CleverNickName
Limit Break Dancing
There's well over a hundred and twenty different classes and subclasses in the 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons game, and we're on a mission to determine which one is the Survivor! And this time around, we are comparing all of the Mystic subclasses. The Survivor of this round will advance to the final round, where it will face off against the champions of all other character classes. (And it will very likely be the only Unearthed Arcana champion, if the current trends hold.)
The year was 2017.
D&D Fans: We demand psionics in 5th Edition!
Wizards of the Coast: Here you go, give this a try.
D&D Fans: (not even looking) No, not like that! Aren't you even listening to us?!
Okay, maybe that's an over-simplification, but Wizards of the Coast made an earnest attempt at giving us something we had been requesting for years (a psionic character class), and by most accounts it didn't go very well. A popular rumor at the time was the Mystic playtest somehow had both the fewest downloads and the highest number of survey responses, so obviously, people were hate-voting it without even looking at it. That old rumor probably wasn't completely true, you know how Reddit can be, but this much is true: WotC would never again try to test a Psion core class, and wouldn't do another Psionics playtest of any kind for more than 3 years.
Anyway. A half-decade later, we have yet to see a psionic core class in any published books, and it's doubtful we ever will. The closest we may ever get is the Mystic, from that one Unearthed Arcana of 2017. But chin up, psionics fans! The Mystic has a bit of a cult following on various Internet forums and subreddits, which is rare for UA playtest material...it might have been abandoned by the devs, but it still enjoys support on DriveThruRPG, DM's Guild, and elsewhere. And for our immediate purposes: The Mystic is a core class, and it was written and released by Wizards of the Coast...so it enters the ring!
SURVIVOR: 5E CHARACTER CLASSES
Round VIII: The Mystic
This week, we are going to examine the six subclass options for the Mystic class, released in Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017. It was one of the crunchiest playtests ever, with a whole new core class and six separate subclasses, and dozens of newspells powers. But if that unreliable Internet rumor is true, most people haven't read it...so I'll put a link below so you can check it out.
The winner of this contest will advance to the Final Round, where it will challenge all other champions.
The Hall of Heroes
The Rules and Stuff
The Most Important Bits
Three important points that you must read before voting--
MYSTIC SUBCLASSES
===========================================
Order of the Avatar (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
Order of the Awakened (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
Order of the Immortal (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
Order of the Nomad (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
Order of the Soul Knife (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
Order of the Wu Jen (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
The year was 2017.
D&D Fans: We demand psionics in 5th Edition!
Wizards of the Coast: Here you go, give this a try.
D&D Fans: (not even looking) No, not like that! Aren't you even listening to us?!
Okay, maybe that's an over-simplification, but Wizards of the Coast made an earnest attempt at giving us something we had been requesting for years (a psionic character class), and by most accounts it didn't go very well. A popular rumor at the time was the Mystic playtest somehow had both the fewest downloads and the highest number of survey responses, so obviously, people were hate-voting it without even looking at it. That old rumor probably wasn't completely true, you know how Reddit can be, but this much is true: WotC would never again try to test a Psion core class, and wouldn't do another Psionics playtest of any kind for more than 3 years.
Anyway. A half-decade later, we have yet to see a psionic core class in any published books, and it's doubtful we ever will. The closest we may ever get is the Mystic, from that one Unearthed Arcana of 2017. But chin up, psionics fans! The Mystic has a bit of a cult following on various Internet forums and subreddits, which is rare for UA playtest material...it might have been abandoned by the devs, but it still enjoys support on DriveThruRPG, DM's Guild, and elsewhere. And for our immediate purposes: The Mystic is a core class, and it was written and released by Wizards of the Coast...so it enters the ring!
SURVIVOR: 5E CHARACTER CLASSES
Round VIII: The Mystic
This week, we are going to examine the six subclass options for the Mystic class, released in Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017. It was one of the crunchiest playtests ever, with a whole new core class and six separate subclasses, and dozens of new
The winner of this contest will advance to the Final Round, where it will challenge all other champions.
The Hall of Heroes
Round I, Artificers: Battle Smith
Round II, Barbarians: Totem Warrior
Round III, Bards: College of Lore
Round IV, Clerics: Tempest Domain
Round V, Druids: Circle of the Shepherd
Round VI, Fighters: Battle Master
Round VII, Monks: Way of the Kensai
Round II, Barbarians: Totem Warrior
Round III, Bards: College of Lore
Round IV, Clerics: Tempest Domain
Round V, Druids: Circle of the Shepherd
Round VI, Fighters: Battle Master
Round VII, Monks: Way of the Kensai
The Rules and Stuff
- In this round, only the Mystic subclasses are presented.
- Only the subclasses written by Wizards of the Coast qualify. No third-party entries! Which is probably for the best, because 99% of all psionic subclasses are 3PP and we'd be here for months.
- Each entry starts with 20 points.
- Every day, you vote for one subclass that you like, which gains 1 point. And then you vote for a different subclass, which loses 2 points. It is intentional that a negative vote is worth more than a positive vote - first, because it takes something extra to whittle these guys down to size. Second, because.
- Mark your upvotes in green, and downvotes in red. Or just show them in bold text and use "+1" and "-2" to mark them, if colored text is too difficult on your browsing device.
- It's easier if you just copy and paste the previous poster’s vote and change the numbers; the Quote function isn't the best for this.
- You may vote only once per day in each category. This is an honor system, and we are all honorable gamers; please do not abuse it. If this means you vote once at night one day, and once the next morning - that's fine, but don't vote again until the following day. Rule of thumb: if your most recent vote post says "yesterday" in the time stamp, you can vote again.
- This is just another Internet popularity contest and you do not have to explain an upvote or downvote, but feel free to--explanations are where the fun is! And the more outlandish, petty, or nitpicky your reasons for voting, the better! But don't attack other posters, that's something a jerk would do. And you're not a jerk.
- When downvotes reach 0 the subclass is removed from the list.
- Finally, if an entry has one point left, then you have to make the choice to use all of your downvotes to eliminate it; there is no vote splitting. In addition, you can't upvote and downvote the same entry (no "see" votes). And you have to use BOTH YOUR UPVOTE AND DOWNVOTE if you vote.
The Most Important Bits
Three important points that you must read before voting--
- This is a popularity contest, and it's meant to be fun. You can cast your votes for whatever reason you want; spite, malice, Unearthed Arcana bias, presence or absence of a silent P, strategic voting, the voices in your head, whatever...all reasons are perfectly acceptable. But this is for enjoyment only. If you experience anger, hostility, or other evidence of Not Having Fun, you are doing it wrong.
- This week (and the next few weeks to come) will feature a list of character subclasses from the Player's Handbook, the Dungeon Master's Guide, Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, Unearthed Arcana, The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, and other places. Only the subclasses written and published by Wizards of the Coast are included.
- As always, the list is the list. If you have a complaint about the list, please direct it to //dev/null.
MYSTIC SUBCLASSES
===========================================
Order of the Avatar (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
Order of the Awakened (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
Order of the Immortal (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
Order of the Nomad (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
Order of the Soul Knife (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
Order of the Wu Jen (Unearthed Arcana, "The Mystic Class," 2017)
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