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.

 

[Eric V]

Check out Mage Hand Press. They have a good space sci-fi setting called Dark Matter for 5e, which has a Gadgeteer Class in it.

They also have done the following classes: Craftsman, Witch, Investigator, Gunslinger, and Alchemist... The Craftsman, Alchemist and Gunslinger have their own crafting item creation rules that are very cool.

The Craftsman class is my favorite 5e class.

They did other classes but I'm forgetting their names. I know one is very much like the 4e Warlord. It's just not called Warlord.

I think WotC gave us a fine game in 5e. I have enjoyed playing it. They provided a solid template and the structure of the game works. But after 5 years and seeing so very few new ideas come out from them while seeing them produce so many campaign 'stories'... And seeing how conservative they've been with their own game designs...

... Having an Artificer with no true artifice crafting rules, turning psionics into a form of wizardry, fewer player directed books and many more adventures, this could go on.

It's very opposite both 3.5 and 4e.

Thanks for the heads up! Appreciated.

 

[dave2008]

Thanks for the heads up! Appreciated.

FYI, here is a link: Mage Hand Press , looks interesting. I'm going to pick up a few I think.

 

[Eric V]

I think the worry is, once they open that particular bottle - a new class for a given concept - the genie is out. People will immediately demand that their particular concept gets catered to. And, before too long, we run right back into the same issue that sank every other edition - every table becomes so niche that no product can possibly appeal to a majority because no majority exists anymore.

The key difference this time around is D&D's position in the popular culture, which is vastly stronger than it ever was. As such, I don't think it is "sinkable," at least not by the creation of new character classes.

If someone thinks I'm overstating WotC's position, I guess we can agree to disagree, but I feel the sales numbers show the game is more "unsinkable" than ever.

 

[gyor]

The key difference this time around is D&D's position in the popular culture, which is vastly stronger than it ever was. As such, I don't think it is "sinkable," at least not by the creation of new character classes.

If someone thinks I'm overstating WotC's position, I guess we can agree to disagree, but I feel the sales numbers show the game is more "unsinkable" than ever.

Plus Psion is not just any new class, it's a class that has reappeared in multiple editions.

 

[Salthorae]

Having an Artificer with no true artifice crafting rules, turning psionics into a form of wizardry, fewer player directed books and many more adventures, this could go on.

They haven’t “turned psionics into wizardry” they have release a play test for people to evaluate.

Not sure what “player directed books” means?

People want adventures. So them publishing adventures is a bad thing?

As to crafting rules... there are multiple versions of those rules and ultimately it’s up to the DM.

One of 5e’s points is to NOT codify everything in a rule somewhere. To give DM’s freedom to make rulings as they see fit without having to look something up all the time.

It’s a feature not a bug.

The only thing I want is rules on Jumping with athletics!

It's very opposite both 3.5 and 4e

That was mostly the point of the edition.

 

[dave2008]

Thanks for the heads up! Appreciated.

Also, have you thought about playing PF2e? It is D&D by a different name and has lots of options and they keep pumping out more. That might float your boat more than 5e.

 

[Ashrym]

It's caused our group to move on, the first time we've left an editon of D&D for reasons other than a new version of D&D got released; we've been pretty loyal to the game since 1e.

So to be clear, all that commenting is in regard to a game you aren't playing? People still play older versions. Hopefully you enjoy what you are playing because that's the important thing.

She's also mentioned in the Artillerist description, as "an unlikely yet key member of House Cannith's warforged project".

Sure was.

An Artillerist specializes in using magic to hurl energy, projectiles, and explosions on a battlefield. This destructive power was valued by all the armies of the Last War. Now that the war is over, some members of this specialization have sought to build a more peaceful world by using their powers to fight the resurgence of strife in Khorvaire. The gnome artificer Vi, an unlikely yet key member of House Cannith’s warforged project, has been especially vocal about making things right: “It’s about time we fixed things instead of blowing them all to hell.”

And typical of Eberron, I expect the noble repair effort to get derailed by something bad along the way. Most likely some of the artificers trying to do good things.

People want adventures. So them publishing adventures is a bad thing?

Published adventures have 2 really good points off the top of my head.

1. They save having to create the adventure by the DM. Time saver.
2. The demonstrate the rules in use by examples.

That was mostly the point of the edition.

And it seems to be a successful decision at this point.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

People want adventures. So them publishing adventures is a bad thing?

In the 3e era, the received wisdom was that adventures don't sell. They're a niche product that's best left to third party publishers.

 

[Salthorae]

In the 3e era, the received wisdom was that adventures don't sell. They're a niche product that's best left to third party publishers.

What’s the source on that received wisdom? WotC publish a number of great adventures in the 3.x era.

Forge of Fury, Red Hand of Doom are still favorites of many people.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

What’s the source on that received wisdom? WotC publish a number of great adventures in the 3.x era.

Forge of Fury, Red Hand of Doom are still favorites of many people.

A Brief History of Game #1 Wizards of the Coast: 1990-Present 2006-08-03 by Shannon Appelcline

Here's a sucky truism of roleplaying publishing: adventures don't sell nearly as well as most other types of supplements, however adventures are also entirely necessary to get people interested in and playing your game. Ryan Dancey, now the D&D brand manager, had a great solution to this problem: let other people do the adventure publishing. Thus, the idea of d20 was born.