Author Topic: 5e Psionics  (Read 12864 times)

Offline nijineko

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Re: 5e Psionics
« Reply #40 on: November 25, 2020, 02:34:41 PM »
Quote from: nijineko
0E (Two years from first release to Psionics release)
1st Book Released: Volume 1 Men & Magic (1974)
Psionics Released: Supplement 3 Eldritch Wizardry (1976)
Good call. Forgot about that edition. 

You are most welcome!

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Quote from: nijineko
IIRC, Conan himself was originally listed as having "unconscious use of psionics" to explain some of his superhuman feats of strength, endurance, and recovery.
:blink Holy moly. First I ever heard of this one. Pretty cool. Anyone got a source?

Yes, yes I do. Let me look it up in my notes.... and there it is:

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"Psionics: All of Conan' s psionic abilities are latent. He does not
understand he has them, and he never consciously attempts to use
them. They only operate in stress situations or when he is in danger.
Animal telepathy operates at 14th level of mastery, but it actually allows
Conan to at best sense the emotions of the creature concerned, so it is
more an empathy. He can, in turn, send his own emotions back to the
creature 50% of the time. Detection of magic does not determine the
type of spell. Precognition operates only in a "sixth sense" feeling of
unease when something threatens Conan' s life or freedom. Mind bar
functions only against spell attacks. He can not be attacked psionically,
as the talent is latent. Conan can not expend more than 30 psionic
strength points per day. "
  -- Dragon 036

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Quote from: nijineko
Personally, I think it is a great concept that is deeply embedded in fantasy (indeed, the famous Appendix N contained several works of psi-fantasy), and should be included in every edition of D&D.
Couldn't agree more. I was a late convert to psionics in general, seeing it as clearly outside the bounds of proper fantasy, seeing it as something for science fiction only. Game-mechanics-wise I saw it as completely broken from 2E and early 3.0E experiences. 3.5E converted me and reading about the deep history of its inclusion in so many forms of fantasy. Also, want to point out how instrumental that "psionics is not overpowered" thread from the old WotC forum was to changing my mind.

While I had felt even before that thread that psionics was not as broken as magic is out of the box (infinite wishes anyone with only the PHB and MM1?) that thread helped quantify the why's and how's of it not being as broken as people claimed (mostly because many wouldn't bother to put forth any effort to actually understand the system, finding it easier to simply cry, 'broken!')

Looking through the old dragon mags actually reveals that psionics were used a lot to explain many mainstream literary character's various non-magic abilities. So, I'm always glad of finding these little tidbits.



completely unrelated bonus trivia tidbit: bugs bunny was suggested to be a high level illusionist, 14th or 16th level, iirc! One thing I always was puzzled about with psionics was the decided lack of mental projection illusion abilities.....
« Last Edit: November 25, 2020, 02:39:59 PM by nijineko »