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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[Yaarel]

With balance in mind, here is a proposal for Psionic Mastery.


PSIONIC MASTERY
Level 11: You gain 9 special ‘mastery’ points, that are in a pool that is separate from the main pool of normal points.

Each discipline includes master level powers, that cost 9 points, 10 points, 11 points, or 13 points. Only mastery points can be used to manifest master powers. You cannot use normal points to master them.

If you use mastery points to manifest powers whose durations are simultaneous with each other, you can concentrate on all of them.

You can spend normal points to replenish your mastery points, but each time you do so, the mastery point total reduces by 1 point. For instance, you use your 9 mastery points to manifest a 9-point master power. When you replenish your mastery points you can only do so up to 8 mastery points total. Later you replenish your mastery points, but only up to 7 mastery points total. And so on. At each long rest, your mastery points return to your original total.

Level 13: Your mastery point total increases to 10. You can use them to manifest a 10 point power.
Level 15: Your mastery point total increases to 11. You can use them to manifest an 11 point power.
Level 17: Your mastery point total increases to 13. You can use them to manifest a 13 point power.




Something like that. This prevents spamming of 9th-level abilities. There are other creative ways to juggle the numbers − and maybe simpler − but these are the numbers in play for a full caster.

This is what a fullcaster progression looks like. Basically, they must be able to access the higher level spells for more impacting effects, at the appropriate levels. At the same time, they generally cast their highest level spell once.

[FONT=Courier New]Wizard    Spell Level                   (Total points)
Level     6th   7th   8th   9th

11        1                              9 points
13        1     1                        19 points (9+10)
15        1     1     1                  30 points (9+10+11)
17        1     1     1     1            43 points (9+10+11+13)
19        2     1     1     1            ...
[/FONT]

Basically, the full caster needs a 9th level spell slot at level 17. (It seems to me, the extra 6th level spell slot gained at level 19 is less significant in the context of the higher level spells, so less important for balance, and some other feature could easily substitute it. So we are focusing on what the fullcaster can do at level 17.)

 

[Yaarel]

Here is an attempt to simplify Psionic Mastery. The basic idea is, you get one slot to manifest your highest mastery power, once per long rest. Additionally, you get a second slot to manifest a less-than-highest mastery power, once per short rest. This allows lesser mastery powers several times a day, depending on short rests, but not too many at once.


PSIONIC MASTERY
Each discipline includes mastery powers. A mastery power is a power that costs 9 points or more to manifest. Only the Psionic Mastery feature can manifest a mastery power. You cannot use normal points to manifest one.

Level 11: You can manifest one 9-point mastery power after each long rest.
Level 13: The mastery power that you manifest after each long rest increases to 10 points.
Additionally, you can manifest one 9-point mastery power after each long or short rest.
Level 15: The mastery power that you manifest after each long rest increases to 11 points, and the one that you manifest after each long or short rest increases to 10 points.
Level 17: The mastery power that you manifest after each long rest increases to 13 points, and the one that you manifest after each long or short rest increases to 11 points.

Psionic Mastery comprises two slots that improve while leveling. One slot is per long rest. The other is per short rest.

 

[MoonSong]

Rational study with a keen and disciplined intellect is generally best way to dabble in anything

Not really. There are many disciplines that require a keen mind, but a lot that don't. Or even when it is counterproductive. Music, languages, drawing, painting, carving, even some religious and esoteric pursuits are more about other things than straight intelligence. Like drawing, hand-eye coordination and sensibility are key, while some intellectual analysis can help, it is at best a crutch and at worst prevents you from reaching realism, expression and fluidity.

.

Translation: not all sorcerers in core are scaly winged transhumans.

My point was that a minor fluffy element that was something between a suggestion and a shrug -some, not most or many, sorcerers claim or are claimed to have dragon blood. Out of them there are only a few for which that might be true, and even then it cannot be proven or disproven- crept up into becoming a major part of the class in the collective consciousness and back into the game. Anybody with working eyes can confirm that a dragon sorcerer indeed is descended from dragons, and it is the most accessible sorcerer variant since the other phb option is contentious, unreliable and potentially disruptive. I don't like the idea of that happening with psionics and their quirks. Elements like that risk overshadowing the class and become everything they are known for. Exactly like the Wu Jen and their taboos. Do you really want that for all of psionics? That the mystic vecomes known as " those smelly hobos with neon hair and imaginaty friends"?

