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!

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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Leatherhead

Possibly a Idiot.
Disciplines and Talents

First off, Talents, cause it's easier:

Beacon
The light cantrip.

Blade Meld

This is nearly useless, and borderline detrimental to even use. You can't be disarmed or drop a weapon you hold. Unfortunately, you can't drop the weapon you are holding for 60 seconds and there is no way to turn it off. Maybe if it did bonus damage it would be worth considering, but no way as is.

Blind Spot
Selective invisibility, this is really useful, even if it is only against one target, that still means the BBEG can't use OA's against you.

Delusion
Minor minor illusion. Only for one creature. Not as good as Blind Spot to be true, but still useful.

Energy Beam
The attack cantrip. 1D8 damage with no rider, but you can select your energy damage every time to manifest it, making it better than every damage cantrip other than Eldritch blast, and thats because Eldritch Blast cheats with invocations.

Light Step
Bonus movement as a bonus action. Not as good as Dashing, but you take what you can get, and it gets you up from prone for free.

Mind Meld
A bit redundant with Telepathy, but it works on animals and lets you see someones memory “first hand”

Mind Slam
1d6 force damage (scales) and prone, targets Con. So, like it's not that good as your only attack, and maybe not even a backup attack.

Mind Thrust
1d10 psychic damage against INT. This is really good, good enough to be a primary attack, so long as you don't pick up Energy Beam to back it up.

Mystic Charm
Better than Friends. Which is all it needs to be.

Psychic Hammer
1d6 Force, and 10' push, targets STR. If you are fighting humanoids, all the dex-warriors and squishies are going to get creamed. If you are fighting Monsters, particularly big ones, even Mind Slam is better.

Disciplines
Here is an interesting note: There are no Soul Knife Disciplines, a bit of a missed opportunity, even if they don't get them for free like the other Orders, they could have at least added them as options.
There are 40 of these, so this is going to take a bit.

Adaptive Body
Over all, good enough.
Focus:
You are the warforged. Handy for keeping watch, but I have to question what happens when you drop your focus half-way through the day and you haven't eaten anything until then. Do you starve on the spot, or do you just start to get hungry as if you had just eaten a meal?
Environmental Adaptation :
Ignore extreme temperatures for you and your friends.
Adaptive Shield
Elemental damage resistance as a reaction, handy.
Energy Adaptation
Energy resistance to one target, not that good because of concentration requirement.
Energy Immunity
Better than the above, but not much for the same reasons.

Aura Sight
Over all, bad.
Focus
Advantage on Wisdom(insight) useful in some games.
Assess Foe
An ability that lets you ask the DM for numbers, which is better than that Champion ability that asks for relative power.
Read Moods
Why is this a power? You spend points for a one-word description of what a group of targets are feeling at the moment.
View Aura
This combines the aspects of all the previous sub-powers, and adds advantage on cha checks, but only against one target, it's kind of garbage.
Perceive the Unseen
Lets you see creatures in the dark, even if they are invisible. Useful.

Bestial Form
One amazing thing after some bad stuff.
Focus
Advantage on animal handling, of all things. Not too useful.
Bestial Claws
Similar to a paladin smite, lets you pump damage into an attack, unlike a smite, you can miss. On the bad side, there are better variations of this in other disciplines.
Bestial Transformation
The real reason you picked this.
A smorgasbord of transformation options, there is a point limit to how many you can activate, however you can get around this limit by manifesting this multiple times in a row. There is no concentration requirement for this power. Gives out flight, swimming, climbing, perception bonuses, and a +2bonus to AC. It is great.

Brute Force
What the Soul Knife Wants. Over all good.
Psychic Focus
Advantage on Athletics, ok.
Brute Strike
Like Bestial Claws, but they can stack. Also Stacks with the Soul Knife attack. You can whiff with this, but it is only a bonus action, and if you get multiple attacks somehow, it will work on the first one that hits. OK.
Knock Back
A reaction push that scales with the points you put into it. Can also be used to knock creatures into objects for extra damage. OK.
Mighty Leap
A really big jump as part of your movement. Gives you extra speed and mobility. Great option.
Feat of Strength
A +5 bonus to STR checks. Not the most useful thing, but there is some merit.

