Jeremy, how is your "core" book coming along?
Or are you mostly focusing on classes to start with?
Jeremy, how is your "core" book coming along?
Or are you mostly focusing on classes to start with?
Initially we've been focusing on the classes, although the feats revision is about halfway done. Skills have already been posted, and races have already been posted. Powers are going slowly, mostly because we're trying to make any changes made in Pathfinder for similar spells carry over to powers, and we're also overhauling metamorphosis to match the Pathfinder changes to shapechanging, while also making it fit into the hierarchy of psionic powers vs spells.
We haven't done much with the psionic monsters yet, although I foresee that being pretty quick.
Psionic item creation, by and large, has already been done.
And, the beta of the psychic warrior is now available!
Yes, and it definitely looks good! I have a few niggles I've posted up, but they are fairly minor.
Do you have even the slightest hint of a projected time schedule for release? Or should I at least be linking to some form of beta for the powers and feats? I was going to pick up your combined compendium during the recent cyber fire sale, but I held off knowing that you were working on your PF conversion upgrade.
If it weren't for firewall issues, I'd check out your site more frequently to get answers. ;)
Do you have even the slightest hint of a projected time schedule for release? Or should I at least be linking to some form of beta for the powers and feats? I was going to pick up your combined compendium during the recent cyber fire sale, but I held off knowing that you were working on your PF conversion upgrade. ;)
Unfortunately, the best I can say is early 2010. Both Andreas and I have been dealing with increased activity at our day jobs, along with families, which has slowed things down.
However, I plan to get cracking on the Beta of the psion, as well as get an Alpha of the powers and feats ready for review. We're hoping to have the feats ready sooner, rather than later, as they haven't required a massive amount of work.
Unfortunately, the best I can say is early 2010. Both Andreas and I have been dealing with increased activity at our day jobs, along with families, which has slowed things down.
However, I plan to get cracking on the Beta of the psion, as well as get an Alpha of the powers and feats ready for review. We're hoping to have the feats ready sooner, rather than later, as they haven't required a massive amount of work.
That's fine; I can live with that. For those of us who aren't frequent visitors to your website, is there a one stop link that is pretty much a catch-all to retrieve the alpha/betas for the project to locate at ease (after I presumably will have to register an account there to do so).
Thanks, Jeremy!
Unfortunately, the best I can say is early 2010. Both Andreas and I have been dealing with increased activity at our day jobs, along with families, which has slowed things down.
However, I plan to get cracking on the Beta of the psion, as well as get an Alpha of the powers and feats ready for review. We're hoping to have the feats ready sooner, rather than later, as they haven't required a massive amount of work.
That's fine; I can live with that. For those of us who aren't frequent visitors to your website, is there a one stop link that is pretty much a catch-all to retrieve the alpha/betas for the project to locate at ease (after I presumably will have to register an account there to do so).
Thanks, Jeremy!
You can use this link, which points to the main page of the project; you have to peruse the page to find all the topics with downloadable files, though - they are quite a lot, and some of them are now in disuse with the new updated files, especially the 'Alpha Release - Psychic Warrior' (with the Beta Release), 'Alpha Release - Soulknife Base Class' (with the Alpha 2 Release of the Soulknife) and 'Alpha Release - Psionic Races' (with the Alpha 2 Release of the Psionic Races).
That's fine; I can live with that. For those of us who aren't frequent visitors to your website, is there a one stop link that is pretty much a catch-all to retrieve the alpha/betas for the project to locate at ease (after I presumably will have to register an account there to do so).
Not yet. Probably once we have an alpha release of all the parts of the system, we'll put something like that together. But, we've set it up so you don't have to register at our site to download the alpha / beta documents. :)
Thanks, Jeremy!
No problem!
Not yet. Probably once we have an alpha release of all the parts of the system, we'll put something like that together. But, we've set it up so you don't have to register at our site to download the alpha / beta documents. :)
Ah, that's good to know! I just need to remind myself when I'm at home to retrieve and take a looksee. Thanks!
