Psionics | 5e Dungeons & Dragons | Web DM
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- Опубликовано: 7 янв 2020
- We knew you wanted a show on psionics in Dungeons and Dragons because we read your mind! So let's talk about psychic power in D&D and how it's been handled across prior editions.
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Web DM ah, that podcast came out on my bday. Nice.
Is it weird to ask if you would do a show on planes-walkers? The reason i ask is b/c i thought of psychic stuff, then detection by rangers and planes-walkers, then how the rule for planes-walker is they have to be within a mile of a planar opening of some kind and i thought "that is an extremely ridiculously small detection area". And the discussion could traverse between the planes and characters that live on the edge or between them... ? Seems colorful. And what errata would aid a survivalist, death defying explorer. Oh look! A portal to a horrible place... i think i'll go towards it to save the world and probably meet up with a Slaad at best.
I remember you touched on such things with the druid who could be seen as a facilitator to interact with the fey realm, and maybe genasi, and ...monsters seem to make a habit of it. Maybe it's a lovecraft like discussion at its heart even though that was covered i think. Anyway... planeswalker. undergunned and lesser known indiana jones of the arcane.
As an old school D&D player I have used psionics. The biggest issues I found in the past is that it wasn't very powerful and it was a more complex system.
I would make it it's own class, similar to a wizard/sorcerer. You use powers using a focus or dealing minor damage to yourself (bloody nose/veins popping out, maybe it's 1 hp per spell level). Have a FEAT to counter this. You meditate to get psionic powers back. The spell like powers can not be countered by magic/anti-magic. Most deal psychic damage, but don't to the raw damage output as a wizard (an example is fireball or lightning bolt). Class skill is Wisdom. They have their own (spell) psionic list.
Why Psionics?... Well... You can't commune with your patron, Kathulu, without psionics and there are Mind Flares.
There are some big ideas in here fellas, thank you for contributing to the conversation!
Psion: I challenge you to a duel!
Mystic:
Psion:
Mystic:
Bard: Uh....guys?
Stand users
@@MisfortuneFeeva That's a pretty great way of representing psionics. Two psions fight, non-psions see nothing except the effects but psions see a mental manifestation of their will come from them and have a punch out.
Psionics is a gateway to many possibilities some consider to be unmagical.
I had psionics be a power the ancient Titans once wielded, with the Titans being giants who's element was Mind. The titanic races, created as servants of the Titans, (dwarves, minotaurs, vanara, and especially humans) had the most psionic potential, but everyone has a little bit.
@@joshuarichardson6529
Kathulu the Patron: "Am I a joke to you?"
Is it possible to learn this power?
@@Golden_Raijin
Not from a cleric.
oh my God Jim's BEARD WHAT DID YOU DO TO THAT BEAUTIFUL BEARD
The horror, the horror....
He gave it to Pruitt.
Dear lord people, it is just hair.
@@Jawn15 It *was* just hair, now it's "just gone"....
I was like who is that other guy and where is Jim. 😅
Now I want to start a psionic campaign and call it "The Men Who Stare at Goatfolk"
This might help. ruclips.net/video/fOBatE20E68/видео.html
Brilliance
AshtonPhoenix satyrs?
Thank you so much for the telepathic intro bit. It’s everything I wanted.
Edward Jones I at first thought my video glitched and the video wasn’t moving, and the audio was still going.
Dude, I spent that little "hey guys" bit just staring at beardless Jim. Man. I'll never get used to that
I think my favorite explanation for psionics, and I dont remember where I first heard this from, was something like "Psionics
are Humans tapping into their own natural magic, like how a dragon breathes fire, Psionics are people drawing out the supernatural abilities that lie dormant in humanity. The difference between this and sorcerer is that a sorcerer's power is coming from something else, Such as dragon blood going through your veins"
Mental Power... Since Spirit (Soul) is not Psionic as proven by Necromancy... On the other hand. Necromancy has many ways to obtain it. By Apothecary, Demonic, Angelic, God Touch etc. which isn't truly Magic but is labeled as magic.
That's kind of what I was thinking for it too. I like that it's an innate power of sorts, though it's interesting to think that any average joe could have latent psionic capabilities.
I honestly think this comment is more clear-cut, definitive, and clarifying than anything said in the video, which, while providing some tantalizing nuggets of history and theory and hinting at a range of possibilities, was mostly a lot of "maybe this, maybe that" and references to books I have not read.
