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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7415585" data-attributes="member: 58172">I just watched the next episode of Happy Fun Hour. It goes into more detail about the psion wizard.For the telepath wizard, Mearls puts together a boosted at-will Detect Thoughts as a Wizard level 2 feature. I like it.This time around, Mearls seems more enthusiastic about psionic subclasses. Especially, these subclasses can offer a ‘middle ground’ between ‘no psionics anywhere’ and ‘all psionics everywhere’.So, the telepath wizard is shaping up in a way that I like. For my tastes, the telekinete wizard still needs more work.The telekinete (rhymes with ‘athlete’) needs open-ended at-will telekinesis.Alternate names to distinguish any new spell from the ‘Telekinesis’ spell, include: Telekinese, Psychokinesis, and Psychokinese.For the telekinete wizard, I need.• Potent at-will Telekinese cantrip, whose strength starts at 30 pounds, and increases while leveling.This Telekinese cantrip must lack the ‘spectral hand’ of Mage Hand. And the cantrip must be more versatile, such as telekinesing a globule of beer up out of a mug then making fun shapes out of beer in midair. In other words, open-ended telekinetic control. Mearls worries that this open-ended kind of power without a predefined list of restricted ways for how to use it, can make the spell unintendedly powerful. He gives an example of using telekinesis to destroy a bridge, thus kill many monsters walking on a bridge, albeit he acknowledges other spells might also be able to destroy this bridge. (A subtle example might be, use the telekinesis to pick open a lock by telekinesing the tumblers inside a lock.) Nevertheless, such *open endedness* is precisely necessary for the *flavor* of using ones mind. Telekinetes use their mind in various ways that they can think of, sometimes surprising. Other spells are open ended, such as Suggestion and Phantasmal Force, which also feel psionic because they are open ended. The narrative creativity is part of the psionic flavor. It seems possible to make an open-ended Telekinese cantrip balance.Regarding the official level 5 Telekinesis spell, it combines two different features.• Telekinesis to lift and move an object.• Telekinetic grappling (sotospeak) to restrain an unwilling creature.The aspect of lifting should apply to any willing creature, as well as any unattended object, thus ‘flying’ oneself or an ally, or about three teammembers (upto roughly 1000 pounds).For grappling and restraining an unwilling creature, the unwilling creature gets a Strength save, but this only makes sense if there is something to grab onto to stay grounded. I think I would rather have it require a mental save to resist the psychic influence.Rather than require the DM to track weight (and guess how much things like horse or a boat or table might weigh):It is more helpful if the Telekinese and Telekinesis spells refer to size.Spell Level 0: Tiny creature or object (upto 2-feet or 30 pounds)SL 1: Small creature or object (upto 4-feet tall or 100 pounds)SL 3: Medium creature or object (upto 8-feet tall or 300 pounds)SL 5: Large creature or object (upto 16-feet tall or 1000 pounds)SL 7: Huge creature or object (upto 32-feet tall or 3000 pounds)SL 9: Gargantuan creature or object (upto 10,000 pounds)Then add difficulties to attempts to use it versus a creature one or more size categories larger.Maybe the cantrip being always-on Tiny, can optionally use spell slots to augment the size lifted, with highest spell level determining the maximum currently possible. Maybe a free use of this maximum per rest, is a telekinete feature at level 2.Impactive at-will open-ended telekinesis needs to be accessible at wizard level 1, or level 2 at the latest. There are various ways to do this.</blockquote>

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