Customer Reviews

Expanded Psionics Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Psionics has regularly been an unbalanced feature of D&D since the first edition 20-odd years ago. Originally, it was simply an overpowered "gimme" that you'd get when rolling up a character. If you got a psionic power set, you were superior to all other players and monsters.

Second edition improved that a bit, turning the psionicist into its own class, so that one was no longer just a standard class with imbalancing psionic powers. However, the levels at which the powers came in were generally far too soon. A teleporter could easily have clairvoyance to see into an unseen room, teleport in, steal stuff, and teleport out to get away cleanly, all at 6th level. I am not kidding. Now, this could not be done often each day, but it was doable. A wizard would have to be 9th level to gain access to spells that would simulate this.

3rd edition cleaned up a lot of this. Now powers came in at levels commensurate with similar wizard spells. Unfortunately, however, this turned the psion into the party's utility box. Need a teleport? Need an invis? Need a stoneskin equivalent? Need instant mental communication with the rest of the party? The psion has plenty of power points to supply all of these needs. And absolutely no worthwhile combat power outside of mind control. 3rd edition also introduced a new class, the Psychic Warrior, which was probably its best contribution, combining nifty fighter abilities with a good power list of psionic buff-ups. The prestige classes in this edition were poorly designed, and no one would trade the poor power-point progessions in these for the next level in psion.

Now what about the book in question, the expanded rules for 3.5? Well, I discuss the prior editions to introduce perspective, because the whole history of psionics rulebooks in D&D has been a sequence of drastic alterations of rules because the prior rules were horribly imbalanced.

Not anymore.

Yes, this ruleset rehashes much of what was in 3.0, but what -has- changed is significant. Psions are no longer toolboxes: invisibility is gone, as is the free "stoneskin". Fly and Teleport require that the psion specialize in psychoportation OR spend a feat to gain the power. The basic powers have a good general rule: each power point does 1 die of damage, and you can spend up to one power point per level. So it doesn't matter what level you get the power at, so much as how many points you spend. This has an interesting implication: to get the equivalent of, say, the wizard's lightning bolt cast at 10th level, the psion spends 10 power points -- that is, effectively spends 2 3rd-level spell equivalents. At 20th level, sure, the psion can do 20d6 damage, no problem, but has just spent 4 3rd-level spells to do so, and any psion casting regularly at maximum power will run out of power points after 10-15 uses.

The result is amazingly balanced. More raw, up-front power than the sorcerer, and more flexibility than the sorcerer, BUT the sorcerer can go for much longer, and can do much more damage in the long run. For example, a psion might be able to do 10 10d6 "lightning bolts" in a row, but the 10th-level sorcerer can do 17 of these, 4 of which can be Empowered to the equivalent of 15d6 damage. Don't be too quick to say that the psion surpasses the sorcerer in this respect -- I'd favor a sorcerer against a psion in a psionic-magic duel anytime. The psion's advantage is a better tactical versatility than the sorcerer (which is saying a lot, since til now, the sorcerer was the most tactically versatile class), at the cost of running out of power -very- quickly should the fit hit the shan.

As for the rest, the prestige classes are much better than before, BUT the metamind needs serious rethinking. Even at 15th level, with all 10 levels of metamind, a psion has more power points (by almost 100), and the metamind has a single minute of infinite power-point spending (i.e., once a day, he can use powers without deducting points for 10 rounds, all sequential). The psychic warrior, well-designed last edition, is even better in this edition, removing things that should be fighter-unique, and adding more capability for psionic fun.

There remain some imbalances, but it is unclear whether they are typos or poor design. For example, Energy Missiles get +1 DC and +1d6 damage for each extra point (so you get 5 20d6 electro-missiles, for example, spending 20 points at 20th level). This should probably be per 2 points, not one point, since the DC becomes horrific in this case. As a general rule of thumb, if the result is too good to be true, it's either a typo or a broken rule, and in either case should be remedied or disallowed.

