Crispy™ The systemic anti-psionic discrimination needs to end!

[rusty_shackleford]

Now that I have your attention,
list your favorite RPGs that have psionics.

 

[I'm Big Into Anal]

first we need to ask ourselves, what is a psionic?

 

[rusty_shackleford]

first we need to ask ourselves, what is a psionic?

Spoiler

 

[Metronome]

ADOM
Earthbound
Underrail
Zangband

I don't know that many, but I prefer playing these to magicians.

 

[Gregz]

I never cared for psionics, not in AD&D, and not elsewhere.

Although...they were pretty good in System Shock 2 I guess.

 

[Sarkile]

Underrail, Dark Sun. That PSP D&D Tactics game had Psionics, but I don't really remember much about it.

Wow, I like psionics but I'm having trouble thinking of more. Doesn't Encased have something? I didn't want to touch that one until it's out of EA.

 

[luj1]

Dark Sun, Wizardy 6

 

[CryptRat]

A video game based on Ubik exists, I've not played it but although' it seems terrible I can't imagine it's such a terrible adaptation that there's not even psionics in it.

 

[overly excitable young man]

And here i thought "psionics" is only an excuse to have magic in settings other than fantasy like post-apoc (Underrail) or cyberpunk (SS2).

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

Deus Ex

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

Wizardry 8 and System Shock 2. In Wiz8 they kinda suck and in SS2 I never actually did a pure psionic run. Might be a good idea for a next playthrough.

 

[Spectacle]

first we need to ask ourselves, what is a psionic?

A space wizard doing space magic.

 

[NJClaw]

Pillars of Eternity and Deadfire.

 

[Nifft Batuff]

Tetris.

 

[Nortar]

Persoanlly, I've never liked psionics in fantasy.
It just feels wrong in a "generic western medieval world in vacuum"; same as dragonborns and oriental monks.
It's ok if it's an innate power of some monsters or "alien" races, like Ilithids (and the gith), but not something widespread and available to players.

To me the rightful place for psionic is in modern, post-apoc and sci-fi settings.
And if we look in that direction, there's a number of games of all rpg sub-genres with psionics -
from Mass Effect (they call them biotics, just because), to Startcrawlers (2 kinds of psykers), to X-Com.

 

[V_K]

first we need to ask ourselves, what is a psionic?

It's not a trivial question though. Take Morrowind for example - it has spells for things like telekinesis, levitation, mind control - all the stuff that would otherwise fall under psionics category. So can we say that Morrowind has psionics?

 

[DraQ]

first we need to ask ourselves, what is a psionic?

Spoiler

So psionic is some garbage, DnD only thing?

Huh, I guess Wizardry is out, then.

Wizardry 8 and System Shock 2. In Wiz8 they kinda suck

Deleat dis.

 

[turkishronin]

X-Com

 

[Sykar]

Deus Ex

Yeah man psionic Denton was wild!

 

[GrafvonMoltke]

Yeah man psionic Denton was wild!

Deus Ex had just the right amount of psionic content; it was mentioned a handful of times and had no influence on the story or gameplay.

Spoiler

I've been waiting all day for someone to say something about my original post

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[rusty_shackleford]

cave wizards were never cool

psionics have nothing to do with dress wearing faggots

 

[JarlFrank]

It just feels wrong in a "generic western medieval world in vacuum";

Generic western medieval worlds in a vacuum always feel wrong anyway

Please be more creative, the "fantasy" label implies that you're allowed to use your imagination.

 

[Nortar]

Please be more creative, the "fantasy" label implies that you're allowed to use your imagination.

That reminds me about a short discussion about what is fantasy I had in Solasta discord.
It's akin to the eternal question of what is an rpg.

I know a lot people would call "fantasy" almost any shit they can't find a better word for, maybe with additional desriptors like "medieval fantasy", "urban fantasy", "whatever fantasy". And I'm ok with that.

But for me pure, without any additional buzzwords "fantasy" is always associated with basically a fairy tale for grown ups, set in a medieval setting with magic.

 

[Piotrovitz]

Wizardry 8 and System Shock 2. In Wiz8 they kinda suck and in SS2 I never actually did a pure psionic run. Might be a good idea for a next playthrough.

I wouldn't count Wiz8 psionics here, as they are basically just another sub-class of casters with bit different spell repertoire.

Beside SS2, I think that good example would be ciphers from PoE - they're played differently than wizards, have entirely different spells/abilities, and you can go with several different builds for them, instead of regular 'backrow caster' one.