D&D 5E WotC will likely be making a dedicated Psion class, as per recent tweets

[Sword of Spirit]

So, not an unreasonable conclusion to come too. And not wrong either, IMO. I think we are seeing WotC lying to avoid admiting they made a ****-up.

While I agree your assessment of the situation is quite probable, I don't think there's a need to attribute any dishonesty to the designers. As frustrating as it may be to us, they don't really have any obligation to be open with us about what's going on in design. Even if they did change their mind based on feedback, that just means they were listening and hadn't painted themselves into a corner, not necessarily that they were intentionally lying about anything.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Call it a retcon then. It's funny how people get upset about the word "lying", even though it's something everyone does. Maybe if it was called out more there would be less of it about?

 

[lkj]

1) Psionic Focus: A feature you would only expect a psion to use.

2) Psionic Spells: Presented without any game mechanics, it sure looks like giving up.

3) It's a full caster. When people think of a psionic subclass they think of [Class Name] plus a little bit of psionics.


So, not an unreasonable conclusion to come too. And not wrong either, IMO. I think we are seeing WotC lying to avoid admiting they made a ****-up.

I doubt it. I mean, there's no way to know for sure, but I'll say that my first assumption on seeing the wizard subclass was that it definitely wasn't a replacement for the psion. Partly this is because what they are doing is completely in line with the strategy Mearls was contemplating back when he was doing Happy Fun Hour. His thought was that rather than trying to fit everything into one or a few psionic classes that they try to do as many things as possible within the structure of the existing classes. He even developed very rough draft versions of some of the same subclasses we've seen in this UA. In fact, Mearls even created a wizard subclass that specialized in psionics called 'The Mentalist'. It's a lot different than the current one, but that's not surprising. None of his early drafts look much like the eventual UA versions.

He then separately started working up a psion.

So, my first impression upon seeing the last UA was that this was precisely the path they were following. Test subclasses. Then later test another full class. I was actually surprised to hear that they might have abandoned a full class. And, as Crawford clarifies, my first impression was correct.

In other words, sure, their strategy might have changed. Sure, they might never do a class if they feel satisfied that the subclasses are covering the vast majority of people's needs. They might still decide that.

But there's really not much reason to think they were 'lying' or that they've suddenly changed course and are covering it up (and honestly, who cares if they've used user feedback to change course?). What they are doing is perfectly in line with what they were doing in the first place. We may or may not see another UA psion class, but I have a feeling there's one in development there. Actually, we know there was. Whether it sees the light of day will depend on whether it makes it through their internal process.

I hope it does.

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[Tony Vargas]

Call it a retcon then. It's funny how people get upset about the word "lying", even though it's something everyone does. Maybe if it was called out more there would be less of it about?

Call it 'spin' or 'plausible deniability' - running a line like D&D seems about as fraught a proposition as running for office.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Call it 'spin' or 'plausible deniability' - running a line like D&D seems about as fraught a proposition as running for office.

Why not just admit that lying is something everyone does all the time? We don't need euphemisms.

 

[Aldarc]

Who cares about this semantics game? If this negative feedback from people wanting WotC to make a proper psion class has caused WotC to reevaluate their position, then that seems like the important thing.

For the record, I would note that one of Jeremy Crawford's games that he helped co-write was Blue Rose by Green Ronin Publishing. (He also wrote the foreword for the AGE System update.) Blue Rose was a romantic fantasy setting that has a HEAVY amount of magic that would be classified as psionics, though with less of the sci-fi thematics of psionics and more of the new age thematics of psychics.