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!

 

[Tony Vargas]

There's one very important question that needs to be answered in regard to this class. Does it feel like D&D Psionics? That was the all-important question for the rest of the game, and we shouldn't hold this to any different standard.

The problem is this: for some, Psionics never felt like D&D, so they want to change the fluff.

Psionics area sci-fi trope, rather than a fantasy one, sure. That doesn't mean they don't feel like D&D, though, since D&D has always had more than a few anachronisms and sci-fi references built into it. Dying Earth, from which D&D cribbed it's fire-and-forget spell system, for instance, is a classic, influential, science-fiction series.

For others, changing the fluff means it doesn't feel like D&D psionics.

To an extent, if the class isn't called a Psion or Psionicist, and it doesn't have an Ego Whip, Id Insinuation, or Tower of Iron Will, then it isn't D&D psionics. It would be like renaming the Wizard to Spellslinger, and getting rid of Magic Missile and Fireball.

Psionics started out with no classes, then was given to the Psionicist, then divided amongst the Psion, Psychic Warrior, and, later Ardent, Battlemind, and even Monk. It's not like it's been highly consistent throughout.

I think there's room to compromise and find a healthy balance between the traditional Psion and something that will find a broader appeal. Heck, I even think the proposed system is a good start on that compromise. But it needs some nods to the pseudoscience. In particular, it needs to evoke the different aspects of the human mind, though it doesn't have to use Freudian terms. I also think that common terms like telekinesis and telepathy are entirely okay to use.

It might be reasonable to have some of these 'Orders' be more fantasy-appropriate, and some more pseudo-science-fictitious.

 

[Wrathamon]

The problem is this: for some, Psionics never felt like D&D, so they want to change the fluff. For others, changing the fluff means it doesn't feel like D&D psionics.

To an extent, if the class isn't called a Psion or Psionicist, and it doesn't have an Ego Whip, Id Insinuation, or Tower of Iron Will, then it isn't D&D psionics. It would be like renaming the Wizard to Spellslinger, and getting rid of Magic Missile and Fireball.

this so far has been the best argument for leaving the names alone. But, wotc had a poll and one of the questions was the pseudo-science. I am guessing it was strongly in the we don't like that in our D&D. BUT, this is a playtest document. If they see that the majority of players want the old terminology, I don't see a reason why they wouldn't change it back. That is the point of the playtest. I am sure they'll have a question on the far realm connection as well. I think they will make it written in the final product to be a strong lore option but not written in stone.

 

[Particle_Man]

I'm in a hurry so not reading 27 pages of a thread so maybe this was already noted. Quick thing on the wotc psionics (which I love). The Awakened Mind's Third Eye discipline automatically gives blindsight 30' and then if you spend a psi point you can get tremorsense 30'. But isn't blindsight 30' already strictly superior to tremorsense 30'? What would the latter give you that would make it worth spending the psi point?

 

[Elderbrain]

I think they should have called the class the Psychic. Just that - the Psychic. Not "Psionicist" or, Powers forbid, the "Psion"... while "Mystic" is a better-sounding name than either of those, it also makes one think of wizardry, not mind-powers. While "psionics" is definitely a sci-fi reference, mental powers per se are not necessarily non-fantasy. And some things appear in both, for instance ghosts are a staple of both fantasy and sci-fi stories about psychics and psychic powers... I don't see sci-fi as "owning" mental powers.

 

[Dire Bare]

Would you be okay then if the next six months of Unearthed Arcana was just revised versions of the material we've already seen?
That's half my fear.
The other half is that it's been six months and they have yet to revise anything. And we answered the survey giving feedback on the Eberron articles many months ago.

These fears could be moot. They could eventually do a book of UA, either as a free PDF or small softcover. Or they could have a new article and a revised article in the same month, or a second UA each month with revised content.

Do not let fear rule you, padawan . . .

It won't happen, but if we got nothing but revised content over the next 6-ish months or so, I'd be fine. It's all free after all, and I DO want to see revised versions of what has been released so far.

6-ish months of no revisions? Could happen, but doesn't bother me either. While I don't want to wait forever for a revised take on the warforged, artificer, etc, it's always fun to get new stuff too. And despite the cries of "broken!" on teh intrawebs, I've found the previous content to work fairly well as is.

And of course, revised content could come via a new product, rather than a new UA article. Perhaps a free product like the EE Players Companion, or an actual book. That'd be fine too.

