Rpgs with good psionics. (2024)

Cryomancer said:

buffalo bill said:

I've played underrail for hundreds of hours, but I prefer the psionic mechanics in caves of qud tbh

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I like the mechanics of ADOM. Mindcrafter : https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Mindcraft#Mind_Blast

Name	Description	Formula	Type	Level Gained
Teleport Control	Intrinsic teleport control which cannot be lost.	N/A	N/A	1
Confusion Blast	Bolt which travels in a straight line and performs a confusion attack on every creature it passes through. Range and confusion duration are increased by Willpower and experience level.	N/A	TP	1
Confusion Wave	Performs a confusion attack on every creature in an area around the PC. Radius and confusion duration are increased by Willpower and experience level.	N/A	TP	3
Mind Blast	Bolt which travels in a straight line and performs a damaging attack on every creature it passes through. Range is increased by Willpower and experience level.	((W + CL) / 6 + 1)d5	TP	6
Mental Shield	While active, increases the PC's DV and PV.	DV: + ((W + CL) / 5) PV: + ((W + CL) / 8)	S	9
Mind Wave	Performs a damaging attack on every creature in an area around the PC. Radius is increased by Willpower and experience level.	((W + CL) / 6 + 1)d5	TP	13
Telekinetic Blast	Emits a physical force blast on an adjacent target. Will destroy any trapped door unless it is occupied by a phasing monster (e.g. ghost, earth elemental).	((W / 5) + CL)d3	TK	15
Eyes of the Mind	Shows all creatures with minds*** on the level.	N/A	N/A	18
Greater Mental Blast	A more damaging and costly version of Mind Blast.	((W + CL) / 6 + 1)d9	TP	25
Greater Telekinetic Blast	Emits a physical force blast on any tile in the visible range of the PC. Chance to destroy any diggable wall unless it is occupied by a phasing monster.	((W / 5) + CL)d6	TK	30
Regeneration	While active, grants the PC an additional source of Regeneration.	1 HP / turn	S	35
Teleport Self	Teleports the PC.	N/A	TK	40
Teleport Other	Teleports an adjacent creature.	N/A	TK	45
Greater Mental Wave	A more damaging and costly version of Mind Wave.	((W + CL) / 6 + 1)d9	TP	50

https://ancardia.fandom.com/wiki/Mindcraft#Mind_Blast

Zero cooldowns.

And Adom is the hardest roguelike that I played. I never beat it.

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Does Tides of Numenera has good psionics? I'm curious. Never played it.

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I'm beaten ADOM I think about a dozen or so times, with one ultra ending win (a monk, can't remember the race though). Caves of Qud is probably slightly harder than ADOM (though both games are pretty easy if you know what you're doing), and definitely has a better psionic system. (by a lot)

If you're interested in hard roguelikes, try Infra Arcana. It's maybe the best game ever made imo (DoomRL and Fallout 1 might edge it out for me though, but barely).

Looked more in detail about CoQ powers and honestly, seems interesting, seems like you can take control over enemies and so on. But everything being CD based is kinda bad imo.

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Anyway, now I want to play Vanguard :

Anyone who played recently knows if the private server improved? being able to mind enslave enemies and summon a simulacrum of the enemy against themselves seems quite cool.

I started it earlier this year. It seems pretty good. They've done a lot lately. I played though 1-25 ish and all the quests were working and all the spells and everything. All the areas I went to were populated properly. But I know some areas are not done yet and 30+ there are more areas that need work. I was mostly waiting for them to finish Dargun's Tomb because I know how big that is. They finished it and also did Trengel Keep and some others so it has quite a lot of content now.

There were some issues though. A lot of mobs were falling into the ground a lot. If you move it will pop back out to come after you so I could deal with it once I knew. But it still got me killed a few times because I couldn't cast spells on them in the ground but they could still hit me. I've been enjoying playing it though. I really like the music in this game.

I tried vanguard and ... The game is now not even launching. Tried with wine + proton 9.

Either way, IDK any modern mmo that I want to try but dead mmos, I really want Vanguard, Wild Star, Dark Sun Online : Crimson Sands... So sad that the decline in mmos prevent us from seeking good old mmos, the decline in SP RPG's don't kill good old games.

That said, I will try ALLODS.

I really want to play as a Psionicist in a RPG.

When I asked chatGPT, GPT mentioned a lot of dead games and many games with Enchanters, not psions...

Cryomancer said:

Looked more in detail about CoQ powers and honestly, seems interesting, seems like you can take control over enemies and so on. But everything being CD based is kinda bad imo.

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Anyway, now I want to play Vanguard :

Anyone who played recently knows if the private server improved? being able to mind enslave enemies and summon a simulacrum of the enemy against themselves seems quite cool.

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I dislike cool downs, but at least here they are only used for something like psionics, which, as it doesn't really exist, can take whatever form the designer wants. As for the actual results, I think it interesting. The cool down means you can't rely on a single ability too much. I usually got the light control power so I could have a more reliable attack, and the one that dominated a creature so I could have a meat shield. As you get more powers and develop your wisdom further, you become able to rain destruction quite constantly. And the balancing factor, how much attention you draw from those psychic hunting creatures, is much more interesting than just some kind of spell points, I think.

Alex said:

I dislike cool downs, but at least here they are only used for something like psionics, which, as it doesn't really exist, can take whatever form the designer wants.

