Expanded Psionics Handbook

Rating:
Summary: Why would you bother?
Review: A bland bit of homogenising tat, dumbed down so as to avoid confusing people with things like variety.

The writers clearly have given up on trying to conceptualise Psions, and instead have decided Psions are just like Wizards. I would list the similarities, but they are too numerous to mention and pretty obvious on reading.

The new rules are not an expansion, by the way, but a complete rewrite of the system and deeply incompatible with 3.0. Basically you will have to gut your characters and write them from scratch if your DM will allow you. But beware...in order to gain user acceptance for this process, Wizards have introduced a range of new options for characters (new powers, more power points, augmentation and over channeling) that are nothing more than buggy bribes for the players. In many cases players will find their DMs refusing to let 3.5 psions in the game on the grounds they are seriously unbalanced.

Additionally the book a filled, and I mean filled with typos, inconsistant rules and errors that make you wonder whether Wizards of The Coast actually bothered to proof read or test play these rules whatsoever.

So, frankly, dont waste your money. Wizard of the Coast will undoubtedly change it all in DnD v.4 and you might as well wait until then.

Rating:
Summary: Don't bother unless you enjoy playing Psionicists.
Review: After reading this book, I'd have to say that it was formatted well, and it is well-written. However, the book makes psionics so much like magic that in my opinion it's a waste of money to buy unless you're devoted to Psionics.

While reading the book, it struck me how TSR really simplified psionics to the point that it's not really different than magic. Sure, there's a few cool classes like "Soulknife" that kinda give a "Jedi" feeling to the psionicists, but I miss the psionic combat, the point system that you had to supply continuously each round to maintain a power, and the way that every Psionic class had a "major" psionic affiliation (clairvoyance, telepathy, psychoportation, etc.) -- not just the Psion class. Everything "different" about psionics has pretty much been wiped out.

Psionic combat was always a problem. I played Dark Sun for years, and the issue was that in psionic combat with a psionicist or non-psionicist, the psionicist would always win. So either everyone had to be psionic, or the DM had to somehow level the playing field. Making psionics more like magic was TSR's way
of fixing the problem (and it does resolve combat issues), but now Psionics seem as bland as milquetoast, and I can see DM's dismissing psionics because they have nothing interesting to offer, and thus not worth reading about.

I also thought it funny that they made special mentions of races in the book. The half giants (which came from Dark Sun, and are supposed to be LARGE creatures) are nice, and so are the Thrikreen, but really, if psionics are supposed to be available to all races, WHY BOTHER? Two of the races seemed to be made up
just for this book, and seemed irrelevant to psionics at all. So they have a few extra power points -- who cares? They seem gimicky to me.

As I said, overall TSR did a good job writting psionic rules and formatting the book. But frankly I thought that it made clarifications at the expense of homogenizing psionics so it's not that interesting to learn. Learning to play D&D well takes some study -- so why would players waste their time on something that is nearly identical to magic, and doesn't provide any real return?

