I really liked the 3.5 psionics handbook and expansion book. Is there any thought or interest in putting those back into this edition of the game? I started doing psionics in AD&D, along with the old school rules of bards. I only got two characters into full bards following the rules from back then but man when you hit 8th,9th level bard all of the abilities from before are available. But please bring back {sionics!
The Psion has recently been play-tested and will likely be coming to 5E, but i am pretty sure it will operate a little differently than 3.5.
so yes, there has been interest.
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He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player. The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call To rise up in triumph should we all unite The spark for change is yours to ignite." Kalandra - The State of the World
I'm not sure we can call "likely" at this point; they do seem to be exploring the Dark Sun setting in general and the potential for a Psion class, but until it gets a second pass through UA I wouldn't put the odds at better than 50/50. We know they've dropped class concepts that didn't pan out in UA in the past, and since there hasn't been an existing official Psion in 5e there's not the same pressure to bring it forward into 2024 rules as there was for the Artificer.
Is there interest? Definitely yes! Will they do it? Maybe. Will we like it? Maybe. I too played psions back in 1-3e and enjoyed them but I question that they will do anything with a “spell point” system like that. We already have a “psionics” sorcerer, fighter and rogue as well so I’m not sure there is space for a psion as it would step on sorcerer toes too heavily as a spell slot class.
The UA they did was like at least 60% Sorcerer in practice; I put the odds that they go to the Sisyphean task of trying to make a spell point system that actually gels effectively with spells designed around the spell slot system at 0% considering they didn't bother to try and bring that forward as an optional rule from the 2014 DMG, even as just a direct copy and paste.
Psion I can live with - but dear GOD please don't bring back Dark Sun. Just ... just imagine how bad it would be. There'd be dragonborne. And warforged. Presumably there'd be harengon. No slavery. No death arenas. No sorcerer-kings leeching the lives of their subjects to become dragons.
By comparison, a neutered psion class feels like mercy. 'Yes, please, please publish my favourite class in a version that's blander than cardboard - just make it stop! Please spare Dark Sun, please!! What did it ever do to you?'
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
I mean, we’ve got a Gladiator Fighter subclass, Defiler Sorcerer subclass, and Sorcerer-King Warlock patron in the UA, so clearly they’re willing to bring some of the grit forwards. I believe prior books still noted that FR Drow were big on slave raids, so I wouldn’t rule it out as a setting element, albeit one that could likely be rolled back to the really bad places rather than a ubiquitous fact of life in the setting. As I mentioned in another thread, the thing I really expect to get a lot of people invested in the OG Dark Sun screaming about the game is that there’s probably going to be little to no rules for resource scarcity- certainly not like the whole “you’re using bone weapons and armor that will frequently break down and need to be replaced”.
I'm not sure we can call "likely" at this point; they do seem to be exploring the Dark Sun setting in general and the potential for a Psion class, but until it gets a second pass through UA I wouldn't put the odds at better than 50/50. We know they've dropped class concepts that didn't pan out in UA in the past, and since there hasn't been an existing official Psion in 5e there's not the same pressure to bring it forward into 2024 rules as there was for the Artificer.
I think we can fairly safely put the odds higher than 50-50. Psionics are an integral park of Dark Sun as a setting and with two UAs clearly focused on the plane, I think it is fair to put the odds of a forthcoming psionic class closer to 85-15. I do not want to put the odds at 100%, since they have scrapped work on planes before (Mystic UA was explicitly mentioned as being for a potential Dark Sun return years ago; Modern Magic UA was clearly designed for a Neon Kamigawa style plane that never materialized). However, I am not sure they have cancelled a UA plane after two play tests on a wide range of subjects (I believe Mystic got two, but that only was a single class, not showing work into fleshing out multiple aspects of the world), so I think the odds are much better than not.
Now, when will it be? That is anyone’s guess. I would expect not for some time. At the very least, FR and Eberron are both on the release calendar first, and there is a Horror Subclasses UA for a book that is almost certainly in the pipeline first.
I expect the earliest this will come out, which assumes they have most of the lore/adventure/other content not subject to play testing is going to be the end of 2025. It is possible it might be longer if they feel the need to redesign Psion based on feedback (which is very possible - I expect they received a fair bit of “this just feels like another caster, not a true psionic class,” though whether or not that was in sufficient numbers to sway Wizards’ design remains to be seen).
