Thursday, April 18, 2019

The problems with psionics

Dungeons & Dragons has traditionally divided magic into three types: arcane magic, divine magic, and psionics. The third has always been something of a red-headed stepchild.

Conceptual overlap with magic

There has never been a very strong distinction between magic and psionics. Magic essentially does all the things that psionics does anyway. The psionics systems over the years were typically pretty bad, particularly the psionic combat modes. In the d20 system, the first version of the psionics rules were pretty terrible until they were dramatically revised in the 3.5 update; the authors would later go on to work under Dreamscarred Press.

Malhavoc Press and Dreamscarred Press managed to produce some pretty interesting rules for d20 system, as seen in Hyperconscious: Explorations in Psionics and Ultimate Psionics, which had the benefit of being vastly better balanced than the magic system through the augmentation mechanic. Enough so that some enterprising fans converted the Vancian magic subsystem to a psionics-style subsystem.

Pathfinder elected not to introduce a distinct psionics subsystems, but instead introduced an explicit third division of magic called "psychic magic" in their Occult Adventures supplement. Third party supplements such as Ultimate Occult by Rogue Genius Games or Psionics Augmented: Occult by Dreamscarred Press would go on to either convert psionics to psychic magic or provide rules to use the two subsystems side-by-side, respectively. The Spheres of Power supplements seemingly placed psionics and psychic magic under the same magical tradition.

Some were unsatisfied by the similarities between psionics and magic and elected to devise their own subsystems relying on the skills and feats subsystems. The Psychic's Handbook by Green Ronin is one example of this. That effort is easily eclipsed by Daemoneye Publishing, whose alternate psionics system went through multiple revisions (3.0, 3.5, π, etc) and formed the basis of their Lands of Molokai campaign setting.

In supplements where psionics used different rules to magic, there was an option for interaction between psionic and magical effects. Under the default rule, "Psionics–Magic Transparency," they interact with one another the same way they interact with themselves. Under the variant rule, "Psionics are Different," they do not. Psionics Unbound by Paradigm Concepts, Inc. used both: the Psionics–Magic Transparency rule applied most of the time, but the Psionics are Different rule applied to "preternatural" psionics. Psionics Augmented: Occult included additional guidelines for using hybrid psionic/psychic classes under the Psionics are Different rule. Different campaign settings used different options: the Scarred Lands campaign setting used the Psionics are Different rule as its default, whereas the Arcanis campaign setting used magic, psionics and preternatural effects.

Conceptual overlap with eastern mysticism

Under the d20 system, Eastern-flavored classes like the monk, ninja and samurai utilized a resource known as "ki." The 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons merged this ki into the psionics power sources. Some third party products attempted to port the concept to Pathfinder, such as Psionics Transcended: The Power of Ki by OutsideNormal or Meditations of the Imperial Mystics and The Way of Ki by Legendary Games.

This makes sense, as the psionics rules seemingly drew inspiration from at least three different archetypes: ascetic swamis, warrior monks, and "wild talents" a la Charles Fort. It makes sense for these to use the same rules because they all operate on the logic of expanding human potential (in addition to the more bizarre applications added in the game), but are still distinct enough that they would qualify as different classes—the conflation of jedi notwithstanding.

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