From: smt0@ns1.cc.lehigh.edu (STEFAN M. THIEME)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.dnd
Subject: Re: Dragon Psionics Class
Date: 21 Jan 93 03:02:08 GMT
Organization: Lehigh University

In article <20JAN199312363535@udel.edu>, jdelisle@udel.edu (J. G. Delisle) write
s:
>In article <1993Jan20.163422.10475@ifi.uio.no>, kjetilgr@ifi.uio.no (Kjetil Gra
nlien) writes...
>>
>>I couldn't agree more.. They suck!
>>Here are some of my problems I am having in the campaign I am running..

Despite the fact that this very same arguement raged through here only a
couple months ago, I feel it necessary to throw my own 2 cents in.
>
>       Didn't we already go through this? No? OK, here goes :-)
>
>>first - There are not enough monster out there who could do anything about a
>>        psionist.. It requires more work for the DM.
>
>       More work? As in saying "creature X's mind is too non-humanoid for
>telepathic powers to work", or do you go and make them Nth level psi's?
>
Why should I have to modify every monster now? Before psi, the monsters were
fairly balanced against the party; they were perpared for PC magic, PC swords,
PC gods etc. Now we have psi, and I have to make them psions? Though its not
too much work, it slows down the game if I pick a monster on the fly for a
random encounter.

>>second - Some of the powers are godlike invulnerability... Ectoplastic form
>>         is one example. When using this power you became a foglike figure,
>>         much like a ghost, only not ethereal or anything.. This fog can pass
>>         through anything, and thus anything can pass through it..
>>         You become an whispery outline.. Hard to see. impossible to touch.
>
>       Expensive to use PSP-wise, and requires a full round of preparation.
>Psi takes _any_ damage, they have to wait two rounds before it can be tried
>again (one round for prep, another to engage). Oh, yeah, Otiluke's XXX Spheres
>don't allow anything inside to exit... so the psi would just waste 9 PSP's a
>round if it's cast around him.
>
>>            Another power is disintegration.. Failed saving throw and the drag
on
>>         is dead! With disintegration the psionist is godlike!
>
>       Yeah, godlike... but mid-level psi's can only do disintegrate once or
>twice per day. A mage of the same level can cut loose with 2-3 fireballs,
>snowball swarms, (name your favorite area effect and/or heavy damage spell),
>etc. It only affects one target, uses up a lot of PSP's, and is fairly failure
>prone (after all, any monster over about 10 hit dice has a 50-50 chance of
>surviving, without any other bonuses).
>

Listen to what you said. "mid level psi's can only do disintergrate once or
twice per day." Which means, your mid-level psi (8th level, let's say) can on a
lucky day kill TWO DRAGONS in one day. He won't be mid-level for long, then,
will he? All the dragon has to do is fail one saving throw.
 On the otherhand, look at the wizard. First he needs to have the proper spells
memorized. He needs to have the reagents. (he also needs concentration, but so
does the psion, so I leave it out). He casts a spell against a dragon he firsts
has to get around the MR, and then the saving throw. Plus, a mid level wizard
probably will not be able to kill the dragon with one spell.

>>third - It seems to lack a lot of testing and stuff. . its unbalanced.
>>        At least in comparison to the rest of the AD&D system..

No, I think the system works, but it should have been integrated with ADnD 2nd
ed. from the beginning. Right now, the psi's seem to be little more than supra-
magi.

>
>       Not in comparison to the other XXX handbooks. (I wonder if this means
>that the CPsiH is just the Complete Human's Handbook in disguise?)
>
>>fourth - This does not bother me.. but some power really are ridicolous..
>>         Like 'See Sound' and 'Hear light'.. I don't see the point..
>
>       Depends on your campaign. If you allow crits, have a lot of blindness
>and deafness spells, not much magical healing, then those abilities are useful.
>Otherwise, they're just extra baggage.
>
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>| From the terminal of Joe Delisle  |  Don't open your eyes, take it from me |
>| jdelisle@loyola.edu  (preferred)  |  I have found, you can find, happiness |
>| jdelisle@cs.loyola.edu            |  in slavery.  -- NIN                   |
>|              "I was up above it, but now I'm down in it"                   |
>+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
Bye.
Stefan T.
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