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]

Yes. A full caster needs access to 9-point powers and higher. The current Mystic only has access to 7-point powers and nothing higher. It is broken.

I dont know if you are familiar with the issues of the 3e Sorcerer class, but its lack of access to higher level spells, and only spamming lower level spells was a huge problem. It was palpably underpowered at the highest levels. And the fan base found it endlessly frustrating. The current Mystic seems much more underpowered than even the 3e Sorcerer was.

Eventually, 4e and 5e fixed the problem.

5e made both the Sorcerer and the Bard fullcasters with normal access to high level spells, in order to avoid the problem of previous editions.

At present, a difficulty of the Mystic is figuring out how to use the point system in a robustly balanced way. Whatever way works for the Mystic, will also be used to keep the Wizard class balanced, when it uses points to cast spells.

The solution is necessary for all fullcasters that use points. The Mystic is the design space to make this work well.

Why should we assume the mystic should be a full caster? There are half caster classes. If it was just going to be a wizard with another name, they could have made a wizard subclass.

 

[Aldarc]

Why should we assume the mystic should be a full caster? There are half caster classes. If it was just going to be a wizard with another name, they could have made a wizard subclass.

The assumption seems to stem from the status of the psion (i.e., the master of psionic powers) as a "full caster" in 3x. I don't particularly care either way, but suggesting that the mystic be a full-caster probably should not be equated as saying "a wizard with another name" any more than other full casters in 5e are a wizard with another name. But against Yaarel's argument, I would say that the difficulty arises from how the mechanics of the 5e Mystic class, as intended, must balance a variety of different past psionic archetypes within itself: e.g., ardent, soulknife, psychic warrior, etc. Not all of these were "full casters." Of course, there are examples of full-casters gish features as part of the subclass: e.g., valor bard, war/tempest/death cleric, bladelock, or even the bladesinger wizard. So it is not as if being "gish," at least in the case of the psychic warrior archetype, is incompatible with being a fullcaster in 5e.

 

[Waterbizkit]

On an unrelated question

Mastery of Force: Move allows you to pick up objects and drop them on people. Would you also allow the same style of attack if they shoved the object into the person directly?

I know a few players who would be more than ecstatic to do some Poltergeisting

So this UA is a big one and I'm still digesting it before I really form my opinions on it, but I figured this would be pretty quick to respond to.

Speaking for myself, I'd basically allow it to work, or at least narrate it, as objects being flung at enemies rather than being dropped on them depending on the specifics of the object and the area where combat is taking place. Recall that while the power specifies a maximum size and a maximum weight, the latter based on the number of points spent, the power at no point specifies a minimum for either. As written, and thus is my interpretation of course, there's nothing stopping the Mystic from dropping say... a dagger on the ground and then spending seven points to "drop" it on an enemy for 8d6 damage. And I'm okay with this. Others may have differing opinions of course.

Anyway, I like this UA for the most part. I like calling it a Mystic instead of a Psion. I like the overall lack of pseudo-science terminology. I like the removal of the Far Realm as a baked-in piece of fluff. And I didn't mind that stuff to begin with, especially the first two, but without it it's just as good.

I don't mind that Mystics have the extreme versatility that they do. I don't mind that none of them get extra attack. And I don't mind that they're essentially half-casters, I don't believe they need access to higher level powers.

There are a few things that need some clarification and rebalancing, but overall I like what I see. That's basically it in a nutshell since I don't have the time or inclination to get much more detailed than that.

 

[jgsugden]

Mystics do not need to duplicate the other spell progressions. I suggest people gather in groups of 6. One is DM and designs a one shot adventure for 15th level PCs. Then the rest make 15th level PCs: Fighter, cleric, wizard, rogue and mystic. Try it out and see how it runs. This is play test material after all.

The ability to run several concentration abilities at a time is a good replacement for a small number of high level abilities/spells. Even if, after testing, you conclude it is not as powerful, it is still unique, interesting and certainly in the right ballpark.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

Thinking about Psionic Mastery, one of the issues I saw is that many effects have their cost limited to 7 points. Another thing that mastery could have is some sort of "metamagic" like extra to apply disciplines, like more targets or greater area of effect.

 

[raleel]

It's probably been mentioned in here, but probably worth saying again - the mystic has several abilities which enable the use of reactions by one or more party members. If you have a party without a lot of reliable reactions, that's a pretty strong win. Very much a sea change in the action economy.

 

[Barolo]

Thinking about Psionic Mastery, one of the issues I saw is that many effects have their cost limited to 7 points. Another thing that mastery could have is some sort of "metamagic" like extra to apply disciplines, like more targets or greater area of effect.

To me, Psionic Mastery seems to be all about doing your own custom mental stunt. I does not need metamagic-like extras, as Psionic Mastery is already a mix of quicken and something else that allows for multiple concentration.

I really like that psionic powers were restricted to the equivalent of 5th level spells, as the greatest psionic powers of old were limited in effect to something similar to that. And it is refreshing to see a different path to achieve effects adequate for the higher levels of gameplay, with customizable packages of lower power effects. Moreover, I am not sure how is it relevant for Psionic Mastery that some psionic effects are limited to 7 points, when the mystic can simply activate multiple damaging powers at once and just focus fire, if all one really cares is do a lot of damage.

Anyhow, the mystic does not seem to me a very efficient damage dealer overall, which is something I like. Surely they can go nova for some impressive single target stunts, but they don't seem to actually perform better than other nova-builds already available, and to even reach this higher nova potential, it is just too many power points wasted, as the individual powers are quite underwhelming, cost-to-damage wise. The mystic will perform better throughout the adventuring day by going a little slower in pace, doing a lot of tactical stuff, locking down single powerful individuals, messing up with enemies minds, playing with positioning and battlefield control through telekinesis, all that fun stuff.

As a side note, the capacity to absorb damage from a immortal is really impressive. Also, their penchant for self-sufficiency is a nice touch. The fact that the are MAD seems to be on purpose, so to give the player interesting choices about focusing on offense, defense or a more balanced build.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

FYI. Don't expect much if you tweet the devs about the mystic: http://www.sageadvice.eu/2017/03/20...-not-addressing-mystic-queries-at-the-moment/.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I dont know if you are familiar with the issues of the 3e Sorcerer class, but its lack of access to higher level spells, and only spamming lower level spells was a huge problem.

The 3e Sorcerer got spell through 9th level, just 1 level later than the prepped caster. Are you maybe thinking of the 3e Bard that was full-caster-level, but only got up to, IIRC, 6th level spells?

Why should we assume the mystic should be a full caster? There are half caster classes. If it was just going to be a wizard with another name, they could have made a wizard subclass.

OT1H, it's not a caster, at all, OTOH, it's the only psionic class, so it should be fully-psionic, not half-psionic (which could be left to MCing until half- or 1/3rd- psionic sub-classes start popping up in other classes).

 

[Ben Hodgson]

Why should we assume the mystic should be a full caster? There are half caster classes. If it was just going to be a wizard with another name, they could have made a wizard subclass.

It is a full-caster (or full-psi-user or whatever) though. Certainly up to 9th level. It's throwing Detonations at the same time as wizards are throwing Fireballs. It tops out at 7-point power at 9th level, just when full casters are getting the equivalent 5th level spells.

It's not a ranger or a paladin topping out with 5th level spells at 17th level; it progresses just as fast as a full caster until it stops.

Clearly Psionic Mastery is meant to serve as a replacement to 6th-9th level spells, just as Mystic Arcanum does for Warlocks. Whether it's up to snuff or not I'd need to playtest it to find out, but it's clearly intended to.