Unearthed Arcana New Unearthed Arcana: Psionics!

There’s a new Unearthed Arcana article out, and it’s all about psionics! "Their minds bristling with power, three new subclasses arrive in today’s Unearthed Arcana: the Psychic Warrior for the fighter, the Soulknife for the rogue, and the tradition of Psionics for the wizard."

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In this 9-page PDF, there are also some new psionics-themed spells (including versions of classic psionic powers like id insinuation and ego whip) and two new feats.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, I hadn't noticed that. I think that is actually perhaps the most meaningful thing in that side bar.

I mean to call out a specific character who is an artificer who has not only rare knowledge of Eberron, but escaped there and now lives in Sigil the center of all the planes and has a multiversal network on multiple worlds.

So I see one of two reasons for this, or maybe even a mix.

A) The new Player Options heavy book is from her perpective, as the in character "Author" this would explain a lot. This also suggest it's going to be one of the bigger books for 5e D&D.

B) The Vi is in the new D&D movie coming and in fact she is played by Angelina Jolie, hence why she is a dead ringer for the actress and this would be the third setting with an element in this movie, which suggests it invovles multiple D&D Settings. Talk about going big or going home, damn. I guess FR was too small for the movie.

C) Both are true.

It would explain why she was almost on the cover, why we learn things about her, why she is in Sigil, how the heck Mordenikain knows anything about Eberron.

Also this might be a stretch, but one way she could have escaped Eberron's cosmic defences to explore the rest of the DnD universe is if she sparked, as in MtG Planeswalker. It would also explain hoe she build a business across multiple worlds. Which means we could also possibly see her in MtG as well.

Mind boggling discovery Parmandur.

It now is starting to make sense.

About the sparking bit...the characters main exposure so far has been an NPC of Crawford's for Acquisitions, Incorporated...while in Ravnica.

Also, sooner or later at this point, D&D in M:tG is going to happen...

 

[gyor]

Btw i

About the sparking bit...the characters main exposure so far has been an NPC of Crawford's for Acquisitions, Incorporated...while in Ravnica.

Also, sooner or later at this point, D&D in M:tG is going to happen...

Well that cements it, Vi is the first D&D Planeswalker of the MtG type and maybe the first Gnome Planeswalker for MtG. Keep you eyes peeled for an MtG Vi Planeswalker card next year in one of the sets, maybe Ikoria or more likely Zendikar. Maybe even as one of the Commanders in the Zendikar Commander Decks.

 

[Chaosmancer]

That would be... ambitious is the polite word for it right?

I could see a crossover like that going horribly horribly wrong.

 

[dave2008]

Thanks. I've looked and I'm not going to say it's not good material, it's all still material that stays within a pretty strict paradigm of what has come before, not something actually new or obviously creative.

Which ones have you looked at?

Like how any new character idea has to be a subclass of something existing...why? I literally don't see the big difference between class "bloat" and subclass "bloat," except that now (for example) the evil paladin associating with the Nine Hells still heals with a touch, does radiant damage with a smite, and has an aura to protect his allies(!) because the idea has to fit within the existing paradigm (in this case, of the paladin class). Do people make it work? I suppose they do, but if you were sitting down to design a warrior inspired by the Nine Hells, healing with a touch, radiant damage, and a protecting allies aura probably wouldn't make the list of features...

My group has resigned to this being the case, but we keep an eye...

I am not sure what you are saying. If you just want more classes, there dozens if not hundreds of classes available from the various setting guides previously mentioned, from EnWorld Publishing, DMsGuild, and UA reddit.

However, that doesn't strike me as innovative as say: the stronghold rules in Stongholds and Followers or the horror of the Cthulhu Mythos or the greek inspired Arkadia and Arcanis or the steampunk Mists of Akuma or the mystery themed Empyrean Investigations or science-fantasy Arcana of the Ancients or the fully sci-fi Esper Genisis or the viking inspired Midgard setting. And that is really just the tip of the iceberg. I would imagine you can find what you are looking for with a little digging.

 

[Parmandur]

That would be... ambitious is the polite word for it right?

