D&D Debuts Playtest for Psion Class

Wizards of the Coast is playtesting the Psion class for Dungeons & Dragons. Today, Wizards of the Coast provided a new Unearthed Arcana for the Psion, a new class for the current revised 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The playtest includes base class rules plus four subclasses - the body-shifting Metamorph, the reality warping Psi Warper, the offensive-minded Psykinetic, and the Telepath.

The core mechanic of the Psion involves use of Psion Energy die. Players have a pool of energy dice that replenishes after a Long Rest, with the number and size of the dice determined by the Psion's level. These psion energy dice can either be rolled to increase results of various checks/saving throws or spent to fuel various Psion abilities.

While the Psion and psionics have a long tradition in D&D, they've only received a handful of subclasses in 5th Edition. If the Psion survives playtesting, it would mark the first time that Wizards of the Coast has added a new character class to D&D since the Artificer. Notably, the Psion and psionics are also heavily associated with Dark Sun, a post-apocalyptic campaign setting that many considered to be off the table for Fifth Edition due to the need to update parts of the setting to bring it current with modern sensibilities. However, the introduction of Wild talent feats (which replaces some Origin feats tied to backgrounds with psion-themed Feats) in the UA seems to suggest that Dark Sun is back on the table.

 

[GarrettKP]

You don’t need to convince me!

Of course I don’t, I’ve already psionically cast Suggestion so you’re already convinced

 

[GarrettKP]

Heh, 2024 deleted the 2014 spell point system because it hurt the eyes. It was weirdly and unnecessarily complicated. Impracticable. I never heard of anyone actually use it.

Also, the 2014 system was per Long Rest. So it was possible to 'nova' many most powerful spells during a single battle.

The Short Rest spell point system only allows a small amount at any given time. To 'nova' would mean casting the highest level slot twice, and thats it, pretty much no more spells would be possible until the next Short Rest. It is inherently self-balancing. It balances better with noncaster classes, and keeps all the casters on the Short Rest schedule.

So you’re saying you could “nova” by casting two level 9 spells, then short rest and cast them again next combat? When combats last 3 turns on average? Ya, that certainly puts a damper on the power scaling issue /s.

 

[Yaarel]

So you’re saying you could “nova” by casting two level 9 spells, then short rest and cast them again next combat? When combats last 3 turns on average? Ya, that certainly puts a damper on the power scaling issue /s.

Sure but a regular slot caster can cast a slot 9, and a slot 8, and 7, and 'millions' of lower slot spells.

Casting two slot 9s − two rounds − and then thats it, no more magic. Casters would only to this in an emergency. The Short Rest spell point system is inherently self-balancing.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Unfortunately, the Material component does crap up the Psion class, via the cursed 'gp cost' components. These 'cost' components are incredibly disruptive and frustrating for the psionic concept.

Deal with it. You aren't getting completely component-free psionics written down in the book, so take what you can get. No Verbal, no Material except for costly ones, and some hand gestures. And then you go ahead and ignore what the book says for the bits you don't like.

Or, you know, if you can't deal with that... give red lights to everything in the survey so that WotC doesn't include psionics in the game again. Cut off your nose to spite your face. Entirely up to you.

 

[TheSword]

The amount of GP on hand is circumstantial and setting-dependent. GP can never serve as a mechanism for gaming balancer.

Every spell needs to stand on its own. If a specific spell needs to balance mechanically, the spell description must ensure how. For example, if the spell is abusable to spamming, then the spell description itself needs to say it can only be cast once per Long Rest.

The Costly Material Component is crap. Most of it is truly trivially meaningless, with zero intention to have anything to do with balance, such as a trivial amount for spell at high level, when available gp is typically in superabundance.

There are only about five or so spells, where the gp cost might even matter. These spells need to be rewritten without a gp component if the point is to actually balance the spell mechanically.


For the Psion class, material components are anathama. Especially, costly material components have no place in the psionic concept.

Psionics is 'magical' (or wondrous, or miraculous, or mystical). It can even sometimes be 'spells', in the sense of a disciplined technique to manifest a personal intention. But psionics is absolutely not wizardry. Material components have no business being anywhere near psionic magic.

Material components aren’t just about assigning a cost it’s about limiting availability. All control over spell access was ceded to players when the rules around spell acquisition were changed. The material component puts some restriction on that. Folks shouldn’t be able to lay teleport circles at will.

There is an easy fix for you though. Just remove the spells with costly material components from the psion list. There are only 16 and none are essential.

For the records Legend Lore is better than History. It reveals secret lore known only to a few people.

 

[Yaarel]

Deal with it. You aren't getting completely component-free psionics written down in the book, so take what you can get. No Verbal, no Material except for costly ones, and some hand gestures. And then you go ahead and ignore what the book says for the bits you don't like.

Or, you know, if you can't deal with that... give red lights to everything in the survey so that WotC doesn't include psionics in the game again. Cut off your nose to spite your face. Entirely up to you.

There are better ways to deal with it.

The Psion class can say, 'ignore the spell component entry', 'when you manifest a spell', do such-and-such procedure. One can safely ignore costly components! But pretending a costly component would actually matter, the class can say, do such-and-such instead for it, such as only once per Long Rest or whatever.

