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.

 

[mamba]

They used to call it the 'Oberoni Fallacy', when saying that if Rule Zero can fix a bad rule, then the bad rule doesnt need fixing.

we will first have to agree that it is a bad rule, so far it is mostly about personal taste

 

[Steampunkette]

We'll have to disagree. I can't see anything you've listed as a reason for WotC to avoid publishing Dark Sun. Avoiding climate change?

You can't see internal arguments about the design goals Dark Sun would require not aligning with the overall design goals of D&D24 causing problems?

You can't see the underlying socio-political commentary of the setting resulting in some hesitancy toward publication?

You can't see a lack of financial certainty in the broadest consumer base's desire for the product giving the board of directors pause on selling a product?

But "There's a lot of slavery" you -can- see as the one and only overriding problem with the setting regardless of it's ubiquity and direct allegorical writings within the Forgotten Realms towards the real, historical, slave trade?

... Okay. I can see how that would lead you to a different conclusion. And we're absolutely going to disagree on the matter.

 

[npick03]

I mean it's fine.

It's yet another spellcaster, for folks who want such things. More of Mind Mage than a psion.

This doesn't hit the fantasy for me. Jean Grey doesn't need ruby dust to make a force cage, and I've never seen Emma Frost prepare her spells.

 

[Dausuul]

As with everything I've seen out of 2024E, my response is a resounding "Meh."

It's playable, certainly. It's got some good ideas. But it feels cramped and overcomplicated. No willingness to take risks or challenge the game's assumptions; everything must be slotted into the existing systems, and then a layer of mostly meaningless mechanics piled on top to suggest novelty.

If you're granting at-will telekinesis, for example, it's got to work like Mage Hand. And, of course, it's gotta be a full caster. In fact, the whole class is not much more than a reskinned sorcerer. But instead of boring old sorcery points, now we have dice! You get to roll your sorcery points! Never mind that this just slows down the game and adds complexity.

Oh well. I'm not the target audience anyway, I've never been particularly excited about psionics in D&D. I do love me some Dark Sun, but I have no confidence in WotC's ability to do it justice today; it's better off being left to the community that cares about it.

 

[Maxperson]

Unfortunately, the Material component does crap up the Psion class, via the cursed 'gp cost' components. These 'cost' components are incredibly disruptive and frustrating for the psionic concept.

I don't mind them, but not as they are in the PHB. I'll probably end up changing them to some sort of focusing crystal that you need to keep on your person somewhere.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

There are better ways to know if someone is manifesting. There are 'mental waves' emanating from the caster. Conscious creatures can sense that. If the manifester is trying to conceal it, it is something like an Insight versus Insight check.

Where does it describe these “mental waves” in the rules?

In 5e, the target of any spell always knows what is happening, the spell and what it is doing. There is no ambiguity.

I see no mention of that in the rules either. And it’s not always the target who needs to know a spell is being cast in any case.

 

[SteveC]

No it can’t. If the lore is secret, the DM has no obligation to reveal it to a history check, even if they rolled a 30. History is about what your character can reasonably know. If the secret isn’t known to anyone, you can’t magically learn it through a skill check. Any DM allowing that is doing the skill a disservice.

I know this is sort of off topic, but the rules are silent on this. In your campaign, if you want lore that the players can learn, that's how you run it. I wonder how that's different from not having the lore in the first place.

The 5E/5.5E skill rules are ... sparsh, and I think that's a charitable way to describe them. If I'm running a game, and a player has made an investment in the History skill so they can make DC30 checks, I'm interested in rewarding them by telling them more about the world. Even secret things. It's a way for players to invest in the campaign by learning more about it.

But that's my game. I also ask the players who make a strong skill check to tell me what a piece of lore is in the world when they make a good roll, and I don't already have it described, so I want them to feel like they're part of the game. That's obviously not how a lot of people run the game.

Okay, back to psionics and sorry for the distraction.

 

[GarrettKP]

I don't mind them, but not as they are in the PHB. I'll probably end up changing them to some sort of focusing crystal that you need to keep on your person somewhere.

A majority of the Material components necessary for casting Psionic spells are just a jewel or pearl or dust from a jewel or something. So it’s not that hard to flavor them into focusing crystals of the same value anyway. It’s not like you’re turning the eye of a newt into a crystal thing, it’s just taking one jewel in place of another.

 

[Steampunkette]

What?

Whenever we have any kind of discourse, Max, I lay out a series of points generally based on history, facts, and at least a rough approximation of the understanding that humans don't always see eye to eye on things and may in fact argue various issues contentiously.

Then you nay say it.

Take a look at the FIRST LINE of your post in response to mine. Rather than acknowledge that I'm building up a series of points as the overall explanation as an aggregate of reasons, you present it as a single datapoint with no connection or context to anything else and literally just nay say it.

"I think you're overstating" as if it were the end-all be-all of the case, rather than just one aspect of a much larger and more complex problem.

If the climate change allegory were the only thing I was arguing was the single problem... yeah. That'd be overstating it. But when it's just one complication among many, it's not overstating anything. It's outlining one small part of something larger.

You then go through each line to try and dispute them one by one without any context of the others. Yes. The designers would need to design stuff. Stuff which specifically doesn't align with the rest of their historical design goals. Which causes friction and a potential problem with their "ONE D&D" brand concept where everything is as homogenous as possible.

It really makes it seem like you read my posts with the intent to respond, not with the intent to understand.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

In the tabletop, what is the difference between 2024 psion and sorcerer?

the somatic component could be an important detail when a psionic manifester is tied up. Maybe is a PC who has been catched by an enemy and trying to escape, or the PCs have catched an enemy with psionic powers and this is tied up for interrogation.

Other point is when players with a McGyver touch invent a different way to use a discipline. For example she falls to a pitfall and then she uses telekinesis for an effect like "feather fall" spell, or "metacreativity" could be used to create ectoplasm and this used like "grease" or "web" spell altough the original intention was an astral construct.

I could understand some players could save the power points to use the most powerful attacks against the final boss and that could break the power balance.

I loved the psionic tatoos like single-use magic item. I hope to see them again.

A new sourcebook about Dark Sun is possible, but I doubt it was more a couple of titles, like in 4e, and unlocking the DM Guild. My theory is a book will by crunch for players but designed to can be used in different (homemade) settings. Other sourcebook would be a chapter about the lore, mainly the city-states and the sorcerer-kings, and the rest about monsters and some PC species.

A 2024 Dark Sun is possible with only omitting but insinuating certain details, and with a little disclaimer in the first page explaining we shouldn't take lightly the suffering by people of flesh and blood from the real life, or something like this.

* If elementals don't need water or food, could genies(djinns, dao, efreeti and marids) to live beyond the region of Tyr?