I'm playing the Dark Sun setting, but not using D&D system, but the Risus system, which is very rules light and more for pure narrating.
It seems that any single magical power, you can nearly have a psionic power that does the same or similar effect. If so, then what's the real difference? Just in the source of the power? With magic there's also more mumbo jumbo incantation and such.
I guess traditionally psionics should be only the realm of the mind, but so many psionic abilities seem to overlap with magical ones. I wonder what kind of division can be made. Or why would somebody make a wizard if psions can do almost all the same stuff.
Sonja
Mages don't get anything in the way of healing / restoring at all.
Or why would somebody make a wizard if psions can do almost all the same stuff.
Sonja
Even if the mechanics are not entirely the same (contrary to what happened in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons version of the game), you still have to remember that this is Athas.
Magic users are hated. And psionics can do their effects without harm to the environment..
That's the most important thing to remember in my opinion
I'm a bit confused where to draw the line between magic and psionics.
The line is much less clearly defined then it once was. In 2nd Edition there was much less overlap and the systems were far less similar.
I'm playing the Dark Sun setting, but not using D&D system, but the Risus system, which is very rules light and more for pure narrating.
It seems that any single magical power, you can nearly have a psionic power that does the same or similar effect. If so, then what's the real difference? Just in the source of the power? With magic there's also more mumbo jumbo incantation and such.
There are some general qualitative differences that psionics has traditionally had from magic, though some of them have been diminished to an extent or even discarded. This list is based on how psionics used to be.
1. Psionics is a direct manipulation of the forces of reality. It has a certain limited logic to it that magic usually doesn't have, playing off of physics and pseudoscience. For instance where a spell might conjure up fire to burn someone out of thin air, a psionic power is likely to excite the molecules of an object causing it to start on fire.
2. Psionic powers can function in a more fluid variety of ways then magic ones. Magic is set in it's form and a spell general only works in one very specific way even if it would seem like you could set it to a different purpose with only a slightly different application. This isn't always the case, some spells like Telekinesis and Disguise Self are of a similar flexibility to psionic powers, but many spells though they may be quite potent only have one very specific seemingly arbitrary form or effect for instance Evard's Black Tentacles, Leomund's Secure Shelter, or Shrink Item.
3. Psionic Powers don't create things out of nothing or summon things from indeterminate locations. Things are either transmuted from one form to another, or created out of force, light, shadow, etc. that already exists in some form. If something is summoned you had better know where it is coming from, you can't just summon a type of thing, but actually have to know what you are summoning specifically and where it is. For instance you might have a power that allows you to teleport objects, unless you wanted to teleport a random object to you (which might/or might not be possible) you would either have to be directly percieving the object in some form (most likely seeing or touching it), or be familiar with it and it's location, such as your sword that you left in your tent or rug on your living room floor.
4. You learn how to use psionics in an intuitive progression of effects. Spellcasters just learn spells at random it seems, they can learn how to cast Feather Fall and Magic Missile as 1st level spells, and then suddenly learn completely unrelated abilities of a much more powerful nature. In 2nd edition you needed to learn how to use the basic powers that would help you build up to more powerful effects. If you were going to learn how to probe someones thoughts to uncover hidden thoughts and memories you would have to learn how to read their surface thoughts first. With magic you can just suddenly learn how to probe someones thoughts without knowing any other related spells first.
5. Psions do not manipulate positive or negative energy. If they heal they do so through the manipulation of the body repairing the damage by controling hormones, cellular growth, the flow of blood, etc.
I guess traditionally psionics should be only the realm of the mind, but so many psionic abilities seem to overlap with magical ones. I wonder what kind of division can be made. Or why would somebody make a wizard if psions can do almost all the same stuff.
Sonja
One reason for choosing wizardry over psionics is that you can learn a lot more spells then psionic powers, you just have to spend the time studying them and commiting them to memory every time you want to cast them. You can learn a wider range of powerful spells then you can of psionic powers.
I hope that helps.
If one includes the powers from Complete Psionic, then Psionics users can now manipulate positive and negative energy.
If one includes the Erudite class, then you have a Psionic class that can learn any number of powers, and is not limited to any one path.
If one includes the Expanded Erudite (the most recent version of the class), then one can now convert arcane spells you have access to (whether scrolls, spellbooks, etc) into psionic powers and permanently add these new powers to your repertoire, without ever taking a single level of a spellcasting class, you have all the range of effects a wizard has, and more!
But, in the end, it's all a matter of what you choose to include in your campaign. If one uses the Athas.org version of DS and does not include any of the sources I mentioned above, then every statement Sage made is correct.
