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]

They ditched the Stone Sorcerer, Phoenix Sorcerer, and Sea Sorcerer dispite them being popular to varying degrees and I never knew why, it was a shame they were all really cool. Instead they went with the less popular Shadow Sorcerer (which I personally love) Maybe they will pop up later in a book.

On what basis do you think the failed Subclasses were popular, while the Shadow Sorcerer was less do? Chatter from a couple dozen people on the boards and Reddit? Or do you have big data on that?

The reason is as clear as day: one Subclass made the cut in the surveys, while the others did not.

 

[Parmandur]

Sadly that doesn't solve the problem re: Feats for two reasons:

1) The big one - WotC have repeatedly stated Feats are optional. They even massively modified Eberron's Dragonmark system (apparently at the last minute) to take out the Feats which made it a balanced and reasonable system, and instead made it a weird mess where you have to be certain classes to actually use your Dragonmark, in direct contradiction of Eberron lore.

So they've shown that they are willing to come down hard on this. Thus them doing ANYTHING which relied on Feats would be very, very surprising and unprecedented.

2) That's an ASI point, and one where most PCs will want to take an ASI over a Feat, and even if they take a Feat, they may not want Wild Talent or the like, and would, amusingly for Dark Sun, have worse stats than normal PCs (rather than better, as is traditional). So it wouldn't really solve the issue.

But point one kills anything that relies on Feats, sadly, until WotC kill that policy. I don't personally understand why they can't just say "Feats are optional for D&D, but the Dark Sun setting requires them", and just yes, give everyone the Wild Talent Feat for free. But they've shown they're really against that, and did so recently.

Thing is, many of us hate Feats and let them know that forcefully in surveys whenever possible. Their data shows that most tables and players don't use Feats. To sell a product to people who don't use Feats, relying on them as a mechanic is inefficient.

The Dragonmark Race options provide the exact mechanism we'll likely see for Dark Sun in terms of "everyone has Psionics."

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

On what basis do you think the failed Subclasses were popular, while the Shadow Sorcerer was less do? Chatter from a couple dozen people on the boards and Reddit? Or do you have big data on that?

The reason is as clear as day: one Subclass made the cut in the surveys, while the others did not.

Why be content with a reasonable explanation based on history when a much more excited conspiracy is right there?

 

[Paul Farquhar]

or if the Mystic couldn't do basically everything.

Thanks for making my point for me. Whatever WotC come up with it is rejected out of hand by people who consider their objection perfectly valid. So the consequence is no psionics in 5 years, no psionics in 50 years.

The only way (non-3PP) psionics is going to happen is if WotC start ignoring feedback.

 

[Aldarc]

Why wouldn't they want to make it unique rather than just "spellcasting but with less ability to counter it" or "a B side to combat that half of the party (at best) can't participate in"?

Huh?

Probably, but that's fairly hefty for a UA, you have to be honest. UA tends to keep itself fairly small, to it's benefit IMO. This way something that jumps out and becomes the only thing that people talk about concerning the UA is less of a problem.

Or let's put it this way, if they removed the Immortal, Soul Knife, and Wu Jen Orders from the Mystic - possibly hinting that these were subclasses for other classes down the pipeline - then it would likely be (a) less hefty and (b) more focused on the mystic. But one of the complaints, as you said before, is that the Mystic was attempting to do too much and be everything.

Considering how many times they've tried to make a Psion, (including the fact that they are still doing so) that seems slightly disingenuous

From what I recall, WotC played around with a mystic a number of times, but Mearls only made a psion once in his happy hour.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

Thanks for making my point for me. Whatever WotC come up with it is rejected out of hand by people who consider their objection perfectly valid. So the consequence is no psionics in 5 years, no psionics in 50 years.

The only way (non-3PP) psionics is going to happen is if WotC start ignoring feedback.

The feedback that the Mystic could pretty much replace anyone in the party or the feedback that psionics need to do basically everything spellcasters can do, but you can't counterspell it, you don't need any components, and it'll always work in an antimagic field?

Because the second part is what I get from a lot of people wanting psionics.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

Huh?

For the first part, see the people asking for psionic abilities that are different from magic, thus making them immune to all the things that counter magic. For the second, look up Psionic Combat that existed until 3.5.

Or let's put it this way, if they removed the Immortal, Soul Knife, and Wu Jen Orders from the Mystic - possibly hinting that these were subclasses for other classes down the pipeline - then it would likely be (a) less hefty and (b) more focused on the mystic. But one of the complaints, as you said before, is that the Mystic was attempting to do too much and be everything.

Well then the discussion of "Where's the Immortal/Soul Knife/Wu Jen?" Plus that doesn't actually solve the problem of the Mystic doing too much.

From what I recall, WotC played around with a mystic a number of times, but Mearls only made a psion once in his happy hour.

Pedantry. They Mystic was to be the 5e version of the Psion.

 

[Guest 6801328]

or if the Mystic couldn't do basically everything.

This is what I hate/hated about the Mystic.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Pedantry. They Mystic was to be the 5e version of the Psion.

Agree with the sentiment, but "pedantry" is not the correct word.

An example of pedantry would be this post.

 

[Maxperson]

Pedantry. They Mystic was to be the 5e version of the Psion.

It would have been a very stupid version, then. A Mystic, which is a hermit/outcast with obscure quirks, is not at all representative of what a Psion was.

Since those at WotC are not stupid, it's far more likely that it was a psionic class, but not intended to be the Psion.