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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[Parmandur]

The Triton is perfect for Theros Tritons, but it doesn't matter because it was clearly designed for whatever book is going to have Psionics, which was never Theros.

Merfolk Blue Mana users are perfect for the Aberrant Mind as it was laid out in the UA: those initial 12 Subclasses were Theirs bound, if they had been well received.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

That should have been dragons, not dragon kings. And no you could not. Why? Because PCs could achieve both dragonhood and Avangion status, and stat blocks don't work for PCs.

What, you're talking about the PC options? Hell, that's even easier to make! It can easily be a selection of Epic Boons beyond level 20. They don't even need to be sequential, though you can make them so if you want the dragon/avangion development to be linear.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I still want there to be a Psion base-class, but for other classes and "Wild talent" the Psionic Talent die works good for them.

It's better that the Fighter subclass has been renamed Psi-Knight, because it's quite a narrow focus for a Psychic Warrior which had roughly 3 different varieties in 3.5e. The telekinetic build of the Psychic Warrior being the Psi Knight. There's still the Metamorphic path and the Precog path, out of common types of Psychic Warriors. The Metamorphic path could be a Barbarian subclass, and the Precog path could be a Diamond Mind Monk (to take the term formerly used for TOB / Sublime Way martial adepts).

I still feel the Soulknife could do with a couple of more tricks. They don't have to emphasize on a Psychic Strike anymore, since it's a Rogue with sneak attack.

The Sorcerer is fine, even though I really liked it being the Aberrant Soul.

I don't see any good reason why Ego Whip and those spells were abandoned. They've always existed in one form or another across many editions.

 

[Weiley31]

I still feel the Soulknife could do with a couple of more tricks. They don't have to emphasize on a Psychic Strike anymore, since it's a Rogue with sneak attack.

I always felt the 5E Soulknife needed a Die to represent the power of their Mind Blades. As much a shiny sword/whatever is cool, I feel like the main weapon of a Soulknife SHOULD BE the Mind Blade. Which was why I liked it as a Monk subclass, via Mearls take on it, since you could easily reflavor the Martial Arts Die into a Mind Blade Die, which then allowed it to scale pretty much.

Then again, I can see the three different Soulknife Subclasses as different disciplines of being a Soulknife.

 

[Mistwell]

Almost every edition had a Psion class or multiclasses except first, so that seems like a tradition to me.

2 out of 5 have had a Psion class. Two. out of Five. One of those two was the least selling edition of D&D. I think we've had as many official Jester classes as we've had Psion classes. And this is what is being described as not just a tradition, but a "strong tradition"?

 

[Maxperson]

What, you're talking about the PC options? Hell, that's even easier to make! It can easily be a selection of Epic Boons beyond level 20. They don't even need to be sequential, though you can make them so if you want the dragon/avangion development to be linear.

Each epic boon would dwarf any epic boons to date. They would result in increased hit point, increased AC, increased damage, increased spell casting ability(including 10th level spells), increased movement capability, and more.

Epic boons don't work for this.

 

[SkidAce]

I don't see any good reason why Ego Whip and those spells were abandoned. They've always existed in one form or another across many editions.

I agree.

 

[Parmandur]

2 out of 5 have had a Psion class. Two. out of Five. One of those two was the least selling edition of D&D. I think we've had as many official Jester classes as we've had Psion classes. And this is what is being described as not just a tradition, but a "strong tradition"?

2E, 3E and 4E had Psions?

Certainly not a coherent string through history, though.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Each epic boon would dwarf any epic boons to date. They would result in increased hit point, increased AC, increased damage, increased spell casting ability(including 10th level spells), increased movement capability, and more.

Epic boons don't work for this.

I disagree. Now you're essentially asking for the level cap to be increased beyond 20; the idea that this is integral to a game of Dark Sun, is IMO bananas.

 

[Mistwell]

2E, 3E and 4E had Psions?

Certainly not a coherent string through history, though.

2E did not. Different class, called the Psionicist.