You asked for it.
The Complete Super Uber Expanded Psionic is yet another D&D book that costs ~$40, which a player of mine bought. Within its vaunted pages are reams and reams of crap (yes, metaphoircal feces) that I and my friend Sexi Golem felt compelled to allow in our games at least on a trial basis because the guy bought the book and so he should get you use it, right? Nevermind that, yes, it's genre confusion!
D&D already has magic. Wizards, sorcerers, clerics, druids, and the monkey's uncle all use it. And it's different types of magic, too. Wizards and sorcerers and bards all use "arcane magic," yet draw on radically different power sources and in radically different ways. "Divine magic" is also completely and totally different from "arcane magic," and even has subdivisions between the forms drawn upon by rangers and druids, paladins, and clerics.
However:
1. They all use the same mechanics regarding spells.
2. They're all "spells" for that matter.
3. They all use the same magic items.
4. They all interact with creatures in the same way (this kinda falls under 1, but see below).
NOT F+%+ING PSIONICS. NOOOOOOOOOO, THEY'RE SUPER-SPECIAL!
That's magic that comes from the caster's mind! Yes, they're minds!
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THAT'S A DAMNED WIZARD, YOU MORONS! Or, if the point is that the magic comes from within them, SORCERER!
Not only that, but:
1. Psionics present themselves as using radically different rules from all other magic (yet can be seemlessly integrated just so it's not too difficult, but they're still SUPER SPECIAL). No spell slot, they use a suped-up MANA POOL! HEY, ANYONE WANNA PLAY FINAL FANTASY? CAUSE THIS AIN'T D&D!
2. They're not even spells. Nope, "POWERS." All praise their annoyingly different and pointless nomenclature!
3. They don't use the same magic items! Now I have to have freaking psionic items floating around the damned game for the psionic player. And have to explain where they came from and where all the other psionic items are.
4. Similar to the above, they require all new psionic monsters. Great! More stuff that feels like it's being forceably shoved into my game!
Not only that, but psionics are magic that requires no meterial, verbal, somatic, or focus components. Hey... wait a minute...
ISN'T THAT A G*# D#+NED SPELL LIKE ABILITY?
Why, yes, thank you, it is.
But NOOOOOOOO. It's PSIONIC; it's SPECIAL; look, the book SAYS SO, IT MUST BE TRUE!
And then when I see things like "PSIONIC HASTE," which works just like normal haste, but it's PSIONIC, I feel like my head is about to explode.
This is what you get for another $40?! A wizard with different names and some prefixes?
Don't forget they can MANIFEST around 17.5 9th-level spell equivalent POWERS per day at high levels. It's been a while, but when I did the math, it was obscene.
Redundant, pointless, out of place, invasive, inconsistent, and incompatible!
I HATE PSIONICS!!!!
I am not alone in my loathing of everything psi!Just out of curiosity, why does everyone hate psionics so much?
Its not that everyone hates it, it just seems that way. Same deal with Elves. Basically those that like it, like it, and that's OK but those that hate it LOATHE it. The very mention of psionics sends their blood pressure into the stratosphere and they start hammering on the keyboard with the intent to smite down the psionic cap system with a single minded obsession.
So it does not have fanatical defenders but it does have fanatical detractors.
It also faces a balance problem if your just playing by Core + Psionics. In that case it is too powerful. If your playing Core + lots of splat books + Psionics then Arcane Casters regain the edge based on versitility of items made for them versus number of items made for Psionic players plus the fact that there are simply a lot more magical spells then their are psionic powers. More options means, ultimatly, more power. Finally Psionics can't get past Spell Resistance worth beans. There are alomost no powers that get around SR that are not really bad for their manifestor level. This is, more or less, true if your just playing by core for an Arcane Caster as well but if you have splat books then their are a lot of good options one can fall back on when the enemy has SR.
Just wondering. The only time I've included them has been in a separate, psionic-based campaign, and they worked just fine. I'll have to see if getting the proverbial psionic peanut butter into my fantasy chocolate just makes me sick, or whether it's a whole new taste treat...
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If you are a Valenar elf, you would be foolish not to consider the Revenant Blade PrC from Player's Guide to Eberron.
I actually received the info on this PrC from Dragonmann and I am certainly considering it, but with an 8 Intelligence, my skill points are quite thin and it will take me awhile to meet the prereqs. Perhaps the Tempest class will boost my skills slightly. Perhaps not. We shall see.