D&D Debuts Playtest for Psion Class

Wizards of the Coast is playtesting the Psion class for Dungeons & Dragons. Today, Wizards of the Coast provided a new Unearthed Arcana for the Psion, a new class for the current revised 5th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. The playtest includes base class rules plus four subclasses - the body-shifting Metamorph, the reality warping Psi Warper, the offensive-minded Psykinetic, and the Telepath.

The core mechanic of the Psion involves use of Psion Energy die. Players have a pool of energy dice that replenishes after a Long Rest, with the number and size of the dice determined by the Psion's level. These psion energy dice can either be rolled to increase results of various checks/saving throws or spent to fuel various Psion abilities.

While the Psion and psionics have a long tradition in D&D, they've only received a handful of subclasses in 5th Edition. If the Psion survives playtesting, it would mark the first time that Wizards of the Coast has added a new character class to D&D since the Artificer. Notably, the Psion and psionics are also heavily associated with Dark Sun, a post-apocalyptic campaign setting that many considered to be off the table for Fifth Edition due to the need to update parts of the setting to bring it current with modern sensibilities. However, the introduction of Wild talent feats (which replaces some Origin feats tied to backgrounds with psion-themed Feats) in the UA seems to suggest that Dark Sun is back on the table.

 

[dave2008]

Except Psionics is also Magic. They use the word magic over and over and over and over again.

The Weave is also required to cast Cleric and Druid Spells, Paladin Spells, Warlock Spells.

So "Defiling" can't have any kind of effect on the Weave for Arcane Spellcasters (Wizards, Warlocks, Bards, Sorcerers) that it doesn't also have on every -other- kind of spellcaster.

I don't think everything being magic needs to be a stumbling block, that is true with or without the Weave. I am sure there are more creative ways to handle it, but you could just say how psions access magic (the Weave or whatever you want to call it) doesn't defile, but how the arcane casters of Athas accessed magic did defile. It is not magic itself, but how use or manifest the magic that is defiling or not. Seems simple and compatible to me.

 

[Steampunkette]

I guess I just don't see the need to address it. Its absence from 2024 books (and likely all non-setting books moving forward) does address the issue as far as I am concerned. I mean my games simple don't hang on every word and interpretation from WotC and I can't imagine many really do.

Oh, to be clear: Screw that section of text with a backhoe.

I don't actually hold that BS in any of my games regardless of what setting I'm using. It's irrelevant and ridiculous, to me, to try and declare a defacto structure that applies to all campaign settings in the multiverse.

However.

From a -design- standpoint, they may still be going off that basis. They certainly were before D&D24 dropped, at least, since it was the law of the multiverse at the time. It may still be, who knows for sure but the designers in the WotC Office?

I don't think everything being magic needs to be a stumbling block, that is true with or without the Weave. I am sure there are more creative ways to handle it, but you could just say how psions access magic (the Weave or whatever you want to call it) doesn't defile, but how the arcane casters of Athas accessed magic did defile. It is not magic itself, but how use or manifest the magic that is defiling or not. Seems simple and compatible to me.

Sure. Writing up a reason for it to work or not work or whatever is simple for us. We're not a multimillion dollar corporation trying to strike a balance between the past Athas and a new version. None of us is deeply invested in that discussion

But yeah. Writing around that particular thing might put a kink in the ink is the only point I had in bringing it up. If there's still, by and large, an understanding at WotC that the Weave is required for all magic (and thus how Antimagic Field and other effects function interchangeably across different magic types) then there might be some friction in the office about the "Right Way" to handle Dark Sun.

Personally I'm of the opinion that Magic, like Lovecraftian Elder Things and Zombies, is better if you don't bother to try to explain how it works. It just -does-. End of problem.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

You know... at this point I think with everyone getting so bent out of shape about all of this junk related to the Psion and psionics, I think it's best that we all vote 'Red' on the upcoming survey and kill psionics once again. Obviously people can't handle having it in the game.

This is absolutely what will happen. People are all so mad that it doesn't match their personal ideal of a psion, that they will all vote red. Which will kill the psion class this edition too.

And this won't just be a psion thing. The same will happen for any new class which appears in UA.

We've had over 10 years of theorycrafting the 'perfect' version of every class which isn't in 5e. Nothing which WotC can release can compete with what people have hyped up in their own mind.

 

[dave2008]

Personally I'm of the opinion that Magic, like Lovecraftian Elder Things and Zombies, is better if you don't bother to try to explain how it works. It just -does-. End of problem.

That seems to be the 5e24 approach as well!

 

[Micah Sweet]

We've had over 10 years of theorycrafting the 'perfect' version of every class which isn't in 5e. Nothing which WotC can release can compete with what people have hyped up in their own mind.

Or already created and published.

 

[Scribe]

Or already created and published.

Nah, I highly doubt 'perfect' has been done.

Perfect for a given person? Maybe, but perfect for all? Nope.