We aren't going t see a complete return of Dark Sun setting. Maybe a chapter about the region of Tyr, the city-states and it to be unlocked in DMGuild.
My theory is we are going to see a future UA article about "psionic" PC species: fraals, shardmins, synads, xephs, elans, dromites and maenads.
I am too used to the psionic power points. I hope an optional rule where spellslots of "spirit magic" can be spent to earn power points, and these used for metamagic effects or like this. This could avoid the abuse of spending power points for the highest-level powers
I love the concept of the ardent class like a "frienemy" of the divine spellcasters with a fun love-hate relation (they may obey the same deity but distrust each other). The divine mind could be a paladin subclass, and the lurk other rogue psionic subclass
Not sure we should expect them to try and debut so many obscure species at once- the only name I have any context on is maenads, and that’s not in a D&D context. And do you have a specific reason you’re so certain they’re not going to do a more comprehensive setting book for Dark Sun?
And do you have a specific reason you’re so certain they’re not going to do a more comprehensive setting book for Dark Sun?
Because of how terrified they are of everything? Dark Sun is comprised basically of all the things they've worked so hard to filter and sift out of every other product for years on end.
If you .. [Redacted] if you scrub everything unpleasant and dangerous out of Dark Sun, you're literally left with nothing. They cannot salvage it, because the thing that is Dark Sun cannot ever be a thing that they can publish. Once they've scrubbed it clean enough for publication, there's nothing left.
And the real problem is that they may very well do it anyways. And it will - this I swear - set a new standard for how badly they are capable of failing, because they try so ... so hard.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
If nothing else, we might have reached new levels of how much melodrama is being attached to the potential existence of one D&D sourcebook.
Frankly, the grit is overrated and overhyped. Tyranny and oppression, slavery, etc. are not concepts that have been meticulously scrubbed from 5e, despite the handwringing of people looking for easy clicks with flamebait topics; just take a look at the kinds of 3PP books they're bringing in. Cutting out the gratuitous cannibalism and widespread illiteracy isn't going to seriously impact the setting. If they want an post apocalyptic setting, Dark Sun can cover all the usual points without whitewashing most of the existing fluff.
The issue is on the mechanical front- the people who like Dark Sun for its unique gameplay elements- no Clerics/Paladins, common metal being as rare as magic metals in other settings and the stand ins constantly wearing out/breaking down, and food and water scrounging/management are elements that are unlikely to get more than token billing if they're lucky in a new sourcebook for the understandable reason that most people buying a D&D sourcebook want to buy a book for D&D 5e, not some survivalist TTRPG based on parts of the SRD. Honestly I expect that's going to get a lot more genuine complaints about not living up to expectation, though I'm sure all the usual suspects and anyone looking for something in TTRPG space for an excuse to shout a lot on the internet will pick up your talking points as well, but that's unlikely to have much to do with actual quality of the writing.
Add to that the people who like the old edition "not magic" of psionics- which has never been implemented in 5e for the simple reason that every prior attempt has been an unbalanced hot mess- and the issue is not that WotC is so stupid, clueless, scared, etc. that they're going to make the wrong choice, but rather that the vocal minority who feel invested in the "real" Dark Sun won't accept anything WotC could realistically do with the setting when they're looking to sell it to the community as a whole rather than one particular segment as a "right" choice.
Folk, remember the original topic of this thread is Psionics, not Dark Sun, although I recognise that Psionics plays a large part in that setting. For this thread it may be better to focus on psionics as it currently exists in 5e and is being explored in the UA, mechanically, or has been explored. Things like the scrapped Mystic class, or the psionic subclasses like Psi Warrior Fighter, Soul Knife Rogue, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (Or even Great Old One Warlock), the new Psion UA and wildtalent feats. You could speculate on how psionic subclasses might work for other classes.
As for Dark Sun, you are free to make threads on that topic or engage with existing ones, although for those doing so I would remind folk to remain civil with each other and handle that conversation maturely and thoughtfully.
OK, can we talk about suggestions inspired in speculative fiction?
For example we have got the astral construct. What if anybody wanted an astral construct like a monster-mount? Or working like an "energy-armour/exosuit". Or psionic powers about souls and spirits.
I miss that metapsionic feat from Dragon Magazine for energy substitution.
Do you like the idea of "soulbreaker", a psionic barbarian subclass? A mixture of Stephen King's Carrie and Kratos "Ghost of Sparta".
