D&D: Teleport Through Space And Time With The Nomad
Today in Psionics–the Nomad, the class that’s all about journeys, whether through space, time, or even ideas. Come take a look at how the Psion’s 1st Subclass is shaping up.
If you’ve been following the Mike Mearls Happy Fun Hour, you’ve been keeping up with the developments to Psionics. It’s been real interesting watching this class get developed–the work is very thorough. If you’re even an amateur designer, this series in particular is worth it to see how something with wide-reaching implications, like psionics, gets implemented. And right now we’re watching the creation of the Psion.
Here are a few brief facts–Psions used to be called Mystics and were built off of the Cleric chassis. Now they’re a sort of mutation of the Wizard class, and have a few different options. Psion Subclasses are a lot like Wizard Orders–their subclass features are designed to make them masters of certain disciplines. Much like the Evoker who uses Sculpt Spell to make themselves more effective with Evocation, but still able to use other spells, the Psion subclasses tend you towards a particular set of Psionic disciplines, but aren’t restrictive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdM1JZd6_HE
One of the best things about watching the class is getting to see the psionic spells get developed. One of the defining features of the Psion is the ability to concentrate on two psionic spells at once. So watching Mearls design them while keeping in mind how they might get used is a great insight into what to consider when designing spells. Things like what’s the skill floor or ceiling of your spell. How easy is it to use, and how often can a player get the best possible use-case out of it.
You can see all of this in action (plus a little more balancing) in the look at the Nomad, the subclass that’s all about movement and exploration and journeys. Journeys through time or space. There’s a lot of insight as to the sorts of powers you can expect the Psion to wield. Which is how the stage gets set for the class as a whole. Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=903jXawuYsk
With Psionics still seeming to be a little rough around the edges, it makes me wonder if the next product we’ll see is not psionic-related at all, which makes sense, given where it is, especially with a July announcement in the works. Either way you can be sure we’ll be keeping an eye out for it. So stay tuned for more news on that.
Happy adventuring!