We get what we get, and it's all good. WotC doesn't owe us anything and I've enjoyed what they have released so far. Why worry?

 

[Uchawi]

It would be interesting if they just release psionic classes as a separate rule book. That may provide a chassis for a more flexible class metastructure, so a new type of fighter could be realized (similar to a monk with ki). That was the direction I was hoping they would take with martial characters in general.

 

[Dire Bare]

"Mystic" doesn't sound like an appropriate class name at all to me, as far I know the word normally has some religious connotation, which doesn't typically come with psionics (it could, but I think it would be a minority option); maybe the name belongs to the attempt at removing the sci-fi colour of psionics but my guess is that WotC will later revert to the usual "Psion"

This has come up several times in this thread, but "mystic" isn't any more of a religious term than wizard or sorcerer, or at best, only slightly so. Remember, in real world religion and mythology, there isn't really this hard separation between "power sources" (to borrow a 4E concept) of divine, arcane, psionic, etc. A mystic is someone in tune with the paranormal, which could be from a religious perspective, or a more "in tune with the universe" or "in tune with my inner self" kind of vibe. As much as I prefer the name "psion" for the main class, mystic works really well when you actually understand the meaning of the word IRL.

I am with those who think the Far Realm connection is inappropriate for the class as a whole; it just doesn't cut it because the Far Realm is all about madness while Psionics is pretty much the opposite, it's about awareness and clarity... the two might connect in a very special case, which means there could be one subclass of the Psion that relates to the Far Realm (just like there's a Warlock subclass), but for the whole class is way too restrictive

The Far Realm being tied to psionics has already been established in D&D lore, so it isn't "inappropriate" and actually works really well. For the 5E psion (or mystic) to have NO ties to the Far Realm would be a weird design choice. The Far Realm and psionics is like chocolate and peanut butter, they go really great together! However, I'm hoping the fluff of 5E psionics makes it clear that peanut butter can exist without chocolate, they don't require being served together.

 

[Jester David]

We get what we get, and it's all good. WotC doesn't owe us anything and I've enjoyed what they have released so far. Why worry?

I worry because WotC has a crap reputation at finishing what they start. It's history is littered with half-completed story hooks, unfinished, under supported material, and yes even play tests that were never updated and revised.
Free content is good, even half-finished. But if they're just posting and abandoning they shouldn't call it a playtesting and take feedback.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I worry because WotC has a crap reputation at finishing what they start. It's history is littered with half-completed story hooks, unfinished, under supported material, and yes even play tests that were never updated and revised.
Free content is good, even half-finished. But if they're just posting and abandoning they shouldn't call it a playtesting and take feedback.

that is very harsh, they just completed the single largest playtest and used it to put out the best selling edition... they may have had some hickups over the years, but I think you are vastly overselling it...

 

[Dire Bare]

I worry because WotC has a crap reputation at finishing what they start. It's history is littered with half-completed story hooks, unfinished, under supported material, and yes even play tests that were never updated and revised.
Free content is good, even half-finished. But if they're just posting and abandoning they shouldn't call it a playtesting and take feedback.

No they don't. At least, not from my perspective. Is the history of D&D littered with products that were started, but abandoned? Sure. Has WotC, and TSR before them, started down one path and then later changed direction? Sure.

The same is true about every other major company, both in and out of the RPG business. Situations change and companies need to adapt. If a particular product is released enthusiastically, but later proves not to be meeting its goals, why would any company choose to continue supporting it? When you cancel a product, inevitably you will disappoint customers who really liked it, but if they are the few to the many, then it's the right call. There are folks out there who LOVED "New Coke".

This makes WotC neither incompetent, inconsistent, uncaring, or deserving of a negative reputation. We're bordering on fan entitlement here, where we like a product so much we feel an ownership over it that we don't truly have. We demand that we get what we want and on our timetable, and when that doesn't happen, we get upset . . . justified or not.

I have a feeling that you and I wouldn't argue over the specifics, there certainly have been plenty of abandoned projects over D&D's 40+ years of history. But I think it's an optimist vs pessimist kind of disagreement (not that it boils neatly down to black and white terms). Half glass full, half glass empty type of situation.

I have confidence that Mearls and co. will continue to deliver fantastic D&D content to me for years to come. There will be projects started but later abandoned, there will be changes in direction, there will be decisions made that don't match up with my personal wants and needs . . . but I am very OK with that!

Zen and the art of D&D fandom is a book somebody needs to write, IMO!