Of all available classes and sub-classes on D&D Beyond (Including content from TCoE, XGtE, Etc...) What subclasses would you categorize as eldritch/psionic?

I've been wondering what people actually mean when they say "psionic" in the context of DnD. It seems like the term came from old sci fi novels, which makes it odd to me that it's made it's way into a fantasy setting like DnD. Originally when I heard/read about psionic, I assumed it just ment psychic powers, but then I noticed a lot of people taking issue with it based on it having a sci fi vibe to it... Is there is a difference between psionics and psychic powers? If no, wouldn't it be better to use the less sci-fi based name for these things? 

As for which subclasses... Hm.. I guess 3 of the new subclasses from tasha's are ment to by psionic themed... Personally I think you'd be able to reflavor most casters into sort of a psychic mind power cast... With the the sorcerer probably being the best base class for it.

I believe psionics came from AD&D and has been a thread in the background most of the time.  In AD&D, psionics was handled as an appendix so the DM could use psionics or not depending on the way he felt about it.  One bonus is that psionics was not class specific so anyone could be a psionic character if the DM wished to play that sort of campaign.

My DM didn't want to play psionics.

If psionics are allowed in the game then every non-psionic character has to worry about being attacked with psionics and in those days there was little you could do about it.  Looking back on it, I believe psionics create more problems than fun.  It sounds great to players that they can have another tool to win encounters, but when that gets turned on its ear I think many players would become frustrated being on the receiving end.

Oh yea, there seems to have been a major overlap of the genres during the 80's and 90's atleast... I remember a lot of the older fantasy pc rpgs would have rather strange instances of sci fi elements to them. Back when my siblings and I played the Might and Magic rpg series, the 7th installment would suddenly have a crashed spaceship in an otherwise completely fantasy world.

I understand that many fans of psionics will swear up and down that it is not magic, but I can't help think of it as just a different kind of magic. One that's more internal and follows slightly different rules... I mean, if we look at what psionics/Psychic powers do... they basically check every box for what we usually would call magic.... Infact it'd go so far as to say that "pionics" is just an excuse to include maigc in an otherwise sci fi setting. In many ways "the force" from star wars is just a mystical twist on psionics imo.

I guess the distinction people are looking for, is that they don't want psionics to rely on traditional materials and foci because it's ment to be mind powers... Which is certainly fair.

I really do think it all comes down to the theme you go with for your psionic/psychic character... Aslong as the character itself and the way they express their powers is grounded in the setting used for the campaign, it'd be a shame to get hung up on psionics sounding sci fi ^^...

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I believe psionics came from AD&D and has been a thread in the background most of the time.  In AD&D, psionics was handled as an appendix so the DM could use psionics or not depending on the way he felts about it.  One bonus is that psionics was not class specific so anyone could be a psionic character if the DM wished to play that sort of campaign.

My DM didn't want to play psionics.

If psionics are allowed in the game then every non-psionic character has to worry about being attacked with psionics and in those days there was little you could do about it.  Looking back on it, I believe psionics create more problems than fun.  It sounds great to players that they can have another tool to win encounters, but when that gets turned on its ear I think many players would become frustrated being on the receiving end.

 
I think adding psionics as an entirely different system would not be very fitting to how 5e is designed. 5e's major benefit is how easy it is to understand, so it's certainly overkill to add an entire extra layer only few characters get to interact with. Then again, that way of handling psionics comes from a ruleset where that sort of stuff was far more common, so adding psionics with a more 5e design would be perfectly fine imo.

As someone who'd really love an official "Psychic" class, I'd still really like to see the mystic happen one day. I appreciate the subclasses with a psionic twist, but the way 5e is structured, subclasses are mostly unable to fundamentally change how the base class is played... This means the that the psychic powers we're getting right now all feel as surface level additions to traditional casters which makes it difficult to fully embrace the "pure brain power" theme.

Psionic to me means magical effects that are created through the user's mental effort.

This is compared to "traditional magic" manipulating an external force (the weave, in Forgotten Realm's case).

Mechanically, these create the same effect and I don't understand why people get in a twist about it. Pre TCoE, and even now, if someone wanted to play a psionic character I would just say "Great, your magic is mental instead of whatever else. All the rules still apply"

Certainly, that's possible to an extent, which is also why I think that most casters can be reflavored to seem psionic.

