D&D 5E Here's why we want a Psion class

[Mecheon]

It's notable that the vast majority of computer game adaptations also cut psionics (including the Eberron ones). The only ones I can think of that have it are the two Dark Sun games.

The vast majority of computer game adaptations only include what's in the basic stuff, and psionics is rarely in basic stuff. Hell, psionics has been modded into NWN and was modded into NWN 2 though I don't actually think anyone knows what happened to that

If we call "Outside of the scope of what the game includes" as "Cut", then we're going down a very interesting slope that's going to lead to someone saying that Greyhawk was cut because most games are FR based, or that leprechauns, pooka and Nagpa were cut from Shadows over Mysterea because, hey, they all had rules for playing them in Basic, right?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

If it is not by WotC then it will be by a 3PP, and there are some examples.

* And I would like the ardent as stories plots about conflicts and love-hate relations with the clerics and other divine spellcasters.

 

[Krachek]

Obviously this is why I want a Psion class, but others are free to share different thoughts.

A dedicated psionic character--represented by a character class--has been part of the game since 2e. We need a class to represent that particular ongoing feature of the D&D meta-setting.

I could go on and on, but I think that's a strong enough reason that I'm going to uncharacteristically just leave it there for now.

So you can start by telling what are the keys features you want for a psion class in 5ed.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Nothing wrong about adolescent power trips. It's part of the game after all.

Oh look, sexism and misogyny lives!

Psionicist class not allowed in games? So why did they put it in?

To sell books.

 

[Bitbrain]

Yikes. Who doesn't use the cantrips from SCAG? That's wacky. Maybe I'm just overly permissive, but I prefer to manage munchkin players with dialogue rather than prohibition. YMMV, of course.

Well, I know for a fact that at least one of the DMs looked at Giant in the Playground, and found someone on the site who really didn’t like the SCAG cantrips.

Apparently said person number-crunched the cantrips and proclaimed that they “deal too much damage for the negative effect they impart”, or something like that.

shrugs. It was still a fun campaign. Got to play a UA Stone Sorcerer up to 10th level. Fun subclass.

As for the other three DMs, at least one of them had the excuse of not owning SCAG.

 

[Guest 6801328]

I guess we don't need fighters, paladins, or illusionists either.

There are tropes that make D&D what it is, and a psion/psionicist class is one of them. Not as crucial as fighters, rogues, clerics, and wizards . . . but still important to many long time fans.

Another logical fallacy!

"We don't need X simply because it is a tradition" is not equivalent to "Anything with a tradition is unneeded."

 

[Aaron L]

Sorry, I meant spacemagic.

Ha Ha, but I happen to think the idea of spacemagic is pretty rad.

The last campaign I ran ended with the party stranded on their planet's Moon in a ring of monoliths after a teleportation mishap, surrounded by raygun armed Flumphs, with an advancing army of Mi-Go bearing down on them... all in the shadow of the gigantic chained corpse of a Great Old One. And my players absolutely loved it. Unfortunately scheduling problems ended up making that the last game session.

I don't straightjacket my ideas of Fantasy to one tiny subset of approved authors or mythologies. I like to throw everything in the kettle, just like the old Weird Fiction pulp authors who originally inspired D&D. Ever actually read anything from Appendix N? That $#!! gets crazy. That's why we have stuff like mecha (Mighty Servant of Leuk-O, Apparatus of Kwalish) and the whole of Barrier Peaks in D&D. I love the idea of wizards with rayguns fighting demons in outer space. That is the original spirit of D&D. The artificial division between Fantasy and Science-Fiction didn't emerge until decades after the classic pulp authors were writing their best stuff. Hell, blending Sci-F, Horror, and Fantasy is what Lovecraft (at least modern ideas of Lovecraft) is all about, and Lovecraft defines my favored flavor of Fantasy. You can't have Cthulhu without also getting Cats from Saturn and the Dreamlands.

And anyway, D&D psionics was inspired by Dr. Strange's non-spellcasting abilities like astral projection and telepathy, which were a separate subset of disciplines from his magical abilities.

 

[Aaron L]

The psion class itself was completely broken in 2nd edition, so was not usually allowed, even in Dark Sun.

Citation Needed

 

[jgsugden]

Citation Needed

I can't speak for Paul's citation, but I can say that in a 2E game that was run at Kublacon 2019, the Psionic character was massively more powerful than the WIzard in the group. Massively.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Wanting back the psionicist is really just wanting back Dark Sun.
And yes, there's a fanbase group of players who want DS back. Either they played it originally or like myself, discovered it and loved it.
You can talk about classes but you've really got talk about the setting that brought psionics to the forefront of gameplay.

I'd be far, far, far more accepting of non-core classes if they were packaged as part of the settings they "belong" to, with specific language making that clear.

So if WotC wants to release a 5e Dark Sun, with a bunch of classes and subclasses (and what-not) clearly stamped, "INTENDED FOR DARK SUN", I'm 100% cool with that.