Psionics Coming Soon To D&D?

WotC's Mike Mearls has hinted that we may be able to expect some psionics content soon, possibly in the Unearthed Arcana column. He was asked by Ethan Clow on the Twitterweb "any chance we might see a Psionic class for 5e soon? Perhaps in unearthed arcana?" to which he replied "wouldn't be surprised. I *might* have had a couple prior edition psionics books on my desk last week..." (Thanks to Wolf Hunter for the scoop).

 

[Ricochet]

I'm surprised to read so few mentions of Pathfinder's Ultimate Psionics. Everything I read suggests it's much better than 3/3.5 Psionics. I know I like UP so far, but I'm not familiar with 3e psionics.

Ultimate Psionics is an impressive tome for sure, but the amount of rules and powers and flexibility is just immense. There are a myriad of balance issues in it, though nothing that screams out "broken" right away (and nothing that can't be adjusted). 5e doesn't need that much oomph though. It needs just a nice basic Psionic class with a power list and perhaps some items/monsters about the theme too.

An adventure path taking place in Athas would be a nice time to introduce them.

If it has to be Forgotten Realms, bring on the "illithid overlords" story.

 

[Lord Rasputin]

Err, when didn't they?

Let me see ... Eldritch Wizardry, 1st edition AD&D, both systems for 2e, the original system for 3.0e, the Revised system was alright but it was mostly like just another spell caster, 4e worked the same as everything else in 4e so it really doesn't matter. I wonder just how many folks really use the psionics system. Obviously, that percentage is higher around here.

 

[pemerton]

Personally I hope psionics fans are willing for some disappointment.

I suspect psionics to be heavily like 4e, the only edition with no problems of psionics meshing with the rest of the system. No "face/decker" problem. No magic/psionics transparency issues.

I think slightly over half of the hardcore D&D psionics fans want a psionics and magics mixing issues. But the total nontransparent hardcore psionics fans is a minority of the total D&D fandom which include hardcore psionics fans who are okay with psionics being spells and regular fans who just like psionics

I think I count as a psionics fan but probably not a hardcore psionics fan.

For me, psionics should evoke mind-over-matter, mysticism, the X-Men, and bald casters who touch their hands to their brows when using their powers. The AD&D Appendix 1 ability names and effects are mostly fine, but the actual system is horribly broken. Rolemaster mentalism magic is a fine model, and mostly not broken. 4e is another fine model, and only a bit broken due to spamming issues.

Magic-psionic transparency is a non-issue for me. Using psionics to circumvent anti-magic protection is a bug, not a feature, from my point of view.

 

[Morlock]

Dispell psionic = dispell magic, magic resistance = psionic resistance, etc. and vice versa

Yeah, it smacked me in the forehead that it was an obscure term for something pretty obvious ("how do they interact?"), right before I reloaded the page and saw your response.

In this survey I called out Crown of Madness as the prime example of Wizards nerfing Enchantment (and offensive Illusion) spells too hard. They used to be too powerful in 3e and now the majority of them are absolutely terrible.

If charm person is any guide, you're right. I like Ultimate Psionics' take on charms way better than 5e's, so far.

Ultimate Psionics is an impressive tome for sure, but the amount of rules and powers and flexibility is just immense. There are a myriad of balance issues in it, though nothing that screams out "broken" right away (and nothing that can't be adjusted). 5e doesn't need that much oomph though. It needs just a nice basic Psionic class with a power list and perhaps some items/monsters about the theme too.

UP seems like it would be pretty easy to adjust, as you say (ower points would be the first place I'd look). Also, the wide variety of PP costs for powers, that aren't all that tied to level, suggests that they put a lot of thought into those costs (not that this means they're any better balanced than you say).

If you have a document or link that goes into the subject of UP's balance in an illuminating way, I'd love to see it.

As for the # of powers, yeah, I guess they're a bit much for what most people want. There are roughly as many powers in UP as there are in 5e, so for my purposes, it's perfect. I have pulled back from the idea of converting over the whole powers list, though (thanks to timely intervention by the ENWorld commentariat). Instead I'm going to go through the 5e spells list, yank the stuff I don't want, flag the stuff that's so-so for review, bring in stuff I like from UP, use UP to modify 5e spells that need it, etc.

 

[variant]

I think the Psion could easily be a a Sorcerer subclass. I don't think there was ever anything fundamentally special that psionics ever brought to D&D other than a spell point system. I don't see them adding spell points as a default system for a class since they already have it as an option in the DMG.

 

[Parmandur]

I think the Psion could easily be a a Sorcerer subclass. I don't think there was ever anything fundamentally special that psionics ever brought to D&D other than a spell point system. I don't see them adding spell points as a default system for a class since they already have it as an option in the DMG.

Old school Sword & Sorcery flavor, tradition.

 

[Ristamar]

I hope they don't release a hefty book specifically geared toward psionics. While I don't think psions should necessarily be an archetype of an existing class, a giant subset of new rules for a niche class and a few monsters would be a huge misstep given the current streamlined rules. If we get a lightweight online supplement that will be eventually be available in print-on-demand form (like with PotA), that would suit me just fine.

 

[variant]

Old school Sword & Sorcery flavor, tradition.

I don't consider psionics 'old school sword & sorcery' flavor. Tradition? Reminds me of one of my favorite Gygax quotes, "There's a number of things in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons that I never should have done. I shouldn't have put Psionics in there, but somebody talked me into it.".

 

[Mephista]

Old school Sword & Sorcery flavor, tradition.

Ummm.... could you go into a bit more detail? This doesn't make sense to me. What does psionic magic have to do with old school sword and sorcery flavor?

 

[Jhaelen]

I'm a big fan of all things psionic, but that remark leaves me skeptical. Psionics as 'just another kind of magic' simply doesn't cut it. So, I strongly doubt a typical 'Unearthed Arcana' article can do it justice. It needs a separate source book. Nothing less will do.