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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[Chaosmancer]

That's really odd. My player like to know who they need to hit to disrupt concentration on, so they like to pinpoint the casters. Your players make the game a lot harder than they need to be by ignoring casters that way.

Have you missed how in every post I've said "I rarely use spell casters"?

They can't ignore what is not there man.

So you DO use components.

Do I? Can you tell me where the holy symbol or length of iron was? If the guy had a mace and a blackened shield, would it still count?

They gesture because it is dramatic, like in the movies, not because I actually am caring about the rules. Maybe for the Succubus Queen I'll just have her eyes glow and a wave of awe freeze them in place. It is about the story, not the components.

 

[dalisprime]

Psionics may not have involved components but the manifestation was never hidden if I recall. 3/3.5 e had various types of manifestation that made it obvious who the power was originating from so it's not like psions could just skirt about the battlefield manifesting powers without drawing attention. If they wanted to do that, they had to use metapsionics to hide the effects.
Granted, methods used against wizards don't work on psions (gagging, breaking fingers, taking spell components) but worlds where psionics are frequent have access to psionic dampeners or parasites that drain psionic power to keep psions subdued in prison. Just a question of different approach.

And as for spell components themselves - seeing as the phb doesn't even specify how many spells worth of components you get out of a pouch before it needs to be refilled (by contrast healers kit is very specific about number of uses as is ammo for ranged weapons), it's clear that by design the game expects you to handwave that particular detail and it's only ever relevant if the component pouch/ spellcasting focus are taken away from the caster or when you have no hands free to cast a spell.

 

[FlyingChihuahua]

And as for spell components themselves - seeing as the phb doesn't even specify how many spells worth of components you get out of a pouch before it needs to be refilled (by contrast healers kit is very specific about number of uses as is ammo for ranged weapons), it's clear that by design the game expects you to handwave that particular detail and it's only ever relevant if the component pouch/ spellcasting focus are taken away from the caster or when you have no hands free to cast a spell.

Or when the material components have a cost. It's pretty explicit in the book.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

For psionics and the components issue, I'd start by replacing V & S with Displays that are equally hard to hide. I'd require psions to maintain concentration in order to manifest any power. I'd also waive any material components of negligible cost, any material component with a gp value could be replaced with a gemstone of equal value.

 

[Parmandur]

I always hate when we get to this part of a discussion. "You don't have sufficient data, no one has sufficient data, therefore your point is invalid."

Even WoTC doesn't have sufficient, peer-reviewed data to go from. They've certainly never interviewed me or any one I've ever met on this. And no one on the forums talks about how they were contacted by WoTC's research team.

So no data exists.

All the more reason to doubt that a particular house rule "must" be how "certainly" over 50% of tables play.

 

[Parmandur]

Or when the material components have a cost. It's pretty explicit in the book.

Yeah, it's actually a pretty chill and relaxed system aimed at narrative coherence.

 

[dalisprime]

Well yes. Costly components matter and are called out. Anything else is practically handwaved in terms of how often you can use it. Even pathfinder which has more in depth mechanics assumes you simply refill your component pouch during daily prep.

 

[Parmandur]

Well yes. Costly components matter and are called out. Anything else is practically handwaved in terms of how often you can use it. Even pathfinder which has more in depth mechanics assumes you simply refill your component pouch during daily prep.

Sure, tracking Material components as accounting is a drag, which is why the rules don't force that. But the economy of hand usage to juggle a wand or pouch or whatever and Somatic components is important to just about every combat I've been in. I built my Dwarven Wild Mage without any Spells that require Material components for this reason.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Sure, tracking Material components is a drag. But the economy of hand usage to juggle a wand or pouch or whatever and Somatic components is important to just about every combat I've been in. I built my Dwarven Wild Mage without any Spells that require Material components for this reason.

It has never been a consideration for any character I've every built, because 99% of the time, dropping and picking up an item is sufficient to cover what needs to be covered

 

[Parmandur]

It has never been a consideration for any character I've every built, because 99% of the time, dropping and picking up an item is sufficient to cover what needs to be covered

Still, it's part of the strategy of the game.