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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[MechaTarrasque]

I like the concept organization that Mearls mentions in his tweet.

The magic classes are quadrants of two polarities: source (internal/external) and ethic (discipline/cheat).

"mystic and wizard – learn through intense study;
warlock and sorcerer – take shortcuts
wizard and warlock – external source;
sorcerer and mystic – internal source"
— (((Mike Mearls))) (@mikemearls)


So, the psionic Mystic utilizes ones own mind, the personal internal source of power, and achieves this by disciplined training.

Oppositely, the arcane Warlock utilizes an external power source, some foreign spirit, and cheats via an unseemly pact.


In this framework, the Warlock class is the goto concept for external Farrealms corruption.

That would carry more weight if the sorcerer's origins didn't involve dragons, fey, demons, and far realmers. It would be completely compatible with the sorcerer if the mystic came about because far realmers or little green men experimented on someone and a couple of generations later some of their kids had psychic powers. Origin and where the juice is coming from don't need to be the same.

 

[ppaladin123]

Wizard: Tutored by dragon
Warlock: Employed by a dragon
Sorcerer: Daddy was a dragon?
Mystic: Awake the inner dragon!

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I really don't see why there is such furor over the connection between Far Realms and Psionics. Aberrations in 5e are tied to the Far Realms. Many, if not most, of the psionic creatures in D&D are aberrations. There's already a pretty clear tie between the Far Realms and psionics in the game. And, while the term Far Realms is new, the connection between aberrations and psionics has always been in the game - Aboleth, Mind Flayers, Thought Eaters, Intellect Devourers, so on and so forth.

Why is this suddenly a big deal that they make that connection explicit? 5e's already gone a long way down that road by directly tying aberrations to the Far Realms, so, to me, it just seems like this is acknowledging what's already been rather clearly implied.

Besides, to me, since 5e magic all comes from The Weave, it just seems like a lot more flavorful than saying, "Hey, your character is extra special". It's just a bit too comic book for me. My mutant superhero Soul Knife adventures in quasi medieval land. I'd rather psionics gained a lot more of a "knowledge that man should not have" flavor than, "Hey, your mutant genes lets you do superhuman stuff".

I guess, to me, giving psionics a Lovecraft spin just oozes a lot more flavor than fantasy X-men.

I am pretty sure it is mostly like a rich family whose ancestors gained the wealth by being gangsters: it is better to pretend you were always respectable. Let's forget that pesky Lovecraft and pretend we are "honoring" some other cultures by Westernsplaining how their magic is supposed to work.

Also, previous editions tended to build classes around mechanics with fluff casually added on. As editions changed, developers tended to notice that the fluff was much more interesting than the mechanics and turned the classes towards the fluff (see warlock and sorcerer for examples). Some people don't like that (and to be fair, D&D has gone the "yesterday it was okay to be fighter who was a pirate, but today, pirate is its own class" route many, many times, which although no edition has ever said "you can't call your fighter a pirate even if there is a pirate class" or anything even vaguely similar, some people hold that view).

 

[Savage Wombat]

I don't like the Far Realm connection for psionics because 5e has already established that as being warlockry. It's similar to the question of whether demon-worshippers get warlock or cleric powers.

This is, of course, something the individual DM can happily tailor - but we are talking about the official game-world canon.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

I don't like the Far Realm connection for psionics because 5e has already established that as being warlockry. It's similar to the question of whether demon-worshippers get warlock or cleric powers.

This is, of course, something the individual DM can happily tailor - but we are talking about the official game-world canon.

You mean like how the chaos sorcerer could have gotten power from the Far Realm.......So if two classes could get power from the Far Realm in the PHB (and how much more "official game-world canon" can you get? Very interesting that the Chaos sorcerer's fluff has parallels to the warlock's patrons), why can't a third one (or more) in the BBoC?

Look at how many classes get power from the Feywild: chaos sorcerers, archfey patron warlocks, glamour bards, dream druids, and horizon walker rangers. One can even make the case that ancient paladins fit that too.

It looks like plane exclusivity is a dying concept (as much as it ever truly existed).

 

[Yaarel]

That would carry more weight if the sorcerer's origins didn't involve dragons, fey, demons, and far realmers. It would be completely compatible with the sorcerer if the mystic came about because far realmers or little green men experimented on someone and a couple of generations later some of their kids had psychic powers. Origin and where the juice is coming from don't need to be the same.

I imagine the idea is, for the Sorcerer the "blood" of their own bodies is the "internal source" of their magic. Whence fey, draconic, fiendish bloodlines?

 

[Yaarel]

The quirk/taboo system is ok. It is strictly for personality, for roleplay, without mechanical implications, and is explicitly ok to opt-out of, for players who feel it is less helpful. It encourages players to make up two of their own quirks.

The specific examples dont resonate with me.

But I can see certain mystics wanting to focus on a "crystal" − as one of their quirks − for some of their scrying powers. If need be, they can scry without the crystal, but all things being equal, they are comfortable focusing on the lustrousness of crystal as a meditation technique.

I can imagine a Brute Mystic caterwalling "Bruce Lee noises" before making an attack, as a quirk for concentration.

An other Mystic might want to say a blessing expressing gratitude for the opportunity to manifest a mental ideal into a physical reality, whenever performing a psionic discipline. The Mystic can do the discipline without the blessing, but wants to put the gratitude into words.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I can imagine a Brute Mystic caterwalling "Bruce Lee noises" before making an attack, as a quirk for concentration.

Or a mantra, like "IamonewiththeForce; the Force is With Me; IamonewiththeForce..."

 

[Yaarel]

A "Kinete" is the name for a person that can perform Telekinesis.

Having looked into the linguistics, the way the Greek language via Latin becomes English, I propose:

"Telekinete" [tɛ.lɛ.'kɪ.nit], or
"Kinete" ['kɪ.nit], for short.

The relationship of

Kinete to Kinetic
[Greek κινητής to κινητικός]

etymologically parallels the relationships of

Athlete to Athletic
[Greek ἀθλητής to ἀθλητικός],

Synthete to Synthetic,
Esthete to Esthetic,

and so on.

 

[Yaarel]

The Mystic needs to have the best version of Telekinesis in the game.

I feel the "Mystic Hand" talent (maybe just call it "Telekinesis", or "Force", "Mind Reach", "Mystic Grasp") needs to be better at Telekinesis than the "Mage Hand" cantrip, and continue to improve while leveling, similar to the way damage cantrips improve while leveling, at levels 5, 11, and 17.

I am satisfied that this Mystic class already has the best version of Telepathy in the game, and I agree that Telepathy is a feature that all Mystics exhibit.