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.

 

[Kurotowa]

The Metamorph is the sickest freaking thing I've seen this edition for OFFICIAL subclasses. Absolutely metal. I want that now.

The Metamorph certainly makes my gish senses tingle with interest. It's a different direction than Bladesinger; rather than try to boost the AC to melee levels, you've got options for Reach or a ranged weapon. And the innate weapons and cantrip Extra Attack should all work with True Strike, which I definitely noticed was on the spell list.

All in all, very distinct style and the variable weapon options make it more tactically interesting. My main reservation is the Soulknife dilemma, where using innate weapons locks you out of magic weapon benefits. But maybe whatever book this is for will have a new item for both the subclasses.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Reminder to everyone who wants a Psion to appear in a future D&D book...

DO NOT give '1's to any of the features, abilities or class write-ups when they give everyone the survey to fill out. This is not the time to let them know you do not like the particular method they are using for some psionic thing when it comes to the numbers. Even if you think 'psionic dice' or somesuch thing is a bad idea and you'd rather have something else (like psi points or whatever)... if you give '1's to everything you don't like... they will take that as you not liking psionics ON THE WHOLE and quite possibly will shut this entire thing down once more. They WON'T just 'iterate' on the process if this FIRST UA has like a 50% enjoyment rate... rather, they'll just KILL IT AGAIN.

Wait until at least the SECOND UA to begin voicing your opinions on the specific methodology of their various ways and means of psionics. Make sure WotC is comfortable knowing psionics OF ANY SORT is wanted FIRST and that they indeed are going to go ahead with it... THEN tell them the way they are doing it sucks.

Learn the lesson of the 'Template Wildshape' fans! They wanted templated wildshapes but crapped on its UA because they didn't like the specific templates WotC gave us. But rather than make WotC think "we should just iterate on the design"... WotC just CANCELLED the entire idea altogether.

LEARN FROM THIS!!!

Yeah honestly I'm going to be positive about this in feedback because WotC have shown for a long time how they implement a class in one edition isn't a strong precedent for how it works in another one.

 

[Shardstone]

The Wild Talents are SUPER sick. Those are GREAT ideas, LOVE that design.

 

[Staffan]

This seems about as good as can be expected within the constraints of 5e. It's no Expanded Psionics Handbook, but I very much doubt Wizards is going to give us a whole book just about psionics. For something that's likely to be a smallish part of another book, like the Artificer was in Eberron, it seems fine.

As to the actual content, I like that they've dialed back on the aberration stuff. It's in there, but it's an option and not a requirement the way it's been in some of their previous attempts.

 

[popuman]

Not into the Dark Sun setting (yeah! boo me I guess!)
But this? Yes, please!

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

FINALLY!!!!

EVERYONE WH OTOLD ME THAT WOTC SHOULDN'T DO A PSION, BE DEFEATED!

BE STRUCK DOWN BY THE MIGHT OF THE PSION FANS!

WE HATE EACH OTHER BUT THIS TIME WE SHALL BOND! WE SHALL COMBINE FORCES!!

THERE WILL BE AN OFFICIAL PSION AND YOU CANNOT STOP IT ANYMORE!!!!!​

(except via surveys)

We said that in 2017 with the mystic. Just because it's got a UA doesn't mean it'll be official.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

This seems about as good as can be expected within the constraints of 5e.

They could definitely do better.

They already did.

All the earlier "proper" Mearls-era Mystic Psion needed was the nerfing of certain specific abilities and maybe a bit of a rethink to make it more focused. Otherwise it was good to go, and well within 5E's bounds.

But I guess the issue is 5E is not a young, spritely system anymore, but a rather decrepit and stuck-in-its-ways one, and 2024 reinforced that more than it changed it. So I tend to think this is as good as we're likely to get now.

Agree strongly re: aberration stuff - it was always dumb as hell that mid-5E up until recently aggressively associated that with psionics, basically solely on the grounds that Illithids and Aboleths had psionics, which is pretty silly stuff imho. Psionics is, if anything, less otherworldly than D&D-style magic.

 

[Steampunkette]

... so it's a sorcerer with an "Energy Die" rather than Sorcery Points, and with 'Disciplines' like 'Devilish Tongue' they get to use their energy dice like Bardic Inspiration.

I'll stick to the Esper, thanks.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

... so it's a sorcerer with an "Energy Die" rather than Sorcery Points, and with 'Disciplines' like 'Devilish Tongue' they get to use their energy dice like Bardic Inspiration.

I'll stick to the Esper, thanks.

Your design is definitely a lot better than this, let's be clear! I would put it as one of the best 3PP Psion-type designs. Nevertheless this might be all we can expect from WotC now. Especially as imho 5E has probably less than 5 years left of being the "main" D&D.

 

[Remathilis]

We said that in 2017 with the mystic. Just because it's got a UA doesn't mean it'll be official.

I think it's a safER bet this time. They aren't trying to reinvent the wheel, just expand what they did with the four psi classes into a full caster class. No new mechanics to balance, fairly low difficulty, very safe. The only two categories I see hating this are the people who hate all psionics and those who are married to a very specific interpretation of psionics. For everyone else, this is just another flavor of spellcaster.

I think this one has a good chance of getting though.