I don’t really see the need to make psionics its own thing when you already have the eight schools of magic and plenty of overlap.
I don’t mind psionics as flavor, broadly speaking. Giant floating brains that get Detect Thought and Telekinesis at will and squid monster mad scientists with high level divination/enchantment spell lists that feast on your grey matter are as legit fantasy tropes as goblins or vampires or oozes.
Early on, it was also a way for That Guys in D&D groups to get really mad and demand rerolls until they got the “wild talent” unlock confirmed for their templates, or else they deliberately get killed off to try again.
Things get a lot better when That Guys are banished, but a lot of nascent DMs have a “include everyone interested in playing no matter what” policy that actually drives non That Guys away over time.
I mean, a lot of the time its just how the DM runs the game. They make it a meat grinder and the players go in expecting a meat grinder, so you get a full table of That Guys because… otherwise your character gets turned to paste inside the first ten minutes of the game.
I remember the RPGA in college and it absolutely minted “That Guy” players because so many of the DMs were just in it to collect scalps.
I contend that That Guys either exist without the need for such DMs or such DMs had already minted them at a cultural/playerbase level and spread from there.
It could go either way. Some of the earliest DMs were douchebags like Gary Gygax who did see the game as some slaughterfest designed to kill player characters for his own amusement, and encouraged cruelty and metagaming to overcome his whims, such as (CW: slavery, murder)
spoiler
the party enslaving “born evil” goblinoid tribes and forcing them to run the Tomb of Horrors gauntlet to die in every possible way to clear a path to the end.
The most iconic “monsters” in dnd are gonna be Dragons, which aren’t really dnd exclusive in any way, mind flayers, and beholders. There’s no way we weren’t getting at least one of those last two to play a big part. They’re just too great of designs not to be used.
i think “psionics” in a magic fantasy setting doesn’t fit
I don’t really see the need to make psionics its own thing when you already have the eight schools of magic and plenty of overlap.
I don’t mind psionics as flavor, broadly speaking. Giant floating brains that get Detect Thought and Telekinesis at will and squid monster mad scientists with high level divination/enchantment spell lists that feast on your grey matter are as legit fantasy tropes as goblins or vampires or oozes.
In earlier editions of D&D, psionics mostly ignored magical effects and didn’t interact with them and even bypassed magical resistances.
I’m glad that is no longer the case, but it used to be some bullshit power fantasy nonsense.
2e was silly for a lot of reasons.
I believe by 3e, it was generally just “Magic with Power Points” and a few incredibly janky spells/effects that made Psionics annoyingly overpowered.
Early on, it was also a way for That Guys in D&D groups to get really mad and demand rerolls until they got the “wild talent” unlock confirmed for their templates, or else they deliberately get killed off to try again.
Love when D&D isn’t about telling a cool story but about beating the DM to death with a bag full of dice.
Things get a lot better when That Guys are banished, but a lot of nascent DMs have a “include everyone interested in playing no matter what” policy that actually drives non That Guys away over time.
I mean, a lot of the time its just how the DM runs the game. They make it a meat grinder and the players go in expecting a meat grinder, so you get a full table of That Guys because… otherwise your character gets turned to paste inside the first ten minutes of the game.
I remember the RPGA in college and it absolutely minted “That Guy” players because so many of the DMs were just in it to collect scalps.
I contend that That Guys either exist without the need for such DMs or such DMs had already minted them at a cultural/playerbase level and spread from there.
It could go either way. Some of the earliest DMs were douchebags like Gary Gygax who did see the game as some slaughterfest designed to kill player characters for his own amusement, and encouraged cruelty and metagaming to overcome his whims, such as (CW: slavery, murder)
spoiler
the party enslaving “born evil” goblinoid tribes and forcing them to run the Tomb of Horrors gauntlet to die in every possible way to clear a path to the end.
Don’t worry, there’s nothing psionic about these mind flayers.
I don’t like psionics much either but they’ve been in D&D for about four decades now so they’re seen as traditional.
The most iconic “monsters” in dnd are gonna be Dragons, which aren’t really dnd exclusive in any way, mind flayers, and beholders. There’s no way we weren’t getting at least one of those last two to play a big part. They’re just too great of designs not to be used.