All in all I should be able to crank out the rest (monsters and items) over the holidays and we've almost finished both the 1st level powers and the feats.
A little sneakpeaking is never bad, so:
Feats like Psionic Fist or Speed of Thought will both have a "focused/expend" component. For example, the Psionic Weapon feat adds +2 damage to all weapon attacks you make while psionically focused, and you can expend it to gain +2d6 extra damage.
Powers have been updated, partially to remove any and all "Psionic X" powers. Some might have essentially the same effect, but we've given them new names and augments to separate them from their arcane equivalents.
Also, some powers can now be manifested by expending psionic focus...
It sounds good - not to many changes, just enough to keep up with Pathfinder.
Can I assume that those powers that will be manifested by spending psionic focus will be somehow the equivalent of cantrips? Seems like a fairly elegant way to give psions an at will thing without going into 0 lvl powers.
Frerezar - yes. See below (cross-posted from the Dreamscarred Press forums).
Just to give an update since we haven't put out a lot in the way of actual documents...
The 1st Level Psion/Wilder Powers is closing in on ready for Alpha release.
I have 13 powers left to review and then send to Andreas to get his input and see if he has any suggestions or catches anything I missed.
I didn't realize how many 1st level powers there were... 23 pages!
Many powers received cosmetic or no changes, such as changing skill names to match Pathfinder. Some powers received mechanical corrections, such as Thicken Skin, to make its bonus make more sense. 0-level spell equivalents, such as Detect Psionics, received an expend focus augmentation to remove their power point cost. Some powers that had augmentations but no DC scaling received DC scaling. And some powers that had no augmentation at all got some augmentation.
The Alpha release of the First Level Psion Powers is now available for download.
I looked at the Psionic Races PDF and every single race has both Psionic Aptitude and Naturally Psionic. Why not just combine both abilities into one and save time and space?
I looked at the Psionic Races PDF and every single race has both Psionic Aptitude and Naturally Psionic. Why not just combine both abilities into one and save time and space?
To be honest, we probably will for the final release.
FYI, we have opened up Pre-orders for Psionics Unleashed - our title for the psionic rulebook for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Pre-orders will also receive a early, free copy of an upcoming Prestige Class release for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game!
At this point, almost everything is in Alpha or beyond. The parts that are still in progress for Alpha are many of the psionic powers, a few remaining psionic feats, and psionic creatures. We're hoping to have the psionic feats Alpha released this week, as well as the 2nd level powers.
Beta releases for the Soulknife, Psion, and Races should also be hopefully ready this month.
FYI, we have opened up Pre-orders for Psionics Unleashed - our title for the psionic rulebook for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Pre-orders will also receive a early, free copy of an upcoming Prestige Class release for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game!
At this point, almost everything is in Alpha or beyond. The parts that are still in progress for Alpha are many of the psionic powers, a few remaining psionic feats, and psionic creatures. We're hoping to have the psionic feats Alpha released this week, as well as the 2nd level powers.
Beta releases for the Soulknife, Psion, and Races should also be hopefully ready this month.
For those of us who may be restricted from your site at certain locations (*cough*work*cough), what's the price and do you get both the PDF and the dead tree? Thanks!
For those of us who may be restricted from your site at certain locations (*cough*work*cough), what's the price and do you get both the PDF and the dead tree? Thanks!
Cost is $9.95 and is for the PDF.
It does not include a dead tree version - until we set up a storefront at our site that better handles physical product delivery, we've discontinued selling physical product at our site.
Printed copies will be available through Lulu and Amazon. We've discussed discounted pricing for pre-orders but haven't worked out the details for that yet - partially because we don't know how much the final book is going to cost to print, therefore how much the final cost will be.
For those of us who may be restricted from your site at certain locations (*cough*work*cough), what's the price and do you get both the PDF and the dead tree? Thanks!Cost is $9.95 and is for the PDF.
It does not include a dead tree version - until we set up a storefront at our site that better handles physical product delivery, we've discontinued selling physical product at our site.
