D&D 5E In your Years of Gaming, How many Psionic Characters did you See played

[Hussar]

/snip

"Hey, we know that you and a significant chunk of fans really want this. . .but since a majority of fans wouldn't use it or don't like it, we're not going to publish it.". . .when the heck has THAT been the publishing mindset for D&D?

Well, this has been the publishing mindset for 5e since day 1 of 5e. That's why we only get 3 (ish) books per year. I mean, 5e has been out for 5 years now (is it 5 years?) and we've got, what, maybe 20 books, including modules? Heck, even 1e had a faster publishing schedule. Pretty much anything that isn't going to hit that 100k sales mark is a no-go anymore.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

Well, now, that's true. But, again, there is a caveat. When WotC did that setting survey, it was what, 2016? 2017? Something like that. The market has tripled in size since then. I am kind of wondering how important Dark Sun is anymore. It would seem to me that the percentage of gamers who actually remember Dark Sun is shrinking daily.

While it is likely true that the percentage of gamers who remember Dark Sun is shrinking, that doesn't necessarily mean the percentage of gamers who would be interested in a 5th edition version of Dark Sun is smaller now than it was previously - given that nostalgia isn't the only reason to be interested in something.

 

[Lanefan]

Well, this has been the publishing mindset for 5e since day 1 of 5e. That's why we only get 3 (ish) books per year. I mean, 5e has been out for 5 years now (is it 5 years?) and we've got, what, maybe 20 books, including modules? Heck, even 1e had a faster publishing schedule.

Actually, if you split out the hardcover adventure series into their corresponding 1e-style modules (e.g. Tales ... Portal would go back to being seven separate modules, and Princes of the Apocalypse would split out into maybe 8 or 10 modules, etc.) I think 5e is outpacing 1e considerably in terms of amount of material per year.

That said, to someone who's used to (and perhaps been spoiled by) the frantic churn-it-out pace set by 2e-3e-4e I can see how the 5e schedule would seem slow.

 

[cmad1977]

Pretty much zero. No one ever showed an interest.

 

[Parmandur]

I'll admit that I'm not really up on 5th edition and it's culture, I basically dropped out of D&D culture when 4th edition came out. . .

. . .but why would it not being used by a majority of players be a reason to not publish a book?

Since when is "it has it's own book" a downside? D&D has had books or classes that were niche for decades, you'd have to go back to 1st edition with its handful of hardbacks to get away from that. Is that seriously the mindset WotC is in now?

As someone who's looking at 5e and thinking of maybe trying to learn it, this idea is rather off-putting and frankly baffling. Though that does explain many of the huge gaps and shortcomings that 5e has, like a total lack of epic-level support.

"Hey, we know that you and a significant chunk of fans really want this. . .but since a majority of fans wouldn't use it or don't like it, we're not going to publish it.". . .when the heck has THAT been the publishing mindset for D&D?

Significant enough to justify publication is 70% of the fanbase now: part of their strategy is to parcel various niche things together to interest a full 70% of people in one book.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

Twice. Once was one of my few characters I got to play (1e; I mostly DM but have gotten to play every now and again), and once when a player rolled it for their PC (1e again; I was DM).

I'm specifically NOT including Dark Sun, for obvious reasons.

Oh, one other time; during the 2'ish years we played 2e. One player tried a Psion; he we RIDICULOUSLY OVER POWERED by the time he hit level 5. Then, rather than seriously nerf Psionics with near endless work/fixing...we just said "Snik it. No Psionics".

...and that was that.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Raduin711]

We saw them pretty frequently when we ran 3.5. I played a Psion who used only mind-effects and telekinesis with a little psychoportation last year in eberron. On paper he was lawful good but against human opponents he regularly used Dominate to take them out of the fight His reasoning is that while Dominate robs someone of their free will (if free will even exists) death is the ultimate theft of free will, and he always left his dominations alive. I think a few party members considered him evil. shrug He was a pseudo-pacifist, and always attempted diplomacy first, but if attacked he would defend himself and his comrades to the best of his ability, which often involved brain hemhorrages and dominations, and the occasional telekinetic fusillade. This character was more or less my example of what I thought a psionic character should be like, ignoring some more "optimal" power options in favor of ones that I felt were more "psionic" in flavor.

We went to Pathfinder for a long while, and we never actually incorporated psionics into those campaigns. We stuck to adventure paths which never incorporated psionics. I didn't miss it. I think a psionic character would have felt out of place or shoehorned into those games. Magic is enough by itself.

Dark Sun is a favorite setting of mine, and I ran a brief 4e game, but I ran out of steam running that game. It's a setting I hope to revisit and psionics will always be a part of it.

I am hoping for an eventual official 5e psionics release, preferably attached to something like a Dark Sun campaign or setting. I don't think it needs to be a part of every campaign, simply because it exists, but YMMV.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Well, now, that's true. But, again, there is a caveat. When WotC did that setting survey, it was what, 2016? 2017? Something like that. The market has tripled in size since then. I am kind of wondering how important Dark Sun is anymore. It would seem to me that the percentage of gamers who actually remember Dark Sun is shrinking daily.

Even with viruses, I don't think the over 50s are dying off that quickly...

And nostalgia and retogaming has never been more popular.

This poll 5E - Which three topics do you most want to receive official (WotC) treatment? from last week has Dark Sun on a whopping 27%, behind only Planescape (on an even more whopping 40%).

 

[Aldarc]

Well, now, that's true. But, again, there is a caveat. When WotC did that setting survey, it was what, 2016? 2017? Something like that. The market has tripled in size since then. I am kind of wondering how important Dark Sun is anymore. It would seem to me that the percentage of gamers who actually remember Dark Sun is shrinking daily.

That's a good question. Dark Sun had a release in 4e, so it probably did shoot a bit of adrenaline in the memory of gamers who went over to 5e. What percentage of 5e gamers remembered Greyhawk? And yet there is a Ghosts of Saltmarsh book. Or how about those 5e gamers you mention who remembered Ravenloft? It doesn't require psionics, but the point is that memory for a setting doesn't necessarily mean that the publishers have forgotten it and don't desire publishing for the setting.

 

[Olrox17]

Sounds like basic business practice. It makes no sense to publish at a loss.

From the results of this poll, such a book would be a loss. 1.5% says its used all the time, 18.5% said it wasn't rare.

20% of the market share, assuming every interested player becomes a sale, and none just borrow the book from someone at the table or download the pdf from a share site.

There's no profit to be had, even if 100% of those interested do the right thing.

I very much doubt that psionics are going to come out in a book exclusively dedicated to them. My guess is that psionic options are going to come out packaged with a Dark Sun setting book, just like the artificer came out with Eberron.
And a lot of people want Dark Sun.