D&D General So… psionic powers are no longer purely mental?

[Corinnguard]

Trust your designers.

More so if they visited and participated in the same RPG forums, you visited and participated in. They get to know us a little more and vice versa then.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I find it ironic that people still complain about WotC and their treatment of the OGL... a system meant to allow anyone and everyone to create the types of D&D material anyone could possibly want... but then still get upset that WOTC THEMSELVES isn't making the material they want.

For Pete's sake... you don't need a WotC-made psionic class or system, you have countless others out there you can be enjoying right now... but you're still bent out of shape that you can't get an "official" one that works exactly how you want psionics to go because all the other play testers out there don't agree with your take.

So just use the OGL versions of psionics that you got so mad you thought WotC was going to eliminate three years ago! Put your money where your mouth is.

 

[Remathilis]

Public playtesting has transformed into a brute force tool. Here's the game. Tell us what you think!

It's a lot more subtle than that. It works best when you can present people multiple versions of something over time, or a stack of options from which they pick the ones they like best.

I don't think this scenario works:
"Here are three subclasses for an upcoming book. Give us feedback on them."

This works much better IME:
"Here are 10 subclasses. Rank them in your order of preference." The top three are then published.

The core 5e playtest, and the one for Xanathar's, followed the second model. Stuff like the ship rules from Saltmarsh followed model A and delivered meh results.

The trick is building a content pipeline that is focused on volume up front (make lots of stuff!) and refinement at the bottom (few things survive, but the ones that do are highly polished).

I think the problem (as you are painfully aware) is that D&D players no longer want the same things. I would have loved three different psionics methods to rank and vote over, but we were given the mystic and told to quibble over the details, which meant people nitpicked it to death. Some liked the idea but not the execution. Some hated it and wanted something closer to that 2e or 3e or 4e provided (which themselves are different experiences). Some wanted no psionics at all. Some wanted some idea that was totally off the wall and some didn't know what they wanted, but that sure wasn't it. That's a LOT more people who have qualms with the mystic than who didn't, and even if they were not a united front, it was enough to deep six what was going on with it for half a decade.

In light of how many good ideas got ripped to shreds by a community who didn't have a idea what they wanted except "not that" is it surprising that playtests are glorified popularity contests?

Of course, A/B testing has it's issues, as people who liked certain Xanathar's subclasses who didn't make "the cut" can attest. Those ideas were never revisited to see if they could be improved, they get forgotten and lost. For that, I'd rather have WotC give me an idea and see if it vibes rather than give me six options and let the top three exist at the cost of the other three. I'm not convinced things like the dance bard would have seen the light of day in a ranked vote system....

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

What do you think about mystic like spirit spellcaster with a xianxia style and psionicist like a reskin of the mystic?

I guess WotC wants psionic can be "recycled" into spirit magic to can sell crunch for other classes like magic items.

But also WotC could want psionic like no-magic game system for future sci-fi settings without magic, for example a reboot of Star Frontiers or Gamma World.

Any players don't want anything because it is too different and weird, but others love it because it is different and fresh. You can't please everyone.

What if anybody suggests a new psionic discipline about souls and spirits? Somebody would accept it with the open arms but others would reject it. It would be like an edition war in a smaller scale.

I love the psionicists because they are like the X-Men of the D&D multiverse, rejected and misunderstood by the rest.

And I love the psionic ardent like a psionic cleric and frienemy of divine spellcasters.

The wilder could be a class like a psionic warlock, with short rests and some special mutation or favorite superpower. The change I suggest would be when she failed the check for the psychic enervation the penalty would be to be dazed that round or turn.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Some hated it and wanted something closer to that 2e or 3e or 4e

1st edition for me.

 

[Remathilis]

1st edition for me.

That's 2e minus a dedicated class.

 

[Eric V]

Eeeehh..


You suggesting WOTC do this?


Eeeeeh.... i dunno...

I mean, isn't that what game companies just do? You don't believe 5e is the reigning champ because of this design process, do you?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Ah, Schrodinger's Players, who do not interact with D&D online, but somehow simultaneously make their preferences known (and always align with the one invoking them).

I see plenty of people expressing the sentiment in question online. Most not here, but enworld is a tiny little corner of the dnd player base. But more importantly, the further away from "normal 5e mechanics with some unique defining mechanic added on" the design has been, the more negative the playtest feedback has been.

I don't have any preference, other than to just let the designers do their jobs without bringing in public playtest marketing nonsense.

I think that some folks let their imaginations run wild when Mearls says that the playtest became just hype for upcoming products.

Even he now says that the new leadership isnt of the same dumb mindset, and even his initial statement doesnt mean that the playtests are just marketing. They still can stuff based on it, see; Stryxhaven.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I'm definitely in favour of 3.5e psionics, so having mechanics similar to spellcasting is my preference.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Sorry, this is old news, but I was looking at the Unearthed Arcana about Psions and noticed that the "Psion spells" have verbal and/or somatic components now?

I thought psionic powers were purely mental, as opposed to magic, which requires gesticulation, shouting and the blood of a virgin ox.

So I guess sorcerers with their metamagic are the closest thing to a psion nowadays?

Just another example of the long-term trend toward homogenizing everything to work under the same core mechanics with only the labels varying.