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Dungeons & Dragons Edition 3.5
Expanded Psionics Handbook
Tap into the power of the mind.
Through sheer force of will, a psionic character can unleash awesome powers that rival any physical force or magical energy. Within these pages, you will discover the secrets of unlocking the magic of the mind -- the art of psionics.
With updated and increased content, including a newly balanced psionics power system, the Expanded Psionics Handbook easily integrates psionic characters, powers, and monsters into any Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
To use this supplement, a Dungeon Master also needs the Player’s Handbook , Dungeon Master's Guide , and Monster Manual . A player needs only the Player's Handbook .
Through sheer force of will, a psionic character can unleash awesome powers that rival any physical force or magical energy. Within these pages, you will discover the secrets of unlocking the magic of the mind -- the art of psionics.
With updated and increased content, including a newly balanced psionics power system, the Expanded Psionics Handbook easily integrates psionic characters, powers, and monsters into any Dungeons & Dragons campaign.
To use this supplement, a Dungeon Master also needs the Player’s Handbook , Dungeon Master's Guide , and Monster Manual . A player needs only the Player's Handbook .
224 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2004
3 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Wizards of the Coast
429 books429 followersWizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC /ˈwɒtˌsiː/ or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games. Originally a basement-run role-playing game publisher, the company popularized the collectible card game genre with Magic: The Gathering in the mid-1990s, acquired the popular Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game by purchasing the failing company TSR, and experienced tremendous success by publishing the licensed Pokémon Trading Card Game. The company's corporate headquarters are located in Renton, Washington in the United States.[1]
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
Wizards of the Coast publishes role-playing games, board games, and collectible card games. They have received numerous awards, including several Origins Awards. The company has been a subsidiary of Hasbro since 1999. All Wizards of the Coast stores were closed in 2004.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 3, 2020
I've never had much interest in psionics ever since I first came across them in a Dark Sun campaign. In that world, it had context, and made sense. In most other D&D settings, outside of a few races, they fit in less. It always just felt like an alternate magic system. And it had several revisions, so I thought I take a look.
Chapter 1 starts off with psychic races - dromite, duergar, elan, githyanki, githzerai, thri-kreen, half-giant, maenad, and xeph. I see a few of the Dark Sun races made it here and that was kinda nice. These other races seem on par with the core races, but they obviously have an advantage when it comes to psionics.
Chapter 2 brings with it the classes: psions, psychic warriors, soulknives, and wilders. As mentioned, they just felt like variants. Psions are sorcerers with power points instead of spell slots. There's a psionics-flavoured familiar (at cost of a feat). Psychic warriors are the spellblade-equivalent, although mind powers probably fit better than spellcasting. Soulknives being a core class instead of a prestige class is just downright weird. Instead of being a specialisation of mind powers, now it's just using one single weapon the entirety of their careers. I feel that the specialisation is too specific for it to function as a core class. Wilders feel like a more restrictive wild mage, their powers are fewer and less flavourful than wild mages.
Chapter 3 is about rules extensions for skills and new psionic-oriented feats. Some are interesting, but a significant number of them are just variants of feats for arcane magic. Not much to say here.
The mechanics of psionics are detailed in chapter 4. Psychic classes learn powers and manifest powers similar to arcane spellcasters, except they use points instead of slots. Their effect-scaling comes from being able to spend additional power points to power up an effect further (capped). I still find the interaction between psionics and arcane magic to be messy. You can still choose to keep them as separate effects, but neither feels satisfactory. Either it's weird that psionics can't affect magic (and vice versa), or they're basically treated as the same thing.
The powers (i.e. spells) comes in chapter 5. As expected, a significant number just draw on existing arcane spells, albeit some with the ability to "power up" with more power points. The drawback about investing more power points is that while you get a bigger effect, the power level of the power you are manifesting is still unchanged. Some of the powers are limited to a specific psion specialisations or psychic warriors only. As mentioned, a nice thing here is that the psychic warrior powers meshes well with their combat-oriented nature, much better than warrior plus arcane spellcaster.
The prestige classes in chapter 6 are quite bland, existing seemingly to just tick boxes - like the completely flavourless Cerebremancer, which is basically just a Mystic Theurge, but for wizard/psion. Most are just material for NPC prestige classes. They're either too weak or way too specific to entice players.
Chapter 7 follows up with a typical assortment of new magic items, materials, and even artifacts. Nothing stands out here except for the fact that they actually managed to come up with a complete set of equivalent item types to match scrolls, wands, rods, and staves.
