Yaarel
🇮🇱 🇺🇦 He-Mage
Psykinetic
The Psykinetic personifies telekinesis. The mind-soul "psyche" attunes remote areas to form forces that propel or block the forces of objects. Even matter itself is made out of forces. Telekinetic force is a simple concept, yet its applications are versatile and effective. Fly, Wall of Force, Thunderwave, and so on, achieve different results by means of the same telekinesis.
Note the new Telekinesis update.
Level 9 (Slot 5)
Telekinesis°, Wall of Force.
Wall of Force is fantastic.
The Telekinesis spell updated for 5e 2024. Hurray. The spell description no longer makes the player and DM guess how many pounds a target weighs, "up to 1000 pounds". Now the spell simply refers to the Huge Size, whether creature or object In other words the standardized space − not some reallife mass requiring google and calculators, and accounting for the exponential weight of increasing three-dimensional volume. This spell description simplification is a quality of life improvement. The spell reads more self-explanatory and intuitive, which every psionic spell should. This is actually a good spell now.
Level 3
(Slot 1)
Shield, Thunderwave.
(Slot 2)
{Cloud of Daggers}, Levitate.
For slot 1, Shield and Thunderwave are solid.
Note. Earlier editions were conflictive when representing an explosive, concussive detonation, in the sense of a shockwave without fiery heat. 2024 seems to confirm 5e using the Thunder damage type to represent shockwaves, that are like a Bludgeoning that pass thru targets. By contast, Force damage is something different. Seen most clearly in the Disintegrate spell, Force involves the atomic forces that comprise matter, as well as gravitional and gravity-like telekinetic force, and extends to the damage by "magical energy" that directly becomes and affects matter.
For slot 2, surprisingly, too few spells exhibit telekinetic flavor for the Psykinetic subclass to choose from. Levitate is meh (as explained in an earlier post), and Cloud of Daggers feels off.
The Cloud of Daggers spell "conjures daggers". Presumably these daggers are force constructs made out of telekinetic force, but they deal mundane Slashing damage. Also contrast this with the similar concept of Blade Barrier that is explicitly the "evocation" of force construct blades made out of "magical energy". Probably, the idea of placing Cloud of Daggers here is the movie scenes where the telekinetic yanks into the air knives or glass shards, or whatever is around, to hover threateningly then fling them at the target. But this isnt what the spell describes. For an entry level spell, the Cloud of Daggers fails to communicate what the subclass is all about. Also, this spell requires concentration and is immobile, making it a less appealing spell. The idea that something like this that whirls in the air under telekinetic control but would be unable to relocate, seems contrary to the concept of telekinesis.
There seem no slot 2 spells that feel accurate and impressive for the Psykinetic flavor. Even a spell that dealt Force damage without being fiddly, would help here. There is the slot 2 spell from Wildemount, Immovable Object, that secures an object in midair. It would be for utility, like rungs of ladder floating in the air. But I am unsure this represents what the Psykinetic is all about.
Level 5 (Slot 3)
Slow, Telekinetic Crush*°.
Telekinetic Crush is flavorful.
The Slow spell is ambiguous. It might just as easily represent Psi Warper or Metamorph. It doesnt seem especially Psykinetic. Wildemount has the slot 3 "dunamancy" spell Pulse Wave. It deals 6d6 Force damage in a cone with a 15-foot push or pull. It is clearly telekinetic but feels less exciting. Maybe for theater of the mind, this grid counting tends to be moot. If it dealt the damage to the targets and could force propel them to any location including mid air, that might be more interesting.
Level 7 (Slot 4)
[Gravity Sinkhole], Otilukes Resilient Sphere, {Stone Shape}.
Otilukes Resilient Sphere is an impressive spell, an invincible forcefield that can trap a creature or defend an ally. Heh, I am surprised I dont hear complaints about it being too good.
Stone Shape feels wrong here. Too explicitly Elemental. Not sure what should replace it. Wildemount has the dunamancy Gravity Sinkhole, an instantaneously brief small blackhole. It pulls targets toward the center dealing Force damage. This has some tactical benefit in concentrating hostiles into one location. There arent really any other telekinetic spells to choose from.
Depite the prominance of telekinesis in folkbelief, fantasy, and scifi, the earlier editions of D&D never actualized it mechanically well. Too clumbsy, too fiddly, too out of reach. Now that the UA Psion is using normal D&D mechanics, cobbling together spells to represent the telekinetic aspects of the Psion is a challenge. A successful Psion class requires all of the important concepts to have spells that are excellent. A number of spells need rethinking, whether by updated spells or new spells.
