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<blockquote data-quote="TwoSix" data-source="post: 7996069" data-attributes="member: 205">I guess where you see niche, I see something that's always been prioritized in development as soon as the core 4 are fleshed out.&nbsp; In 2E, psionics was the PHBR5, the first rules supplement published after the core 4 classes got books.&nbsp; In 3E, the Complete Psionics book came out in March 2001, 7 months after the PHB and while the first class expansion books were still being published.&nbsp; The 3.5 psionics handbook came out 8 months after the 3.5 PHB, was almost a complete rework of 3.0, and was popular enough to get a follow up book.&nbsp; Its system was also popular enough to generate a 3PP system that was well-liked enough that it deterred Paizo from introducing its own psionics system in Pathfinder 1.&nbsp; In 4e, 4 different psionic classes were introduced in the PHB3, the second power source introduced after the core 3 of martial, divine, and arcane.&nbsp; (Primal did admittedly leapfrog psionics, but druid has also been a fairly central D&amp;D class.)So, the way I view it is that psionics has always been important, both as its own thematic content, and as a way of introducing new subsystems to the core of the game engine.&nbsp; I don't think it's a coincidence that the most popular version of psionics was the 3.5 version, which was both distinct (multiple classes, point based abilities, its own power list) and yet familiar (class power progression mirrored caster progression, powers were formatted like spells, the basic power level of powers mimicked spells).&nbsp; Honestly, I think the success of 3.5 psionics was a direct precursor to the unified framework of abilities in 4e.I would say the big sticking point of 5e psionics is that the general demand in psionics is &quot;related, yet separate&quot;, and they've never committed to providing that.&nbsp; Mystic was a good experiment, but the disciplines weren't cohesive, and the most recent experiments have been focused on narrative over mechanical expansion.&nbsp; A good psionics system in the D&amp;D tradition needs to provide both.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TwoSix, post: 7996069, member: 205"] I guess where you see niche, I see something that's always been prioritized in development as soon as the core 4 are fleshed out. In 2E, psionics was the PHBR5, the first rules supplement published after the core 4 classes got books. In 3E, the Complete Psionics book came out in March 2001, 7 months after the PHB and while the first class expansion books were still being published. The 3.5 psionics handbook came out 8 months after the 3.5 PHB, was almost a complete rework of 3.0, and was popular enough to get a follow up book. Its system was also popular enough to generate a 3PP system that was well-liked enough that it deterred Paizo from introducing its own psionics system in Pathfinder 1. In 4e, 4 different psionic classes were introduced in the PHB3, the second power source introduced after the core 3 of martial, divine, and arcane. (Primal did admittedly leapfrog psionics, but druid has also been a fairly central D&D class.) So, the way I view it is that psionics has always been important, both as its own thematic content, and as a way of introducing new subsystems to the core of the game engine. I don't think it's a coincidence that the most popular version of psionics was the 3.5 version, which was both distinct (multiple classes, point based abilities, its own power list) and yet familiar (class power progression mirrored caster progression, powers were formatted like spells, the basic power level of powers mimicked spells). Honestly, I think the success of 3.5 psionics was a direct precursor to the unified framework of abilities in 4e. I would say the big sticking point of 5e psionics is that the general demand in psionics is "related, yet separate", and they've never committed to providing that. Mystic was a good experiment, but the disciplines weren't cohesive, and the most recent experiments have been focused on narrative over mechanical expansion. A good psionics system in the D&D tradition needs to provide both. [/QUOTE]

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