Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Revisits Psionics

The latest Unearthed Arcana from WotC revisits some psionic rules! “Shine with the power of the mind in this installment of Unearthed Arcana! Today we revisit several psi-themed options that we released in the past few months. Studying your feedback on those options, we’ve crafted this new collection of subclasses, spells, and feats, found in the PDF below.“

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[Flamestrike]

No. This is the sort of thing that lead to the idiocy that was the Psionic Wizard, and it shows you literally don't have the foggiest clue what a Psion is. You think they're just a Wizard? No. The Mystic was close to the right place.

I know exactly what a Psion is I can assure you. I still remember lucking out and rolling my first Psionic PC in primary school when I started playing in 82. I've been a fan of them ever since.

And the Mystic was a horrible broken mess of bonus action redundancy, hodgepodge Frankenstein concepts slapped together and confusing rules.

Seriously. I could create the Wizard above and call it a Psion and you'd never know the difference.

 

[Maxperson]

I disagree. Now you're essentially asking for the level cap to be increased beyond 20; the idea that this is integral to a game of Dark Sun, is IMO bananas.

The level cap was 20 in 2e as well. Darksun broke that mold with Dragons and Avangions. A special chart from 21-30 in Darksun would be fine. Settings specifically change core rules. That's what makes them unique.

 

[JPL]

EDIT: Never mind. I made a hilarious reference to Patrick Stewart's appearance on "Extras." It's worth a Google.

 

[Maxperson]

2E did not. Different class, called the Psionicist.

Same difference.

 

[TwoSix]

2E did not. Different class, called the Psionicist.

If we're going to be that level of pedantic, then only 3 editions have had Wizards, since they used to be called Magic-Users (1E) and Mages (2E).

Psionicist and Psion are two made-up words that mean exactly the same thing.

 

[Parmandur]

2E did not. Different class, called the Psionicist.

Get outta town.

 

[Dausuul]

The level cap was 20 in 2e as well.

2E allowed dual-classers to achieve 20 levels each in multiple classes, which was the prerequisite for becoming a dragon king or avangion in Dark Sun. 5E does not do that. You get a total of 20 levels in all of your classes and that's it. You cannot "max out" two classes in 5E: Anything you put into one class comes at the expense of the other.

Darksun broke that mold with Dragons and Avangions. A special chart from 21-30 in Darksun would be fine. Settings specifically change core rules. That's what makes them unique.

If what you want is a significant investment in play beyond level 21, that ain't gonna happen. WotC has been very clear that all their market research indicates little to no demand for top-level content. Even if they do make a psion class, they are never going to tack on 30 additional levels (20 levels in wizard + 20 levels in psion + 10 levels in abomination) when people don't use the 20 they have today.

At most, they might slap on some epic boons akin to the epic destinies of 4E--destinies which, even at the top level, made you a feeble shadow of the vastly more powerful Dragon of Tyr. I hope they don't even do that, however. Dark Sun works fine without any of that stuff.

My post above about the original boxed set was framed as a joke, but underneath I'm quite serious: The original design of Dark Sun was brilliant, and then TSR trashed it with a lot of ill-conceived metaplot and mechanics to support that metaplot. I would far prefer for them to focus on bringing the original design into 5E, and let the DM's Guild supply any demand for later material.

 

[Maxperson]

If what you want is a significant investment in play beyond level 21, that ain't gonna happen. WotC has been very clear that all their market research indicates little to no demand for top-level content. Even if they do make a psion class, they are never going to tack on 30 additional levels (20 levels in wizard + 20 levels in psion + 10 levels in abomination) when people don't use the 20 they have today.

I never suggested that they should. I said that they could for DARKSUN create something for DRAGONS and AVANGIONS. Not for 5e. Not for Psions.

 

[Dausuul]

I never suggested that they should. I said that they could for DARKSUN create something for DRAGONS and AVANGIONS. Not for 5e. Not for Psions.

Okay, so you want to drop the psion component of becoming a dragon king.

First, that's still not gonna happen. They aren't going to implement levels 21-30 any more than they would implement 21-50. To do it right would be way too much work for something that almost no one will use.

Second, I thought the reason you wanted a psion class was to support dragon/avangion metamorphosis. If you don't care about the psion component of that, why did you bring dragon kings and avangions up in the first place?

 

[Maxperson]

Okay, so you want to drop the psion component of becoming a dragon king.

Why would I do that?

First, that's still not gonna happen. They aren't going to implement levels 21-30 any more than they would implement 21-50. To do it right would be way too much work for something that almost no one will use.

It doesn't have to be levels.

Second, I thought the reason you wanted a psion class was to support dragon/avangion metamorphosis.

No. I want a Psion class, because I like Psions. When it comes to Darksun it is ALSO a component of Dragon and Avangion, so Darksun won't work without the class.