D&D 5E Psionic Spells

[Yaarel]

For convenience, WotC published a pdf that organizes spell lists in various ways:

media.wizards .com/2015/downloads/dnd/DnD_SpellLists_1.0.pdf

 

[Yaarel]

Unfortunately, the ‘Evocation’ school lacks coherence. It is a random mishmash of themes that range from Fireball to Wall of Stone to Heal to Telepathy to almost anything.

It helps to focus the category of Evocation, so players can use it as a tool to define their character concepts.

Since Evocation already has the bulk of the elemental spells (Air, Water, Fire, Earth), it becomes useful to define evocation as elemental magic.

Even while D&D 5e is in its formative period, the elemental themes are already prominent, because of the Elemental Evil setting. This setting adds even more spells that are specific to elementalism. It helps to have a ‘school’ that is a place to put and find these elemental themes.

 

[Yaarel]

As elemental magic, an Evoker is someone who evokes the mystical properties inherent in each element: Air, Water, Fire, Earth.

 

[Yaarel]

Elemental themes (Psychokinesis/Evocation) are central to 3e Psionics:

Fire (Pyrokinesis)
Water (Ice, Cold)
Air (Lightning, Thunder)
Earth (including psionically enhancing metal weapons)

And so on.

In the Pathfinder psionic setting, the Kineticist class emphasizes all five elements:

Fire (Pyrokineticist)
Water (Hydrokineticist)
Air (Aerokineticist)
Earth (Terrakineticist)
Ether (Telekineticist)

Similarly, the show Avatar: the Last Airbender, serves as an example of a setting that portrays psionic elemental effects.

 

[Yaarel]

(I apologize for multiple posts in a row.)

I just noticed, the spell Elemental Weapon causes a weapon to inflict acid, cold, fire, lightning, or thunder damage.

While most of us take it for granted, these damage types are ‘Elemental’ magic.

Air = lightning and thunder damage types
Water = cold damage types
Fire = fire and acid damage types

Earth = the weapon itself, whence also the piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning damage types

Note, there are different opinions about which element acid belongs to. Acid burns like fire does. However, some systems that I have seen associate acid with water, apparently associating acid with the erosive properties of water, as well as the fact acid is typically a liquid. (Many stories highlight how the water element has magic that can ‘cut’ thru anything. However, during 5e playtests, the ‘emerald ice’ Wizard trope seemed to associate water with both acid and cold, but fell flat, and seemed to disappear from consideration. I get how acid can associate with water.) I have even seen acid associate with earth, in the sense of the mineral and chemical aspects of acid. I lean toward acid damage belonging to the fire element, not only because it burns similar to the way that fire burns (starting at the surface and slowly eating in), but also because resistance to fire is relatively frequent, and acid is a useful backup for a fire specialist to resort to. With these considerations, the acid damage type associates most strongly with the Fire element.

 

[Hussar]

Nicely done. This is something that I have been looking to do.

The psionic disciplines are:
Clairsentience (Divination) - this is a really weak one. it might make the most sense to combine this with another one.
Telepathy (Enchantment)
Metacreativity (Illusion)
Psychometabolism (Transmutation)
Telekinesis (Evocation)

All the other ones are a bit reaching in my mind:
Travel, Elementalism, Summoning, and Necromancy have nothing to do with psionics. Some of the spells in these areas could appear in the above five but for the most part this is what I think of as psionics in D&D. I don't know, there are a million ways you could do it. YMMV.

Traditionally psionics has had various Travel abilities. Even 1e had psionics teleport and dimensional travel. So, I'd say Travel at least has some history there. But I agree with the others.

 

[fuindordm]

You could make an argument for psionic necromancy under the umbrella of spiritualism, seances, and possession. I would put these in the clairsentience category, personally.

e.g.

Detect Evil
Speak with Departed (like Speak with Dead, but you only need an item strongly associated with the deceased, not the body; DC increases with length of time target has been dead)
Manifest Spirit (force an incorporeal undead to become visible and corporeal for up to 1 minute)
Magic Jar

 

[Jeff Albertson]

Acid is tied to Earth.

 

[Sadrik]

Traditionally psionics has had various Travel abilities. Even 1e had psionics teleport and dimensional travel. So, I'd say Travel at least has some history there. But I agree with the others.

My point was not that those powers did not exist, more that they can be a part of another discipline/science. For instance, Teleport like powers can be a part of metacreativity as pulling stuff from another realm and sculpting is similar to transporting through that realm. Or you could say Clairsentience by folding time and space to allow the passage of spirits and body. That certainly would make Clairsentience better. You could also define it as psychometabolism. Ripping apart your body and reforming it elsewhere. I am a fan of going to Clairsentience, for balance reasons and I think the idea of spiirt/dream travel is pretty awesome.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Unfortunately, the ‘Evocation’ school lacks coherence. It is a random mishmash of themes that range from Fireball to Wall of Stone to Heal to Telepathy to almost anything.

Evocations were generally (over a number of early editions) ex nillo creation (mostly of energy), as distinct from conjuration which brought matter or energy from elsewhere, or summoning which called forth beings of some sort.

FWIW.

My point was not that those powers did not exist, more that they can be a part of another discipline/science. For instance, Teleport like powers can be a part of metacreativity as pulling stuff from another realm and sculpting is similar to transporting through that realm. Or you could say Clairsentience by folding time and space to allow the passage of spirits and body. That certainly would make Clairsentience better. You could also define it as psychometabolism. Ripping apart your body and reforming it elsewhere. I am a fan of going to Clairsentience, for balance reasons and I think the idea of spiirt/dream travel is pretty awesome.

Aportation (moving objects from one point to another without passing through the space between), Teleportation, an Dematerialization were all powers claimed by spiritualists/magicians/theosophy in the 19th century, and psionics does borrow heavily from that tradition. The last would be classic D&D etherealness or the modern D&D 'insubstantial' quality, except that dematerialization could also be claimed to work on objects.