D&D 5E Do Psionic Organizations Still Have a Place in 5e?

[CreamCloud0]

Increasingly, I am seeing the Primal power source and the Psionic power source to be the same thing.

The only difference is, the Psionic tends to emphasize the mind of a Humanoid, or an Astral (or Antiastral Aberration). Meanwhile, the Primal tends to emphasize the mind of a natural feature of the Material Plane, or relatedly the Fey and maybe the Shadow.

Generally, Arcane and Divine are two sides of the same coin, relying on the "weave" of cosmic magic.

By contrast, Primal and Psionic are two sides of the same coin, relying on an individuals own personal "soul", including the idea that a mountain or a river has a kind of soul.

i'm struggling to recall what in the lore would serve as a basis of evidence for half of the conclusions you've reached here, since when has primal energy been tied to minds or souls, of a mountain or otherwise? primal also uses the weave whereas psionic isn't magic and doesn't.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

I disagree. Primal and Psion can't be the same source. Primal is too linked to nature Forces and Psion is to advanced minds with a hard training.

 

[Yaarel]

I disagree. Primal and Psion can't be the same source. Primal is too linked to nature Forces and Psion is to advanced minds with a hard training.

Psionics is the human brain and psychic powers. These are both "natural" and personal.

Primal powers also require hard training and level advancement.

The "soul" is an official term without official definition. The usage the term appears in contexts of the ki bodily lifeforce aura, the spirit of an artist and Bard, and the part of the human that exists at the level of the thoughtscape of the Astral Plane, namely the mind.

Meanwhile the "Soul" Knife subclass is explicitly Psionic.

That nature has souls, is part of the animistic flavor of Primal.

 

[Reynard]

The X-Men version or the Stranger Things version?

Personally, I say both.

I meant the X-Men version, but I can see a rebellious gaming club at wizard school...

 

[Yaarel]

i'm struggling to recall what in the lore would serve as a basis of evidence for half of the conclusions you've reached here, since when has primal energy been tied to minds or souls, of a mountain or otherwise? primal also uses the weave whereas psionic isn't magic and doesn't.

The Primal power source includes Elemental powers. This encompasses the "inanimate" parts of nature, like weather, mountains, and otherwise.

The D&D "soul" is complex, used in different contexts. Generally, the soul relates to the lifeforce aura of animals, the "spirit" of a person or nature spirit, and the mind in the Astral Plane.

Primal includes the souls of Beasts, and nature beings generally, where the "spirits" of animism are the same thing as minds or souls, including the soul of ghost or a Fey creature. A Dryad or Hamadryad is like the soul of a particular tree.

It is a D&D tradition that Psionics uses ones own personal soul (spirit, mind), and not the Weave of magic.

Primal is a more recent development since 4e. Early in 5e 2014 core, primal classes like Druid were considered the "Divine" power source using the "weave". But more recently, designers have spoken about Divine, Arcane, Psionic, and Primal being separate power sources, and later products implies such distinctions. In comparison, Primal is much more like Psionic magic that relies on a soul.

 

[Reynard]

Primal=Psionics is indeed one of the strangest assertions I can recall, but if it works for @Yagood for them!