D&D (2024) WotC Fireside Chat: Revised 2024 Player’s Handbook

In this video about the upcoming revised Player’s Handnook, WotC’s Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins reveal a few new tidbits.

• The books are near final and almost ready to go to print
• Psionic subclasses such as the Soulknife and Psi Warrior will appear in the core books
• Named spells have art depicting their creators.
• There are new species in the PHB.

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[Kobold Avenger]

I think the Psionic subclasses will prepare the way for a Psion class eventually. There's a given "don't make completely new mechanics" for psionic powers now in place, because there's psionic subclasses of casters like Warlocks and Sorcerers that just use spells. Then it opens the way for a Psion that just uses spells (except with perhaps some sort of twist), which has always been a hard pill to swallow for anyone holding on to 2e psionics.

Now having psionic subclasses that use spells will actually make a Psion that's easier to design, since it'll reduce the expectation that psionics should use completely new mechanics.

 

[Staffan]

I think it's better that the Psionic Sorcerer subclass is aberrant themed (3e had Illithid bloodline feats, so there's precedence), not only because it was more interesting than them being a generic psion replacement, but because I don't think the entire weight of psionics should be carried by a single subclass of Sorcerer (or Wizard which is why I didn't view that UA psionic Wizard subclass positively).

I don't mind the Aberrant stuff being somewhere under the psionic umbrella. I do not like both the main caster options being aberration-themed. There should be a psionic main caster that gains power from enlightenment and meditation and stuff like that. And it should be a full class, not a wizard or sorcerer subclass.

 

[Clint_L]

I don't mind the Aberrant stuff being somewhere under the psionic umbrella. I do not like both the main caster options being aberration-themed. There should be a psionic main caster that gains power from enlightenment and meditation and stuff like that. And it should be a full class, not a wizard or sorcerer subclass.

So this is what I'm talking about when I say that putting these sub-classes in feels like a neither fish nor fowl compromise. They are sort of psionic sub-classes, but not really. Really, they're doing spells with a little psi flavour on top. Which is why I will probably wind up tolerating them.

If you're gonna do psionics, do a setting where they are integral, like Eberron did for artificers, and fully develop them as a class. Then the fans get what they want, and the non-fans can opt out.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don't mind the Aberrant stuff being somewhere under the psionic umbrella. I do not like both the main caster options being aberration-themed. There should be a psionic main caster that gains power from enlightenment and meditation and stuff like that. And it should be a full class, not a wizard or sorcerer subclass.

The most famous WotC IP monsters are aberrations. I suspect that has something to do with the aberrant focus...

 

[FitzTheRuke]

My original Day 1 copy, my wife's copy she's had since before we met (all one collection now), and a very recent printing I received as a gift from my in-laws last birthday.

That must have thrilled you when you opened that present. (I guess it's the thought that counts?)

Im curious to know when pre-order for the digital contents go on sale? I heard that FLGS are going to drop the book 2 weeks earlier but haven't heard anything from DnD Beyond

D&D Beyond will drop on the usual release date, except maybe for digital-physical bundle purchasers.
We FLGSes will "only" get the books 11-days early. So September 6 for the PHB, as opposed to the 17th.
(Your profile pic and nickname are awesome, BTW).

 

[MonsterEnvy]

I really liked the original version of the psionic sub classes with a unique mechanic and feats that connected to it. Sadly the user base was too conservative to accept them.

 

[Queer Venger]

That must have thrilled you when you opened that present. (I guess it's the thought that counts?)

D&D Beyond will drop on the usual release date, except maybe for digital-physical bundle purchasers.
We FLGSes will "only" get the books 11-days early. So September 6 for the PHB, as opposed to the 17th.
(Your profile pic and nickname are awesome, BTW).

thank you Fitz!! Yeah, I already contacted my FLGS for the early physical book but was curious about the digital.
I didnt have a good experience ordering direct from wizards for the bundle before, so Ive decided to give my money to my local store and buy the digital separate (or have my players buy it for us).

 

[FitzTheRuke]

thank you Fitz!! Yeah, I already contacted my FLGS for the early physical book but was curious about the digital.
I didnt have a good experience ordering direct from wizards for the bundle before, so Ive decided to give my money to my local store and buy the digital separate (or have my players buy it for us).

I will admit that I buy stuff on Beyond myself, in spite of owning a comic and game store. AFAIK you'll get your FLGS print-book 11 days before your digital copy. (Barring time-zones. I live on the West Coast of Canada and I've been known to read my digital copy the day before I get my print ones, unless I happen to get my print ones in before I can sell them!)

 

[Charlaquin]

I’m not sure if I really like the addition of Psi-SubClasses as of yet. Can somebody remind me how psionic powers work in D&D? Are they significantly different from the normal magic systems?

In 5e, they are not different at all. “Psionic” is literally just psychic-themed magic.

 

[Charlaquin]

In 5e, there's no separate psionics system. There are just some subclasses with a psionic theme. This is how they work in 5.0:

The Aberrant Soul sorcerer gets some extra spells that are either telepathic-ish in nature or creepy aberration stuff (arms of Hadar, hunger of Hadar, Evard's black tentacles, summon aberration). These can eventually be swapped out for divination/enchantment spells from the sorcerer, warlock, or wizard lists. The cost for casting these spells using sorcery points is lower, and when you do you do so without components (unless they have a cost).

More offensively, for those of us who don't like our psionics to be all Far Realmsy, at 14th level they get "Revelation in Flesh" which allows them to spend sorcery points to transform themselves in various aberrant ways, gaining various abilities. And at 18th, they can do some space-warping stuff for short-range teleports.

There's also the Great Old One warlock, which is basically a warlock with some aberration-flavored spells and telepathy.

The Psi Knight fighter basically gets telekinetic-flavored special maneuvers they can do, and the Soulknife can conjure "blades of psychic energy" which they can use in both melee and at medium range. They also have a small reservoir of psychic power they can use to boost skill checks, speak telepathically with a number of allies, and at higher levels do short-range teleportation, boost attack checks, and eventually stun people.

I really don't get why they are so intent on making the main psi-caster classes so tied to aberrations. I do not believe that's what most psionics fans want. Psionics fans likely want either Dark Sun, where psionics is super common and considered "clean", or Eberron where some psionics are aberrant-tied but others have connections to dream creatures, and in general have much more to do with crystals than with mucus and tentacles.

I think it’s less that WotC is intent on making psionic abilities tied to aberrations, and more that aberrations are how the average 5e fan conceptualizes psychic powers in D&D. They tried two approaches to the psion/mystic that were closer to what psionics have been in other editions, and they polled poorly. They tried another version of psionic subclasses, and they polled poorly. They changed the Awakened Mind Sorcerer to Aberrant Mind, and it did better. The fact of the matter is, people who want Dark Sun style or Eberron style psionics are in the minority. Most of the 5e fan base doesn’t really want psychic powers in their fantasy game. But, if you make the psychic powers all tentacl-y and madness-themed, it becomes more palatable to that crowd.