Celerity
Over all meh.
Focus
Extra speed, good.
Rapid Step
Extra Extra speed, for when you need it. Also Good.
Agile Defense
Dodge as a bonus action, at least you have more points to spend than a monk does.
Blur of Motion
Invisibility while you move, for an action. I question why you didn't just disengage, but there is the question of being tracked. Meh.
Surge of Speed
Disengage + climb speed, as a bonus action. This is going to be more useful than the previous option.
Surge of Action.
I remember this discipline having much more killing power. As it stands right now, a bonus action attack for 5 pp isn't worth considering, even if you do get to use any weapon with it. And 5 points for a bonus action dash is laughable when you have Rapid Step. Maybe if it was really “action surge” for a cost it would have been ok. Bad.

Corrosive Metabolism
Surprisingly good for the elemental combination.
Psychic Focus
Two resistances, one of them is a relatively common one as well. Good.
Corrosive Touch
Dex Save or acid for 1d10/point. But only touch range, however it is save for ½. Good.
Venom Strike
Con Save, 1d6/point. 30' range. If they don't save they are poisoned. It's OK, but only because you have other options with this discipline.
Acid Spray
Gives you something to do with your reaction at least, but woe to any of your friends who stand next to you. OK.

Breath of the Black Dragon

It's an acid flavored lighting bolt, with a bit less damage. Good.
Breath of the Green Dragon
Considering the primary use of such an attack would be to dispense with minion-like creatures, it's good.


Crown of Despair

Really Good stuff.
Focus
Intimidation, scary, also OK.
Crowned in Sorrow
60' 1d8/point psi damage, cha save for half, and it can't take reactions if it doesn't. Good, maybe even borderline great.
Call to Inaction
Effectively a “mesmerization” spell. It breaks if the target sees combat, but they don't know that they were under the effects of this power even after it ends, lending itself to the social pilar of play. Good.
Visions of Despair
Like crowned in sorrow, but 1d6 damage, and it zeros out movement instead. Which makes it potentially more useful if you leave the target in a hazard, like a fire pit.
Dolorous Mind
Incapacitated and 0 move, on a cha save, this is great.

Crown of Disgust
It's not Good. It might not even be OK at lower levels, when you could have something else like Crown of Despair.
Psychic Focus
Makes you sticky, like a defender, which may or may not be a good thing considering your fragility. OK
Eye of Horror
Like a worse variation of Visions of Despair, also prevents things from closing in on you. It's OK.
Wall of Repulsion
An invisible and insubstantial wall that sometimes stops creatures from moving through it via a Wis save. As far as walls go, this one is bad, mostly because it's invisible.
Visions of Disgust
Finally something interesting. This power deals more damage depending on how many creatures are next to the target. It's not a lot of damage, but it does make having a familiar out not as much of a liability. OK.
World of Horror
Some hard control against ranged attackers, with a smattering of damage. Good.


Crown of Rage
It's Good, not as good as despair, but way better than disgust.
Focus
Another defenderish ability. This one draws attacks from creatures next to you, again OK.
Primal Fury
1d6 damage, and forced movement. Good, but only because it could be used to set up some traps or OA's.
Fighting Words
This Is fun, you can cause a distraction, or an assassination. Good.
Mindless Courage
It prevents creatures from running away, I guess. Could also be used to set up a trap. OK.
Punishing Fury
OA's for everyone! Great, if you have a Rogue, Barbarian, or Paladin in the party, other class options are just Good.

Diminution
Great, if sneaking is your only concern. Fortunately it also has combat options.
Focus
Stealth, Good.
Miniature Form
Become extra sneaky, and able to fit into smaller places. Great.
Toppling Shift
A bonus action to knock prone, on STR. Fairly standard as far as prone goes, but not too useful. OK.
Sudden Shift
It's a very short range teleport and attack defense Good, but there are better options out there if you need that kind of thing foremost.
Microscopic Form
Even more sneaky stuff, and a bonus to AC. Great.