Rating:
Summary: Could have been something wonderful...
Review: But instead they flopped. The original 3e Psionic's Handbook was itself so poorly conceptualized and assembled that most people completely abandoned it. But there was potential. Perhapse a few tweaks, or maybe they should have gone back to square one. But what they have done with the EPH is slash and burn through all the elements that actually made its predecessor interesting.
1. Psionic combat was completely eliminated. Not so much as a "Behind the Curtain" to explain why. They just pretended it never existed. Sure, it was broken and complicated, but it could have been salvaged with a little thought.
2. A bunch of pointless prestige classes that should have been eliminated were carried over. There wasn't even much thought to it. For example, with the revised advancement table for PSPs, there is no reason anybody --ANYBODY-- should ever choose to take levels in Meta-mind.
3. What the hell happened to reserve point feats? Anyone?
4. Before, psionics was little more than an alternative magic system. Now, it's NOTHING more than an alternative magic system, and an overpowered one at that. If psionics is ever going to cohabitate with magic, there need to be clear boundaries to determine the distinct encompass of each system, with minimal overlapping. There is a psionic manifestation counterpart to virtually every magic spell in the PHB. Why? Further, is there any reason there should be a spells that provide effects that are clearly the domain of psionics (ESP, Suggestion)? PLEASE: Give each paradigm its own distinct powers and limitations.
There were, in fact, only two points of light in this dismal publishing blunder: the transformation of the Psi-Blade from a prestige class into a core-class, and the addition of psionic races. The latter were, for the most part, either reprinted from other sources (can we say Savage Species?), updates from 2nd edition races (can we say Dark Sun?), or entirely unimaginative "new" races. Oh, well. I guess we'll take what we can get. The addition of ECLs and other playable-race info for some of the "monsters" was nice, or would have been if they had bothered to be consistent in the editing (does a Blue have a +1 ECL, or not?!?!) and, of course, had they not neutered some of the already underpowered races.
Is it just me, or is Wizards putting out a consistent series of crap these days? Between Expanded Psionics, Complete Divine, Player's Guide to Faerun, Book of Exalted Deeds and Unearthed Arcana (god, can they at least stop at ripping off their OWN contributing writers/designers?) They've done their best to simultaneously dumb-down the game for idiots, unbalance the game for power-gamers and break the system to the detriment to everyone.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect? No. But much better than before.
Review: First of all, the only reason why this book got a 4 is for the fact that anyone who's already bought the old 3rd ed. Psionics handbook will be a little peeved to see that much of the material from this book is either adapted or straight up copied from the last version.
However, I will saty that the majority of the material is made up of new and improved stuuf, and that there is no question about the psionic classes becoming truly viable for what i would say to be the first time. Specifically, the number of powers, their comparability to wizr/dru/clr/pal/etc spells of old and class balance issues have been straigteneed out significantly, with the psion actually managing to compete with the walking artillery of old in terms of sheer power and usefulness. Also, the book has MUCH more material overall - it weighs in at 224 pages, quite comparable to, say, the players handbook.
There is very little wasted space, as inside are multiple base classes, any number of prestige classes (lets just say roughly equal to that of the Book Of Vile Darkness, and nearly equal to the Dungeon Master's Guide), as well as a huge psionic power list, dozens of creatures and races, an expanded DM help section, and so on and so forth. Impressive to say the least. Finally, for better or worse, they've gotten rid of psionic combat, which was an unbalanced, confusing but also very interesting aspect of the last Psionics Handbook.
Overall, I'd say that the book is well worth buying,(and the local gaming group agrees), even if just to upgrade, as the material contained within is more than capable of making psionics a much more viable and wothwhile campaign and character building option.
Oh, and as to the earlier posted comment about problems with the wilder class - remember, wilders are quite capable of becoming incredibly powerful, if carefully built. However, they are certainly a challenge to play. But the ability to channel an unlimited number of power points into their various powers makes tham absolute weapons of war, capable of dishing out hundreds of points of damage in a single round, but at a high cost in terms of total powers known. Just read the example given along with the overchannel ability and, say, apply it to a character with lots and lots of spare power points (10+ level) and a particular, say, astral deva, whose various immunities and high spell resistance will do her no good against a super-high DC energy attack. Yowza.

Rating:
Summary: Expanded Psionics with 3.5
Review: Having played the D&D/AD&D game from first edition to the current 3.5 has been a challenge to say the least. Especially trying to integrate psionics into any campaign without upsetting the balance. First and 2nd edition the Psionics rules were mostly an afterthought with very little explaining how they fit into the game. Hence, most DM's didn't use psionics as they were just too powerful. With the revision of 3.0 we finally got a "Psionics" rulebook with detailed explanations on how they fit into campaigns. But the rules left some holes and players exploited these oversights. With the release of the "Expanded Psionics Handbook" a psionic character is now as balanced as any of the other character types and is just as valuable in a party as even the stoutest "Fighter" class or as powerful and as fragile as a Wizard/Sorcerer. This book is a "Must Have" for players and DM's alike if you wish to add versatility to a campaign and to character classes. The only class I was dissappointed in playing was the "Soulknife" untill I cross classed the Soulknife with Eberrons Artificer. With that meld the Soulknife is just as fun to play as any specialized melee type with a little "Magic" thrown in to enhance the soulknifes blade. Thumbs-Up to this book!

Rating:
Summary: Open Bin, Insert Book
Review: I have yet to see a less balanced addition to a rules system ever... I have suspended the use of psionics in my campaign until i have had the opportunity to bring the rule into balance with the power level of the magic system. Gm's and Players acquire these books with the hope that they will provide balanced alternative class ideas, and rules that can easily be incorporated into an existing campaign. Sadly this is not the case and the book misses the mark by a wide margin.

The most impressive feature of this publication is the hard glossy cover which i have found makes an excellent coffee matt. To get maximum value from this book dont buy it at all. Better yet find a freshly painted wall and watch paint dry over the course of a few hours, this is time well spent when considered against the poor alternative of reading this book.

