D&D 5E Mystic Speculation

[Colder]

I wish the class was called "psionist" instead of "mystic". The latter just seems so generic and could easily encompass other classes. Couldn't "mystic" easily also include "wizard" and "cleric"? Psionist is a lot less generic. I hope they keep the flavour of the Dark Sun psionics.

I mean, we have such classes as "Fighter," "Rogue," "Barbarian," "Sorcerer," "Warlock," and even "Wizard." All of those names are generic, and could have meant anything when those classes were introduced to D&D. Our concepts of what those class names mean came after the class was already named.

What the various reactions to the Mystic and the new Fighter UA subclasses has taught me is that class names really just aren't important in the grand scheme of things because no matter what a new class/subclass is named, somebody will complain that it's either too specific or it's not specific enough.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I had some additional thoughts on why Mike Mearls probably said what he said.

I think he really wants sohei to be a fighter subclass. If it is a fighter subclass, then making it a 1/3 divine caster would make it compare poorly to the 1/2 divine casters like paladin and ranger. To avoid that problem, he figures it's no big deal to shift it to psionic. There is probably also a desire to avoid a psionic fighter subclass with little meaningful D&D fluff that is just a mechanical chassis to do what you want with, since he has already said that doing that with Champion and Battle Master is one of his regrets. Now, I agree with all of that except it not being a big deal to shift it to psionics.

The problem with this is that it really shouldn't be a fighter at all--it should be a paladin. Heck, Oath of the Crown basically already fits the bill conceptually and mechanically. But if a new subclass it made, it should absolutely be a paladin.

In DnD 4th the monk was considered a psionic class ( psicometabolic/ mind over body powers).

Which I had zero problem with. I'd be fine if there was no ki power source and it was all rolled into psionics. However, since the monk already uses ki, and they aren't spinning ki as 'psionics by another name', then we have the dilemma I described if they go ki for sohei.

Would a section/sidebar that sais that in many oriental setting people refer to psy points as Ki help in any way ?

It would help, but it would take some really good phrasing.

 

[Leatherhead]

Ironically, I really want to see how a 1/3 divine caster, powered by Cantrips and short rest powers, would fair against the 1/2 divine casters and their more traditional daily resource models.

 

[Xeviat]

I'd wholly support rolling Ki and Power Points together. The monk's ki reasonably compares to a half-level Warlock if you converted the warlock to SP. The monk is a Ki half-caster. Psionics as short rest would also differentiate it from wizards and clerics. Warlocks aren't too crowded.


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[Parmandur]

Interesting...

 

[vpuigdoller]

To be honest I really dont like the mystic, to me it feels weird as presented in the ua. I want to see a more completed version to decide if ill ever allow it in my games or just homebrew one. I really want to be proven wrong. I love the third edition psion.

 

[Mercurius]

This makes me think that:

A) The UA book will include not only psionics, but oriential/Asian stuff, and
B) One of the 2017 story arcs is going to be oriential/Asian in flavor (Kara-Tur?)

Oh yeah, I like "mystic" because it is more fantastical than "psionicist," which sounds scientific. I'd rather go without midichlorians, thankyouverymuch.

 

[Jester David]

We still have how many classes to get through? Four? Five?
I imagine we can expect the mystic in mid-February. Maybe...

 

[Xeviat]

To be honest I really dont like the mystic, to me it feels weird as presented in the ua. I want to see a more completed version to decide if ill ever allow it in my games or just homebrew one. I really want to be proven wrong. I love the third edition psion.

What part is feeling weird? The name? The disciplines?

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

B) One of the 2017 story arcs is going to be oriential/Asian in flavor (Kara-Tur?)

Someone asked Mearls this in the chain of tweets about the mystic and oriental stuff and he said "not any time soon". With how far out they seem to have things planned, I would take that as not at all in 2017, maybe not even in 2018.