Hi all, I'm operating uder the assumption that the Mystic/psionics won't be around for a while. In the meantime, I've been trying to adapt some of the mystic abilities from UA 33 as spells. The ability of interest is the "Danger Sense" (NOT the barbarian ability) effect of the Precognition discipline.

As the ability stands, it requires 5 psi points, which is the maximum that can be utilized at once by a 5th-level mystic. That, in my mind, makes it closest to a 3rd-level spell before we even consider the actual nature of the spell. The ability itself does the following for up to 8 hours:

"Until your concentration ends, you can’t be surprised, attack rolls against you can’t gain advantage, and you gain a +10 bonus to initiative."

Now in my mind, that's substantially more powerful than clairvoyance and tongues, the only 3rd-level divination spells, and most, if not all of the 3rd-level transmutation spells, including blink, fly, and water breathing. The Mystic class makes the ability more restrictive than a normal spell, because psionic disciplines are a somewhat scarce resource.

Keeping this in mind, what level would you assign this spell?

Hmm. It's  a good question. I looked at a couple of buff spells I thought were similar. Protection from Evil and Good give a limited selection of enemies disadvantage for attacks. Haste provides a handful of benefits for only 1 minute. Finally, Foresight is perhaps the most similar albeit a more powerful spell. 

First, spells are much more than a simple description. Duration, components, number of targets can all have an impact on spell level. I jotted down some basics below. 

Danger Sense

Level: ??   Casting Time: ??   Range/Area: Self   Components: V, S

Duration: 8 Hours ??   School: Divination   Attack/Save: None   Damage/Effect: Buff

Until your concentration ends, you can’t be surprised, attack rolls against you can’t gain advantage, and you gain a +10 bonus to initiative.

Now that we have somewhere to start let's think about the benefits of the spell.

First, 'you cannot be surprised'. Hmm. This is more powerful then you might think. Only the 9th level spell Foresight provides this ability and no class has the same. Some give advantage to initiative but surprise is its own special thing. 

Second, 'attack rolls against you can't gain advantage'. Again, a much more powerful ability than you might think. It is not just that attacks are at disadvantage. No, this proposed spell says that there is no way to have advantage regardless of circumstance. 

Finally, 'you gain a +10 bonus to initiative'. More powerful than simple advantage to initiative and can be combined with advantage if the character has it. 

So my initial thoughts are this is far more powerful than a standard 3rd level spell. It's closer to Foresight than anything so I would think if you wanted to keep the wording as it is then the spell should land around 7th or 8th level. If you wanted to keep it around 3rd level than I would recommend removing the absolutes from the language. So something like below...

'Until your concentration ends, you gain advantage to any rolls made to avoid being surprised, you may use your reaction to cause an opponent to re-roll one attack which targets you, and you gain advantage to initiative.'

You might still need to tweak the spell. Personally, I would want to be able to include my party in a spell like this. Not sure how broke it would be if you allowed it to be cast at higher levels with additional targets. 

This definitely seems stronger than level 3. Probably level 4. Requiring concentration and not imposing disadvantage on attackers does a lot to keep the level down. Probably still needs a 1 minute casting time to stay balanced.

Quote from Slaine000 >>

Hmm. It's  a good question. I looked at a couple of buff spells I thought were similar. Protection from Evil and Good give a limited selection of enemies disadvantage for attacks. Haste provides a handful of benefits for only 1 minute. Finally, Foresight is perhaps the most similar albeit a more powerful spell. 

First, spells are much more than a simple description. Duration, components, number of targets can all have an impact on spell level. I jotted down some basics below. 

Danger Sense

Level: ??   Casting Time: ??   Range/Area: Self   Components: V, S

Duration: 8 Hours ??   School: Divination   Attack/Save: None   Damage/Effect: Buff

Until your concentration ends, you can’t be surprised, attack rolls against you can’t gain advantage, and you gain a +10 bonus to initiative.

Now that we have somewhere to start let's think about the benefits of the spell.

First, 'you cannot be surprised'. Hmm. This is more powerful then you might think. Only the 9th level spell Foresight provides this ability and no class has the same. Some give advantage to initiative but surprise is its own special thing. 

Second, 'attack rolls against you can't gain advantage'. Again, a much more powerful ability than you might think. It is not just that attacks are at disadvantage. No, this proposed spell says that there is no way to have advantage regardless of circumstance. 

Finally, 'you gain a +10 bonus to initiative'. More powerful than simple advantage to initiative and can be combined with advantage if the character has it. 

So my initial thoughts are this is far more powerful than a standard 3rd level spell. It's closer to Foresight than anything so I would think if you wanted to keep the wording as it is then the spell should land around 7th or 8th level. If you wanted to keep it around 3rd level than I would recommend removing the absolutes from the language. So something like below...

'Until your concentration ends, you gain advantage to any rolls made to avoid being surprised, you may use your reaction to cause an opponent to re-roll one attack which targets you, and you gain advantage to initiative.'

You might still need to tweak the spell. Personally, I would want to be able to include my party in a spell like this. Not sure how broke it would be if you allowed it to be cast at higher levels with additional targets. 

 
Thanks. I agree with you on basically all of the balance stuff. I guess I'm really just trying to figure out how the devs imagined that this discipline should be available to a 5th-level character. Just as well I find that the spirit of 5e is to avoid flat bonuses a la +10 to initiative. I'd only argue that based on foresight, the discipline as written doesn't seem nearly as powerful given that foresight doesn't require concentration.

Quote from DxJxC >>

This definitely seems stronger than level 3. Probably level 4. Requiring concentration and not imposing disadvantage on attackers does a lot to keep the level down. Probably still needs a 1 minute casting time to stay balanced.

 
I'm of this mind as well. Concentration is a real limit once combat starts.