What people? People who were 1 year old last time psionics was part of D&D? I don't think so. The word has lost any meaning. Star Wars has space magic. Dune has space magic. Mass Effect has space magic. But no one uses the word "psionics". It's a relic of the 70s. "Psychic" at least retains some meaning.
Fighting and wizarding are all over children's fiction, and even more so in the video games they play. Some have clerics(priests) too, but it's losing traction a bit. If you were to come up with something modelled on a currently popular video game, then you might have something that "people" - the people you want to sell to - like.
Hey, remember how I showed you the cover of that book I wrote?
That was my first book. Only had 68 pages, half the size of a more traditional release. It was also my first Kickstarter. No one had a damned clue who I was or am. I'm such a tiny insignificant nothing of a content creator in the broader world.
It's sold over 1600 copies. With an advertising budget of $-60. I didn't even use Backerkit or some other booster product to get more eyes on it. It's the single most purchased A5e 3rd party product and I'm competing against the Manual of Adventurous Resources Complete by Purple Martin Games and other absolutely fantastic writers and designers in a very small space.
My book competes favorably against people who wrote the
Official Core Rulebooks for the same system. That is INSANE to me. But people are so hungry for Psionics they're still buying my book and trying to convince their 5e and ToV DMs to let them play the Esper.
I'm not kidding. I get shoutouts in threads, here, but I also get random messages on Discord or DMs here or Twitter (though I deleted my tweets and locked that account down in November) of people who love psionics, love the class, and ask for insights or advice. On the 3rd Party Publisher Discord we chill in, a new developer who joined just recently specifically asked if I'd be okay with them using the Esper as a core component of the campaign setting they're trying to make.
Ever heard of KibblesTasty? Probably not, he's also a small time publisher though -way- better known than me. He raised $192k on Kickstarter with his material including a Psion.
You know what the most requested setting is in every WotC Survey?
Dark Sun. Hell, Kyle Brink got asked about Dark Sun in a recent interview because the setting is so popular (and psionics-centric) that the interviewer couldn't -not- ask, even though he knew the answer in advance.
Most requested class?
Psion. Well. Okay. Usually it's fighting against a proper Gish between different polls, but it's up there!
It was invented in the 60s, was popular in the 70s, and has been fading ever since.
Some neologisms become part of the language, others fade into obscurity.
Young people know about psionics as a concept. It didn't vanish just because WotC hasn't released an official full class or book focused on it. And the fact that WotC outright used the term "Psionic" to refer to the subclasses in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything means that even the most "Under a Rock" 5e player who was born after 2012 has at least some awareness that Psionics are a thing because WotC put it into a book.
We get it. You don't deal much with people who think of psionics as "A Thing" and you and the people around you tend to keep your fantasy very Tolkien. Your experiences are not universal.