I really like Psionics as coming from the Far Realm. The things there do not care for your worship, Cleric. There are no formulas to be learned, Wizard. Their blood is too alien for your body, Sorcerer. There are no laws to their nature, Druid. You do not have enough mouths to sing their songs, Bard. (oh hey yeah you can party with us, Warlock.)
When one opens their mind to the Far Realm it pours into them. They either go insane from trying to contain it, or they reshape their brain to let the madness flow from them into our reality.
The Psionicist is a window into the Far Realm, and their "magic" is simply causing small parts of our reality to go temporarily insane from looking through that window.
I prefer that Psionics are a response of our reality to the Far Realm. The Far Realm is like an infection and as it's effects spread Psionic power begins showing up in more people to fight back.
Then there are creatures like the Shardminds who are Psionic by nature and are fully against the Far Realm. Their purpose is to drive it out for good.
many beings in the far realm already have a somewhat psionic abilities.
In my homebrew worlds, magic is elven in origin and psionics are human in origin. Magic and elves represent medievalism and superstition and the Old World, where psionics and humans represent progress and technology and knowledge and the future.
I am here for beardless Jim Davis. You do you, man.
I appreciate that psychonauts reference Pruitt. Also Jim without a beard reminds me of The Milkman
The Dark Sun novels had really cool mindscape battles
The Far Realm just being a different source of magic sounds fine to me.
I mean, there is also Cosmic Damage but D&D rarely enters the Cosmos.
There's alot of "types" when you think about it.
Jim Davis without a beard is scarier than the opening to this video, which in turn is more frightening than any horror story I've seen in years. I've always thought of psionics as part of fantasy from reading series like the Chronicles of the Deryni as a kid.
"That's how dolphins do magic"
I loved psionics in my games! I thought they added a great element to the game!
I started my Dnd life in 2nd ed AD&D Dark Sun, where psionics were the norm and magic was weird. I still long for more settings like that.
As psionics in Dnd grew closer to magic it lost a lot of it's charm.
Holding out for a 5e Dark Sun book. One day, psionics will figure out how it fits into 5e.
@@calvinfranklyn5499
I mean... Based on Necromancy and true Divine... D&D is missing alot of Types. Like Spirit and Cosmic.
Holy crap, who’s sitting next to Pruitt?!?!?!
We're still trying to figure it out but he's an amazing DM, whoever he is
Me: Psionics in subclasses?! Blasphemy! That's crap!
Also Me: (Reads Anthony Turco's Eberron Psionics supplement). Oh, we have full-psionic classes and some subclasses as well? I'm good with that.
Paladin Rogue: "One shots Boss."
Psionics: "I levitate things..."
Aasimar: "How is Divine mistaken for Magic?"
Anthony Turco's work is always solid
No beard jim, and beard jim in two different scenes is blowing my mind man.
Jim with Beard as DM: "Ok, you can make this Death Saving Throw with advantage since he tried to use the Healers Kit on you. While not healing you it makes things easier for your body."
Jim without Beard as DM: *slams dmg on the table* "Death Saving Throws
Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you must make a special saving throw, called a death saving throw, to determine whether you creep closer to death or hang onto life. Unlike other saving throws, this one isn’t tied to any ability score. You are in the hands of fate now, aided only by spells and features that improve your chances of succeeding on a saving throw.
Roll a d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, you succeed. Otherwise, you fail. A success or failure has no effect by itself. On your third success, you become stable (see below). On your third failure, you die. The successes and failures don’t need to be consecutive; keep track of both until you collect three of a kind. The number of both is reset to zero when you regain any hit points or become stable.
Rolling 1 or 20. When you make a death saving throw and roll a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If you roll a 20 on the d20, you regain 1 hit point.
Damage at 0 Hit Points. If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death.
Now roll, mortal, and perish!!!!"
wow
@@WebDM
Monster Manual: 49.99
DMG: 49.99
Making the DM speechless. Prizeless. ;)
@@WebDM this has to be the funniest thing I've seen on RUclips comments
My problem with Psionics in D&D (from 2nd to 5e, inclusive) is that it almost always imitates existing magic effects only BETTER. Compare Id Insinuation with Tasha's Laughter... same level/casting time/duration/concentration. Double range, no Material Component, does damage, no ongoing "tell" after casting, does damage (and a d12 at that), target doesn't get saves on damage only once per turn so dog piles are lethal af. AND incapacitated is better than incap'd+prone because ranged attacks get disadvantage if they're prone...
Psionic Blast vs Fireball is debatable... less damage and range and a cone means you're closer to the target but it has push back, knock prone, no Material or Somatic and scales better if you upcast.
