D&D Celebration 2020 Reveals – Psionics Are In Tasha’s Cauldron Of Everything
D&D Celebration this year revealed a ton of new options that will be included in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, including a new take on Psionics.
Psionics have been a part of D&D since Gary Gygax sat down at his home game and thought, “okay but what if my fighter had telepathy.” And at D&D Celebration 2020, a number of spoilers out there have shown us that Psionics are back for 5th Edition. If you’ve been following the trend of development in the various Unearthed Arcana rules tests over the last few cycles of Psionic iteration, you know the trend has been towards Psionics are another source of power. They’re a theme that comes up in subclasses–and that seems to be official now.
Over at D&D Celebration, on some of the panels, they discussed what’s in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything and made only the briefest mention of psionics. But dotting the explorable map are puzzles you can find hidden in artwork from Icewind Dale. These puzzles, when solved, contain previews of Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything–including a number of previews of Psionics as it appears in 5th Edition.
For example, take Tasha’s Mind Whip, one of the upcoming new spells revealed on the map. It’s a new spin on the old psychic power favorite, Mind Whip, now a 2nd level spell which does 3d6 damage as well as denying the target much (but not all) of their turn. It’s a mechanic I’ll probably steal to replace the Stunned condition, because no one likes losing a turn altogether. And, you can upcast it to target more creatures.
Another puzzle revealed Mind Sliver, a new psionic-focused cantrip that sets your opponents up for future failure on spells that target their saving throw. All of this makes it likely that the new Wizard subclass we’ll see is somehow psionic-flavored. Either way, it looks like the trend of “psionics as power source, not optional rules” has solidified. We’ll know for sure when the book is out, but one thing’s certain. Psionics are back.
Happy Adventuring!
