Editing Psionics (section)

==Dungeons & Dragons==
Psionics has a long tradition in [[Dungeons & Dragons]]. Two of its most iconic [[aberration]]s, the [[Aboleth]] and the [[Illithid]], are defined by their connection to it (or to magic, depending on edition). However, it's long been the black sheep, to the point that [[Gary Gygax]] himself thought that it was a bad idea to include it. 

Seriously, long-running consensus on /tg/ is that Dungeons & Dragons' psionics is cursed - that these books are not RPG supplements, but grimoires of a sadistic cult, playing with your emotions, and to have any D&D psionics book present in the room will ensure you always roll poorly. Another common opinion is that psions in D&D are overpowered. This stems time and time again from game designers trying to make psychic powers something different than spellcasting, and fucking up the game design doing it. But despite all the bitching, Third Edition psionics is still ten times easier to understand than how wizards worked, and not as powerful as a cleric abusing the shit out of using turn/rebuke undead attempts as fuel.

Psionics were the focus of one of the most significant changes between 3E and 3.5 (with [[D20 Modern]] between the strange middle of the two). In contrast to the previous edition, 3.5e psionics are essentially just a casting system that uses Power Points instead of [[Vancian Casting]], and have a side focus on a “psionic focus” resource that makes you pick between remaining focused to get passive bonuses and expending the focus to get temporary bigger bonuses and/or perform unique actions at the cost of losing the passive bonuses till you spend the actions to regain your focus. Unlike previous attempts, 3.5 Psionics are well received by people who actually read the rules, but are often wrongly accused of being overpowered by people who missed the (admittedly not very prominent) rule that you can't use more PP than your level on a power. If people say they like psionics, odds are they're refering to this version.

Ironically, 4th edition D&D actually had the easiest, simplest, most well-integrated psionics system seen in D&D to date. In 4e, psions are still mechanically different, but not to game-tangling extents: psionic classes don't get Encounter powers. Instead, they get a much larger array of at-will powers and a level-determined amount of "power points". Psionic at-wills feature a mechanic called "Augmentation", where a PC can spend some of its power points to buff up the effect. Psionic powers also place much heavier emphasis on the Psychic and Force damage types, making them much harder to resist for most critters.

Traditionally, D&D psionics was divided into six psionic schools, in a repeat of the magic system:
* '''Clairsentience''' covered psionic powers that related to expanded sensory perception. A Psion specializing in this discipline is known as a '''Seer'''.
* '''Psychokinesis''' covered psionic powers that physically affected the world. A Psion specializing in this discipline is known as a '''Kineticist'''.
* '''Psychometabolism''' covered psionic powers that modified and mutated the body in various ways. A Psion specializing in this discipline is known as a '''Egoist'''.
* '''Psychoportation''' covered psionic powers relating to manipulating space. A Psion specializing in this discipline is known as a '''Nomad'''.
* '''Telepathy''' covered psionic powers relating to direct mental communication. A Psion specializing in this discipline is known as a '''Telepath'''.
* '''Metapsionics''' covered... well, basically a grab-bag of various powers that didn't mesh into any of the others. Later versions changed this to '''Metacreativity''', focused on making and changing stuff with ecotoplasm. A Psion specializing in this discipline is known as a '''Shaper'''.

Dungeons & Dragons initially introduced psionics as just "inherent powers", special abilities you could get if you had really, really lucky rolls. AD&D 2nd edition introduced the first ever psionic class, the ''Psionicist'', which was all about growing in psionic powers. 3rd edition renamed the Psionicist to just the [[Psion]] and introduced further psionic classes, many of whom were just specific flavors of psionicist or "psychic versions" of existing classes, like the [[Soulknife]], [[Erudite]], [[Wilder]] and [[Psychic Warrior]]. 4th edition divided psionics up between three classes - the [[Psion]], [[Ardent]] and [[Battlemind]] - although the [[Monk]] was also considered to use the "Psychic Power Source".

Where magic is affiliated with a great number of magical substances, psionics are affiliated with crystals. The origin for this is uncertain. It's either a holdover from [[Dark Sun]] where crystals associated with the psionic [[Thri-kreen]] are nearly as potent a material as iron, but far less scarce, and/or new age mysticism's use of crystals.