danielxcutter
2018-11-20, 08:07 PM
Okaaaaaaaay... so, the XPH(and other books) have psionic variants of races and monsters, right?
The thing is, some of them don't exactly fit 1-to-1 with the original fluff.
One of the most prominent examples - to me at least - are the Githyanki. These guys are the origin of the term "gish", aka martial/arcane spellcaster multiclass builds, but that was before XPH introducing their psionic versions. While they still have Fighter as their favored class and thus can be used for arcane gishes with LA buyoff or on the DM's side of the table(though you'll need more than Eldritch Knight, that's for sure), a naturally psionic race being well-known for their arcane prowess is a bit... odd. Oh sure, it's not quite impossible for at least some of them to pursue that career, but still.
I think, if one were to make an original setting featuring psionic variants of existing races and monsters, one would have to do so from the ground up, and probably make them a bit different than the original WoTC fluff. The psionic-from-the-start races have their own fluff(though that does vary from setting to setting; Elans in Eberron are a bit different from the standard version), so that would have to be incorporated too.
Psionic Aboleths differ most from their original versions in that many - but not all, such as Wall of Ectoplasm - their PLAs are mind-affecting telepathy powers, where as the original's SLAs are illusions. There isn't a real psionic substitute for illusions aside from False Sensory Input - which psionic aboleths have as a PLA - but aside from that, aboleths in general aren't really that strongly tied to any type of arcane magic or psionic power. Heck, since they just have PLAs and not actual manifesting, there's no real problem with giving an aboleth either type of class, or even something else entirely different like Cleric levels. The only major difference besides that is the Savant Aboleth monster PrC from Lords of Madness, and there's even a very simple sidebar regarding conversion.
Don't have much to say about Dromites; just inserting the XPH fluff as appropriate should be enough, me thinks. Most of the non-variant naturally psionic races are, actually, so I'm gonna skip over most of them unless they relate to other races as well.
Duergar make good Psychic Warriors - and there's an optional variant that changes their favored class to that, even - so in a setting using their psionic versions, that seems like a good choice. Ardents could work too - perhaps have them replace Clerics? Sure T1 is better than T3, but it does make sense fluff-wise and there's nothing wrong with Ardent, after all. Other manifesting classes could work too, as long as they don't need Charisma(and frankly, most really don't). In fact, dwarves in general seem to have non-insignificant connections with psionics; they even have their own name for the Illithid Slayer PrC("caradhaker", which roughly means "mindstalker"). And duergar have even more of a reason to hate the flayers than their surface cousins no matter how you flavor their society; being closer plus naturally psionic probably means they're more often targeted. Hmm... that could explain a bit, actually...
Elans... well, mostly there might not be much reworking needed. Depends on if you intend to incorporate Quori-related material; in Eberron elans are created when a quori is forcefully bound to a host, instead of willingly like kalashtar or Inspired. Though it may be possible to make an entirely different background for them that allows them to use quori embedded shards without having a quori trapped inside of you... hmm, any ideas?
The gith races... well, I suppose it's just a matter of having them being renown for psionics instead. Githzerai could be Psychic Warriors or Ardents, possibly multiclassing into Monk by using the Tashalatora feat. Not sure about the variant favored class though; although Wilder isn't exactly terrible, they don't get a Charisma bonus(though high Cha does help a bit with the save DCs for the PLAs). Githyanki... I dunno, any ideas? Wis penalty doesn't work well with Psychic Warrior or Ardent and I dunno about any class combinations that get them +16 BAB and 9th level powers. Though the stat bonuses aren't too bad for a straight Psion or Wilder I suppose...
Half-giants themselves are easy to add; the thing I ponder is the combination of actual giants with the Primodial Giant template(from Secrets of Xen'drik) with levels in manifester classes, as powers count as SLAs... could work? Oh yeah, and Elder Giant Magic probably gets a bit crazy with that when combined with other ML boosters I guess.
Illithids... yeah, to be honest, the psionic variant is way better than the default; even if you treat caster classes as non-associated like they did in Lords of Madness instead of associated like in core. Since they manifest as 9th-level Telepaths at CR 8, they can lose up to 4 ML and still get 9ths by CR 20. Ideas? Theurge-types like Cerebremancers and Divine Theurges can get a mind flayer 17th-level telepath manifesting and 15th-level casting on the other side, and most PrCs that lose lots of ML are mostly "weak" because the things you get don't outweigh losing access to 9th-level powers... but illithids can spare to lose one more than standard psions.
Kalashtar and the Inspired... they're so setting-related that they're going to be difficult to refluff, though far from impossible I suppose. Heck, I don't think the Quori need to be auto-Evil; even in canon Eberron non-evil quori became the kalashtar after all.
