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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marandahir" data-source="post: 9583429" data-attributes="member: 6803643">Psionics is magic without req components (material, verbal, or somatic), with a particular flavour toward the New Age, the Sci Fi, the Weird Fiction, and other non-medieval-high-fantasy assumptions.Mechanically, the components question is what it leans on. The reason a "Psionics Tradition" Wizard didn't pass playtest is because ultimately it couldn't get away from components and the core resource of the spellbook to feel Psionic enough. Aberrant Sorcerer feels better because Sorcery Points are an easy stand-in for a classic RPG resource of Psi Points, but it still faces the issue of only getting to ignore components some of the time. Great Old One Warlock feels psionic in flavour, but because Warlocks function so completely differently from other casters, it doesn't really have a capacity to mechanically reflect that psionic power. Soul Knife and Psi Warrior share the psionic dice that captures some of the swinginess of psionic powers, but as they're subclasses they're only reflecting that psionic element part of the time. The new UA for Purple Dragon Knight has some psionic flavour and mechanics but similarly only reflects it some of the time, and in none of these three cases are there directly spellcasting issues. The Psionic Talent feats for Telepathy and Telekinesis similarly capture the Psionic theme. Monster Manual 2025 very clearly laid out that what Psionics do for monsters is that they cast without componenets. If we want a Psion class, it really can't easily chassis onto the backs of an existing spellcaster without a serious downside to balance the components issue. That's very hard to work out.So for now, yeah, I'd say use Aberrant Sorcerer but swap to Intelligence. As with customizing monsters advice in the 2024 DMG, swapping Int/Wis/Cha is relatively safe to do without a power balance shift; but swapping Str/Con/Dex are not as they affect a whole host of other issues like HP, Initiative, and physical damage. This case is safe to do. It still doesn't obviate the components problem beyond the Psionic Spell List or before 6th level.</blockquote>

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