Wizards of the Coast have issued another Unearthed Arcana, maintaining the blistering speed of playtesting that’s we’ve seen recently, and this time it’s all about psionics.
These new abilities aren’t magic. They’re not arcane. Psionics come from the mind.
The Fighter, Rogue and Wizard are inline for the first psionics playtest. These classes new get new archetypes which become playtest options for characters. Psychic Warrior and Soulknife become available after reaching level three, and the Arcane Tradition opens for Wizards hitting level two.
You can download the new playtest straight from Wizards.com (PDF link).
Psychic Warrior
These fighters use psionics to augment their physical strength. New powers include;
- Psionic Armament – which can boost defences or strikes.
- Telekinetic Hand – which is the same as the mage hand cantrip.
- Strength of Mind – a telekinetic attack with a 20 feet range.
- Telekinetic Bulwark – which creates a psionic defence around you and allies.
- Agonizing Strikes – which add 2d10 psychic damage to hits.
- Psychic Dreadnaught – a super-psionic power-up gives you temporary regeneration and speed.
Soulknife
Rogue’s that use psionic power to manifest tangible blades and attack their victim’s minds. Soulknife’s abilities are:
- Psychic Blade – create a simple melee weapon.
- Psionic Enhancement – grants telepathy, or increased speed or a hit point boost.
- Terrifying Blade – adds fear to strikes from the Soulknife’s Psychic Blade.
- Psychic Veil – magically hides you, anything you are wearing or carrying.
- Rend Mind – a ranged attack made with one of your psychic blades.
Arcane Tradition
Sometimes known as Mentalists, these wizards have tapped the magical potential of their own minds. Powers include;
- Psionic Focus – An object becomes a spellcasting focus, and you earn re-rolls for specific damage rolls.
- Psionic Devotion – Improve either the cantrip friends, mage hand or message.
- Thought Form – Transform yourself and carried items into pure energy, glow, cast spells psionically and gain resistance to psychic damage.
- Mental Discipline – Learn and cast one of the following spells without components; dominate person, scrying, telekinesis. You can cast the chosen spell once without using a spell slot.
- Empowered Psionics – Add your Intelligence modifier to damage done with psychic or force damage.
- Thought Travel – Hover as fast as you can walk and pass through creatures or objects.
There’s a list of spells that are appropriate for Psionic Wizards in the playtest as well as nine new spells.
New psionic-themed spells
- Mind Sliver – Catrip (enchantment)
- Id Insinuation – 1st level (enchantment)
- Mental Barrier – 2nd level (abjuration)
- Mind Thrust – 2nd level (enchantment)
- Thought Shield – 2nd level (abjuration)
- Psionic Blast – 3rd level (evocation)
- Ego Whip – 4th level (enchantment)
- Intellect Fortress – 5th level (abjuration)
- Psychic Crush – 6th level (enchantment)
New psionic-themed feats
- Telekinetic
- Telepathic
In my experience, adding psionics into D&D seems like a relatively straightforward thing to do but can have pretty large consequences. It’s worth thinking about, especially the effect it’ll have on the magic classes.
Creative Commons credit: Eldritch Sniper by Nerdhaven.
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