Psionics are the new hotness and I felt like the warlock class ought to have a go at psionics as well. There's the Great Old One, which has a little telepathy, but all of that was done before the creation of the psionic talent die, which I wanted to work into this subclass. Psionics often has a farm realm connection, as does the Great Old One, so I was intentional in keeping this class distinct. No telepathy or mind control. Instead I focused on weapons and force shields.
Because the subclass is only part of the story for warlocks, and because a level 14 capstone isn't the most exciting thing, I went ahead and made a new pact boon, some additional eldritch invocations, and even adapted some features from psionic monsters into new spells. Obviously the pact boon is not required fro the subclass, or vice versa. It's kind of a weird one anyway. I don't mind being a bit experimental, but I do try to balance my experiments when i can. Have a look at the Pact of Dreams.
In Psionic Blast, I'm curious what you mean by "focus the spell into a single blast". It seems strange to focus a cantrip that you don't give the player for free but they must pick up. Speaking of cantrips, I am not interested in my 6th level ability giving me a cantrip. Perhaps make Expanded Mind a first level ability, and Versatile Invocation the 6th level ability. To give Psionic Talent more to do, consider either some small telepathic or telekinetic power.
Pact of the Dreams is interesting. I am worried about the effects kicking in when you are unconscious with hit points. I like a noncombat pact but the others offer some powerful options. Unless I'm mistaken, does the pact also give another Invocation? I think that might be a bit much, maybe something like "While unconscious, you can maintain concentration on a spell until you fail a death saving throw".
Indomitable Will feels like it should be once per short rest. Crippling Hex requires both psionics and curses, that might be too many prereqs. With Mind of the Aboleth, does charm person end on it?
With Psychic Defense, remember warlocks get proficiency in light armor so this +1 to their armor might not be worth it. Detect Sentience is a lot like detect thoughts and not be frank, not as useful as a 5th level spell. Stunned is powerful. Power Word Stun only effects one creature for a minute. However, as a 5th level spell, Pyschic Burst does a fine job of managing that. Burst implies an explosion and less of a cone. It might make more sense as a sphere.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Wow, great feedback! Thanks for taking the time. I have answers for some of your observations and some of them I had not even considered.
Eldritch Blast normally gives multiple blasts at higher levels, My intention behind Psionic Blast is that it's a single blast with an improved chance of hitting. Good point about it applying a class feature to a cantrip you still have to pick up on your own. I still really like the feature though. It seems Psionic Blast might work better as an eldritch invocation than as a subclass feature.
Swapping Expanded Mind and Versatile Invocation is an interesting idea and I see why you suggested it. Giving a cantrip and a language makes a lot more sense at 1st level. But now I've swapped out both of the level 1 features that use the psionic talent die, which brings us to...
I've been trying to keep away from telepathy to stay distinct from GOO. Telekinesis, on the other hand... It would have to be something useful, boostable with a d4 talent die, but not too strong. I need to think on that one.
All of the effects for Pact of Dreams were intended to be voluntary. My intention was that they would only kick in when you want them to.
Pact of Dreams does give you an extra invocation (chosen from a specific handful) because I was worried I needed to give it a considerable boost as many of the pact boon effects are passive.
Indomitable Will resetting on a short rest instead of long? Sure. I erred on the side of caution with that one. It's no trouble to crank it up a notch.
Crippling Hex was meant as a natural progression from Maddening Hex and Relentless Hex, so it carried the same prerequisites that they do.
Psychic Defense was adapted from a githzerai feature. Perhaps it's not a great fit for warlocks, given their light armor proficiency. But it does combo really well with mage armor.
Mind of the Aboleth would end the charmed condition. I suppose I ought to mention that. I do enjoy it, but it's the only thing in my entire document that even references charm, so I wonder if it is too niche. I can see someone picking it up if they made a charm build... but would they?
