Unearthed Arcana New Unearthed Arcana: Psionics!

There’s a new Unearthed Arcana article out, and it’s all about psionics! "Their minds bristling with power, three new subclasses arrive in today’s Unearthed Arcana: the Psychic Warrior for the fighter, the Soulknife for the rogue, and the tradition of Psionics for the wizard."

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In this 9-page PDF, there are also some new psionics-themed spells (including versions of classic psionic powers like id insinuation and ego whip) and two new feats.

 

[Shardstone]

Crawford said that this stuff with the Aberrant Sorcerer + the Great Old One = what the array of options for Psionics will look like in the above interview.

Hmmm.

There's just a lot of content in Psionics that they aren't porting over, like the sciences and stuff too. Maybe they'll at least UA some more spells.

 

[Hussar]

I gotta admit, part of the comments before the interview was done made me chuckle.
“The fighter version is sooooo boring.”
Crawford: “we made the fighter so you can play Darth Vader”

I guess Vader is super boring

I have to admit, I immediately thought Jedi when reading the fighter version. I mean, what is missing? You've got force movement, defenses, augmented attack, and at 15th level, force lightning. What's missing from the Jedi for D&D?

I have to admit, I like it.

 

[vpuigdoller]

I just read the UA, I love the direction where this is going, I can use this already as they are so I'm happy about that. I like updated Mind Sliver as well, the previous one was just weak in comparison to Sacred Flame which was the spell they were trying to copy in structure.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Psychic Warrior and Soul Knife make perfect sense as 1/3rd-caster-equivalent sub-classes of the Rogue & Fighter.
If they stack up OK with the EK & AT, there's nothing much to complain about. For almost any supernatural class, it seems, there needs to be a faux-multi-classing archetype for fighter and rogue. Just a 5e thang, a consequence of making multi-classing optional, while still wanting to support concepts that required it in the past.

"School of Psionics," though? As well as D&D has been doing, you'd think they could spring for some additional design talent and do something beyond leveraging existing spell-casting mechanics and spell lists. Psionics has, at times in the game's history been very distinct from magic (or, even when considered magic, from other forms of magic), and 5e really needs to keep the 'psionics are different' option open for those fans who prefer it.

 

[Gradine]

Thoughts/feelings:

There really ought to be an official Psionic class. If this is confirmation that we're not getting one, that really sucks. As for the subclasses themselves:

*Psychic Warrior is fine, though the damage boost from Augmented Strikes is laughable, especially since it can only be applied once per turn.
*Soulknife should be a Monk. First off. Secondly, forcing a bonus action to manifest the blade each time makes throwing the blade untenable; a Rogue already has too many things to do with their bonus action, never mind that most iconic Soulknife images dual-wield. Otherwise this isn't terrible. For a non-Monk (looks like Eberron Explored is giving us a Monk Soulknife of some nature anyway, so...)
*Psionicist is actually fine for a mentalist wizard, but as many have pointed out, if this is the thing they're giving us and calling a "true" psion then... it's not.

 

[dave2008]

So, the rules guy basically admits that this edition is dead in regard to expanding the system in different and new directions. Looking at the finished versions of the warforged and the artificer already makes me feel like that's the case, anyway, but it's good to know that's an official stance.

It's a pity we have such a strong core game and the designers are not willing to play with it. How many flavors of "you can use a bonus action to deal X additional damage every Y attacks" they can come up with? We'll learn soon. :/

No what they are providing us is the opportunity to push the boundaries like the good D&D homebrewers we are. Of course with the DMsGuild we have a way to share the better ideas as well. I know people want official this or official that, but I personally like it much better when the design is expanded through homebrew and the DMsGuild and UA Reddit and these forums have been great for exploring new ideas. With some many minds attacking it we can come up with something so much more interesting than what a lone design team can come up with.

 

[Shardstone]

I have to admit, I immediately thought Jedi when reading the fighter version. I mean, what is missing? You've got force movement, defenses, augmented attack, and at 15th level, force lightning. What's missing from the Jedi for D&D?

I have to admit, I like it.

Force choke, the iconic vader move.

And force labored breathing. Force burn victim scars too

 

[Sacrosanct]

So, the rules guy basically admits that this edition is dead in regard to expanding the system in different and new directions. Looking at the finished versions of the warforged and the artificer already makes me feel like that's the case, anyway, but it's good to know that's an official stance.