Should the wilder to be only a subclass in 5e? Should the fraals (little gray aliens from Alternity/Star*Drive) appear in 5e? They were canon in 2nd Ed.
Should the "cultivator" from xianxia fiction be created like a psionic-manifester class? What about "cofrater" like jedi-style class? (cofrater would be like "member of a brotherhood).
There have been enough concessions to Psionic theming and even some classes like Aberrant mind sorcerer, Soul knife, and any other i am forgetting that we are going to eventually get a full psion, becuse we we don't get one officially, we are going to get one 3PP, ( More than the ones we already have gotten i mean ) and the company knows that, so they aren't going to just leave that money on the table. We will get an official Psion eventually, i am rather sure of it.
as to the Sourcebook, we could be getting a "Subclasses from across the multiverse" supplement or something and the Darksun themed classes just end up there, a long with reworked stuff from Khaladesh or Ravnica or any other Subclass that we have been missing from 2014.
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He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player. The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call To rise up in triumph should we all unite The spark for change is yours to ignite." Kalandra - The State of the World
Frankly, I don’t see a substantive need/reason to force psionics in as its own class. The baseline approach to the magic system precludes it having a personal niche for capabilities- there’s three classes that get Detect Thoughts plus with the Telepathy feat, four that get Mage Hand plus a Telekinesis feat, functionally three that get the Telekinesis and Bigby’s Hand spells, and five that get Charm Person most of whom also get Dominate Person. And in every case Wizards and Sorcerers get them, so there’s no divide between “classical” magic and psionics for capabilities. And we already have Sorcerers for spending class resources to tweak spell effects and Warlocks for assembling a personalized toolkit of secondary magic powers. What ground can Psions cover as a caster class identity that isn’t already being used?
What ground can Psions cover as a caster class identity that isn’t already being used?
Historically, the psionic/Magic divide has not necessarily been about function, but mechanics. While there might be overlap between certain aspects of the abilities, they typically use different mechanical functions to perform those ends. This is the primary reason I have seen folks ply psionic characters - they want to play something a bit more interesting than a marshal class, but either are bored of playing the spellcasting options or they are in a group with a number of other spellcasters and want to do something mechanically different.
Your post highlights exactly the flaw I see with the current Psion UA - as a “caster class” psion does not offer anything new, and I would argue is fairly bad design that misses the core appeal of psionics. As currently drafted, it just does more of the same, when players tend to gravitate to psionics explicitly because they want a different playstyle.
Which raises another issue- is creating a balanced and accessible “not caster” class a practical endeavor? As I understand it, most of the prior attempts to do this left one side unable to touch the other, significantly limiting their ability to engage with the setting. And, additionally, the classic “power points” alternative system is difficult to balance against a typical Vancian one. If the powers scale alongside casting progression but work off an open resource pool, then it’s going to spike performance even more than casters already do on short days as they level up, and attempting to downscale performance to offset that will leave the vibe that the class is underpowered. I can’t objectively write the idea off, but I have a hard time believing the juice can be worth the squeeze.
Which raises another issue- is creating a balanced and accessible “not caster” class a practical endeavor? As I understand it, most of the prior attempts to do this left one side unable to touch the other, significantly limiting their ability to engage with the setting. And, additionally, the classic “power points” alternative system is difficult to balance against a typical Vancian one. If the powers scale alongside casting progression but work off an open resource pool, then it’s going to spike performance even more than casters already do on short days as they level up, and attempting to downscale performance to offset that will leave the vibe that the class is underpowered. I can’t objectively write the idea off, but I have a hard time believing the juice can be worth the squeeze.
I would suggest the first playtest psionic class - the Mystic - shows this is practical, with more refining. Mystic’s design, particularly at high levels, cleverly addresses these concerns, putting caps on how much of your resources you can spend, while also generally limiting the power levels of abilities to the equivalent of sixth level spells or lower. I actually suspect they designed the class explicitly with high level play and the problems you raise in mind, since tier four is when the class actually feels balanced.
Somewhat amusingly, it was low levels - the parts where spell point systems should be easier to balance - that struggled. Mystic rushes out of the gate and then gets to those sixth level equivalents at about the same pace as Magic users, which generally meant it outperformed due to its equivalent abilities but greater flexibility. It plateaus at that point and becomes more “fair” but a lot of games never get that far. Slower ability progression, fewer options, and better balanced abilities would go a long way toward fixing those problems at the levels of play most folks experience.
