Psionics: Psion and 211 powers converted from Pathfinder

[Kryx]

Psionics!
I finally decided to bite the bullet and convert psionics to 5e. After a month of work converting powers and the Psion class I am at a state that is ready to receive feedback.
For those of you who don't know psionics is a system similar to magic that has existed since the beginnings of D&D. It has yet to make much impact in 5e (besides the UA article).

Psionics, in its simplest form, is harnessing the power of the mind and using it to perform tasks, feats, and awe-inspiring acts. It is the act of using the mental power innate in a psionic character to perform actions that others deem impossible.
While all characters have the capacity to harness this power of the mind, it is only by tapping into this potential that psionic characters are created. A psionic character has learned to tap into and utilize this internal energy, using it to expand their abilities or even to learn more about themselves. Once a psionic character has learned this pathway of psionics, it often becomes a path they cannot help themselves from further exploring. Like a moth drawn to a flame, so too is the mind drawn to the power of psionics once it has learned to tap into it.

I created Kryx's Psion and Kryx's Psionic Powers. Brief description of powers


Also Soulknife and Cryptic


Thanks so much for taking the time to look and for any feedback provided.


Future plans: After the psionic system, powers, and psion has received some feedback I plan to create the Psychic Warrior which will likely be a Fighter archetype similar to Eldritch Knight. Then a rogue archetype similar to Arcane Trickster and then maybe the vitalist most likely as it's own class.


[Sblock="About Me"]I've cataloged, and quantified D&D 5e through several projects: DPR of Classes, Saving Throw Quantification and fixes, Spell Balance, Caster Comparison, and I'm sure a few others.
I've also done similar homebrew projects: Sorcerer Rework, Monk Rework, Summoner Class.
I mention the above primarily to inform you that I have worked with 5e quite a bit so I have a pretty solid grasp of how the game works. Though my work isn't perfect so please don't be intimidated away from providing feedback.[/Sblock]

[sblock="UA Psionics Rant"]The UA article on Psionics is not the psionics that I would expect - shoving everything into 1 class would be the same as shoving an Eldritch Knight, Wizard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Druid, Cleric, etc all into one class. The Psionics classes (or archetypes) are quite unique and deserve their own chance to shine. But enough of that rant, let's get into Psionics![/sblock]

 

[Yaarel]

I love the 3e Psion.

At the same time, to go with this ‘spell’ approach for the Psion in 5e, I would rethink it as a kind of Wizard tradition, using normal spells.

The Wizard lacks a decent Telekinesis cantrip, and a decent Telepathy cantrip. So creating these for a Wizard build is useful.

On the other hand, most of the 3e Psion powers are redundant with spells that already exist. So most of the time, just use the standard Wizard spells.

Also, the Enchanter Wizard already makes a great Telepath. It just needs the Telepathy cantrip or so on, maybe a kind of Psionic Blast, to finetune the feel of a Telepath.

I especially want to see a Telekinetic Wizard tradition work well.

Actually, converting the 3e Psychic Warrior into 5e as an Eldritch Knight, works awesome too. But dont forget about the 5e Bard. In 5e, the Bard is awesome, a full caster who is competent in melee combat, and who is able to fight magically. A Bard College might make the best version of the Psychic Warrior, because it would emphasize the ‘Psychic’ means by which this Warrior engages combat. The ‘music’ would instead be contemplation and manifestation. The Bard is good at Divination (Seer), Enchantment (Telepath), Shapeshifting and Buffing (Psychometabolism), and even telekinetic manipulation of sonic energy, light, and telekinetic animation of objects (Kineticist). Illusion (Metacreativity) too. Only a few College features and necessary spells is enough to finetune a distinctive ‘Psychic’ feel.

The Paladin could also be a kind of Soul Knife, with psionic-flavor weapon, smiting, and spells.

Consider Ranger for the Psionic Rogue?


In 3e, the Psion represented a breakthru in nonvancian spellcasting. But in 5e, all spellcasters can cast spells spontaneously. There is even the option to use spell points. But using higher level slots to ‘augment’ a spell on the fly, is already standard and easy. It is also easy to lump or split slots in the rare times it seems beneficial. So actually using spell points would only increase complexity with little gain.


Obviously, the Psi Wizard would never use material components. But the 5e Wizard can use other kinds of focuses. Some might want to use a crystal as a kind of spellcasting focus instead of a material component pouch. Personally, I would rather have something more abstract as a focus − maybe use the flow of ones own bodily ‘ki’ energy as a kind of spellcasting focus. They only difficulty is ensuring a balanced way to convert the gp cost of certain spells into something more mental in flavor and less reductionist. As long as there are alternative options, the money itself isnt so terrible, in the sense that money has psychic energy, representing desire and power, and people spend alot of time thinking about money. Even so, the money in itself seems annoying.



