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

[Maxperson]

But WotC owe their shareholders the courtesy of not saying something that will lower their share price.

This is what happens when businesses tell the truth: The man who destroyed his multimillion dollar company in 10 seconds

Yes and no. It's not the truth that does it. It depends on what you say, whether truth or lie. That man in that link could have been lying and it would have had the same effect. Apple reports lower earnings than expected for a quarter and the share prices drop.........but they told the truth. Some truths have to be said, whether they hurt shares or not. Others don't.

And it's not a courtesy. Corporations have a fiduciary duty to make as much money as possible for their shareholders, so doing something obviously destructive can get them sued. However, hurtful revelations, if in the long run add to the value of the company, such as being more destructive if hidden, don't violate that. It's pretty complicated.

That said, whether the Mystic is abandoned or not, and what the reasons were are irrelevant to their bottom line. WotC shares wouldn't have gone down so much as a penny had they given any other reason or no reason at all for why they abandoned the Mystic, so there's no reason to think that they would be lying about it.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sure. Everyone lies. But not all the time and as a general rule, not when it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense for WotC to lie about why the Mystic was abandoned, so I have no reason to think that stepping on the toes of others isn't the reason or at least the primary reason for abandoning that class. I'm actually more inclined to think that they are lying about the 70%, because it doesn't make much business sense to run their business that way, and they are a successful business.


Yes, snookums. I wear it every day and think of you always.

The feedback on the Psionic Soul is something the might well choose to lie about if they want to press on with psionics regardless. After all, it is virtually identical to the Aberrant Mind, which was well received. It's only the context which has changed.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

No reason to suppose they think it matters that much. It took three years for them to get back from the last attempt, and then it was with something much less elaborate. If all your attempts keep getting rejected it makes no business sense to keep investing time in it.

It would matter a lot if they were working on a Dark Sun book, which they possibly are. Dark Sun is a very popular setting that would need a book to be brought properly to 5e, and is one of the easier popular settings that could be brought to 5e, but still needing a book.
Eberron needed Artificers, Dark Sun needs Psionics.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I'm sure they do. And the truth is, most of us don't actually test anything. We read the description and imagine what it would like to play, but we don't actually play it.

The only UAs I have actually tested in a game are the previous artificer (it sucked in play) and some Mystic powers tacked onto a monster.

As for the bladesinger, I'm told the Sword Coast book was actually contracted out to a third party. Which might explain the poor balance of much of the crunch in that book.

Yes, we normally don't have enough time to actually playtest it. The UA articles are mainly to introduce the idea and mechanics to the community and see what the response is.

 

[Guest 6801328]

That's my only hope.

Obi-wan Kenobi is mine.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

The feedback on the Psionic Soul is something the might well choose to lie about if they want to press on with psionics regardless. After all, it is virtually identical to the Aberrant Mind, which was well received. It's only the context which has changed.

Why would they lie about community acceptance? Aberrant Mind had a lot of support, from what I've seen, and the feedback for the Psionic Soul UA will probably express that.

Also, the recent Subclasses Revisited UA shows that they actually listen to community suggestions and reviews, and change their content based on that.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Why would they lie about community acceptance? Aberrant Mind had a lot of support, from what I've seen, and the feedback for the Psionic Soul UA will probably express that.

The comments in this thread suggest that the Psionic Soul is much much less popular than the Aberrant Mind.

Also, the recent Subclasses Revisited UA shows that they actually listen to community suggestions and reviews, and change their content based on that.

It's possible to pay too much attention to feedback. "The Community" are not professional game designers, nor do they speak with one voice. Nor do they have to worry about profit margins.

 

[Aldarc]

The comments in this thread suggest that the Psionic Soul is much much less popular than the Aberrant Mind.

It's possible to pay too much attention to feedback. "The Community" are not professional game designers, nor do they speak with one voice. Nor do they have to worry about profit margins.

Do you think that you can have an honest conversation about psionics that doesn't try pretending that the D&D department at WotC hangs in the balance of their profit margins if they don't rate this current iteration of psionics satisfactory or higher? Like please? Could you please a reasonable conversation where you make reasonable assumptions and piles of assumptions or a long stretch of an assumption? I think that WotC (and their "will no one think of the" profit margins) will be perfectly fine in the most popular edition of D&D to date with or without psionics. And I say this as someone who loves psionics in my D&D.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Do you think that you can have an honest conversation about psionics that doesn't try pretending that the D&D department at WotC hangs in the balance of their profit margins if they don't rate this current iteration of psionics satisfactory or higher?

You are trotting out granny's old strawman again. I don't know how many times I have to say "I am not telling you how you should rate the psionic soul".

The profit margins things come in with the number of hours of work WotC can afford to spend on something that is repeatedly rejected. You have heard the phrase "throwing good money after bad"? There comes a point where the only sensible business decision is to cut losses and abandon a project.

 

[Aldarc]

Then they do that. It's their choice. Why are you choosing to make a case about the obvious?