D&D 5E Would you prefer warlord or psion as a new class?

[LuisCarlos17f]

I remember some martial maneuver from "Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords" had got some healing effect after a succesful attack. I can accept fighters with healer effects whose power source is ki.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I get how many view it that way, but it requires overwriting how the game is presented and how language is used.

Not overwriting, no, it's just a matter of how you interpret the ambiguity both of the language and of what is natural language vs jargon, what is 'fluff' vs 'crunch.'

5e makes that a complicated task, because it uses a more natural (less formal/precise/technical) style of writing, and does not draw any clear lines between color/flavor text and hard rules - but by the same token, it leaves DMs great latitude in making the game their own.

For that reason, I think it's fair to cut the game a little slack when it comes to claiming an inconsistency or, really, a lot of other "problems."

For instance, it's not fair to claim a contradiction between the way armor works in D&D, and the choice to use the word "hit" in the rules for attack resolution.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Okay, disclosure time: I expected psion to win, for a very simple reason: time. warlord was part of the game for much shorter fraction than psion (roughly 6 years vs 20 years, depending on how you measure it).

Even if you bundle together 4e, Essentials & E+, the first book came out in summer 2008, and the last in spring 2012, so 4 years.
Psionics first appeared for D&D in Eldritch Wizardry, Supplement III, 1976. They've been seen print in every edition until Next/5e gave 'em the cold shoulder.
So, around for 36 years.
Nine times as long. Also 3x as long as the Sorcerer and 4x as long as the Warlock.
All as of 2012, of course.

Taking that into account, the warlord is doing rather well: predicted ratio 3:10, poll ratio (roughly) 3:7.
I think my takeaway from this poll is there is quite a high level of interest in new base classes of any sort for 5e.

My feeling is that some interest, sure, from longer-time and harder-core fans. A little of that "active malice" from a sub-set thereof, maybe because of dug-in edition-war positions, or psionics being sci-fi, or whatever.

But for those who started with 5e (and that's a LOT, now) , "new" classes will have to get out there before opinions can be formed.

That a class that has been in a PH1, and another with 36 years of D&D history, have been denied to D&D for 5 years and counting, of its long-awaited come-back, to the point they're "new again," does not quite feel right to me.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

As I said, it dep[ends on how you measure it - Psion AS A CLASS did not appear until 2nd edition.

 

[Anoth]

Even if you bundle together 4e, Essentials & E+, the first book came out in summer 2008, and the last in spring 2012, so 4 years.
Psionics first appeared for D&D in Eldritch Wizardry, Supplement III, 1976. They've been seen print in every edition until Next/5e gave 'em the cold shoulder.
So, around for 36 years.
Nine times as long. Also 3x as long as the Sorcerer and 4x as long as the Warlock.
All as of 2012, of course.

My feeling is that some interest, sure, from longer-time and harder-core fans. A little of that "active malice" from a sub-set thereof, maybe because of dug-in edition-war positions, or psionics being sci-fi, or whatever.

But for the vast majority, "new" classes will have to get out there before opinions can be formed.

That a class that has been in a PH1, and another with 36 years of D&D history, have been denied to D&D for 5 years and counting, of its long-awaited come-back, to the point they're "new again," does not quite feel right to me.

almost every edition gave Psionics the cold shoulder. It came out late in every edition except 1E where it was in the PHB. And I don’t even know a 1E player to this day that uses those rules. And I played in groups that still play out of the 1E PHB until about 3 years ago. There are several in the Chicago area. Also go on any of the many forums where people still play 1E and you will find no one that uses those rules. Go to dragonsfoot forum or grognardia forums. There is a Od&d forums too. They look at Psionics as that mistake. Browse through the q&a of Gary Gygax himself on many forums and he has said many times it was a mistake.
Maybe they will get it right this edition. Hope so. I still think the 2E rules were the best. I hope that don’t sound to jerk-ish. I hope they make a good psion and better archetypes than they have. I will buy whatever they make anyway.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I remember some martial maneuver from "Tome of Battle: Book of Nine Swords" had got some healing effect after a succesful attack. I can accept fighters with healer effects whose power source is ki.

I'm pretty sure that the only healing capabilities in the ToB belonged to the Devoted Spirit discipline, which was only available to Crusaders. These were divinely-inspired warriors in the spirit of Paladins. The non-magical, Fighter-equivalents were the Warblades.

 

[Maxperson]

almost every edition gave Psionics the cold shoulder. It came out late in every edition except 1E where it was in the PHB. And I don’t even know a 1E player to this day that uses those rules. And I played in groups that still play out of the 1E PHB until about 3 years ago. There are several in the Chicago area. Also go on any of the many forums where people still play 1E and you will find no one that uses those rules. Go to dragonsfoot forum or grognardia forums. There is a Od&d forums too. They look at Psionics as that mistake. Browse through the q&a of Gary Gygax himself on many forums and he has said many times it was a mistake.
Maybe they will get it right this edition. Hope so. I still think the 2E rules were the best. I hope that don’t sound to jerk-ish. I hope they make a good psion and better archetypes than they have. I will buy whatever they make anyway.

Psionics has never gotten the cold shoulder, until maybe now. You seem to be confusing not being a high priority with getting the cold shoulder. 2e and 3e put a lot of work into it, which doesn't happen to a class that is getting "the cold shoulder." TSR and WotC just worked on other things that had a higher priority first.

 

[Tony Vargas]

almost every edition gave Psionics the cold shoulder. It came out late in every edition except 1E where it was in the PHB.

0D&D had a very slow pace of publication, by necessity, and psionics appeared just 2 years in, in the 3rd supplement. 1e had psionics it's full run of over a decade. 2e the same 2 years as 0e, with a much faster pace of release. 3.0, exactly 2 years in (and it remained valid until the 3.5 version dropped). 4e just under 2 years.

5e, it's 5 years and counting.

 

[Anoth]

0D&D had a very slow pace of publication, by necessity, and psionics appeared just 2 years in, in the 3rd supplement. 1e had psionics it's full run of over a decade. 2e the same 2 years as 0e, with a much faster pace of release. 3.0, exactly 2 years in (and it remained valid until the 3.5 version dropped). 4e just under 2 years.

5e, it's 5 years and counting.

I do hope they make a good one soon. But 2 years is a long time to wait when u have settings like dark sun that it is central too.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I do hope they make a good one soon. But 2 years is a long time to wait when u have settings like dark sun that it is central too.

I'm pretty sure that each ed had psionics in place before dropping Dark Sun, or put them out at the same time. (I suspect 5e will finally do the latter.)
But, most settings have a place for psionics, Eberron, a fairly significant one.