Tuesday May 29 Happy Fun Hour with Mike Mearls - more psionics!

Per Twitter this morning:

https://twitter.com/mikemearls/status/1000619044146302978

"So, working on the concept of a shared pool of resources that psionic characters choose from. Making this work proved so obviously, stupidly easy that I am going to give you a preview of my next Happy Fun Hour. (1/2)"

"It’s a spell list that you gain access to only if you choose a psionic class. Non-casters pick up and use the cantrips. This class-less spell list can also be used by the mystic. It’s going to be fun diving in on Tuesday. (2/2)"

And further detail in the comments:

"Maybe this is clearer - imagine there’s a new school of magic called psionics. As a default, none of those spells appear on any class’s list. You have to choose a psionic subclass, and it tells you that you can now choose spells from that list."

Sounds like he is getting somewhere with the redesign, sounds very sensible.

I'd be a bit more impressed if the core of 2e and 3e psionics hadn't also been a long list of powers that was kind of like a spell list, but only psionic characters had access to it.

Mah... I don't understand why they had to start from scratch. To me the direction already taken by psionics in UA articles seemed very good. It actually made be interested in psionics for the first time ever!

I am not saying the new idea is bad, just that I don't see why throwing away all the work done, to what benefit? They already had the system in place, and 6 interesting subclasses. It was also certainly possible to create a psionic subclass of another class (fighter, rogue) with that system, if this is the reason for the change.

[MENTION=1465]Li Shenron[/MENTION] Maybe they were unsure if it did balance well or saw Balance Problems on higher Levels?

2nd ed psionics was interesting because it did have "attack" attributes of the psionic rather than saving throws of the target, but it was a complex additional mechanic to learn, maybe they just wanted to keep it simple this time.

You can go both ways with it. With the "one class with half-dozen subclasses" route, you can design an entirely new game mechanic for psionic abilities that is different than the spellcasting mechanic system. Which is good for those players who want psionics and spellcasting to actually be two completely separate things. The downside though is that you need to figure out how to make "warrior" psychics, "rogue-like" psychics, "monk-like" psychics, "mage-like" psions and so forth, all using a single class as a foundation. And the question then becomes how different can you truly make them if they are all using the same foundation? They all would have the same hit die size, they would all start with the same proficiencies, they would all have the same "psionic" slot mechanic that they'd have to try and layer upon for those subclasses that would use more "castable" disciplines as opposed to buffing weapon use.

As opposed to what Mike seems to currently be working on, which is letting a Psychic Warrior start with being a standard Fighter (getting all the warrior stuff a Fighter gets) and then layering psionic ability on it. Same way with a Soulknife getting the standard Monk stuff and then psionic ability on top of it. Psion the same way with the Wizard foundation. It allows you to get the foundational feeling of the particular psionic class with psychic ability layered on top, rather than one single class that you then have to try and create all these various offshoots that feel different from each other.

I really don't know what is better quite honestly. I will say that I actually thought the "one class to rule them all" methodology of the Mystic was quite clever, and that the game could do with an entire different subsystem for psionics than using the spellcasting slot / spell point foundation. But I could certainly understand that if they've been working on Dark Sun right now and trying to figure out how to integrate this new subsystem into the game so that you could have things like "wild talents" (which quite a number of Dark Sun characters *do* have)... if there was no good way to use their new psionic subsystem and "hand off" some abilities to the other classes in a wild talent sort of way, then making psionics like spells would probably allow it to work better (since we already have the Magic Initiate feat to mimic.) Psionics-as-spells are easier to integrate into the game than a new subsystem. But a new subsystem would make psionics truly different and compelling.

The fact that that they have tried (or are trying) both ways to see what is better tells us that they haven't unlocked the answer yet, but also that they want to make sure whatever they come up with is the right call. And goodness knows that if they release this new system as a UA that Mike's been working on during his Happy Fun Hours... we'll all get a chance to comment on which of the two directions we thought worked better. And there's really no rush, since I suspect the soonest we'll ever see Dark Sun (and psionics) would be the Fall of 2019... but even that's possibly unlikely. Hints have seemed to indicate them going one new campaign setting at a time, and that Eberron being the next one up. Which means they could be Fall of 2019, and thus pushing Dark Sun and psionics back to Fall 2020.

Sounds promising. I could see a kind of Abberant Sorcerer origin that grants access to the Psion spell list being interesting.

I feel a little slow today...help me out.

What's new about this idea?

I mean, the wizard list is a restricted list that you can't get access to unless you take a class that allows access.

So its the same framework we have for all magic. Just in parallel ?

I'm missing something subtle.

How can anyone be impressed with the glacial pace of content?

This is essentially him doodling - with zero accountability. Publish it in a hardback already!

How many years must pass before even simple things like a better Ranger Beastmaster class will become official?

I'm calling it: WotC is just stalling, happy to not release any major rules additions while sales are up, afraid that any crunch more involved than yet-another-subclass might jinx the edition for them.

I can't wait for Paizo to add some real competition. Not that I'm interested in a return to the bad old days of overwhelming minutae. But maybe the relase of PF2 will light a sorely-needed fire under MMearls behind.

Having it like that might make it easier for subclasses in other classes to integrate psionics. But I'm wondering what potentially distinguish a Mystic from a Wizard of Mentalism School (or whatever the subclass would be). I'm guessing the idea of power points to enhance those spells, but done in a way that's distinct from Sorcerer Spell Points.