Rating:
Summary: They don't expect us to swallow this tripe do they?...
Review: I swear, the people that Wizards have been using to write their books for about the past year are just awful; not only conceptually but mechanically as well. They had a great system going during 3.0 and as far as I can see in 3.5, most everything has been just awful. This is especially true for Psionics, as this book has just destroyed anything and everything that made them a unique and interesting set of classes to play.

So let's go through this all. Okay, yes there are some new races-Is this needed? "Can't anyone be psionic? OK! So then what does it matter!" Not only that, but the races were published in the System Resource Document for FREE on the Wizards website! Um, so why would I buy this book to get them exactly?

I must exclaim; "What did you do to Psions!?" You've taken a very dynamic, unique class and homogenized them to that of...some sort of strange (specialized) wizard-sorceror-something hybrid chimera-awful. So in addition to just giving the Psion one prime ability like a wizard, I have to chose a prime discipline and can't get the uber powers from any of the others without spending my precious, precious feats to do so? So I'm like some sort of specialized Wizard? No wait, even specialized wizards have access to all but, what two, three schools? So now Psions are at best half as good as any other spellcaster. Granted, the old system was somewhat restrictive as far as gaining higher level powers for multiple disciplines, but if you had even marginal stats you could still have all the tasty lower ones. Additionally it gave you an excellent concept class of having a Strong, or Tough, or Agile or whatever Spellcaster. Psions were really the opening into a beautiful world of character options. This was also a great balancing factor with respect to the free reign of manifestation of powers of different levels. If you still had a problem with the system then with just a bit of imagination you could've remedied the situation yourself-for instance if you'd like to go down the feat option already opened up-then make a feat that gives you a "Virtual" bonus on the stat(s) in question with respect to being able to manifest a power of a given discipline of a given level. No, they merely scrapped the concept and tried to make up for it by giving them lots of extra power points! Nice bribe there, but I still can't manifest too many good powers-but now I can manifest more than pretty much any other class! Making me have to take a feat for my nearly-inert familiar is just kicking me when I'm down.

Though I will say that giving Psychic Warriors bonus power points is a good idea (though it hurts them at lower levels) but why is their stat different than it is for Psions? It should just be the player's choice like it was for Psions in 3.0.

The tendency for the new writers to make all sorts of non-sense, non-base class base classes is overwhelming. I don't care what you say; these things aren't base classes, period. The Soulknife was a great Prestige Class in 3.0. It makes an awful non-base class in 3.5.

Ah yes, Psionic Focus. One of the dumbest ideas I've ever seen come out of much anything, including 3.5! So now that we've already messed up Psions, let's make them half as effective as they already are why don't we? So now they get penalized even worse than sorcerors do for suing metapsionic feats but its going to affect some of their basic manifesting and feat use too! Psionic focus cripples low level players with its high DC but it's a severe handicap to overcome throughout the character's whole career. Psychic warriors are now often half as effective as any other fighting class. Why bother taking Psionic feats if they're made almost worthless through Psionic Focus? Yes, many psionic feats were very powerful but they were super-ordinary to begin with! They aren't unfair as anyone could pick up a level of psychic-something or other to get them and then could only use them if they kept going down that route. If not everyone could be a psychic-something or other and psionics were something special then the feats reflect that none-the-less. Psychic Focus was just a purely awful idea.

Yes, psionic combat was complex, yes it was weird, but so is the whole class idea! If you don't want the weird psionics as something special then there are plenty of other spell-users out there to choose from! Yes, they were rather worthless, except for Mind Blast, in campaigns with magic in addition to psionics (low psionic campaigns)-so take the combat modes out for that specific campaign! Give the Psion bonus feats like a Wizard perhaps and just leave them out for the Warrior. Simple as pie.

What this book should have been, and it would have been glorious, is all of the web resources recompiled in addition to the 3.0 Psionics Handbook. I would've paid extra for the overwhelming convenience of having them all in one place. Energy Centers, new feats, powers, items, combat modes, creatures, prestige classes. It would have been a book worth buying.

If you want a huge book on just another spellcaster then this book is for you. If you want an actual unique, diverse, and interesting class then pick up an old 3.0 Psionics Handbook and get the free web resources.


