made for the Thrallherd class. i mean, with 1 feat, he can pull in a powerful thrall and possibly believers. for extra pull, give the thrall leadership and a cohort of her own. (recently did this in reverse...leader-cleric had Shaper-Thrallherd Cohort, who had a Nomad thrall...all a cozy little insane family)
remember your psionic monsters/races.
half-giants
githyanki/githzerai
illithids (of course)
yuan-ti
goblins (Blues)
and the rest of the XPH races
when in doubt, or if you need a quick, last-minute-replacement, use this.
soulknife x (where x is Average Party Lvl), with Psionic Weapon, Greater Psionic Weapon, Psychic Meditation, Speed of Throught, and Psionic Body.
that's at 9th lvl for all those feats (not necessarily in that order), and nets you +4d6 dmg on a focus-dump-melee attack, spd 40' base (while focused), and 10 extra HP.
ranks in hide/move silently/climb/jump/balance, and you have the dash-in attacker to open your combat.
last but not least, take the time to re-populate the treasure items a bit. boots of skating, crystal shards, the various 3rd eye items...all are useable by "norms," and make the psionic PC's quite happy when they find psionic treasure as well as (or in place of) magic treasure.
alternatively, just swap out that +1 sword for a +1 Psionically enchanted sword. it may not glow, but it probably chants or hums when you swing it!
if you know your XPH cover-to-cover, these basic guidelines will help immensely, as i know they did for me!
namaste'
the hamster