Still, as a proof of concept, I think there is a lot there which shows promise of a well balanced ability point system. However, because it was so poorly implemented at the levels folks playtest, I think we are unlikely to see Wizards try this more traditional psionic system implemented in 5e. Which is a shame - their bad design and failure to edit before releasing something as UA very well might result in a psionic class that doesn’t do the very thing players want from psionics.
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I really liked the 3.5 psionics handbook and expansion book. Is there any thought or interest in putting those back into this edition of the game? I started doing psionics in AD&D, along with the old school rules of bards. I only got two characters into full bards following the rules from back then but man when you hit 8th,9th level bard all of the abilities from before are available. But please bring back {sionics!
The Psion has recently been play-tested and will likely be coming to 5E, but i am pretty sure it will operate a little differently than 3.5.
so yes, there has been interest.
He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player.
The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call
To rise up in triumph should we all unite
The spark for change is yours to ignite."
Kalandra - The State of the World
I'm not sure we can call "likely" at this point; they do seem to be exploring the Dark Sun setting in general and the potential for a Psion class, but until it gets a second pass through UA I wouldn't put the odds at better than 50/50. We know they've dropped class concepts that didn't pan out in UA in the past, and since there hasn't been an existing official Psion in 5e there's not the same pressure to bring it forward into 2024 rules as there was for the Artificer.
Is there interest? Definitely yes! Will they do it? Maybe. Will we like it? Maybe. I too played psions back in 1-3e and enjoyed them but I question that they will do anything with a “spell point” system like that. We already have a “psionics” sorcerer, fighter and rogue as well so I’m not sure there is space for a psion as it would step on sorcerer toes too heavily as a spell slot class.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
The UA they did was like at least 60% Sorcerer in practice; I put the odds that they go to the Sisyphean task of trying to make a spell point system that actually gels effectively with spells designed around the spell slot system at 0% considering they didn't bother to try and bring that forward as an optional rule from the 2014 DMG, even as just a direct copy and paste.
Psion I can live with - but dear GOD please don't bring back Dark Sun. Just ... just imagine how bad it would be. There'd be dragonborne. And warforged. Presumably there'd be harengon. No slavery. No death arenas. No sorcerer-kings leeching the lives of their subjects to become dragons.
By comparison, a neutered psion class feels like mercy. 'Yes, please, please publish my favourite class in a version that's blander than cardboard - just make it stop! Please spare Dark Sun, please!! What did it ever do to you?'
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
I mean, we’ve got a Gladiator Fighter subclass, Defiler Sorcerer subclass, and Sorcerer-King Warlock patron in the UA, so clearly they’re willing to bring some of the grit forwards. I believe prior books still noted that FR Drow were big on slave raids, so I wouldn’t rule it out as a setting element, albeit one that could likely be rolled back to the really bad places rather than a ubiquitous fact of life in the setting. As I mentioned in another thread, the thing I really expect to get a lot of people invested in the OG Dark Sun screaming about the game is that there’s probably going to be little to no rules for resource scarcity- certainly not like the whole “you’re using bone weapons and armor that will frequently break down and need to be replaced”.
I think we can fairly safely put the odds higher than 50-50. Psionics are an integral park of Dark Sun as a setting and with two UAs clearly focused on the plane, I think it is fair to put the odds of a forthcoming psionic class closer to 85-15. I do not want to put the odds at 100%, since they have scrapped work on planes before (Mystic UA was explicitly mentioned as being for a potential Dark Sun return years ago; Modern Magic UA was clearly designed for a Neon Kamigawa style plane that never materialized). However, I am not sure they have cancelled a UA plane after two play tests on a wide range of subjects (I believe Mystic got two, but that only was a single class, not showing work into fleshing out multiple aspects of the world), so I think the odds are much better than not.
Now, when will it be? That is anyone’s guess. I would expect not for some time. At the very least, FR and Eberron are both on the release calendar first, and there is a Horror Subclasses UA for a book that is almost certainly in the pipeline first.
I expect the earliest this will come out, which assumes they have most of the lore/adventure/other content not subject to play testing is going to be the end of 2025. It is possible it might be longer if they feel the need to redesign Psion based on feedback (which is very possible - I expect they received a fair bit of “this just feels like another caster, not a true psionic class,” though whether or not that was in sufficient numbers to sway Wizards’ design remains to be seen).