There's more to it, of course, but my space is limited. Suffice it to say that you need to keep an eye out for the occasional overpowered rule, but otherwise, this is the best designed and balanced official ruleset for D&D psionics to have been published to date.

The author, Bruce Cordell, is in my estimation among the best d20 rules designers in the business. I find that he and Monte Cook write the best source material for 3.0 and 3.5 that is out there, with an eye to optimizing fun without destroying the balance of the game, so keep an eye out for future work by either of these two game designers. This rulebook is no exception.

So, back in 2001, WotC released the Psionics Handbook, which was the D&D Third Edition manual on psionics. It was reasonably good; I, personally enjoyed it. However, with the revision to D&D 3.5, and several years of play, it became apparent that the psionics rules need revision. Thus, we have the Expanded Psionics Handbook (often acronymed XPH).

And I like it.

This expansion/revision changes quite a bit, and adds, too. Gone are the psions who had to have high scores in every attribute. Psychic warriors make more sense now, and the soulknife was expanded to a core (20-level) class, which is rather nifty.

Powers are different, too. Psionic combat is GONE, and good riddance. Instead, the combat modes have been rebuilt as powers and seeded into the power list. The number of powers needed has dwindled, as many powers now scale based on the resources you devote to them. For example, many direct damage powers allow you to spend more power points to increase the damage inflicted. Psionic characters are now the kings of flexibility, and leave sorcerers sitting in the dust.

There are many more prestige classes, too. I rather like the elocator, which floats off the ground and specializes in movement, as well as the Pyrokineticist, which does what you might expect; one of their entry requirements is "Must have set a building on fire just to watch it burn."

There are many more psionic and even regular feats in here. One of the new limiting factors is psionic focus, which is used as a replacement for the minimum PSP balance (which discouraged people from using their resources). Some feats require you to keep this focus to use their benefits, and others require you to expend it. It's a neat feat, and gives the player a lot of power, tempered with the need to use it wisely.

Psionic items are mostly the same, though there are a few updates. Amusingly enough, psionic weapons do breach n/magic DR, though that's easy enough to change if you like. They've revised and expanded the creatures. I like the Unbodied, a race of incorporeal shapeshifting telepathic brains.

I'm getting a lot of use out of this book, and I highly recommend it.

The book is very good. It's a revamp of an earlier book I liked, and for once I feel like I wasn't ripped off spending the money on it. The expanded classes are a good fit (Soulknife and Wilder) as well as the section on psionic races (with old favorites like the Duergar, Githyanki and the return of Half-giants from Dark Sun, as well as new races like the Elan, Xeph and Dromites, who I have to resist calling Dolemites because I'm that kind of person) and the powers seem balanced, although I haven't had the chance to really give them a full-fledged shakedown cruise as yet.

The reason it's not five stars: well, it is a revamp of an earlier book, and that means I did already have some of it. Not a huge crisis... like I said, I'd give it a 4 3/4ths rating if Amazon let me... but that, the fact that Psionic attack and defense modes were left out (I totally understand why, it's just something I personally miss, but these things happen and you have to take all that good with a very little bad) and the fact that the book left me feeling angry at myself for not having the ability to immediately start something like five campaigns using it means it gets a 4. And 3/4ths, at least in my own head.

Having played the D&D/AD&D game from first edition to the current 3.5 has been a challenge to say the least. Especially trying to integrate psionics into any campaign without upsetting the balance. First and 2nd edition the Psionics rules were mostly an afterthought with very little explaining how they fit into the game. Hence, most DM's didn't use psionics as they were just too powerful. With the revision of 3.0 we finally got a "Psionics" rulebook with detailed explanations on how they fit into campaigns. But the rules left some holes and players exploited these oversights. With the release of the "Expanded Psionics Handbook" a psionic character is now as balanced as any of the other character types and is just as valuable in a party as even the stoutest "Fighter" class or as powerful and as fragile as a Wizard/Sorcerer. This book is a "Must Have" for players and DM's alike if you wish to add versatility to a campaign and to character classes. The only class I was dissappointed in playing was the "Soulknife" untill I cross classed the Soulknife with Eberrons Artificer. With that meld the Soulknife is just as fun to play as any specialized melee type with a little "Magic" thrown in to enhance the soulknifes blade. Thumbs-Up to this book!