I could see a crossover like that going horribly horribly wrong.

Possibly, bit they seem to be gearing up for something.

 

[Garthanos]

And a 1e & 3e fan?

OK 2e had some rocking flavor foundations a connection to the source so to speak I mean do not diss even if its is the only edition I didnt get to play (or even seen played) at all but sheesh.

The way they used psionics power points in 4e was very cool and did make them different. The monk didn't feel very psionicky compared to the others.

The monk is the prototypical Martial Artist... so of course it didnt seem psionicky

 

[Eric V]

Which ones have you looked at?


I am not sure what you are saying. If you just want more classes there dozens if not hundreds of classes available from the varies setting guides previously mentioned, from EnWorld Publishing, DMsGuild, and UA reddit.

However, that doesn't strike me as innovative as say: the stronghold rules in Stongholds and Followers or the horror of the Cthulhu Mythos or the greek inspired Arkadia and Arcanis or the steampunk Mists of Akuma or the mystery themed Empyrean Investigations or science-fantasy Arcana of the Ancients or the fully sci-fi Esper Genisis or the viking inspired Midgard setting. And that is really just the tip of the iceberg. I would imagine you can find what you are looking for with a little digging.

I am sorry I am not making myself clear; I thought the example I gave was pretty clear...oh, well.

That's a lot of non-WotC stuff you're suggesting for creativity and innovation...my group was hoping to still play 5e (at one point, anyway), so I'm not sure that would have worked for us. Probably worth a gander now. Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[dave2008]

I am sorry I am not making myself clear; I thought the example I gave was pretty clear...oh, well.

That's a lot of non-WotC stuff you're suggesting for creativity and innovation...my group was hoping to still play 5e (at one point, anyway), so I'm not sure that would have worked for us. Probably worth a gander now. Thanks for the suggestions.

I guess I still see all of those as 5e (5e is OGL afterall). So do you mean only WotC content? You said you liked AiME so I assumed you were interested in 3PP.

If you are only talking about WotC content, most of the "innovation" comes through UA were they have tested classes, subclasses, feats, and mass combats rules to name a few. Have you tried those innovations or is that still not what your looking for?

Have you tried DMsGuild or UA Reddit? The adept program on DMsGuild is semi-sanctioned 5e content which has quite a bit of innovation as well.

If you can give a clearer direction of what you are looking for perhaps I or someone else can help point you in the correct direction.

 

[cbwjm]

So, Vi in Mtg. I'm thinking she'd be blue-aligned due primarily to being an artificer. What abilities would she have though. I can't recall all her interactions in the show. Maybe return an artifact from your graveyard to the battlefield due to her going around fixing things.

 

[Eric V]

I guess I still see all of those as 5e (5e is OGL afterall). So do you mean only WotC content? You said you liked AiME so I assumed you were interested in 3PP.

If you are only talking about WotC content, most of the "innovation" comes through UA were they have tested classes, subclasses, feats, and mass combats rules to name a few. Have you tried those innovations or is that still not what your looking for?

Have you tried DMsGuild or UA Reddit? The adept program on DMsGuild is semi-sanctioned 5e content which has quite a bit of innovation as well.

If you can give a clearer direction of what you are looking for perhaps I or someone else can help point you in the correct direction.

Thanks for the suggestions; a lot of them are kickstarter and I have some ethical concerns about supporting them. I guess I could check out the others, but we're pretty disappointed at this time.

I guess I just don't understand why the far-and-away leader in the rpg industry isn't taking more risks in the innovation department. I don't understand how, with decades of data and research, there are still concerns about "bloat" (though that bizarrely doesn't apply to subclasses) and making high-level play viable...what's the point of being the league leader if you keep playing like you're not?

Mind you, I'm not sure WotC is employing the designers I'd want for this kind of thing, but I think they're in a great position to say "Go design the thing you always wanted, be as creative as possible, and don't let the masses dilute it." What terrible thing happens? MAYBE the idea is a dud...so? Lots of smaller companies survive duds. WotC wouldn't feel it at this point.

Eh, it would be nice to see. Whatever.