We aren't going t see a complete return of Dark Sun setting. Maybe a chapter about the region of Tyr, the city-states and it to be unlocked in DMGuild.
My theory is we are going to see a future UA article about "psionic" PC species: fraals, shardmins, synads, xephs, elans, dromites and maenads.
I am too used to the psionic power points. I hope an optional rule where spellslots of "spirit magic" can be spent to earn power points, and these used for metamagic effects or like this. This could avoid the abuse of spending power points for the highest-level powers
I love the concept of the ardent class like a "frienemy" of the divine spellcasters with a fun love-hate relation (they may obey the same deity but distrust each other). The divine mind could be a paladin subclass, and the lurk other rogue psionic subclass
Not sure we should expect them to try and debut so many obscure species at once- the only name I have any context on is maenads, and that’s not in a D&D context. And do you have a specific reason you’re so certain they’re not going to do a more comprehensive setting book for Dark Sun?
Because of how terrified they are of everything? Dark Sun is comprised basically of all the things they've worked so hard to filter and sift out of every other product for years on end.
If you .. [Redacted] if you scrub everything unpleasant and dangerous out of Dark Sun, you're literally left with nothing. They cannot salvage it, because the thing that is Dark Sun cannot ever be a thing that they can publish. Once they've scrubbed it clean enough for publication, there's nothing left.
And the real problem is that they may very well do it anyways. And it will - this I swear - set a new standard for how badly they are capable of failing, because they try so ... so hard.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
If nothing else, we might have reached new levels of how much melodrama is being attached to the potential existence of one D&D sourcebook.
Frankly, the grit is overrated and overhyped. Tyranny and oppression, slavery, etc. are not concepts that have been meticulously scrubbed from 5e, despite the handwringing of people looking for easy clicks with flamebait topics; just take a look at the kinds of 3PP books they're bringing in. Cutting out the gratuitous cannibalism and widespread illiteracy isn't going to seriously impact the setting. If they want an post apocalyptic setting, Dark Sun can cover all the usual points without whitewashing most of the existing fluff.
The issue is on the mechanical front- the people who like Dark Sun for its unique gameplay elements- no Clerics/Paladins, common metal being as rare as magic metals in other settings and the stand ins constantly wearing out/breaking down, and food and water scrounging/management are elements that are unlikely to get more than token billing if they're lucky in a new sourcebook for the understandable reason that most people buying a D&D sourcebook want to buy a book for D&D 5e, not some survivalist TTRPG based on parts of the SRD. Honestly I expect that's going to get a lot more genuine complaints about not living up to expectation, though I'm sure all the usual suspects and anyone looking for something in TTRPG space for an excuse to shout a lot on the internet will pick up your talking points as well, but that's unlikely to have much to do with actual quality of the writing.
Add to that the people who like the old edition "not magic" of psionics- which has never been implemented in 5e for the simple reason that every prior attempt has been an unbalanced hot mess- and the issue is not that WotC is so stupid, clueless, scared, etc. that they're going to make the wrong choice, but rather that the vocal minority who feel invested in the "real" Dark Sun won't accept anything WotC could realistically do with the setting when they're looking to sell it to the community as a whole rather than one particular segment as a "right" choice.
Folk, remember the original topic of this thread is Psionics, not Dark Sun, although I recognise that Psionics plays a large part in that setting. For this thread it may be better to focus on psionics as it currently exists in 5e and is being explored in the UA, mechanically, or has been explored. Things like the scrapped Mystic class, or the psionic subclasses like Psi Warrior Fighter, Soul Knife Rogue, Aberrant Mind Sorcerer (Or even Great Old One Warlock), the new Psion UA and wildtalent feats. You could speculate on how psionic subclasses might work for other classes.
As for Dark Sun, you are free to make threads on that topic or engage with existing ones, although for those doing so I would remind folk to remain civil with each other and handle that conversation maturely and thoughtfully.
D&D Beyond ToS || D&D Beyond Support
OK, can we talk about suggestions inspired in speculative fiction?
For example we have got the astral construct. What if anybody wanted an astral construct like a monster-mount? Or working like an "energy-armour/exosuit". Or psionic powers about souls and spirits.
I miss that metapsionic feat from Dragon Magazine for energy substitution.
Do you like the idea of "soulbreaker", a psionic barbarian subclass? A mixture of Stephen King's Carrie and Kratos "Ghost of Sparta".
