3.5 Psionics

[moritheil]

It occurs to me that 3.5 psionics really has a lot more to do with 3.5 magic than with any prior version of psionics.

Anyhow, while I've done some tinkering around with psionics in the form of replicating the "unkillable" (just harder to kill than normal) builds that one makes with mages, I haven't played or DMed any psionics-focused campaigns. If any of you have, please share your expertise.

For low-level psions, I recommend the following powers. I have ONLY played as egoist (buff-type) and kineticist (stereotypical blaster psion, very much like a blaster mage sorc). I welcome input from people who have played other types of psions.

1st-level
Egoist: Get Dissipating Touch as your damage-dealer, since your buffs enable you to suffer melee abuse.

All Others: Get Vigor, because it is the most efficient 1st-level power once you get Extend Power.

If you have a high manifesting stat and thus a high save DC, mind thrust is quite nice. Otherwise, entangling ectoplasm remains useful into the high levels since it does not have environmental requirements (entangle and web do.)

[Cirath]

I played a campaign into the mid-teens as a kineticist. For any one fight he was like a tiny god after about third level, but considering the amount of times I used the augment feature, I tended to burn through power points at an alarming rate when it actually came to battle.

Of course, I spent most of my time making creative use of the three telekinesis powers, so I didn't fully explore the potential of a psion. However, The campaign began during 3.0, and continued through the release of 3.5 and the Expanded Psionics Handbook. I must say, if nothing else, that I was extatic to see mental combat disolved all together. It was one of the most complicated systems that first edition ever produced, and lasted far longer than necisary.

All in all, the 3.5 psion seems to take the flexibility of a sorcerer to a new extreme, since you are only limited by how many points remain to you, and don't have to worry about the level of each power. You could blow your entire wad on energy waves if you so chose. However, they didn't seem to have much in the way of number of powers known. Of course, this is a perfectly reasonable trade off, but requires you to speciallize far more than a mage might have to.