perhaps i'm biased, as i've always preferred psionics to magic. something about a character that has built-in powers appeals to me over the constant studying required to be a mage. the sorcerer class somewhat cleared this up, but there are balance issues between Wiz and Sor if you ask me (skewed heavily in Wizards favor)
but i digress. i do not understand everyone's question of balance 90% of basic spells are NOT given a psionic counterpart, and those that are are powered down (erm...the psionic miracle power, or spider climb basically being psywar only). being a kineticist is pretty unbalanced though, the powers being scalable promotes rules rapage. but i like the VERY alternate flavor the psionic feats now have, and i absolutely love the soulknife class.
even back when tsr was running the show there was always very little support for psionics. hopefully this will show a change in direction. with a little luck there will be new psionic powers released in future D&D supplements. i was sick of only having the psionics handbook for reference.
if you like psionics, i think you will enjoy the flavor they're given here.

The text, like the other WotC hardcovers, is handsome, with decent-to-good art all the way through; the cover's graphic design has the added virtue of some brain matter being visible through the "holes" in the simulated leather cover--a nice touch.

In terms of content, the text follows the standard format for D&D rulebooks--lists of rules variants, new feats, prestige classes, items, beasties, and so on (2 new gods, to boot).

Much of the preliminary text is devoted to rehearsing the debate of whether psionics is different than magic. The standard rule is that magic and psionics overlap--SR applies to psionics & psionic resistance applies to magic, "dispel psionics" works on magic & "dispel magic" works on psionics, and on down the list of potential intersections between the two systems. The variant rule is actually both more interesting and more labor-intensive, as it treats each as mutually exclusive--"dispel psionics" does explicitrly what it says and doesn't affect magic--and vice versa (i.e., as it should be).

But after the preliminary sections, this debate is lost, and the rest develops the new 3.5E psionics system with much skill and precision--about 1/3 of the entire text is devoted to descriptions of powers alone. A careful reading of the powers will demonstrate that there are indeed a few things that psionics can do that standard magic can't (barring clever usage of "wish," of course). One reviewer suggests that the old 2E attack and defense modes aren't in the text; au contrare, they have indeed made it into the new system; however, they aren't considered separate psionic powers any longer. Instead, they are standard powers, with point costs--one will find, say, "ego whip" alphabetized with the other powers.

On the downside, it is correct to say that much of the psionics flavor from 2E is now gone (isn't this the case with the entire revised game, though?). Old notions like the target power score (which required some die rolling to activate powers, with a chance of botching the roll and producing a humorous and/or deadly backfire) and the maintenance cost for powers that last longer than one round are now gone, sadly.

There are other areas worthy of complaint--some specific powers might be badly done ("animal affinity" is now watered down and kind of silly, e.g.) and some creatures are annoyingly rendered (what in the hells did they do to the half-giant?).

That said, it is still a very useful text, if one has the energy to add it in--really, shouldn't this system simply be a standard part of the core rulebooks? The updated creatures, for instance, are very good--githyanki/-zerai, illithid, and so on now have their proper psionic repertoire rather than silly spell-like abilities. Generally, the text and its rules are well done & for the most part competent, but with nothing that is standout awesome, as is the case with other books.

This book is a must have for DM's. It is probibly the most fair and balanced form of Psionics to have ever hit the DND world. It is both fair to the psychic, and the DM. A psychic is now on par with the capibilties of a arcane caster, with more verisity in what "spells" are cast, but having fewer known "spells". I would recomened this book to anyone who wants to DM, and feels ready to expand their world beyond just the core rules.

This book just plain rocks. We run a psionics oriented campaign and frankly, this book has really helped bring psionics into 3.5. It gives cool monsters and wicked feats. The thing I was very happy about was the wild talent feat, giving non-psionic characters a chance in a psionic campaign. People have always poo-pooed rules sets they don't like, but I think this book rules.

