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.

 

[Lord-Archaon]

You can do your stuff without implements regardless of class though. (And the way I played as soon as Inherent bonuses came out it wasnt even a few percentiles off) . Most weapon users are 1/2 to 1/3 as capable or worse deprived of weaponry.

When I play a Wizard, I want to use a staff or wand.
When I play a Fighter, I want to use weaponry.
When I play a Psion, I want to use nothing but my mind.

Make it less effective without an implement, fine. But if they keep the concept as they did it now of "while you have tour psionic focus on you, you can cast psionically", they made the concept that should be the least object-deoendent the MOST dependent on objects. That's why I am mad, because I don't see the designers trying to balance things, I see them trying to freaking invert them, subvert them. And for what?

 

[Garthanos]

When I play a Wizard, I want to use a staff or wand.
When I play a Fighter, I want to use weaponry.
When I play a Psion, I want to use nothing but my mind.

Make it less effective without an implement, fine.

That still works largely raw in 4e was all I was saying.
One of the things that martial artists do have in common with the psion is that sense that they are independent or self dependent. This may not be a standard trope of the fighter but it has been for individuals some of whom the stories were pushing as the best of their kind ie there was some implications to be the best you eventually were less dependent on being armored or equipped. Beowulf's and Lancelot's for instance although it may just have been a way to show off how much more awesome they were it was rather pointedly about their relationship with objects/tools.

 

[Ashrym]

Look at those numbers on Curse of Strahd. That adds a lot of weight to the speculation that Chris Perkins is working on some sort of return to Ravenloft.

Ravenloft would be the exception where a published adventure turned into a popular setting. A return to Ravenloft would makes sense.

Ravnica is the last one what has been published, the newcomer, and only one book.

Eberron: Rising from the Last War is the newcomer. It just currently new and selling well.

 

[Parmandur]

There was talk about what sells and a like to an article earlier. I did a quick grab of some titles from Amazon and sorted them by best seller ranking for a general idea. I'd take it with a grain of salt but it looks interesting.

View attachment 116449

I think it does support the premise that adventures don't sell as well as rules.

A couple of points, for context:

- These are live, up to the hour numbers, not historical (a couple months ago Avernus was too dig being the latest thing)

- All but three of those books are currently outselling every single book in the Pathfinder line on Amazon, including books that have been in print for over five years: Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat have been in print longer than 3.0 or 3.5 Core, and are still selling.

 

[Garthanos]

- All but three of those books are currently outselling every single book in the Pathfinder line on Amazon

The name Pathfinder still makes me think one is set in well either really ancient era and you are seeking the land bridge from Asia to the Americas or perhaps native Americans interacting with settlers I mean invaders from Europe who needed scouts.

 

[generic]

A couple of points, for context:

- These are live, up to the hour numbers, not historical (a couple months ago Avernus was too dig being the latest thing)

- All but three of those books are currently outselling every single book in the Pathfinder line on Amazon, including books that have been in print for over five years: Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat have been in print longer than 3.0 or 3.5 Core, and are still selling.

D&D is still fallible though, which I think we should remember.

It may seem invincible now, but, well, a few awful releases could send it into a downward spiral.

 

[Garthanos]

It may seem invincible now, but, well, a few awful releases could send it into a downward spiral.

A general economic turn is a more likely case for it I think.

 

[Ashrym]

A couple of points, for context:

- These are live, up to the hour numbers, not historical (a couple months ago Avernus was too dig being the latest thing)

- All but three of those books are currently outselling every single book in the Pathfinder line on Amazon, including books that have been in print for over five years: Hoard of the Dragon Queen and Rise of Tiamat have been in print longer than 3.0 or 3.5 Core, and are still selling.

That's why I was taking it with a grain of salt. Some of the numbers changed while I was transcribing them.

What I'm looking at is the general trend for rules books to be well ahead of adventure books when they've all been out a while.

For comparison, the PF2 Core Rulebook is currently 3170 on the BSR. That's currently well worse than most adventure books 5e has put out.

 

[Lord-Archaon]

There was no visible manifestation. Psionic combat took place on a "separate" plane from normal combat, not visible to anyone not involved, and the Psionicist needed nothing beyond themselves and a rested mind to have their powers.

It's evocative. It's also too powerful in the modern incarnation of the game. I'd argue it was too powerful back then too which is why most tables banned it or didn't give it the time of day.

So keep the essence and balance it out. But don't subvert it.
I am all in favor of there being a "tell" that reveals the usage of psionics. Heck, since some of you were trying to justify the use of trinkets as foci with popular culture, tell me a nosebleed would be less recognizable as a tell... It's actually MORE recognizable. As is the need to concentrate very deeply.

A psionics user would be extremely vulnerable to anything breaking the concentration. Being afraid would make him/her nearly disabled, or at the very least unable to use anything that is not self-defence. Psychic damage would similarly be very dangerous, just as taking any damage would break concentration as for magic users, but worse because they would also lose the needed "psionic focus", this being the altered state of consciousness needed to manifest powers.

There are countless ways of making psionics balanced, yet maintaining the flavor and the sneakiness of their powers.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

I would like Psion-as-class to ''cast at will'' using the skill system instead of having the equivalent of spell. Something like:

Gather Focus:
As a Bonus Action, you start to gather your focus to unleash your psionic powers. You must Concentrate as if you were using a spell and your speed is halved for the rest of your turn. While focusing on your powers you can choose a Skill from the skill list and make a check as an Action. The result of the check allow you to manifest a power.

Manifestation:
Exemple:
Athletic:
- Brute Strike DC 15: You make a melee attack against a creature. The attack deals +1d6 damage on a success and +1d6 per +5 of the roll (so a roll of 25 would give a +3d6 bonus).
- Mighty Leap DC 10: Your Jump distance increases by 20 ft until the end of your next turn. Each +5 of the roll increase the jump distance by 5 ft.
etc

Charm attacks would be under persuasion, fear under intimidate, mind reading under insight, aura reading under investigation etc.