To me, psionics falls into the same category as (most) splat books... itty bit o' flavour to excuse demonstrable power buffs. I actually wish it were more balanced because I love the flavour/RP potential of psionics.
This is basically the reason I always excluded psionics from my table, even though I actually like a lot of ESPer sci-fi/sci-fantasy stories. It's OP without enough of the counters & balance that arcane or divine magic have.
pruitt: "I'm 40 and I haven't even figured out what all I'm good at."
well apparently you're good at building muscle cus dang bro you gettin swol
"But little did you know you triggered my Psionic Trap Card..."
Sad, no mention of Dark Sun in this. A campaign setting where even the grass has psionic powers lol. I've always thought though that Dark Suns failure to become more popular was because how good it was really did hinge on the psionic system of the edition. Because the setting is just amazing and why psionics are popular over magic is done extremely well. But since everything from the grass to the livestock up to the Dragon of Tyr can use psionics you need a good system to make it work right.
To me, Psionics seems like the magic without magical energy.
Wizards use incantations to create magical energy to make spells.
Sorcerers turn the power in their blood into magical energy into spells.
But psionics, they don’t make spells, they release pure energy into the world. Their anger doesn’t create spells, their anger IS the spell.
I -cast- think FIST
So that's why Banner is always angry. The Hulk is a psionic manifestation of his raging will. 🤔
Karpmageddon there is no reason that a psionicist can’t just, HULK out
Was just listening to the opening. Had to back up and watch it again.
Kurt Pryor same for me. I listen in my car during my commute so missed the part where their mouths weren’t moving. Then to follow that up with a beardless Jim! I had to pull over to figure out what was going on... Great intro!
I currently run a very Sci-fi D&D game where we use the D&D races and magic but also really high tech stuff like robotic limbs, high tech guns and armor, even exo-suits. All my players enjoy it and think it's cool but I see why some people don't like sci-fi in their fantasy or vice versa
Well if they don't like Psionics then they shouldn't like it when Mind Flayers or Aboleths pop up in dungeons either.
There are some that think that they're doing away with the "Mystic Class" because they're giving the other Classes a Psionic Subclass. My take is that they're not necessarily doing away, I think that they're "gutting" the current incarnation of the UA Mystic Class so that if/when we get a Dark Sun Update [like Eberron & (presumably) Forgotten Realms/Sword Coast], that the Mystic Class that we'll get will be more stream lined & less "Scattershot" while also clarifying that even through Telepathy, that they're still casting spells (casting a spell without the need of Verbal & (possibly) Somatic). What I see them doing is splitting up the Mystic Order's:
Order of the Avatar = Bard/Paladin(?)/Warlock(?)
Order of the Awakened = Sorcerer
Order of the Immortal = Barbarian
Order of the Nomad = Ranger
Order of the Soul Knife = Rogue
I thought Mystics used Rune "Magic" which amplifies/acts as an extension to Armor, Weapons, and Items. A Class which utilizes the tactical build of equipment rather than the performance/abilities from classes like Fighter and Berserker.
I want 3.5/Pathfinder style psionics back. Point based casting with a higher cost=higher output, built in metamagic for certain levels of investment, the works.
It sounds to me like you should just play 3.5 or pathfinder.
Raistlin Majere
Really.
Or just convert it over to 5e if thats what youre running. Its funny seeing people get bogged down by rules in a game like dnd where the rules are fluid. If you can rework the pathfinder stuff to make sense for 5e just do that and attempt to convince your dm to allow it. Or as others said, just play 3.5/pathfinder if you like the whole system better.
When in doubt about the separation of psionics and magic, blame Rajaat.
Psionic is one thing... True Divine is another.
I'm glad you guys are finally tackling this subject
I always wanted Psionics to be sort of like a skillset that doesnt require spell slots much like Cantrips, however they would be in turn be less powerful as they always required skill checks, but they were always broad in their usage, like having the ability to perform acrobatics checks by using telekinesis for instance.
That would be 2nd Edition AD&D Psionics (see Complete Psionics Handbook, or Dark Sun)
I remember playing a Half Giant Psychic Warrior back in 3.5 and loving it.
"Scanners" reference approved.
Great review, I was thinking about introducing psionics as a type of spell casting that isn’t magic. Where dispel magic and counter spell would have disadvantage with psionic/magic interactions and anti-magic fields wouldn’t stop psionics. I have a Illithilich in my game that is the main big bad and I fully intend for him to start combat with an anti-magic spell active then use his psionic powers from within the field. With damage immunities to non-magic weapons it should be a pretty boss moment when the players face of against it and magic weapons do nothing to it within the field.