The 5e Wizard class itself makes the best ‘Psionic Wizard Clone’.

 

[Stunning Serendipity]

Ah, I've been waiting for a decent psion conversion for a long time. This looks really good. However, your description of psionics leans very close to spellcasting. How about replacing 'maximum power level' with 'maximum power points spent on a single manifestation' (à la 3.5 psion). That then leaves open the option for augmentations of powers that just come some number of power points, not just 'a higher level slot'. As written, the psion functions exactly like a spell point caster, this would be a way to give it some unique mechanics.

EDIT: Looking at it some more, I might actually prefer this one to the wizard. The power list - which is what makes or breaks a psion after all - seems more even and contains more awesome and less questionable choices than the PHB spell list. I don't know if anything in there might not be too powerful for its level, however.

Small thing: the class table is wrong, putting your discipline feature at 15th instead of 14th level.

 

[Kryx]

[SBLOCK=Psionics vs Spells]

At the same time, to go with this ‘spell’ approach for the Psion in 5e, I would rethink it as a kind of Wizard tradition, using normal spells.

"Spells approach"? You'll have to be more specific. 5e spells, unlike their 3.X counterpart, do not automatically scale. They scale in nearly the same way that 3.X psionics did. So it should be no surprise that a new psionic system looks pretty similar to a system that mimics the old psionic system.

On the other hand, most of the 3e Psion powers are redundant with spells that already exist. So most of the time, just use the standard Wizard spells.

37.5% of my powers have spell equivalents (77/205). There are 128 powers that are unique to spells and could not fit in a Wizard chasis.

A Bard College might make the best version of the Psychic Warrior...

The Paladin could also be a kind of Soul Knife, with psionic-flavor weapon, smiting, and spells.

A psychic warrior was primarily a martial class that used psionics to enhance its martial acument - it fought in full plate and it's spell list was largely buffs.

A paladin could be a decent chasis for a Psychic Warrior or Soul Knife though - good suggesting.

using spell points would only increase complexity with little gain.

Spell points are an official variant in the DMG that many people enjoy - primarily for their Sorcerers. Psionics without spell points isn't psionics imo.

The 5e Wizard class itself makes the best ‘Psionic Wizard Clone’.

You're welcome to play a Wizard. The flavor, display system, and mechanics of the other 128 powers are not the same as a Wizard so that is why I created this.
[/SBLOCK]

14th level seems to be a dead level, where nothing except a new power known and some power points are gained. Maybe some flavour feature could be put there? Dead levels seem wrong in 5th edition.

The archetype features were actually on 14th level - the statblock mistakenly had the feature listed at 15th. I fixed this.

Your description of psionics leans very close to spellcasting. How about replacing 'maximum power level' with 'maximum power points spent on a single manifestation' (à la 3.5 psion). That then leaves open the option for augmentations of powers that just come some number of power points, not just 'a higher level slot'. As written, the psion functions exactly like a spell point caster, this would be a way to give it some unique mechanics.

The Psion Statblock actually has the maximum power level known as part of their statblock as does the Warlock in 5e which is where I got the concept from.
Early on I had the option of choosing how augmentation works - either with points or levels. I chose a bit of a hybrid system. I chose the level system primarily to maintain balance to the spell system. The spell point system is not linear:
1st 2
2nd 3
3rd 5
4th 6
5th 7
6th 9
7th 10
8th 11
9th 13

The system is great - it shouldn't be linear as there is definitely a power jump at 3, 6, and 9. But it presents problems for augmenting.

So if I were to take the pure points system and I had a 5th level spell that I wanted to allow augmentation on I'd have to say it costs 2 points to cast at 6th and 3 points to cast at 7th. Or I'd have to eschew the purposeful non-linear scaling. What are your thoughts?

EDIT: Looking at it some more, I might actually prefer this one to the wizard. The power list - which is what makes or breaks a psion after all - seems more even and contains more awesome and less questionable choices than the PHB spell list. I don't know if anything in there might not be too powerful for its level, however.

The powers indeed make or break the class. They are quite flavorful and present a lot of great options for play.