Giant Growth
OK, unless you are really, really into melee reach. Even then it's just Good.
Focus
5' reach. This alone will make some people drool. Personally, I don't find it as useful. Good.
Ogre Form
More Reach, temp HPS, Large Size, and extra melee damage, but it needs concentration, and doesn't scale. OK.
Giant Form
Like Ogre Form, but all the numbers and space are bigger. OK



Intellect Fortress

Good to Great, depending on the number of mind-flayers you are fighting.
Psychic Focus.
Resistance to psychic damage. Not the most common type, unless you are in select campaigns. OK
Psychic Backlash
A chance to negate an attack, that damages the attacker if the attack still works. Of note, there is no maximum distance. Great.
Psychic Parry
Bump up a mental save whenever you think you will need it, even after you roll a die. Great.
Psychic Redoubt
Group buffs against mental attacks. Good.

Iron Durability
It's just OK, bordering on Meh.
Focus
+1 AC. Great.
Iron Hide
A scaling bonus to AC against an attack, that sticks around. Much like shield, only it costs a lot more. OK.
Steel Hide
Bonus action resistances to the physical types. Only for one turn. OK.
Iron Resistance
Resistance to One of the physical types, requires concentration and a gob-load of points. Bad.

Mantle of Awe
Great, with a questionable bit here and there.
Focus
½ Int Bonus to Cha Checks, Good.
Charming Presence
It's like the Sleep of Charm Powers. I never liked the mechanic, it requires too much math, and ignores saves. OK, could do without.
Center of Attention
Reverse invisibility, on a Cha save, Great.
Invoke Awe
Int Save, Charm, gives you control of up to 5 creatures. Great.

Mantle of Command
Look, the mechanics of this are just questionable. Specifically the part where you make the choices for the other players. Those are kind of non-starters in today's gaming environment. Mechanically, this is powerful, but only if you have a bunch of team mates that do weapon attacks. Casters get left in the dust.
Focus
Playing Chess with your group. There is a problem with this, notably the part where you pick the movement for the ally. It's an OK power from the numbers standpoint, but the how it's implemented is bad.
Coordinated Movement
More of the above, this time the action economy is a bit worse.
Commander’s Sight
Why does this have concentration? That isn't necessary for a power that lasts one round. Otherwise Great.
Command to Strike
One action and some points to trigger an out of turn attack action. Powerful, but it needs to drop the bit where you are picking the targets.
Strategic Mind
This is more like it. You give out the bonuses, but it's up to the players how they use it. Also Great.
Overwhelming Attack
Your entire team gets an attack action out of turn as a reaction. Crazy powerful, but noticeably absent is the ability to trigger cantrips.

Mantle of Courage
Good, a bit more palatable than the previous one, but still slogs when it comes to casters.
Focus
Advantage VS fear. OK.
Incite Courage
Flat out ends the effects of fear. This does not prevent them from becoming scared of whatever made it so to begin with, though it should. Good.
Aura of Victory
Lots of temp HP, that trigger passively. Good.
Pillar of Confidence
Haste, in discipline form. Great, but it still leaves casters out.

Mantle of Fear

It's good.
Focus
Intimidation. OK.
Incite Fear
More powerful than normal fear, the target must break LoS with you to even attempt a new save. Good.
Unsettling Aura
Makes it harder for creatures to get next to you, but not by much. OK.
Incite Panic
Mass fear, with a side dish of potential friendly fire. Good.

Mantle of Fury
It's Good.
Focus
A bit of extra speed to your entire group. Good.
Incite Fury
Extra melee damage, Good. But it leaves out so many potential group mates.
Mindless Charge
Get a bunch of extra speed out of a friendly unit. Or maybe even a dumb enemy unit. Good.
Aura of Bloodletting
Advantage in melee, for everyone! Kind of bad, actually, enemies benefit more from critical hits than players do.
Overwhelming Fury
Cha Save to shut down ranged units. Good.


Mantle of Joy
Its potent. But not the Best.
Focus
Persuasion, Good.
Soothing Presence
That's a significant amount of temp HP, on multiple party members, that sticks around until you do a long rest. Good, at least until you hit 11 when it starts going down hill.
Comforting Aura
Its a less powerful Bless. Which is makes it just good.
Aura of Jubilation
A very odd power, it passively imposes disadvantage on perception (which is good) and Investigation (what NPC is using this?) but only within 60', which is kind of a problem if you are tying to stealth. Still, it's OK, and it stacks with other forms of stealthy powers due to the unique mechanic.
Beacon of Recovery. Extra Saving throws for everyone! Also can be bumped up with Comforting Aura, which makes it Great.

