D&D (2024) WotC Fireside Chat: Revised 2024 Player’s Handbook

In this video about the upcoming revised Player’s Handnook, WotC’s Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins reveal a few new tidbits.

• The books are near final and almost ready to go to print
• Psionic subclasses such as the Soulknife and Psi Warrior will appear in the core books
• Named spells have art depicting their creators.
• There are new species in the PHB.

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[Dire Bare]

Jeez, psionics? Really? I and everyone I game with must be in the minority, with no interest in this. Especially when they started with crystals and ectoplasm stuff.

Really.

You and your pals don't care for psionics in D&D? Cool. You're not alone, psionics in D&D has been a love-it-or-hate-it kinda thing from the beginning.

But try not to poop in other people's sandwiches. You don't don't care for psionics, but . . . jeez, some of us do.

 

[Scribe]

Then don't buy it.

"Not everything is for you." isn't how ravenous corps should think.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Jeez, psionics? Really? I and everyone I game with must be in the minority, with no interest in this. Especially when they started with crystals and ectoplasm stuff.

I don't particularly care about psionics, myself, nor do my players. But it's clear that a lot of other people do, and I think it's healthier for the game and the community that they can also feel included and supported by the next iteration of the game.

 

[Kurotowa]

I don't particularly care about psionics, myself, nor do my players. But it's clear that a lot of other people do, and I think it's healthier for the game and the community that they can also feel included and supported by the next iteration of the game.

And really, it's not that hard to slant the flavor away from "mystical mind powers" if you happen to like the mechanics, just like you can lean into them if you do like psionics. The Soulknife manifests soul knives made of soul energy that disrupt the mind and spirit when struck. Alternatively, the Soulknife shapes the focused totality of their telepathic powers into a psychic knife that inflicts mental pain and terror when you strike a foe.

Same subclass, different emphasis.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I think it's better that the Psionic Sorcerer subclass is aberrant themed (3e had Illithid bloodline feats, so there's precedence), not only because it was more interesting than them being a generic psion replacement, but because I don't think the entire weight of psionics should be carried by a single subclass of Sorcerer (or Wizard which is why I didn't view that UA psionic Wizard subclass positively).

Anyways for other subclasses I hope they found a way to make the College of Valor Bard less boring mechanically, or at least at the minimum give them some weapon masteries (still boring, but mechanically necessary for a fighterish Bard).

 

[Clint_L]

I don't particularly care about psionics, myself, nor do my players. But it's clear that a lot of other people do, and I think it's healthier for the game and the community that they can also feel included and supported by the next iteration of the game.

I personally don't like them being in the core books. I never have. I find them antithetical to my taste in fantasy. Strongly so. So while I like that they are there for those who want them, I would greatly prefer that they were in supplementary books. Putting them in the core makes them harder to ignore and means I have to make a decision about whether to exclude them from character creation, for example.

I think psionics-based classes/sub-classes are much like the artificer, in that some folks love them but others just don't see them as compatible with traditional fantasy settings. I happen to really like artificers, but keeping them in supplementary material means that those who don't prefer them can ignore them pretty easily.

Edit: I also think that this decision with the psionic-themed sub-classes in the 2024 PHB seems like a "neither fish nor fowl" kind of compromise. From what I've seen, most folks who want psionics in D&D want a proper class, like the Psion. This tosses them a bone, but doesn't go nearly as far as that. It would have been much better to do psionics properly in an appropriate setting guide where they could be fully developed, IMO.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

More broadly, while I still think the strategy of "we're going to occasionally drop a giant video interview, rather than more frequent, smaller infodumps" isn't the best, this video does make me excited about picking up the 2024 PHB.

 

[TrippyHippy]

In 5e, there's no separate psionics system. There are just some subclasses with a psionic theme. This is how they work in 5.0:

The Aberrant Soul sorcerer gets some extra spells that are either telepathic-ish in nature or creepy aberration stuff (arms of Hadar, hunger of Hadar, Evard's black tentacles, summon aberration). These can eventually be swapped out for divination/enchantment spells from the sorcerer, warlock, or wizard lists. The cost for casting these spells using sorcery points is lower, and when you do you do so without components (unless they have a cost).

More offensively, for those of us who don't like our psionics to be all Far Realmsy, at 14th level they get "Revelation in Flesh" which allows them to spend sorcery points to transform themselves in various aberrant ways, gaining various abilities. And at 18th, they can do some space-warping stuff for short-range teleports.

There's also the Great Old One warlock, which is basically a warlock with some aberration-flavored spells and telepathy.

The Psi Knight fighter basically gets telekinetic-flavored special maneuvers they can do, and the Soulknife can conjure "blades of psychic energy" which they can use in both melee and at medium range. They also have a small reservoir of psychic power they can use to boost skill checks, speak telepathically with a number of allies, and at higher levels do short-range teleportation, boost attack checks, and eventually stun people.

I really don't get why they are so intent on making the main psi-caster classes so tied to aberrations. I do not believe that's what most psionics fans want. Psionics fans likely want either Dark Sun, where psionics is super common and considered "clean", or Eberron where some psionics are aberrant-tied but others have connections to dream creatures, and in general have much more to do with crystals than with mucus and tentacles.

Thanks.

Not really keen on the Psi Knight or the Soul Knife then, but this is the same issue for me as the Eldritch Knight and the Arcane Trickster. That is, I’d have preferred they included more non-magical, non-psychic, and generally non- super-powered archetypes for these traditionally non-casting Classes. It just feels like power-creep to me and there doesn’t seem to be too many clear options for playing non-magical types in the game anymore. Cavaliers and Assassins (or maybe the Mastermind?) for Fighters and Rogues respectively, would be more interesting inclusions to me.

But this is just me though. I’m still interested, to a degree, although I’m going to be keeping an eye on the bargain bucket in my FLGS for any cheap, discarded 2014 D&D books to be sure...

 

[BJK Games]

It was made species in Monsters of the Multiverse.

I did genuinely not notice that. Holy crap. How have I missed something so fundamental? Dang.

Also, super excited to see the Psi Knight in there. It's one of my (theoretically) favorite fighter subclasses.

 

[Zaukrie]

More broadly, while I still think the strategy of "we're going to occasionally drop a giant video interview, rather than more frequent, smaller infodumps" isn't the best, this video does make me excited about picking up the 2024 PHB.

agreed. But what do I know (stares at diploma with MBA in marketing).....