Josh Kablack wrote:
2: There is no reason Psi should ever be treated as a different force from magic.
None.
While you can find works of fantasy in which Psionics definitely plays a distinct role, to my knowledge, there is not a single novel ever written (again excluding
hack-written game-derived works) in which both Magic and Psionics appear as clearly distinct forces. The only reason for Psi to be different than magic is ignorance of the
source material and Gygax's desire to hose his players.
So here's a brief history of psionics. Feel free to correct me on any points I have gotten wrong. I haven't actually played a game of D&D 1st Edition nor have I followed its
evolution before 3rd, so this might not be totally accurate.
AND NOW, THE SORDID HISTORY OF PSIONICS.
So way back when, when 1st Edition D&D came out and psionics wasn't published yet, psionics was the same thing as magic.
You can see this reflected in the wizard's spell list. Wizards (sorry, mages) got staples associated with psionics such as ESP, Dominate, Telekinesis, etc. There wasn't a
particular theme associated with psionics (such as psionics=futuristic magic=traditional) because the split DIDN'T EXIST.
Gary Gygax, under the influence of some futuristic sci-fi cinema decided that the supernatural powers that the characters wielded could be forged into a unique power
system for this game.
Because Gary Gygax was a dumbass who liked to hose his players, he decided to split up the spell list for effects that traditionally went to magic-users such as
telekinesis and astral projection and whatever and used his made-up source (i.e. which felt more 'futuristic') to decide which effects went into which column. Then to sex
it up he made a bunch of new powers (like mind blast) and slapped a coat of RPG paint on it in the form of removing the spell slot mechanic and replacing it with power
points. Which is pretty much the worst idea ever.
If you think that this idea is farfetched, remember that way back when 'illusionist' used to be a class completely split from mage. They had pretty much the same mechanics
but specialized in illusion magic. Later editions combined these two spell lists because the idea was dumb and arbitrary. Of course, later we got the sorceror class. Sigh.
Of course, his psionics tradition, being pulled out of his ass, needed a reason to justify itself. Unfortunately, instead of falling by the wayside of history like his 'illusionist'
class, a group of very dedicated people thought the idea was cool and decided to make up a lot of stuff about it to flesh it out and give it a reason to exist.
This is why psionics in D&D doesn't resemble ANYTHING like 'psionics' in other sources. Psionics in D&D is about having your brain travel to the 5th dimension (astral
space), ectoplasm, creatures who suck out your brains to make themselves more powerful, and mind crystals. Maybe I just don't remember right, but I don't remember
Professor X tapping into a mind crystal to blast enemies with brain waves.
Of course, you can see examples of psionics being ridiculed for the hokery it is among people who remember its origins. In Shadowrun, the 'psionic' tradition is explicitly
made fun of in the sourcebooks for being an incomplete and arbitrary understanding of what magic really is. Which is basically what Gary Gygax did.
Unfortunately for us, the circle of fanboyishness is as incestuous as a European monarch and Gygax's Wrongthink has unfortunately anchored itself into our nerd psyche.
Shit, man, we have MARVEL COMICS attempting to establish a difference from magic and psionics even though in pre-D&D source material there's no such thing.
Fuck you, Gary Gygax. Your prank went way too far and now we're paying the price by still having to deal with your crummy psionics system in D&D to THIS DAY and
being unable to fix it because even people who have never played D&D before 'know' there's a difference between someone using their mind to zap someone and using
magic to zap someone even though the game system makes no goddamn difference.
Oh, and psionics in 3rd Edition is broken and pretty much unsalvagable. Here's why.
http://bb.bbboy.net/thegamingden-viewth ... ][br]Again, this is directly due to Gary Gygax's influence. Fuck you, man.