Monday, January 20, 2014

Psionics?

So old schoolers (and people with opinions).  Do you use Psionics/Pychic powers in your game?

We used to use the quite a bit in the 1st Ed days then I pretty much dropped them till I started playing WitchCraft in the late 90s.

Call me strange, but I never really liked to mix my magic and psionics.  When I did I made them very, very different things.

What about you? What did your all like to do or still do?

6 comments:

Dr. Theda said...

No.... we have some "Mind-Blank" and the higher level spell "Mind Blast".... Enfeeblement and forgetful type spells...

JDJarvis said...

I use psionics as per the Mutant Future rules and it works for me as it doesn't use all the fiddly power points.
I played a little with illusionists actually being psionics instead of variant magic-users and it worked surprisingly well and explained how illusionists were different from mu's, might try that again.

Woodclaw said...

Psionics are one those big dividers among fans. Personally I've used them occasionally.
The big problem is (in my eyes) how integrated within the setting they are. Often setting that are magic heavy (e.g. Faerun) don't take too well the inclusion of another power source.
On this subject I want to put one thing on the plate. In D&D 3/3.5 edition there was the assumption that all the magical effect (Arcane, Divine and Psionics) worked along the same principles and were countered by the same abilities. While this was, perhaps, oversimplifying it brought forward one issue for me. If we have to assume that Psionics are different from magic because they came from a different source, then why arcane and divine magic are bundled together? In some setting this makes sense (e.g. Dragonlance), but most of the time it doesn't.

Trey said...

Back in the day I used psionics. These days I tend to do without it in Old School games.

faoladh said...

There are quite a few fun critters in 1E that are integrated with psionics - mind flayers (and associated critters like githyanki) and intellect devourers are notable.

The thing is, psionics in 1E is really self-balancing as far as power goes (non-psionics don't have to worry about cerebral parasites, for instance), though it does have some problems in terms of spotlight. It is, as well, pretty well-integrated into the game's default background. On the whole, if I am playing AD&D, I want psionics (which is one reason that I don't much care for 2E). If not, I'm pretty indifferent.

Rachel Ghoul said...

Once in a while, the really simple Carcosa ones (about the only thing from that book I use). More so if I'm playing Eberron or Dark Sun or a setting where it's a thing.