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.

 

[Salthorae]

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

Cool.

I guess that is no longer their sentiment or thought since roughly 1/2 of their published books each year are adventures!

 

[Lord-Archaon]

All right, the thread derailed quite a bit, and nobody is talking about this UA anymore. I suspect nobody even read it properly.
Just take a look at this, from the sidebar nobody read:

"Your Psionic Focus
Every member of the Psionics tradition has a story about how their psionic focus came into their life. Consider how you found yours and what form it takes. The event that brought your psionic focus to you probably holds personal significance. Did your master give it to you upon the completion of your apprenticeship? Was it awarded to you when you graduated from your academy of wizardry? Did it call to you in a jeweler’s shop? Was it associated with the moment when your psionic powers first manifested? One morning, did you wake up with it humming under your pillow? "

How in the Nine Hells they could think this is remotely in theme with psionics, or even any possible new take on it? Heck, how did they think this would be something fun in the first place, even if it wouldn't be associated to psionics?
We have trinkets, they are nice, entire adventures can be had about them, but look what this trinket becomes for the "psionicist":

"Thought Form
6th-level Psionics feature
While you are carrying your psionic focus, you can use a bonus action to magically transform your body into pure psionic energy. The transformation lasts for 10 minutes, until you use a bonus action to assume your normal form, or until you are incapacitated or die. While in thought form, you are a figure of luminous psychic energy, with your psionic focus hovering within. Your form can appear as anything you wish, but it is obviously magical, is the same size as you, and sheds dim light in a 5foot-radius. Any other equipment you are wearing or carrying transforms with you and melds into your thought form. You also gain the following benefits:
Psionic Spellcasting. When you cast a spell while in thought form, you can cast the spell psionically. If you do so, the spell doesn’t require verbal, somatic, or material components that lack a gold cost."

I believe you still didn't read all of it properly, because you smelled grognard rant, so I will quote the quote, the part you should really know:
"a figure of luminous psychic energy, with your psionic focus hovering within. "
And I believe you forgot already what the psionic focus is, because again, it must be juat some grognard ranting about this, so I will quote the previous quote:
"One morning, did you wake up with it humming under your pillow?" - It's a freaking trinket.
The sidebar doesn't finish where I stopped quoting, it goes on about this "focus" possible forms, clarifying they have no idea what they are talking about, except that it's a trinket:
"Perhaps it’s a childhood memento"

So to cast/manifest powers (ah no, sorry, they must be "psionic spells") as any mentalist/psion/mystic/psychic would do in any world (that is, without uttering freaking magic formulas accompanied by gestures), you have to become a "figure of luminous psychic energy" (looking however you damn please BTW, as specified in the rules text later) with a "childhood memento" (OR ANY OTHER OBJECT, AS LONG AS IT'S A FREAKING MATERIAL OBJECT, because clearly that's how you unlock the immaterial powers of the mind) "hovering within" this new "luminous" and "obviously magical" body of yours. And this is 6th level.

Do we really need to talk about WotC publishing adventures or splat books, or can we just tell the designers that this joke is not funny, already??

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

"One morning, did you wake up with it humming under your pillow?"

I'm ashamed to admit the first thing that came to mind when I read that line.

 

[the Jester]

Yes, the difference between proficiency and 1/2 level is largely cosmetic, numbers puritanism instead of numbers porn.

Okay, hold on a second, I have to speak to this.

This is, in my games at least, absolutely incorrect. The difference in playstyles enabled by bounded accuracy (i.e. proficiency bonus vs. half your level bonus) is extreme. To be precise, 4e was absolutely terrible for supporting "Everyone Starts at First Level" (ES@1) play, something that was a defining characteristic of my campaign up through 2e (and the first few levels of 3.0, until it became painfully apparent that the math simply didn't support it anymore). This is a major difference. Really major. With a 3e or 4e group, a first level pc was pretty much completely doomed in a party facing challenges appropriate to a group that was more than 2 or 3 levels higher. And fairly useless, too- the first level guy simply couldn't hit the numbers required, either in attack bonus or in damage dealt, to really contribute.

In 5e, she absolutely can- I can attest to this, because I run ES@1 again, and it totally works in 5e.

 

[the Jester]

It's not simply that it isn't WotC producing the content; it is that people are designing only within the space established...and I'd like to see what can be done when that space is expanded. Kobold Press has released some interesting stuff, but no new classes, afaik. And even the neat ideas that WotC does produce get hampered, in my opinion, by their own internal design rules, resulting in the example I gave above of the Nine Hells paladin that heals with a touch. What bad thing happens if they just release the Hell Knight as a class, to avoid silly aspects like that? Nothing. Their position is too strong. It's bizarre to think that a book of additional classes would hurt the game at this point in any real (which is to read, financial) way.

