Psionics Survey Results: Generally Positive But More Work Needed

WotC has published the results of last month's psionics survey. They indicate a generally positive reaction to the playtest psionics rules, with some aspects proving less popular, especially the way psionics and magic interact, and the mystic class itself getting lower scores. The general conclusion is that more work is needed on the psionics rules, and that there will be another draft in a couple of months.

Find the survey resuts here.

 

[Queer Venger]

I'll be playtesting the psionic rules with the mind flayers in OOTA, seems like a good way to see how they work.

 

[Bloodsausage]

Nentir Vale in 4e.

Wasn't Nentir Vale in Greyhawk?

 

[Staffan]

Wasn't Nentir Vale in Greyhawk?

Nope, Nentir Vale was its own thing, with its own gods and such. And while the Vale itself was fairly small, there was sort of a vague sketch of a larger world around it - references to ancient empires, organizations, and such.

There was a board game, Conquest of Nerath, that featured a world map of the setting that included a lot of names taken from Greyhawk though.

 

[TwoSix]

That was really more of a location. You could easily cram that whole region into an unexplored chunk of most settings.

Yea, as much as I like the Vale, it would be like calling the Dalelands a setting. Obviously, this is a semantic discussion, but I see a "setting" as a much broader expanse.

 

[Mephista]

Nentir Vale in 4e

That was really more of a location. You could easily cram that whole region into an unexplored chunk of most settings.

Maybe. But Nentir Vale came with its own history, cosmology, pantheons, empires, racial relations, and more that are actually far more critical to the setting than just the modern boundries of the described setting. Trying to fit Nentir Vale into Forgotten Realms, Dark Suns, Dragonlance, or Eberron just wouldn't work without breaking one or the other.

 

[Mephista]

There were people who actually liked the mystic and its take on psionics? Who were these people? Most of the feedback I heard about it here was entirely negative.

Forums are notorious for being 1) highly negative/toxic, and 2) collections of vocal minorities than actually representative of the larger player base.

 

[Yaarel]

I am happy with the WotC wanting to get psionics right. (This is no small ambition, as the psi community is so diverse and divided.) The psi Mystic was a good start for a base psi class, and I am happy with the takeaway that Mearls and team abstracted from the feedback in the survey. More flexibility and an optional concentration. And most importantly: more reliable balance (between the extremes of underpowered or overpowered − especially a balance that avoids a volatile swinginess in either direction. The history of psionics is prone to brokenness, and it is more important than ever to rein in irregular mechanics that never balance well.

The current article is silent about any setting assumptions. All base classes need to be designed to function well in almost any setting. Personally, I feel, the psi Mystic class must be able to function within a traditional D&D fantasy setting seemlessly within the medievalesque vibe. This is easy to do with flavors of monastic mysticism and mind magic of mind-over-mind (telepathy, enchantment, charm, domination, illusion), mind-over-body (shapechange, healing, and buffing), and mind-over-matter (telekinesis = fly, invisible force damage = magical energy, explosive thunder damage = thrust, and force shields = force constructs), and mind-over-space-time (divination).

At the same time, it seems to me, a Near-Future setting is perfect to showcase the psi Mystic class. Here, the psi class can work well to convey almost every X-Men and Star Wars Jedi vibe.

I notice the current article is silent about the Far Realms setting. I hope this means an effort to make the class as setting neutral as possible.

 

[Jester David]

Yea, as much as I like the Vale, it would be like calling the Dalelands a setting. Obviously, this is a semantic discussion, but I see a "setting" as a much broader expanse.

I'd compare it to Keep on the Borederlands, only moreso. We saw two towns, a couple dungeons, plus a couple locations. There wasn't a lot of setting.

Maybe. But Nentir Vale came with its own history, cosmology, pantheons, empires, racial relations, and more that are actually far more critical to the setting than just the modern boundries of the described setting. Trying to fit Nentir Vale into Forgotten Realms, Dark Suns, Dragonlance, or Eberron just wouldn't work without breaking one or the other.

It's cosmology/ pantheon was really a forced changed to the existing D&D cosmology/pantheon. The Vale's history was vague. The World of Greyhawk folio from 1e, which was 32-pages, had more history than we saw for the Vale/Nerarth. Most of it was just throw-away names and references.

It wasn't a setting, it was the skeleton of setting that Dungeon Masters could use to make their own setting. But, since everyone who used it did their own thing with the world, it'd be tricky to publish a product. It'd contradict with every campaign run in the setting.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I don't agree. My group still only buys ~1 book per "season" no matter what. Not knowing what they are producing next year doesn't make me buy more product. Forbes won't stop posting articles about D&D because next year there will be a Dragonlance Setting.

Where did you hear that there will be a Dragonlance setting next year? Everything I heard suggests that it'll be the Realms for the foreseeable future.


I am hoping to give the mystic a try here in a few weeks. The question for me is whether the class can work as the Dragonlance mystic or not. Typically, psionics has been shunned in Dragonlance due to its flavor. However, the 5e reskinning of psionics may make it more palatable.

 

[Mephista]

It wasn't a setting, it was the skeleton of setting that Dungeon Masters could use to make their own setting. But, since everyone who used it did their own thing with the world, it'd be tricky to publish a product. It'd contradict with every campaign run in the setting.

A skeleton of a setting is still a setting. Just like a skeleton crew is still a crew, just a bare bones one. The Crystal Gate is unique to the Nentir Vale setting, the Blood War the result of fighting over the Far Realm's shard of evil is unique to Nentir Vale, and the ancient empires of tieflings and dragonborn going to war is unique to Nentir Vale.