Printed copies will be available through Lulu and Amazon. We've discussed discounted pricing for pre-orders but haven't worked out the details for that yet - partially because we don't know how much the final book is going to cost to print, therefore how much the final cost will be.
Thanks, Jeremy! I was able to view the link now that I'm home. Do you know how many pages there are going to be roughly and an anticipated date for release? The only other thing I'd ask is when pre-ordering, do you charge on the spot or do you charge when the product is ready to be released?
Thanks, Jeremy! I was able to view the link now that I'm home. Do you know how many pages there are going to be roughly and an anticipated date for release? The only other thing I'd ask is when pre-ordering, do you charge on the spot or do you charge when the product is ready to be released?
I really can't say how many pages the final book will have - that's going to fluctuate based upon how much artwork we secure for the project, as well as what additional material we come up with to add, and things like font selection, size, and margins. The XPH was 224 pages, so that's a good starting point, although we're cutting out everything non-Open Content (gith, Illithid, etc), but we're also adding in new material (Ophiduans, Phrenic Scourge, etc).
Anticipated date for release... We're hoping for the first quarter of this year, but that's about as close to an expectation as we can give. Alpha feedback has been coming in pretty steadily and I start playing a Beta version of the Nomad this month for playtesting... so we're hoping to have all Alphas released by the end of this month with several Betas also out this month.
Pre-orders are charged at the time the pre-order is placed. But, pre-orders will be available until just before the book is ready. :)
Cool! Thanks for the update.
P.S. Have you guys finally ironed out on how you think you'll handle XP costs values when originally called for?
Cool! Thanks for the update.
P.S. Have you guys finally ironed out on how you think you'll handle XP costs values when originally called for?
No problem!
And, thankfully, it's not really an issue for psionic item creation - we'll use the same rules as magic item creation.
The powers where it's primarily the issue, we're getting to - nothing firm yet decided.
And, thankfully, it's not really an issue for psionic item creation - we'll use the same rules as magic item creation.
The powers where it's primarily the issue, we're getting to - nothing firm yet decided.
Okay, I was just wondering. That's what I'm holding out hope on to see what comes across as the definitive decision. Wasn't sure if there was a specific thread discussion for that over there.
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Okay, I was just wondering. That's what I'm holding out hope on to see what comes across as the definitive decision. Wasn't sure if there was a specific thread discussion for that over there.
Well, we did make a decision on one aspect of this - there's no longer an XP requirement for Identify. Given the changes to the spell counterpart, it seemed silly to keep an XP requirement. It's also been folded up into an augmentation of Detect Psionics.
Also, the Beta Release of the Soulknife is now available. Pretty major changes for the soulknife - including the move to a full BAB, for those who had concerns about a d10 / average BAB, as well as some streamlining of abilities, and some simplification of some overly complex class features.
Will you be selling hard copies once it's all done, or only PDFs?
Will you be selling hard copies once it's all done, or only PDFs?
We'll be doing printed books via Amazon and Lulu. :)
Sweet. Dibs on Third Dawn print copy! lolWill you be selling hard copies once it's all done, or only PDFs?We'll be doing printed books via Amazon and Lulu. :)
That reminds me; what's the plan / timetable for the Third Dawn campaign to be converted over to Pathfinder?
That reminds me; what's the plan / timetable for the Third Dawn campaign to be converted over to Pathfinder?
Short answer: we'll be doing it at some point, no actual ETA.
Long Answer: It likely won't be til at the soonest 2nd or 3rd quarter of this year - we're really looking good for being on track to get Psionics Unleashed out 1st quarter this year. Beta documents are starting to come together, the feats, items, and monsters are close to being ready, and powers are edging closer to completion. We have to get all that hammered out before we work on Third Dawn.
That being said, when we do updated Third Dawn... it shouldn't take more than a month from start to finish.
I just read the beta for the soulknife, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! You finally took the class and made it a viable option to playing a fighter.
And the Alpha release for the 2nd Level Psion/Wilder Powers is now available!
And the Alpha for the Psionic Feats is now available.
