Psions to strong? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Psions to strong? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Airimel
12-03-04, 11:24 PM From my experience as a player i found that or psion seems really unbalanced...am i the only one that thinks so?
TheWalkingLost
12-04-04, 11:17 PM I don't find that unbalanced. They run short of power really fast. Yes, Single Encounter Psion very scary... Long run adventure with little rest inbetween... your local Sorc will be still kicking when your Psion is dry.

Just what I've noticed
SearcherOmega
12-04-04, 11:59 PM I fail to see what this has to do with Character Development, but as long as I'm here...

I have to agree with the poster above. Psions can be circumstantially strong -- in a single encounter, they're much more devastating than any other caster class. However, begin grinding the limits of their endurance, and they simply won't last as long as a wizard or especially a sorcerer. A smart psion will ration their power points (therefor being 'less powerful' in a battle) when they expect to have to put up with repeated assaults in a day.

Also, one large factor is that while Magical spells freely scale, Psionics must always be augmented to scale -- which costs more. It's the equivillant of needing to prepare Magic Missile as a 2nd level spell to get 2 missiles, 3rd level to get 3 missiles, etc.

Imagine how *****y mages would be if that were the case. :P
Dauntless
12-08-04, 12:54 AM The problem isn't the psion, but the class everyone would compare the psion to.

Sorcerers as written are terrible. Most spells are designed with wizards in mind, thus are rarely very versatile. The few spells that were versatile like telekinesis and the like, were taken apart into component spells in 3.5.

Personally I think the warmage is a good example of how sorcerers "should" be. A fixed list of spells based on the type of sorcery, plus a few special abilities. Even the much maligned favored soul is better than a sorcerer. Compared to a cleric, the FS gains a good save, as well as a number of minor abilities which make up for the loss of turning and domains.

The sorcerer gets nothing compared to a wizard.
nihility
12-08-04, 11:04 AM As SearcherOmega pointed out, this is the wrong forum for such question. The problem has been analyzed heavily on the Psionics boards; here's possibly the best thread on the issue:

http://boards.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=331253

The short answer is no, they are not overpowered. In fact, the Expanded Psionics Handbook is considered by many regulars on the Character Optimization boards as the most balanced book in 3.5, even more so than the PHB and core books. There are a lot of strong things in the XPH, but almost nothing unbalancing.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Airimel 12-03-04, 11:24 PM	From my experience as a player i found that or psion seems really unbalanced...am i the only one that thinks so?
TheWalkingLost 12-04-04, 11:17 PM	I don't find that unbalanced. They run short of power really fast. Yes, Single Encounter Psion very scary... Long run adventure with little rest inbetween... your local Sorc will be still kicking when your Psion is dry. Just what I've noticed
SearcherOmega 12-04-04, 11:59 PM	I fail to see what this has to do with Character Development, but as long as I'm here... I have to agree with the poster above. Psions can be circumstantially strong -- in a single encounter, they're much more devastating than any other caster class. However, begin grinding the limits of their endurance, and they simply won't last as long as a wizard or especially a sorcerer. A smart psion will ration their power points (therefor being 'less powerful' in a battle) when they expect to have to put up with repeated assaults in a day. Also, one large factor is that while Magical spells freely scale, Psionics must always be augmented to scale -- which costs more. It's the equivillant of needing to prepare Magic Missile as a 2nd level spell to get 2 missiles, 3rd level to get 3 missiles, etc. Imagine how *****y mages would be if that were the case. :P
Dauntless 12-08-04, 12:54 AM	The problem isn't the psion, but the class everyone would compare the psion to. Sorcerers as written are terrible. Most spells are designed with wizards in mind, thus are rarely very versatile. The few spells that were versatile like telekinesis and the like, were taken apart into component spells in 3.5. Personally I think the warmage is a good example of how sorcerers "should" be. A fixed list of spells based on the type of sorcery, plus a few special abilities. Even the much maligned favored soul is better than a sorcerer. Compared to a cleric, the FS gains a good save, as well as a number of minor abilities which make up for the loss of turning and domains. The sorcerer gets nothing compared to a wizard.
nihility 12-08-04, 11:04 AM	As SearcherOmega pointed out, this is the wrong forum for such question. The problem has been analyzed heavily on the Psionics boards; here's possibly the best thread on the issue: http://boards.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=331253 The short answer is no, they are not overpowered. In fact, the Expanded Psionics Handbook is considered by many regulars on the Character Optimization boards as the most balanced book in 3.5, even more so than the PHB and core books. There are a lot of strong things in the XPH, but almost nothing unbalancing.