Make them fit the world, not be a strange piece of sci-fi. This includes ignoring names like psion or psionicist.
I think that ship has sailed, man (or woman). Pseudo-scientific nomenclature has been a defining part of D&D psionics since the 70s.
4e had some nice ideas about incorporating psionics into their game, linking it to ki and monk powers wasn't a bad step. Or the Pathfinder Occult Adventures classes that are being currently playtested and can be seen as Paizo's version of psionics. The psychic magic those classes use is described as being drawn from concious mind, life force and cosmic sprit.
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About classes... well i don't think we need more than two classes: Psychic Warrior and the "Psion-class." I think others might fit right under them two.
I can get behind this. Bump the psychic warrior down to a fighter subclass, though; there's nothing so special about the psychic warrior that it can't just be a reskinned eldritch knight.
Wishlist:
Psionics that does NOT work like magic, because in that case I could just call the sorcerer for psion and the problem would be solved.
Only one psionic class, Psion, with subclasses for different disciplines is enough.
Psionic subclasses for the other classes, like Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster, Elemental Monk.
100%
I would love to see an "at-will" version of psionics, but since every class seems to now have short-rest and long-rest refreshing components, it is probably not the edition to ask for that. I guess that is probably what makes the notion so appealing to me.
At-will-only psionics sounds cool and thematic. Perhaps power points to boost at-wills into more powerful abilities? This is sounding a li'l bit 4E now, but that's not a bad thing--it was a great system.
Mindflayers as a PC race.
Bold, I'll give you that.
My thoughts on Psionics is that they should use the current framework, and not bring in more rules. The psionic abilities should be distinct to the current magical systems, and balanced with them.
I do not see the need to add Player races except for world specific books such as if Dark Sun is used. Then it would be up to the DM if he wanted to allow those races into his campaign.
There should be a Psion class that then generates subclasses, perhaps no more than three/four subclasses.
Whilst avoiding bloat is a good thing I believe that psionics, handled properly, will add to the experience.
I agree, although psions will need a few more subclasses. Wizards have their eight schools of magic, and psions have their six psionic disciplines. Ask 4E how well folks reacted to WotC deciding which schools of magic were important enough for core-billing.
I want psionics to be Vancian and mostly use existing spells. There's no reason a pyrokineticist cannot cast burning hands and needs their own unique spell. Keep things simple. Let's not have psionic powers, let's have psionic magic: just like we have divine and arcane (and primal) magic.
If presented well, this could be a great approach. If not, it could absolutely kill the flavour.
We know there'll be spell point variant rules in the DMG. So if you want a full Psionic Strength Points (aka PSP) psion just use those rules.
Is that still confirmed? Anyway, it doesn't matter: power points are a sacred cow of D&D psionics, so you'd best buckle-up that baby before you toss out the bathwater. Points are part of what makes psionics feel different from other magical systems. (Some of your other comments that I've omitted suggest that you're on the same page as I am about this.)
I want psionic magic to be sorta different from divine and arcane. Which is tricky as the wizard and sorcerer are pretty different. I think I'd make the psion (and psionic magic) closer to both where you know a certain number of spells (like a sorcerer) but prepare them each day like a wizard. But you can spend power points during the day to swap out spells. But, psions might not have the same ability to use ritual magic.
Seems legit. FWIW, I think it's definitely okay for the psion to step on the wizard's toes a bit, the same way sorcerer and warlock do; psions should be unique enough to feel different from a wizard, but also able to fulfill the same broad role in a low-magic, high-psionics world that the wizard does in "standard D&D".
I'm happy with WotC's proposed concept of pairing a psionic accessory with a superadventure/storyline. So there could be lots of monsters in the adventure product. And the player splatbook could have world information and psionic flavour in addition to PC races and classes.
I'm neutral on it. I like it for the reasons you've mentioned, but an "against the illithids/far realm" campaign only hits one of the themes of D&D psionics.
I suppose I'm also generally a little suspect of presenting rules elements as specific to a certain storyline; I don't want a 4E situation where everything gets new fluff grafted onto it to fit a specific, unique campaign storyline. I'll probably be more optimistic once we see the spring 2015 products. Right now, we're speculating sight-unseen based on tidbits, rumours, and a single lackluster data-point from Tyranny of Dragons (which may never have been designed with the same intentions anyway).