I do think there's a mechanical hinderence... The various components needed for spells, be it material, verbal or semantic can really take away from the concept... A large part of the "cool factors" of having psionic powers, is the ability to just creepily stare at someone and watch their head explode... With most spells requiring you to say magic words, or wave your hand around... that "look" is kinda ruined... The material component can usually be dealt with through a subtle spell casting focus like a ring or something.

To answer the originally posed question:

Prior to Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, the only 'official' (sort of) psionic subclass was the Great Old One warlock patron.  Wizards had made it clear that they considered the GOO warlock to be a predominantly psychic class, designed for those who wanted a Spooky Psyker vibe.  Whether one agrees that the GOO warlock feels like a psychic character is up in the air.  Many do not.  Certain other subclasses could, arguably, be reflavored as a psychic character without undue effort, but they tend to be much less common, and no other subclass saw any sort of widespread use as a 'psychic' character.

In Tasha's Cauldron, the Aberrant Mind, the Psi Warrior, and the Soulknife are all explicitly psionic.  Many people consider the Astral Self monk to be psionic-adjacent, at the least.  Beyond these, again - a few specific features of a few subclasses are vaguely akin to psychic ability, but none are really built in such a way as to allow one to create a 'psychic' character.  To effectively create/play a psychic character whose psychic powers are their primary means of adventuring (as opposed to creating someone with a minor psychic knack they use to augment their normal class abilities), one needs to play a sorcerer with over ninety percent of the sorcerer spell list forbidden to you, an Arcane Trickster rogue which, again, omits the majority of the Trickster's already-limited spell selection, the Psi Warrior or Soulknife, or...

Actually?  That's about it.  An Aberrant Mind that ignores almost all the available sorcerer spells, the "Psi Energy Pool" subclasses, or maybe an Arcane Trickster rogue if you curate the spell list judiciously and squint hard enough.  The GOO warlock honestly doesn't qualify - it's impossible to make a warlock that relies on mental strength and psychic powers that remains functional as a character, one is required to step outside the domain of psychic abilities to make the warlock work.

There are other discussions about psychic powers and psionics to be had, and I've had most of them.  On that subject, this time, all I will say is this.  "Fantasy" does not mean "Lord of the Rings expy", there are plenty of well-regarded and influential fantasy novels and series where the characters make use of psychic powers in addition to - or even in place of - traditional magic, and if deeply psychic creatures such as beholders, mind flayers, and many others can all be a cherished part of the D&D canon, I see no reason why player characters cannot also be psychic.  Or why psychic powers consistently need to be treated as nothing more than Strictly Worse Spellcasting.

To me psionics is just apther sub cathegory of arcane spellcasting. That implies any class casting arcane spells, innate in particular could flavour their spells as psionic (read: manipulating their mind for effects). Sorcerer fits particularily well.

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There are already tons of different types of magic in the system anyway, that's true, the problem is that usually the people really wanting psionic want it to be "different", and usually fairly powerful because it's supposed to be only mental...

 It should be different, but that doesn’t mean it should be any more powerful.

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Quote from MusicScout >>

I believe psionics came from AD&D and has been a thread in the background most of the time.  In AD&D, psionics was handled as an appendix so the DM could use psionics or not depending on the way he felts about it.  One bonus is that psionics was not class specific so anyone could be a psionic character if the DM wished to play that sort of campaign.

My DM didn't want to play psionics.

If psionics are allowed in the game then every non-psionic character has to worry about being attacked with psionics and in those days there was little you could do about it.  Looking back on it, I believe psionics create more problems than fun.  It sounds great to players that they can have another tool to win encounters, but when that gets turned on its ear I think many players would become frustrated being on the receiving end.

 
I think adding psionics as an entirely different system would not be very fitting to how 5e is designed. 5e's major benefit is how easy it is to understand, so it's certainly overkill to add an entire extra layer only few characters get to interact with. Then again, that way of handling psionics comes from a ruleset where that sort of stuff was far more common, so adding psionics with a more 5e design would be perfectly fine imo.

As someone who'd really love an official "Psychic" class, I'd still really like to see the mystic happen one day. I appreciate the subclasses with a psionic twist, but the way 5e is structured, subclasses are mostly unable to fundamentally change how the base class is played... This means the that the psychic powers we're getting right now all feel as surface level additions to traditional casters which makes it difficult to fully embrace the "pure brain power" theme.

