D&D 5E Telekinesis Is A Bad Spell, For The Game

[Dausuul]

The Telekinetic feat is terrible as a feat. Great. Invisible mage hand, greater range on it if I dedicate a cantrip to it from another source, and a...a ranged shove attack. A ranged shove, really, not a shove attack. A very weak one, at that.

Hard disagree on the feat. That bonus action shove is amazing for a caster. Unless you're a cleric with spiritual weapon up, you're not using your bonus action for anything else most turns, and the ability to run away from a melee foe without provoking is huge. It's even better for your allies, since you can target the ally instead of the monster and get them clear of multiple foes (remember you can pull as well as push).

And when you aren't trying to prevent OAs, you can yank an enemy into the fighter's reach, push monsters off cliffs and bridges, open a gap in the enemy line, give the rogue an extra 5 feet of movement to reach the MacGuffin... the possibilities are endless. It's my go-to "+1 stat" pick for a caster.

That invisible mage hand is nothing to sneeze at, either. Mage hand is one of the best cantrips around; I was probably going to take it anyway, so now I have another cantrip slot, or double range if I want it.

I do agree the telekinesis spell needs a total revamp, and we need more low-level options, but the feat is just fine.

 

[Vael]

TBH, I'd prefer spellcasters having ... mediocre TK so that If we could actually get Psionics we would have a niche for a Telekinetic Expert Psion to be better at it.

 

[Corinnguard]

TBH, I'd prefer spellcasters having ... mediocre TK so that If we could actually get Psionics we would have a niche for a Telekinetic Expert Psion to be better at it.

There is Steampunkette's Esper class from Paranormal Power. One of the Esper's disciplines is telekinesis.

 

[Clint_L]

@Dausuul Yeah, that feat is amazing. A player in my one of my current campaigns has made it the cornerstone of his character, and in the hands of a wily player it can absolutely wreak havoc to my NPC's plans, as I am discovering to my woe (hilariously).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

TBH, I'd prefer spellcasters having ... mediocre TK so that If we could actually get Psionics we would have a niche for a Telekinetic Expert Psion to be better at it.

Yeah I’m just not willing to hamstring the game in general just to keep aside space for psionics, but then I’m also perfectly happy using a wizard as a psion, as long as it does the things I want one to do.

But I’d be happy to see “real” psionics represented in feats and such more, so any character can pick them up.

It would be even better if 5e had a more unified resource model, of course.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Hard disagree on the feat. That bonus action shove is amazing for a caster. Unless you're a cleric with spiritual weapon up, you're not using your bonus action for anything else most turns, and the ability to run away from a melee foe without provoking is huge.

I guess I rarely play casters that can’t get away without it? Or casters that don’t have good bonus actions.
There are a lot of good BA spells, and a lot of subclasses bring in good uses of the BA if the base class doesn’t.

But also if it’s only great for casters with no BA, I guess I just don’t consider that a broad enough use case to qualify as generally good.

It's even better for your allies, since you can target the ally instead of the monster and get them clear of multiple foes (remember you can pull as well as push).

Sure, that’s a decent use case.

And when you aren't trying to prevent OAs, you can yank an enemy into the fighter's reach, push monsters off cliffs and bridges, open a gap in the enemy line, give the rogue an extra 5 feet of movement to reach the MacGuffin... the possibilities are endless. It's my go-to "+1 stat" pick for a caster.

For the cost of a feat, though.

That invisible mage hand is nothing to sneeze at, either. Mage hand is one of the best cantrips around; I was probably going to take it anyway, so now I have another cantrip slot, or double range if I want it.

I do agree the telekinesis spell needs a total revamp, and we need more low-level options, but the feat is just fine.

I just have a hard time being excited about moving creatures 5ft.

But a big part of the point is that it seems like it’s limited because if it weren’t it would be weird that the spell is 5th level. That IMO makes it a bad feat, by itself.

 

[Lanefan]

In theory, you're only supposed to be in Level 1 for like a session and in level 2 for like two more.

Yeah, but some of us enjoy that low-level play and would rather see more of it in a campaign than just a few sessions.

Each level should take about the same amount of time to get through, with a DM-side "knob" available to determine what that length of time is for each campaign.

While still using individual xp to reward individual characters and encourage involvement.

 

[Lanefan]

I just have a hard time being excited about moving creatures 5ft.

I can't count the number of times that the ability to move a creature 5 feet against its will would have ended a combat then and there.

Cliffs, acid or lava pools, traps, deep water, even ice - pushing a foe into any of those is huge if you can do it from a distance (meaning the foe can't drag you in with it).

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I can't count the number of times that the ability to move a creature 5 feet against its will would have ended a combat then and there.

Cliffs, acid or lava pools, traps, deep water, even ice - pushing a foe into any of those is huge if you can do it from a distance (meaning the foe can't drag you in with it).

I have played a lot of Star Wars and a lot of 4e D&D , and I’ve found that 5ft rarely actually determines a fight, no matter how dynamic the terrain. YMMV

 

[Clint_L]

I don't have a strong opinion about the telekinesis spell; I do think it seems a bit underpowered for its level. The feat is honestly really good, though. It just has a ton of utility, both for combat and for role-play. The player who took it gets a ton of mileage out of the invisible mage hand, as well. And it includes a +1. Great feat!