Mastery of Air
Powerful, even with some lackluster options.
Focus
You ignore falling damage and difficult terrain. Great.
Wind Step
They get to fly at level one, other characters have to pick a race or wait till much higher levels to even try this kind of thing. Granted, it's not perpetual flight, but it does let you burst really far when you need to. Great
Wind Stream
1d8, bludgeoning and prone, Save vs str. It's not the best damage option, but it's just gravy for this particular discipline. OK.
Cloak of Air
A formidable defensive option, that punishes melee attackers. Can cause some silly results, like beholders biting themselves. But still good.
Wind Form
Finally, perpetual flight, however, it can also stack with Wind Step, and dashing, for some extreme bursts of speed. Good.
Misty Form
It's an escape option. But its a bad one, unless you absolutely need to fit through into a keyhole. Also gives some resistance to physical damage. Meh.
Animate Air
You can summon an air elemental. I dislike summon spells, but I can't deny their power.


Mastery of Fire

It ain't Good. Despite starting and finishing strong, the middle is packed with mediocrity.
Focus.
Resistance, and +2 bonus to fire damage. That has synergies up and down the board. Great.
Combustion
This horrific mechanic again. It's rather bad. 1D10 damage /point to start with. But it can be concentrated on for an additional 1d6 damage per turn, with no scaling, also it can be put out with an action. This is only OK., and Only because of the initial damage, and because you would lose your concentration whenever you only want to pop this for one round.
Rolling Flame
Some low power area denial. Doesn't scale, but at least it covers a wide area. OK.
Detonation
Fireball, with a Con Save. Also knocks prone. Good for destroying a ninja ambush, but not much else. Good, but just barely.
Fire Form
A slightly more effective form of area denial, this one punishes everyone who would dare to stand next to you. OK.
Animate Fire
Summon a Fire Elemental, finally, something with real bite in this Discipline.

Mastery of Force
It's good.
Focus
Advantage on str checks. It's OK, if you need to break out of a grapple I suppose.
Push
1d8+5' push per point. Str save. It's just ok.
Move
You can lift a big rock over someones head and drop it on them for moderate damage. It has both combat, and non-combat applications. Good.
Inertial Armor
Mage armor, for Mystics. Great at the price.
Telekinetic Barrier
This ain't wall of force, you can actually break it with a single attack. Additionally, you cant even turn it into a bridge. Bad.
Grasp
Picking up some pointers from Bigby This is a ranged grapple. It's VERY EXPENSIVE. But it is difficult to break out of, it can be used to move the target strait up into the air, crush them, and it can be used on creatures much larger than yourself. Good.

Mastery of Ice
Better than Fire, also a bit better than force. Maybe not great, but there isn't anything bad or cost prohibitive.
Focus
Just resistance here, they couldn't even spring for extra damage or a rider. OK.
Ice Spike
A ranged attack that also slows. OK.
Ice Sheet
Superior area denial, that can also be used as a slip and slide. Good.
Frozen Sanctuary
A bunch of Temp HP as a bonus action. Good, but it rapidly declines in usefulness as the levels go on.
Frozen Rain
You can trap a bunch of weak creatures in an area until they die. Good, but possibly a war crime.
Ice Barrier
The wall of ice is better than the wall of force. It even punishes the creature that tries to break it. Good.

Mastery of Light and Darkness

Broke, and broken, in both meanings of the word. Do not engage, do not attempt to use at your table, back away slowly and hope they don't follow you home.
Focus
No longer do you need a two-level warlock dip to see in the dark! Of note, it's NOT darkvision, you can simply see perfectly in the dark, but only to 30' which makes this better in some cases. Great.
Darkness
Wait, this doesn't have a duration? That's literally broken. Nul.
Light
A combination of fairy fire and the light spell. Great.
Shadow Beasts
This is the other kind of broken, as in it's too good. You can decimate any target you want with power. A few rounds of this kind of abuse will end anything that isn't a slab of meat, and even they will be crippled by such an onslaught. Note that you can make areas of darkness for them to hide from, which makes them even better. Broketastic.
Radiant Beam
A fairly efficient source of radiant damage, that can also be used to blind targets. Good.

