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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[MoonSong]

The odd Order out(npi!), the Wu Jen - a 1e OA class and 2e Kit (and, like everything in the multiverse, presumably a 3.5 PrC)

It was a base class. It was on Complete Arcane with the Warmage and Warlock.

 

[AmerginLiath]

Some multiclassing ideas:

Nomad Gunsmith, with Mystic and Artificer why not play 1 class in playtesting when you can play 2 classes in playtesting? Also nomadic arrow works really well with the standard attacks from the gun, and both Artificer and Mystic use int, so that works well together.

Something about the names in that combination have me whistling Ennio Morricone...

 

[mellored]

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

Besides the obvious non-magical part. What do you see as the difference?

 

[Tony Vargas]

Besides the obvious non-magical part. What do you see as the difference?

Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you find the play?

 

[mellored]

Aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how did you find the play?

So it's just the magical aspect then?
Nothing else is missing?

Because i feel there's a lack of options at low levels.

 

[Chaosmancer]

With the Soul knife, I wonder if "Bonus action turn your second blade into a shield" is a good use for their bonus action.

I think having that option is good for them, go for a second attack or armor up, and AC is very important for a melee class. Add in Defensive Duelist, Medium Armor Master, and Dual-Wielder along with some of the Immortal Disciplines that increase AC, and you'd be looking at what? Level 8 Variant Human

Half-plate (18) + Soul knife Shield (2) + Beast Form Tough Hide (2) + Dual Wield (+1) Iron Durability Focus (1)

AC 24 with a reactionary AC of 27, or the ability to gain resistance to weapon damage, plus beast form gives potential flight or aquatic capabilities.

It costs only 2 feats if you don't want the reaction (giving this to you at level 4 instead) and only 2 psi points every hour.

Can't use bonus actions if you want to keep it up, but at level 8 you still have two more Disciplines to grab, and you hit for 2d8+2+dex mod if you spend points on Hone the blade.

It isn't pretty, but it seems effective to me

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

I like it. I'm glad to see the Far Realms references removed, and it seems to hold together pretty well (but only actual play will tell).

A small quibble, but the Avatar subclass name doesn't seem right. An Avatar is supposed to represent something specific. The Avatar of a god, or force, or a king. The subclass doesn't really represent anything, so it shouldn't be called an Avatar.

 

[Tony Vargas]

So it's just the magical aspect then?
Nothing else is missing?

Nothing else is visible above the glare of the supernatural aspect, yes. That it's a psionic sub-class is a full-stop. Whether it'd be strictly inferior or superior to a hypothetical Warlord is beside the point, AFAIC.

I don't feel like they're still trying to figure out how to do a support class in the sense they were trying to figure out how to re-incorporate a Knight (3.5 or Essentials) or Weaponmaster(4e)-style 'defender.'

The Avatar Mystic is still exciting, in spite of the name, as a fair playtest iteration of the 4e Ardent, though I'd like to hear from more psionics fans who were familiar with/are enthused about, the 3.5 version of the class.

Because i feel there's a lack of options at low levels.

Could be, but I tend to feel like there's a lack of player options globally, in 5e, so I'm not the best judge. It just strikes me as a matter of how it stacks up to other options (and the other psionic options aren't much like the Ardent), and to past versions of the Ardent in 3.5 and 4e. It is typical for 5e classes to start a little slow, as a precaution against MCing 'dips,' though, so it could just be that.

 

[jgsugden]

My biggest complaint is that the mechanical difference between spell slots and psi points is mostly superficial. There is a direct correlation between the two and you could easily replace the entire psi system with spell slots with only minor losses (you can't do one point psi things in the spell world as a first level spell is 2 points). Or, you could replace all spells with psi points even more easily. That means that we have an entirely new mechanic that requires us to mesh rules and analyze new corner cases for abuses - for very little real benefit.

 

[Valetudo]

I like it. I'm glad to see the Far Realms references removed, and it seems to hold together pretty well (but only actual play will tell).

A small quibble, but the Avatar subclass name doesn't seem right. An Avatar is supposed to represent something specific. The Avatar of a god, or force, or a king. The subclass doesn't really represent anything, so it shouldn't be called an Avatar.

I think a far realm subclass might be worth a look down the line.