3PP Release (3rd Party Book Release) Paranormal Power: A Psionics Option for 5e and A5e, written by Steampunkette!

[WanderingMystic]

That was quick! I think INT to Hit and AC might be sending the class off in a different direction. My comments about Heavy Armour or a Mage armour equivalent are to enable a psychic warrior with Strength or Dex. If INT does everything, I'm going to focus on that exclusively. I'd still prefer an option that gives you a base AC of 13 (such as whilst you retain psychic focus, or an ability like the Barbarian's Unarmoured defence), which would enable a DEX fighter, or a Heavy Armour option for STR fighters.

Two tangential thoughts also occurred to me whilst writing this. How is Barbarian rage going to affect ongoing Psychic powers if you are multiclassed? Secondly, if Choking Grasp stays as putting the 'Restrained' condition an enemy, it would make sense to use it as a bonus action each round so that you got advantage on your successive attacks... yeah, I think grappled would definitely be better.

So to me the heavy ar ored str build is best fit with the Fighter archetype. You don't get the ability until 3rd level so it is not a risk for a one level dip and to be honest it makes some sense that they are using their mind to help guide their sword or arrows to hit their target.

 

[zen_cat]

So to me the heavy ar ored str build is best fit with the Fighter archetype. You don't get the ability until 3rd level so it is not a risk for a one level dip and to be honest it makes some sense that they are using their mind to help guide their sword or arrows to hit their target.

It's possible that I'm quibbling too much, and you make a good point about the Fighter Archetype offering Heavy Armour plus psy abilities. I think what I'd prefer to see is the Barbarian's Unarmoured Defence, except using INT, rather than using INT in place of DEX. Using INT to Hit I don't feel as strongly about - it's a good bonus for Psy Warriors, but I'd expect them to either have a good DEX or STR anyway.

 

[zen_cat]

Typo on page 39:

 

[zen_cat]

How's this, @zen_cat ?

View attachment 274536
It still doesn't give you heavy armor, but it does give you some MAD consolidation for Finesse Weapons, Ranged Weapons, and Light/Medium armor.

Also yanked out the "Empty Pool" requisite.

On thinking about it further, I think this does address a lot of my concerns. @WanderingMystic's comment about Fighters with the Psionic archetype better fitting Heavy Armour helped me understand where the Esper Psychic Warrior fits in. My head was stuck in 3.5 days where Psychic Warriors were a frontline class, where Espers have a lot more utility.

I still think access to a second Combat Tradition would be a good idea though, even if they don't get any more manuvers. That opens the option for Espers who are good archers, or who combine tactics with a mount, etc.

 

[Larnievc]

I just want to say to @Steampunkette that I really like this book. I’m a DM not a rules nerd so I can’t really comment on balance or this and that but I REALLY like the tone.

Especially the Thoughtforms. As I kid I was a massive scaredy-cat. I was afraid of the dark, I had the equivalent of a Bogey (The Wolf) and had multiple bad dreams about him.

My little sister would even poke fun out of me for being scared every bed time.

So when I read your take on the Bogey it had all the signature traits of The Wolf, Fred Krueger, those things from the comic Something is Killing the Children (especially the bit about killing every adult in the child’s sight if uncovered).

I’m all grown up now but it sent a particular shiver down my spine: and the fact that the AI art can ‘see’ these childhood terrors and draw them makes it even more creepy.

Very, very well done

 

[Steampunkette]

On thinking about it further, I think this does address a lot of my concerns. @WanderingMystic's comment about Fighters with the Psionic archetype better fitting Heavy Armour helped me understand where the Esper Psychic Warrior fits in. My head was stuck in 3.5 days where Psychic Warriors were a frontline class, where Espers have a lot more utility.

I still think access to a second Combat Tradition would be a good idea though, even if they don't get any more manuvers. That opens the option for Espers who are good archers, or who combine tactics with a mount, etc.

