Dark Sun 2e Psionics: Which Books Work Together?
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The 1995 Dark Sun box supplies a complete psionics booklet. Separate its revised mental combat from Complete Psionics Handbook rules and older powers.
Choose the psionics system before choosing the supplements. Dark Sun's original AD&D 2e material uses the Complete Psionics Handbook framework. The 1995 revised box supplies a different framework in The Way of the Psionicist. Both use psionic strength points, so the presence of a PSP total does not identify which rules a character uses.
Two resolution systems under the same edition
In the original system, a power has a power score used for its activation check. The revised approach introduces Mental Armor Class and mental attack rolls. A character's old power score is therefore not a ready-made MAC value. Skills & Powers, chapter 9, introduces the revised approach; the chapter introduction explains its relationship to earlier psionics.
| Book or set | Starting role | Use across the boundary |
|---|---|---|
| The Complete Psionics Handbook TSR 2117 | Original AD&D 2e psionics framework. | Use it as the selected alternative system, or convert additional powers for revised play. |
| Dark Sun Campaign Setting, 1991 TSR 2400 | Original setting rules and Athasian context. | Its date does not make old psionic statistics plug directly into revised mental combat. |
| The Will and the Way, 1994 TSR 2431 | Expansion for the Complete Psionics Handbook. | Read mechanical additions against your chosen revised rules before importing them. |
| Skills & Powers, 1995 TSR 2154 | Revised psionics alongside wider character options. | Owning it does not require using its other character-creation systems. |
| Dark Sun Expanded and Revised, 1995 TSR 2438 | The Way of the Psionicist provides the revised setting's psionics rules. | Its power summary supplies new costs and MACs when importing applicable older powers. |
The revised setting's psionicist section permits the Complete Psionics Handbook as an alternative, or as a source of additional powers.
For the latter, it directs the DM to the revised summary's costs and MACs. Those are two different permissions: retain the old system, or bring powers into the new one. They do not authorize resolving the same power with whichever procedure looks more favorable that round.
What belongs in a minimum library
For original-system play, keep the Complete Psionics Handbook with the original setting rules. Add The Will and the Way if you want its character options or expanded power selection. Athas.org's publisher-description record identifies it as a companion volume to the Handbook and notes that its material can also serve other AD&D campaigns. For revised-system play, the 1995 box contains the 32-page Way of the Psionicist. The official Dark Sun site's product record describes this as a complete-in-the-set system. You do not need Skills & Powers merely to obtain that booklet's psionics framework. Keep the wider AD&D core rules available in either case.
The publication order helps explain the boundary: The Will and the Way predates the revised box. Its Athasian organizations and character concepts can inspire either campaign, but a mechanical procedure deserves a separate compatibility check. Setting usefulness and unchanged rules compatibility are different questions.
A conversion worksheet for an older power
Before an older power enters revised play, make a record with the following fields. This worksheet is a preparation aid, not a new conversion formula.
- The power's exact name and source, including the printing if you have a disputed version.
- The revised cost and MAC from the applicable summary, with its page reference.
- Any duration or maintenance requirement, checked against the rule you will use.
- The outcome of success and failure, including any exceptional result from the older text that needs an explicit decision.
If a power is absent from the summary, do not invent a numerical conversion from its old power score. Hold that power out of the approved list until the DM has written a ruling. Test the ruling with one ordinary use and one opposed use before putting it on several character sheets.
Keep existing characters on one procedure
For an ongoing campaign, list which psionicist and wild-talent rules the group already uses. An older adventure's NPC may require conversion even if every player has a revised character sheet. Read the NPC's power descriptions as well as its point total.
The Player's Option dependency guide covers the other books in that line. Changing psionics alone is already a rules decision; it need not become a simultaneous rewrite of race, class and proficiency creation.
Sources and scope
Primary text: Skills & Powers, chapter 9; Dark Sun Expanded and Revised, The Age of Heroes, psionicist section. Product descriptions: the linked Athas.org records and TSR Archive cards. No numerical homebrew conversion or claim of playtested balance is supplied.