D&D 5E Mike Mearls - Reddit AMA

[Valetudo]

There is a huge elephant, or possibly mekillot, in the room when it comes to the mystic and psionics.

Psionics in D&D is primarily associated with two settings: Dark Sun and Eberron. In Dark Sun it is a defining part of the setting, and in Eberron it's an important thing primarily connected to a PC race and a particular villain faction (which means it's in a place where the DM can make psionics a big part of their campaign, but if they don't like psionics they can pretty much ignore it). But here's where it gets dicey.

Dark Sun is built around the Complete Psionics Handbook for AD&D 2e. These have a fairly flat power level (high-level psionicists primarily get a larger arsenal of powers, but not very many more powerful abilities), and focus pretty heavily on the telepathic, clairsentient, and to some extent psychometabolic parts. Yes, telekinesis exists, but while psionic telekinesis is available at far lower levels than magic TK, it's also far less powerful. And psychoportation is nice and occasionally a bit powerful, but it works better when used in support of other abilities. Psionic combat is a big deal, with special rules for various attack and defense modes (with more detail added in The Will & The Way). Psionics are subtle (no tell-tale signs), but limited (each active power drains psionic energy from the user).

The psionic parts of Eberron, on the other hand, are built around the Expanded Psionics Handbook for D&D 3.5. This book makes a strong attempt at equalizing psionics and arcane magic - a kineticist can throw out some seriously heavy-duty energy damage with unmatched flexibility, metacreation can create astral constructs that are at least on par with the meatbags a druid can bring into play with summon nature's ally, and all psionic disciplines have some way of dealing heavy-duty damage. Psionic combat is de-emphasized, perhaps due to the poor way it worked in the 3.0 psionics rules. Psionics are less subtle with almost all powers having some kind of tell - glowing eyes, ectoplasm, or whatever, but they can be very powerful, particularly at higher levels.

Creating a set of psionic rules that work well for both Dark Sun and Eberron... well, that's not going to be easy.

4th did a pretty good job. It just had a hard time representing darksuns survive or die style. I think darksun for 5ths problems will be how they handle armors. 5es resting and healing is fairly easy to modify.

 

[CapnZapp]

I think darksun for 5ths problems will be how they handle armors.

What about them?

5e is already very Dex friendly. Now, I don't think they will simply remove metal armor... But they certainly could (there are very few fighter archetypes that need to dump Dex, and few of them are Athas-appropriate anyway)



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[Valetudo]

What about them?

5e is already very Dex friendly. Now, I don't think they will simply remove metal armor... But they certainly could (there are very few fighter archetypes that need to dump Dex, and few of them are Athas-appropriate anyway)



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STR classes and builds are what worries me. The uber stat becomes even stronger when metal armor can kill you.

 

[Charlaquin]

STR classes and builds are what worries me. The uber stat becomes even stronger when metal armor can kill you.

They could go the same route 4e did and make medium and heavy armors out of natural materials like chitin and bone.

 

[Staffan]

It is also the only sensible option.

They would be mad to consider two separate psionics systems.

Don't overestimate the connection between world and system. If we can play in the same world using anything from OD&D to 5E, we can learn to play in Dark Sun using a new psionics system.

Sure, but OD&D through 5e (with the possible exception of 4e) all model mostly the same thing. The details differ, but you still have fighters in heavy armor, clerics that heal, and wizards that cast fireballs. I could take something like Horror on the Hill and run pretty much as-is in any edition - I might have to do some conversion to match the system, but the adventure itself would work fine.

But Dark Sun and Eberron both deviate from that D&D baseline. Dark Sun does so significantly more, by both adding and removing things from the baseline, whereas Eberron mostly adds. For example, giving Horror a quick once-over, I see that hobgoblins play a significant part in the adventure. Dark Sun doesn't have hobgoblins, so that would be an issue.

My issue is that I don't think Eberron would feel properly like Eberron if its psionics didn't allow for kalashtar soulknife assassins with weirdly shaped soulblades. But soulknives don't really match what I think of as Dark Sun. Neither do rains of crystal shards ripping people apart, or silver-colored constructs formed from astral matter. I mean, I could probably get over it, but it'd feel weird.

 

[The-Magic-Sword]

Honestly, I think the 4e style model that they were playing with was very good at capturing all the different kinds of psionics- you don't need restrictions, you need the *ability* to play different ideals of psionics- players can then decide if they want to by the traditional outlook of psionics in the settings or not.

 

[gyor]

Sure, but OD&D through 5e (with the possible exception of 4e) all model mostly the same thing. The details differ, but you still have fighters in heavy armor, clerics that heal, and wizards that cast fireballs. I could take something like Horror on the Hill and run pretty much as-is in any edition - I might have to do some conversion to match the system, but the adventure itself would work fine.