Also, it is easy to make sure none of the costly spells are on the Psion spell list. Any spells that do have one, can be replaced by a more psionic-friendly version.

Material components aren’t just about assigning a cost it’s about limiting availability. All control over spell access was ceded to players when the rules around spell acquisition were changed. The material component puts some restriction on that. Folks shouldn’t be able to lay teleport circles at will.

There are better ways to regulate a spell, if that is really the problem.

There is an easy fix for you though. Just remove the spells with costly material components from the psion list. There are only 16 and none are essential.

I want a Psion that feels psionic. I dont want to fix something I have waited for for over a decade! I want it done right, to be pleasant to play for years to come.

For the records Legend Lore is better than History. It reveals secret lore known only to a few people.

A History check can reveal 'secret lore'. It just means a higher DC.

 

[DEFCON 1]

There are better ways to deal with it.

The Psion class can say, 'ignore the spell component entry', 'when you manifest a spell', do such-and-such procedure. One can safely ignore costly components! But the class can say, do such-and-such instead for it, such as only once per Long Rest or whatever.

Also, it is easy to make sure none of the costly spells are on the Psion spell list. Any spells that do have one, can be replaced by a more psionic-friendly version.

Then YOU ignore it. You don't need the book to say it. Unless you just can't deal with the fact that WotC's beliefs in psionics don't match your beliefs in psionics.

 

[Steampunkette]

I think you're overstating how big of a deal it would be for Dark Sun. Even most of those who used to deny change now admit it, but argue over the cause. With Dark Sun that argument would not be present.

This is.......................virtually every country in every setting. How many enlightened Republics and Democracies do you think there are in the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Planescape, etc.? The power is in the hands of the few on pretty much every world.

That's the point of bringing up Dark Sun with this UA. Clearly they are working on a psion.

This is a non-issue. In 5e the "weave" doesn't take on the same form in every world. The "weave" just means that there's something that magic springs from. In Dark Sun that would be life energy. Dark Sun has a weave that makes sense. It's just not the weave of the Forgotten Realms.

All they have to do is balance at a higher power level. The PCs are stronger like they were in 2e, and the monsters are stronger and scarier. They have the math already set, so it would be simple to just move the bar higher.

This is true. This is something that would require that designers actually..........................design. All they would have to do is their jobs.

I doubt that the vast majority of tables play every setting. For those with intractable players, they can play a different setting. And that's if the DM doesn't just make an exception like a great many DMs do.

I don't remember cannibal elves. The elves were nomadic runners. This doesn't even need a redesign, though. Just make a different population of halflings that aren't cannibals. PCs can be from there.

This can be changed at the snap of the fingers. And is the only truly problematic thing in the setting. So they change it. They changed some places and people in Greyhawk, so we know they are willing to do it.

Post Apocalyptic movies and shows have been hits for the last 20 years. As have book series. I think it's a good bet that a lot of the new players would enjoy a post apocalyptic setting.

See above.

The issues you brought up are almost entirely non-issues or minor issues with easy fixes. The hardest part would be races and classes which would need some re-design, though you could just make feats for the racial flavor. A running feat that elves can take for example. You'd also need a paragraph at the beginning of the section on races stating that arcane abilities are psionic in nature on Athas. So the elven cantrip racial ability would be a psionic cantrip, rather than an arcane one.

"Nuh huh."

'Kay.

 

[GarrettKP]

Sure but a regular slot caster can cast a slot 9, and a slot 8, and 7, and 'millions' of lower slot spells.

Casting two slot 9s − two rounds − and then thats it, no more magic. Casters would only to this in an emergency. The Short Rest spell point system is inherently self-balancing.

That is not how it will end up working. What will happen is everyone will spam their highest level spells, end fights quickly because everyone is throwing around multiple level 9 spells, then short rest and do it again immediately after. It isn’t self-balancing, it’s just exploitative.

 

[TheSword]

There are better ways to deal with it.

The Psion class can say, 'ignore the spell component entry', 'when you manifest a spell', do such-and-such procedure. One can safely ignore costly components! But pretending a costly component would actually matter, the class can say, do such-and-such instead for it, such as only once per Long Rest or whatever.

Also, it is easy to make sure none of the costly spells are on the Psion spell list. Any spells that do have one, can be replaced by a more psionic-friendly version.



There are better ways to regulate a spell, if that is really the problem.

Perhaps, but this is the way we currently regulate it, and so for all the other classes. There is no point being inconsistent when the spells are already in existence.

I want a Psion that feels psionic. I dont want to fix something I have waited for for over a decade! I want it done right, to be pleasant to play for years to come.

It does feel psionic for the vast majority, and the for the few spells with components that feels psionic for some people to. Your ‘right’ isn’t everybody’s right. So a bit of compromise doesn’t seem unreasonable.

A History check can reveal 'secret lore'. It just means a higher DC.

A history check can’t reveal knowledge unless it is reasonable that the knowledge could become known by you. Legend Lore taps into the sum of all knowledge whether shared or not.