Mastery of Water
Good to great.
Focus
Swim speed and water breathing. Good for pirates.
Desiccate
A fairly potent source of necrotic damage. The fact that it's necrotic actually helps you here, as most people wouldn't expect that kind of damage from a water mage. Good.
Watery Grasp
It's a weird one. An Aoe Prone and pull, str save, scaling damage. OK, but mostly because it sets you up for bad times after use.
Water Whip
This one is much better, a line str save with scaling damage, but you can move any target to any square that touches the whip, which can lead to dumping targets off cliffs or shuffling combat formations Great.
Water Breathing
Up to 10 targets for 24 hours. That's one heck of a return on your point investment. Good.
Water Sphere
This one is weird. It's expensive soft control, but it is effective against front-line types. Good.
Animate Water
Another summoning thing.

Mastery of Weather
Thunderbolts and lightning are very frightening. But not quite great.
Focus
Resistance to two forms of damage. Good
Cloud Steps
A stairway to heaven. Or more likely just a way to get over a wall. OK, but only because it spirals strait up instead of being able to shape them on an angle.
Hungry Lightning
Decent damage, and more likely to hurt targets in metal armor. Good.
Wall of Clouds
It's an unusually shaped smokescreen. It won't hide much, but it will break LoS. Good.
Whirlwind
An extremely cheep AoE damage, that also shuffles the battlefield to your picking. Good.
Lightning Leap
Lighting Bolt with a baked in limited teleport. Good.
Wall of Thunder
It can severely punish creatures who try to muscle though it, but it doesn't block LoS or arrows. OK.
Thunder Clap
And it strikes like thunderball. Which is a fireball, but with extra riders. Good.

Mastery of Wood and Earth
Good, and oddly enough it's even good for the more gish-type mystics.
Focus
More AC, its Great.
Animate Weapon
It's a melee weapon attack at range with extra force damage, that also uses your casting stat. It's good. But the wording on this leads itself to crazy stacking possibilities. Good, but beware.
Warp Weapon
It shuts down a weapon for one turn. But only nonmagical weapons. OK.
Warp Armor
Negates armor for one turn. Also only nonmagical. OK.
Wall of Wood
Why does this have more HP than the force option? And not just more hp. But it has 100 hps, which means that wall is going to stay up for a good long time. Great.
Armored Form
Resistances to physical damage, but it takes concentration. OK.
Animate Earth
Tops out with an earth elemental.

Nomadic Arrow
The psionic Ranger is good.
Focus
Ignore disadvantage on ranged attacks. However you can't get advantage if you have disadvantage. So it's like half-advantage. OK.
Speed Dart
The mystic seems to be plagued with “The not quite smites” that use a bonus action to trigger. This one deals good damage, and gets all the typical bow-benifits. But it does crossbow use. Good.
Seeking Missile
Reaction reroll, better for archer types because they have less opportunity for reactions. Good.
Faithful Archer
A very strange rendition of the extra attack feature, that lets you get in extra attacks even if you use other powers. It's good, but weird.

Nomadic Chameleon
The normal stealth power is great at being a stealth power, who would have thought?
Focus
Stealth checks are always useful. good.
Chameleon
Oh, yeah, stealth rules are convoluted. This lets you ignore them for a trivial cost. Great, if only to avoid headaches.
Step from Sight
Invisibility the discipline. Can be given most of your group. Great.
Enduring Invisibility
Improved Invisibility power.


Nomadic Mind

It's good. But in the unremarkable way that makes it not a first pick for anyone.
Focus
A floating proficiency. Good.
Wandering Mind
A psionic ritual? That's different. This one gives you up to three extra skills for an hour. It's kind of bad, considering you would very rarely need this given your focus ability, and the time return on investment.
Find Creature
Lets you hone in on a creature in an area of up to 3 miles square. Handy for finding lost persons, not handy for ambushes. Good.
Item Lore
Identify. Good.
Psychic Speech
Tongues. It's a bit on the pricey side, given that you have telepathy. Okish.
Wandering Eye
A scry power, its Good for scouting.
Phasing Eye
The upgrade to the previous power that can go through objects. Why was this not a scaling option instead of a full power? OK.

