D&D 5E What's wrong with this psion?

[Flamestrike]

To me the whole point of Psionics is to be fiddly.

I'd 100% get banning the player with the least attention span or memory from playing psionic PCs.

You want an overly complex and fiddly subsystem that effectively precludes some players from using it due to its complexity?

Sounds like real fun kinda game.

 

[Flamestrike]

To me, charisma makes a lot more sense than intelligence.

Charisma is all about manipulating others.

 

[Minigiant]

You want an overly complex and fiddly subsystem that effectively precludes some players from using it due to its complexity?

Sounds like real fun kinda game.

They could play the soulknife and the psi warrior just like with wizards and EKs and ATs.

 

[humble minion]

To me, charisma makes a lot more sense than intelligence.

Charisma is all about manipulating others.

Which is great for a psion based on telepathy and mindbending. It doesn't make much sense when it comes to a psion focused on sensory abilities and ESP etc though.

 

[Flamestrike]

Which is great for a psion based on telepathy and mindbending. It doesn't make much sense when it comes to a psion focused on sensory abilities and ESP etc though.

It makes more sense than intelligence.

I mean the stat you want is 'Empathy' and the closest we have for that is Charisma.

 

[Aldarc]

To me, charisma makes a lot more sense than intelligence.

Charisma is all about manipulating others.

Doesn't sound like a typical D&D psion though.

Wisdom entails willpower, intuition, and is also associated with the mysticism of the cleric, druid, and monk traditions. It would make the Psion good at Perception and Insight.

It makes more sense than intelligence.

I mean the stat you want is 'Empathy' and the closest we have for that is Charisma.

The closest stat to Empathy is Wisdom.

 

[Krachek]

Fighter and monk relationship is similar to the wizard/sorcerer and psion one.

Basically powering the same effects with different mechanics and flavor.

I think the wish list of the psion will make him much more different than the fighter-monk difference.

Ectoplasmic Tentacles
Basic Shaper Manifestation

Power
Power Point Cost: 0
You draw forth a tentacle of ectoplasmic goo from the Astral Plane and immediately fling it forward. As an action you can summon 1 tentacle and take a ranged power attack against a target within 30 feet. On a hit, it takes 1d4 force damage.
This power's damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level (2d4), 11th level (3d4), and 17th level (4d4)

The goo evaporates at the end of the your turn.

Discipline
Power Point Cost: 1
You draw forth a tentacle of ectoplasmic goo from the Astral Plane and move an unattended object weighing up to 5 lb. at will from a distance. As a bonus action, you can propel the object as far as 15 feet in any direction, though the displine ends if the distance between you and the object exceeds the discipline’s range.

The goo evaporates after 1 minute or until you use a bonus action to dissipate it.

Augment
You can augment this power in one to three of the following ways.

• For every additional power points you spend to a maximum of 7 power points, you can summon an additional tentacle and make an additional ranged attack.
• For every 2 additional power points you spend, add 30 feet to this power's range.
• If you spend 2 additional power points, a target of Medium size or smaller must make a Strength saving throw or be restrained for 1 minute. At the end of the target's turn they may attempt the saving throw again. The goo evaporates once the saving throw is made.

You can augment this discipline in one or both of the following ways.

• For every 2 additional power points you spend, this discipline’s range increases by 5 feet.
• For every additional power point you spend, the weight limit of the target increases by 15 pounds.

The psion lacks this

It’s a nice system, but way in opposition with the simplicity chooses for 5ed. You have more chance that Paizo release such a system. The augment mechanics is nice, the list can grow infinitely, but I think it more suitable for a duel like game such as a card game. In a DnD game situation, all these options might add too much time on players turn. 3 psions in the party, and we go back to the 45 minutes turn of 4ed.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Doesn't sound like a typical D&D psion though.

Wisdom entails willpower, intuition, and is also associated with the mysticism of the cleric, druid, and monk traditions. It would make the Psion good at Perception and Insight.

The closest stat to Empathy is Wisdom.

Yeah. I'd make psion a wisdom class.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I hope you all know, we are the loud minority. Everyone else does not go to DnD discussion forums.

During DnDnext there was a similar discussion about the warlord. The questions are:

• is it different enough to justify an own class?
• does it play well with the existing rules

For the first one:
Is the archetype so wide, that you need to do subclasses to do very different things, other base classes can do? Or is it better to just add archetype subclasses to the base classes. Or do you do 3 new classes?

In 5e usually the answer is adding subclasses to differwnt classes. The artificer somehow managed to escape the default solution. (There were attemtps to make the artificer a wizard subclass.)

For the second one:
Psionics added that late to a system making it distinct from magic most probably is too imbalanced or you need to change the existing monsters and rules, at what point it is not worth it. Especially if you want your 3 core books to stay 95% relevant, which WotC so far has made a good job of. WotC already has made a precedent how Psionics work: As an example take the mind flayer. His psionics is done by chosing the right spells.
You really don't want different rules depending on which books you include. Right now, allowing everyone to chose PHB and any single other book works.

I have 3rd point: in every edition I played we stopped using psionics, because it was never worth it. Memorizing an extra set of rules only to please a single character out of 5 or 6 is bad enough... and then on Top you have to balance encounters out against a different type of attack. In a different Thread AC 25 a few times per day maes the DM desperate.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think the wish list of the psion will make him much more different than the fighter-monk difference.

It’s a nice system, but way in opposition with the simplicity chooses for 5ed. You have more chance that Paizo release such a system. The augment mechanics is nice, the list can grow infinitely, but I think it more suitable for a duel like game such as a card game. In a DnD game situation, all these options might add too much time on players turn. 3 psions in the party, and we go back to the 45 minutes turn of 4ed.

If you replace extra power point cost with "heightened" for every level you add you can chose x comes close enough.

Not that I don't like your system, I love it. But such a system slows combat down for minor augmentations for specific spells.

I'd rather have general abilities to expand spells in meaningful ways, but now we have made the full circle back to sorcerer.

Sorry. That was adressed at @Minigiant