Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Revisits Psionics

The latest Unearthed Arcana from WotC revisits some psionic rules! “Shine with the power of the mind in this installment of Unearthed Arcana! Today we revisit several psi-themed options that we released in the past few months. Studying your feedback on those options, we’ve crafted this new collection of subclasses, spells, and feats, found in the PDF below.“

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[Ashrym]

I think the opposite. They are giving a lot of thought to psionics right now, which shows that they are aware that a lot of players want psionics, and I'd wager the vast majority of those players want a full psionic class. I think they are working on it, but aren't at a place where they want to share it.

Yeah, there is plenty of time for a huge survey response not to give up on the mystic class. UA's are not set in stone at all.

 

[Maxperson]

That's because the UA article states the devs are giving up on the mystic class and looking at psionics as available to all characters. If that is true, then it's unlikely we will see the a revisit on the class and the psionic soul is about as close as it gets. It looks like a decent psionicist to me.

The Mystic wasn't really a Psion, though. It was a way of getting psionic type powers. They have given up on that class and are making psionic subclasses for each class. That doesn't mean that they have given up on an actual Psion.

 

[Remathilis]

Initial impressions.

1.) Sorcerer is a LOT better chassis to attach psionicist on than wizard. Further, the aberrant soul felt too similar to the GOO warlock.
2.) I wasn't initially impressed by the psionic die, but its growing on me. My first read was just "ugh, you already have sorcery points, make them fuel psioncs" but that was because I was looking at it without having read the psi-knight and soulblade's shared mechanic. The die tries to capture some of the randomness old psionics had when they were powered by ability checks (or 3e's 1d20 + ability mod DCs) without being wildly broken.
3.) The Psi-knight and soulblade are elegant, and show how other subclasses could be built around it. Already I could see the Astral-monk being refitted here, and ardent rebuilt with a bard or cleric.
4.) I'm hoping for more spells. Actually, I'm hoping for "psionic spells" you can learn ONLY if you have the "Psionic Talent feature or Wild Talent feat" as a prerequisite. It would further allow psionics do unique things and be balanced with other spells as well.

 

[Aldarc]

I'm sorry it doesn't work out for you, Aldarc. :/

No worries. It doesn't mean that I won't play 5e. It just means that I will likely turn to other games for psionic fantasy. I was a big fan, for example, of Dreamscarred Press's Third Dawn setting which imagined a D&D-esque fantasy world without divine or arcane magic, but was built around the assumptions of psionics. I like Blue Rose for showing a society where psychic talents were fairly common place.

I still periodically pray for Bruce Cordell to design a full stop psionics setting for the Cypher System.

 

[Marandahir]

No worries. It doesn't mean that I won't play 5e. It just means that I will likely turn to other games for psionic fantasy. I was a big fan, for example, of Dreamscarred Press's Third Dawn setting which imagined a D&D-esque fantasy world without divine or arcane magic, but was built around the assumptions of psionics. I like Blue Rose for showing a society where psychic talents were fairly common place.

I still periodically pray for Bruce Cordell to design a full stop psionics setting for the Cypher System.

Makes sense. For something like Third Dawn in D&D, you need to do a heavy systems modification that is probably beyond the scope of whatever source book Psionics will find their way into. They don't want to break other game systems to make Psionics possible, even though some settings rely on those heavy change assumptions. They want the DM and players to be able to mix and match if it makes sense for their game.

That means that D&D tends to lean toward Fantasy Kitchen-Soup classes and Chalmun's Cantina races.

Doesn't mean you CAN'T make it work (see Athas without divine magic and with vastly different arcane magic), but it requires a LOT more work and is really more of a setting guide thing than what would be presented with the core class options, alone.

Psionics in 5e needs to fit in with Planescape, Eberron, and Dark Sun at the very least, and that's a pretty tall order. I'm not surprised you'd prefer other systems.

Also, Bruce Cordell could make a cray-awesome psionics setting, YES! I can only wish.

 

[Ristamar]

The burnout die looks to be a twist on the Usage Die from The Black Hack perhaps further inspired by magical burnout in Darker Dungeons.

Regardless, it's a cool mechanic that gives psionics a unique feel.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Kuato approves of the "vestigial twin" origin for the Psionic Soul.
"Open your mind!"

 

[Minigiant]

I really like the psionc talent die

I would have loved to see it integrate with class features more though.
Add the die to sneak attack damage.
Add the die to second wind healing.
Spend sorcery points to increase or decrease the die

 

[MReav]

I'm not a big fan of the psychic decrease/increase effect. I think what should happen is that if a player wants to, they can maximize the die for one round, and then the die reduces, but it doesn't get reduced/improved by random chance.

Also, the feat improvements have an issue. What if I am a Dwarf with 20 constitution and I take Wild Talent? If I want to have it affect my constitution rolls, I wouldn't be able to. You shouldn't be absolutely obligated to take the bonus with the boosted attribute.

 

[ccooke]

I'm not a big fan of the psychic decrease/increase effect. I think what should happen is that if a player wants to, they can maximize the die for one round, and then the die reduces, but it doesn't get reduced/improved by random chance.

Also, the feat improvements have an issue. What if I am a Dwarf with 20 constitution and I take Wild Talent? If I want to have it affect my constitution rolls, I wouldn't be able to. You shouldn't be absolutely obligated to take the bonus with the boosted attribute.

This sounds like something thay should be fed back when the survey goes up.