"I was once a Wizard who carried books along with Kathulu throughout eternity until I accidentally traveled back into time from a miscalculation. I had to fight against primordial beings with Rage since they stole my eggs. As time went on, I sang songs, hunted animals, and became an animal from ancient magic of the old wood. When the first sentient entity was born. It showed me the way of the blades. As battles went on. I daviled into artifacts of mass destruction. When the wars ended. I set upon the church. Speaking to Kathulu about the future. With my righteous soul and Kathulu's Domain at my side. I left the planet and entered the Cosmos. From there, the Runes where before me... Mystic... From there? The Far Realm was open at the edge of the world. As I return to my time... I return with hope but in a dark era. The Precursors have found this world and there will be no Gods to save it. Adventurer(s), you must gather powers to which you have never seen before. And when you do... Prepare for Extinction." - Chronomancer Codex 001
Psionics are my favourite parts of D&D. And 3.5 edition Elans?! I've never gotten to play one and they're all I want.
I think of Psionics as separate from magic. In forgotten realms: magic accesses the weave directly to manipulate reality. I would think of Psionics as accessing the soul instead.
Similar to how a monk's ki works. Psions being to monks what wizards are to sorcerers.
Monks learning to work with their soul, while Psions learn to dominate it.
" I would think of Psionics as accessing the soul instead. " Whose soul? Their Own? Because if so there are Sorcs that do that and still use the weave.
"Monks learning to work with their soul, while Psions learn to dominate it." monks still cast spells
@@Reluxthelegend only since the latest edition of the game, where they have made literally **everything** magic,
in earlier editions Psionics and a Monks mastery of self were distinctly seperate from magic.
@@Daredhnu Yes butt hose were previous editions
@@Reluxthelegend yes, they are, doesn't mean they can't be referenced for how people want to see things implemented, 5e is boring with everything being the same, it needs a little diversity to spice things up, if they just make psionics magic then i have no interest in playing it.
Exactly. With monks being perfectly acceptable, why all the hate on psionics?
I played a kalashtar telepath psion back in 3.5, and it was the most powerful 3.5 character I had ever created without adding a prestige class. I could deal boatloads of damage and never seemed to run out of power points. I was also hard to hit because I could cast Dimension Door as a free action. After level 3, I threw away all of my weapons (crossbow and staff) because there was no point to attacking when I always had powers available. I don't need it to be that crazy, but I would enjoy an official 5e psion that isn't just a wizard subclass (though I like the design of the psion subclass for wizard).
I LOVE psionics and want to play one
Love the intro.
"It's just weird. Psionics is weird." - Jim Davis.
Couldn't agree more.
Technically, psionics are Wyrd.
No more stranger to Divine itself. A power which created the worlds. If omnipotent Gods exist in D&D since there are Angels.
I think if you want psionics that are done well, look at Cyphers from Pillars of Eternity. Their soul-based powers are baked right into the setting, so they never feel out of place. As for 5E specifically ... it's an issue of implementation. Nobody thinks Mindflayers are out of place, yet they are psionic, they have an ability called MIND BLAST that targets the enemy brain. Nobody thinks spells like Phantasmal Force or Message or Mind Spike feel out of place, yet they are psionic in flavor.
hell yea this is timely! a dmsguild book called psion’s primer dropped like a week ago and it got me so hyped for psionics
Hey Jim & John, love the shirt John. I think that is the 3rd time I've seen Jim without a beard and it's a shock to my mental pysche every time. To me gentlemen if WotC are releasing Psionic rules this means the Dark Sun Campaign is getting ready to release. No guarantees just seems weird to suddenly start release psionic rules.
Thanks Jim & John and have a great day.
I was exposed to psionics in 3rd edition when the Psionics Handbook was released. At the time I was quite familiar with the idea of psykers and sorcerers being the same thing through our group also being heavily invested in Warhammer 40k. So it should hardly have been that weird of a concept. And as a stand alone product I did love the flavor of psychics as represented with their alternative component effects like the tinkling of bells, or shiny rainbows, or the taste of lemon juice in the air when a spell was cast. But I think the non-interactiveness they used as a standard (there were alternative rules for psionics and magic that were the same) really sunk it for me. Players would play psychics because they knew that the DM wouldn't put enough psychic monsters into the game so their powers all got a free pass through Spell Resistance, Detection, and Counters/Dispelling. And if the DM ever did target that one player while the rest of the group was present then that creature's Psionics Resistance did nothing to save it from the Divine and Arcane spells that would land with impunity.
