Unearthed Arcana 5E Psionics Alert! The Mystic Is Back In Unearthed Arcana

It's back! The long-awaited new version of the mystic - 5th Edition's psionic class - is here. "The mystic class, a master of psionics, has arrived in its entirety for you to try in your D&D games. Thanks to your playtest feedback on the class’s previous two versions, the class now goes to level 20, has six subclasses, and can choose from many new psionic disciplines and talents. Explore the material here—there’s a lot of it—and let us know what you think in the survey we release in the next installment of Unearthed Arcana." Click the image below for the full 28-page PDF!

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[Raunalyn]

I don't know...this is the first UA article/class that I've been excited to play since they started doing articles for 5e. The Artificer, for example, was really not interesting to me. The UA Ranger was a step up from the PHB version, but it still didn't appeal to me. The subclasses, while interesting, didn't excite me like this.

In my game session last night, we discussed the fact that you could have an entire party of Mystics, each fulfilling a different role in the group (Immortal as your tank, avatar as your healer, awakened as your controller, and nomad or soulknife as your striker).

Honestly, I love the concept...it needs some tweaks, yes, but I like how it looks/feels. I am genuinely excited to make a new character and play it.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I wonder if there's roughly a 1 to 1 value on ki points and power points, having a Monk subclass with access to some disciplines could be a suitable replacement to some of the Way of the Elements.

It was certainly rumoured somewhere that the Fighter would get the Sohei subclass which uses psionics.

I could see justification for a bard subclass that dabbles a bit in psionics too.

Despite the Soul Knife not getting bonus disciplines, I feel they could get their own unique discipline. One that allows the soul knife to be thrown, as a single attack or a barrage of soul knives over an area, and perhaps special attacks like 1 melee attack against all adjacent enemies or a whip like attack.

For some of the talents I wish they used attack rolls instead of saving throws, mostly Energy Beam and Mind Slam.

 

[TwoSix]

It bears repeating, but that's not a Warlord but an Ardent, a psionic leader class from 4E.

Yep. I mean, it does not bear noting that Ardent was probably the 4e Leader class most similar to the Warlord in terms of overall aesthetics, but the Avatar is definitely based on the 4e Ardent (and both are descended from the 3.5 Ardent and Divine Mind classes.)

 

[ppaladin123]

Why are trying to shoe-horn all these different concepts (ardent/psychic warlord, wu jen, psion, soul knife/psychic rogue, teleporter-ranger, body-mod warrior) into one class? Dividing it up into full caster(psion, wu-jen) and warrior/half-caster (ardent, soul knife, body-mod) would make more sense. I like the idea of using sub-classes instead of endless class proliferation but this seems to be taking it too far. I mean why not just make the rogue, fighter, ranger into a super-class like this? Or cleric, wizard, paladin? Why here and not there?

 

[Guest 6801328]

It bears repeating, but that's not a Warlord but an Ardent, a psionic leader class from 4E.

Ummm...is that a yes or a no? Do Warlord fans still need a "non-magical, non-psionic, non-supernatural" option?

 

[ppaladin123]

I wonder if there's roughly a 1 to 1 value on ki points and power points, having a Monk subclass with access to some disciplines could be a suitable replacement to some of the Way of the Elements.

It was certainly rumoured somewhere that the Fighter would get the Sohei subclass which uses psionics.

I could see justification for a bard subclass that dabbles a bit in psionics too.

Despite the Soul Knife not getting bonus disciplines, I feel they could get their own unique discipline. One that allows the soul knife to be thrown, as a single attack or a barrage of soul knives over an area, and perhaps special attacks like 1 melee attack against all adjacent enemies or a whip like attack.

For some of the talents I wish they used attack rolls instead of saving throws, mostly Energy Beam and Mind Slam.

Way of 4 elements ki point conversion for spells is based on spellpoints, which have a correspondence with psi-points so yould do the conversion.

And, yeah, this soul knife is missing "blade forms" which was one of the soul knife's original defining features.

 

[Gladius Legis]

Didn't like the nerf in lethal weapon, immortals. Now cost bonus action (which they have 340985 uses, and can't recovery life using that) and you can't use after see a crit. Don't see many use for weapon when your lvl increase as the damage with talents, unless you really burn many psi point to add effects.

That nerf to Lethal Weapon was 1000% necessary. The previous version was a blatantly overpowered "super-Smite" that stepped hard all over the Paladin's toes with a hobnail boot.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I mean why not just make the rogue, fighter, ranger into a super-class like this? Or cleric, wizard, paladin? Why here and not there?

Because a large number of the player base don't want to use psionics at all. So it's easier to just create a single unified rule system for one class, and thus make it even simpler to just take it out entirely and not use any of it if any particular DM doesn't want to use psionics. Rather than try and make them entirely subclasses for established classes, because each class gets subclass features at different levels and different amounts.

And really, is the Mystic any different than the Cleric? That class has a myriad of different combat variations as well-- some are obviously more ranged attack focused, some are stronger melee attack focused, some are more nature oriented, some are roguish. And yet I don't see almost any people complaining that the Cleric class tries to do too much.

 

[TwoSix]

Ummm...is that a yes or a no? Do Warlord fans still need a "non-magical, non-psionic, non-supernatural" option?

Some do, yes. Trying to group together Warlord fans is like trying to herd cats into a woodchipper; even if you succeed, you're only going to satisfy small pieces of the whole.

 

[zaratan]

That nerf to Lethal Weapon was 1000% necessary. The previous version was a blatantly overpowered "super-Smite" that stepped hard all over the Paladin's toes with a hobnail boot.

I think that should have a nerf too, since immortal mystic is a "full caster", pali is half and apparently should be more like a cleric than pali. But how I see, the nerf could be in the damage. The bonus action request and set before attack really dislike me to someone that already lost armor and weapons and is really MAD.