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.

 

[pukunui]

The 3.5e Expanded Psionics Handbook did that. It had Deja Vu on page 91, and then when you turned to page 92 there it was again.

I've got déjà vu now.

 

[Shardstone]

I came around to the Psion being a spellcaster because D&D has 500 bespoke mechanical effects locked behind spells. A class that more directly effects the nature of those spells in unique ways as compared to the Sorcerer is cool to me. Yes, we could make it a non-spellcaster, but the amount of effects covered in level 1-5 spells means that the Psion gets too experimental for WotC OR becomes very repetitive.

I also like the narrative aesthetics of some of these subclass features. Expanding your Confusion spell from a single target to a sphere is a cool idea. The fact that you always have Confusion as its your prepared spell, and then having a way to use it in a novel style, is really cool and reminds me of the latest progressions in Shounen Manga magic systems. In the latest cohort of series, your magical power's limits are based on how you imagine it. As your understanding and imagination of the power changes, you develop either new powers or new ways to use your old ones. The Psion captures this better than the Sorcerer, who is more about flavoring any of their spells to their theme, while the Psion has signature spells that it can warp and stretch.

I do think they need to go in a little harder on this mechanical idea. I don't want metamagics, but I'd like the features that alter spells give another alteration as a minimum that you can choose between. Maybe you can turn Confusion into either a Sphere OR you can alter the odds on the target losing their turn to be more in your favor OR you can turn it into an attack roll that, if it hits, guarantees the target loses their next turn, etc etc.

Regardless, even if this version went to print, I would be happy. It's a fundamentally good class, if a little safe, and has a fun narrative bent to it. I think the class also serves almost every D&D setting and really makes the game feel more like "D&D" to me, which I know is purely subjective.

 

[Yaarel]

In the UA Psion, they did a 'weird mechanic', Psionic Energy Dice, in a way that seems fine, at least tolerable.

I think the designers might of threaded the needle here.

 

[pukunui]

In the UA Psion, they did a 'weird mechanic', Psionic Energy Dice, in a way that seems fine, at least tolerable.

I think the designers might of threaded the needle here.

Psionic Energy Dice are a pre-existing mechanic, though. (See the Soulknife and Psi Warrior in the 2024 PHB.)

 

[Yaarel]

Psionic Energy Dice are a pre-existing mechanic, though. (See the Soulknife and Psi Warrior in the 2024 PHB.)

I guess so.

The psi dice somehow feel different on a caster class, rather than a martial class.

 

[Maxperson]

Because if a suspected criminal cannot be detained safely short of an anti magic field, you cannot arrest them and that only leaves killing or inhumane methods (keeping them in an induced coma) as the only way you can be sure they won't escape and continue to break the law.

If it's a caster, don't take chances. Kill on sight.

Just put a blind fold on. Or knock them out. Or keep them drugged. Or...

You aren't think through all of the possibilities. Especially since psions are probably very rare to the point of being almost unheard of, so why would they shoot anyone on sight?

 

[Scribe]

"All Magic the Gathering Mechanics are Kicker."

All these 'extra dice' are essentially the same thing.

 

[Parmandur]

I guess so.

The psi dice somehow feel different on a caster class, rather than a martial class.

Yup, they feel different, but they are largely the same: the internet interactions are both what grounds them in relation to the other options, but also males this Class distinct.

 

[Yaarel]

Yup, they feel different, but they are largely the same: the internet interactions are both what grounds them in relation to the other options, but also males this Class distinct.

I think why I am ok with it is.

The UA Psion lets the spellcasting design space be that, and leaves it alone. It is a full caster. The design doesnt pretend otherwise, nor does it try to morph it into something ungainly and incompatible with the rest of D&D.

But then the Psionic Energy Dice stick to the design space of the rest of class features and subclass features that are unique to the Psion, and plays around with this.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Also, another thing that came up; the "crystalline entity" being summoned by the summon astral entity spell makes me think we may see Shardminds as a race/species in whatever splatbook the psion also appears in.

How did I miss that?

The shard swarm ability is straight from the shardmind. Even if the race doesn't come back, I'm glad they live on in one form or another.