The reason I limited them to the Awakened Mind alone is:

They've got as many psi dice as any other Esper -plus- as many exertion points as most martial characters (Adepts and Fighters get extra). So it gives them a serious resource boost over all other Espers, and most martial characters.

I didn't want to give them the additional flexibility on top of the increased resources.

 

[Selganor]

First... Great book.

I am both happy (as a GM) and just a little sad (as a player) that the monstrosity that was my "give me your damage and I'll heal it" Psychic Warrior from 3.0 times doesn't seem to be possible. (This beast regularly healed 100+ hp daily at level 5 or 6, keeping the group alive even though the GM unknowingly set our opposition and DCs WAY too high)

I didn't have too much time to go through it but two things that I noticed were:

p. 12: Under the heading Psionics it seems to be missing the "Psionic Ability" subheading

p. 24; Astral Body seems to be referred to as "Astral Projection" in all other places of the book.

I haven't seen them referred to here if so just ignore me.

Now... where do I find a GM where I can play a psionic character and what should I choose to play. (But that's my problem)

 

[Pedantic]

Important question everyone, what's your first new character you want to make with these?

I am immediately excited to play a Mindhammer Esper, which is not at all what I expected to be drawn to at all. Picking people up, throwing them around and lashing out angrily with psychic pressure all sound very exciting though.

 

[Pedantic]

So I like the design behind psychic dice a lot, particularly as an alternative to spell slots, but there's 2 points that are standing out as kind of weird tensions to me. First, the heritage options that add extra psychic dice seem to work great when you're mixing them in for some mild psionic flavor, but do weird things to the Esper's progression when you take them alongside the class. Extra dice as a mild resource push feels okay, but gaining access to the 3rd tier effects of powers 2 levels earlier than someone without that heritage feels off.

And then the second point, I'm not totally sure I get the design intent behind the Thymokineticist's Unfettered state. If I'm reading it correctly, you still have access to all your psychic dice, but you can't lose or gain them? That feels like it violates the primary design constraint on a lot of powers and really pushes the game toward a lot of encounters/day without short rests, to burn through the Esper's dice, and at higher levels unless the Esper is regularly risking them on utility powers between fights, they just won't be constrained on dice in combat, because of the recharge after losing 2 dice.

Disadvantage on Wisdom saves is definitely not nothing, but I keep looking for some downside intrinsic to the ability, that isn't just a vulnerability for enemies to capitalize on. It feels standout better than what the other archetypes can do with that slot.

 

[JerichoPenumbra]

I think Unfettered Emotions is fine as it currently is, at least within the context of the abilities as a whole. While it does muck about with the theoretical ebb and flow of Psionic Energy (Psi Dice), keep in mind it only lasts a minute and they only get one free use per short rest. If they spend the Psychic Focus on it, that's one more use, but at the cost of several Noetics no longer being usable until the next short rest (when they'll be able to gain Focus again), since several abilities are keyed towards spending Focus. Though I'm not entirely fond of that from a design perspective. Rather than giving you a bunch of different options/abilites like for the other classes, it's saying "once per rest you can do one cool thing, ever" and most Noetics just seem to be giving you other options that you can spend your "one cool thing" on. For some of them it feels like it would have been simpler/easier to give the option of spending 1 or 2 psi dice to activate the effect.

Given that the Thymokineticist is given the Blaster power as it's thematic power, it has the potential to fizzle out pretty quickly especially at lower levels given you have have to spend a psi die for each die of damage and each target. Unfettered Emotions helps mitigate that for certain combats, and each time you spend two psi dice to recharge the power your pool is diminishing down. I don't think trying to forcibly burn through all the Esper's reservoir through combat is necessary since some powers for their utility will need an augmented to have a bigger impact.

Though it does kinda throw me for a loop that in the Psionics section in the Esper class seems to dictate that Augments are to be selected before taking the Manifest action, but the language in some powers, such as the Astral Body power, seems to indicate that the augments can be used after Manifestations

Still working on giving a deep dive through the book but I'm enjoying what I'm reading.