Something that DnD does well is generate a free-for-all setting where anything could be out there. But that setting can get stretched to the point where it breaks immersion for many players when too much of that weirdness shows up in one place at one time. And for better or worse, cultures DO have archetypical fantasies, which change over time. When DnD was created it might have been okay to have lasers wielding psychic cavemen show up to the party and play chess against draconic sorcerers with kobold legions, but today people expect something different, and that's okay too.
I don't know that it does it well necessarily. It's called "kitchen sink" for a reason and that's not particularly flattering.
Magic and Psionics won't mean anything against Divine and Corruption, when your party is killing Gods who created existence. lol
Psionics-Magic Transparency was the standard rule in 3.5
@@Mare_Man That could be, I never played with that particular book. Wouldn't be surprised if they tweaked it between 3 and 3.5
Psionics from old school cannot be beat. It must be different.
I cannot imagine my old campaign without it.
I’ve run psionic characters in 3.5 & Pathfinder. One of my favorites has been the ability to ‘Manifest without display’. You make the roll, and the psionic ability goes off with no noticeable effect from you, which made you super-sneaky in combat.
That guy in robes who looks like a spell caster or is obviously using magic - he’s a prime target that gets taken down first. That unassuming guy in back armed with perhaps a bow - not a serious threat. Then suddenly BLAMMO!!
“What the Hell was that? Who’s casting those spells?!”
Psion: “Erm....Idunno...”
Psionics abilities always seemed to me to represent what we usually see in witchcraft in TV and movies... whenever I see a show with witches and such the way they do magic is always closer to psionics than wizard magic.
Totally in love with your intros! Just best
I've awaited this day since the space fantasy episode! Thanks, gentlemen.
Psionics just sounds like magic with extra steps. And a fancy hat so it feels special, despite being no different mechanically.
A couple of examples of psionics in fantasy I can think of;
Pretty much all Mercedes Lackey novels feature psionics-like magic, with characters being able to access "Gifts" like Fetching (Telekinesis & Teleportation), FarSight (remote viewing), Mindspeech (Telepathy) and TouchReading (psychometry).
The Wit (Animal communication) and the Skill (Telepathy) from Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice series.
Sorcerers from the Conan the Barbarian books engaging in mental war just by locking eyes and pitting their sorcerously empowered wills against eachother, implied to be so deadly that if anything was to pass between them while they were engaged it would probably be blasted to ash.
But note that these examples are still magic. Showing that there is nothing psionic that makes that the class can't be magic.
You all touched on one of the most important aspects of Psionics: does it directly interact with Magic? (ie, is it subject to Dispel Magic?) In 2e, it was not and having a Psionic character broke many games. The psyker could run roughshod and unchecked because things like magic resistance (formerly expressed as a % to simply resist a magical effect) and saves did not help. Back in 2e, powers worked/didn't work based on the psionicist's stats and power roll (most powers keyed off a stat, and worked if you rolled equal to or lower than your stat [maybe with a minor penalty applied]).
For me, I say nah to psionics because it would be smoother to just reskin spell lists for 'psionic classes'. It keeps it in the same system and disallows circumventing the existing game. So, yeah, make a list of existing spells for Combat Psion, the Control Psion, the Body Psion, or however many disciplines you like. But don't build psionics *outside* of the existing game. It's a big advantage when one team gets to ignore the defenses of the other team.
In 3.5, there were options, Psionics interacts with magic or Psionics as something else that doesn't interact. Both options led to questions. 1. If psionics is magic, then why have a second magic system next to the old one, especially one that often felt more powerful than the first. 2. Led to what you described where the one psionic character was basically playing a side game that the DM had to deal with, with 0 added value to everyone else at the table. If I remember correctly, another thing was that early level psionics could just cast a lot more than their wizard/cleric counterparts, and it just felt overpowered.
@@Mrdest211 interesting! From a lot of what I've read it can't do the crazy stuff arcane magic can do! (There are some broken things, but same with arcane) Now yeah... it was implemented in a way that took a lot of gm work to integrate... look into psionics magic transparency for pathfinder psionics: sr, bonuses vs spells, and dispel magic works. (I enjoy psionic casting more than vancian, so in a setting where psionics can't exist I'd happily reflavor a psion)
@@leviangel97 I know that in the video they talk about people who didn't like psionics for the flavor, but I've mostly encountered people who didn't like it for the implementation. Maybe that's mostly a 3.5 thing. I know about the PF implementation, but I still get the same question: why does psionics, which is just a way to project your mind's power into reality, different from magic, where you invoke spells to affect reality? It's the creation of another parallel system that often seems odd to people, I would think. If, like in PF, you have the two systems be transparent, then why even have them be two systems? And as an aside, I think that a lot of people also wonder why have two systems, when one of them seems way more interesting than daily spell slots...