Chapter 8 has a couple of psionic-type monsters, padded out with entries for the player character races. I find it kind of funny that some psionic-oriented feats and powers that affect power points can't actually affect these monsters, since they don't have power points.
And finally a small appendix with the Mind domain and two deities (one for a prestige class, and another for mind flayers).
All in all, nothing in this sourcebook endeared me to psionics. But from a rules standpoint (and from what I remember about psionics previously), I think it's cleaner and more in line with core D&D.
Chapter 1 starts off with psychic races - dromite, duergar, elan, githyanki, githzerai, thri-kreen, half-giant, maenad, and xeph. I see a few of the Dark Sun races made it here and that was kinda nice. These other races seem on par with the core races, but they obviously have an advantage when it comes to psionics.
Chapter 2 brings with it the classes: psions, psychic warriors, soulknives, and wilders. As mentioned, they just felt like variants. Psions are sorcerers with power points instead of spell slots. There's a psionics-flavoured familiar (at cost of a feat). Psychic warriors are the spellblade-equivalent, although mind powers probably fit better than spellcasting. Soulknives being a core class instead of a prestige class is just downright weird. Instead of being a specialisation of mind powers, now it's just using one single weapon the entirety of their careers. I feel that the specialisation is too specific for it to function as a core class. Wilders feel like a more restrictive wild mage, their powers are fewer and less flavourful than wild mages.
Chapter 3 is about rules extensions for skills and new psionic-oriented feats. Some are interesting, but a significant number of them are just variants of feats for arcane magic. Not much to say here.
The mechanics of psionics are detailed in chapter 4. Psychic classes learn powers and manifest powers similar to arcane spellcasters, except they use points instead of slots. Their effect-scaling comes from being able to spend additional power points to power up an effect further (capped). I still find the interaction between psionics and arcane magic to be messy. You can still choose to keep them as separate effects, but neither feels satisfactory. Either it's weird that psionics can't affect magic (and vice versa), or they're basically treated as the same thing.
The powers (i.e. spells) comes in chapter 5. As expected, a significant number just draw on existing arcane spells, albeit some with the ability to "power up" with more power points. The drawback about investing more power points is that while you get a bigger effect, the power level of the power you are manifesting is still unchanged. Some of the powers are limited to a specific psion specialisations or psychic warriors only. As mentioned, a nice thing here is that the psychic warrior powers meshes well with their combat-oriented nature, much better than warrior plus arcane spellcaster.
The prestige classes in chapter 6 are quite bland, existing seemingly to just tick boxes - like the completely flavourless Cerebremancer, which is basically just a Mystic Theurge, but for wizard/psion. Most are just material for NPC prestige classes. They're either too weak or way too specific to entice players.
Chapter 7 follows up with a typical assortment of new magic items, materials, and even artifacts. Nothing stands out here except for the fact that they actually managed to come up with a complete set of equivalent item types to match scrolls, wands, rods, and staves.
Chapter 8 has a couple of psionic-type monsters, padded out with entries for the player character races. I find it kind of funny that some psionic-oriented feats and powers that affect power points can't actually affect these monsters, since they don't have power points.
And finally a small appendix with the Mind domain and two deities (one for a prestige class, and another for mind flayers).
All in all, nothing in this sourcebook endeared me to psionics. But from a rules standpoint (and from what I remember about psionics previously), I think it's cleaner and more in line with core D&D.
February 4, 2019
A great DnD book that is being given away. I hope someone can find a use for it.
May 26, 2015
The revision of the “Psionic Handbook” from version 3.0, this 3.5 edition update is in every way better than its predecessor. Adding psionics and psychic abilities to your Dungeons and Dragons experience is handled on every level by this book. Nine new player character races (some with level adjustments) are introduced, as are four psionic core classes: the Psion, typical wielder of ordered psychic energy; the Psychic Warrior, who blends psychic power with might; the Soulknife, who wields a blade made of psychic power; and the Wilder, whose wild emotions power all of his abilities. Psionic feats, powers, and prestige classes follow (nine prestige classes are included in the book), and psionic items and creatures round out the book. The whole structure of psionics is more balanced and easily slid into an existing campaign in this book, and the book would be a welcome addition to any campaign hunting for a bit of a psychic edge.
April 27, 2015
Terrible subsystems abound.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews