D&D 5E The Great Mystic Story?

[MechaTarrasque]

Looking at the discussion of the Mystic, it seems like a lot of it has to do with how the fluff should influence the crunch. To me, part of fluff is that there is/are archetypal stories that go with the classes: paladins rising after falling, barbarians with anger issues, etc. It seems like psychics and the mystic borrow their big stories from other classes (usually the sorcerer, monk, or wizard) rather than have their own. I am willing to concede that I may be missing something. As such, I would like to make the following request:

Is there an elevator pitch for a story where a mystic is an obviously more compelling lead than any other class? Let's limit it to 5-6 sentences with no tedious bullet points or checklists. If we want to answer the question of "what should a mystic be?", a couple of these elevator pitches should go along way to answering that.


Thank you.

 

[Hussar]

*Just a note, but, I'm not sure why your second paragraph is black on black, but, it's really hard to read*

Pitch 1

Eschewing the notion of manipulating magic to bend reality, mystics delve into the fabric of reality itself. Either focused inwardly or outwardly, Mystics master the ability to subtly change reality, finding "thin spots" in which their mental powers can cause reality to shift and warp. This has caused mystic philosophers to come to the realisation that there is actually a reality outside of what is generally known and some mystics delve ever deeper into this mysterious realm, where thought and time and space become entwined. Some believe that there are beings within that outside space, looking inwards...

((Granted, I like the Far Realms tie for Mystics and psionics - actually builds a nice separate flavour for mystics and gives us a magic system that isn't quite as safe as PHB magic))

 

[Hriston]

Seeking to overcome the disease, aging, and death that is the common lot of the world's creatures, the mystic lives a life of discipline and self-denial, but is dissatisfied in that it only results in the weakening of the body. Instead, the mystic turns inward and discovers the mental state that will allow the mystic to overcome death. Death itself, threatened by this encroachment on its power, seeks to tempt the mystic into abandoning his mental discipline and, when the mystic is unmoved, to destroy the mystic altogether, but the attacks of the forces of Death cannot harm the mystic, for they are transformed and rendered impotent by the powers of mind the mystic has acquired.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

*Just a note, but, I'm not sure why your second paragraph is black on black, but, it's really hard to read*

Pitch 1

Eschewing the notion of manipulating magic to bend reality, mystics delve into the fabric of reality itself. Either focused inwardly or outwardly, Mystics master the ability to subtly change reality, finding "thin spots" in which their mental powers can cause reality to shift and warp. This has caused mystic philosophers to come to the realisation that there is actually a reality outside of what is generally known and some mystics delve ever deeper into this mysterious realm, where thought and time and space become entwined. Some believe that there are beings within that outside space, looking inwards...

((Granted, I like the Far Realms tie for Mystics and psionics - actually builds a nice separate flavour for mystics and gives us a magic system that isn't quite as safe as PHB magic))

Thank you. That is a great story that could lead to some very interesting mechanics. Sensitivity is an interesting area that isn't used a lot in 5e.....

On my screen the background is white, but I retyped it off of the first paragraph, so please let me know if it more readable now.

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Seeking to overcome the disease, aging, and death that is the common lot of the world's creatures, the mystic lives a life of discipline and self-denial, but is dissatisfied in that it only results in the weakening of the body. Instead, the mystic turns inward and discovers the mental state that will allow the mystic to overcome death. Death itself, threatened by this encroachment on its power, seeks to tempt the mystic into abandoning his mental discipline and, when the mystic is unmoved, to destroy the mystic altogether, but the attacks of the forces of Death cannot harm the mystic, for they are transformed and rendered impotent by the powers of mind the mystic has acquired.

Thank you. That is also a very good story. Kind of a good lich thing going--fighting off death without turning to undeath as a means.

 

[Tony Vargas]

To me, part of fluff is that there is/are archetypal stories that go with the classes: paladins rising after falling, barbarians with anger issues, etc.

The barbarian's archetypal story explores themes of civilization vs savagery, the decadence of the former and vitality of the latter - 'rage' is only one possible aspect of that, just the one D&D chooses to hang the barbarian's most important mechanics on.

It seems like psychics and the mystic borrow their big stories from other classes (usually the sorcerer, monk, or wizard) rather than have their own.

