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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[ppaladin123]

I dislike what they did to the Immortal mystic. Going from a heavily armored pseudo paladin with martial weapons to a pseudo barbarian with nothing but simple weapons like every other subclass just feels wrong. Probably gonna have to remake mine as a fighter or paladin 1/immortal 19. Pretty good otherwise though just skimming it. Wu Jen as a mystic subclass feels right.
EDIT: Also, why is there a choice between leather armor and studded leather armor in starting equipment? Is there some edge case I'm not thinking of where anybody would ever pick plain leather over studded?

I don't really understand what role it is supposed to fill. I suppose you could use disciplines/discipline foci to pump up your armor a bit and make some sort of "defender" with the right disciplines. But I think you could do that with the Avatar too.

 

[Lanliss]

One of the warlord fans checking in. That's very close to a warlord I'd play. I need to do it up, and I'm missing the joy of charging into melee combat with some effectiveness, but I can see it working. Soul knife and mantle of commander works. Order of the avatar works. I can flavor the psionic away a bit if I stay out of soul blade.

The only issue I see is with the "path of your choice"/"You choose the targets" stuff, basically making them your remote-controlled toys. See a lot of potential arguments over that.

 

[dalisprime]

2) the ability to change your Psionic Focus whenever you want is just way too much, and in v3 it looks even worse as the options are more numerous - for a bonus action, which not all PC's will have much need of, you can cherry-pick from all sort of cool stuff that no other class can get, let alone 'at will'. My own PC took Mind Vault and could abuse it to basically be proficient in whatever skill or tool the group needs, all the time, which is silly as it invalidates the point of being in a group where you need a variety of characters to form a rounded whole, not just one PC who can do anything and everything. In version 3, "Nomadic Mind" is an amended version of this power, and it's still got the same problem. At a minimum, you should only be able to change your psionic focus during a short rest - you can still be flexible, but need to plan ahead.

At a guess the switchable foci replace other classes' abilities to regain resources. Also, with how limited the 'cantrips' are (as in number known not actual power) the class needs to have something to go on.

That said - a 5 psi point Revivify with no material component cost will make clerics and paladins cry foul.

 

[Lanliss]

All together, as a modest novice, I like this UA a lot. I will be using this in my world, though Mystic/Psionic will be all Chaos powered. It really fits my world almost perfectly, so I am happy with it. I would love to see balance discussions, so that I can make it the best it can be. After a skim, it does not look too unbalanced, and only has a couple of things I would change (like that pseudo-warlord stuff being all about forcing your fellow PCs to do stuff YOU want.)

 

[mellored]

Why is psionic restoration not an avatar discipline?

They get Bonus HP when healing, and there's' 1 healing discipline...

 

[AntlerDruid]

Wu Jen is psionic now...no...I prefer it to be the Eastern Wizard
Would Rather have a Psionic monk Order

Loving The Nomadic Step discipline! reminds me of the 2E Dark Sun book The Will & The Way nomad powers - loved that book!

 

[mellored]

Victory before battle (precog)
+ overwhelming assault (command)
+ 5 assassins....
= 100d6+25 damage

 

[Dausuul]

Wu jen is freakin' awesome. Haven't looked too much into the others yet.

Overall, I like where they're headed with this. Some of the rules are kinda rough (psionic mastery, lookin' at you), and a number of things seem excessively fiddly and in need of polishing, but I like the way they're going at it.

 

[Hussar]

For the very first time in D&D, I'm looking at psionics that I would actually like to play. Nicely done.

 

[Sunsword]

Does anyone else feel it's odd that Mystical Recovery let's you use a bonus action to heal the amount of Psi Points you just spent?

Additionally, would it apply to Consumptive Power? It says the damage cannot be reduced, but doesn't say anything about being healed (though I realize your Max HP is reduced, as well).