As far as the d&d rules go... I can't say anything about it.
However... Like fighting with no armor as a cleric... To me, there are only two types of Powers. Raw Power and Manifested Power. Raw Power is the pure energy of a power. So, if a God uses their Raw Divine power, then you should have a Divine or Corrupted Shield ready. Otherwise, their attack will hit dealing True Damage, (To ignore all resistances, all effects, and all damage mitigation). Manifested Power is when Pure Energy is manipulate into another power. It is from here, where Wizards can cast fire ball using magic. You can block the fire ball but be aware of its elemental effect.
In my games, any player cannot be a one trick pony since the worlds I design is dangerous with each encounter being a 50 50 shot to survive at minimum. Certainly, the enemies won't be using one type of Power too.
As for Materia (material), it is more of a science functional area but it is not excluded. Especially when Divine is very close to the lore of Materia (Atoms and Cosmic Reality).
In the end... Even Necromancy is a misguided power. Only ever told by the living, when Gods too covet such power. And there are realms/things which even breaks the rules of reality. Like the realm where the Dice is rolled.
If you guys haven't seen legion on FX yet, you need to. By far the best description of psionic capacity in modern media.
thanks for giving 2e psionics some love WebDM
I know I'm late to the party, but I feel like I have something to add to the conversation.
I have a 3.5 game that I'm still running (in addition to running 5e), and there are a couple things that is stopping me from converting it to 5e. One of which is psionics.
I have a powerful mind flayer named "Tim" that's been terrorizing my party. They are trying to stop him from reaching his ultimate goal. Finding the slumbering tarrasque, and melding his mind with it in order to become all powerful in body as he is in mind! 😎
Powerful psionics like him don't really translate well to 5e with what's been given to us besides that UA.
That said I really do like the 3.5 Psionic rules and use them all the time for mind flayers and Githyanki! Anything else just wouldn't seem right to me.
Two Psions fighting basically looks just like a typical Stand battle to a non-stand user in Jojo's. I like that.
As a spit ball, one way to ballance psionics could be to make them 3/4 casters and give them a mid to high level ability that banishes both the psychic and the target into a shadow realm that replaces all the physical stats with mentals to do battle.
That's actually a very interesting idea
@@mrkibitzer8139 yeah, kind of a way to keep the separate combat feel with the 5e system while not making them better than regular casters who do need components for spells
Recently discovered your channel. Love it.
I always thought that psionics arose as a result of demihuman interaction with aberrations. Having your mind forcibly opened by forcible control stirs something to life in some individuals, allowing them to grow in response and overthrow those bonds, creating mind shields and ego whips etc to drive off mental invaders.
Indeed, mindflayers exist and love to screw with mortal minds, there are also spells and abilities that deal psychic damage so that could serve as ways to unlock psionics. I dont see why it's so weird it popping up in a dnd world.
I'm not finished with the video but I'm almost 20 minutes in
I come into this as someone who wholeheartedly supports the co-existence of magic and psionics.
I do not wish to conflate them as the same thing, I keep them as different things lore-wise, but I 100% support having them be just as easy to get into as each other.
One of my favorite intros from you guys!!!
Do people did not like psionics in D&D? Psychic powers are pure fantasy. There have been some awesome classes. Granted I mostly played them in 4E, and in 4E they were putting out content too fast and it wasn't play tested/balanced well but there was some *awesome* concepts in there. I'd still love the Battlemind from 4E to appear in this edition. Some of the greatest enemies in D&D have psychic powers too!
❤️ you guys. Thanks for your thoughts on this and everything.
It's funny. At the start of this video I was in agreement that psionics should have a place in D&D, but the more y'all talked the more convinced I became that psionics are in fact "too sci-fi" for D&D. I suppose in truth my thoughts on the subject are a bit more nuanced and confused, but that's basically where I'm at. I mean we've already got spells that interact with people's minds, just codify psionics as a school of magic no different to illusions or necromancy if you really wanna play a psychic or mind mage or whatever.
that's the thing though, some people don't want to play "just a mind mage", they want them to be unique, different, and there is plenty of room in D&D for some added diversity when it comes to origins of abilities, since in 5e literally everything is magic and i hate the uniformity of it, it's bland and boring.