Rating:
Summary: Tons of Fun
Review: I'd have given this book five stars, if it had been editted a bit better. If you can overlook occasional errors, misspellings, and similar problems what you have left is brilliant. It's filled with ideas, and is fun to read an to play with. Any rpg supplement that inspires me to draw up three new characters within a week of reading it is a great buy in my opinion.

I'm just waiting for a chance to start a campaign with my half giant psychic warrior, possibly set on Eberron...

Rating:
Summary: Turning AD&D Player Characters into Madame Cleos
Review: I've read reviews about how this book is a simple rehashing of the original Psionic's Handbook and how its a bad thing. Of course, we can't forget the exact title of the book is the 'EXPANDED Psionics Handbook', and that is indeed what it is: expanded.

The expansion of the book is readily apparent inside the first couple pages with the addition of the psionic races, of which I like save the Half-Giants. To me, they needed a quick race to fill their quota and so they chose a race that had absolutely no reason to be psionic other than "Oh, we say so."

They've done away with the psionic combat system, which I'm not sure is a good thing or not. I do agree that the developers and R&D experts could have come up with a better fix than nixing the entire system, but I guess it was what they felt was right to do.

I didn't appreciate the simple transition between the spells in the player's handbook into powers in the EPHB though. When I first received this book, I had high hopes that it could stand alone and apart from the original Players Handbook

All in all, this book gives you better options and a better type of feel for the psionic system. They did sell out a bit to the public demand for "ultra-high powered matrix and Dragon Ball Z moves" though. Eg. Temporal Acceleration (Bullet time} and Fusion (Fusion from DBZ/GT).

I do have to stand by the fact that it is a better written (minus a few typos) and better put together piece of work, but it is by no means the greatest, most difinitive work that Wizards of the Coast has put out. To a Dungeon Master that constantly changes the rules around and works them to suit his needs, this book works well as a good template for types of psionic invention.

My advice:
-If you're a hardcore psionic player or a DM that wants to expand into that realm, but don't want to pay the full price, buy a decent used book.
-If you don't play with psionics/incorporate them into the game, then don't honestly buy the book unless you really want it. Trust me, you won't lose a lot of sleep during the night due to the fact that you DIDN'T buy this book.

I recommend it with four stars due to a couple typos that I've found throughout the book. The artwork is good and the rules, while a little bleh, are still sound and they're nothing that a little free time and an inventive DM cannot fix.

Rating:
Summary: A bit off-balanced with augmentations
Review: If you don't like the standard D&D arcane magic system, this should give you a good start on a good alternative. That's how I'm using it. I don't think that this is really a finished product, nor is it power-compatible with existing campaigns -- there are several clear mistakes (see the Soul Knife's "Knife to the Soul" ability and the Elocater's minimum base attack bonus compared to the "Spring Attack" feat prerequisite) and the power scale (for the Kineticist, especially) is grossly out of proportion to a conventional artillery sorceror.

Consider: at 8th level, a well-crafted talented overchannelling with Psionic Meditation and such Kineticist using Energy Missile can drop 10d6 or more points of cold, fire, electric or sonic -- psion's choice at manifesting time -- damage each on up to 5 foes in a 15' spread at 200' with a minimum reflex -- or fortitude if using frost -- save of probably at least 24, more if using electricity on armored folks -- but it takes a full round and requires rolling a concentration check of 2... oh bummer. A comparable sorceror would have to spend all of their feats just getting to the point where they could choose the type of energy to use -- with no special benefits -- and they'd still have both lower DC and damage.

With the exception of the base Psion class, most of the new races and new base classes are kind of boring -- the Wilder, for example, which should be a nifty counterpoint to the Psion, only gets 1/3rd the powers known of the Psion's already limited learnings making the poor Wilder a real one-trick pony. The "Psionics is or isn't magic and does or doesn't behave the same way" is gone over to an annoying degree -- and is counterpointed by the Cerebremancer prestige class that combines Arcane casting and Psionics -- feh. Fortunately, the other Prestige classes are generally more interesting (excepting the Flayer Slayer which should've only been 5 levels). Psionic items are nothing too special. I haven't had much call to look at the creatures yet, but they look passable in a high-psionics game.

So if you're a player looking to build a roving psionic death machine, this is a good book (and the Psion Kineticist is a great class). If you're a DM looking to replace some of your casting classes because you've never liked how they worked in the first place, this is a good book. Myself, I'm looking to replace arcane casting with a slightly toned down set of psionics so that roving level 8 kineticist death-machines don't slaughter all of my PCs.