Regarding balance: I based 77 of the powers on existing spells because they were so very similar. Another 10-20 are loosely based on some 5e spells. The rest are either conversions that line up in damage with 5e spells or are conversions of the pathfinder power while trying to find the appropriate level. There are a few cases (~5-10) where the Psion gets access to a power sooner than a Wizard (Planar Travel), but those cases are primarily due to the power being self only while the Wizard spell could target multiple people (which the Psion power augments to)

 

[Kryx]

Added the following clones of 5e spells as they fit the class:

Reverse Gravity, Astral Projection, Gate, Globe of Invulnerability, Maze, Etherealness (was a psionic power I crossed off before because I thought it didn't exist in 5e), Contact Other Plane, Locate Creature.

Also renamed Modify Matter to Fabricate as I discovered the 5e spells version.

 

[Yaarel]

"Spells approach"? 5e spells, unlike their 3.X counterpart, do not automatically scale. They scale in nearly the same way that 3.X psionics did. So it should be no surprise that a new psionic system looks pretty similar to a system that mimics the old psionic system.

37.5% of my powers have spell equivalents (77/205). There are 128 powers that are unique to spells and could not fit in a Wizard chasis.

A psychic warrior was primarily a martial class that used psionics to enhance its martial acument - it fought in full plate and it's spell list was largely buffs.

A paladin could be a decent chasis for a Psychic Warrior or Soul Knife though - good suggesting.

Spell points are an official variant in the DMG that many people enjoy - primarily for their Sorcerers. Psionics without spell points isn't psionics imo.

You're welcome to play a Wizard. The flavor, display system, and mechanics of the other 128 powers are not the same as a Wizard so that is why I created this.

Your effort has much merit (and the presentation is impressive). That is why I want to focus on some of the differences in expectations. I would like to benefit from some of this work too.


Regarding expectations. What used to be ‘psionics’ in 3e, is now every spellcaster in 5e. All spellcasters can spells spontaneously and augment them to higher levels, in moreorless the same way that the 3e Psion did. In other words, the 5e spellcasters have outmoded the old 3e Psion. Moreover, D&D evolved significantly since 3e. The spellcasting mechanics that 5e uses are simply better than the spell point mechanics that the 3e Psion used, being able to do everything that the 3e Psion could, but in a simpler way that visualizes a fungible slot as a lump of spell points that requires almost no math.

Psionics without spell points isn't psionics imo.

This is the central difference in expectations. You said you feel, "Psionics without spell points isnt psionics".

Oppositely, I feel: psionics is the flavor of mind over matter.

Personally, whatever mechanics that can actualize psionic flavor is fine with me. More poignantly, forcing psionic flavor to use inferior mechanics, cripples the psionic appeal, and reinforces the marginalization of the flavor from the rest of the D&D psionic tradition. It is painful to consider how psionics has existed as a part of D&D since 1e. It even existed before 1e, being part of the formative period of 0e. Yet, psionics remains illegitimate to this. This alienation is because of irregular clunky, wonky, mechanics. In other words, spell points and several other kinds of irregular mechanics, prevent D&D from benefiting from psionic flavor.

Alright, now on to more positive comments.

37.5% of my powers have spell equivalents (77/205). There are 128 powers that are unique to spells and could not fit in a Wizard chasis.

This is the most productive place to invest energy. By your count, 77 out of 205 "psionic powers" are actually normal Wizard spells. Eliminate these redundancies. Just use the normal spells normally.

With regard to the distinctive 128 3e Psion spells, convert these into 5e spells. The Wizard too can add these Psion spells into the Wizard spellbook.

The addition of these tried and true Psion spells are a valuable contribution to D&D 5e.

 

[Yaarel]

The flavor, display system, and mechanics of the other 128 powers are not the same as a Wizard so that is why I created this.

Regarding the flavor. The Wizard "traditions" can feel quite different from each other. There is much latitude to create a tradition that has Psi flavor.



Instead of a spellbook, maybe the Psi Wizard has a memorization technique. In other words, the Psi Wizards are able to carry around the equivalent of a spellbook in their head. They can voluntarily "copy" each others spells telepathically, of course.



The "display system": I assume you mean incidental manifestations of lights, sounds, smells, that happen while the Psion is spellcasting. These displays are simply an other kind of spell component. The traditional spell components are Verbal, Somatic, and Material. I would add a Gold component, for special Material components that require a gp cost. In addition, I would add a Concentration component for spells that require concentration, and a Ritual component for spells that can instead be cast by means of a Ritual. The Display component of a spell is simply one among many different kinds of spell components:

VSMGCRD

The only difference between a Psi Wizard spell and an Evoker Wizard spell is the presence or absence of a letter D.

