Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana: Psionics and Mystics Take Two

February's Unearthed Arcana article from WotC's Mike Mearls has been posted. This time around, the topic is psionics again "This month, Unearthed Arcana returns to the mystic character class and the rules for psionics. Based on the playtest feedback you sent us, there are a number of changes you can expect." The article expands the Mystic class to 10th level, and adds a variety of new options.

Find the article right here.

 

[lkj]

One observation about the Far Realm stuff-- I think it's important that the text doesn't say that psionics are powered by the Far Realm. It only says that interaction with the Far Realm has a tendency to awaken minds to the "cosmic underpinnings that dictate the form and nature of reality."

Psionics doesn't have anything to do with the Far Realm specifically. It's just that the bizarreness of it opens more minds to psionics. In other words, this flavor allows there to be any number of circumstances that 'awaken' minds. Even training.

So there isn't really any re-fluffing necessary even with the existing text. 'In my campaigns, people are awakened either through intense training or the sight of crazy vampire koalas'.

Clearly, the Far Realm connection lets them set up a story where people with weird powers start appearing as a symptom of a Far Realm threat. Could be quite cool if done properly. But by making the connection incidental, it doesn't restrict any of the flavor in the class mechanics itself. Seems like a reasonable compromise. It would be quite simple for them to rework the text slightly to say something like "Psionics are possible for creatures whose minds have been awakened to the cosmic underpinnings that dictate the form and nature of reality. One manner in which that can happen is through interaction with the Far Realms . . ."

Just a thought.

AD

 

[mellored]

but you are ignoring that the mystic has twice as many "slots" as the paladin and could potentially dip for multi-attack.

If you mean that a mystic can nova more times, yes. 3 times for the paladin, 5 for the mystic.

But, let's talk over the course of a day.

20 rounds.

Paladin 5. 20*2*(1d8+4+2) + 4*2d8+2*3d8.
= 420 basic + 63 smite.
= 483

Mystic 5. 20*(1d8+4) + 27d10
= 170 basic + 148.5 leathal
= 318.5


*(still assuming 18 str)
paladin 5/sorcerer 5 = 420 basic + 4*2d8+3+3d8+3*4d8+5d8
= 420 basic + 153
= 573

mystic 5/fighter 5 = (20)*2*(1d8+4+2) + 148.5 lethal.
= 420 basic + 148.5
= 568.5

rogue 10 = 20*(1d8+4+5d6)
= 520


Note that it doesn't include accuracy, action surge, sorcerery points, sub-classes (channel divinity, battlemaster), feats, d10 vs d8 hit dice, lay on hands vs second wind vs mystic recovery, or having a friendly bard.

But i'm not seeing any power creep.

 

[mellored]

Mystic has healing that is better than lay on hands.

Lay on hands doesn't take slots, you want to compare lay on hands + slots to be fair.

So let's compare total possible heals @ level 10.

Paladin (cure wounds only): 50 HP lay on hands + cure wounds (4+3*2+2*3)d8 + (4+3+2)*4
= 158

Paladin (CW + aura of vitality): 50 + (4+3*2)d8 + (4+3)*4 + 2d8*6rounds*2 casts
= 231

Mystic: 65*3
= 192

So better in combat healing, worse if you include out of combat.

Though paladin can still deal much more damage himself.
Mystic is defiantly not a healer.


Though i did notice....
Consumption -> restore vigor -> mystic recovery as a possible loop??

next post...

 

[mellored]

Let's see...

Level 10...

Consumption for you 7 PP, and take 70 damage.
Restore vigor takes 7 PP, and restore your max HP.
Mystic recovery restores 5 * 7 = 35 hp.


So no loop. Though i do think consumptive power is too penalizing scaling by level.

 

[Mercule]

I'm confused, in that the "psionics and magic are different" thing has been there since 1e.

They functioned differently, yes. That's part of the charm. They were still subject to dispel, detect, etc. The first time I remember seeing it even suggested otherwise was in the 3e or 3.5e psionics book.

Considering that I was a pre-teen when I first started playing AD&D, it wouldn't be the first time I'd missed a rule and inertia kept me going, only to discover my mistake as an adult. If there's a passage in one of the 1E books, earlier supplement, or some random quote from Gygax, I'll stand duly corrected. I've never gamed with anyone who remembers the divide coming earlier and every group has always ignored the "Psionics are Different" sidebar.

 

[Morlock]

For me, psionic cantrip mechanics are MUCH more vital than the Far Realms fluff, or lack thereof. I can hardly care less. But then I like house-ruling, campaigns that diverge substantially from the assumptions in the core books, etc. I've never liked vanilla D&D enough to be picky about this kind of thing.

With the unified caster chart 5e finally made multiclassing casters viable without being overpowered. Yet here's a "full caster" with an entirely separate mechanism and chart so that nothing stacks. Very annoying, especially a Int-primary classes are at a minimum and this one won't multiclass well with the one other one.