One of my favourite depictions of psionics is XCOM. Taking your regular soliders and transforming them into genetically modified, psionic warriors wielding alien technology. One of my favourite psionic abilities from that was 'Mind Merge' and I ended up making it a 2nd level spell for a wizard of mine. Basically it let you link minds with a target granting them advantage on attacks (kind of lending your tactical insight and enhancing cognitive power) and allowing you to communicate telepathically with them.
I really just want a proper Psionic class to be made official. I can't stand the thought of the new subclasses. If I wanted to play a Wizard, I'd play a Wizard. I love Psionics because they're unique and special, they're a foreign concept in a world filled with magic, and just making it a branch of basic magic drains all the fun I get out of these powers.
I like to think of psionics as a force of will that a person imposes on both themselves, their enemies and their environment. i personally like it since its pretty cool.
"cause that's how dolphins do magic"
oh word?
The Psionics VS Magic interaction issue becomes much simpler to wrap your head around with one line or reasoning.
Energy is energy.
It doesn't matter where they come from. All supernatural abilities across all disciplines boil down to channeling energy that exists in the game world. That energy can be enhanced, blocked, and manipulated by any discipline regardless of methodology and training. Anti magic fields, Dispel magic, counterspell, and the like don't just fiddle with magic spells. They block or sever the flow of energy in a wide spectrum. Detect Magic doesn't just detect "spells". It opens the senses to any manipulation in the energy that exists throughout the world.
I was hoping you were going to spend some time on the UA mystic class. But still, another entertaining video.
3.5 Psionics are still the best for me. I love them!
Holding out hope that the new book coming this week is going to have 5e Psionics.
Here's hoping: my group has been waiting on an update to Dark Sun for three editions now...
@@dracoargentum9783 I played the mystic in a friends campaign, but I played it with the stipulation I wouldn't destroy his campaign. Because honestly, that UA was so utterly broken you could be a god at level 3.
I think Dark Sun is the book for the Fall.
@@dracoargentum9783 dark sun was in 4e
Love the name of the channel!
Jim, who has hurt you like this? We're here for you man.
Memes aside, I personally find psionics to be a spice best used carefully. Most often psionics are best used as an alternate to magic. I view magic as very academic while psionics are very wild and difficult to control. However in settings where they're both present, they'll usually be indistinguishable.
Interesting show, the history of psionics, enabling it, very interesting. What I loved most? The brain-part :D
So it's like that south park episode where cartman and the other psychics are waving at each other going big nuh nuh nuh, byoOOoo
I often listen to these podcasts on my way to work. I didn't see Jim's lack of beard I pulled in to my parking space to watch the final stinger. I was so shocked I thought I was still dreaming 😅
Well, if the far realm is a place where thought can shape reality, then it makes sense that psionics would come from there. Perhaps, each time psionics are used a tiny bit of the far realm leeches into the prime material.
Intro was amazing!!! 😵💫🤯🥰
Best opening you guys have done.
I like the way the psionic specialist in UA but I think it should have been Sorcerer based subclass. Psionics as the familiar spells we already have minus the need for components is the way to go, especially if that class uses the alternate spell points rules (call them Psionic Strength Points if you want). The Attack and Defense modes being spells is also a huge improvement over the complex psychic combat tables of the past. Normal Saving throws rules is more than adequate to model psionics.
Pruitt, Jim, or anyone..
I'm curious to hear opinions on Egg and Lo Pan's sick magic duel in Big Trouble in Little China.. (my favorite movie) Psionics? Sorcery? Kinda both?
Am I the only one who had kinda hoped for the entire episode to be dubbed over after the intro?
Fun fact the new mystic class makes a great template for the X-Men. As the wide array of abilities and the mismatch of it all makes for a good superhero game
Jim has a whole face :O
Best intro till now!!!
Hey guys I know you probably won’t see this comment but in a future video could you discuss how teleportation would work in your setting? Like if cities have teleportation circles to other places, should PCs have access to them? And how would these teleportation circles affect politics and society? Or also reasons why not every city has a horde of these circles in similitude of a magical subway system, like cost or skill required?
Thanks for covering this topic, I've always struggled to understand the difference between psionics and magic in both fiction and games, especially settings that claim to have both.
I agree with what 5th edition has done and just made "Psychic" a flavour of magic, like "Force" and "Thunder". The nice thing about RPGs like D&D is that once you have a handle on the effects of the rules, you can tailor the in-universe causes of those effects to suit your game setting.
Glad you liked it!
That's a cool idea making psionic power a bit radioactive.
This is why I like Eberron. It's one of the few settings that has Psionics as part of it.
