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<blockquote data-quote="TheCosmicKid" data-source="post: 7675271" data-attributes="member: 6683613">Okay, believe it or not, I had basically the same ability as Strength of Mind in the homebrew psion class I've been tinkering with.&nbsp; I say this not to brag, but to point out a problem I ran into:&nbsp; multiclassing.&nbsp; Unless you do something to balance it, it's a free extra save proficiency for a character who multiclasses into psion but not for a full psion.&nbsp; (What I did was say that multiclass psions instead pick one of their existing proficiencies and gain the ability to move that around.)Generally, I really like where they're going.&nbsp; I would prefer not to see so much of the Far Realm flavor in the fluff text, but it doesn't show up at all in the mechanics we've seen so it's hardly &quot;baked in&quot;.&nbsp; I think that the fluff's description of what psionic power fundamentally is is very good, actually:&nbsp; it's basically a pseudo-Buddhist/Matrix-y &quot;reality is an illusion&quot; sort of deal.&nbsp; The problem is the overemphasis on the Far Realm as the source of this realization.&nbsp; It's like the 3e sorcerer saying, &quot;These characters are men and women with an intuitive gift for magic... and they get that gift from a draconic ancestor.&quot;&nbsp; Very general character concept, unnecessarily specific source.&nbsp; For the record, not that any one cares, I'm actually a big fan of the Far Realm, but I think the right place for strong Lovecraftian flavor is where it currently is:&nbsp; the warlock.Order of the Immortal does look a little powerful on paper, but that's just numbers.&nbsp; At this stage in the process, I am so far from worried about that kind of stuff.However, the old problem of mind flayers using spells instead of psionic powers is back in full force.&nbsp; Personally, as a DM, spending a few hours rewriting monsters to use the new system is my idea of a good time.&nbsp; But I fully recognize that not every DM is like me, and that &quot;the DM can fix the problem with houserules&quot; is a fallacy.&nbsp; The rules, as published, are going to present a disconnect between the narrative and the mechanics.&nbsp; Publishing an updated mind flayer is clunky and awkward and redundant, but may be the best patch.&nbsp; There's really no perfect solution here.&nbsp; I think we all knew it's going to be inevitable in any edition of D&amp;D where the mind flayer appears in the Monster Manual but psionics do not appear in the Player's Handbook.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="TheCosmicKid, post: 7675271, member: 6683613"] Okay, believe it or not, I had basically the same ability as Strength of Mind in the homebrew psion class I've been tinkering with. I say this not to brag, but to point out a problem I ran into: multiclassing. Unless you do something to balance it, it's a free extra save proficiency for a character who multiclasses into psion but not for a full psion. (What I did was say that multiclass psions instead pick one of their existing proficiencies and gain the ability to move that around.) Generally, I really like where they're going. I would prefer not to see so much of the Far Realm flavor in the fluff text, but it doesn't show up at all in the mechanics we've seen so it's hardly "baked in". I think that the fluff's description of what psionic power fundamentally [I]is[/I] is very good, actually: it's basically a pseudo-Buddhist/Matrix-y "reality is an illusion" sort of deal. The problem is the overemphasis on the Far Realm as the source of this realization. It's like the 3e sorcerer saying, "These characters are men and women with an intuitive gift for magic... and they get that gift from a draconic ancestor." Very general character concept, unnecessarily specific source. For the record, not that any one cares, I'm actually a big fan of the Far Realm, but I think the right place for strong Lovecraftian flavor is where it currently is: the warlock. Order of the Immortal does look a little powerful on paper, but that's just numbers. At this stage in the process, I am so far from worried about that kind of stuff. However, the old problem of mind flayers using spells instead of psionic powers is back in full force. Personally, as a DM, spending a few hours rewriting monsters to use the new system is my idea of a good time. But I fully recognize that not every DM is like me, and that "the DM can fix the problem with houserules" is a fallacy. The rules, as published, are going to present a disconnect between the narrative and the mechanics. Publishing an updated mind flayer is clunky and awkward and redundant, but may be the best patch. There's really no perfect solution here. I think we all knew it's going to be inevitable in any edition of D&D where the mind flayer appears in the Monster Manual but psionics do not appear in the Player's Handbook. [/QUOTE]

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