Books cost money to print. Companies cost money to run. If WotC releases a book whose sales suck, it makes less money, making the whole game less viable. A book full of junk options that only a small number of gamers buy is an expensive loss to WotC. Just because they are the industry leader doesn't mean they can't go broke- anyone remember how printing tons of crap products went for TSR?

I am assuming you are talking in good faith, but it's weird to me that you haven't seen the threads just around here about how high level play (as presented in the product) is still not viable. They're there.

That doesn't mean that they are correct. There are many high level pcs in my game, including a couple that have reached level 20, and I assure you that the game still functions for them. In fact, my players are even planning on forming a "Team Omega" of 20th level pcs once there are enough of them.

Please understand that I DO understand that the strategy has worked so far, spectacularly as far as the sales go. That is exactly why I feel they could take more risks at expanding the game...the people who play who aren't hardcore gamers aren't leaving because a few new classes got released, I just don't believe that.

You seem to be arguing for ditching a winning strategy. And it's not about people leaving the game because a few new classes got released; it's about maintaining the quality of the material that they put out so that the books sell well enough. If nobody buys a book, it costs WotC a ton of money.

"This has worked so far, now quit it and do something different!" is not a really persuasive argument.

The Mystic was a step in that direction, and was interesting...but it got shouted down for reasons both legit and not, and so I fear we won't see something like that again.

The mystic was an awful, overpowered, disjointed mess, in my opinion. But if by "something like that" you mean new full classes, I'll point out the artificer. It's not that WotC won't work on that kind of thing again; it's that the results have to be good enough to justify printing them if they're going to see release in a book.

I'm just a guy asking for the people who write D&D to write some stuff without being hamstrung by the popular vote and let the creativity be unbound...and apparently that's a bad thing.

It is if it kills the game by making the sales tank. It is if it causes a new edition to be created because 5e is no longer sustainable.

Spending resources on developing thing is a cost. It has to be paid back by sales or it's just flushing money down the toilet for no return.

 

[the Jester]

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.

Just because the products they've produced sell well doesn't mean that any future products will sell well. The game is absolutely sinkable; all it would take is a few years of serious monetary implosion. And that could happen if they poured resources into products only a few people would buy. Every product they print costs money. Every one unsold is a hit to the game's bottom line.

 

[Vael]

How in the Nine Hells they could think this is remotely in theme with psionics, or even any possible new take on it? Heck, how did they think this would be something fun in the first place, even if it wouldn't be associated to psionics?

Well, first, little roleplaying hooks are in a lot of subclasses to give them flavour. Tables of Quirks, for example. So having a fun little item can help a player define their character.

Second, having an object to focus on makes a lot of sense. Meditation often involves mantra or having an object to focus your attention on, one could say that all this time meditating, staring at a trinket has imbued it with a sliver of your psionic psyche, or at least linked it to yourself.

Or perhaps it's like the personal totems from Inception? After all, if a Psionicist is going to spend a lot of time focusing their mind, spending time in their "Mind Palace", having an object that exists to anchor you to reality and not your internal reality might be a good thing?

Just some ideas, but may I suggest, that rather than just be dismissive towards an unexpected idea, perhaps take a moment to actually think about it?

As for mechanical benefits, the main bonus now, is you have an arcane focus that doesn't need to be held (just needs to be on your person) to function. So those other wizards need either material components or need to wave around a wand or staff, while you don't have to. Which, sure, doesn't get you all the way to Professor X just touching his forehead, but it still sets you apart from the other Wizards. Which, ultimately, is the point. This isn't a Psion, it's a Wizard that studies Psionics.

 

[Chaosmancer]

All right, the thread derailed quite a bit, and nobody is talking about this UA anymore. I suspect nobody even read it properly.

How in the Nine Hells they could think this is remotely in theme with psionics, or even any possible new take on it? Heck, how did they think this would be something fun in the first place, even if it wouldn't be associated to psionics?
We have trinkets, they are nice, entire adventures can be had about them, but look what this trinket becomes for the "psionicist":

I believe you still didn't read all of it properly, because you smelled grognard rant, so I will quote the quote, the part you should really know:

"a figure of luminous psychic energy, with your psionic focus hovering within. "

And I believe you forgot already what the psionic focus is, because again, it must be juat some grognard ranting about this, so I will quote the previous quote:

"One morning, did you wake up with it humming under your pillow?" - It's a freaking trinket.

