Why psions are so rare in RPG's?

[Apostle Hand]

cuz they are shit class

 

[J1M]

Maybe the popularity of the Alchemist is to blame. They have psion abilities that might be confusing to players like poison flask, poison weapon, etc.

 

[mondblut]

Yeah 4E is an excellent resource

Like 5e is any better.

 

[SoupNazi]

Yeah 4E is an excellent resource

Like 5e is any better.

Did I say it is? Or even imply as much?

 

[JamesDixon]

I'm going to have to say that psionics in fantasy is a rather hard sell. It's not due to the existence of them, but the fact that to most people it doesn't fit thematically. The only fantasy world I've seen that did it right was Dark Sun.

 

[mondblut]

Yeah 4E is an excellent resource

Like 5e is any better.

Did I say it is? Or even imply as much?

You, not. The other guy quoted the props for youtube reality show like a gospel.

 

[Storyfag]

Yeah 4E is an excellent resource

Like 5e is any better.

Objectively, it is better. Slightly. Granted, this is no great feat, as just about any random turd is better than 4e.

 

[mondblut]

Yeah 4E is an excellent resource

Like 5e is any better.

Objectively, it is better. Slightly. Granted, this is no great feat, as just about any random turd is better than 4e.

4e is a dumb tabletop port of mmo games.

5e is props for dumb YouTube shows.

As much as I despise the former, I still find it more reliable source than the later. At least they still tried to release actual books.

 

[Fluent]

Dark Sun did Psions well. You can use a lot of oddball skills and abilities. The Metabolics branch had neat stuff such as augmenting your armor or weapon and grafting it onto your body for a bonus. Then there was Telepathic stuff like stunning an enemy or enemies for multiple turns depending on the strength of your Psionics. In my opinion, it's good to have Psionics because it adds more skills and usable abilities, which can always be a good thing. I think it's not used much because magic itself is more popular and is used as a "catch-all" for interesting effects. But any game that uses Psionics can also use it wisely to do slightly different things that can also be interesting. Just my 2, heh. Cheers!

 

[Cryomancer]

Anyone here who played KoTC2 can detail how psionics are in KoTC2 and how different they are to magic?

 

[Dorateen]

As I understand it, Psionics use power points instead of spell memorization, there are food items that restore a character's power points, and the range of abilities and effects for psionics can be quite powerful. KotC2 has a breathtaking amount of feats and magic selection for all classes, and Pierre is a fan of psionics so I think there are a number of out of combat options made available in Augury of Chaos, as well.

 

[KeighnMcDeath]

psionics is not magic for the same reason punching someone isn't magic
psionics comes from within, not without

So it is just a magic with different origin point. Basically Ki, but is totally different. Got it.

"Monks harness this power within themselves to create magical effects"

ki doesn't come from within per the 5e phb, it's an external force

many of their attacks that use ki are explicitly deemed 'magical' in nature

Anyone recall the ki rules in the OA / KARA-TUR?

Is this about tabletop and/or CRPGS?

I believe Centauri Alliance used psionics. It probably used the same sp/max sp system which is like mana pools rather than vancian. I couldn't say what games used psionics in a vancian way.

I bet other systems like Gurps, Palladium, Cyberpunk, etc used psionicss. I was hoping to see a listing and whether it was vancian, psion pool, or a skill check or something else.

 

[JamesDixon]

psionics is not magic for the same reason punching someone isn't magic
psionics comes from within, not without

So it is just a magic with different origin point. Basically Ki, but is totally different. Got it.

"Monks harness this power within themselves to create magical effects"

ki doesn't come from within per the 5e phb, it's an external force

many of their attacks that use ki are explicitly deemed 'magical' in nature

Anyone recall the ki rules in the OA / KARA-TUR?

Is this about tabletop and/or CRPGS?

I believe Centauri Alliance used psionics. It probably used the same sp/max sp system which is like mana pools rather than vancian. I couldn't say what games used psionics in a vancian way.

I bet other systems like Gurps, Palladium, Cyberpunk, etc used psionicss. I was hoping to see a listing and whether it was vancian, psion pool, or a skill check or something else.

There weren't any ki rules in OA/Kara-Tur to make a full fledged system. Instead they just declared certain abilities to use ki and that was it.

 

[DraQ]

The only good way to possibly incorporate something like psionics in a fantasy RPG is merging it with monks (coincidentally wizardry...).
Of course that leaves the open question of whether martial arts monks even fit the setting (and are adventure-viable), but either works better married to the other one than as standalone.
Being wonderful little snowflake that can kung-flufu shit to death with your Rosie Palms that other need magical weapons and WMD grade magic to deal with is much easier to swallow if you actually have to employ a kind of magic to do so, and just focusing hard at stuff to melt its brain works better if it comes bundled with a life of monastic ascetics and rigorous exercise.