One can simply add the letter D to every spell. One could go thru the trouble of writing up a flavor text with a unique example of a display, but personally, I would never read these flavor texts, for the same reason I never read the descriptions of each material component. I would rather personalize what the story details of the spellcasting process are for each character, depending on the setting and character.

The best solution is to say, the Psi Wizard tradition *always* creates ‘displays’ while spell casting, and ignores all VSM components.

Maybe even say, the ‘display’ itself is a kind of spellcasting focus, that grants the proficiency bonus while Psi Wizard is spellcasting.



With regard to the 128 unique spells from the D&D psionic tradition, these are valuable. These are worth the effort to convert into D&D 5e. The Wizard class is enriched by new high quality spells.



Incidently, in 4e Dark Sun, there is a list of at-will spells, used as ‘psionic talents’ that anyone could get. Some of these are pretty cool. They would work well as cantrips that a Wizard, especially the Psi Wizard could take. In D&D 5e, any character could also gain them by means of a feat that gained cantrips.

 

[Kryx]

[SBLOCK=Psionics vs magic]

What used to be ‘psionics’ in 3e, is now every spellcaster in 5e. All spellcasters can spells spontaneously and augment them to higher levels, in moreorless the same way that the 3e Psion did. In other words, the 5e spellcasters have outmoded the old 3e Psion. Moreover, D&D evolved significantly since 3e. The spellcasting mechanics that 5e uses are simply better than the spell point mechanics that the 3e Psion used, being able to do everything that the 3e Psion could, but in a simpler way that visualizes a fungible slot as a lump of spell points that requires almost no math.

I agree that the Psionic spellcasting is very similar to the 5e spell system which is why they don't look so different.

I don't agree that a slot system is better than a point system. But you could easily switch the class to be slot based.

forcing psionic flavor to use inferior mechanics

It would be great if we could talk about this without the condescension, thanks. Points and slots are different systems and have been for a long time. I like the slots system and use it for spellcasters. I also like the points system and want to use it for Psionics. You're free to not do so.

Just use the normal spells normally.

I'm not creating a spells system. Spells have components that require hand gestures, verbal words, and material objects. Psionics does not.
Besides, for your opinion here I'm sure there is someone out there who would refuse to consider this system because it was spells - not psionics

With regard to the distinctive 128 3e Psion spells, convert these into 5e spells. The Wizard too can add these Psion spells into the Wizard spellbook.

They are not spells, they are Psionics. I wouldn't expect the traditional classes to have access to them. Beyond that Wizards do not need more spells.

In other words, the Psi Wizards are able to carry around the equivalent of a spellbook in their head. They can voluntarily "copy" each others spells telepathically, of course.

Psions have always had a set number of spells known, not an unlimited book. I prefer to keep that system.[/SBLOCK]

Your views of psionics differ from PF psionics which is the system I'm trying to maintain. I want to integrate that into 5e in a good way, but the way you're suggesting is not the way I'm interested in.

Do you have any feedback on the class or archetype features or any specific powers?

 

[Yaarel]

[SBLOCK=Psionics vs magic]
Your views of psionics differ from PF psionics which is the system I'm trying to maintain. I want to integrate that into 5e in a good way, but the way you're suggesting is not the way I'm interested in.

Do you have any feedback on the class or archetype features or any specific powers?

It is important to respect desire.

It seems we both care about Psionics and 5e. We both like the Psion selection of spells.

So, if I think of anything constructive to add I will try.

 

[Yaarel]

Regarding archetypes. Personally, I would reduce them down, combining them to two or three archetypes.

For sure I would combine Psychometabolism, Psychoportation, and Clairesentience into one archetype.

The same mind that projecting outofbody, traveling at the speed of thought, and manifesting at great distances, is the same mind that can drag the body along with it (Psychometabolism, Psychometabolism), and the same mind that can see what is going on there, remotely at a great distance (Clairesentience, Psychoportation). Since these teleporters and outofbody remote viewers can travel thru time too, they are also able to foresee the future (Clairesentience). The master of mind over body, is the same mind that can reshape the body, and manifest the body according various mental self-images.


Combining these three disciplines forms a kind of yin-yang that makes the archetype more three-dimensional. Shapeshifting (psychometabolism) helps give more combat muscle to the less useful Clairesentient. The esp-ing (clairesentience) gives more ‘psychic’ flavor to the shapeshifter. The mobility of the teleporter (psychoportation) inherently makes sense for both of them.

Specific individuals might well focus more on one aspect than an other, based on spell selection. But the archetype does well to access all three well.