Psionics in the Realms [Archive] - Wizards Community

Psionics in the Realms [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
KurenaiYami
10-09-06, 12:00 AM Hello ^^

I'm starting a new campaign in Faerun, and I am unsure as to what is playable in the realms. My Players are starting to ask what is and is not allowed, and I am not rightfully sure.

Is there psionics in the realms?
BrianCritchley
10-09-06, 12:11 AM yes spionics are in the realms but not a major element of em, they are sort of hidden and less known about... like gnomes :)
KurenaiYami
10-09-06, 01:33 AM Does Psionics exist outside of the Weave, or is it affected by the same things that affect Magic? (i.e. Wild Magic, Dead Magic.) Or is this something left up to DM discretion?
Jiggawha
10-09-06, 02:38 AM No psionics use their own personal ''weave'' so they are not affected by these things or vice versa, though it's still possible to have two dead magic/psionic fields in the same place but probability of that is very rare
Asadeseth
10-09-06, 02:58 AM Best way to handle Psionics is simply make it so what ever effects magic, have it effect psionics. One part where you may not want to have this be the case though are dead magic zones, do to Shadow magic and the like, if the players go up against the cherch of Shar this could be their ace in the hole.

In the realms Human Psionics came out of an anceint human civilisation called Jhaamadath in Vilhon Reach, so most of the practioners of the "invisable art" should probably be of chodothan heratge. The god of Psionics is known as Auppensure, and intemediat and little known god, he is curently in a coma, but has shown signs of sturring sence the time of troubles. My theory is that the OLD mystra who put him in it to "save him" also made sure he couldn't come out of it, but now shes dead and hes wakeing up. Hes neutral in aligment, seems to be serein, spirital, and forgiveing from what we can tell.
KurenaiYami
10-09-06, 03:46 AM In the realms Human Psionics came out of an anceint human civilisation called Jhaamadath in Vilhon Reach, so most of the practioners of the "invisable art" should probably be of chodothan heratge. The god of Psionics is known as Auppensure, and intemediat and little known god, he is curently in a coma, but has shown signs of sturring sence the time of troubles. My theory is that the OLD mystra who put him in it to "save him" also made sure he couldn't come out of it, but now shes dead and hes wakeing up. Hes neutral in aligment, seems to be serein, spirital, and forgiveing from what we can tell.
:blink: Well that's a lot more information than I was expecting, but is awesome to know. Thanks Asadeseth!
BrianCritchley
10-09-06, 05:54 AM Well that's a lot more information than I was expecting

this is forgotten realms.
when you ask a question the answer is NEVER a simple "yes or no"
thats the fun of the setting! :)
Alac Luin
10-09-06, 12:32 PM No psionics use their own personal ''weave'' so they are not affected by these things or vice versa, though it's still possible to have two dead magic/psionic fields in the same place but probability of that is very rare

To expand on this, Dead Magic and Wild magic zones are places that the weave is absent.
Since psionics do not require the weave, psionics work fine.

But in default Realms, psionics are affected by dispel magic and anti magic fields.
KurenaiYami
10-10-06, 03:08 AM Does this sort of "Psionic Weave" have its own name?
Jiggawha
10-10-06, 05:17 AM ''Psionic's energy of consciousness'' ?

''Hidden Weave'' ?
KurenaiYami
10-10-06, 04:41 PM ''Psionic's energy of consciousness'' ?

''Hidden Weave'' ?
The question marks make me wonder: Are these guesses, or actual names for it?
Jiggawha
10-10-06, 04:47 PM These are guesses, the first term is from EPH and second is a speculation, psionics is called Invisible Art in FR. I don't see why there should be a name, it's an individual thing
Alac Luin
10-10-06, 05:23 PM The Weave is something that "powers" a spell.

A psion powers thier powers my force of will and mind.
There isn't an actual weave that they use, so there is nothing to be named.
Tenebrous_Sage
10-10-06, 06:24 PM Hello ^^

I'm starting a new campaign in Faerun, and I am unsure as to what is playable in the realms. My Players are starting to ask what is and is not allowed, and I am not rightfully sure.

Is there psionics in the realms?I see that you own the PGtF. There is a section in it, near the back, about psionics in the realms. It’s a relatively small section but there is (if I remember correctly) one PrC and one example psionics organization, as well as some rules about handling psionics-magic transparency.