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I disagree with that point. Sure, certain fantastical elements don't exist IRL. Don't mean that makes any sense to have a fireball freezing enemies. The supernatural elements must mechanic-wise fit the in-game lore. For example, Psionics don't do anything against ghosts in ADOM. Because they are pure "mind" power. Psionics (cipher powers) are incredible effective against ghosts in Pillars of Eternity, because in Pillars, Mind = Soul.

The supernatural elements should fit the setting and theme. A game like KDC should have zero magic as it is pure historical. A game set in Eberron should have industrialized magic. A game set in Arcanum should have magic and tech in conflict. A Lovecraftian game should have very dangerous and mysterious magic. Same with psionics. What is psions are, its capabilities, limitations, risk, drawbacks, how each society and each NPC views such powers and how it works should be completely dependent on the setting.

Alex said:

And the balancing factor, how much attention you draw from those psychic hunting creatures, is much more interesting than just some kind of spell points, I think.

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WoW. This sounds very cool. I will read more about CoQ. Now, it seems interesting.

So, you can use mind powers to cause destruction or enslave entire cities, but there will be harsh consequences. I'm now interested in CoQ.

Any more games to recommend?

Cryomancer said:

I'm now interested in CoQ.

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Completely fogot about it but in Path of Achra there is a psychic element with bunch of prestige classes like pure psychic Mesmer, teleporting Psychonaut or mushroom summoning Gliva.
Psychic as an element specialises in effects that trigger on being hit. Stuff like "Deal psychic damage in a path to 1 enemy on being hit" or "Apply Repulsion buff to yourself that deal damage to everyone who hits you for each stack".
You can combine these skills with summons like Mirror Images or "Glimmering Blades" and you can grab a psychic link skill that makes it so that hits against your summons counts as hits againt you. I think you get the idea.

There is a bunch of fun psychic builds you can try here.

anvi said:

if you can handle ascii graphics you could handle cards

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Cards are too "gamey" for me, who prioritizes consistency of mechanics and lore.

I know that I'm a huge critique of Pillows of 4e, but IMO PoE2 has one of the best Psion implementations ever. So much cool stuff, not only in active, dominate a guy and AOE charm a group. Disintegration DoT, soul knives bouncing over enemies, but also in passive stuff like after killing an enemy, frightening nearby enemies, and mind backlash if you are targeted by spells.

Another game with good graphics is KoTC2.

IMO in KoTC2, Psion > Wizards. While Wizards can use a few high-level spells per rest, a Psion at level 20 can cast 20 tier 9 Psion powers per rest. And with lower-level psionic powers, much more, like 31+ Disintegrate. One or two hard encounters, and my mage is out of its most powerful spells. My psion rarely gets out of powerful spells to cast. And considering how hard and resting is limited in the harder difficulties of KoTC2, this is a huge advantage for psychologists in KoTC2.

I got many suggestions but sadly none as good as KoTC2 and Pillows

anvi said:

I loved KOTC2. Epic battles!!

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Yep. Best TB RPG encounter design ever.

Anyway, did anyone here tested Psion in PRC mod for NwN1?

Seems like almost everything form P&P is in the class > https://nwnprc.com/manual/classes/base_Psion.html

Including abilities that are quite hard to translate into CRPG like Control Air. Here is their tutorial > https://nwnprc.com/manual/psionic_guide.html

Caves of Qud, I'm thinking in buying it but will wait till Black Friday to decide.

Deadfire Cipher (Psion subclass is pure but probably needs to combine with something like Chanter for full action econ), Guild Wars Mesmer, P:K CotW has full Psionic class.

I think there's a BG3 mod with a ridiculously full Psionic class (like 63 disciplines or whatever).

As above WIz8 Psionicist fills very useful/unique niche.

Desiderius said:

P:K CotW has full Psionic class.

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What CotW means? Call of the Wild? I tried to find the Psion class there but couldn't.

Desiderius said:

BG3 mod with a ridiculously full Psionic class

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Is Mystic. Not exactly the Psion that I want. But is a great mod non the less.

Zero mention of Ciphers in Pillars of Eternity. Hm. Must be shit game.

Also, I tend to equate deckers/ netrunners/ technomancers to psionics, so I'd consider Cyberpunk 2077 to have "psionic" mechanics. I dig just about any game that lets you play a psi-ninja build (like Underrail).

But my favorite psionic system in a game is Mutant from Final Fantasy Legend. I think there are quite a few interesting psionic implementations in various jrpgs. One of my favorite "characters" to roleplay is Anne Rice's Rowan Mayfair, so I'm a fan of games that allow witch/ psionic builds as well.

Jason Liang said:

Zero mention of Ciphers in Pillars of Eternity.

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I mentioned it alongside KoTC2 as great examples. Many people mentioned Cipher here. Is a great class in a "average" game.

Cryomancer said:

Jason Liang said:

Zero mention of Ciphers in Pillars of Eternity.

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I mentioned it alongside KoTC2 as great examples. Many people mentioned Cipher here. Is a great class in a "average" game.

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Anyway, give Final Fantasy Legend a spin - 3 Mutants (in Japanese they are ESPers) and 1 Monster for lolz.

Fedora Master said:

Stop sperging about magic.

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Psionics are not magic. Play Pillows 2 as an Wizard and Cipher. Vastly different experience. I didn't liked Pillows 2 as Wizard but liked as a Psion/Cipher.

Jason Liang said:

Final Fantasy Legend

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Googled in images.

MC has a spike hair and a sword.
Hard pass.

IDK why this JRPG's hate so much character creators...

Fedora Master said:

Stop sperging about magic.

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Why? It is fun.