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.

 

[Von Ether]

Indeed. I had one GM who said if he accepted Warforged in his game, he would have to accept all of the rest of Eberron's bits into his homemade world and he had no space for airships and lighting trains.

I didn't fathom his logic but figured it was a very convoluted way to say "no."

 

[Maxperson]

* = Primarily because I've seen plenty of good fantasy novels where they had powers that people colloquially or generally called "magic", but which operated on psionic principles. An easy example is Robin Hobb's Assassin series, where both The Skill and The Wit are psionics in the sense RPGs use the term, but are "magic" within the setting, which does have other forms of magic (albeit this doesn't really become clear until much later).

And the Deryni. I can't read those books and not think psionics.

 

[pukunui]

This would definitely be my guess over Darksun. It would give the Psion a place to fit in rather being jammed into a bigger source book. Although I do think a shorter book updating Kalashtar would be a good step in the right direction by updating smaller portions of settings rather than trying to update them whole cloth. 64-96 pages would be ideal. Or the smaller boxed sets from 2E Al-Qadim would also be a good format. IMO the Spelljammer and Planescape adaptations for 5E we're pretty terrible, I'd rather them leave Darksun alone. I'm sure curiosity will get the best of me, and I'll pick up the FR books in Nov, but I'm not very optimistic.

While it would make sense to put the Kalashtar in a Sarlona / psionics book, I believe they are one of the 5 species being updated in Forge of the Artificer (along with the Warforged, Shifter, Changeling, and Khoravar [Half-Elf]).

 

[DEFCON 1]

If they are just another spellcasting class what's the point then?

The narrative and story of the class.

It's like asking why do we have bards, clerics, druids, sorcerers, and wizards when they are all full casters with the same exactly spell slot progression? They are all just magic-using spellcasters with the same game mechanics, so why have more than just one?

The answer of course is obvious... they all have different ways of gaining magic, using magic, and who they are as people and groups within the game world. Which is exactly why adding another full caster to the game is a perfectly acceptable option. Because a psion is a different type of person than a druid is. Or a wizard. Or a bard.

 

[Selas]

The narrative and story of the class.

It's like asking why do we have bards, clerics, druids, sorcerers, and wizards when they are all full casters with the same exactly spell slot progression? They are all just magic-using spellcasters with the same game mechanics, so why have more than just one?

The answer of course is obvious... they all have different ways of gaining magic, using magic, and who they are as people and groups within the game world. Which is exactly why adding another full caster to the game is a perfectly acceptable option. Because a psion is a different type of person than a druid is. Or a wizard. Or a bard.

THIS TBH!

 

[pukunui]

Weird that they still require Somatic components. My psion can cast spells naked in an area of silence, but needs to be able to wave their hands around to think their magic? Wonder why this choice was made...

More examples of people using somatic components while casting their psionic spells:

I'm sure you can find even more examples (including non-Star Wars ones) here: Pstandard Psychic Pstance - TV Tropes

 

[Parmandur]

Reading the paragraph introducing wild talents has me excited for what they may have in mind for matching backgrounds to go with those wild talents.

“Backgrounds representing their connection to wild talents will be included with these feats in a future book if they become official, …”

Yeah, very interested to see what 10 Backgrounds they have in mind for these...

 

[Micah Sweet]

The narrative and story of the class.

It's like asking why do we have bards, clerics, druids, sorcerers, and wizards when they are all full casters with the same exactly spell slot progression? They are all just magic-using spellcasters with the same game mechanics, so why have more than just one?

The answer of course is obvious... they all have different ways of gaining magic, using magic, and who they are as people and groups within the game world. Which is exactly why adding another full caster to the game is a perfectly acceptable option. Because a psion is a different type of person than a druid is. Or a wizard. Or a bard.

They also (mostly) cast different spells.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

More examples of people using somatic components while casting their psionic spells:

Need to add wild talents as an origin feat to the Moisture Farmer background.

 

[DEFCON 1]

The psion crowd should be happy they actually got a psionic system this go 'round that actually removed Verbal and Material components, as that had NEVER been offered as an option previously I do not believe. Psionics always included components because WotC didn't want to give the class an "advantage" over wizards.

But I think WotC has finally determined (and hopefully all psion fans have too)... that ultimately spell components DO NOT MATTER. Almost no one uses them anyway, so it doesn't matter if the book says psions use them or don't use them. People are going to do what they do regardless of what is printed in the book. So if you are an 'anti-component' person for psionics... just be thankful you got two of the three removed, and deal with the fact your teleknetic has to put his finger to his temple to lift things (if you even bother with that stuff to begin with).