I'd like to only see one new class: the psion. Or psionicist. Class options should be mostly subclasses. Although I can't think of many concepts that really *need* to exist. I'd rather not have a psionic barbarian for the sole purpose of having a psionic barbarian.
A psionic rogue that was a master of mental manipulation might be neat. Like The Shadow. Or body alteration to change their appearance. The Mind Thief. Oooo Mind Taker.
Psion as the single full-class makes a ton of sense. Most of the other concepts are pretty solid subclasses anyway. (And I don't think the ardent or battlemind got much traction--they certainly didn't with me.)
Psychic warrior should be a fighter subclass. Your "mindtaker" sounds like decent concept for a psionic rogue that people always seem to ask for. That said, definitely not every class needs a psionic subclass...but some of them do.
Monk. It's strikes me as very monkish, combining martial arts with mental powers, and allows a place to slip in 4e monkish abilities.
That's a good argument. I could live with the soulknife as a psionic monk.
This is also a must. I might use the 4e name "battlemind" but keep the simple psionic warrior flavour.
Noooo! 4E (especially PH3) brought us some truly awful names. Let "battlemind" die!
The druid would be awkward. We don't need a psionic version of every class. But the ranger could totally benefit from an Unnatural Slayer option, or additional options for the Hunter subclass.
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They have enough options. And mixing the two spellcasting is weird. We don't need a clerical build of wizard either.
I probably wasn't clear enough here; I don't think these classes need to
be psionic, I just think they're neat (and fairly well-tractioned) class concepts that are tangentially related to psionics and far-realm flavour. (The two seem to always be lumped together.)
Druids and rangers who are the bane of aberrations, à la Eberron's Gatekeepers. Alienist sorcerers and warlocks whose power comes from the far realm (GOO-locks already have this flavour, but need more options).
For a psionic/aberration book, the gith race might be nice. -yanki and -zeri for subraces. And the blue might be a neat way of sneaking a goblin race into the game without actually adapting the goblin powers. Keep the blue's mechanics simple and only vaguely psionic and you can reflavour as a regular goblin.
This might be better suited for an Eberron product (or web supplement).
These might work. Duergar might fit as a dwarf subrace.
Thri-kreen might be better in a Dark Sun product though. Ditto half-giants.
Definitely kalashtar should be Eberron-specific. Thri-kreen and half-giants have a bit more general traction, but they could be Dark Sun-specific too I suppose. Duergar (and muls, while we're at it) belong as dwarf subraces.
I'd love a psionic aboleth, intellect devourer, brain mole, and the like. There's a few good psionic beasties.
I can't believe I forgot to mention psionic aboleths! But yeah, there are a ton of should-be-psionic monsters.
I don't want a psion class that is just "I'm a wizard, but I call it psionics and use points instead of slots." That's been kind of lame, and it'd still be kind of lame. If we're going to get a psion class, it shouldn't just be a re-skinned wizard!
I get what you're saying, but it's always been sort of a variant wizard. I want WotC to keep looking for that sweet-spot where the psion can fill the same basic role as the wizard (same way a sorcerer or warlock or even bard does), but also does it in its own unique way (like those classes).
The first thing I would want is psionics that any character can acquire. OD&D and 1e didn't make you multiclass to get psionic abilities, and neither should 5e. I should be able to be a bard who learns how to mind blast or a warlock who can ego whip.
I don't hate the idea of a "wild talent" feat that allows exactly what you've described, but how can we balance a dedicated psionic character whose powers are all external to their primary class?
I might also expect a class to be able to focus on psionics -- perhaps subclasses for the classes that give a few selections. Let Wizards specialize in one of the six psionic disciplines, give Fighters a Psychic Warrior archetype, give Sorcerers a Wild Mind origin, give Monks a Soulknife tradition, etc.
I see. I think I'm with you 90%; I just don't think the wizard framework is ideal for psions--too much "book magic" built into the core of the class, even if the crunch-execution is similar to the ideal psion.
If we do get a purely psionic class, I'd hope that it would have something more to bring to the table than a point system. I think we could get point-based spellcasters independent of psionics (there should be a system to convert slots into points that doesn't worry about the flavor), and while I would expect many of the psionic subclasses to use points instead of slots by default, there's no reason that conversion shouldn't happen both ways.
Psionics has long stood as an alternative to magic. If all else fails to make psionics worthwhile, I think it's worth including just for the very different flavour of pikes and psychics compared to swords and sorcery. YMMV.
