D&D: Psionic Pseries Part Two – The Psion Revealed!
Go in-depth with the Psion–a psionic class currently being developed as we go by one of the D&D devs, live on Twitch!
Watching a game take shape is a fascinating thing. You see ideas take root, grow, blossom or mutate into something else altogether. Watching the Psionics rules, developed by D&D Creative Director Mike Mearls turns that fascination up to 11.
Perhaps it’s because Mearls does such a good job of showing his work, or because the Psionic rules could’ve been this byzantine rules set, but instead is taking shape into a fun and new wrinkle in 5th Edition space–but watching the Happy Fun Hour makes you feel like you’re in on the process.
https://youtu.be/sENXOh5yokY
It’s a ton of fun, and as we mentioned, complex. In the last stream, Mearls looked at psionic subclasses–essentially by figuring out what the Psion isn’t, Mearls could trim away a lot of the abilities and rules systems that would fit in with other classes. That’s one of the most eye-catching things for me; we saw how the Mystic tried to encompass a psionic fighter, rogue, and wizard but became too stretched.
Now we get to see a new class honed. The Psion, which is the core Psionic class–other things like the Soul Knife or Psychic Warrior are, as mentioned above, subclasses that enable other core classes to take psionic abilities and spells, but the Psion is all psionics all the time.
Of particular interest is the way the subclasses that stick around (2 out of 6 or so) change. You can really get a sense for what polished design feels like, and it feels like the Psion will be a ton of fun to play. We learn there’ll be a mind-reading telepath type, as well as a teleporting combatant, which I’m watching with interest. At any rate, check back in next week for more on how Psionics is developing!
Psionics is coming along pretty swimmingly–do you all like these design videos? Would you like to see more on class/rules design, or more community stuff? Let us know in the comments.