You hit on a great point. The one thing that has bothered me more than anything else is that magic is divided up into divine, arcane, and psionic
B-b-b-beard! BEARD! love this as always guys, youve really a
Improved my approach to my home game and player interaction!
In 5e, What about making psionics a complicated sorcerer subclass? Where it changes how you cast.
Best Intro Ever!!!
5e Psionics is flavourless. expanded Psionics 3.5e system was perfect. soul knife was underpowered though
Dreamscarred Press' in Pathfinder was even better with a functional actually good Soulknife
@@Xicarah I have it thanks
Jim Davis' psionic power is soooooo strong....
Even Chuck Norris' beard runs away from Jim's face!
I have a few beefs with Psionics:
1. Its a new system that only plays with itself. DnD is a package that works with and within itself on many levels. A wizard casts Fireball, this trap causes a fireball, when you assemble the magic staff of Jazzahir it grants you the ability of Fireball X times. This makes the game have a flow since it works against it being too complicated.
Psionics is not like that. It does not play With the rest of the rules, but besides it.
2. Whenever a player brings a Psionic character to the table, he/she puts a new level of preasure for the DM. The DM better know the rules, take this entirely new system and powers into account when he/she plans the adventure, builds encounters and so on to make sure its still balanced.
3. Its not a powerset that i found to play well with groups. Like the Druid Hunts for the Party, the Wizard identifies items for the party, removes curses and so on, the Cleric Heals and takes Care of the Party, the Druid Supports the party in a mix of ways and so on... The Psionic does Psionic things... Generally for him/herself only, or in supportive ways that other players do not understand, and that leads to confusion.
I dont dislike it, i have not read the new UA and i Hope they make it work well. I love it as a concept, but have never been too impressed with the execution.
Sort of. The game isn't meant to be played strictly by RAW though. In fact it's progressively more boring if the world's only fireball is Fireball from the PHB.
1. It is not new. It is almost 40 years old and had iterations in every version of D&D since 1st Edition.
2. A DM better know the rules for an character brought to the table. It is no different than it is with Warlocks or Sorcerers or Druids or Monks. Singling out Psionics saying that the DM needs to know the rules is rhetorical.
3. It is a powerset that works great within a group. They are a utility knife of abilities and can fill in, in different ways. If you go with the Orders (Soul Knife, Avatar, Immortal, etc...) then each has a unique way that they fit into the group.
I have been playing for 40 years. I have used psionics in every form that has come out. I have a world that was created 36 years ago and I have run about 15 full campaigns, twice that short campaigns and easily 40-50 one shots and Psionics is a part of that world...and an integral part. If you know how it works, there are no issues at all....or at least no more issues than there are with any other class.
@@RagnarLothbike i meant New as in Not part of the Core Rules, see Players Handbook.
If the Dm is only familiar with the core rulubooks, it can be a sudden and uncomfortable burden to read, understand and in an interesting way incorperate a brand new set of abilities that in no way exists in the core rulebooks. Thus it is not rethorical, and indeed not the same as with Warlocks, Sorcerers, Druids or Monks.
Psionics simply tend to work differently from other classes.
Can you not see how this can be dificult especially for new dms?
And frankly i dont care how long you have played, how many campaigns you have run and so on. It gives you no more validity than anyone else as we are talking about personal opinions.
Im glad it works for you, good on your group.
But dont give me this bulldozer shit of"i have played X years" in an effort to invalidate anothers PERSONAL OPINIONS.
It only makes you look like a douchbag tbh.
Eh... There's Multi Classing and Gestalt Characters. Nothing different really... That and... True Divine Weapons ignore Magic too, along with the things no book can account for... Like Dead Magic Blades and Kathulu.
@@absolstoryoffiction6615 Multiclassing exists within the core books, and still only works with aspects From the core books (See the same magic system, spell slots and so on).
The concept of a Gestalt character is something i dont get. Or rather i dont get how a player can bring a Gestalt character to the table and believe it will be allowed unless specificly told to do so by the DM.
But even so, a Gestalt character still only deals with aspects and parts from within the core rules, see the same magics, class features, spell sots and so on.
Not sure im aware of what Dead Magic or Kathulu is, so i cant realy comment about that.
And let me say this as clear as i can:
I dont mind Psionics. I mind that i find every incarnation of Psionics that i have tested and played so far to be a clumbsy integration of new ideas.
I can easily put psionics into fantasy. One author has already made mega-bank this way from a NON-D&D world. Her name is Mercedes Lackey, and the series is the Heralds of Valdemar (taking place on Velgarth, a world she created). Heralds use psionics (they call it Mind-Magic on that world)
Great episode!