Psion class (Mearls, Happy Fun Hour)

[Salthorae]

Now, as to the 'Nomad' article: is it just me, or does teleportation guy not the first thing that comes to mind when psionics comes up? Telepathy, Telekinesis, ESP, precognition, mind control; sure, right there with you. Is psionics now just any power anyone in a comic book has?

It may not be the first thing, but it has a long history in D&D Psionics with Psychoportation powers from 2e, there was an Elocater PrC in 3.5 that was similar in flavor. I think in MM's mind he already started the Telepath concept with the Mentalist Wizard Subclass and it just needs to be tweaked to bring it back into Psion, the Constructor and the Metamorph are going to be more difficult to design, the Immortal and any other subclasses are being shunted to other main classes... so that leaves Nomad to design.

Psionics has always been a catchall of powers and because there is no "spellcasting" there are lots of shades of superhero stuff when using psionics, especially early 3.0 psionics where you used different stats for the different types of psionics, so you could have a Strength based Shaper (iirc)... that was VERY super hero'ish.

 

[gyor]

Yes, and I'm a big fan of re-fluffing things...to a point. I've thought you could make a pretty good samurai by re-fluffing the barbarian class with "rages" that are actually combat stances, or a Purple Dragon Knight, or Oath of the Crown Paladin re-fluffed as Honor and dedication to feudal lord/cause. Yet we have the Samurai sub-class. You could implement the Paladin as a "Divine Knight" in parallel to the EK; the Ranger as "Pathfinder" subclass of the Fighter, maybe even several: one with spells and one without them. No doubt one of the main reasons this was not done is probably the whole "sacred cow" issue, but there are more on the Paladin & Ranger classes than just ephemeral 'feel' and 'flavor'. There is some real mechanical meat there that the subclass structure just does not have.

Now, as to the 'Nomad' article: is it just me, or does teleportation guy not the first thing that comes to mind when psionics comes up? Telepathy, Telekinesis, ESP, precognition, mind control; sure, right there with you. Is psionics now just any power anyone in a comic book has?

Think of the Psion powers of the Traveller in Star Trek, his ability to warp space and time with the powers of his mind and his ability to draw psionic power from the minds of others to power his powers to warp space and time. Do yourself a favour and watch the episodes he is in again Star Trek the Next Generation.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Now, as to the 'Nomad' article: is it just me, or does teleportation guy not the first thing that comes to mind when psionics comes up? Telepathy, Telekinesis, ESP, precognition, mind control; sure, right there with you. Is psionics now just any power anyone in a comic book has?

The abilities of Yogis are one of the inspirations of psionics, Teleporting matches up with the Siddhi of Prāpti: the ability to be anywhere at will.

 

[Lalato]

I would also note that there are pop culture references from the 70s related to psychic powers of Teleportation. For example... the BBC show The Tomorrow People about psychic kids featured the ability to teleport (which they amusingly called "jaunting").

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Yes, and I'm a big fan of re-fluffing things...to a point. I've thought you could make a pretty good samurai by re-fluffing the barbarian class with "rages" that are actually combat stances, or a Purple Dragon Knight, or Oath of the Crown Paladin re-fluffed as Honor and dedication to feudal lord/cause. Yet we have the Samurai sub-class. You could implement the Paladin as a "Divine Knight" in parallel to the EK; the Ranger as "Pathfinder" subclass of the Fighter, maybe even several: one with spells and one without them. No doubt one of the main reasons this was not done is probably the whole "sacred cow" issue, but there are more on the Paladin & Ranger classes than just ephemeral 'feel' and 'flavor'. There is some real mechanical meat there that the subclass structure just does not have.

Now, as to the 'Nomad' article: is it just me, or does teleportation guy not the first thing that comes to mind when psionics comes up? Telepathy, Telekinesis, ESP, precognition, mind control; sure, right there with you. Is psionics now just any power anyone in a comic book has?

Yes and the sorcerer is suing for gimmick infringement. More seriously, this is probably just the first step to seeing if there is enough interest in "someone who is really good at X", where X is a noncantrip spell; you want them to do something more often then they would be able to using spell slots (because unlimited casting=unlimited fireballs). You need a mix of classic psychic stuff and nonclassic in order to gage the limits. If they get a bunch of "I love this, but it doesn't seem psychic to me" feedback, there could be a teleporting rogue or barbarian in our future.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The story is right in the name, Eldrich KNIGHT, your a knight possibly belonging to a Knightly Arcane Order.

Sure, like the Knightly Order of the Eye of Jet.

I'm sure you've seen 'em around. Love casting Suggestion? Make their own Brilliant Energy katanas?

 

[gyor]

Sure, like the Knightly Order of the Eye of Jet.

I'm sure you've seen 'em around. Love casting Suggestion? Make their own Brilliant Energy katanas?

Never heard of them.

 

[SkidAce]

Guy named "Benny" is their leader.

 

[TwoSix]

Never heard of them.

Might be tough to spot them; I hear they travel in single file, to hide their numbers.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Might be tough to spot them; I hear they travel in single file, to hide their numbers.

Nah. But when they wish to hide themselves, they can cunningly disappear by living under their real surname and wearing the uniform robes of their order, within spitting distance of their sworn enemies' close relatives (who are also living under their real surname).