Should the wilder to be only a subclass in 5e? Should the fraals (little gray aliens from Alternity/Star*Drive) appear in 5e? They were canon in 2nd Ed.
Should the "cultivator" from xianxia fiction be created like a psionic-manifester class? What about "cofrater" like jedi-style class? (cofrater would be like "member of a brotherhood).
There have been enough concessions to Psionic theming and even some classes like Aberrant mind sorcerer, Soul knife, and any other i am forgetting that we are going to eventually get a full psion, becuse we we don't get one officially, we are going to get one 3PP, ( More than the ones we already have gotten i mean ) and the company knows that, so they aren't going to just leave that money on the table.
We will get an official Psion eventually, i am rather sure of it.
as to the Sourcebook, we could be getting a "Subclasses from across the multiverse" supplement or something and the Darksun themed classes just end up there, a long with reworked stuff from Khaladesh or Ravnica or any other Subclass that we have been missing from 2014.
He/Him. Loooooooooong time Player.
The Dark days of the THAC0 system are behind us.
"Hope is a fire that burns in us all If only an ember, awaiting your call
To rise up in triumph should we all unite
The spark for change is yours to ignite."
Kalandra - The State of the World
Frankly, I don’t see a substantive need/reason to force psionics in as its own class. The baseline approach to the magic system precludes it having a personal niche for capabilities- there’s three classes that get Detect Thoughts plus with the Telepathy feat, four that get Mage Hand plus a Telekinesis feat, functionally three that get the Telekinesis and Bigby’s Hand spells, and five that get Charm Person most of whom also get Dominate Person. And in every case Wizards and Sorcerers get them, so there’s no divide between “classical” magic and psionics for capabilities. And we already have Sorcerers for spending class resources to tweak spell effects and Warlocks for assembling a personalized toolkit of secondary magic powers. What ground can Psions cover as a caster class identity that isn’t already being used?
Historically, the psionic/Magic divide has not necessarily been about function, but mechanics. While there might be overlap between certain aspects of the abilities, they typically use different mechanical functions to perform those ends. This is the primary reason I have seen folks ply psionic characters - they want to play something a bit more interesting than a marshal class, but either are bored of playing the spellcasting options or they are in a group with a number of other spellcasters and want to do something mechanically different.
Your post highlights exactly the flaw I see with the current Psion UA - as a “caster class” psion does not offer anything new, and I would argue is fairly bad design that misses the core appeal of psionics. As currently drafted, it just does more of the same, when players tend to gravitate to psionics explicitly because they want a different playstyle.
Which raises another issue- is creating a balanced and accessible “not caster” class a practical endeavor? As I understand it, most of the prior attempts to do this left one side unable to touch the other, significantly limiting their ability to engage with the setting. And, additionally, the classic “power points” alternative system is difficult to balance against a typical Vancian one. If the powers scale alongside casting progression but work off an open resource pool, then it’s going to spike performance even more than casters already do on short days as they level up, and attempting to downscale performance to offset that will leave the vibe that the class is underpowered. I can’t objectively write the idea off, but I have a hard time believing the juice can be worth the squeeze.
I would suggest the first playtest psionic class - the Mystic - shows this is practical, with more refining. Mystic’s design, particularly at high levels, cleverly addresses these concerns, putting caps on how much of your resources you can spend, while also generally limiting the power levels of abilities to the equivalent of sixth level spells or lower. I actually suspect they designed the class explicitly with high level play and the problems you raise in mind, since tier four is when the class actually feels balanced.
Somewhat amusingly, it was low levels - the parts where spell point systems should be easier to balance - that struggled. Mystic rushes out of the gate and then gets to those sixth level equivalents at about the same pace as Magic users, which generally meant it outperformed due to its equivalent abilities but greater flexibility. It plateaus at that point and becomes more “fair” but a lot of games never get that far. Slower ability progression, fewer options, and better balanced abilities would go a long way toward fixing those problems at the levels of play most folks experience.
Still, as a proof of concept, I think there is a lot there which shows promise of a well balanced ability point system. However, because it was so poorly implemented at the levels folks playtest, I think we are unlikely to see Wizards try this more traditional psionic system implemented in 5e. Which is a shame - their bad design and failure to edit before releasing something as UA very well might result in a psionic class that doesn’t do the very thing players want from psionics.