I don't like that the plot is all about illithids (boring)
Mind Flayers are the hook, but its a full on brawl between supernatural factions by the end. You get a healthy number of gods, devils, and undead monsters all piling in.
I don't really see the need to make psionics its own thing when you already have the eight schools of magic and plenty of overlap.
I don't mind psionics as flavor, broadly speaking. Giant floating brains that get Detect Thought and Telekinesis at will and squid monster mad scientists with high level divination/enchantment spell lists that feast on your grey matter are as legit fantasy tropes as goblins or vampires or oozes.
Early on, it was also a way for That Guys in D&D groups to get really mad and demand rerolls until they got the "wild talent" unlock confirmed for their templates, or else they deliberately get killed off to try again.
Things get a lot better when That Guys are banished, but a lot of nascent DMs have a "include everyone interested in playing no matter what" policy that actually drives non That Guys away over time.
I mean, a lot of the time its just how the DM runs the game. They make it a meat grinder and the players go in expecting a meat grinder, so you get a full table of That Guys because... otherwise your character gets turned to paste inside the first ten minutes of the game.
I remember the RPGA in college and it absolutely minted "That Guy" players because so many of the DMs were just in it to collect scalps.
I contend that That Guys either exist without the need for such DMs or such DMs had already minted them at a cultural/playerbase level and spread from there.
It could go either way. Some of the earliest DMs were douchebags like Gary Gygax who did see the game as some slaughterfest designed to kill player characters for his own amusement, and encouraged cruelty and metagaming to overcome his whims, such as (CW: slavery, murder)
spoiler
the party enslaving "born evil" goblinoid tribes and forcing them to run the Tomb of Horrors gauntlet to die in every possible way to clear a path to the end.
The most iconic “monsters” in dnd are gonna be Dragons, which aren’t really dnd exclusive in any way, mind flayers, and beholders. There’s no way we weren’t getting at least one of those last two to play a big part. They’re just too great of designs not to be used.
Yeah mind flayers suck, and it sucks that anything involving the underdark has to so heavily involve them. Give me more svirfnebli if we must go to the fucking underdark
(I've never played Baldur's Gate 3 so I have no idea whether we get svirfneblin action but I have read R.A. Salvatore's books and this reminded me to rant about it)
It sucks how pretty much every D&D game post Baldur's Gate 1 had an annoying mandatory detour/speed bump into the Underdark for more dae le sexy sex elves and their oh so DAE LE EPIC LOVECRAFT AMIRITE mind flayer associates.
I wanted Icewind Dale to be more druidy and rangery and forests and snow and that sort of vibe, but nope, into the Underdark we go. Again.
idk I played some starfield and I watched my gf play the harry potter game and it doesn't seem much better
baldurs gate 3 tho seems pretty great, but I don't like that the plot is all about illithids (boring)
Just install a mod to replace all mind flayers with mine flails
This really has no right being this funny
Mind Flayers are the hook, but its a full on brawl between supernatural factions by the end. You get a healthy number of gods, devils, and undead monsters all piling in.
But mostly curving back around to illithids, especially in the final plot beats.
i think "psionics" in a magic fantasy setting doesn't fit
I don't really see the need to make psionics its own thing when you already have the eight schools of magic and plenty of overlap.
I don't mind psionics as flavor, broadly speaking. Giant floating brains that get Detect Thought and Telekinesis at will and squid monster mad scientists with high level divination/enchantment spell lists that feast on your grey matter are as legit fantasy tropes as goblins or vampires or oozes.
In earlier editions of D&D, psionics mostly ignored magical effects and didn't interact with them and even bypassed magical resistances.
I'm glad that is no longer the case, but it used to be some bullshit power fantasy nonsense.
2e was silly for a lot of reasons.
I believe by 3e, it was generally just "Magic with Power Points" and a few incredibly janky spells/effects that made Psionics annoyingly overpowered.
Early on, it was also a way for That Guys in D&D groups to get really mad and demand rerolls until they got the "wild talent" unlock confirmed for their templates, or else they deliberately get killed off to try again.
Love when D&D isn't about telling a cool story but about beating the DM to death with a bag full of dice.
Things get a lot better when That Guys are banished, but a lot of nascent DMs have a "include everyone interested in playing no matter what" policy that actually drives non That Guys away over time.
I mean, a lot of the time its just how the DM runs the game. They make it a meat grinder and the players go in expecting a meat grinder, so you get a full table of That Guys because... otherwise your character gets turned to paste inside the first ten minutes of the game.
I remember the RPGA in college and it absolutely minted "That Guy" players because so many of the DMs were just in it to collect scalps.
I contend that That Guys either exist without the need for such DMs or such DMs had already minted them at a cultural/playerbase level and spread from there.
It could go either way. Some of the earliest DMs were douchebags like Gary Gygax who did see the game as some slaughterfest designed to kill player characters for his own amusement, and encouraged cruelty and metagaming to overcome his whims, such as (CW: slavery, murder)
spoiler
the party enslaving "born evil" goblinoid tribes and forcing them to run the Tomb of Horrors gauntlet to die in every possible way to clear a path to the end.
Don't worry, there's nothing psionic about these mind flayers.
I don't like psionics much either but they've been in D&D for about four decades now so they're seen as traditional.
The most iconic “monsters” in dnd are gonna be Dragons, which aren’t really dnd exclusive in any way, mind flayers, and beholders. There’s no way we weren’t getting at least one of those last two to play a big part. They’re just too great of designs not to be used.
Anti-calamari discrimination
Yeah mind flayers suck, and it sucks that anything involving the underdark has to so heavily involve them. Give me more svirfnebli if we must go to the fucking underdark
(I've never played Baldur's Gate 3 so I have no idea whether we get svirfneblin action but I have read R.A. Salvatore's books and this reminded me to rant about it)
My character's guardian is a svirfneblin! She has both of her hands, though, so no bivrip
action.
It sucks how pretty much every D&D game post Baldur's Gate 1 had an annoying mandatory detour/speed bump into the Underdark for more dae le sexy sex
elves and their oh so DAE LE EPIC LOVECRAFT AMIRITE mind flayer associates.
I wanted Icewind Dale to be more druidy and rangery and forests and snow and that sort of vibe, but nope, into the Underdark we go. Again.
The speedrun Strat of BG3 completely skips the underdark, btw.
There's 2 methods in to act 2, above ground or underground, above ground is a lot quicker.
On the other hand, you can kill slave owners in the UD. Like a whole town of slave owners.
I don't mind the Underdark as much as I'm tired of Illithid gimmicks, and those are very unavoidable.
It is extremely good. Unfortunately I was almost to act 3 when starfield pulled me in for the foreseeable future