The sidebar doesn't finish where I stopped quoting, it goes on about this "focus" possible forms, clarifying they have no idea what they are talking about, except that it's a trinket:
"Perhaps it’s a childhood memento"

So to cast/manifest powers (ah no, sorry, they must be "psionic spells") as any mentalist/psion/mystic/psychic would do in any world (that is, without uttering freaking magic formulas accompanied by gestures), you have to become a "figure of luminous psychic energy" (looking however you damn please BTW, as specified in the rules text later) with a "childhood memento" (OR ANY OTHER OBJECT, AS LONG AS IT'S A FREAKING MATERIAL OBJECT, because clearly that's how you unlock the immaterial powers of the mind) "hovering within" this new "luminous" and "obviously magical" body of yours. And this is 6th level.

Do we really need to talk about WotC publishing adventures or splat books, or can we just tell the designers that this joke is not funny, already??

So, I'm not exactly sure where your anger is.

Do you have problems with becoming a psychic force being? It wouldn't be my first choice of power to represent psionics, but it is a common enough one.

Or, is the issue that there is a material object that is being used as your focus for your mental powers, because that is a trope that is incredibly old. The entire idea of spellcasting focuses comes from something similar. And it can fit really well into psychic stories.

For Example, I know Visionary from Sentinels of the Multiverse Tactics uses a Rubix Cube to keep her mind occupied. She has strained her psyche so much, that she is going to fade into psychic energy and die, but she is holding it off by keeping herself grounded with a material object.

Additionally, I think there are over half a dozen "psychic little girl" characters who use stuffed animals or dolls as "focuses" for their psychic powers. Easy enough to see them continuing that trend into their adulthood and the resulting oddities in character that could come from that.


I will definitely say that the implementation of this is being handled terribly, but the seeds of the idea are actually very good and have some rich RP potential.

 

[Lord-Archaon]

Just some ideas, but may I suggest, that rather than just be dismissive towards an unexpected idea, perhaps take a moment to actually think about it?

You assume I didn't. I did think about it and I reached the conclusion that it's a bad joke, contrary to everything psionics stands for.
Think about it from a player's perspective, not a "could make sense in a way" one: who wants to play psionic characters? Exactly someone who wants the character to rely on the mind and not on material things.
"Psionic focus" was always considered a state of mind and not an object first of all due to freaking linguistics (this thing of calling an object a "focus" is an aberration of the game), and then due to the above: a psionic character is meant to be enjoyed by people who don't enjoy being dependent on objects, formulas, gestures, or anything related to magic.
This is why it's so insulting to me that first of all they try to do a Psionicist Wizard, and then they also make an object its main source of power, other than making the character do what a psionic one should do by default only by transforming into an incorporeal form at sixth level, and rigourously again showing this trinket as being central to this power. It's pathetically nonsensical.

 

[Eric V]

Books cost money to print. Companies cost money to run. If WotC releases a book whose sales suck, it makes less money, making the whole game less viable. A book full of junk options that only a small number of gamers buy is an expensive loss to WotC. Just because they are the industry leader doesn't mean they can't go broke- anyone remember how printing tons of crap products went for TSR?



That doesn't mean that they are correct. There are many high level pcs in my game, including a couple that have reached level 20, and I assure you that the game still functions for them. In fact, my players are even planning on forming a "Team Omega" of 20th level pcs once there are enough of them.



You seem to be arguing for ditching a winning strategy. And it's not about people leaving the game because a few new classes got released; it's about maintaining the quality of the material that they put out so that the books sell well enough. If nobody buys a book, it costs WotC a ton of money.

"This has worked so far, now quit it and do something different!" is not a really persuasive argument.



The mystic was an awful, overpowered, disjointed mess, in my opinion. But if by "something like that" you mean new full classes, I'll point out the artificer. It's not that WotC won't work on that kind of thing again; it's that the results have to be good enough to justify printing them if they're going to see release in a book.



It is if it kills the game by making the sales tank. It is if it causes a new edition to be created because 5e is no longer sustainable.

Spending resources on developing thing is a cost. It has to be paid back by sales or it's just flushing money down the toilet for no return.

It CAN'T "kill the game." That's a foolish statement. WotC is in a much better position than you are making them out to be. I am not arguing they should change strategy; don't be a jerk. I am saying because the strategy has worked well, they csn easily afford to try different things.