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.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

The only plus to WotC doing a Dark Sun book would be the DM's Guild material that would follow. However, as WotC has previously stated, the setting is "far too problematic" for them to even glance at.

Guess who doesn't work at WotC anymore?

Any of the people who said stuff like that!

Kyle Brink, who is the individual who called Dark Sun "problematic" (correctly, it is, but it doesn't have to be) left pretty soon after we even found he existed!

Crawford and Perkins didn't call it problematic, though one of them did make some kind of allusion that it was too difficult, and frankly it seems like they or people under them tried to murder DS in Spelljammer, before someone decided it was time to backpedal desperately and we got Doomspace instead.

So, no, "WotC" have never stated anything of the sort. Kyle Brink, who was gone shortly after the OGL 2.0 debacle did.

 

[Sulicius]

I was ready to dislike this UA, but I think I really like it. I can't say I have a campaign where I want the players to have access to such psionic options yet, but I'm feeling slightly inspired.

There might be some tweaks and changes, but I feel pretty confident about what they made here.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean, there is no shame in liking a different version more (even if it's your own, that's happened twice to me with reanimator artificer and dance bard). I still want feedback based on what was presented. I just worry about people looking at WotCs and saying "this isn't what I want in psionics, so red bomb away" rather than measuring it as a new caster class with a psionic theme. WotC isn't making a whole new system for psionics, so this is probably the best mechanical design space it's going to get. I just hope people review it in that field of vision vs comparing it to the Mystic or 3pp systems.

If you don't like it though, why would you say you do? Wouldn't it make more sense just to not review it?

 

[Nightfly]

There's some pretty cool stuff in here, although I'm a little disappointed that the new class is pretty much just sorcerer meets warlock. That's especially a problem because IMHO sorcerers aren't different enough from wizards in 5e to begin with (although the 2024 rules improved this, thankfully). I've always felt that 5e sorcerer could almost be a subclass of wizard -- likewise, this psion could almost be just a subclass of sorcerer. I'm not married to the power point structure per se, but it would be good to see new class mechanics in a new class.

Still, there's fun material here, for sure. I'm cautiously optimistic.

 

[Mournblade94]

I feel this increases the chances of Dark Sun rather significantly?

With Perkins Leaving I'm not sure the institutional knowledge is there to do Darksun well.

They should work on a new setting because the institutional knowledge has left D&D. Greyhawk was done reasonably well in the DMG but there were people that knew it well working on it.

Fans would interpret Darksun better than anyone left on the D&D crew except maybe James Jacobs who worked with it a bit.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I've always felt that 5e sorcerer could almost be a subclass of wizard

I'd suggest the contrary would be even easier to implement these days. Wizards in 5E are basically just a special case of Sorcerer when their "deal" is that they have access to a broader variety of spells due to this distinctive "spellbook" that they carry around with them. So they could be a subclass who do that - and would probably actually feel more like Wizards in fantasy fiction than they do now!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I'd suggest the contrary would be even easier to implement these days. Wizards in 5E are basically just a special case of Sorcerer when their "deal" is that they have access to a broader variety of spells due to this distinctive "spellbook" that they carry around with them. So they could be a subclass who do that - and would probably actually feel more like Wizards in fantasy fiction than they do now!

And it would better represent the trope that the future wizard starts off not being able to fully control their magic until they get training/their subclass later on. Their first two levels are just spells they can cast just because, not because a master taught them.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Sticking swords in slavers is what good guys do.

The updated Dark Sun campaign setting should be: "John Brown gets isekai'd to Athas after Harper's Ferry, chaos ensues"

 

[maceochaid]

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In addition to the general aesthetics, there is supposed to be a difference in mechanics, where spellcasters can't carry weapons/shields and cast spells. It also helps that every once in awhile the DM does have the ability to tell a "imprisoned" story where characters are restrained/deprived of weapons.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The updated Dark Sun campaign setting should be: "John Brown gets isekai'd to Athas after Harper's Ferry, chaos ensues"

Call me crazy, but running around killing slavers while you level up so you can kill the evil wizard who's going to turn the region into a wasteland so that he can become a dragon feels like the ideal Dark Sun campaign and the opposite of problematic.