Psychic vs Wizard CYOA - Overview

Team Psychics

Telekinesis: Pure combat role, limited local utility post-game (be a one man construction crew). Suffers from having no enhanced perception and needing concentration/effort, meaning they can be killed by either something undetected, something unblockable (gas, fire, eletricity, shockwaves...), or by overwhelming force (effort implies a limit).

Powerful: Low control eliminates most hopes of post-game utility, and either doesn't help or actively hinders defense. Rated F
Control: Gives a lot of useful tricks, boosts post-game utility a bit. Only boost combat if control sucked previously, which would make the other two perks useless. Rated C
Barriers: Helps against magic, but doesn't fix any other issue. Rated C

Overall rating C: Largely optional for the team, though a few will come in useful as bodyguards and bunker busters.

Mind Control: Indirect combat role. High selfish utility, which likely means the psychics will be 'kill on sight' for unpowered humans. Undefined limits to the range/ease of the commands may mean this is quite busted if usable through screens & speakers, making a rush strategy potentially viable. If limited to verbal commands, everything drops to F except Mind Reading, which drops to C. Suffers from having no enhanced perception nor defenses beyond hiding or using normal people, and offense limited to the abilities of ordinary humans. Also, the limit on 'stronger minds' implies the best targets for control (ie smart, competent professionals) will be hard to get, limiting controllers to mobs.

Illusions: Gives some combat utility against human opponents. Sadly, the most likely counters to a controller are traps, explosives and drones, who don't care. Rated B.
Mind Reading: Screens for false allies & false converts. Allows turning free people into loyal agents. Allows wizard identification, which is crucial. Rated A.
Brainwashing: Unlocks easier access to wizards (dangerous during the game, useless after), but also to soldiers, engineers etc. Very useful. Rated A.

Overall rating A: Core to the psychic gameplan, yet also their greatest diplomatic hindrance. Having no mental boosts for a class of rulers/officers is painful.

Precognition: Base ability only grants the ability to avoid danger, and may not even evade large traps that take more than a second to evade (such as a large bomb). Largely defined by its perk. No post-game utility.

Battle: Warrior-in-a-can. Useful in the short term, but will be limited by the user's physical condition. No post-game use beyond being a fighter. Rated B.
Enhance Cognition: High post-game utility, will most likely outperform Battle if given time to train. Limited by having only one body, and no innate ability to coordinate with the rest of the team. Rated B.
Probability: This seems useless, as it seems Enhance Cognition does everything it does, but better. Rated F.

Overall rating B: If controllers didn't exist, EnCogs would bring some solid diplomacy to the psychic side (with the caveat that being super smart isn't really that popular with people in power). Here, however, they find themselves limited to a role of advisers, coordinators & bodyguards for a faction that suffers grievously from lack of coordination. EnCogs biggest downside is that their optimal use is to be a controller's tard wrangler both during and after the game, which doesn't seem like a great life. Battle brings an early game edge to the faction that would work well with the controller rush.

Psychics faction rating B: Everything, both good and bad, revolves around the controllers: they form and control the faction's power, they decide (against) diplomacy, they (and EnCogs) operate strategically where telekines and precogs are largely tactical, they lack defenses against diviners, they lack means of coordination beyond a few enlightened tardwranglers, which also means they won't all make optimal moves. Also, it bears mentionning that the type of people who'll pick controller are probably not the kindest nor the most socially adjusted. They do have explosive growth, which pushes the rush strat for psychics. The existence of the controllers is also a strong argument against the existence of a world where the wizards are defeated, to the point that psychics might struggle with infighting, even if betrayal is forbidden. In particular, EnCogs may have a change of heart after gaining their intelligence, which is a major threat considering their role.

Team Wizards
Elements: Very versatile, high post-game utility in many sectors. Not amazing soldiers, but can work as artillery & combat engineers if protected. Their existence will help diplomacy with unpowered humans.

Expanded Arsenal: Seems like the default choice. Expands all capabilities without really fixing any flaw. Rated B.
Synergy: Seems like a limited version of Expanded Arsenal. Rated F.
Specialist: Limited to an artillery role, except for earth, which can build things. Rated C.

Overall rating B: Like telekines, largely optional for their faction. However, they have larger utility, making them a slightly superior argument for the post-game, and can quickly fashion fortified/hidden bunkers for the faction.

Conjuration: A support role crippled by the 10 minute rule, which limits them arming allies/themselves in combat zones. Saved by a perk.

Summoning: Can lob live monsters for 10 minutes on top of grenades. Rated C.
Large: Can summon large things for 10 minutes. Rated C.
Perpetually: The logistical lynchpin of the wizard faction, ensuring availability of all resources in times that promise to be difficult. Post-game, eliminates all resource scarcity. Can do all that in complete safety in a remote bunker. Only downside is that post-game life may be boring if reduced to working as a printer if unable to negotiate suitable perks. Rated S.

Overall rating A: The conjurers who took the third perk both eliminate several vulnerabilities and enhance the faction's diplomacy with unpowered humans. The other two perks are limited to combat roles, and are the least useful members of the faction. The only limit of the conjurers is that, as supports, they need the other wizards or unpowered humans to really shine, thus making them far less effective outside an organized network.

Divination: The reason the wizards play with no fog of war. Also the core of the wizard's diplomatic power, as the rulers who won't be swayed by the promise of future sight and infinite resources may simply be manipulated, blackmailed or removed from power through scandals. High post-game utility as someone who can find anything. They do represent a threat to established societies, but not on the scale of the controllers.

Future: Will make the user and many others untouchable. Post-game, will change the world and prevent many accidents/lessen the impact of many disasters. Only limited by their lack of intrinsic means of communication to extend the protection to a larger group. Rated S.
Dream: Seems like the least useful of the three, and a strictly inferior version of Commune. Still useful for harassement, especially if paired with Commune to make it day and night. They do have the ability to create very specific dreams, which can be used to manipulated credulous free humans if needed. Rated A.
Commune: Gives their faction the best method of communication, turning them into an unbreakable, decentralized full-synched network in a matter of days. Multiplies the impact of Future to extend it to the whole faction/world. Allows for harassment of psychic high value targets which, considering the reference to 'effort' for the telekines, implies Commune could trip them up in the middle of battle. Rated S.

Overall rating S: They are the core of the wizard faction, and every part of the gameplan is shaped by their existence. They are why free unpowered humans will side with the wizards, and against the psychics. They are why the wizards have the edge in organisation, and allow every piece on their side of the board to be used to its full effect.

Wizards faction rating S: The wizards have strong specialized tools who operate on a strategic level. They have all the cards necessary to ensure the free unpowered are firmly on their side, including a strong vision of an ideal future. They have the long-term advantage, being able to survive a long conflict. Their limits are that they need a little time to link up and ramp up to full capability in order to outpace the psychics, they lack an easy/reliable method of transportation, and they require the cooperation of the unpowered to shore up those weaknesses. Also, the type of people who'll pick diviner are probably well suited to their role as startegic command/coordinators.

TL;DR: Wizards most likely win. The fact that psychics must rely on a specific perk that comes from their most important class is just too crippling. Also, even if psychics manage to wreck comms and infrastructure, they still have to eat and find their opponents, while even a single surviving wizard bunker with a PerpConjurer and a few diviners would likely be able to turn the tide over five years.

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Pub: 01 Dec 2025 18:36 UTC

Edit: 01 Dec 2025 18:42 UTC

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