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.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I don’t like the discipline name “Devilsh Tongue”. The ability is fine, but references to devils belong on a warlock.

On the other hand, I’ve got to get me a viscera launcher.

 

[mamba]

The stoplight system is going to change this. The last few UAs use red (don't like), green (like), and yellow (good, but I have thoughts). Unless there is a mass coordinated to Red this out, I don't see it failing the threshold.

huh, did not realize they changed it, stopped caring about UAs halfway through the 2024 ones…

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

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, …”

 

[Ruin Explorer]

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, …”

I will say there's something incredibly perverse and totally unnecessary about limiting the Wild Talent Feats to Sage and Noble backgrounds, the very two backgrounds who, in fantasy fiction, are probably least likely to have them, but I guess who are what, "brain-themed"?!

This is absolutely classic 3E-style "rules for the sake of rules, not because the slightest damn lick of sense". Kind of wild to see WotC still has that going on after all these years. Very much hope that little sentence is a survivor from when Crawford was still in charge because it bodes pretty ill if not!

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I like that now Sorcerer's base class has at least 1 Summon spell none, Summon Astral Entity.

Also note that Summon Astral Entity tells to base its appearance around a type of monster of its respective type, even though those don't exist. Perhaps in the same book we will get Astral Entity Monsters. Could this book be Spelljammer or Planescape 5.5e?

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

I will say there's something incredibly perverse and totally unnecessary about limiting the Wild Talent Feats to Sage and Noble backgrounds, the very two backgrounds who, in fantasy fiction, are probably least likely to have them, but I guess who are what, "brain-themed"?!

This is absolutely classic 3E-style "rules for the sake of rules, not because the slightest damn lick of sense". Kind of wild to see WotC still has that going on after all these years. Very much hope that little sentence is a survivor from when Crawford was still in charge because it bodes pretty ill if not!

I’m inclined to agree that I’d go with ignoring limits to Sage or Noble. I’d love to see some entirely new set of backgrounds designed for wild talents exclusively, for the sake of a world-building example. But just as well ignore limiting to specific backgrounds for some DM who just wants to give them out to any player who wants them on their character for the funnsies.

 

[Mournblade94]

In truth I want WotC to create a psion class just so that everyone will finally shut up about it. As we've seen from Spelljammer / Planescape / Dragonlance... when WotC gives a person what they want (but invariably not in the style or format or detail they wanted)... the complaints last for a couple months but then everyone just moves on. But if WotC doesn't give what a person wants... they keep complaining about this fact for years on end.

So it's the same reason why I hope WotC products a Dark Sun setting book and a Warlord class in some book sometime soon. They absolutely will not make any people HAPPY with their release as almost everyone will think that the results WotC produces will be piles of crap (as we've seen with Spelljammer / Planescape / Dragonlance, be careful what you wish for)... but at least those folks can't complain that they don't have it anymore.

There is no way WOTC would do Dark Sun correctly. I would rather Darksun be remembered as it was than make the Kinder Gentler Darksun for a new audience. I liked Planescape for the most part, but Spelljammer was awful. I like Darksun alot. I don't think the new creators would know what to do with it. Better for it to stay shelved, especially with the institutional Knowledge leaving.

That was partly SpellJammers problem as well. The Thri Kreen, Plasmoids and Hadozee were all converted Star Frontiers races. Well not the Thri Kreen, they were just a stand in. Had the institutional knowledge been there the Hadozee would have been handled much better.

I think a new Darksun would be far to sanitized to exist now. Fan conversions would be better. The new Races even work really well. Goliath is basically the Half Giant, and after they sanitized Half Elves and Half Orcs to just be a roleplaying tag you could just make Mul with the same paradigm. If WOTC is afraid of Half Elves and Half Orcs I would never expect them to handle the slavery in Dark Sun well.

 

[Mournblade94]

Wrong Reply

 

[Mournblade94]

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.

Kyle Brink did NOTHING but say stupid stuff about the game itself and its player base. But also the people that don't work at WOTC anymore are the people that KNEW Darksun.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Kyle Brink did NOTHING but say stupid stuff about the game itself and its player base. But also the people that don't work at WOTC anymore are the people that KNEW Darksun.

So, should the fan-made stuff stop being made, too? They didn't work on Dark Sun, either.