Unearthed Arcana Psionics Hits Unearthed Arcana

If you've been waiting anxiously for psionics to arrive in the D&D Unearthed Arcana column, your wait is over! The Awakened Mystic is a psionic class by Mike Mearls which - currently - has access to three psionic disciplines, with more to come later. Following on from Mike Mearls' question, Should Psionic Flavour Be Altered? (a discussion which promoted 750+ comments here on EN World, and is still ongoing), it sounds like he has answered the question with a resounding "yes". Rather than pseudo-scientific sounding terms like telepathy, clairovoyance, and the like, we have the disciplines Conquering Mind, Intellect Fortress (a callback to earlier editions), and Third Eye.

UPDATE - IMPORTANT NOTE FROM MIKE MEARLS: "For folks looking at the psionics material in today's UA, looks like there was a minor error. Not all the material is there." Keep an eye on it; I expect it'll be fixed soon.

UPDATE 2 - fixed! Updated document includes another three disciplines (Celerity, Iron Durability, and Psionic Weapon) and the basic rules to the class.

Find it here!

 

[Barachiel]

I am confused. This only goes to 5th level? Where are the other 15 levels?

 

[Sarthax]

So given that Wildshaped Druids are limited on spellcasting until level 18th feature Beast Spells, what's the take on Wildshaped Psionics? I would think there's no limitation as you don't need any V/S/M and just your mind and you retain Int, Wis, Chr stats and all other class features.

>You can’t cast spells, and your ability to speak or take any action that requires hands is limited to the capabilities of your beast form. Transforming doesn’t break your concentration on a spell you’ve already cast, however, or prevent you from taking actions that are part of a spell, such as call lightning, that you’ve already cast.

 

[I'm A Banana]

The far realm stuff does irk me a bit. It's like I went to go look at cool psychic stuff when suddenly.

 

[Mirtek]

I am confused. This only goes to 5th level? Where are the other 15 levels?

To be playtested at a later date. The 5e playtest didn't have all classes all the way to 20 from day one either

 

[Minigiant]

The fact there is a maximum amount of points that an adventurer can spend at any one time, is very frequently misunderstood by too many D&D players.

The following rules need to be much more emphatic - more difficult to miss. "The maximum number of psi points a mystic can spend on a single discipline option is based on class level."


Maybe have its own black bolded section title saying something like "Maximum Number of Psi Points".

Let's guess how many times a psionics users player forgets the max psi points per power cap.
Twice a session?

 

[Yaarel]

Maybe rename the ‘Order of the Invisible Hand’ as the ‘Order of the Forcer’

Codifying a gravity-like telekinetic force as a ‘hand’ is lame.

 

[Wrathamon]

I believe they went away from the psuedo science names because of the results of the poll that asked if players like the psuedo science names.
I am guessing it is one class and not a subclass or multiple classes because of the same poll that asked if players wanted a new class or not (if I remember correctly ... could be mixing that up with artificer )

 

[Wrathamon]

Maybe rename the ‘Order of the Invisible Hand’ as the ‘Order of the Forcer’

Codifying a gravity-like telekinetic force as a ‘hand’ is lame.

But, very D&D (Bigby would disagree with you)

 

[Gadget]

My take - Love the new 'Mystic' flavor, was never a big fan of the pseudo science stuff. The only exception is the ties to the 'Far Realm', but that is easy enough to excise and re-flavor. The only downside (aside from potential balance issues that may arise) is that this class, with its new disciplines and flavor, not to mention ki--er--psi points sounds remarkably like the monk class. It may require some fine tuning, but I like the start well enough.

My one major mechanical complaint is the Celerity Discipline seems a little too tied to the initiative mechanics, which is a little weak sauce. I'm Okay with the concentration benefit, but the other ability to let you get a bonus to initiative by spending psi-points is a little wonky. I don't see it being used that much, plus with all the alternative initiative mechanics (some of them in the DMG) out there, it is of questionable benefit.

 

[BornAgainGamer]

Ink