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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[Cap'n Kobold]

NOTE: In 5e Monks are an example I would use to show how a character can do Superhuman things but it not actually be MAGIC. When the monk hits you with a stunning blow it functions like a spell mechanically, cost points to do, and distinctly isn't magic and cannot be dispelled or countered. This is why Psionics CAN be different in 5e, however they should be working from the Monk as the start of the concept to develop it.

Note that Monks in 5e are explicitly magical, and their abilities that do function like spells (apart from not using m components) can be dispelled/countered etc.

 

[Umbran]

I was being tongue-in-cheek, but on the other hand, maybe the psionic halflings LOOK normal, but people call them "Tentacled" out of a perverse sense of humor.

Or, just as a cultural point, they tend to wear dreadlocks, and it is a reference to that...

 

[Maxperson]

Or, just as a cultural point, they tend to wear dreadlocks, and it is a reference to that...

If I remember, I'm going to add that to my next Dark Sun campaign.

 

[Baron Opal II]

Just read the article. Is the psionic die anything more than a timer?

 

[ccooke]

Just read the article. Is the psionic die anything more than a timer?

Yes.
By my read, it serves several purposes. Mechanically, it provides a waxing and waning feel to psychic powers. I believe this is trying to capture the feel of psionics being difficult - this is a common theme in fiction, after all. It will not usually run out at lower levels (the expected number of uses, even with the starting d6 die, is likely enough to cover a 6-8 encounter adventuring day). At higher levels, it acts as a spendable resource - there are a number of powers that decrease the die size as a cost.
It also captures a meaningful but not terrible reduction in power after a large expenditure.

 

[Maxperson]

Just read the article. Is the psionic die anything more than a timer?

Yes. It's a resource that powers a variety of abilities, including damage.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Just as a point of order, in a separate discussion on on another board (not going to link) I ran the math on Mystics, with the best possible damage abilities, against an ideal target, and using their Psi points in the most rational way possible (Wu Jen 30' range weapon thing, as it also gets weapon damage), and I'm still coming up short against other classes, damage-wise (again even in simplistic scenarios which wildly favour the Mystic).

There doesn't seem to be any conventional scenario where they are really that dangerous/powerful.

They were really versatile, and re-reading I can see that. But only if they didn't spend all their Psi on damage. Most of the complaints I read about them work on the basis that they could both spend all their Psi on damage AND spend all their Psi on versatility. That literally could never happen.

So at this point, I think we can see WotC acted on a lot of really frankly wrong feedback, because it claimed Mystic were "too powerful" (something WotC repeated here, albeit they didn't say they shared that opinion). They literally are not, unless you run the 5MWD (at which point they totally, but so is every class with "daily" resources, especially Sorcerers and Wizards).

I didn't like Mystic very much. The fluff is ghastly and totally wrong. What the heck is Wu Jen even doing in there (it's also the source of the problems damage-wise!)? The whole thing is a bit of a mess, almost designed to fail, but "too powerful"? Absolutely not. Not if you're running 5-8 encounters/day, which apparently everything is balanced around.

I'm too lazy to re-do the math here but will help critique if someone else does. Basically, totally optimal play, where you're a Wu Jen and know exactly how many rounds of combat there will be in a day, and there are exactly the right number so you can use EVERY Psi point on combat, you still end up behind. Not by much, but behind.

If you do what people complain about - burst hard - you don't actually do very much damage, and you end up WAY behind over the day, instead of slightly behind. All the while you're acting like a Rogue re: AC/HP but you have none of the utility of a Rogue, because all you're doing is dumping Psi into wood weapon or whatever it's called. Take out that ONE ability (none of the others are close, damage-wise, because they don't get weapon damage) and suddenly Mystics are even further behind.

Mystic could have been fixed by re-fluffing, removing or nerfing a few abilities, and restricting versatility by limiting which disciplines you could have chosen in a harsher way.

