Product Description: Think You Know Everything about Psionics? Think Again.
In ages past, those who wielded psionic power were ignored. Then, as folk witnessed firsthand their strange abilities, they were scorned and treated like outcasts. Over time, they have carved niches for themselves in society. Now you can rub shoulders with them at the local inn, trade with them in the bustling streets, and follow them on some great adventure. Psionic characters are everywhere, and your world is all the better for it.
This companion to Expanded Psionics Handbook builds on the existing psionics rules and presents exciting new options for psionic characters and psionic “dabblers.” In addition to clarifying concepts introduced in Expanded Psionics Handbook, it presents three new standard classes–the ardent, the erudite, and the lurk–plus a host of new prestige classes, feats, spells, magic items, astral constructs, and organizations.
For use with these Dungeons & Dragons® core books Player’s Handbook™ Dungeon Master’s Guide™ Monster Manual™ Expanded Psionics Handbook™
Not so complete... When I purchased the book titled "Complete Psionic" I believed I was getting a product that covered the entirety of the psionics subject. Not exactly. The material contained within is a valuable source for any gamer looking to play a psionic character; however, please note that if you do purchase this product you must also purchase "Expanded Psionic Handbook" as this book makes continual references to that book (EPH) and you will find that you only have half the information you need to complete your character. While I do not fault the publisher for needing to create more books to ensure continued profit (that is the purpose of business afterall) perhaps naming a book "complete" when it contains only half the information needed is a tad misleading. Regardless, when both books are paired together you will find you have a superb resource to complete a myriad of psionic character types to flush out your DnD adventure.
Not all bad, not all good. It depends on your tastes First off, this is a love-hate book. Before you buy it, I suggest you try to find a copy at a place like Borders and flip through it to see if you're interested. Second, please remember that you MUST have The Expanded Psionics Handbook ( Expanded Psionics Handbook (Dungeons & Dragons Supplement) ) to utilize this volume.
Onto business. First off, the new base classes are awesome. I have played both the Lurk and the Ardent, and they're fantastic classes. The Ardent class is not only well-balanced, it makes sense in role play (a psionic that has devoted him/herself to a particular set of 'truths,' and those truths grant them psionic powers). The Lurk is the psionic form of a rogue/[...] mix, and is intriguing to play. While I have never played an erudite, it class appears to be balanced and well-written. I was, however, dissapointed with the prestige classes. The prestige class for Shapers is absolutely useless, and the Storm Disciple is wasted potential. It could have been a lot cooler than it is. There is another problem in that there are very few feats, if any, that expand the options of the new classes introduced.
As for feats, I am a fan of Elemental Stewards (which allows you to have an elemental companion instead of a psicrystal), but they are kind of out of place. Why a psionic would have a particular type of elemental following them around seems a little off unless it fits racially. The better option would have been to make some sort of psionic familiar template. Most of the feats somehow grant you extra power points per day, and there is an irritatingly long list of racial feats. The Illithid racial feats (and prestige classes) belonged in Lords of Madness, not this book.
However, the new monsters are really neat, and the feats that allow you to enhance your astral constructs are cool. What wasn't cool was their attempt to down-power astral constructs, but that can easily be dealt with by, well, ignoring it. The fact that this book didn't address psionic golems at all also irked me, as the EPH didn't either.
In the end, it's well worth having this book if you're looking for a couple new options for your psionic characters or looking for some slightly different base classes.
Complete Psionics The book lacks a little concerning the new classes, but greatly expandes the area of racial feats and psionic powers. If you enjoy playing a psionic class, this book is a great item to add to your collection.
LOTS OF USEFUL INFORMATION Even going back to my ancient days of AD&D in the late 1970's, the use of psionics has always been controversial. If you were somehow lucky enough to roll the percentile dice to have psionics you loved it...otherwise everyone else hated it. Now imagine 25 years later when a Psionic is its own class with sub-classes and prestige classes...my how times have changed! The Complete Psionic builds upon the Expanded Psionics handbook with new rules and classes and fleshes out a long misunderstood character and does so with intelligence and ingenuity.
The book presents the new Ardent, Divine Mind, and Lurk classes as well as a variant to the existing Psion class called the Erudite. The Ardent is perhaps the most complex and difficult to understand, as the class will follow particular principles and philosophies that will determine the powers the class receives. The class pursues various "mantles" that best represent themselves and their personalities and views on life. The Divine Mind is kind of a psionic holy warrior who is the champion of his chosen deity. The book has comprehensive listings from deities from the Players Handbook, Forgotten Realms, and Eberron settings. The Lurk is somewhat of a psionic assassin, but not necessarily evil, as the class can be good and use its powers to battle evil.
There are eight new Prestige classes and the most intriguing is probably the Flayerspawn Psychic. This class sacrifices their own humanity for the thirst for power and giving into the power of the mindflayer, eventually undergoing physical changes that makes the character take on the appearance of those deadly psionic creatures. Then there is the Storm Disciple who has the power to command the elements of nature and direct them in combat with deadly powers like Shocking Awe and Thunder Blade.
If you're a fanatic for feats then Complete Psionic is a veritable bounty...almost one hundred new feats are included in the book. Chapter four features all the reference material you will need to make use of the classes in this book including all of the various powers, mantles, psionic magic items and creatures. Chapter Five introduces dozens of new psionic monsters including psionic constructs and rules to create a Spectral Savant.
Like so many of the new Dungeons & Dragons hardcover supplements it may border a bit on overkill, but if you're into the Psionic class there is so much that is useful in here that it's definitely a must-have item for use in your campaign.
Reviewed by Tim Janson
No reason for this book to exist... D&D/WOTC/Hasbro keep releasing 1 useless book after another. Here's the formula: reprint half old stuff from the old book, reprint stuff from Dragon/Dungeon/modules etc, add 30 pages of new garbage, repeat in 3 years...Psionics handbook 2001, Expanded Psionics handbook 2004, Complete Psionics 2006. Manual of the Planes and the Planar handbook...Complete Arcane, Complete Mage, etc, etc...
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
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