It fits well for a Dragonlance style sorcerer. They were more analytical and reasoned in their approach to sorcery, researching and studying its power. They weren't like the 3e sorcerers and their powers were based on the reason code. If I ever played Dragonlance in 3e, I would have made sorcerers main stat intelligence.

High sorcery was a prestige class.

 

[cbwjm]

High sorcery was a prestige class.

High sorcery refers to wizardry, specifically the magic of the wizards who draw power from the moons if magic. It does not refer to sorcerers in Dragonlance who came about in the age of mortals when the gods were gone. These sorcerers tapped into wild magic and studied and categorised it, after all, many of them used to be wizards of high sorcery who were learning how to use this form of magic.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Psionic Mastery is substandard. The current Mystic cannot access 11 point powers. Instead what it does is spam 7 point powers and lower.

Despite being a fullcaster upto level 9, the Mystic class shuts down at level 10. From that level up, it is gimped, for no reason.

Does it need 11 point powers though?

Let’s take the elemental masteries. Grab force and fire, pop Psionic Mastery (with the assumption it is a single action to create the points, and activate all powers that use those points) summon a fire elemental and a use force grasp to hold the creature in place for the elemental to attack and sit on, then your last point could be used to deal a 1d6 of damage with crush or some other 1 point ability. Then bonus action to gain 11 hp.

That’s a pretty powerful single turn. You have 3 more uses of that set up or something similar per day. And I am assured there are better combos than that out there, that was just what I scrolled and found in a few moments.

Do we need an 11 point power when you have options like that? I’ve often been told breaking the action economy is the single most powerful thing a class could do, and this shatters that and the concentration limit (if we are understanding it correctly)

I agree it is odd that they don’t really gain a lot of stuff past level 10 or 11. But, fighter is the same way. They don’t gain new abilities after 9 in the main class, just more of the same.

 

[Yaarel]

Does it need 11 point powers though?

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.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Not really. There are many disciplines that require a keen mind, but a lot that don't. Or even when it is counterproductive. Music, languages, drawing, painting, carving, even some religious and esoteric pursuits are more about other things than straight intelligence. Like drawing, hand-eye coordination and sensibility are key, while some intellectual analysis can help, it is at best a crutch and at worst prevents you from reaching realism, expression and fluidity.

A "crutch"? That's not simply mistaken, it's downright offensive to all the hard work that artists put into mastering their craft. The pages and pages of notebook Leonardo da Vinci filled with studies of human anatomy, botany, engineering, and everything else under the sun sure as hell didn't "prevent him from reaching realism, expression, and fluidity". Those notebooks, and the thousands of hours of intellectual effort they represent, are what separate the creator of Mona Lisa from the average dime-a-dozen-on-DeviantArt scribbler who thinks he doesn't need lessons or practice because he's got feelings.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

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.

Can you illustrate why you feel access to 9-point powers and higher is necessary? And while doing so, could you elaborate upon what a 9-point or higher power should look like in your opinion?

I ask because a number of the features of psionic disciplines seem more potent to me than their equivalent spell level, if assuming a 1:1 ratio of potency between psi points and the optional spell point rules, would be. I assumed that slight increase of potency was intentional as a means to create a balance between point-based-psionics and slot-based-spell-casting, while avoiding arbitrary and easy to forget limiters like "but you can only use a power that costs 9 points once per day". So it seems, without any explanation given, that you are saying "It is broken" because it doesn't follow the pattern you want/expect, rather than because there is actually something that doesn't work while playing the class as-is.

 

[TwoSix]

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.

Palpably underpowered? Sorcerers are a tier 2 class in 3e. I mean, they aren't as good as wizards or clerics, but very little is.

 

[Chaosmancer]

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.

I'm not familiar with 3.x sorcerer in actual play, but I think I'm not phrasing my point terribly well.

If Psionic Mastery works the way I think it does, Mystics get access to their best abilities faster than any other full caster in the game. And those combos are incredibly powerful.

Also, getting higher level powers that are only accessible with those mastery points does seem to create a few more layers of complexity. Would every power then need an 9 pp, 11 pp, and 13 pp ability added? Some of them don't even have 7 pp abilities. This could potentially end up unbalancing the disciplines more than they might already be.

And I'm not convinced access to 9th level equivalent abilities is absolutely necessary


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