How are psions lame?
 

Explain this to me...

I don't see how. A psion will never deal more than 8d6 damage. Ever. Unless he utilizes his powers effectively. Few do. And not only that, but the rules are so restrictive that it almost mkes playing a psion a complete waste of time. Wizards laugh at his damage-doing capability, at his control spells, even at his skill set. And rightly so. A wizard in 3rd edition is far, far more powerful than any psion could hope to be. They are literally an addendum, an anachronism, a post-production, unwanted addition to a thoroughly worthless system that neither asks for nor needs psionics.

So why do we play them?

We play psions in memory of the twelve per three billion psions of editions yore. We play psions because they can do what wizards can only dream of. We play psions because they are fun as hell, even if they suck.

We play psions because we have transcended the mortal classes, and have gained the skills to play with the big boys.

We play psions because we can.

Anyone can play a wizard. But it takes skill to play a psion.

How do they suck? They suck in the way that Reagan's term in office sucked: Those who say that it sucked wished that they could do as well, but know that they could never, ever, even in their wildest dreams or most horrifying nightmares, do nearly as well.

Shove that in your ear, psion-bashers!

Wow... fierce defender of psions detected...

Well, psions aren't as helpless as you think. Their strengths seem to lie in their unconventional powers and their ability to initiate direct mind-to-mind combat (admittedly it is rather restricted, best reserved for psion-to-psion combat) They get more skill points and a slightly better skill and weapon selection than wizards, plus they are even more free-form than sorcerers. Incidentally, they get access to better versions of mage stuff at one level lower (e.g. They have Time Stop for 2 rounds at level 8)

Not that helpless, but a well-prepared wizard could still trump a psion.

I have a fetish for Mindflayers. Mmm

ever faced a lvl 40 monk/psion?


Think Goku.. then cower in fear...

this must be psions from DnD or some other sort of game that im not familier with. the only psions i know of are those from Aeon Trinity or System Shock 2, and they unleash crazy psychokinetic punishment.

D&D psions will kick your ass... they are way too powerful for most normal sessions, and, if combined with the monk class, can literally do what DBZ/GT characters do. Power-up with the aura, fly, kamehameha type attacks, etc. Waaaay powerful. Psions are just awesome in D&D

Is that 3rd or 2nd Ed?

Yeah, some of those psychic feats look more like monk feats than anything else. It's like tossing reality out the window.

Of course, soe of that stuff monks could conceivably do already with the right skills...but it helps to have a Feat on your side.

Psions got shafted in 3rd. That's obvious. Skills don't mean jack squat, and psions are only more flexible than sorcerers in that they aren't restricted by level.

But that's not the point. I could beat the crap out of a lvl 40 psion/monk with a lvl 30 wizard in five rounds at the most. By level 30, any wizard worth his salt should have auto silent/still/quicken for lvl 9 spells and at least one extra quickened spell per round. It's simple: Time Stop for 5 rounds, cast two or more delayed blast fireballs each round, timed to go off once the Time Stop ends, then teleport a good distance away.

As to psionic combat, have you ever used it? I sure haven't, and I've been using psionics for about a year and a half. Mostly because my DMs have been too pansyish to throw psionic monsters at us.

You have to face something: Wizards have a more flexible spell pool than psions do. They can do everything, and can do it without sucking at it. Let me use an example: In my current campaign, I'm using a psion, and there are two wizards in the party. My best direct-damage spell is Concussion, which does 3d6 damage. My wizardly homies have fireball and lightning bolt, each of which deal 1d6 per level (up to 10d6). Even a half-blind one-armed monkey with a brain tumor can tell that they are better off than I am. Admittedly, there are psionic powers that are useful in different ways (like RM's psion twink), but in general, a naked psion alone in a dark room is far more helpless than a sorcerer (not a wizard, because he couldn't memorize spells).

I'll come back and rant some more later.

Hah! Btco of a lvl 40 monk/psion with a level 30 wizard? Yeah right. One word: saves. Monk saves are ungodly high and, when combined with the right items, are next to fool proof. Not to mention as a mage you will probably be going 2nd in the combat sequence and *bam* concentration check higher than a fugging kite. 15+damage taken+spell level <-- very high when monks can attack ~8 times with d20 dmg/hit. A mage would get destroyed by a a psion/monk. And your comparing low level people. Not to mention your also having the wrong psion class. There are multiple psion classes, each with its good points and bad points. Ill edit this later with what classes are avail to psions, but sorcs wouldnt hold ground against a psion/monk.