I'm not saying it should have been, but it could have been, and they didn't bother to try, seemingly on the basis of at least partially spurious feedback. This is the dark side of the 7/10 thing if that's really how they work. If enough people (say, 3.1/10 people) have a false belief about a class/subclass/spell/feat/etc. it doesn't matter that it's false, because it'll fail the 7/10 test.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Yes.
By my read, it serves several purposes. Mechanically, it provides a waxing and waning feel to psychic powers. I believe this is trying to capture the feel of psionics being difficult - this is a common theme in fiction, after all. It will not usually run out at lower levels (the expected number of uses, even with the starting d6 die, is likely enough to cover a 6-8 encounter adventuring day). At higher levels, it acts as a spendable resource - there are a number of powers that decrease the die size as a cost.
It also captures a meaningful but not terrible reduction in power after a large expenditure.

I like this take on it - I have some quibbles but they're minor enough I'll leave them out. I will say that it does concern me a bit that you have around a 5% chance of literally going to no dice in the first two rolls you make when you start on a d6, but with reset that should average out. It's around a 0.17% chance you'll lose all your Psi power in the first four rolls.

I do wonder how people are going to feel about that sort of thing in practice. Every single other class in 5E has control over resource spending - just not these guys.

 

[Eric V]

Just as a point of order, in a separate discussion on on another board (not going to link) I ran the math on Mystics, with the best possible damage abilities, against an ideal target, and using their Psi points in the most rational way possible (Wu Jen 30' range weapon thing, as it also gets weapon damage), and I'm still coming up short against other classes, damage-wise (again even in simplistic scenarios which wildly favour the Mystic).

There doesn't seem to be any conventional scenario where they are really that dangerous/powerful.

They were really versatile, and re-reading I can see that. But only if they didn't spend all their Psi on damage. Most of the complaints I read about them work on the basis that they could both spend all their Psi on damage AND spend all their Psi on versatility. That literally could never happen.

So at this point, I think we can see WotC acted on a lot of really frankly wrong feedback, because it claimed Mystic were "too powerful" (something WotC repeated here, albeit they didn't say they shared that opinion). They literally are not, unless you run the 5MWD (at which point they totally, but so is every class with "daily" resources, especially Sorcerers and Wizards).

I didn't like Mystic very much. The fluff is ghastly and totally wrong. What the heck is Wu Jen even doing in there (it's also the source of the problems damage-wise!)? The whole thing is a bit of a mess, almost designed to fail, but "too powerful"? Absolutely not. Not if you're running 5-8 encounters/day, which apparently everything is balanced around.

I'm too lazy to re-do the math here but will help critique if someone else does. Basically, totally optimal play, where you're a Wu Jen and know exactly how many rounds of combat there will be in a day, and there are exactly the right number so you can use EVERY Psi point on combat, you still end up behind. Not by much, but behind.

If you do what people complain about - burst hard - you don't actually do very much damage, and you end up WAY behind over the day, instead of slightly behind. All the while you're acting like a Rogue re: AC/HP but you have none of the utility of a Rogue, because all you're doing is dumping Psi into wood weapon or whatever it's called. Take out that ONE ability (none of the others are close, damage-wise, because they don't get weapon damage) and suddenly Mystics are even further behind.

Mystic could have been fixed by re-fluffing, removing or nerfing a few abilities, and restricting versatility by limiting which disciplines you could have chosen in a harsher way.

I'm not saying it should have been, but it could have been, and they didn't bother to try, seemingly on the basis of at least partially spurious feedback. This is the dark side of the 7/10 thing if that's really how they work. If enough people (say, 3.1/10 people) have a false belief about a class/subclass/spell/feat/etc. it doesn't matter that it's false, because it'll fail the 7/10 test.

This is an example of why I'd prefer designers using their own judgment instead of listening to the less-informed opinion of the masses (I include myself).

...IF this was the reason they canned the class.

 

[TwoSix]

I like this take on it - I have some quibbles but they're minor enough I'll leave them out. I will say that it does concern me a bit that you have around a 5% chance of literally going to no dice in the first two rolls you make when you start on a d6, but with reset that should average out. It's around a 0.17% chance you'll lose all your Psi power in the first four rolls.

I do wonder how people are going to feel about that sort of thing in practice. Every single other class in 5E has control over resource spending - just not these guys.

I think that's part of my problem with it; it's not really a "resource". I mean, there are some class features that use the die like a resource, but in its standard use it's primarily a buff that you might lose if you're unlucky enough. It's like gaining a fighting style, except you lose it for the day if you roll a 1 on your attack.