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!

 

[CapnZapp]

Then turn the little disipline thingies into spells there is no good reason not to format them the same way and allow someone who wants to use spell slots to do that and then have the DMG optional spell points operate in the same way for a Mystic/Psion.

That does not follow.

Just like you can have spell slots as the default rule and spell points as the variant, you can have power points as the default rule.

Converting from A to B is not inherently more right or wrong than converting from B to A. Both are equally easy (or hard).

What does follow is that you could ask for a "psionic power slot variant". Please do.

 

[Louis Brenton]

Prior to these first-draft rules coming out, I was pretty much "meh" on the topic of psionics when I'd hear other people wanting to see them in 5E. However, having read through the first draft, I have to admit I'm intrigued & I'm looking forward to seeing more. I think it's a good first pass at the topic. Nice job, WotC.

 

[Fralex]

I was worried at first when they started talking about psionics being related to the Far Realm, but it ended up coming pretty close to what I wanted. The Far Realm itself is not the source of the abilities; it's just so alien that exposure to it can give you a sudden awakening to other means of manipulating reality besides magic. I'm excited to try this out.

 

[Vael]

I'm liking this implementation. I have quibbles, the Awakened Mind has very limited offensive options, and I'm not sure how well the system will scale into higher levels. I'd like some general disciplines that are accessible to all the subclasses, but overall, I think this has promise. It's an early playtest, so I'm interested. I also wouldn't mind some more short rest resources.

 

[Staffan]

Actually, it may as well be the source in Eberron. The dream realm shares enough in common with the Far Realm that it works.

Except Eberron has another plane that actually is the Far Realm. The two are distinct in Eberron's cosmology.

And my main issue is that the fluff suggests a defined origin for psionic powers that does not work for the two D&D settings where psionics is the most prominent.

I really don't see why people are saying this is so powerful. Remember, the Mystic doesn't grant Extra Attacks. You're basically spending 5 points in order to get your second attack, where almost every other class in the game gets it automatically. You'd need to be level 10 before any so-called abuses can happen, and that's one level from when most melee classes are getting their next bump in power. Plus, it takes up your bonus action, whereas many classes can use that bonus action for a variety of things.

The way I see it, Surge of Action is pretty expensive for what it is seemingly supposed to do (give the caster an extra attack or do something extra), but by using the extra action mechanic it could open the door to some form of abuse. For example, an Immortal Mystic with two levels of Warlock (for Agonizing Blast) could eldritch blast for 4x 1d10+Cha at 7th level (total), five times per day. I don't know if that's broken, per se, but it's not a door I want to see opened. I think it would be better for everyone involved if it was more like haste or Cunning Action - given a duration for those 5 PP (1 minute?), and for that duration the Mystic can take certain actions as a bonus action.

 

[Mirtek]

Except Eberron has another plane that actually is the Far Realm.

Exactly, a plane that actually is the far realm, so it fits perfectly.

5e is unifying the multiverse of old once again, and strayer like Eberron are being brouight back into the fold, aka Xoriat is just the Eberronian name for the far realm and Eberron now connects to the multiverse just like Oert or Toril

 

[Yaarel]

This is why I hate the enforcement of a multiverse - forcing all unique settings to homogenize into unwanted glop.

It was a mistake when 4e tried to homogenize all official settings. It is a mistake now when 5e does it.

 

[Mirtek]

This is why I hate the enforcement of a multiverse - forcing all unique settings to homogenize into unwanted glop.

It was a mistake when 4e tried to homogenize all official settings. It is a mistake now when 5e does it.

I love it. It was 3e's misstake to sort of break them out of the shared multiverse. The heydays of the multiverse during 2e was when D&D lore was at it's best

See, that's the kind of thing I think is inappropriate.

I agree. That turns the abilities into mere ribbons. Why give them when they are taken back or circumvented when they are needed most?

 

[Fralex]

Not liking the Far Realm connection either...should be just one of the options....not the default

As far as I can tell, it is just one of several flavor options. It was just mentioned first.

Mystics get their power from their awakening, which gives them a different perspective on the world. Like a 3-D creature in a 2-D universe.

One way to gain this perspective is exposure to the logic-defying properties of the Far Realm.

Another way is by a seeming fluke, or by uncovering ancient mystic lore.

And in Dark Sun, the gods' abandonment of the world has left it badly warped and frayed at the seams, giving people another way to discover the secret workings of the universe despite the Far Realm not being present to rip it open completely.

Regardless of how and where you become awakened, it is explicitly stated that psionic power comes from within. That's why the Far Realm was only mentioned as an "indirect" origin.

 

[GobiWon]

Why should the immortal be able to action surge more times per day than the fighter. I like the feel of the class but it is prone to multiclass abuse and is overpowered currently. The point system allows you to convert all those 1st and 2nd level slots into 3rd level slots. That is why these powers have to be less powerful than their spell counterparts. Instead they are slightly more powerful. Most wizards would gladly burn their first and second level spells for more fireballs, but they can't unlike this class. How ridiculous would this class be carried out to level 20. Good rough draft. But it is a very rough draft.