Nomadic Step
If it's within a mile, you can go there. Good. But has some bizarre anti-synergies
Focus
Bonus wallking movement after your teleport. I guess it's OK if you need even more extra speed. But most of this power ironically doesn't stack with itself.
Step of a Dozen Paces
Bonus action teleport that prevents you from moving afterwards. A bit comical considering the Focus. Good.
Nomadic Anchor
Lets you designate a teleport position that doesn't have to be in your LOS, then later you can teleport to it. It's an OK option that lets you replace one restriction for another at an additional cost. But it could be used to set up traps.
Defensive Step
Memory of One Thousand Steps is better in most situations. But this is good if you aren't a Nomad. Good.
There and Back Again
Finally a real use for your Focus. This is good for both escape and misdirection. Great.
Transposition
Swapping places. Oodles of applications, even if it does that annoying 0 movement restriction. Great.
Baleful Transposition
More powerful than the previous, lets you send enemies into the clever traps they placed for you. Great
Phantom Caravan
Teleport your group up to one mile as an action. Great.
Nomad’s Gate
A more powerful Phantom Caravan, but with the same distance and two-way travel. Great.


Precognition
It's Good. But you would have already known that had you taken this discipline.
Focus
Advantage on imitative. Great.
Precognitive Hunch
Personal Bless. Good.
All-Around Sight
Another reaction based attack blocker, only disadvantage this time, but still good.
Danger Sense
You can't be surprised and get a +10 bonus to initiative checks for as long as you concentrate. That's impressive, but I don't think it's worth the cost. OK.
Victory Before Battle
This is more like it More points, but you don't have to use up your concentration slot to make it work. Good.

Psionic Restoration
It's a one-stop shop for most of your healing needs. It's OK, because it should do more than it does currently, and most of the options are the bare minimum requirement.
Focus
Bonus action stabilization. Why is this a bonus action? It takes a bonus action to swap focus. You aren't just going to have this focus up all day, meaning it's not going to be available when you need it. Bad.
Mend Wounds
Cure wounds by another name. I prefer Healing Word. OK.
Restore Health
Lessor Restoration, plus a bit. Great, downright necessary for anyone trying to be a healer.
Restore Life
Revivify. Great.
Restore Vigor
A weaker Greater Restoration. Curses and charms I can kinda understand, but it's odd this power can't remove petrification, OK.

Psionic Weapon
Good, but it would be better if you could reliably get extra attacks.
Focus
This is confusing. It took me two reads to parse. You can make your weapon attacks count as magical, and deal psychic damage. But until level 6 you don't add your ability score mod to damage. It's OK, and needs a cleanup.
Ethereal Weapon
As a bonus action, you make your next attack a DEX save, that gives half damage on a save. Good, but not something you will be using all the time.
Lethal Strike
Bonus action smite is back. It's goodish.
Augmented Weapon
Magic +3 weapon for as long as you concentrate. Good.



Psychic Assault

Kicking it old school is good.
Focus
+2 damage to talents? That's like nothing at higher levels. At least let it do INT mod or something. Bad.
Psionic Blast
The Magic Missile of Disciplines. Good. But it will cause people to freak out at first.
Ego Whip
Int Save, Good damage, and good control against bruisers. Great.
Id Insinuation
Int Save, Good damage, but it's a control against spellcasters, which makes it harder to land and less effective against monsters. Good.
Psychic Blast
Good enough for the mindflayers, good enough for you.
Psychic Crush
Better than Psychic Blast, because it also features hard control for a nominal point increase. Great.

Psychic Disruption
Its good.
Focus
Deception, It can be good.
Distracting Haze
Damage, and not-quite blinds the target, on INT. Good.
Daze
Incapacitate for one turn until they take damage. INT save is the saving grace. Good.
Mind Storm
Good for a one-two punch with your group. This turns a weak will save into disadvantage on all saves.

Psychic Inquisition

Nobody expected the inquisition to be OK.
Focus
Detect lies. Good.
Hammer of Inquisition
Turns a weak INT save into disadvantage on WIL. Oh, it also deals full scaling damage. Great.
Forceful Query
Lets you play 20 questions, one question at a time. OK.
Ransack Mind
Another psychic ritual. This one takes an hour, and divulges information up to 48 hours ago. Its ok. But you better be targeting a sleeping creature unless you want to dispose of the target after the fact.
Phantom Idea
The opposite of the above, you implant a memory. But it also takes as long, and you should target a sleeper to make a sleeper agent. OK.