If you don't like the standard D&D arcane magic system, this should give you a good start on a good alternative. That's how I'm using it. I don't think that this is really a finished product, nor is it power-compatible with existing campaigns -- there are several clear mistakes (see the Soul Knife's "Knife to the Soul" ability and the Elocater's minimum base attack bonus compared to the "Spring Attack" feat prerequisite) and the power scale (for the Kineticist, especially) is grossly out of proportion to a conventional artillery sorceror.

Consider: at 8th level, a well-crafted talented overchannelling with Psionic Meditation and such Kineticist using Energy Missile can drop 10d6 or more points of cold, fire, electric or sonic -- psion's choice at manifesting time -- damage each on up to 5 foes in a 15' spread at 200' with a minimum reflex -- or fortitude if using frost -- save of probably at least 24, more if using electricity on armored folks -- but it takes a full round and requires rolling a concentration check of 2... oh bummer. A comparable sorceror would have to spend all of their feats just getting to the point where they could choose the type of energy to use -- with no special benefits -- and they'd still have both lower DC and damage.

With the exception of the base Psion class, most of the new races and new base classes are kind of boring -- the Wilder, for example, which should be a nifty counterpoint to the Psion, only gets 1/3rd the powers known of the Psion's already limited learnings making the poor Wilder a real one-trick pony. The "Psionics is or isn't magic and does or doesn't behave the same way" is gone over to an annoying degree -- and is counterpointed by the Cerebremancer prestige class that combines Arcane casting and Psionics -- feh. Fortunately, the other Prestige classes are generally more interesting (excepting the Flayer Slayer which should've only been 5 levels). Psionic items are nothing too special. I haven't had much call to look at the creatures yet, but they look passable in a high-psionics game.

So if you're a player looking to build a roving psionic death machine, this is a good book (and the Psion Kineticist is a great class). If you're a DM looking to replace some of your casting classes because you've never liked how they worked in the first place, this is a good book. Myself, I'm looking to replace arcane casting with a slightly toned down set of psionics so that roving level 8 kineticist death-machines don't slaughter all of my PCs.

First of all, the only reason why this book got a 4 is for the fact that anyone who's already bought the old 3rd ed. Psionics handbook will be a little peeved to see that much of the material from this book is either adapted or straight up copied from the last version.
However, I will saty that the majority of the material is made up of new and improved stuuf, and that there is no question about the psionic classes becoming truly viable for what i would say to be the first time. Specifically, the number of powers, their comparability to wizr/dru/clr/pal/etc spells of old and class balance issues have been straigteneed out significantly, with the psion actually managing to compete with the walking artillery of old in terms of sheer power and usefulness. Also, the book has MUCH more material overall - it weighs in at 224 pages, quite comparable to, say, the players handbook.
There is very little wasted space, as inside are multiple base classes, any number of prestige classes (lets just say roughly equal to that of the Book Of Vile Darkness, and nearly equal to the Dungeon Master's Guide), as well as a huge psionic power list, dozens of creatures and races, an expanded DM help section, and so on and so forth. Impressive to say the least. Finally, for better or worse, they've gotten rid of psionic combat, which was an unbalanced, confusing but also very interesting aspect of the last Psionics Handbook.
Overall, I'd say that the book is well worth buying,(and the local gaming group agrees), even if just to upgrade, as the material contained within is more than capable of making psionics a much more viable and wothwhile campaign and character building option.
Oh, and as to the earlier posted comment about problems with the wilder class - remember, wilders are quite capable of becoming incredibly powerful, if carefully built. However, they are certainly a challenge to play. But the ability to channel an unlimited number of power points into their various powers makes tham absolute weapons of war, capable of dishing out hundreds of points of damage in a single round, but at a high cost in terms of total powers known. Just read the example given along with the overchannel ability and, say, apply it to a character with lots and lots of spare power points (10+ level) and a particular, say, astral deva, whose various immunities and high spell resistance will do her no good against a super-high DC energy attack. Yowza.