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]

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They will be discussing future plans for 2025, will that just be for FR, or while they talk about the October Surprise too and whatever Psionics will be in.

Maybe this panel should be in a separate thread.

The panel you linked is called “the Future of the Forgotten Realms” and specifically says it will talk about what is to come for the setting in 2025. So unless the October surprise or the Psion are going to be Forgotten Realms related, this panel isn’t likely covering them.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The panel you linked is called “the Future of the Forgotten Realms” and specifically says it will talk about what is to come for the setting in 2025. So unless the October surprise or the Psion are going to be Forgotten Realms related, this panel isn’t likely covering them.

The Psion might be FR, there is a surprising amount of Psionics in the Forgotten Realms.

It goes back to 1e. Psionics

This isn't even a complete exploration if Psionics.

 

[Parmandur]

The Psion might be FR, there is a surprising amount of Psionics in the Forgotten Realms.

It goes back to 1e. Psionics

This isn't even a complete exploration if Psionics.

Extremely doubtful that they intend to include ten Wild Talent themed Backgrounds in the FR book.

 

[Yaarel]

This Psion class is solid.

I am realizing, any difficulties are mainly the spells themselves, not the class.

For example, the main go-to spells for telekinesis are Mage Hand and Telekinesis. Mage Hand is too 'wrong' to properly represent the telekinetic concept. Telekinesis is way too high a slot level to serve usefully for a class that is telekinetic, and its mechanics that require guessing the weight of the target too awkward for a routine power. Likewise the spells for telepathy are unhelpful. The Message spell is something else, like an air-element one-way telegraph, rather than a mindlink mutual communication. Then the Telepathy spell is an absurdly high slot 8.

But if new spells are added to the Psion list, or old spells happen to get updates, the most difficulties go away.

A concern is if the new Psion class bakes in one of these awkward spells into the class mechanics, and gets stuck with it forever, with an entanglement that also makes it difficult to fix the spell itself in the future.

Part of designing a successful Psion class, is to update old spells and add new spells. The go-to spells need to be spot-on for the psionic concepts.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Extremely doubtful that they intend to include ten Wild Talent themed Backgrounds in the FR book.

Did @Henadic Theologian actually suggest this? It's a lot more likely that there will be two backgrounds with "choose any wild talent".

However, the idea that the psion might be in one of the FR books (if it doesn't get rejected again) is plausible. The timing is right.

And, to tie into another thread, Ghostwise Halfling could be a background.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Extremely doubtful that they intend to include ten Wild Talent themed Backgrounds in the FR book.

The 1e Forgotten Realms had all kinds of characters with wild talents, before Darksun was ever a thing. Wild Talents did not originate from Darksun.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Did @Henadic Theologian actually suggest this? It's a lot more likely that there will be two backgrounds with "choose any wild talent".

However, the idea that the psion might be in one of the FR books (if it doesn't get rejected again) is plausible. The timing is right.

And, to tie into another thread, Ghostwise Halfling could be a background.

I think its more likely to be a species, they are different enough from the other Halflings.

And I did point out that characters in 1e FR did have wild talents, before DS was ever a thing, wild talents don't originated in DS.

 

[Parmandur]

Did @Henadic Theologian actually suggest this? It's a lot more likely that there will be two backgrounds with "choose any wild talent".

However, the idea that the psion might be in one of the FR books (if it doesn't get rejected again) is plausible. The timing is right.

And, to tie into another thread, Ghostwise Halfling could be a background.

That is not how other Backgrounds have worked: the implication is frankly that they intended 10 Wild Talent themed Backgrounds.

At any rate, the Psion is probably a longer-term plan, since they are probably prepared for the scenario where it is rejected entirely.

 

[WanderingMystic]

That is not how other Backgrounds have worked: the implication is frankly that they intended 10 Wild Talent themed Backgrounds.

At any rate, the Psion is probably a longer-term plan, since they are probably prepared for the scenario where it is rejected entirely.

Are we sure that they are going that route in the new Eberron book with the house marks? I thought when I first saw the play test they said there would be a house agent background then to just choose the right feat. I hope each one is separate I was just preparing myself for it to be more generic.

Regardless I doubt we will see the psion until 2026.

 

[Parmandur]

Are we sure that they are going that route in the new Eberron book with the house marks? I thought when I first saw the play test they said there would be a house agent background then to just choose the right feat. I hope each one is separate I was just preparing myself for it to be more generic.

Regardless I doubt we will see the psion until 2026.

They said in the UA playtest document that each Dragonmark is getting a Background, but for playtest purposes suggested using the 2019 "House Agent" Background.