D&D 5E Is "Mystic" a bad class name?

[RotGrub]

The Dragonlance Mystic is just one example. The Mystic was also a candle using class from the 2e Faiths and Avatars book. There is also another Mystic Kit in the 2e Wizard's Handbook.

I think it's clear that the term has been over used. As an old school player the term is confusing.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I haven't seen anyone mention yet that this would be the only two-word base class name in 5e. Nah, we should drop one word or the other. Given a choice, I'd favor calling them Awakened, since it is evocative of the description without carrying much baggage.

"This month's UA presents the Dark Sun Campaign Setting in a fresh and new way: as a desert region of the Forgotten Realms."

Do not suggest such a thing even in jest!

 

[Psikerlord#]

I like Psion the best. But then I can take or leave psionics entirely in it's current iteration. I prefer our own Athas houserules for the time being.

 

[Fralex]

"Psion" always sounded weird to me. Were they just trying to give it a name that wasn't as mundane as "psychic"? Mystic seems to work for me. Mysticism invokes feelings of perfecting mind and body, uncovering mystery, transcendence, meditation, and becoming awakened. That seems to fit psionics well. Gives me some context for the power instead of just vague brain-magic.

I dunno, does everything have to be controversial? The official name for the class is one of the least-important things one could possibly take issue with. I mean, it's not like they won't give a bunch of suggestions for alternative names in the final class descriptions. I'm just finding it kinda strange how so many people can care this much about a single word in a rough draft of a fragment of a playtest version of a class. Like, plenty of people still call the rogue class thief. Why is this so important to get "right"?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

It's just like news. Whatever is most interesting at the time gets talked about.

 

[GX.Sigma]

I haven't seen anyone mention yet that this would be the only two-word base class name in 5e. Nah, we should drop one word or the other. Given a choice, I'd favor calling them Awakened, since it is evocative of the description without carrying much baggage.

The class is called "Mystic." Awakened and Immortal are two sub-classes.

 

[Quickleaf]

I think Mystic works fine. To me it evokes a spiritual seeker not tied to a religious hierarchy and with some very non-comformist beliefs about what constitutes the Absolute Higher Power. I'd actually expect such a character to probably have some intense debates with the party cleric!

And another D&D usage of the term is from AL-QADIM: Mystics of Nog, who were essentially D&D's version of Shadowrun's physical adepts, or the Immortal tradition in 5e.

As far as actual rules execution, it looks pretty darn good Some things are a bit too powerful, however. Overall, I think it could use judicious powering down of certain abilities, and more generally greater breadth/variety of abilities. But it's a good start!

 

[Dalamar]

My thinking is that they chose Mystic instead of Psion because the class is going to contain the old Psychic Warrior and Soulknife classes. If they had used Psion, people would expect the class to hew to the Wizard chassis, whereas as Mystic it can be closer to the Cleric chassis which has more melee prowess.

 

[Hand of Evil]

like haruspex (a person who is psychic) -- you just don't hear it

 

[CM]

Put me down as someone who liked the pseudoscience of D&D psionics. To me, this feels like an attempt just to make it another flavor of magic (even though I know that's not really the intent).