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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 9677145" data-attributes="member: 58172">Psion Slot 1Animal Friendship, Charm Person, Command, {Comprehend Languages}, Detect Magic, Dissonant Whispers, [Expeditious Retreat], Feather Fall, {Identify}, Jump, Longstrider, Mage Armor, [Magic Missile], Silent Image, Sleep, {Speak with Animals}, Tashas Hideous Laughter, Tensers Floating Disk, [Unseen Servant].I organize the comments by the themes of the relevant subclass, even tho everyone in the Psion class can dabble in these particular spells.TELEPATH/METAMORPHI like the spells that are into plant and animal themes. Suitably animistic. It also conveys the modern tropes of 'psychometry' where a psychic can sense the residue of thoughts and emotions imprinted into objects and surrounding areas. I worry that some of these nature spells are underpowered balancewise, and unable to compete with must-have spells when the Psion class gets so few prepared spells to choose.TELEPATHComprehend Languages. This spell isnt a spell, it is a ritual. No player in their right mind would select it, when it means missing out on more vital combat spells, or ever a useful utility spell that will at least happen frequently.The 'Spell' category and the 'Ritual' category need to be two separate design spaces. Rituals dont use the power of a spell slot, they specifically utilize power from elsewhere. Rituals can have any weird requirement to perform them, including costly ingredients, specific times, the number of performers, eating a rose, whatever. To perform a Ritual successfully, one must make a skill check. (Ideally, anyone whether a spellcaster or not, whether proficient or not, can attempt any Ritual, as long as the performer meets the appropriate level prerequisite.) A significant failure in a Ritual by 5 or more below the DC means a mishap. An abundant success might also happen if 5 or more above the DC. Each Ritual details what it does. Rituals dont appear in the Spell Lists. Rituals appear in a separate list for a separate part of the game that is more like magic items.Identify is an application of psychometry to attune the mind of the magic item creator into the magic item itself. It is relevant. But this spell too is not a spell. It is a Ritual. Identify is a trap option that needs to stay out of the spell list, especially when the number of choices to prepare are limited.METAMORPH−Surprisingly, no slot 1 spells here that have Metamorph flavor.PSI WARPERThe [Expeditious Retreat] spell relocates from the Psi Warper subclass spell list to here in the Psion class spell list. It is a fine spell for Psions generally, but doesnt articulate the distinctive flavor of the Psi Warper as a manipulator of the fabric of spacetime.PSYKINETICFeather Fall. Levitate. I am less of a fan of these spells in any D&D edition. When thinking about what would actually make these spells appealing to me, I would do the following. Feather Fall gets a spell description update that allows the spellcaster and willing creatures to hover and drift upward or downward. Effectively this also absorbs all of the current Levitate spell. Then the Levitate spell rewrites to allow the target to hover and move at Speed 30 in any direction. Later in slot 3, the Fly spell is great as-is, and I consider it the benchmark for what kinds of flying and frequencies the D&D game should normally have at each tier of level advancement.[Unseen Servant] is ones owns telekinesis, often operating out of habit. It belongs on the Psion list. I find Unseen Servant useful enough to be on the spell list, but it could qualify as a Ritual only.[Magic Missile] is sharp telekinetic torque.SHAPER/METACREATIVITY/ILLUSIONIST/CONJURORI view the Shaper as a special technique that blends telekinesis and telepathy. Effectively, it blurs the boundaries between subjective reality and objective reality. The 'summoned' creatures are actually projections of ones own soul and imagination, and sometimes of ones unconscious. The reality of a particular mind can seemlessly become the factual reality of everyones objective shared reality. This concept of mind-over-reality touches on modern flavors, such as the quantum observer effect, where a conscious mind actually causes the reality to exist. It also relates to various premodern culture that lack a strict distinction between dream, subjective experience, and objective reality: it is more like a continuum from weak to strong. Later at the slot 9 spell list, this mind-over-reality must have the Wish spell on the spell list. For a conscious mind to "Wish" something into existence is the essence of every psionic theme and trope.Minor Illusion. Silent Image. Major Image. This is a minor tweak, but I am reminded that I really want these spells to organize by the Sizes: Medium, Huge, and Gargantuan respectively. Currently Minor Illusion affects an area 5-foot cube. This is Medium Size but I would like it to unambiguously apply to an image of a Medium size Human standing up, rather than squeezing oneself into a slightly too short cube. But generally, all spells, especially psionic relevant spells refer to the same, convenient, useful concept of Sizes, rather than grid counting or guessing how much something weighs.</blockquote>

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