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

[doctorbadwolf]

Most of the pupils of Arcanix do not have the capacity to become wizards. They will learn the rituals that allow them to make a living casting magic as a profession. These Magewrights make up Eberron's wide proliferation of magic, but the ability to learn many spells and cast them out of personal power requires something that most NPCs in Eberron don't have.

Gonna need a source on that. IIRC, low level wizards aren’t actually rare. The minority of spellcasters, maybe, depending on the DMs wishes for that, but certainly not super rare.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Gonna need a source on that. IIRC, low level wizards aren’t actually rare. The minority of spellcasters, maybe, depending on the DMs wishes for that, but certainly not super rare.

I was going off this, although fair enough if you don't regard it as official canon.

There is a chance that we're running into confusion as to definitions of "Wizard" as well.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

True Wizards are rare in Eberron. According to Keith, people with Magic Initiate or Magewrights are far more common.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I want to build on this a little bit, because there is a mirrored design here that I think is important to address.

People don't like rolling the maximum result leading to the die downgrading. They feel it takes away from the "joy" of rolling a high number. But, there is only one other place in the design to put the downgrade, and that is rolling the lowest number, which I feel is worse.

To throw out some quick examples involving the Psi Knight using their damage shield, 1d6 and can upgrade.

Current Rules:
You roll a 6. You have blocked the maximum amount of damage, but your die drops to a d4 for next round.
You roll a 1. You have blocked the minimum amount of damage, but you die upgrades to a d8 for next round.

My use of "but" here is important. The two sides of the sentence are opposed. One is a "good" thing the other a "bad" thing.

Mirrored rules:
You roll a 6. You have blocked the maximum amount of damage, and your die upgrades to a d8 for next round.
You roll a 1. You have blocked the minimum amount of damage, and your die drops to a d4 for next round.

And here we have higher highs, but also lower lows. You failed to make an impact and weakened yourself in the process. That feels far worse than making the biggest impact possible and then weakening yourself.

This is why I like the Psi Die design, very few mechanics work to make rolling 1's suck less. I mean, how many times have you seen a battlemaster roll that die and get a 1? Or roll a 1 on bless when it was the only number that wouldn't help? 1's are feel bad numbers in the game, and this takes them and gives you a boost when you get them.

The part about the psi die rules that models the opposite of how it feels like it should go is that the higher "energy" die stick around a lot longer than the lower ones do because of simple statistics.

It makes more sense to have the low level of power, d4, also the most stable and least likely to drop level of power. Instead a couple lucky rolls bumping your dice up early in the day result in a MUCH longer period of time you are adding good numbers. Conversely, an unlucky first couple rolls is going to eat into your one special ability and potentially turn it off after just a short time.

 

[Chaosmancer]

The part about the psi die rules that models the opposite of how it feels like it should go is that the higher "energy" die stick around a lot longer than the lower ones do because of simple statistics.

It makes more sense to have the low level of power, d4, also the most stable and least likely to drop level of power. Instead a couple lucky rolls bumping your dice up early in the day result in a MUCH longer period of time you are adding good numbers. Conversely, an unlucky first couple rolls is going to eat into your one special ability and potentially turn it off after just a short time.

I'm not sure, maybe it is a poor analogy, but let us consider exhaustion.

The more tired I am, the more likely I am to get exhausted, because I'm losing energy when I have less energy to lose. But, if I am well-rested, I can do more before getting exhausted because I have more to give.

Now I think it is a fair point that a few "bad" rolls can end this ability. But the only way to avoid that is to avoid the die changing when you roll it and instead add some other trigger, which I think could get more complicated than we would want to deal with.

 

[Aldarc]

True Wizards are rare in Eberron. According to Keith, people with Magic Initiate or Magewrights are far more common.

Though I also believe that people with PHB class levels, in general, are regarded as fairly rare in Eberron because PCs are meant to be exceptional.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Though I also believe that people with PHB class levels, in general, are regarded as fairly rare in Eberron because PCs are meant to be exceptional.

There is even an in-setting explanation for that: PCs are touched by the draconic prophecy.

 

[Aldarc]

There is even an in-setting explanation for that: PCs are touched by the draconic prophecy.

Show us on the doll where the draconic prophecy touched you... Shameful. It even left a mark.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

So, kind of an obvious question, but:
What settings is psionics important in?

I mean, I know Dark Sun is basically based around it. Eberron has Sarlona, and FR the Gith, but is there any other setting in which psionics is important?

 

[Guest 6801328]

So, kind of an obvious question, but:
What settings is psionics important in?

I mean, I know Dark Sun is basically based around it. Eberron has Sarlona, and FR the Gith, but is there any other setting in which psionics is important?

Marvel Universe.