Detect Sentience, adapted from the intellect devourer feature, felt to me like it needed to be a mid-level spell since it essentially pinpointed another creature within 100 feet even if they were invisible, hidden, behind cover, etc. It sounds like that was not your takeaway, so I think I need to improve the spell's description.
Stunned is a powerful condition, which is why I only made it last for a single turn on a failed save. I can't tell if you're saying you think it's too powerful. I could do a 30' radius sphere just as easily as a 60' cone. That has about the same upside I think and this makes it a better counter to being swarmed.
Regarding that 1st level telekinetic feature that would use the psionic talent die, I'm thinking of something moderately useful at low level, but scalable as well.
Use your reaction to add your talent die to your armor class against a single incoming attack? (1/short rest)
Mentally lift an object up to 500 lbs for a number of rounds equal to your talent die roll?
Add the talent die roll to your Strength check on a grapple attempt or an attempt to escape from it?
I'll give that some more thought. Seriously, though, thanks for this cornucopia of feedback.
I took some suggestions into account and also took a second pass at some of the low-level features. Here's where things stand now. I think it's a definite improvement:
and for the optional pact boon / eldritch invocations / spells
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"Not all those who wander are lost"
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Psionics are the new hotness and I felt like the warlock class ought to have a go at psionics as well. There's the Great Old One, which has a little telepathy, but all of that was done before the creation of the psionic talent die, which I wanted to work into this subclass. Psionics often has a farm realm connection, as does the Great Old One, so I was intentional in keeping this class distinct. No telepathy or mind control. Instead I focused on weapons and force shields.
So I took a crack at it. What do you think?
(UPDATED IMAGE BELOW)
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Because the subclass is only part of the story for warlocks, and because a level 14 capstone isn't the most exciting thing, I went ahead and made a new pact boon, some additional eldritch invocations, and even adapted some features from psionic monsters into new spells. Obviously the pact boon is not required fro the subclass, or vice versa. It's kind of a weird one anyway. I don't mind being a bit experimental, but I do try to balance my experiments when i can. Have a look at the Pact of Dreams.
(UPDATED IMAGE BELOW)
"Not all those who wander are lost"
In Psionic Blast, I'm curious what you mean by "focus the spell into a single blast". It seems strange to focus a cantrip that you don't give the player for free but they must pick up. Speaking of cantrips, I am not interested in my 6th level ability giving me a cantrip. Perhaps make Expanded Mind a first level ability, and Versatile Invocation the 6th level ability. To give Psionic Talent more to do, consider either some small telepathic or telekinetic power.
Pact of the Dreams is interesting. I am worried about the effects kicking in when you are unconscious with hit points. I like a noncombat pact but the others offer some powerful options. Unless I'm mistaken, does the pact also give another Invocation? I think that might be a bit much, maybe something like "While unconscious, you can maintain concentration on a spell until you fail a death saving throw".
Indomitable Will feels like it should be once per short rest. Crippling Hex requires both psionics and curses, that might be too many prereqs. With Mind of the Aboleth, does charm person end on it?
With Psychic Defense, remember warlocks get proficiency in light armor so this +1 to their armor might not be worth it. Detect Sentience is a lot like detect thoughts and not be frank, not as useful as a 5th level spell. Stunned is powerful. Power Word Stun only effects one creature for a minute. However, as a 5th level spell, Pyschic Burst does a fine job of managing that. Burst implies an explosion and less of a cone. It might make more sense as a sphere.
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Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Wow, great feedback! Thanks for taking the time. I have answers for some of your observations and some of them I had not even considered.
Regarding that 1st level telekinetic feature that would use the psionic talent die, I'm thinking of something moderately useful at low level, but scalable as well.
I'll give that some more thought. Seriously, though, thanks for this cornucopia of feedback.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
I took some suggestions into account and also took a second pass at some of the low-level features. Here's where things stand now. I think it's a definite improvement:
and for the optional pact boon / eldritch invocations / spells
"Not all those who wander are lost"