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!

 

[The Myopic Sniper]

I really like it. It is a good start anyway. I don't miss the pseudoscience flavor as much as I thought I might and I will be interested to see how they develop this into a full class. I kind of wish that it was more of a short rest based class and the psi points and psi maximum for powers were reduced accordingly. Perhaps they didn't want to step on the Monk's toes here since the numbers would probably look a lot like Ki points and their maximum's for powers. It might be easily house ruled once we see the whole class. Anyway, it looks like a good start and I am glad to see that they aren't totally adverse to adding new classes to the game.

 

[Voort]

So Psions only get one Saving Throw proficiency?

 

[bogmad]

So Psions only get one Saving Throw proficiency?

No, it gets Wisdom, and then the Strength of Mind feature means you get to choose your other ST after any short or long rest.

 

[Nikosandros]

So Psions only get one Saving Throw proficiency?

They can pick another one after every rest through Strength of Mind.

 

[Sadrik]

Possibly, the designers have a two-prong approach for psionics. The Mystic would be the base class that many fans want, with the mechanical wonkiness they have become accustomed too. In addition there can be psionic archetypes of the core classes that many fans want.

When the wonky psionic mechanics break the game, it will be easy for DMs to ban the class.

Meanwhile, DMs can continue to use the archetypes of the normal class with their normal mechanics more reliably.

This is something that I could get behind. However if they spend a lot of design space on making the disciplines. That means that they spend less time making the cool psion powers into spells. What would a sorcerer with wild talent look like, if all the disciplines are not spells... Answer: not cool. Also multi-classing looks like it will be wonky.

 

[I'm A Banana]

It's correted with the full class now.


......aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, it's got the Far Realm's tentacles all over it.

There are some friggin' narrative backflips and impressive contortions to make Eberron and Dark Sun fit that narrative, and it contradicts the "evolution" vibe from DS and the "dreams" vibe from Eberron pretty hard.

 

[Yaarel]

Unhappy with psionics requiring Far Realms flavor:

"Psionics indirectly originates from the Far Realm, a dimension outside the bounds of the known multiverse."

The Far Realms doesnt exist in my settings.

The antihuman implications of Far Realms flavor contradict the personal and humanistic flavor of ones own mind.

 

[Yaarel]

If a player purchases a Far Realms Setting Guide, then that is where the Setting Guide needs to discuss how Far Realms relates to psionics.

The class has to function in many different kinds of settings, mostly homebrew settings, or settings inspired by popular shows and books.

Keep the baked-in settings out of the f***ing class! Sorry.

 

[Wik]

I hear you. I fully expect many to like it. It is after all what many were asking for. A unique perspective on the psion. My dislike of it is that it does not seamlessly fit into the game. Monsters with psionic powers will have to be re-imagined. New mechanics vetted and balanced. I am all for new stuff. I however am more interested in a clear coherent modular system more. This is a creative stab at a new spellcasting method. I even think that a nifty unique system is a great sort of advanced complex way to keep jaded die hard fans interested. However new fans and fans who don't want to deal with the advanced and complex nature, just turn it off. So I feel this is constructive.

Sure. And it's all good to say "nope, not for me!" I'll probably do the same - I'm not a huge fan of psionics, either. That being said, I find this looks a lot better than 3e, where psionics really were just a modified version of spellcasting that I HATED. Having the psion do its own thing is a lot cooler, I think - and from here, it doesn't look much more confusing or different than, say, the warlock.

I really like how concentration seems to be a big class feature. I'm NOT a big fan of mind thrust, mostly because it seems that the most valid target for mystics using this ability is animals and oozes, which isn't exactly flavour appropriate.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Very nice class.
Seems like there will be one class that covers psi mage, psi warrior, psi thief and maybe psi cleric. It could really be fun.
I am not sold on the saving throw mechanic however...