Overview

You've made some good points. In general, magic affects magic and psionics affect psionics, but there are going to be some spells that were specifically designed to affect psionic powers, and vice versa. Both the 'Creature Evolution' and 'Specialty Spells and Powers' rules are in effect: for those of you without the EPH, this means that everyone gains Detect Psionics as a 2nd level arcane spell, and Negate Psionics as a 5th level arcane spell. In general, I'm saying that we're going full Psionics is Different. The only exception revolves around Mind-Effecting Spells and Powers, where there is significant overlap. We'll be going with the diminished ruling here (for those of you playing elves without the EPH, you gain +1 to resist psionic enchantments, as opposed to +2 to resist arcane enchantments), although there are case by case instances where they overlap more strongly. For example, Mind Blank is a spell that totally protects the target's mind, even against the powerful Wish spell; for this reason, it also protects against psionics, and indeed any mind-affecting effect. Psionics function within an antimagic field, just as magic functions within an antipsionic field. Wild Magic regions are simply called that for brevity's sake, however, and similarly affect psionics. You are correct that neither globe of invulnerability nor spell immunity protect against psionics

OK, so be it, but what does this mean: "counterable in its own way"? Are you simply referring to psionic powers as countering psionic powers? Some further clarification here would be helpful. Are we going full "Psionics is Different" variant from the EPH pg.65, or some diminished effect version? How about the Specialty Spells and Powers? To be clear, just to name a drop in the bucket, mindblank - doesn't block psionics (or is psionics in this case considered an "effect"?), antimagic field - doesn't block psionics, globe of invulnerability - doesn't block psionics, spell immunity - doesn't block psionics, innate or granted spell resistance - doesn't block psionics... Realize this would work both ways, but given the 9th level arcane spells limitation, a psion is going to have powerful magic in their hands as well, no straight psions here. Just want to establish the limits and interactions, since there are no spells that grant PR or explicitly block psionics and therefore no real arcane defense against them save very carefully worded limited wish and wish spells.

Sorry folks, things got pretty busy for a while there. I'll get back on answering questions now. I'm definitely planning on making another round after this one, so people can come up with new ideas, attempt things that didn't necessarily work the first time round, and also give another chance to anyone who dies early. That's probably going to be a ways off yet, 'cause I think this round is probably going to take a long time, but something to keep in mind incase any of you get inspired. Concerning Extra Spell, I see no need for this to be limited to your class' spell list. With 25 levels to play with and prestige classes that advance two spell-types simultaneously, a feat that grants a single spell feels balanced. Likewise, spell research isn't limited to your class' spell list; in fact, Extra Spell is in effect a form of spell research with the caveat that it must be from a published spell. Go wild. But if you pick a spell that is intrinsically linked to a class you don't have (ie. commune when you aren't part of a specific deity's church) then we may end up having fun with that fact. Concerning Ignore Material Components, typically the easy way to know if auto-progression happens is if they keep the same name (ie. Improved Trip -> Greater Trip, Cleave -> Great Cleave), which prevents similar but not exact feats from progressing (ie. Weapon Specialisation -/> Weapon Mastery). However, Epic feats are kinda janky with their naming, so in this case I'll say EM auto-upgrades into IMC. Happy to field further questions about which epic feats qualify. Thank you to everyone that weighed in on the psionic discussion. I've decided to keep psionics non-transparent; they're an alternative but separate form of magic, potentially a boon to those that can use them but counterable in its own way. This is going to be a game of strategy, so introducing yet another element for everyone to play with/anticipate is only going to entertain me further. For this reason (and sorry to everyone who's plans this is about to throw a spanner into), I'm going to rule that 9th level psionic powers do not fall under the requirement of needing to be able to cast 9th level arcane magic, in the same way that divine magics fail to qualify. If you can wrangle your way into getting 9th level powers as well as 9th level arcane spells, that's great, but you'll need the latter to be able to play. I also appreciate everyone suggesting the obvious answer to psi-point recovery that I completely overlooked. Points will regenerate x/hour where x is the lowest number used in a single go; when using powers, we'll have to keep track of them all and cross each off as its points recover. Before anyone asks, because I've differentiated between psionics and spells, both with regenerate concurrently; that is, in a single hour you can regenerate both lost psi-points and your lowest spent spellslot.

I don't know if there will be another round of Wizard Chess, but I think if there is, I will make a vanilla Wizard25

Two quick q's as I finally return to this: -Do you interpret the feat 'extra spell' (Complete Arcane, p79) as being able to grant access to a spell not on a character's spell list? E.g., could a wizard learn 'heal.' -Does eschew materials -> [epic] ignore material components fall into your 'automatic upgrade' category of feats?

Alright, Sorithar made some good points. I'm on board with the 'points return 1 hour after use', same as spell slots, with it just being based on total expenditure per instance rather than a fixed regeneration rate.

I’d vote transparency for a plethora of reasons, less to do with balance per se and more the Vancian magic system D&D is largely predicated on (though sorcerers in the 3rd edition are a sort of blend). But I’m not looking to digress this into a discussion over balance with psionics. As for the PP regeneration rate, while accepting psionics is less linear, I’m not sure why the homebrew system in the rules here wouldn’t just apply to psionics as well. If I understand it correctly: A wizard casts a 3rd level spell and then a 9th level spell. He gets a 3rd level spell slot an hour later. The player is responsible for tracking the spells used and the order they were used in. So if a psionicist uses a 3rd level power and then a 9th level power, should they not regain 5 PP after an hour and then 17 PP the following hour, player tracks powers and order? If the power is manifested with more PP, then that’s what he regains an hour later. Otherwise, if he’s regaining 17 PP per hour, he’s essentially regaining a 9th level spell slot every hour. Sure, he could use it to augment a lower level power instead, but the psion’s versatility still means he’s essentially regained a 9th level power every hour. This would be less of an issue if we were staring at a low level and building up, but this game starts with characters with possibly over 400 PP daily…

Non-transparancy is better. And I third a similar regeneration rate.

See, I would have leaned towards transparency, just to keep things kind of on the same footing between different players. I am not too worried about it either way, though; I do like the idea of psionics and magic having different mechanisms and working differently enough to not be transparent. I would say, to keep things fair, if someone wanted to play a Psionic based character I would be totally fine with 9th level powers counting as 9th level spells for the purposes of the game rules.

I believe non-transparency is better personally. Psionics have this mistaken identity as being more powerful than magic and often I've seen psionics only be powerful when dirty tricks are used. Probably best to allow replacement of psi points to happen at a similar rate to spell slots - enough points recovered per hour for the highest level power they can manifest? Considering how powers are used this could nerf psionics compared to spells though?

I'll be honest, I'm leaning more toward Psionics and Magic not being transparent to each other, following under the Psionics is Different ruling. However, I'd like to hear what everyone thinks on the topic; my rules and houserules are fairly well established through my previous and other games, but I've yet to have psionics appear, so if any of you use them you'll be the first trial. Likewise, I've been hmm'ing and ah'ing over Psi Points since I first decided to DM. Spellslots regenerate 1 per hour; SLA's remain 1 per day. I'd like psi points to slowly regenerate over the course of a day, but I can't for the life of me work out how to make that work; consider, a higher level character gains more points and can thus use them more often per day, but the progression isn't linear enough to simply increase regeneration speed as you gain levels. I've honestly been putting this off until it came up, so welcoming your thoughts on the matter.