4 out of 5 stars

Well, we’re back to the two author style of Design & Development articles and while things are better than some of the other articles that I’ve lambasted in the past, the article doesn’t read as smoothly as the single author ones I complemented last month.  This is especially notable in the first part of the article and things get better as the article goes on, so maybe the message is getting through to the WotC staff.  “Hope springs eternal” and all that.

In discussing psionics, and its incorporation into 4e, the two authors cover several points: where psionics has been, “Why Psionics?”, “Designing Psionics”, “The Psionic Story”, “Power Points”, “Versatility”, “Odds and Ends”, “Complexity in Play”, and “The Future of Psionics”.  In most cases we hear from both designers on each point, one covering the design of psionics and the other the development.

One of the interesting revelations in the article is the fact that power points were considered as powering both encounters and daily powers at one point.  This proved, as Mike puts it, “untenable” because it lead to the classic “going nova” issue of psionics in 3.X.  After switching them to a purely encounter based resource, this problem went away and the balancing issues became far more reasonable.

Another interesting tidbit, and one some people have been complaining about already at the Wizards’ boards, is that the use of power points in psionics intentionally sets out to stretch and bend the basic rules of 4e.  It’s almost innovation for innovation’s sake.  However, the design team felt that two years into the game, some players “would be looking for a new challenge” and that stretching the system like this was the way to provide that challenge.  They also expect to continue to do this kind of thing in future Player’s Handbooks.  In my opinion, this appears to be WotC‘s answer to the idea of a fixed life cycle for a particular game product.  By continuing to innovate within the basic system, the life of the basic system itself is extended.  If this is indeed the case, then 5e could end up being much further off than some people anticipate.  Only time will tell.

If you’re interested in the design of psionics for 4e, I recommend reading the article if you get the chance.  The insights are well worth the time and the difficulties that the two author model for these articles continues to hold for the reader.