Well, sort of. The translation from spell points to spell slots, and vice-versa, is straightforward. So, I think making them "stack" seems doable, if that's what you want to do. E.g., a multiclassed Mystic/Wizard could use the unified table, and trade spell slots for psi points.

Or maybe I'm missing something (which is eminently possible).

in the D&D world, only a fool would assume an unarmed person actually isnt a threat with monks, spellcasters, psions, etc running around.

That would seem to depend on the campaign setting.

Occluded Mind seems to seems over-powered. "Your ally is actually your arch-enemy" ... more powerful than charm. Only one save instead of the target getting one every round. Lasts five minutes. Two enemies negated. All for two psi points.

The more I look at 5e's take on Charm Person, the less I like it. First thing I decided to chuck was the stupid "the target knows it was charmed" thing. Seems more like how Mickey Mouse's charm works when he flubbs it reading from the Master's spellbook. Never seen Obi-Wan or Luke or Merlin or Morgan le Fay have to put up with that crap. In fact, every mundane hypnotist or mesmerist in the lit gets to say "when I reach zero, you will forget we ever had this conversation..." I'll leave "friendly acquaintance" alone for now.

Point being, Charm is underpowered in 5e, so something being better than that junk doesn't make it overpowered in my book.

 

[fuindordm]

I'm confused, in that the "psionics and magic are different" thing has been there since 1e.

I'd say it's more like "psionics and magic overlap" since 1e.

In AD&D some spells mimic psionic powers, and somewhere in the DMG it mentions that casting them can attract the attention of psionic predators. Furthermore IIRC, some magic spells can help protect the caster in psionic combat. Contrariwise, some psionic powers duplicate spells.

I think there has always been room in the lore for the two power sources to overlap. I think of spells as natural features of the magical landscape--the reason that many different traditions can cast a spell like Fireball, and that the spell looks the same no matter who casts it, is because the Fireball effect as written in the PH is one of the easiest ways that magical energy of a certain type can manifest. So if your tradition and training lets you access fire evocation magic, and you have enough power to dump into the Weave, you can trigger the Fireball vibration of the Weave. Likewise, the Detect Thoughts spell behaves the same whether it is triggered by a Wizard, a Bard, or a Mystic. And no matter what kind of PC triggers that magical vibration, it behaves the same way, and can be considered a "spell" for the purposes of interacting with other magical effects.

So in short, I have no problem with wizards casting some "psychic" spells, and mystics triggering some "magical" spells, and both having abilities that can enhance/supress spells. But to keep things interesting, each class should have unique abilities too, and not every magical ability needs to be a spell.

 

[procproc]

Overall, this looks like they're moving in the right direction from the first release. I like the talents, I like the psionic focus, I like the disciplines (though I want a Psychometabolic discipline to grow claws and armor!) My initial reaction is that the major issues, which people have already mentioned, are:

- lack of an extra attack for psywar
- Lethal Strike scales too powerfully for nova strikes
- long-rest-based, rather than short rest (maybe?)
- Consumptive Power seems weird and bad, and not particularly on-flavor
- Far Realm fluff -- needs to at least be expanded to other origins for psionic power

Celerity may be the intended way for the Immortal to get an extra attack, but honestly, that seems terrible. It's basically Action Surge as a bonus action, which is a strong ability, but uses the equivalent of a 3rd level spell *every* time the character wants to make an extra attack and is potentially abusable with multiclassing. And looking at it more, without an extra attack, it's basically no better than using an off-hand weapon, so it's pretty much completely worthless.

My offhand solution is to give an extra attack at 5th level for the Immortal subclass and cap the PP expenditure per turn, rather than per activation. That limits the nova ability pretty drastically, while still allowing for some play between the abilities -- is it better to max out on Lethal Strike across my 2 attacks, or should I use my Celerity "Action Surge" to attack 4 times this round? It seems like a good compromise.

I wouldn't mind if they scaled down the costs on these things, made PPs recharge on short rest, and used the Warlock as the basis for the number of PPs, either. I haven't thought through how that might affect the Awakened Mystic, but honestly, the class feels more similar to a warlock than it does a "pure" caster like a cleric or wizard. Warlock seems like a better base to build off of.

 

[Leatherhead]

Let's see...

Level 10...

Consumption for you 7 PP, and take 70 damage.
Restore vigor takes 7 PP, and restore your max HP.
Mystic recovery restores 5 * 7 = 35 hp.


So no loop. Though i do think consumptive power is too penalizing scaling by level.

You can only consumption for a maximum of 5 pp, once per long rest, at any level. There is no loop to be started.

It should simply cost HD.

 

[Leatherhead]

Noticing when you get the ability to spend 5 points it seems clear to me that this is how they intend a psychic warrior gets his second attack.
They probably feel they can't just give away a free extra attack without overshadowing other fighter types, but by making it a limited resource via points...

Other than the fact that you are going to take Celerity because of course you would, I don't see that as a better cost return than say, Lethal Strike.

And besides, Cutting Resonance is basically a poor mans Sneak Attack, which in itself is a fine way to scale melee damage without granting extra attacks. I just wish it was available as a Talent instead.