Expanded Psionics Handbook

Overall score:

The original Psionics Handbook (PSH) was one of the first recourse books released for Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) 3.0 back in 2001. Now, three years later, it’s getting the 3.5 treatment. Much like how the old class books are being redone in the Complete series, the Expanded Psionics Handbook (EPSH) is an update version of old releases with some new stuff. For the most part, the changes and updates add much to what was originally a book that felt rushed. Since many of TWG’s readers are old D&D vets (as well as freshmen), I’m going to break this review down into two sections. The first is a review of the book as-is, not taking into account the original PSH, and the second will compare the differences between the two. I’m not going to repeat many points in the different sections, so I would suggest reading both to get the full review.

Part 1: What is it?

The EPSH isn’t a setting book, let’s make that clear. It’s pretty much a straightforward class book except it introduces new concepts to the D&D rules. These all deal with, obviously, how to use Psionics in your campaign. Many things are included in EPSH to help the DM, such as new races, classes, monsters and items. The biggest problem with EPSH is that it suffers from the standard “rules imbalance” that you see with many WoTC D&D books, which is, there’s not someone checking all the new rules, items, and concepts introduced in all their books, so eventually you get a strange imbalance in magic items, spells, feats, etc. It’s not quite the same as Palladium’s infamous “power creep,” where every book makes the previous ones worthless, because you never know where the books are going to land, balance-wise. EPSH, like the original PSH, falls on the line of overpowering compared to the standard D&D rules.

First off, I never quite understand how classes and races are balanced against each other, because you can pick two out that are supposed to be equal but they may not be. EPSH has several of both like that. There are nine races in the book, six of them new, while the other three (Githyanki, Githzerai, Thri-Kreen) have been adjusted in one way or another to work with the new Psionic rules. Contained just in itself, meaning no races or classes from other D&D books including the core books, the races don’t seem that balanced to me. For example the Elan race, with no level adjustment (if you’ve never played D&D 3.0 or greater, it’s basically a modifier that makes you level slower because the race is more powerful then normal), can heal itself by spending power points (discussed below) whenever they take damage. Effectively, you could easily make a character that could ignore lots of damage. This isn’t the only racial ability either, but the others aren’t overpowering. Since for the most part the other races are fairly balanced, I first thought that it was a misprint, yet the errata on Wizard’s site doesn’t list it as one.

The four classes are a mixed bag as well--especially the Psionic Warrior, which is the most powerful class I’ve seen in a D&D supplement book. It’s basically the Fighter class with spells from first level; they even get close to the same number of feats as the standard Fighter class. The big difference is that the Psionic Warrior’s base attack starts at 0 instead of 1 and their hit die was change to a die 8. Now, that change in hit dice may seem like it’s a fair trade, but Psionics aren’t affected by spell failure from armor, and Psionic Warriors get powers that buff their hit points in various ways so you barely notice any difference.

The other classes include the Psion, the Wilder, and the Soul Knife. The Psion is the generic casting class; it’s got a familiar, lots of powers, and few hit points. The interesting thing about them is they have to choose a Discipline, which gives them access to spells they otherwise wouldn’t get, much like a Cleric’s Domain. The Wilder is an interesting class, and probably one of the more challenging classes I’ve seen. They have raw Psionic powers; much like a Sorcerer has raw magic powers, yet they can pump up their caster ability substantially for greater effects--at the risk of gaining negative effects on them. And lastly is the Soul Knife, which used to be a prestige class, a roguish class that can create their own weapons with their minds. The Soul Knife is the only base class that has no casting ability. The prestige classes themselves are a mixed bag, as usual, and really depend on your personal tastes. There is a nice combination of both melee and caster prestige.

So how do Psionics compare to magic in D&D? Well, unless you’re using the Unearthed Arcana magic point system, they’re very different. Frankly, Psionics are better in every way than magic. You don’t have to prepare a spell list or have to worry about how many spells you have for each level. Everything in EPSH is based off Power Points. Each power costs a number of Power Points to cast, and as long as you have enough points, you can cast a power as many times as you want. The only downside to this system is that, unlike magic, if you cast a low level power it always does the minimum damage or effect unless you augment it, i.e. spend more points. For example a level 5 wizard casts magic missile and automatically gets three missiles from the spell; a Psionic would only get one missile unless they spent more points. The Psionic could get only three though, since that’s the max for their level. Disappointingly, there aren’t that many high level Psionic powers. There are many powers for the first half of the spell levels, yet as you get higher in level there are less and less to choose from, to the point where every Psion would have the same high-level spells.

Magic items are also included in the book. They are, for the most part, the Psionic equivalent of wands, scrolls, and staffs. Many new wondrous items are included that players in any setting would find useful, as well as some new artifacts. The monsters in the books are a mix of new and old. You’ll find some Psionic versions of monsters found in the Monster Manuals. The new monsters are designed for use against Psionic characters. Lastly, there’s an appendix that includes deities and new magic spells that affect or work with Psionic powers.

Part 2: What’s new?

The best thing about the EPSH over the original PSH is that the book is more fleshed out and better designed to work with any campaign. With the inclusion of races, deities, domains, and more classes, the book actually feels finished--where before it didn’t. The most noticeable change is the removal of Psionic Combat, which was awkward and poorly thought out. Of course, most people will be upset because that means that the staple Psionic ability, Mind Blast, has been removed as a player spell. There are versions of it included in the book, but they’re noticeably weaker.

Class-wise, the Psion has changed significantly. Psions have more power points, and all their powers are based on Intelligence, instead of every school having its own attribute. I have to admit, I like the original way better, but the new rules are much simpler and easier to keep track of. The Psionic Warrior class hasn’t changed much, but they do have more power points then before.

Some powers have changed, about the same number of changes as from 3.0 to 3.5. Also there wasn’t much change in the weapon section or Monsters. Ferroplasm, a special weapon material, has been replaced with several crystal types; also, a staff-like item has been added in the form of crystal crowns.

Feats have been significantly changed. Now to use most feats, you have to have the ability to have one power point, instead of actually having unused ones, and a Psionic focus. A Psionic focus is basically a stored focus of energy you get by spending a full round concentrating and making a successful concentration check, and you have it until you use it. Some feats just require you to have a focus but not use it, others, like all metaPsionic feats, require you to release the focus. Once released or spent, you have to spend another round and make the check again to get it back.

If you don’t mind spending the $35 and you liked the original PSH, I would recommend getting the new one, especially if you use it a lot. If not, just get the conversion rules from Wizards’ website. If you’ve never used the original PSH and were thinking about using Psionics in your next campaign, EPSH is a good buy, but you may find yourself changing some of the rules to get things balanced out.

Discuss this review or The Expanded Psionics Handbook in our forums.

Written by Spriggan on November 10th, 2004