Unearthed Arcana New Psion update, Dungeons and Dragons Unearthed Arcana

WotC updates the psion in new playtest document.
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A new Unearthed Arcana is up, featuring a revised version of the Psion class. Per a D&D Beyond article, the Psion has seen considerable changes. Feedback for the class focused into three main areas - Psionic Energy Dice, Psionic Modes, and Spellcasting. Psionic Energy Dice are now more flexible and easier to obtain - a new feature called Psionic Reserves allows players to regain uses of Psionic Energy Dice and Telepathic Propel and Telepathic Connection allow players to use those abilities one time each without expending energy dice. Meanwhile, Psionic Modes has been cut from the class, with various aspects of the ability being incorporated into various subclasses as new features. Finally, the Psion now has an updated and expanded spelllist. The UA also contains seven brand new spells and updated versions of existing spells as well.

Additionally, the Metamorph, Psykinetic, and Telepath have all received updates. The Metamorph's abilities now often feature a roll of the Psionic Energy Die while they're being expended. The Psykinetic gains a Stronger Telekinesis feature with an improved Mage Hand spell use. Also, players can now use Telekinetic Propel without expending a Psionic Energy Dice. Finally, the Telepath has a new Telepathic Distraction feature that lets you interfere with another creature's attack roll if it's within range of your telepathy. Scramble Minds was redesigned to reduce the number of dice rolls needed to keep combat from getting bogged down.
 

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Christian Hoffer

Christian Hoffer

When do we get to be in the interesting experimental phase of 5E design rather than Malibu wizard with a new hat?
Incarnum was released 5 years into 3rd edition. Tome of Battle, Tome of Battle was released 6 years in.
We had a bit of it in Tasha's and later in the 2014 version. Nothing that out there but things like wildfire and spores druids but the 5e release schedule was sloooow.

Meanwhile it's the changing of the guard and we're getting low hanging fruit - mostly warmed over 2014 material like the wizard school subclasses.
 

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You are not, if you want that look at third party stuff. Perhaps if it get popular enough it may migrate to the main game. Wizards have become very conservative because it appears that conservative is profitable, more profitable than being experimental.
Experimental is risky and low margin. And while a small segment of the player base hunger for the wildly experimental, a larger segment are far more conservative and want the safely familiar. Thus, DM's Guild. Third party publishers get to do the low margin experimental stuff, keeping those players satisfied, while WotC gets a small cut and keeps them inside the D&D ecosystem.

Personally, I'm okay with that. WotC playing conservative means that almost anything they put out is welcome at every table. Sure, maybe Silvery Barbs gets nixed or Warforged are restricted to Eberron only. But it's not like the 3e days when every campaign pitch had a laundry list of allowed and disallowed books for it.

All the weird, transformative, wildly different stuff exists out there. It's third party releases. And if you have trouble selling your table on adopting it... well, that's why it's not a WotC book.
 

When do we get to be in the interesting experimental phase of 5E design rather than Malibu wizard with a new hat?
Do you remember how they backtracked hard on changing wildshape into an ability that used templates, despite such a design being inherently better for futureproofing both the druid class and beast type monsters as a whole?

The experimental phase is long past us, we are on the steady course until some years in the future when they can finally do a 6e.
 

From my read, the psion will play very differently than other casters and the subclasses will play differently from each other. Don't care that they used a spellcasting chassis to achieve it. Also fine that other people don't agree.

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You know that's what they said about ADEU design pre Essentials? There is nothing new under the Sun.

ADEU was over-used because it was the structure of EVERY class.

Slots are probably over-used in 5e, but at least you CAN (if you are CAREFUL!) avoid them. :)

Or better yet, a completely new spell slot mechanic (i.e. power points).

This was THE opportunity to do something different.

Power points don't seem hugely distinct to me. They're just a more granular way to account for "do magic x/day." The X doesn't even really change - the class still needs to be capable of dealing roughly the same damage as most other classes. The Spell Points alternative and the existence of Sorcery Points that you can spend for slots shows how interchangeable these are.

"Make it different" is a pretty good design goal, but when set against "make it usable for as many people as possible," the latter should typically win out, IMO. There's dozens of classes that have fallen by the wayside or that landed like lead balloons upon launch (many from 3e, several from 4e, and even 1e/2e classes). Classes are not something that players use a lot of (about 1/year for each player, maybe less). The more weird and unusual and different a class is, the more likely people are going to look at it and shrug and never play it.

Rather than "make it different," I tend to prefer "make it distinct," and that's not so much about points vs. slots as it is about the verbs the class uses, especially during Combat (and, I'd argue, during Interaction and Exploration, too, though those tend to be a little less gamified in D&D).

And the psion struggles with that distinction, though probably no more than, say, the sorcerer does. "Uses points" isn't narratively distinct. "Uses the power of the mind" isn't even narratively distinct, though it's at least a try.
 

Do you remember how they backtracked hard on changing wildshape into an ability that used templates,
Nothing says experimental like templates

despite such a design being inherently better for futureproofing both the druid class and beast type monsters as a whole?
Emphasis is mine here. I, and it seems a decent portion of the player base, would strongly disagree about this.
 

ADEU was over-used because it was the structure of EVERY class.

Slots are probably over-used in 5e, but at least you CAN (if you are CAREFUL!) avoid them. :)



Power points don't seem hugely distinct to me. They're just a more granular way to account for "do magic x/day." The X doesn't even really change - the class still needs to be capable of dealing roughly the same damage as most other classes. The Spell Points alternative and the existence of Sorcery Points that you can spend for slots shows how interchangeable these are.

"Make it different" is a pretty good design goal, but when set against "make it usable for as many people as possible," the latter should typically win out, IMO. There's dozens of classes that have fallen by the wayside or that landed like lead balloons upon launch (many from 3e, several from 4e, and even 1e/2e classes). Classes are not something that players use a lot of (about 1/year for each player, maybe less). The more weird and unusual and different a class is, the more likely people are going to look at it and shrug and never play it.

Rather than "make it different," I tend to prefer "make it distinct," and that's not so much about points vs. slots as it is about the verbs the class uses, especially during Combat (and, I'd argue, during Interaction and Exploration, too, though those tend to be a little less gamified in D&D).

And the psion struggles with that distinction, though probably no more than, say, the sorcerer does. "Uses points" isn't narratively distinct. "Uses the power of the mind" isn't even narratively distinct, though it's at least a try.
My friend just got done playing a Mercer Bloodhunter in my Ravenloft game. Got him to 14th level. And I must say that while I didn't find the class exceptionally broken, the sheer number of mechanics and interactions that went on in it was enough for him to say he'd rather not play that class ever again. Especially since he had to learn a whole subsystem just to juice his attacks.

Sometimes "make it different" is a bigger Hassle than it's worth.
 

Emphasis is mine here. I, and it seems a decent portion of the player base, would strongly disagree about this.
Disagree about what? I honestly believe you stopped reading that sentence halfway through.

Liking monster stat blocks because you think they are more fun or whatever is one thing, you can't really "disagree" with templates being easier to future proof.
 


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