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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[raleel]

I wish the Mystic was three or maybe four different classes.

The psion would be the telepathy and telekinesis psionic caster.

The ardent would be the emotional manipulation psionic warlord.

The battlemind would be the psionic warrior with the option to build a tanky psychic warrior.

Th soulknife would be the rogue like psychic warrior.

And the wujen would not be psionic and would instead be a ki based elementalist.

I believe you just made a request for the 4e psionic handbook

 

[Tony Vargas]

Now that I look at it, you're right -- the Avatar would make a darn good "warlord".

I'm going to have to just start throwing things. ;(

What part of 'psionic' do y'all not understand? Here, in this thread, about Psionics?"

As far as the Ardent goes, I wasn't playing 4E when it was added, but I liked the 3E version. I really, really hate the idea that a Cleric could get spells from anywhere other than a deity or similar potent outsider. There's long been talk about Clerics of a philosophy which rubs me very wrong*

Not that it matters, but I couldn't disagree more with that: I loved the 2e Cleric Forces & Philosophies option, it really expanded the scope of the class both in terms of religions in the campaign setting, and in terms of character concept and acceptability to some players. Back then, when Cleric (Druid was just a special case of cleric in 2e, too), was the vital, niche-protected Healer, broadening it's acceptability was pretty important.

The Ardent very nicely filled that niche in its 3E incarnation and I would love to see a version of it for the Mystic in 5E.

It's called the Order of the Avatar. Sheesh.

See the problem with not calling a 5e version of a class by it's prior-editions' name?

 

[Satyrn]

I'm going to have to just start throwing things . . . Sheesh.

Um, Tony . . . How visible is that vein in your forehead right now?

 

[MoonSong]

Yeah I think I am "voting" for the Wu Jen to be moved to the Wizard (or maybe Sorcerer - that class needs more interesting subclasses) and the Soul Knife to Rogue (the Rogue may not need it but the Soul Knife does.)

Sent from my LG-D852 using EN World mobile app

I think that wizard fits best. The sorcerer doesn't need more interesting subclasses, it needs one simple, boring, reliable subclass that lets you have an individual instead of drowning the character in punkish transhuman flavour. Once you hae a boring reliable subclass, you can do all the off-the-wall stuff you want, but you need a bland reliable one you can marry first.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Um, Tony . . . How visible is that vein in your forehead right now?

Oh, I had to have that removed years ago...

 

[TwoSix]

Now that I look at it, you're right -- the Avatar would make a darn good "warlord".

As far as the Ardent goes, I wasn't playing 4E when it was added, but I liked the 3E version. I really, really hate the idea that a Cleric could get spells from anywhere other than a deity or similar potent outsider. There's long been talk about Clerics of a philosophy which rubs me very wrong*. The Ardent very nicely filled that niche in its 3E incarnation and I would love to see a version of it for the Mystic in 5E. Maybe one of the other subclasses works well, though -- I need to reread the Mystic.

What's interesting to me is that the psionic disciplines themselves for the mystic are almost the lineal descendant of the 3.5 ardent mantles. Both of them are a selection of 4-7 powers organized around a theme, with the class being restricted to power choices drawn from their chosen mantles/disciplines.

 

[zaratan]

Disciplines and Talents

First off, Talents, cause it's easier:

Some points:

Mind Meld isn't redundant, they can respond now

Bestial Claws isn't like smite, don't add damage he is the damage. Important part, don't consume action or bonus action (this is probably a mistake), if not, is just to good

Brute Strike let you use after hit and before damage, unlike all other disciplines, none chance to miss and you can use after see a crit
Brute Force is really good for a grappler, even more if someone have spike growth

Giant Growth urges multiclass

Darkness is even more broken with no concentration, must have for ranged builds that can use just 1 psi point and stay there or melee with There and Back Again

Whirlwind is great, the low damage let you use in yourself and allies too, you can change the entire battlefield and have many other disciplines to combine with that, walls, AoE, AoO triggers, force movements, Visions of Disgust, Primal Fury, etc

Thunder Clap and Psychic Crush too, stunned is auto fail in Dex and Str ST and you have plenty of those

Chameleon use your action, so you can hide only in that turn and don't have action to use, not that great at all

Wandering Eye and Phasing Eye are way better than Scrying, you don't need to know anyone, you can explore the entire dungeon and expand the "you can see" disciplines and spells, with Nomadic Step you can break the entire dungeon, check all, teleport to BBEG room, surprise attack, get tresure and go home. Is the DM's nightmare.

Psychic Grip let you make target move, so AoO trigger, with advantage and auto crit, for a 4th lvl spellslot, don't need more than that.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I'm absolutely fine with the Wu Jen being in the Mystic, as it never really had anything to stand out on it's own when it was just another type of Arcane spellcaster. The Elementalist specializations back in 2e's Tome of Magic and the Sha'ir in Al-Quadim completely overshadowed the Wu Jen as just another type of Arcane caster.

http://www.sageadvice.eu/2016/12/31/psionic-mystic-finished-level-1-20-design/ states that they're planning on making another OA class, the Sohei into the Psionic subclass of the Fighter.

 

[Mercule]

I'm going to have to just start throwing things. ;(

What part of 'psionic' do y'all not understand? Here, in this thread, about Psionics?"

It probably has to do with me not really caring about the Warlord and being totally fine with the Valor Bard as the 5E Warlord. While I don't like the whole "psionics is different than magic" thing, I can't keep track of who wants it separate and who doesn't. So, if you don't want magic for psionics and want to use "psionics is different" then the Avatar is a non-magic class that does the stuff that a Warlord does. YMMV, of course.

Not that it matters, but I couldn't disagree more with that: I loved the 2e Cleric Forces & Philosophies option, it really expanded the scope of the class both in terms of religions in the campaign setting, and in terms of character concept and acceptability to some players. Back then, when Cleric (Druid was just a special case of cleric in 2e, too), was the vital, niche-protected Healer, broadening it's acceptability was pretty important.

The Cleric's schtick is "character that channels divine power". Divine power is "power that comes from a deity or similar entity". By definition, a Cleric must be affiliated with a deity or some such.

Of course, you can reskin it and do whatever you want. Lankhmar reskinned it as a "white wizard" and it worked. It's the same thing as calling the Valor Bard a Warlord, though. It works, mechanically, but it is really just a rules hack. No matter how much TSR/WotC says otherwise, it doesn't make it so.

It's called the Order of the Avatar. Sheesh.

See the problem with not calling a 5e version of a class by it's prior-editions' name?

Maybe it's because it's been a while since I had the book, but the Avatar doesn't seem quite as Cleric-y as I remember the Ardent being. Nothing that couldn't get solved by a longer list of Disciplines, though.

 

[bganon]

I'm going to have to just start throwing things. ;(

What part of 'psionic' do y'all not understand? Here, in this thread, about Psionics?"

The 4E Warlord was a Strong Guy (or Gal) that could aid allies with the power of their brain (by being smart and tactical).

The 5E Avatar Mystic can be a Strong Guy (or Gal) that aids allies with the power of their brain (by using "psionic powers").

I guess I just don't really care much about the difference. Besides, I don't think the designers just "accidentally" made a Mystic subclass that's a Str/Int tactician.


On a different note - I really don't want to see the Soulknife as a Rogue subclass, simply because why not a Ranger or Fighter subclass? The original Soulknife wasn't particularly a sneaky skill-monkey with occasional stabbings, which is what the 5E Rogue really is.