We are working on a set of updated Psionics rules and in the spirit of the Open Playtest Paizo did for Pathfinder we are starting with asking YOU the fans - what would YOU want?
Our intention is to update the Psionics rules with errata and changes to balance some of the powers out, following in the footsteps of Pathfinders "less Save-or-Die" and more "major damage on a failed save" revisions. Each of the 4 "core psionic" classes get an update (partially based on our Untapped Potential updates) and we streamline feats and other items.
What remains the same? Power points, augmentations, items.
So, once again - what would YOU want to see updated, changed, revised or altered and WHY?
Feel free to drop by at Dreamscarred Press - The Definitive Source for d20 Psionics › All Types › All Topics and leave an opinion too!
Full post here.
I definitely want to see something different in regards to psionics, and by different, I mean that psionics and magic don't mesh. The 3.0 and 3.5 versions I thought were okay but I thought they took the easy way out in regards to keeping some kind of game power balance. Too many of the "psionic powers" were simply magic spells with a different label, which made it easy to throw into the game, but really had very little impact in the regards of making psionics something unique in regards to the game. I liked the 2nd edition (dark sun) version, however it was often game breakingly powerful.
Psionics should be powers of the mind and power over the mind. I would love to see it stay a point based system as it has in the past, however I would like to see something to the effect that the mind gets "tired". I did like the psionic disciplines in 3.x however I think the "powers" list really needs to be looked at. There should be certain powers for certain disciplines and those powers should be unique to the game, not the same old spells with a new label.
Well the DSP psionics are going to be 3.5 updated for Pathfinder. That's a fair mix of powers that are 'different' and powers that mimic spells. Thematically they are trying to get away from the spells = powers concept; powers are generally a little more versatile than spells, but don't scale automatically. They have added some nice ideas as well, especially with respect to psionic focus, making it more integral to the mechanics.
I definitely want to see something different in regards to psionics, and by different, I mean that psionics and magic don't mesh. The 3.0 and 3.5 versions I thought were okay but I thought they took the easy way out in regards to keeping some kind of game power balance. Too many of the "psionic powers" were simply magic spells with a different label, which made it easy to throw into the game, but really had very little impact in the regards of making psionics something unique in regards to the game. I liked the 2nd edition (dark sun) version, however it was often game breakingly powerful.
The current project Dreamscarred Press is working on (which I am actively assisting with) is a Pathfinder update of the Expanded Psionics Handbook. It is not a complete re-do of the psionics system, nor should it be. To be honest, while it seems like the easy way out, there aren't that many options for maintaining balance in anything that is 'casting', for lack of a better term. 3.5 did what was best for making it work within the systems already in place.
Psionics should be powers of the mind and power over the mind. I would love to see it stay a point based system as it has in the past, however I would like to see something to the effect that the mind gets "tired". I did like the psionic disciplines in 3.x however I think the "powers" list really needs to be looked at. There should be certain powers for certain disciplines and those powers should be unique to the game, not the same old spells with a new label.
This is actually quite difficult. The fact is that magic in many ways already covers much of a what psionics should be able to do. And there is already a mechanic in place for certain powers being limited to certain specialists. I'm not sure I'm following what else you're looking for in that (although I am not an expert on powers, being the resident soulknife junkie/designer over at DSP).
Any new updates on the progress?
The Alpha for 2nd level powers is out, it's had a lot of corrections agreed though. The big bone of contention was the energy powers. On the one hand, some wanted them nerfed because you have a free choice of four energy types; others pointed out that this would seriously nerf any blaster build, especially for the wilder which has so few powers.
In the end it was agreed that changing energy types wasn't broken, but shouldn't be that easy either. The compromise was that:
- Characters can select an energy type when they gain psionic focus, and change type by expending focus as well.
- Wilders can change energy type whenever they wild-surge.
- Kineticists can change energy type for free.
As was pointed out, blasting is the one area that psionic characters can excel at more than arcane casters - they can churn out damage faster than arcane casters, although they run out of power points long before the wizard or sorcerer will run out of spells. As was also pointed out, it's also among the least optimal of the options you can follow, and in some of the more optimal ones casters far outshine manifesters.
