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]

We use components. 5e (and honestly--3e too, just people apparently didn't read the book) says if you have a component pouch you are assumed to have all the non-costly material components you need*. Then you have V and S components. They don't normally have a game effect (although S components don't mesh with two-weapon fighting well), but we are aware of which spells require which so that when they do happen to have an effect we can apply it.

I mainly mean Vocal and Somantic components. They have big impacts on combat and stealth, particularly.

 

[ccooke]

But, Battlemaster abilities are far more consistent, and my first change is quite minor. The average difference between dice is 1, and this requires you to have rolled a 1 first, while at maximum value, and then you get a very minor bump in ability.

I'm not running the math, but it would be a decimal point increase in average power I think, nothing that would alter the balance enough to really matter.

It makes a huge cumulative difference.
Okay, I tweaked my simulation script so that it now calculates your average cumulative roll per day (basically, the average sum of all rolls), and so that it can optionally allow the die to increase by one size. That actually gets a better view on how much you get out of the d4/d6 split on rolls. As before, with the rules as per the UA you can expect 27 uses per day. Here's the stats:

As per the UA:
Attempting 27 uses per day, you can expect:
Median number of uses achieved: 27
Average number of uses: 21
Able to use the die on every attempt for the day 50.0009% of days.
Assuming all of those rolls are damage, you get: 72.4 extra damage per day.

Allowing the die to increase by one size:
Attempting 27 uses per day, you can expect:
Medium number of uses achieved: 27
Average number of uses: 25
Able to use the die on every attempt for the day 84.82% of days
Assuming all of those rolls are damage, you get: 100.7 extra damage per day

Remember, the expected damage per day from a battlemaster is 72. That puts the expected use as per the UA to be, on average, exactly the same as the battlemaster. With your update, you end up getting 28 extra damage - more than a third extra - over the day. That's a lot.

 

[TwoSix]

That would probably be demoralising in play, though, and lead to hoarding of abilities for a special moment. I definitely prefer this approach - it's balanced well against the other subclasses, but it will be very distinct in play.

On the contrary...an ability you just sort of have unless you get really unlucky is boring. (IMO, of course). It doesn't encourage tactical use.

I'd much rather see it start at a 1d4, and work its way up through lucky rolls. Then maybe you can unleash your Akira/Super Saiyan psychic attack if you get it up to a d12.

 

[Parmandur]

Hmm. That's how I was reading it the first time.
Maybe that's a reason I'm more enthused about the subclass than others?
(Or maybe I'm just really taken with that psychic whispers ability and want to build entire characters I'll never get to play around it

My first blush reading was the Soul Knife could use two-weapon fighting, which isn't that sexy. And based on the Twitter fires Crawford is dealing with, a lot of people thought the two weapon fighting rules apply. It's a subtle difference, but it make a big power curve difference.

 

[Fenris-77]

what you are doing with your hands is narratively important when the movement has magical implications.

So this is actually about magic right? Not, you know, what it looks like it's about?

 

[ccooke]

My first blush reading was the Soul Knife could use two-weapon fighting, which isn't that sexy. And based on the Twitter fires Crawford is dealing with, a lot of people thought the two weapon fighting rules apply. It's a subtle difference, but it make a big power curve difference.

It does.

The important thing about the psychic blades is that they don't need the talent die to be available. The Soul Knife doesn't actually roll the talent die that often, and will mostly be using it as a consumable. What they get, though, is a versatile, 60' thrown d6 weapon that converts everything to psychic damage, with a d4 retry. That's not at all overpowered, but it's going to set the tone for your character's entire arc.

 

[Parmandur]

On the contrary...an ability you just sort of have unless you get really unlucky is boring. (IMO, of course). It doesn't encourage tactical use.

I'd much rather see it start at a 1d4, and work its way up through lucky rolls. Then maybe you can unleash your Akira/Super Saiyan psychic attack if you get it up to a d12.

Well, maybe it isn't intended to be an overly tactical Subclass. The better comparison than a Battlemaster might be the baseline Champion, which is also mathematically balanced with the Battlemaster, bit whose main focus is on achieving actions without complex manuevering. This Psi Knight is a Psionic hammer, beating down with strength.

 

[Parmandur]

So this is actually about magic right? Not, you know, what it looks like it's about?

Listen, my games are strictly PG-13.

Sometimes a wand is just a wand.

 

[Parmandur]

It does.

The important thing about the psychic blades is that they don't need the talent die to be available. The Soul Knife doesn't actually roll the talent die that often, and will mostly be using it as a consumable. What they get, though, is a versatile, 60' thrown d6 weapon that converts everything to psychic damage, with a d4 retry. That's not at all overpowered, but it's going to set the tone for your character's entire arc.

Yes, being iconic without overshadowing anyone else. The more I look at this, the more I like it.

 

[ccooke]

Well, maybe it isn't intended to be an overly tactical Subclass. The better comparison than a Battlemaster might be the baseline Champion, which is also mathematically balanced with the Battlemaster, bit whose main focus is on achieving actions without complex manuevering. This Psi Knight is a Psionic hammer, beating down with strength.

It's a lot easier to compare the two extra-die-using subclasses, though, since you can look at how many times you can use the thing, and how much difference it makes.

Comparing with the Champion, I guess you'd have to look at the expected difference from an extra fighting style and crit damage. It depends a bit on attacks, and there will be a marked difference at level 5 that's not present for the battlemaster comparison (given that the battlemaster is going to use about the same number of superiority dice ever day as long as the number stays the same)