D&D General What’s The Big Deal About Psionics?

[James Gasik]

The game is based around the idea that most power sources grant supernatural abilities, and these abilities are most commonly presented as "spells'. At a base level, the Cleric and the Wizard's ability to cast spells is identical, even though not all the spells they cast are. What differentiates these two classes is their secondary abilities. Every Class in the game either casts spells, or has some way to get them through a subclass. Making Psionics different is a worthy goal, but the juice might not be worth the squeeze to innovate to that degree.

It seems like every time WotC does try to innovate, there is immediate backlash from a vocal subsection of the fanbase (sadly, one they seem to listen to). So in addition to them not wanting to make 5e complicated (except, you know, when they make it complicated), not wanting to invalidate the PHB until they can sell us a totally new one, and this sort of reaction, I rather doubt they will go to the effort.

And even if they did, judging by the way they design things, it would probably be a broken mess anyways.

 

[jgsugden]

...Rock-paper-scissors is rocket tag. It is appallingly broken. It breaks the gameplay randomly, but is broken all the same...

Your perspective could be broader. I will again reiterate: I've used variations on this system for 30 to 40 years, with real extensive uses for decades by many players. It had broad appeal and even those opposed to psionics at the get go warmed up to it and embraced it - almost without exception.

4E went a very different direction, and my attempts to adapt my system to 4E had limited success. I have been gun shy to fully adapt it to 5E as I wait for an official rules implementation. However, it is partially psuedo implemented and it seems to be working as well as it did in 3E.

 

[jgsugden]

... Making Psionics different is a worthy goal, but the juice might not be worth the squeeze to innovate to that degree...

I can speak with authority here as a DM that has had this for decades: There is design space and benefit to creating a psionics system that is unique and evokes a feel very different than a wizard, cleric, or other existing spellcaster.

 

[Mythos Enthusiast]

I can speak with authority here as a DM that has had this for decades: There is design space and benefit to creating a psionics system that is unique and evokes a feel very different than a wizard, cleric, or other existing spellcaster.

Ok, so what is it then? Design the psionic system that WotC should use and please post it here.

 

[Yaarel]

Your perspective could be broader. I will again reiterate: I've used variations on this system for 30 to 40 years, with real extensive uses for decades by many players. It had broad appeal and even those opposed to psionics at the get go warmed up to it and embraced it - almost without exception.

4E went a very different direction, and my attempts to adapt my system to 4E had limited success. I have been gun shy to fully adapt it to 5E as I wait for an official rules implementation. However, it is partially psuedo implemented and it seems to be working as well as it did in 3E.

If possible, writeup or send an example of the kind of mechanics that you have in mind. It is ok if from an earlier edition, enough to get a sense of it. Then I can give a more helpful critique.

I will mainly scrutinize it for balance for the context of 5e, but flavor including how mechanics actualize flavor is also important.

 

[Weiley31]

Ah, the Giff. What a stupidly FUN race. Super strong and tough Hippo Men who have a culture based on Victorian-era British Military, and love ANYTHING that goes "kaboom" in the night!

Hey now. They also like things that go kaboom in the daytime, too.

But do they make time for Tea? That's the most important question!

 

[Yaarel]

I hope to see the Psion and the Mystic in the 50e anniversary Players Handbook. There is only about 1 year to put these classes together in order to make this possible. The mechanical balance must be unbreakable. The flavors must be popular or tolerable for at least 60% of the D&D 5e gamers at large.

 

[James Gasik]

Unbreakable balance? Let's not get carried away now, these guys can't even balance subclasses of the same class!

 

[Yaarel]

Unbreakable balance? Let's not get carried away now, these guys can't even balance subclasses of the same class!

Psionics has such a bad reputation for terrible mechanics, any form of psionics in 5e must have irreproachable balance.

 

[Maxperson]

Psionics has such a bad reputation for terrible mechanics, any form of psionics in 5e must have irreproachable balance.

I'm going to back on record as saying that I really liked the psionic die. I wish those subclasses had been successful.