Why is Psionics in The SRD?

[BIGMamaSloth]

I have always had this question about the 3.5 SRD. It has psionics rules in it, and I have no Idea why. Psionics is a subsystem just as much as any of the subsystems in any other book. What gives psionics any precedence over say incarnum? or the book of nine swords? I've never played second or first edition, Is it because there were psionics in those? Is it due to popularity or something else? I could really use some answers.

[Loki_42]

I don't have a definite answer, but I would figure it's because of what you said, it's a legacy subsystem. Psionics have been in the game throughout first and second edition, whereas all the other various subsystems are new to 3E. Again, I don't know for sure, but that's what I'd put my money on.

[sonofzeal]

It's in the SRD because... well, because some Hasbro bigwig signed off on it, most likely. It actually makes good business sense for a pnp RPG to give large chunks of the base rules away free, as it provides a "gateway drug" for newbies and a valuable resource for pros. However, WotC is owned by Hasbro, which has all the RPG business sense of a potato (of the non-GLaDOS variety). Everything I've heard suggests that many of the flaws in 3.5 D&D's business model were Executive Meddling on the part of Hasbro.

So my guess is WotC dudes made pitches to open up each of those to the SRD, and got lucky with Psionics - and partially with ToB, since Warblade and all the maneuvers are free on the website.

[Big Fau]

I'm not completely sure, but I believe it has something to do with how much content was reprinted from the original Psionics Handbook. Possibly WotC's attempt to keep players from complaining about the update as badly as they did when the 3.5 transition happened.

[Zeta Kai]

Some of the other early books got support in the SRD, such as Deities & Demigods & the Epic Level Handbook, which seem like a nice complimentary set of rules for a comprehensive game. There are rules for mortals, rules for psionics, rules for epics, & rules for gods. That's just about everything that anyone could really want for playing a fantasy-ish sort of game, with enough wiggle room to cram in almost any other genre imaginable. Anything else is just a splat.

I think that in the late 90's/early 00's, somebody at WotC/Hasbro had a vision for the OGL that included SRD support as a means to funnel interest in their core products (IE the 3 core books: PHB1, DMG1, & MM1). Considering that this has become the basis for the dominant tabletop RPG of our generation, I would say that this strategy for the D20 system was greatly successful.

Of course, opinions about the OGL & the SRD must have changed by 2007, because 4th Edition came along, & well... let's just say they went in a different direction. WotC & Hasbro are now competing against the very model that they created just 12 years ago, & there's no sign that they are winning. And here we are, consumers in a market that is rapidly Balkanizing due to the corporate decisions made in reaction to the once-unifying OGL, & its handy little cheat sheet, the SRD.

[hex0]

It also adds some feats that are in no way psionic, like Greater Manyshot, Open Minded, Deadly Precision, Mind over Body, etc. So there is that.

[Psyren]

I'd say they did it because of its historical impact (didn't Gygax come up with the original psionics rules? I know they were around almost from the beginning) and to open up design space for future books. By considering psionics to be part of a sort of "extended core" they could safely print psionic stuff in almost all their later books - PrCs, feats and powers could be sprinkled into every setting and every Complete.

By knowing that everyone had access to the XPH, more or less, they could easily insert supplemental material like this. Much more easily than, say, new vestiges or soulmelds. And every splat gets some padding, especially when a lot of your text is simply "New Psionic Power: {insert text of new spell}. Augment: {insert text of new spell, greater.}"

[Reluctance]

The simplest solution is often the best. Everyone realized that, instead of being primarily a developer's resource, the SRD was mostly used so people could have the game mechanics without paying money for the books. Psionics got in as an alternate system simply because it was one of the earliest alternate systems released.

[Draz74]

Possibly WotC's attempt to keep players from complaining about the update as badly as they did when the 3.5 transition happened.

I'm pretty sure this is closest to the real reason. It's because 3.0 psionics (terrible as they were) were more highly developed than other 3.0 rules, and there was a cry from the fans that the update to 3.5 made the Psionics Handbook a moot purchase. The XPH was offered mostly "for free" to placate those users of 3.0 psionics.

[Doc Roc]

I have always had this question about the 3.5 SRD. It has psionics rules in it, and I have no Idea why. Psionics is a subsystem just as much as any of the subsystems in any other book. What gives psionics any precedence over say incarnum? or the book of nine swords? I've never played second or first edition, Is it because there were psionics in those? Is it due to popularity or something else? I could really use some answers.

Psionics happens to have been released in the OGL. It also happens to be hilariously awesome, and something of a staple.

[hex0]

The XPH was offered mostly "for free" to placate those users of 3.0 psionics.

+1. 3.0 psionics was a mess!

[Darrin]

I'd say they did it because of its historical impact (didn't Gygax come up with the original psionics rules? I know they were around almost from the beginning)


They were included as an appendix in the original 1st Edition AD&D, but the rules didn't actually come from Gygax. They were submitted by someone else, and he didn't adequately playtest them himself. He actually regretted including them, as they didn't mesh well with the rest of the rules. Or more likely, the "superhero" flavor didn't fit well with his somewhat rigid definition of what should be in the "epic fantasy" genre.

The online SRD was Ryan Dancey's "Grand Experiment". I suspect Psionics, Divine, and Epic section were added because he thought it would help drive more 3.5 sales. There was also the issue that the Epic and Divine rules were 3.0, and they needed a 3.5 update, but there weren't enough changes to justify new hardbacks. When Hasbro management soured on the concept of "free rules" and Dancey fell out of favor, they stopped adding new content.

[gkathellar]

Because Psionics has history, because XPH was an enormous success with fantastic rules and writing — exactly the kind of thing you want to put on display, and because this happened back in the days when Wizards wasn't super-nervous about releasing anything via OGL.

[Gullintanni]

...They were submitted by someone else, and he didn't adequately playtest them himself. He actually regretted including them, as they didn't mesh well with the rest of the rules.


Evidence to this point: The Mind Flayer. Anyone who fought one in AD&D can probably testify volumes to the lethality of a Mind Flayer's psionic blasting...unless one of your characters happened to roll up a psionically gifted character, in which case, you had at least some small hope.

...but the rules surrounding saving throws and psionic abilities were virtually non-existent. If you met a Psionic monster whose first action was always Mind Blast, you were almost guaranteed to lose party members.

[Psyren]

Yeah, I forgot to consider that many players' effectively wasted their money on the PH. So that could indeed have been a way to rebuild that faith.