But Dark Sun and Eberron both deviate from that D&D baseline. Dark Sun does so significantly more, by both adding and removing things from the baseline, whereas Eberron mostly adds. For example, giving Horror a quick once-over, I see that hobgoblins play a significant part in the adventure. Dark Sun doesn't have hobgoblins, so that would be an issue.

My issue is that I don't think Eberron would feel properly like Eberron if its psionics didn't allow for kalashtar soulknife assassins with weirdly shaped soulblades. But soulknives don't really match what I think of as Dark Sun. Neither do rains of crystal shards ripping people apart, or silver-colored constructs formed from astral matter. I mean, I could probably get over it, but it'd feel weird.

Psionics in Faerun is different yet again, heavily tied to the ancient Psionic empire of Jhamdaath and beings/races who are tied to, are. Or escaped from abberate slavery.

 

[Staffan]

Psionics in Faerun is different yet again, heavily tied to the ancient Psionic empire of Jhamdaath and beings/races who are tied to, are. Or escaped from abberate slavery.

I did not know that. My impression of psionics in FR is that it's more of a "Well, if you really want to use it, there's this spot for it." Meanwhile, in Eberron it's a big part of the setting - though one that's somewhat out of the way and easy to ignore by focusing on other parts. Basically, psionics in Eberron is opt-out, and in FR it's opt-in. And of course, in Dark Sun it's absolutely essential.

 

[gyor]

I did not know that. My impression of psionics in FR is that it's more of a "Well, if you really want to use it, there's this spot for it." Meanwhile, in Eberron it's a big part of the setting - though one that's somewhat out of the way and easy to ignore by focusing on other parts. Basically, psionics in Eberron is opt-out, and in FR it's opt-in. And of course, in Dark Sun it's absolutely essential.

Psions have appeared in some FR novels, so it's absolutely a thing, but yeah Jhaadath was the one none abberrant culture that really focused on developing the Psionic arts of all types till the Elves used Elven High magic to commit horrific genocide (Forgotten Realms elves are probably the least sympathetic elves in all of D&D).

There was also Sakkor the Netherese City that also focused on Psionics, but it died during the Sundering.

So now outside of odd individuals, the Gith races, Duergar and Durro and abberants like Mindflayers, Psionics is not common or advanced anymore (but it was at one time) so it's kind of a lost magical science in FR, waiting for the right people who take an interest or artifacts to from the lost 12 cities of Jhaamdath or the ruins of Sakkor.

Also in Jhaamdath and Sakkor Psionics was at least as advanced as in Eberron or At has, if not more so, it's just that magical technology belongs to a dead forgotten realm.

 

[evilbob]

Personally, I'm a little disappointed that nothing posted (didn't read the AMA) went into bigger-picture stuff. These were all just minor, nit-picky details and opinions. Like most AMAs, nothing was actually said. And after a year of nearly no news, the lack of additional news is really disheartening.

In my mind, D&D has sort of dropped off a cliff with 5.0. Since the 3.0 revival, there were constant drips of new products and new geekery to keep people interested and coming back. But since 5.0 dropped, we've had nearly nothing. We just had one additional "core-ish" book published - the reaction to which, at least according to this forum, seems to show an extreme pent-up demand for more books. But overall it feels like maybe 4.0 was such a disappointment (sales-wise/concept-wise/whatever) that Hasbro/WotC/parent company X stopped putting any eggs in the D&D basket and re-regulated the market to "niche." Despite all the talk of a movie and video games and bigger tie-ins and everything, D&D feels like it was a much bigger brand 10 years ago or even 5 years ago than it is today, and a big part of that is the lack of content. I was looking the other day and I have dozens of 3.5 books, about a dozen 4.0 books, and exactly four 5.0 books. I'm obviously giving far more weight to splat books than adventures, but I don't think that's the only thing missing here. They've also stopped making minis and add-on products (I'm also disregarding random packs entirely) which, while I'm guessing they must not have been profitable, increased brand awareness. And to have nothing said of future plans just leads me back to the conclusion that there are no future plans. The idea that they have no short-term plans for the ranger, for example? What in the world? After months and months of feedback and design and presumed attention they have NO plans that will come together any time soon? So... there's just no plan, then?

It makes me feel like there are basically 3 or 4 people working on D&D anymore, and they plan to release about a book a year, with some adventures on the side, until... we all grow old and die, I guess? I suppose at this point I'm just waiting for parent company X to finally sell off the brand (or one of their crazy ideas to actually work - like a new movie that doesn't horribly suck for some reason) to finally get some new money and new energy injected into the brand, because right now it feels like there's nothing. The old guard seems to have been broken up and dispersed - and maybe they don't get along too well anymore anyway - and we need new people to lead the charge.