Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana Revisits Psionics

The latest Unearthed Arcana from WotC revisits some psionic rules! “Shine with the power of the mind in this installment of Unearthed Arcana! Today we revisit several psi-themed options that we released in the past few months. Studying your feedback on those options, we’ve crafted this new collection of subclasses, spells, and feats, found in the PDF below.“

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[pogre]

Interesting ideas. Seems a little fiddly to me. The split between some are spells and some are not and the psionic talent die add some complexity.

It will not matter for my home game - I don't allow psionics.

However, it looks workable and I can live with it for A.L.

 

[Coroc]

I cannot imagine a good reboot of Darksun using the material presented. It does not fit and is not compatible on so many levels, even the anything goes fans have to see that this is something different but not your good all psionic.

 

[Var]

Gonna double down on the theory this UA is related to Larian's upcoming Baldur's Gate 3 and WotC wants a piece of the cake. Not complaining, I don't mind at all. Good for them if we get a good book and they get to make some money, win win, really.

It just makes sense from a business point of view. So we'll get a Baldur's Gate centric book that features Psionics up to a certain point to go along with things.

• Assuming BG3 is gonna be canon, there's gonna be a Nautiloid and Githyanki in the vicinity for some reason.
• Mindflayers & Gith are both prime examples for psionic users - somehow doubt thats a coincidence
• Shoving with a Magehand is one of the "inconsistencies" the BG3 demo has with the current game. Now we have a Feat that allows you to do just that. Funny coincidence? Again might well be not.
• There's pretty much a frontpage thread complaining about how the SCAG is the worst of the source books despite being the only one for the most popular setting. Somehow makes sense to expand on that area (as much as I would love Dark Sun instead, maybe next year?).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Interesting ideas. Seems a little fiddly to me. The split between some are spells and some are not and the psionic talent die add some complexity.

Not really. All it means in practice is that class abilities fluffed as psychic (e.g. soul knife) are not subject to dispel magic, any more than a battlemaster's class abilities are. But spells fluffed as psychic are still spells.

 

[Perun]

Meh. I'm not happy. As I said after the previous psionic-themed UA, I approve of psionic-flavoured subclasses when appropriate (making psychic warrior -- or psi knight -- a warrior subclass is generally a better idea than making a separate class), but (to me) it just feels wrong with spellcasting classes. With the psionic soul sorcerer bloodline and the new spells presented in the UA, along with the careful selection of spells already in the game, you could create a sorcerer that would be similar to a psion. However, the spells in the UA are available to other characters as well, and all are on the wizard spell list as well...

I could go along with psionic powers being 'spells' (I really don't mind the psionic-magic transparency) and using the spell format, I just would prefer psionic manifesting (spellcasting) classes to have separate spell lists.

 

[Var]

Meh. I'm not happy. As I said after the previous psionic-themed UA, I approve of psionic-flavoured subclasses when appropriate (making psychic warrior -- or psi knight -- a warrior subclass is generally a better idea than making a separate class), but (to me) it just feels wrong with spellcasting classes. With the psionic soul sorcerer bloodline and the new spells presented in the UA, along with the careful selection of spells already in the game, you could create a sorcerer that would be similar to a psion. However, the spells in the UA are available to other characters as well, and all are on the wizard spell list as well...

I could go along with psionic powers being 'spells' (I really don't mind the psionic-magic transparency) and using the spell format, I just would prefer psionic manifesting (spellcasting) classes to have separate spell lists.

Imho there should be shared spells, basically using existing spells to psionic abilities that would be mechanically very similar. But also a few Psion exclusives. Restricting the Psion to certain schools doesn't make much sense looking at how some spells in pretty much every school fit very well.
Probably just needs its own spell list like Sorcerer and Wizard. I have a hard time seeing a Psion cast i.e. Polymorph. Which is fine, lose a few, gain a few. With the added flexibility of being able to access non prepared spells with a couple minutes of downtime that makes for a nice package.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Looks nice, simple and somehow consistent.
I would like the sorcerer to use int as a casting stat instead of charisma for that subclass.
I would also like a psionic fighting style for the fighter.

 

[Aldarc]

I'd be interested in your thoughts on what a houseruled Psionics system would be like. What kind of system is more to your tastes and how hard would it be to implement that as a houseruled version or a third party version?

I'm open to a variety of approaches, but I think that all would include a psion class.

My preference was something more akin to Dreamscarred Press's psionics, which is built on the 3.X chassis. Admittedly I also like the Mystic in Paizo's Pathfinder that essentially combined the psion, the cleric, and the druid into one mystical Wisdom class, because I kinda prefer Wisdom for psionics than Intelligence or Charisma due to its connection with intuition, extra-sensory perception, and mysticism. A lot of the sci-fi elements of psionics that some people dislike - i.e., mind over matter - seems more connected to the Intelligence attribute.

Something like the Warlock might not be bad. It would put psionics on a short rest mechanic. Your powers could auto-scale, but then you would pick up psionic "talents" that operate much like invocations that would permit the psion to do a range of secondary abilities. I would not necessarily go with the Patron/Pact split, but instead focus on providing subclasses that would fit the mold. Then give the psion its own thematic spell/power list. It also means that the Warlock would not be alone with its weird class mechanic.

 

[Tonguez]

Oh, I like this, the Scorcerer option is much better than Mystic

 

[NaturalZero]

Let's say I show up to the car dealer with my nice honda civic because I also wanted to buy a jeep to give me a different driving experience. When I ask the salesman to see a jeep, he shows me a honda civic like the one I own with a lift-kit and asks me if that 's what I'm looking for.

"No, thanks. I want something MORE different than what I have."

He goes off and pulls around the corner with another honda civic, painted jeep-green, and asks me if this is the jeep I was looking for.

"No, thanks. I'm looking for something different than the car I own."

The salesman finally drives over in a civic with a cloth top. "Is this the jeep you're looking for?"

I don't want a sorcerer with the SAME spells, progression, and the same foundation with a few psionic flavored things tacked on. I don't want a fighter who is vanilla until I've played him for a month and gets a die for damage and a defender ability that turns off if you roll too well, too often. I just want a dedicated psion class and a psionic warrior that encompasses the ardent, soulknife, psychic warrior, battlemind, etc.

This would be less of an issue if subclasses were more robust, but that ship has sailed. You cannot make a real swordmage out of a fighter with a subclass. There isn't enough room to make a battlemind out of fighter with a few limited tricks. There isn't enough designs space to make a sorcerer with a the same spell list as every other caster at the table into a psion that's meaningfully different. They should include these optional subclasses, by all means, but they really, really need to just make full classes too.