Ruin Explorer
Legend
How is this not the Mystic which I suggested as what the Psion should be?There is a niche I've been mentioning frequently in threads, and the Psion can grab it. It's the same role as the 4e Elementalist Sorcerer, Can Just Do Stuff with as little juggling as possible (although the Warlock is already pretty close to that(. In the Psion example it would be going Carrie rather than throwing water balls at people.
I literally suggested the Mystic class. I'm not sure how that's a "buzzword or abstract concept". I don't think I put it in in an edit, but if I did, I guess you missed the edit, but anyway, that's what I suggest. Basically do two more balance passes on the Mystic - yes it can burst too hard - it's trivial to limit. Yes literally 3 abilities are overpowered (which is a lot smaller than some classes lol!), nerf them. Two passes would fix it.Here I think we're on about the same page. You might want more out of defiling than 4e gave, but defiling and preserving should be a choice on a spell by spell basis rather than separate classes.
I suspect we actually agree on what the Psion should be
Sure, but I feel like it's really vital. Without that extra oomph, no player ever going to be tempted to have his PC Defile, and it'll even be kind of hard to figure out why baddies would, because all the suggestions I've seen make the gain totally and utterly trivial in the name of balance. 4E basically offered a non-mechanic.And if all I get are buzzwords and abstract concepts then I rapidly come to the conclusion that it does nothing.
I totally disagree, like hard-disagree.it makes the game larger, more complex, more confusing and, most importantly less accessible.
If D&D was a different kind of game, not exception-based, you'd be absolutely right. Shadowrun for example does have this problem because theoretically anyone can do anything, even though they probably don't.
But D&D is exception-based in design. You literally don't need to know anything about a class you aren't playing, it's a bonus if you do, but it literally never stopped anyone playing D&D. I've played this game for 30+ years and the number of classes has varied wildly, like hugely, but has that ever impacted accessibility? No. Because you don't need to know. One of the first games I ran for entirely new people, almost all new to D&D, we had the all the basic 2E classes, all the OA classes, the FR-specific classes (like the Spec Priests and stuff), and it was absolutely accessible, because people just picked a class and learned what they needed and played.
5E has been lax in adding classes because it was an Apology Edition, trying not to scare the horses. The designers know Psions will add something, too, which is why they keep trying, and why they started trying long before the Artificer. A Psion would add far more than the Artificer. Just make him as you said, this very direct, "I do this"-type caster who doesn't use slots, but a specific set of abilities (which can be fairly small). The Mystic is largely there, as I said.