I suppose you could look at it that way. Psionics was coined in the context of science fiction, and like the psychic powers of the Lensmen, was a way of getting classic supernatural fantasy 'bits' and story elements into science fiction. In a Space Opera setting, a Psionic takes the place of a wizard or sorcerer or faerie or demi-god, because the setting has no room for such things. In a fantasy setting, the psionic is redundant, because the Wizards, Sorcerers, fey, demi-gods &c are already there. He doesn't have "his own story" because he's just a cypher to slip some familiar fantasy stories into a different genre.

Is there an elevator pitch for a story where a mystic is an obviously more compelling lead than any other class?

Sure. The Dark Sun setting. "In a world without gods where magic has brought on environmental apocalypse, heroes take up the supernatural power of psionics in their struggle for survival...."

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

Tenuous, flimsy analogy ahoy:

The psionic is Neo.

Wizards, Sorcerors, and Warlocks all access magic (aka the weave, aka the matrix), via studying spells (aka code), or via external influence (getting plugged in). Wizards and Warlocks are from outside the matrix, sorcerers are in effect living within the matrix, but they are all able to tug on the threads of the weave (alter the code within the matrix) to achieve magical effects. These three are (wait for it) Trinity.

Psionics are able to replicate the magical effects these others can do (spell-like abilities) but they are bypassing the weave (code) entirely, just affecting reality with their minds, unfettered by needing to be 'plugged in', and able to defy the laws that the others adhere to, as they tacitly agree to comply with a set of laws-within-or-perhaps-outside-the-laws-of-physics.

(There may be an argument for Neo being a Sorceror and Psionics being Agent Smith. I don't know anymore. If in doubt, ask the Oracle. Unless the Oracle is the psi. Oh, help.)

 

[MechaTarrasque]

Tenuous, flimsy analogy ahoy:

The psionic is Neo.

Wizards, Sorcerors, and Warlocks all access magic (aka the weave, aka the matrix), via studying spells (aka code), or via external influence (getting plugged in). Wizards and Warlocks are from outside the matrix, sorcerers are in effect living within the matrix, but they are all able to tug on the threads of the weave (alter the code within the matrix) to achieve magical effects. These three are (wait for it) Trinity.

Psionics are able to replicate the magical effects these others can do (spell-like abilities) but they are bypassing the weave (code) entirely, just affecting reality with their minds, unfettered by needing to be 'plugged in', and able to defy the laws that the others adhere to, as they tacitly agree to comply with a set of laws-within-or-perhaps-outside-the-laws-of-physics.

(There may be an argument for Neo being a Sorceror and Psionics being Agent Smith. I don't know anymore. If in doubt, ask the Oracle. Unless the Oracle is the psi. Oh, help.)

Now I am confused, but thanks for the laugh!

 

[MechaTarrasque]

My thing with Dark Sun is that I am not sure you actually need a separate psychic system to make it work. It is more of "most magic is lost or bad, but these X spells don't defile, everyone gets a feat to cast some of them." "Psychic" is just a shorthand for "X spells that don't defile."

One thing the pitches so far have convinced me of is that the concept of a sensitive is better done via mystic. There are a lot of ways to "get sensitive" in D&D, but they all require the players to recognize that "something is wrong" and have the PC's cast detect something or commune with nature. It could be something like "when you enter a room you can feel if any strong emotions or beings that stimulate strong emotions like incorporeal undead or fiends have been in the room within the last 24 hours. You don't know any details unless you spend 2 psi points (or get your buddy the wizard to cast a spell)." In theory a sorcerer could do that, but I don't recall that ever being a strong sorcerer thing. It was kind of a paladin thing, but that was more (and maybe a little too) specific to evil.

Back in the playtest, the devs played with the notion of there being 4 uber classes (fighter, mage, trickster, and cleric if I recall correctly). I don't think anyone liked the notion, but it seemed to me that the psychic classes could get some space by being more "trickster" than "mage" (or more "Jedi" than "Sith").

 

[ClockworkNinja]

The psionic is Neo.

I kind of like the "outsider" role for psychic ability. A lot of the superficial elements are the same, and an independent observer who didn't know the minutiae of how they work would have a hard time telling the difference between a psion and a wizard, but the approach and mind-set is wildly alien to one another. So much so that the mere existence of the psion would call into question just how well the magic-user understands the world they live in.