 Which only highlights everything that is wrong with 5e.

I would think a Bard could also be built on mental ability.  Their mental ability seems to be "reading people" and then adjusting their approach to match their read.  I wouldn't want to change the system I use for Bards right now, but I believe it could be a viable option.

I always thought of psionics as a brain-to-brain interaction, whereas magic is a manipulation of nature's forces drawing on a mysterious energy.

Psionics opens up problems for me because most players won't have access to anything like a counter to the effects.  In magic there are things like Dispel Magic, Silence and Counterspell.

One other comment on a psionic build, I guess it would be dependent on a character's intelligence, so charisma and wisdom spell casters may have trouble being remade around this attribute.

The idea that psionics ought to be int based in DnD always surprised me... I guess it depends on how you look at the various mental stats... But to me, charisma or wisdom are far more appropriate casting stats for a psychic character. Psionics to me seems like the power of your mind.. your willpower or the force with which you can push your own thoughts onto others.

Intelligence is very much tied to knowledge and information which I honestly don't think fit with that kind of theme at all. 5e Int seems to be more about logical deduction and memory.

Wisdom is all about how good you are at taking in information, be it from the world or other people... It's sort of a measure of how well connected you are to everything around you aswell as your empathy. This fits well with the ability to read minds.

Charisma is all about force of personality.. the ability to make yourself heard or seen in the way that you wish to be. This is why I think it's the most appropriate stat for a psionics character.. The ability to overpower another persons' brain with your own strong presence... This is also why I believe the sorcerer is the best fit for a psionic theme.

4e explored that a little bit.

The Psion used INT and was your basic telepathic/telekinetic wizard equivalent.

The Ardent used CHA and covered the empath concept or manipulating/amplifying emotions - bard covers this ground pretty thoroughly in 5e.

The Battlemind was a psionic warrior that used... CON? Was very interesting mechanically but maybe a bit of a stretch to describe.

And Monk fell under psionics, which is now represented with ki points in 5e.

I agree with folks that you can totally reflavor existing casters to be mental-based psychics - flavor text of the classes aside, there are no hard rules related to where your magic comes from, and sorcerer already comes awfully close as is. So when people use the term "psionics," I assume they are referring to a type of caster that effectively uses "magic" that is explicitly not magic, as Sposta said.

In Dark Sun, "Arcane" magic sucks up life energy as fuel and defiles the land and divine magic is nonexistent. Thus psionics is the primary "safe" form of magic that players have access to. So in a campaign like that, it would be a bit objectionable to apply "you are psionic if you say you are" because it kind of subverts the intent of the setting.

With Tasha's out it looks like they've committed to handling psionics with their psionic dice mechanic. So if a Dark Sun setting were to come out, I'd expect the list of officially-for-the-purpose-of-this-setting psionics to be the subclasses with this mechanic.

There's still a huge hole here though. The psion archetype - which is basically the flagship of psionics - is missing, and applying it as a subclass to wizard or sorcerer doesn't work for Dark Sun because those base classes get "arcane" spells (where does Aberrant Mind Sorcerer fit in here? Good question). Thus if Dark Sun were to come out I'd expect either a brand new class or a major variant class feature that replaced spellcasting with psionic dice and powers. We'll see.

The trade off should be that the Psion has access to a much narrower suite of powers as compared to a spellcaster. And the powers should be interrelated so as to allow each different variety of Psion feel unique.

This is exactly what I was hoping for! thank you for this detailed and thoughtful comment.

So how would you view a Tortle Monk sub-class Psion that was born blind, trained by Githzerai Monk? 

Astral Self Tortle Monk with some sort of home-brewed Blindsight to make your character useful?

Psionics was a part of part of DND back in 1e, 2e and even had its own rules and books and abilities. Some mimicked spells others didn’t. Part of the problem was that RAW psionics was much faster than normal magic so an entire psionics combat could actually happen in 1 round. Most DMs quickly revised it to operate at the same speed to smooth things out. You got psionics points (similar to sorceror or Ki points) but based on intel+wisdom+charisma stats and increasing with level. You can probably find the books via the DMs Guild and working from there homebrew a 5e Psion class (I’ve sort of done that for my homebrew as I have the books and several old line psionics characters I use as NPCs) when they pretty much stopped supporting psionics in 3e+ they introduced the sorceror class.