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.

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

I like the idea of new spells and feats to model Psionics. I'd rather use the existing systems we have rather than the creation of entirely new ones. After all psionics is very similar to magic in that both are just ways to supernaturally affect reality when you really get down to it.

That said some of the new spells are wildly imbalanced. Id Insinuation is a straight upgrade to Tasha's hideous laughter. Psionic Blast is the same level as Fireball with higher damage and a rider?!

 

[MonkeezOnFire]

Psionic Blast is the same level as Fireball with higher damage and a rider?!

Derp nevermind. I misread the damage of Psionic Blast as 8d8 instead of 5d8 for some reason. Still very strong though.

 

[Prakriti]

How would that work, balance-wise? Would it replace taking a class's next level when you level up? Because then it's basically just a new class, anyway. I don't hate the idea in principle but it seems to be totally at odds with the 5e design.

The way it worked in 1E was definitely at odds with 5E's design philosophy. I just went back and checked the 1E PHB, and this is basically how it worked:

• First, the DM decided whether to include Psionics or not (most games didn't).
• Then, at character creation, the player rolled 1d100 to see if their character possessed psionic abilities. If they rolled 100, then they did. (The chances improved if they had high a Intelligence, Wisdom, and/or Charisma).
• Next, the player rolled dice to randomly determine what psionic abilities their character possessed. The character wouldn't start out with all the abilities at once, but acquired them gradually as they leveled up.

So, the randomness is definitely at odds with 5E's design philosophy, but there are ways to fix that. One way is to have a list of Psionic abilities, and give everyone the chance to choose among the list of Psionic abilities instead of taking their class/sub-class ability for that level (sort of like how you can choose between Feats or an ASI at every level).

Or just integrate Psionics into the ASI/feat system. Every time you are eligible for an ASI, you can take a regular feat or a Psionic feat instead. That way, you can be a telekinetic Paladin, or a mind-blasting Rogue, or an Astral-Projecting Wizard. By level 8, your Human Fighter could be a Clairvoyant, Levitating, Telepath.

To me, that's a lot more interesting than a Psionics class.

 

[lkj]

It's not an either/or proposition, to boot: last time WotC discussed Psionic plans, both a new Class and a range of Subclasses were the idea. So, we might see a full Psion in the next UA...

And in fact Mearls had a wizard subclass called a 'mentalist'. This is a lot different than that subclass, but that's not surprising.

I think it's called a 'psionicist' to leave space for calling the full class a 'psion'.

AD

 

[cbwjm]

I really hope they still do a full psionic class since I'd prefer it to be its own thing, but since this UA has poached some of the classic psionicist powers and turned them into spells I'm not sure that is going to happen. I do like the feats though, I see them as a good way of unlocking psionic power in the different classes.

 

[jgsugden]

I'd rather see two new class, one a psychic warrior, the other a psion. Psionics is not a 'springing' concept that should be added on to another class afew a level or two... it is something that should be baked into the core of the character from the start. I'd have no problem with them being very reminiscent of the fighter and wizard... but they need to be separate classes.

 

[Salthorae]

I just went back and checked the 1E PHB, and this is basically how it worked

2e had the same. Wild Talents were the name of that game

Something similar could be achieved here with Magic Initiate, picking up Psionic Cantrips and 1st level spell and one or more of the Telepathic/Telekinetic Feats mentioned in this UA.

This is a lot different

It is... kind of a bummer as I really like that Subclass's take on things. Free Detect Thoughts, early access (at lesser power) to telekinesis and then boosting each of those spells functionality/versatility were nice. I might still want to let/use both in some circumstances.

 

[Parmandur]

Impression after a first read through:

These Subclasses fit in very well with the Psionic monsters and PC Races released so far.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

I feel like the Psionicist Wizard is more "Someone who studies and uses psionic power" over "Someone who innately has psionic power"

Think the difference between Sorcerers and Wizards.

 

[neogod22]

I'm not seeing this article