Hope this helps.
Zevox
10-13-06, 02:54 PM Does this sort of "Psionic Weave" have its own name?
Calling it a "Psionic Weave" is misleading. Psionics draw thier power from the mind of the individual who uses them. In a sense each Psion in the realms is his or her own personal "mini-weave" or "psionic battery", if you will. There is no Toril-encompassing "psionic weave" in the way there is the Weave and Shadow Weave for magic.

Zevox
HarperRanger
10-13-06, 06:36 PM The most I've heard psionic's used in the Realms is in novel form. Not many of the DM's I've gamed with use psionic's.

There was a drow family that used psionic's, but that family was distroyed. During the Time of Troubles, they were the only one's not affected by the lack of divine power or suffering from wild magic.

Mind flayers use it as well but no DM in there right mind would let me play one (yeah, I've always wanted to make a N Druid/Psionicist/Priest of Flowers Mind Flayer named Skippy, but no one will let me).

Nor have any DM's had my party go against any monster with psionic's.

I'm gonna start bugging my current DM to at least start to look into it. I think it's a great power, almost over powered IMO.

HR
Dielzen
10-14-06, 12:19 AM Unless you're playing in a combat-intensive campaign, psionics are WAY overpowered. A psionicist can "blow" all their Power Points in a small number of rounds. The only way to balance this is to have multiple combats during the same game day, which doesn't happen often in most games that I've played in.
Tenebrous_Sage
10-14-06, 12:49 AM Unless you're playing in a combat-intensive campaign, psionics are WAY overpowered. A psionicist can "blow" all their Power Points in a small number of rounds. The only way to balance this is to have multiple combats during the same game day, which doesn't happen often in most games that I've played in.While their save DCs tend to be higher than a wizard or sorcerer; their damage output is about the same. All in all they are about as effective as arcane spellcasters. They have slightly more endurance than a wizard (but nowhere near that of a sorcerer), and are more versatile than a sorcerer (but nowhere near as versatile as a wizard [except, arguably, the erudite from Complete Psionics]).
Zevox
10-14-06, 01:54 AM Unless you're playing in a combat-intensive campaign, psionics are WAY overpowered. A psionicist can "blow" all their Power Points in a small number of rounds. The only way to balance this is to have multiple combats during the same game day, which doesn't happen often in most games that I've played in.
The game is balanced with the intent of a 3 fight per day system, IIRC (or 3 fights between rests, anyway). Granted that doesn't happen much in my games either, but its the way the game was designed.

In any event, spellcasters would be unbalanced in a single fight per day system too. The amount of damage they inflict in any given round is typically comparable to that of a psion - a wizard casting a lightningbolt at level 7 does 7d6, while a psion of the same level manifesting energy bolt needs to spend an extra two power points (effectively bumping it from a 3rd level power to a 4th level one in terms of cost to them) to do 7d6+7 (with cold or fire energy - just 7d6 with electric, or 7d6-7 with sonic). Hardly a significant difference when the wizard can keep unloading 3rd level spell slots for the lightning bolts while the psion has to spend enough power points to power a 4th level power for the energy bolts.

Zevox
Dielzen
10-14-06, 09:41 AM eh, not gonna derail thread, nm
Red_Wizard
10-14-06, 11:17 AM The most I've heard psionic's used in the Realms is in novel form. Not many of the DM's I've gamed with use psionic's.

There was a drow family that used psionic's, but that family was distroyed. During the Time of Troubles, they were the only one's not affected by the lack of divine power or suffering from wild magic.
HR

The houses name was Oblodra, and after magic returned to the realms at the end of the ToT, psionics failed as everything was working on a different weave length then. Which leads me to believe that atleast in some minor way the psionic abilities, atleast in the realms, are in part tied to the grander picture, if not directly to the weave itself. Which in turn accounts for their suceptableness to things such as dispel, and antimagic feilds.
Cthulhu
10-15-06, 06:18 PM Psionics is pretty well balanced against the standard magic systems from my experience.

But if your not sure yourself one thing to remember is that psionics and psions operate under restrictions that arcane or clerical magic doesn't in the forgotten Realms.

Psionics is SUPPOSED to be rare in Forgotten Realms. And practically unknown to the population at large. That means why wizards and clerics have thier choice of magic schools, wizard's guilds, magic shops, private tutors etc in nearly every city big enough to support them the psion will be struggling to find anything comparable for them. Most likely thier won't be anything for the psion. So that means less access to training, psionic items, new powers, prestige classes and more.

