Psionics. The mere word mentioned at a gaming table will cause people to choke to death on their Dr. Pepper. This subject has been discussed, debated and heatedly fought over on forums all over the internet. No one seems to like AD&D 1st Edition Psionics. No one except this guy who wrote this fine article I am about to link. This article describes in great detail about the process of using psionics by the book. By the book presumably means interpreting the Dungeon Master Guide and Player’s Handbook and their seemingly contradictory explanations of this part of the game.
There is another short article on determining if your player has psionics. The process for testing which is detailed in the Player’s Handbook is explained in this article.
Joe Mohr even wrote two adventures published on Dragonsfoot involving psionics. You can find these free adventures with the following links.
Whether you choose to allow psionics in your game is up to you as dungeon master. As an ancient Lich I can tell you that such psionic creatures do exist in Zanzia and elsewhere. But it also existed in the original form of Dungeons and Dragons. It was introduced to the game in the third book called Eldritch Wizardry. But my suggestion is to learn all that you can about this subject from the links above and then make your own decision.
