Mike Mearls on D&D Psionics: Should Psionic Flavor Be Altered?

WotC's Mike Mearls has been asking for opinions on how psionics should be treated in D&D 5th Edition. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that he'd hinted that he might be working on something, and this pretty much seals the deal. He asked yesterday "Agree/Disagree: The flavor around psionics needs to be altered to allow it to blend more smoothly into a traditional fantasy setting", and then followed up with some more comments today.

"Thanks for all the replies! Theoretically, were I working on psionics, I'd try to set some high bars for the execution. Such as - no psionic power duplicates a spell, and vice versa. Psionics uses a distinct mechanic, so no spell slots. One thing that might be controversial - I really don't like the scientific terminology, like psychokinesis, etc. But I think a psionicist should be exotic and weird, and drawing on/tied to something unsettling on a cosmic scale.... [but]... I think the source of psi would be pretty far from the realm of making pacts. IMO, old one = vestige from 3e's Tome of Magic.

One final note - Dark Sun is, IMO, a pretty good example of what happens to a D&D setting when psionic energy reaches its peak. Not that the rules would require it, but I think it's an interesting idea to illustrate psi's relationship to magic on a cosmic level."

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

It'll be a pdf, right? You'll be able to print it out if you want.

Would that work?...maybe?

It is possible that he plays AL and UA articles are not usable in AL.

Just a guess.

 

[steeldragons]

It is possible that he plays AL and UA articles are not usable in AL.

Just a guess.

Ahhhh. Good point.

I never remember/think in terms of defaulting to AL concerns...completely foreign to the norm of my gaming experience.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

AL?

Whatever that is, it isn't the reason.

I just don't support purely electronic formats for my leisure activities. Any of them. For a variety of reasons. Suffice it to say, PDFs are (for me and my gaming needs) supplemental goods, not replacements.

 

[steeldragons]

AL?

Adventure League?

Guess that's not the concern then, huh? hahaha.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Never heard of it.

 

[steeldragons]

Never heard of it.

It's the formal "officially sanctioned by WotC" public play at gaming stores or wherever. People that play/attend Adventure League groups/games tend to get up in arms with product created that isn't "Official" enough or called out explicitly as "official for AL use". They are stymied and "trapped" by the ever-so tragically limited options of the PHB...and I think the Elemental Evil Player's Companion was deemed permissible in AL games, except for the Aarakocra...or one of the other races.

But the Unerathed Arcana material, since it is explicitly "not playtested/finished" are universally <cue thunderclaps and booming godlike echoing voice> FORBIDDEN from use in AL games because they aren't formally acknowledged by the company as "official."

[You're better off never having heard of it, imho. ]

 

[bogmad]

Of course UA psionics won't be the "official" psionic rules, but they're obviously going to be playtested in in UA (and presumably closed playtests as well) before any official psionic rules get released.

And whatever official psionics looks like, I'd say it's a 98% chance that they'll be released alongside an upcoming storyline.

So it'll probably be a while before you can get any psionics into your AL games, but that's probably the way it should be!

 

[TBeholder]

I frankly don't understand the question. "Altered" implies that there already is something to speak of that may be used as is or changed. And what would that be?
D&D3 psionics? Not even funny. Let me summarize: it's a mess of basic principles that didn't fit into lore of existing settings (astral whatevers), fluff that looks like it was made on some really bad mushrooms (crystals with legs, etc), and as to its mechanics... even Bruce R. Cordell (whose name they put on the covers), when he wanted an actually usable mechanics, had to overhaul it in a 3rd-party supplement. I didn't miss anything?
PO? Again, not funny. It was ugly, clumsy and part of it obviously didn't work RAW, thanks to an innumerate designer.
AD&D2? It could work… with a few simple patches… back then. It's buried twice over, and by now it would take as much effort to assemble from scratch as convert.

> Dark Sun is, IMO, a pretty good example of what happens to a D&D setting when psionic energy reaches its peak.

Dark Sun is, IMO, a pretty good example of what happens to a D&D setting when someone is allowed to pointlessly (for the setting, anyway) mess with something that wasn't broken.
Warhammer may have a few examples of this, too.

Options, not restrictions!

Yup. Mechanics that fits only D&D miniatures game™ will be used only there. Then again, it looks like Hasbro gave up on both D&D and settings.

Nope, don't like that. Dark Sun's environmental issues were really about what happens when magic runs amok, with the psionic aspect representing a 'safe' alternative.

And then (out-of-universe) it seems to become a lazy answer to anything at all. Because, quite obviously, this could be justified with "hurr, flavour" every time even if it didn't make sense (myriads of psionic beetles, etc). In contrast with lots of really creative work put into Dark Sun.
Just like with later MMO-like settings and high magic.

I am a little uncomfortable with the question being "Should the flavor be changed " and the bit about "...drawing on/tied to something unsettling on a cosmic level"..it sounds to me like he's asking "is it ok if we make psionics tied to the Far Realms somehow" and to that I say, wholeheartedly, Don't. You. Dare.

The whole problem with this is that Far Realms concept was an interesting experiment the first time, but the rest is forced. It does not fit… well… anywhere. But it still gets shoehorned again and again, as ludicrously and tiresomely as the spiky chains - because tentacles turned out to be someone's Magical Realm, by the look of it. And this someone was not Bruce R. Cordell (even though he did feed this nonsense for a while).

 

[CapnZapp]

I guess it's technically a necro, but I'm not sure that concept exists in 5E psionics

 

[steeldragons]

I guess it's technically a necro, but I'm not sure that concept exists in 5E psionics

They tied the flavor explicitly to the Far Realms.

This thread is older, obviously, but there are at least 2 Unearthed Arcana articles on psionics for 5e. They call it "The Mystic" and the subclasses we've been shown thus far, I believe, are the "Awakened Mind" and the "Immortal."

The names...I don't much care for. But the built in fluff of the Far Realms (which, yes, I know is easily stripped and they're just doing the whole brand-hammer thing for a great big "THIS IS WOTC'S DEFAULT PSIONICS FOR D&D/FR/THE FAR REALMS YOU'D BETTER NOT COPY US!" bs) is a non-starter for me. I'll just use my homebrewed psychics.