This isn't meant to be unfair to psions. Its just a fact of life in FR that its an arcane world and other powers come up short when compared in quality and quantity of access. Thats the flavor of the campaign. Players of psions should be made aware of this before they play one.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
KurenaiYami 10-09-06, 12:00 AM	Hello ^^ I'm starting a new campaign in Faerun, and I am unsure as to what is playable in the realms. My Players are starting to ask what is and is not allowed, and I am not rightfully sure. Is there psionics in the realms?
BrianCritchley 10-09-06, 12:11 AM	yes spionics are in the realms but not a major element of em, they are sort of hidden and less known about... like gnomes :)
KurenaiYami 10-09-06, 01:33 AM	Does Psionics exist outside of the Weave, or is it affected by the same things that affect Magic? (i.e. Wild Magic, Dead Magic.) Or is this something left up to DM discretion?
Jiggawha 10-09-06, 02:38 AM	No psionics use their own personal ''weave'' so they are not affected by these things or vice versa, though it's still possible to have two dead magic/psionic fields in the same place but probability of that is very rare
Asadeseth 10-09-06, 02:58 AM	Best way to handle Psionics is simply make it so what ever effects magic, have it effect psionics. One part where you may not want to have this be the case though are dead magic zones, do to Shadow magic and the like, if the players go up against the cherch of Shar this could be their ace in the hole. In the realms Human Psionics came out of an anceint human civilisation called Jhaamadath in Vilhon Reach, so most of the practioners of the "invisable art" should probably be of chodothan heratge. The god of Psionics is known as Auppensure, and intemediat and little known god, he is curently in a coma, but has shown signs of sturring sence the time of troubles. My theory is that the OLD mystra who put him in it to "save him" also made sure he couldn't come out of it, but now shes dead and hes wakeing up. Hes neutral in aligment, seems to be serein, spirital, and forgiveing from what we can tell.
KurenaiYami 10-09-06, 03:46 AM	In the realms Human Psionics came out of an anceint human civilisation called Jhaamadath in Vilhon Reach, so most of the practioners of the "invisable art" should probably be of chodothan heratge. The god of Psionics is known as Auppensure, and intemediat and little known god, he is curently in a coma, but has shown signs of sturring sence the time of troubles. My theory is that the OLD mystra who put him in it to "save him" also made sure he couldn't come out of it, but now shes dead and hes wakeing up. Hes neutral in aligment, seems to be serein, spirital, and forgiveing from what we can tell. :blink: Well that's a lot more information than I was expecting, but is awesome to know. Thanks Asadeseth!
BrianCritchley 10-09-06, 05:54 AM	Well that's a lot more information than I was expecting this is forgotten realms. when you ask a question the answer is NEVER a simple "yes or no" thats the fun of the setting! :)
Alac Luin 10-09-06, 12:32 PM	No psionics use their own personal ''weave'' so they are not affected by these things or vice versa, though it's still possible to have two dead magic/psionic fields in the same place but probability of that is very rare To expand on this, Dead Magic and Wild magic zones are places that the weave is absent. Since psionics do not require the weave, psionics work fine. But in default Realms, psionics are affected by dispel magic and anti magic fields.
KurenaiYami 10-10-06, 03:08 AM	Does this sort of "Psionic Weave" have its own name?
Jiggawha 10-10-06, 05:17 AM	''Psionic's energy of consciousness'' ? ''Hidden Weave'' ?
KurenaiYami 10-10-06, 04:41 PM	''Psionic's energy of consciousness'' ? ''Hidden Weave'' ? The question marks make me wonder: Are these guesses, or actual names for it?
Jiggawha 10-10-06, 04:47 PM	These are guesses, the first term is from EPH and second is a speculation, psionics is called Invisible Art in FR. I don't see why there should be a name, it's an individual thing
Alac Luin 10-10-06, 05:23 PM	The Weave is something that "powers" a spell. A psion powers thier powers my force of will and mind. There isn't an actual weave that they use, so there is nothing to be named.
Tenebrous_Sage 10-10-06, 06:24 PM	Hello ^^ I'm starting a new campaign in Faerun, and I am unsure as to what is playable in the realms. My Players are starting to ask what is and is not allowed, and I am not rightfully sure. Is there psionics in the realms?I see that you own the PGtF. There is a section in it, near the back, about psionics in the realms. It’s a relatively small section but there is (if I remember correctly) one PrC and one example psionics organization, as well as some rules about handling psionics-magic transparency. Hope this helps.
Zevox 10-13-06, 02:54 PM	Does this sort of "Psionic Weave" have its own name? Calling it a "Psionic Weave" is misleading. Psionics draw thier power from the mind of the individual who uses them. In a sense each Psion in the realms is his or her own personal "mini-weave" or "psionic battery", if you will. There is no Toril-encompassing "psionic weave" in the way there is the Weave and Shadow Weave for magic. Zevox
