What do you think of psionics?

Psychic energy is an internalized source of power, magic is an externalized source of power (even if you take it into yourself for spellcasting purposes).

It's not hard, user.

>Psychic energy is an internalized source of power
Like a Sorcerer's?

London?

they have long been on my mind.
hahahahahaha
I'll get my coat...

A Wizard is like being a up-and-coming politician from common roots, playing the system on an apparently honest agenda. A Sorcerer is like being born into a noble family, already having a place in the political game. A Warlock is a subordinate to a bigger player, bidding their time to break away from their boss.

A Psion is your average murderhobo, in power not because people like him or pretend to do so, but because he's killed any force that would have said otherwise.

As a giant psychic praying mantis, I give psionics two forelimbs up!

Objectively superior mechanical design in 3.x/PF

... But kind of overpriced in GURPS4

I don't mind them as a rule, but I've had plenty of players who ONLY play psionic classes out of their edginess.

Always needs to be implemented in core, and given it's dues for the Powers that be. It's biggest issue- is however, that in setting- it's a hidden factor of everyday life, and few people know of it, defaulting it's works to the like of Magic Casters- which is the worst mistake one can make in the face of what it presents.

In effect, the world stands to become more broken due to misinformation/lack of education on psionics than a setting where it is known- and rightfuly regulated due to it's origins-

4e's integration of Planar cosomology to make certain orphaned subjects more relevant was a step in the right direction- but I do wish someone would acknowledge the old way it was done with that little percentage thing for beings like deities and such.

Warcraft d20 did a good thing by distinguishing the fact that their Undead- due to diversity and variety are controlled via psionics opposed to a flat undead control system that 'just is'

Used to really like them as a concept. As someone who prefers science fiction over fantasy, I liked the idea of "sci fi magic" for my settings. But I'm slowly getting kinda tired of the concept because it's becoming obvious how limited it is. Psionics are basically just X-Men and genre fiction is saturated with that kind of character nowadays.

I've found as I get older, I've started appreciating Vancian magic more and more.

what about sorcerers?

>the difference between psionics and magic
Depends on the setting.

Moreso than usual, I mean. There are several abundances of different things that "magic" or "psionics" or "ki" or any other sort of supernatural power could be in different settings. Things which are magical in one setting could easily be psychic in another. Warhammer Fantasy's magic and Warhammer 40,000's psionics are pretty much the same thing, and yet one is distinctly magical while the other is distinctly psychic nonetheless.

That said, there are some common trends for whether something counts as one or the other. Magic tends to be based around the exotic natural laws of a fantasy world; there's magic in a world because the world itself is magic, which can be manipulated through the use of specific procedures, though it often requires some innate power or infusion with "magical energy" too. As a result, magic tends to be more ritualized and overt, manifesting as specific "spells" which can have dramatic effects ranging from hurling bolts of fire to conjuring a portal to another world. It often interacts with a fantasy setting's own unique natural laws, such as souls, elemental or divine forces, and other planes.

Psionics, by contrast, generally act as an addition to what seems to be a more mundane, realistic world. They are more subtle and less rigidly structured, being able to manipulate or perceive a reality which is otherwise familiar to us. It might not be clear why someone can hear the thoughts of others or how telekinesis can move an object from across the room; it could be due to a part of their brain structure, a scientific experiment, or something less explicable these are simply paranormal powers which some people have, and can be used in a variety of ways depending on their own skill and ingenuity.

In short, the general trend is that magic is something normal in a fantasy setting, while psionics are something paranormal in a scientific setting.

I've always been down with psionics.

But then, that's because I'm not one of the various anti-psionic fucktard DMs that doesn't want to read a few extra pages of rules material in order to actually understand how shit works, let's a player play with psionics anyway, and then assumes all the "broken horseshit" that results is because psionics are actually broken instead of realizing it is that their player doesn't understand the rules fully and is filling in their knowledge gaps with "my character is super awesome!" instead of sense.

Though I do prefer it when psionics and magic are treated as the same for the purposes of stuff like dispelling, so that "has psionics" isn't automatically "you can't do shit about it" unless you also have psionics.

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