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Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard
Whether you want to slice down your foes with psychically augmented physical strikes, slice them with invisible force weapons, or cast spells bristling with telekinetic power, there are now options for you in Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition.
Wizards of the Coast just released a new Unearthed Arcana (their monthly research and development workshop where they playtest new ideas) focusing on a long-loved set of abilities: Psionics. The psychically-charged new content includes sub-classes for the fighter and rogue, and a new spell tradition for wizards, along with new feats for characters.
I knew they were going to say that.
Source: https://techraptor.net/tabletop/news/dungeons-dragons-5e-adds-psionics
[Note - This is part of the Unearthed Arcana playtest material and is not legal to use in Adventurer's League - Ed]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @04:58PM (5 children)
Always the unloved stepchild…
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @05:24PM (4 children)
I'd more characterize them as the loved carbuncle than anything. It was like wizard duels: cool in theory, but utterly impractical unless the campaign was special-built to highlight it.
I, and so many others, love them. However, they were unbalanced (overpowered in many ways, underpowered in others) and clearly an after-thought.
I hope they did a more elegant job melding it into 5th edition. Given how long it's been since the start, and it it is just being introduced now, though... I fear it was not.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday November 27 2019, @07:32PM (3 children)
Maybe and I've never looked at 5th edition so I can't judge objectively, but from what I read here [wizards.com] the answer to that question would be no.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Wednesday November 27 2019, @08:33PM (2 children)
I just glanced through, but the abilities seem to be roughly on par with the types of benefits you'd get by following another class path. In other words, I don't think it's completely broken out of the gate. Time will tell, but I'm not alarmed.
As FatPhil mentioned above [soylentnews.org], qualifying for psionics in 1st Edition was bullshit. 2nd Edition went a long way toward democratising access to Psionics, however I'll admit that the implementation (tracking the expenditure and recovery-per-hour of Psionic Spell Points, which could be up to 60-70 points at early-mid levels) was a pain in the ass.
These days, I'm more inclined to ignore Psionics, but this 5th Ed implementation seems at a glance to integrate with the way most of the core rules for other abilities work already, and seems to keep things simple.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 27 2019, @09:07PM
This has been the big thing for me in 5e. We've finally gotten away from rules lawyering, simplified things so you don't need a fricking spreadsheet to keep track of your character and gotten back to good old fashioned storytelling.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday November 27 2019, @09:26PM
Maybe that's my bias right there, I've never seen the need for adding in the complication of psionics. It's never added anything to the stories or adventuring for me. You could render the simplest implementation possible and I'd probably still be biased against it. And as such, I actually liked the notion that psionic abilities were incredibly rare.
But I also see that while this is simpler in mechanics, it gets more complicated for players and parties in practice, akin to, "Well, it's Tuesday and I'm wearing the green gaiters so I get a 1d4 bonus to my Charisma but only when walking on the left side of the street..." But, like I said, I'm biased.
This sig for rent.