don't defend yourself you muppet
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don't defend yourself you muppet
dont be mad because im right
its not that deep bro
I mean, having no stake in this, I can see the comparison. The corruption mechanic isn't too different to turning Hollow. The main difference is corruption is more active and seemingly from an external source whereas the Hollow decline is internal.
I forgot you went as far as dark souls 3's crystal lizard then ragequit out
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see sesto he'd be right if he at any point mentioned going hollow
but instead he chose the exact wrong word
Can anyone with more DnD history knowledge enlighten me why a) Psionics need to exist and b) why they are such a clusterfuck in 5e with 5 different approaches now and every one of them just feels bad
A) Couple of reasons, probably the chief of which is it appears WotC is working on a Dark Sun supplement where Psionics are a core part of the setting. As for why fans want them, 'cause psychic powers are pretty popular in fiction and they've existed in older editions with unique mechanics. Those mechanics don't currently exist in 5e and so fans of those mechanics would like to see them in 5e.
B) because it's 5e. To be less glib, adding a new system to a game is always hard, and 5e makes that job harder when the only system they have with anything resembling depth is spellcasting. But the biggest problem, I believe, is that they initially tried to add an entire new system (psionics) by representing it as a single class, so every idea they had for psionics went into it. It'd be like if they wanted to introduce spellcasting by bringing in the Wizard, who also had the ideas for Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster bundled in it, with the entire spellcasting rules and spell lists as part of the class description. Obviously it'd be a clusterfuck.
Their solution? Cut the base class, put it only into subclasses. Which is like introducing spellcasting by JUST having the Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster, and also they don't share any mechanics. And then they tried to go the Artificer route with "lol just reflavour spellcasting" because that's low effort and people already accept vancian spellcasting. It seems they've finally come up with a unifying mechanic to based psionics around, and I could see this psionic die/burnout actually being enough to make a non-clusterfuck class around.
Unfortunately it looks like a Psion class is now off the cards, which kind of sucks. Also while the idea of a psionic die burning out with successive use is cool, as it stands it's very unlikely to actually happen once you get to higher levels, which kind of defeats the point of it.
Newer iteration is better than the last which seemed to mostly just be spells, again, which really made me think what's the point. Mystic was broken in 12 different ways but it at least felt unique, and now they try some middle of the road approach that doesn't really satisfy either side of the debate.
Just doesn't really endear me to the idea of them being necessary parts of the setting especially when they don't really do anything different than their superclasses (arguably with the fighter but we had Eldritch Knight already and now we're getting the Echo Whatever as another Magical Fighter option so idk)
I don't think there is any point doing it if you're just going to make it spells. That's the shittest option by far, so I'm glad this UA has taken a step back from that.
But Dark Sun existed before 5e, and Psionics are definitely an important part of their setting. Mike Mearls has said they won't do a 5e Dark Sun until they get psionics right, which is a good attitude to have.
To add to what Saiga said, I believe psionics was actually invented even before the Dark Sun setting; AD&D 1st edition had rules for psionics either in the PHB or the DMG, can't remember, and I think there was an OD&D psionics supplement, too - inspired by pseudo-Hindi and Buddhist mysticism, I think? Anyway, if I had to guess why the writers felt the need to add psionics is that early D&D was very much inspired by sixties' and seventies' fantasy, which often mixed and matched traditional fantasy with sci-fi (or "sci"-fi, as it were).
If nothing else, the two main D&D setting currently in use both have had Psionics in the past with varying degrees of importance. Forgotten Realms had various Aberrations, a family of Psionic Drow that figured into the Drizzt novels, and Psionic Yuan-Ti, while Eberron had it baked into the starting Races (Kalashtar and Psiforged) and some of the main antagonist factions (Cults of the Dragon Below, the Daelkyr and their forces, the Dreaming Dark and Inspired) in the world.
Nearly every Edition has had Psi. It's usually optional, but some settings require it. One of which they've already released. Dark Sun, on the other hand, literally made every creature Psionic and magic kills the environment like radioactive waste, so I can see why they want it to work right before they implement it.
Uh, what? The only Psionic Drow I remember in the Drizzt novels was Kimmuriel Oblodra, he was a part of Jarlaxle's band and not in a family, and I don't think it was ever said the rest of his family had that same gift.
They did. It's actually a major plot point for them. Oblodra were unaffected by the Time of Troubles, so when Arcane and Divine Magic were jacked up, they nearly conquered Menzoberranzan and overthrew the Baenres were it not for magic returning.
The reason Kimmuriel is with Jarlaxle is the destruction of his house following that debacle.
Ah, the Drizzt novels. I remember those... *Not* fondly.
Salvatore should have cared more about writing a *novel* than the transcript of RPG sessions.
Yeah, they definitely felt like Replays, ngl.
I read the Drizzt novels in chronological rather than release order (as in, starting with the Underdark trilogy rather than the Icewind Dale one) and that's honestly the last thing I would think to charge them with, especially considering stuff like the Dragonlance novels. If anything, I find the opposite is generally true- the Drizzt novels aretoo much about Drizzt himself, and nowhere near enough about his companions. Bruenor never changed. Raegis never changed. Cattie-brie and Wulfgar changed, and steadily for the worse (from actual characters to essentially plot devices).
At any rate, it's dime-and-nickel fiction, but it's entertaining dime-and-nickel fiction, so it's good enough to waste your time with at least.
So I feel like stirring the pot. Apparently there's some kind of drama going on in social media about whether or not orcs are racist as depicted in mainstream D&D, whether or not that should be changed, etc... It came up in a Discord not long ago, but it was basically a blip to me until I got linked an article about it that reminded me of it. So now I'm curious. What do you folks think of it; the concept of D&D orcs as a racist thing, or D&D in general, its depiction of good and evil races and such. But not just that. Also, what do you think of this kind drama, the push and pull of different ideas and visions for the canon, who you think is right and who isn't, if anyone is at all. Do you think it should change to be more inclusive and accepting, or should tabletop hobbies close the gates against people who want to change their traditions to reflect new or different audiences?
I like racial differentiation in humanlike races in my scifi and in my fantasy (especially since 5Es options are so dire you can't cut that out too...) but well, it's really not hard to read reactionary thought into early dnd concepts of races that are Always Evil Forever Everytime and the Tolkien fiction that birthed them (LOTR was after all made by an Englishman).
You just really have to question if this is anything worth your time or energy because lmao does this shit actually matter. DnD clearly tries to be way more inclusive and the stupid read of orcs = racists view of black people is simplistic and honestly wrong (the more merituous argument with the description as is is orcs = racists view of murrkan indigenous people, even got the charter school set up baked in there).
DnD especially is a game so malleable people run reactionary rape dungeons and genderfluid elves side by side. Narrative control by WotC is close to nonexistant and the only official product that matter anymore on nerd cultural impact are the critical role related ones. I don't see the argument going anywhere productive especially since 5E designers tend to at least try to sell an inclusive image (if they actually are is up to you i guess)