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Hello, I am looking forward to the release of the PDF, but also the release of the dead tree book. I for one hope you keep the power points of psionics, the augmetntation, and the “psionic focus” feature. You guys at dream scarred press put out good stuff, im looking forward to the “pathfinder “ update.
thanks
All three are kept!
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Dabbler,
Thank you. I was worried there might be some radical changes. it is good to know that my sacred cows will be unmolested ( power points, augmentation, and psionic focus).
I have on my bookshelf, the Expanded Psionics handbook, the complete psionics handbook, Hyperconsciousness, and Untapped potential. I am hoping that this update can be a retooling of the expanded psionics handbook with some of the problematic areas and powers revised, in much the same way, the Pathfinder Game, is a refining of the 3.5 D&D rules.
I dont expect perfection, if i was, i would be perpetually frustrated, and i am looking forward to what you are going to produce. I have already put a pre order in for the pdf.
Oh one last question, is the Erudite open or closed content? can you make use of this class or not?
Thank you.
Elyas
I understand the Erudite wasn't open content, so it's not included. The rest of your sacred cows are safe, though. And yes, that's pretty much what they are doing.
Dabbler,
Thank you for the update, I can't get to Dreamscarred during the day.
I haven't seen anything of this ilk in the powers so far, the Dreamscarred work is basically an updating of the XPH to Pathfinder. There have been suggestions about improving cloud mind, so that you can augment it to effect additional individuals, but that's all. In all honesty, I'm quite comfortable with the psionic equivelant of illusions being limited to a few telepathy powers - there should, after all, be some things magic does better than psionics, and there is very little in psionics that matches illusion or necromantic magic. By the same token, there are some things psionics does better than magic, such as direct damage.
It may be something that Dreamscarred would work on at a later date, but you would have to ask them.
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Dabbler,
Thank you. I suppose it should be relatively simple to transpose some illusion and invisibility spells directly to psionics by giving them a power point cost. I am not a big fan of such transplanting, but that might be the simpleist way to go about things without "upsetting" the game balance.
I for one have never been a big fan of the energy powers for psionics. To me it seemed like the psion was tramping on the toes of the wizard/sorcerer with those powers. But i suppose we all have our perceptions of things. And we all have our sacred cows. Speaking of Sacred cows, I have often thought that in terms of "fantasy" psionics, a pseudo "indian" feel would thematically fit psionics very well.
Thanks
Elyas
Howdy.
First, the 3rd level psion / wilder powers are now available for review in their Alpha release here! It's been a long time coming, but we hope you like it.
Second, with regards to invisibility / illusions:
I would expect to see something like that coming from our Pathfinder update of Untapped Potential, rather than directly in our core Psionics rulebook. As Dabbler mentioned, this is mostly an update of the XPH to fit the Pathfinder design paradigm, with a few additions along the way.
We do have an "invisibility" power in Untapped Potential for 3.5 - bend light, which works off psychokinesis, rather than off telepathy, since Cloud Mind is the telepathy form. :)
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I can't get over to Dreamscarred atm to check the latest PDF, but I wonder if something has been done about Astral Construct. The constructs allowed in the XPH, especially with the Boost Construct feat, absolutely shamed the capability of the party's fighter and outclass even core caster's summoned beasts of the same level (which are themselves more effective than the party's fighter after a few levels). I know Pathfinder has not fixed the massive imbalance between casters and non casters, but Astral Construct was an especially flagrant example of this.
Any word on this?
Elyas - I am OK about the lack of illusions, but maybe a 'light control' power to work alongside 'control sound' would enable an image to be created akin to an illusion ... for myself, though, the idea of the energy powers isn't a bad one, as wild psychic powers being awesomely destructive is an idea that is quite well rooted.
Lich-loved - the power reads the same, so I guess we will have to wait and see the creature section. Given that Paizo toned down some conjured creatures, I think it's due at least a small hit with the nerf-bat.