Psychic Phantoms

It's actually great.
Focus
More Deception Good.
Distracting Figment
Advantage on all melee attacks and the target can't use reactions for a turn is great. It also has scaling damage because why not?
Phantom Foe
Somewhat of a slow burn, this power shuts down reactions for a time, and deals ongoing damage. Its OK.
Phantom Betrayal
An INT save to make the enemy meatshield start eating it's allies instead of you. Great.
Phantom Riches
A bit of hard control that lets you move the target under their power. Great.

Telepathic Contact

It's more like mind control than talking, but it's good.
Focus
Gives you telepathy feature if you don't have it. Also improves it if you do. Good.
Exacting Query
You ask a question and get an answer, on INT save. Good.
Occluded Mind
You lie to the target so hard that it believes a short statement that you say. Good.
Broken Will
A one turn domination. Its good, in that it doesn't require concentration, so you can do other stuff.
Psychic Grip
An INT based paralysis, that also lets you move the target, Great.
Psychic Domination
Total control of the meatshield types. Great.

Third Eye

The Third eye is mostly blinded in combat. But given that you will likely have other powers to do the fighting, it's OK.
Focus.
Yet another way to get darkvision, this time it does stack with normal darkvision, but only by 10'. Good.
Tremorsense
Does what it says on the tin for a bonus action and concentration. OK, given the nature of the sense.
Unwavering Eye
Advantage on all wisdom checks for 60 seconds without concentration. It could be handy, but this is just a glorified focus level power. OK.
Piercing Sight
x-ray vision. Now we are talking, this ability is rare. Good.
Truesight
Also what it says on the tin. But this one you will actually end up using sometimes. Great.
 

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SkidAce

Legend
Supporter
Wow... up to page 8 and I don't think I've seen a single poster mention that all traces of the Far Realms have been removed from the class. Which tells me either one of two things...

1) Everyone expected it to happen so it wasn't worth mentioning... or...

2) Having the Far Realms as a possible fluff story for the class to make it unique (just like the quirks table does now) actually is, as it always has been, so easily able to be ignored that people don't even notice it when it's not there anymore. Which goes to show how inconsequential it was that the class mentioned it and turns out wasn't worth nearly the amount of time and energy people spent freaking out about it.

Of course, now instead people can get all up in arms about the quirks table (yelling "Not in MY psionics!"), when again, they'll be able to ignore it with absolutely no issue whatsoever. ;)

Quoted for truth.
 

SkidAce

Legend
Supporter
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?

Because with this I can add psionics to any character by just multiclassing with mystic. And they can vary by choosing different disciplines.

Works for me very similar to the way I've ran/used psionics since 1e. As the "magic" of the elder race (and their enemies), manifested as talents added to normal base classes.
 

SkidAce

Legend
Supporter
I'd still like to see the Shaper back as an order, but I know the current designers are very crystal and ectoplasm phobic.

Though they could try taking some of Pathfinder's Psychic concepts, and calling the Shaper the Order of the Occultist and going with a more ghostly path for such a thing, since ectoplasm is essentially ghost matter.

For crystals they don't need a pet rock, just a bunch of throwing crystals around and stuff.

I recognize the Astral Construct thing might be too complicated to try implementing at first pass, though they could have a discipline with a single companion as the Telepathic Thrallherd needs some sort of comeback too. Something like moving it and having it take reactions should be the focus ability, and getting it to do special things should cost points.

I will be bringing all this back in. I mean, psionics (mind) and the Astral (realm of thought) should tie together somewhat. IMC.
 

I realized that while Mastery of Wood and Earth's Wall has the most HP and is the sturdiest of all the walls, it's probably the easiest one to climb over like maybe somewhere between DC 10 and 15. The Ice barrier from Mastery of Ice could probably be climbed over too, but I'd place it's DC around 20 to climb.
 

