D&D (2024) How should the Psion/Mystic be implemented in 1DnD?

[Tales and Chronicles]

First, is my hot take

Hotter take:

Wizard, with all the blandness of its subclasses and its lack of actual class features and its monopoly on the INT stat needs to go and make place for a Psion class with its specialty of mind-bending magic and weird space powers.

Give the mastery of magic to the ones supposed to be magic incarnate: Sorcerers. Give book/tome keeping to the bards or clerics who actually gather the old lore of their college or religion.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Hotter take:

Wizard, with all the blandness of its subclasses and its lack of actual class features and its monopoly on the INT stat needs to go and make place for a Psion class with its specialty of mind-bending magic and weird space powers.

Give the mastery of magic to the ones supposed to be magic incarnate: Sorcerers. Give book/tome keeping to the bards or clerics who actually gather the old lore of their college or religion.

That's a bold move, Cotton!

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

That's a bold move, Cotton!

To be honest, my paycheck doesn't depend on the satisfaction of a multifaceted player-base, so nothing to lose by being bold!

 

[Incenjucar]

The 4E method of having a few basic powers which could be boosted or modified with a limited pool of energy was pretty great. I also especially liked how the 2E psionicist still relied a bit more on physicality, and wasn't just a variation on the wizard. Let them overdo it and have to fall back on a shortsword once in a while.

 

[TwoSix]

Make the class a mostly resource-free non-caster, like a rogue.

Each subclass has its own specific schtick (telekinesis, telepathy, etc.) that it can do pretty much at will. It doesn't do persistent or lingering effects without locking out the ability that caused it. (If a telepath does a dominate effect, it can only do that on one target, for example.)

It's the complete of a versatile wizard, it does one thing and does it very well.

 

[Larrin]

I liked how the 3.5 psion had subclasses: telepath, seer, nomad, kineticist, shaper that highlighted something that was "psionicky" about them and that they could sort of focus on for demonstrating how they were a psion and not just a messed up wizard. I think UA was sort of on this track, but made it a little too "a la carte" and overpowered to boot (I've seen three UA psionicist in play, and the only one that wasn't needlessly dominating was intentionally not trying to do so). Something that can capture that feeling would really be what I want.

 

[NaturalZero]

Hotter take:

Wizard, with all the blandness of its subclasses and its lack of actual class features and its monopoly on the INT stat needs to go and make place for a Psion class with its specialty of mind-bending magic and weird space powers.

I second this because I think the Wizard is weighed down by 40+ years of baggage. It just has too much in one class and is a giant pile of mushy tofu as a concept because of it. Strip out the illusion stuff and give it to the bard. Strip out the telekinesis and mental spells and make them psion powers. Make strong concepts like summoner, necromancer, and abjurer wizard subclasses with robust features that other subclass and full classes can't just replicated by accessing the same old common vanilla spell list.

 

[cbwjm]

I wouldn't mind seeing another shot at the UA mystic, I quite liked the way it had discipline's with unique effects that the mystic gained access to as they levelled up. Perhaps they shouldn't try to make the mystic as wide as they tried and instead assign some of the concepts to subclasses of other classes.

 

[Vael]

As a first draft for 5e Psionics, I thought the UA Mystic was pretty good. I like bundling related powers into disciplines, I like power points.

The idea of having more cantrip style powers that can be augmented by expending points/spell slots does intrigue me.

 

[Blue]

In 5e I'd have said make it a caster, use spell point casting as its default, and design its spell list to have all the spells which suit it.

However as 1dnd has set things out as three standard spell lists (arcane, divine, primal), that will no longer work. You can't just slap a wizard spell list onto a psion.

So it has to be a unique mechanic for it to work for me (or add a 4th spell power source - psionics).

It could easily be just a psion spell list added when they introduce the class - it's never going to be core in OneD&D. Or "the arcane list but only X and Y type spells" like the bard.

You honestly see them adding in a new mechanic to OneD&D? Which they have promised to be backward compatible? Which the UAs have a section saying "if anything is of a differnet power level then it is in 5e we'll change it". Give me any support for what they have said or published for that besides wish fulfillment.