Probably missing a few points and stuff, but yeah. Thoughts and ideas?
The thing is, some of them don't exactly fit 1-to-1 with the original fluff.
One of the most prominent examples - to me at least - are the Githyanki. These guys are the origin of the term "gish", aka martial/arcane spellcaster multiclass builds, but that was before XPH introducing their psionic versions. While they still have Fighter as their favored class and thus can be used for arcane gishes with LA buyoff or on the DM's side of the table(though you'll need more than Eldritch Knight, that's for sure), a naturally psionic race being well-known for their arcane prowess is a bit... odd. Oh sure, it's not quite impossible for at least some of them to pursue that career, but still.
I think, if one were to make an original setting featuring psionic variants of existing races and monsters, one would have to do so from the ground up, and probably make them a bit different than the original WoTC fluff. The psionic-from-the-start races have their own fluff(though that does vary from setting to setting; Elans in Eberron are a bit different from the standard version), so that would have to be incorporated too.
Psionic Aboleths differ most from their original versions in that many - but not all, such as Wall of Ectoplasm - their PLAs are mind-affecting telepathy powers, where as the original's SLAs are illusions. There isn't a real psionic substitute for illusions aside from False Sensory Input - which psionic aboleths have as a PLA - but aside from that, aboleths in general aren't really that strongly tied to any type of arcane magic or psionic power. Heck, since they just have PLAs and not actual manifesting, there's no real problem with giving an aboleth either type of class, or even something else entirely different like Cleric levels. The only major difference besides that is the Savant Aboleth monster PrC from Lords of Madness, and there's even a very simple sidebar regarding conversion.
Don't have much to say about Dromites; just inserting the XPH fluff as appropriate should be enough, me thinks. Most of the non-variant naturally psionic races are, actually, so I'm gonna skip over most of them unless they relate to other races as well.
Duergar make good Psychic Warriors - and there's an optional variant that changes their favored class to that, even - so in a setting using their psionic versions, that seems like a good choice. Ardents could work too - perhaps have them replace Clerics? Sure T1 is better than T3, but it does make sense fluff-wise and there's nothing wrong with Ardent, after all. Other manifesting classes could work too, as long as they don't need Charisma(and frankly, most really don't). In fact, dwarves in general seem to have non-insignificant connections with psionics; they even have their own name for the Illithid Slayer PrC("caradhaker", which roughly means "mindstalker"). And duergar have even more of a reason to hate the flayers than their surface cousins no matter how you flavor their society; being closer plus naturally psionic probably means they're more often targeted. Hmm... that could explain a bit, actually...
Elans... well, mostly there might not be much reworking needed. Depends on if you intend to incorporate Quori-related material; in Eberron elans are created when a quori is forcefully bound to a host, instead of willingly like kalashtar or Inspired. Though it may be possible to make an entirely different background for them that allows them to use quori embedded shards without having a quori trapped inside of you... hmm, any ideas?
The gith races... well, I suppose it's just a matter of having them being renown for psionics instead. Githzerai could be Psychic Warriors or Ardents, possibly multiclassing into Monk by using the Tashalatora feat. Not sure about the variant favored class though; although Wilder isn't exactly terrible, they don't get a Charisma bonus(though high Cha does help a bit with the save DCs for the PLAs). Githyanki... I dunno, any ideas? Wis penalty doesn't work well with Psychic Warrior or Ardent and I dunno about any class combinations that get them +16 BAB and 9th level powers. Though the stat bonuses aren't too bad for a straight Psion or Wilder I suppose...
Half-giants themselves are easy to add; the thing I ponder is the combination of actual giants with the Primodial Giant template(from Secrets of Xen'drik) with levels in manifester classes, as powers count as SLAs... could work? Oh yeah, and Elder Giant Magic probably gets a bit crazy with that when combined with other ML boosters I guess.
Illithids... yeah, to be honest, the psionic variant is way better than the default; even if you treat caster classes as non-associated like they did in Lords of Madness instead of associated like in core. Since they manifest as 9th-level Telepaths at CR 8, they can lose up to 4 ML and still get 9ths by CR 20. Ideas? Theurge-types like Cerebremancers and Divine Theurges can get a mind flayer 17th-level telepath manifesting and 15th-level casting on the other side, and most PrCs that lose lots of ML are mostly "weak" because the things you get don't outweigh losing access to 9th-level powers... but illithids can spare to lose one more than standard psions.
Kalashtar and the Inspired... they're so setting-related that they're going to be difficult to refluff, though far from impossible I suppose. Heck, I don't think the Quori need to be auto-Evil; even in canon Eberron non-evil quori became the kalashtar after all.
Probably missing a few points and stuff, but yeah. Thoughts and ideas?