FitzTheRuke

Legend
I'm not sure I understand why people are concerned with the "bossy" parts of the Ardent's (ahem, Avatar) discipline. Do you play with a bunch of jerks? *I* play with a bunch of loudmouths, and even they wouldn't take the "you chose the target/path" part of the discipline seriously. Sure, it means the Ardent psychically showed the character what to do (or possibly even downright mind controlled them) but every player I have ever played with would more likely play it as "Do you want to hit that guy?" (Player nods) "Okay, hit him!" or "Would it be good if you moved over there?" "Yup, I sure would like to be over there." "Okay, I move you over there." rather than "Mwuhaha! Your characters are my playthings!" That would get a player thrown out of any game I've ever played, including AL, so fast, that no one in their right mind would ever do it. Even if they mistook that it was supposed to WORK that way, they would be politely corrected very, very quickly.
 

MarkB

Legend
This looks like it has a lot of potential. The Focus abilities of the Disciplines make for some nice "jack of all trades" possibilities, allowing a character to switch out proficiencies or advantage as appropriate to a particular situation.

The multi-faceted nature of the Disciplines also allows one to make a more focused character than is often possible with spellcasters. Having a bunch of options at different power-levels all within a unified theme is easier than trying to find spells at multiple levels that suit your character's theme.

I have a terrible urge to play a character who has every single quirk on the table. It'd be fun for a one-shot, but I don't think he'd survive the other players for much longer than that. The part where I pick a new name for my character every day, never tell it to anyone, and ignore anyone who doesn't address me by name might perhaps cause some issues. :D
 

Lanliss

Explorer
I'm not sure I understand why people are concerned with the "bossy" parts of the Ardent's (ahem, Avatar) discipline. Do you play with a bunch of jerks? *I* play with a bunch of loudmouths, and even they wouldn't take the "you chose the target/path" part of the discipline seriously. Sure, it means the Ardent psychically showed the character what to do (or possibly even downright mind controlled them) but every player I have ever played with would more likely play it as "Do you want to hit that guy?" (Player nods) "Okay, hit him!" or "Would it be good if you moved over there?" "Yup, I sure would like to be over there." "Okay, I move you over there." rather than "Mwuhaha! Your characters are my playthings!" That would get a player thrown out of any game I've ever played, including AL, so fast, that no one in their right mind would ever do it. Even if they mistook that it was supposed to WORK that way, they would be politely corrected very, very quickly.

Oh yes, I fully intend on ignoring that part when I hand this off to my players as a player option. It is just a reminder of a thread not long back, where I asked what a Warlord was exactly. The first response was that it was about remote-controlling the other PCs, to which I replied "That sounds like the stupidest thing ever. That might be the only possible character that would make me walk away from a table, just from someone playing it."*. It holds true here as well. Remote controlling the other PCs sounds stupid, period. The only possible corner-case where I might allow it is if an enemy was already controlling them, and you battled that enemy for control of your poor barbarian friend.

*someone else replied that the first reply was wrong, and that is not at all what the warlord was, which is why I am not totally agaisnt the warlord.
 

cbwjm

Seb-wejem
Although no one is playing a 4 elements monk at my table at the moment, I'm thinking I might see about changing the subclass so that it has access to the wu jen list instead of the various spells it currently has, gaining a single discipline at each subclass level. I would have to look at the inclusion of additional psi points as well or maybe I would just keep the standard ki points since they refresh on a short rest anyway and that way they wouldn't have to worry about keeping track of two separate pools of energy. I'd have the psi-limit be equal to a mystic of half their level so that eventually they'd be able to use a full 7 psi-points on a power.
 

MoonSong

Rules-lawyering drama queen but not a munchkin
Names (including Class names) are important. That is why you have a pencil and a hand with which to write the class name of your choice on the top of your character sheet.

Sorry, had to make that quip. No actual insult intended. (I invite your counter quip.)

I understand that official lore is important for some players and dungeon masters. I just wish they could embrace the freedom of 4E's "refluffing." It certainly relieves a lot of stress when trying to customize monsters or characters for any particular world or campaign.

5e is not 4e, and I like 4e. Refluffing is not as easy for some. I allow some, and would do some, but you need buy-in from the DM and the other players, otherwise you are only acting as if you were delusional both as a character and as a player. And this is worse in 5e, as default flavor is quite strong and, I'd dare to say, at times poisonous. And well there is lots of contradictions that are hard to ignore -at least for me-. I can only handle so much cognitive dissonance. Beyond that names (and everything that comes with them) show how much you are welcome into the game.
 

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