It's a pity we have such a strong core game and the designers are not willing to play with it. How many flavors of "you can use a bonus action to deal X additional damage every Y attacks" they can come up with? We'll learn soon. :/

No, he doesn't admit that at all. Did you not even read my summary of what he said? Or watch the video yourself?

He said those "new mechanics" in previous editions had hardly anyone play them, and therefore they wanted to create things where the most people would use them. That's nothing like "admitting the edition is dead."

Come on now.

This doesn't feel like Darth Vader.

It just adds psionic damage to attacks and later you can force mind blast people. There's so much more to Vader than that but you could really just play Vader with a Paladin, Eldritch Knight, etc etc

If that's all you took away from it, then you clearly didn't read the abilities it gets. There are other powers granted that emulate what a jedi could do, like manipulating objects, debilitate your opponent, etc.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I have to admit, I immediately thought Jedi when reading the fighter version. I mean, what is missing? You've got force movement, defenses, augmented attack, and at 15th level, force lightning. What's missing from the Jedi for D&D?

I have to admit, I like it.

That was the vibe they went for with Battlemind, which conceptually differed from Psychic Warrior mainly in the name.

 

[Hussar]

This UA is going to be unleash so much spice and salt over the internet that they will have to update the tongue flavor list again, just to have something that surpasses umami.

Psychic Warrior
Wonderboy, what is the secret of your power?

Psionic Armament
Comes in two flavors:

Augmented Defenses, you spend your reaction to reduce the damage of a single damage roll dealt to any creature within 30' of you by 1d10 (or 1d12 at level 10). Needless to say, this is not worth considering beyond level 5. Needs scaling, probably just give it flat resistance to that type of damage till the start of your next turn.

Are you kidding?

Effectively bonus d10/d12 hp PER ROUND? That's a HUGE advantage. I was actually thinking that this is too powerful.

As for the thing you are actually going to use?

Augmented Strikes . +1d4 damage per weapon strike, +1d6 at level 10. It's a mini-Brute!

Telekinetic Hand
It's just improved Mage Hand, like the Arcane Trickster, but worse and it still doesn't scale at all. Just let it carry some extra weight already.

Meh, it's a ribbon. Nicely Jedi flavored ribbon.

Strength of Mind
Basically it's Thorn Whip via alternative mechanics as a bonus action. Also it can push instead. Which is cool an all, but normally level 7 has some kind of non-combat utility. Mabe some Telepathy or something.

Telekinetic Bulwark
You can turn one of your Attacks into Telekinetic Half-Cover for 60 seconds. I like cover, it's an under appreciated mechanic, however the activation and recharge mechanics on this ability are way too complex. Is it too much to ask for a Bonus Action that recharges on a short rest anymore? Maybe something that works every time you give up an attack but lasts for only a turn or so? This is just clunky.

I dunno. Recharges on a long OR after you've used your second wind (so, effectively, recharges on a short rest). But, it is an interesting idea. It actually lets you use this ability twice per short rest, once before you've second winded and once after. It's a subtle change to how fighters work, and lets you get a lot of mileage out of this. Essentially, you're going to have this in two encounters between rests. Not a bad ability. Will drive fighter AC into the stratosphere really. +2 AC 2/short rest.

Agonizing Strikes
Psionic Smite! With added Prone and Disadvantage on ability checks.

Psychic Dreadnaught
So this is totally a Paladin Capstone that somehow got appended to the Fighter. Unfortunately, it's one of the weaker ones, and it may regenerate you, but it stops working if you fall unconscious.

Thoughts
Have you ever wanted to play a paladin that deals more damage, without having to deal with spells, or worrying about when to use your lay on hands? No of course not, you want to play a Psionic Warrior. This could stand to have more Psychometabolism powers to better reflect how weird they are supposed to be. Some funky fleshshaping to better reflect that far realm/aberration flavor.
/snip for other class criticisms that I haven't read yet.

You definitely missed the point on this subclass. This is a jedi. Which, I suppose, is where the paladin vibe comes from. Not sure why you think this has far realms flavor. Wasn't getting that at all. I mean, look at the sub-class description:

Awakening to the psionic power within themselves, a Psychic Warrior is a fighter who augments their physical might with psychically infused weapon strikes, telekinetic lashes, and barriers of mental force.

As a Psychic Warrior, you might have honed your psionic abilities through your own disciplined practice, unlocked it under the tutelage of a master, or developed it at an academy dedicated to wielding the mind’s power as both weapon and shield.

Kinda sounds familiar, no?