The Psykinetic personifies telekinesis. The mind-soul "psyche" attunes remote areas to form forces that propel or block the forces of objects. Even matter itself is made out of forces. Telekinetic force is a simple concept, yet its applications are versatile and effective. Fly, Wall of Force, Thunderwave, and so on, achieve different results by means of the same telekinesis.
Note the new Telekinesis update.
Level 9 (Slot 5)
Telekinesis°, Wall of Force.
Wall of Force is fantastic.
The Telekinesis spell updated for 5e 2024. Hurray. The spell description no longer makes the player and DM guess how many pounds a target weighs, "up to 1000 pounds". Now the spell simply refers to the Huge Size, whether creature or object In other words the standardized space − not some reallife mass requiring google and calculators, and accounting for the exponential weight of increasing three-dimensional volume. This spell description simplification is a quality of life improvement. The spell reads more self-explanatory and intuitive, which every psionic spell should. This is actually a good spell now.
Level 3
(Slot 1)
Shield, Thunderwave.
(Slot 2)
{Cloud of Daggers}, Levitate.
For slot 1, Shield and Thunderwave are solid.
Note. Earlier editions were conflictive when representing an explosive, concussive detonation, in the sense of a shockwave without fiery heat. 2024 seems to confirm 5e using the Thunder damage type to represent shockwaves, that are like a Bludgeoning that pass thru targets. By contast, Force damage is something different. Seen most clearly in the Disintegrate spell, Force involves the atomic forces that comprise matter, as well as gravitional and gravity-like telekinetic force, and extends to the damage by "magical energy" that directly becomes and affects matter.
For slot 2, surprisingly, too few spells exhibit telekinetic flavor for the Psykinetic subclass to choose from. Levitate is meh (as explained in an earlier post), and Cloud of Daggers feels off.
The Cloud of Daggers spell "conjures daggers". Presumably these daggers are force constructs made out of telekinetic force, but they deal mundane Slashing damage. Also contrast this with the similar concept of Blade Barrier that is explicitly the "evocation" of force construct blades made out of "magical energy". Probably, the idea of placing Cloud of Daggers here is the movie scenes where the telekinetic yanks into the air knives or glass shards, or whatever is around, to hover threateningly then fling them at the target. But this isnt what the spell describes. For an entry level spell, the Cloud of Daggers fails to communicate what the subclass is all about. Also, this spell requires concentration and is immobile, making it a less appealing spell. The idea that something like this that whirls in the air under telekinetic control but would be unable to relocate, seems contrary to the concept of telekinesis.
There seem no slot 2 spells that feel accurate and impressive for the Psykinetic flavor. Even a spell that dealt Force damage without being fiddly, would help here. There is the slot 2 spell from Wildemount, Immovable Object, that secures an object in midair. It would be for utility, like rungs of ladder floating in the air. But I am unsure this represents what the Psykinetic is all about.
Level 5 (Slot 3)
Slow, Telekinetic Crush*°.
Telekinetic Crush is flavorful.
The Slow spell is ambiguous. It might just as easily represent Psi Warper or Metamorph. It doesnt seem especially Psykinetic. Wildemount has the slot 3 "dunamancy" spell Pulse Wave. It deals 6d6 Force damage in a cone with a 15-foot push or pull. It is clearly telekinetic but feels less exciting. Maybe for theater of the mind, this grid counting tends to be moot. If it dealt the damage to the targets and could force propel them to any location including mid air, that might be more interesting.
Level 7 (Slot 4)
[Gravity Sinkhole], Otilukes Resilient Sphere, {Stone Shape}.
Otilukes Resilient Sphere is an impressive spell, an invincible forcefield that can trap a creature or defend an ally. Heh, I am surprised I dont hear complaints about it being too good.
Stone Shape feels wrong here. Too explicitly Elemental. Not sure what should replace it. Wildemount has the dunamancy Gravity Sinkhole, an instantaneously brief small blackhole. It pulls targets toward the center dealing Force damage. This has some tactical benefit in concentrating hostiles into one location. There arent really any other telekinetic spells to choose from.
Depite the prominance of telekinesis in folkbelief, fantasy, and scifi, the earlier editions of D&D never actualized it mechanically well. Too clumbsy, too fiddly, too out of reach. Now that the UA Psion is using normal D&D mechanics, cobbling together spells to represent the telekinetic aspects of the Psion is a challenge. A successful Psion class requires all of the important concepts to have spells that are excellent. A number of spells need rethinking, whether by updated spells or new spells.
