Unearthed Arcana Why UA Psionics are never going to work in 5e.

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I also very much disliked that they were abandoning the Mystic. There should be a non-spellcaster Psionic-based class in 5e. If not the Mystic, then a Psion, but Psionics cannot acceptably be limited to spellcasting.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I also very much disliked that they were abandoning the Mystic. There should be a non-spellcaster Psionic-based class in 5e. If not the Mystic, then a Psion, but Psionics cannot acceptably be limited to spellcasting.

The problem with that approach is that many (if not most) of the abilities people want on a psion are spells.

And the designers are fairly unlikely to rewrite spells to make them non-spell abilities for the psion

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

The problem with that approach is that many (if not most) of the abilities people want on a psion are spells.

And the designers are fairly unlikely to rewrite spells to make them non-spell abilities for the psion

I don't think they'll just replicate spells as the abilities if they were to make it, it would actually scale.

 

[Maxperson]

Well, the Soulknife in the previous version was a rogue as well. I really preferred the original versions of these subclasses. The Wizard was cool, Aberrant Mind was awesome, the Fighter was meh, and the Rogue was cool. Now they're all involved in a new dice mechanic that I disagree with how it functions, and a batch of abilities that can be used pretty much infinitely if you roll well, I mean bad, because lower rolls are better for some reason.

I like the new die mechanics. It's different and seems balanced. I agree that it's odd that a max roll causes the die to diminish, but that's easily changed without affecting anything. Just say that it's a roll of 1 on any die.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Harry Potter and Onward both have an ability limiter, though. If you aren't born with the talent, you can't learn magic.

Sure, you can rule that way in your setting if you like, but it's not canonical for D&D.

But economics is just as much a limiter as genetics, and it makes more sense if want your setting to follow some kind of "real world" logic.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I also very much disliked that they were abandoning the Mystic. There should be a non-spellcaster Psionic-based class in 5e. If not the Mystic, then a Psion, but Psionics cannot acceptably be limited to spellcasting.

And here it is again: psionic spellcasting is unacceptable. So we get no psionics.

Whatever people's reasons, the Mystic (and anything similar) did not reach the required 70% approval rating, so now it is so far off the table it isn't even in the next galaxy.

 

[Aldarc]

I get that. I'm not talking about Archmages walking the streets in gangs of 20. I'm saying that absent a limiter or limiters, the world would after a few thousand years be like Eberron. Even if most people could only do cantrips, there would still be lots of casters around.

I'm not sure if every world would be "Eberron" without the Dragonmarked Houses who coordinated and facilitated trade. House Cannith, for example, seemingly has engineering projects tying them to every other Dragonmarked House. The iconic airships required coordination between House Cannith, House Lyrander, and House Sivis. And House Jorasco makes it possible for hospitals and healing services without the need for clerics. But if you removed cooperation between the guilds and houses? Or what if you removed the Dragonmarks from history? What would Eberron look like? The Mark of Making did not appear on the people who would become House Cannith until 3500 years ago, so that's a lot of altered history.

people want psionics to be different and special, in multiple ways.

I also wish that divine magic was different and special. This is what I like about Runequest. Different traditions of magic actually feel different.

 

[Umbran]

Um, I do do me.

Mod Note:
Having read the last several pages of this thread, "unnecessarily aggressive" is a rather apt description of you doing you in here. It is starting to get problematic. Please think about that as you continue.

And by the way, please don't use the "laugh" emoji mockingly - several of your peers feel you have been doing so, and that's not really what it is for.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I don't think they'll just replicate spells as the abilities if they were to make it, it would actually scale.

How would you scale something like Telepathic bond or Detect Thoughts?

If it is something like number of targets or duration, it would be easier to add in something like metamagic to play with that aspect rather than creating a new version of those abilities from scratch

 

[Maxperson]

Sure, you can rule that way in your setting if you like, but it's not canonical for D&D.

But economics is just as much a limiter as genetics, and it makes more sense if want your setting to follow some kind of "real world" logic.

Economics only slows down the increase. It doesn't stop it. There are too many merchants and nobles that could afford it.