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Playtesters at Work Psionic Combat: While we find the concept of psychic combat exciting, in practice we find it boring, especially at low levels. In truth, it can become nothing but an exercise in dice rolling.Playtest
effect: When a psion engages in psionic combat, she rolls to
set the DC for the Will save the target must make (The DC is d20
+ Ability Mod + one more modifier based on attack/defense mode choice).
Based on Kevin’s feedback “too much dice rolling”
feedback, we added a variant that simply sets the DC at 10 + Ability
Mod + attack/defense mode choice. That variant mimics traditional
spell DCs more closely and cuts down on dice rolling. Scalable powers: Some of the low-level powers continue to get more dangerous as the psion gains levels. Take my favorite offender, Concussion. Its average damage per 2 levels (1d6, no save, for an average of 3.5 pts of damage) is comparable to magic missile's (1d4+1, no save, for an average of 3.5 pts). If push came to shove and a 10th-level sorcerer turned every slot into a magic missile, she would cast 16 spells (6+4+3+2+1), each doing an average of 18 points of damage. A psion who turned all of his energy into Concussion could manifest that power 55 (!) times, doing an average of 18 points of damage each time. So, with an equivalent 1st-level power/spell, the difference is 288 points of damage from the sorcerer, and 990 points of damage from the psion. Playtest
effect: Because psions have power points, not slots, they can
manifest an amazing number of low-level powers if they wish. Based
on the Concussion example and others, we drastically reduced
the number of scalable powers (powers that give increased effect
if the psion is high level). The 1st-level Lesser Concussion,
for example, now simply does 1d6 points of damage, not 1d6 per 2
levels. (There are high-level Concussion powers that do more
damage, of course, but they cost more power points.) 0-Level Powers: In general, we liked the possibility of activating 0-level powers without spending power points. We found this irritating in combat, though – along with setting the DC, it required too many dice rolls. Playtest effect: An early draft of the psionics rules let players make an ability check to try to activate a 0-level power for free. Based on feedback, we eliminated that mechanic and simply gave psionic characters a set number of free 0-level activations per day |
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