HarperRanger 10-13-06, 06:36 PM	The most I've heard psionic's used in the Realms is in novel form. Not many of the DM's I've gamed with use psionic's. There was a drow family that used psionic's, but that family was distroyed. During the Time of Troubles, they were the only one's not affected by the lack of divine power or suffering from wild magic. Mind flayers use it as well but no DM in there right mind would let me play one (yeah, I've always wanted to make a N Druid/Psionicist/Priest of Flowers Mind Flayer named Skippy, but no one will let me). Nor have any DM's had my party go against any monster with psionic's. I'm gonna start bugging my current DM to at least start to look into it. I think it's a great power, almost over powered IMO. HR
Dielzen 10-14-06, 12:19 AM	Unless you're playing in a combat-intensive campaign, psionics are WAY overpowered. A psionicist can "blow" all their Power Points in a small number of rounds. The only way to balance this is to have multiple combats during the same game day, which doesn't happen often in most games that I've played in.
Tenebrous_Sage 10-14-06, 12:49 AM	Unless you're playing in a combat-intensive campaign, psionics are WAY overpowered. A psionicist can "blow" all their Power Points in a small number of rounds. The only way to balance this is to have multiple combats during the same game day, which doesn't happen often in most games that I've played in.While their save DCs tend to be higher than a wizard or sorcerer; their damage output is about the same. All in all they are about as effective as arcane spellcasters. They have slightly more endurance than a wizard (but nowhere near that of a sorcerer), and are more versatile than a sorcerer (but nowhere near as versatile as a wizard [except, arguably, the erudite from Complete Psionics]).
Zevox 10-14-06, 01:54 AM	Unless you're playing in a combat-intensive campaign, psionics are WAY overpowered. A psionicist can "blow" all their Power Points in a small number of rounds. The only way to balance this is to have multiple combats during the same game day, which doesn't happen often in most games that I've played in. The game is balanced with the intent of a 3 fight per day system, IIRC (or 3 fights between rests, anyway). Granted that doesn't happen much in my games either, but its the way the game was designed. In any event, spellcasters would be unbalanced in a single fight per day system too. The amount of damage they inflict in any given round is typically comparable to that of a psion - a wizard casting a lightningbolt at level 7 does 7d6, while a psion of the same level manifesting energy bolt needs to spend an extra two power points (effectively bumping it from a 3rd level power to a 4th level one in terms of cost to them) to do 7d6+7 (with cold or fire energy - just 7d6 with electric, or 7d6-7 with sonic). Hardly a significant difference when the wizard can keep unloading 3rd level spell slots for the lightning bolts while the psion has to spend enough power points to power a 4th level power for the energy bolts. Zevox
Dielzen 10-14-06, 09:41 AM	eh, not gonna derail thread, nm
Red_Wizard 10-14-06, 11:17 AM	The most I've heard psionic's used in the Realms is in novel form. Not many of the DM's I've gamed with use psionic's. There was a drow family that used psionic's, but that family was distroyed. During the Time of Troubles, they were the only one's not affected by the lack of divine power or suffering from wild magic. HR The houses name was Oblodra, and after magic returned to the realms at the end of the ToT, psionics failed as everything was working on a different weave length then. Which leads me to believe that atleast in some minor way the psionic abilities, atleast in the realms, are in part tied to the grander picture, if not directly to the weave itself. Which in turn accounts for their suceptableness to things such as dispel, and antimagic feilds.
Cthulhu 10-15-06, 06:18 PM	Psionics is pretty well balanced against the standard magic systems from my experience. But if your not sure yourself one thing to remember is that psionics and psions operate under restrictions that arcane or clerical magic doesn't in the forgotten Realms. Psionics is SUPPOSED to be rare in Forgotten Realms. And practically unknown to the population at large. That means why wizards and clerics have thier choice of magic schools, wizard's guilds, magic shops, private tutors etc in nearly every city big enough to support them the psion will be struggling to find anything comparable for them. Most likely thier won't be anything for the psion. So that means less access to training, psionic items, new powers, prestige classes and more. This isn't meant to be unfair to psions. Its just a fact of life in FR that its an arcane world and other powers come up short when compared in quality and quantity of access. Thats the flavor of the campaign. Players of psions should be made aware of this before they play one.