Psion Discussion

It would be nice if this class was more different from the Sorcerer/Warlock/Wizard. 

I would go stronger and offer Light armor either at the base class or at the subclass level. For Metamorph I would add +1 or 2/level HP to help them stay in the fight. Or, give them a Rage like option. 

I would go stronger with more Psionic Discipline slots and variety of options. This could replace some of the spells, which I would go lighter. Somewhat of an inverse Sorcerer/Warlock. 

I also agree with many of the comments; there needs to be something for the base class between levels 7 and 19. 

Quote from GR_Mustang >>

It would be nice if this class was more different from the Sorcerer/Warlock/Wizard. 

I would go stronger and offer Light armor either at the base class or at the subclass level. For Metamorph I would add +1 or 2/level HP to help them stay in the fight. Or, give them a Rage like option. 

I would go stronger with more Psionic Discipline slots and variety of options. This could replace some of the spells, which I would go lighter. Somewhat of an inverse Sorcerer/Warlock. 

I also agree with many of the comments; there needs to be something for the base class between levels 7 and 19. 

i think they dont have enough psionic disciplines at high levels, you eventually get 6 out of a pool of 11. They could add new disciplines at higher levels that fit within some of the sub themes, boost physical, boost magic, boost mental.  As is, eventually everyone has mostly the same diciplines, even if they are going for different themes

Do we need a Psion class or could we just have the subclasses for each class

Barbarian- Path of the Psy Rager- gets energy dice, psychic resistance, can expend ED to add Str to Int, Wis, Cha saves while raging. Use telekinetic propel while raging

Bard- College of Thought- basically the UA telepath class thrown on the Bard

Cleric- Mind Domain- pionic spells, 

Druid- Circle of the Metamorph- literally just make it a Druid.

Fighter- Psy Knight- already done

Monk- Warrior of Astral Self- needs to be redone

Paladin- Oath of the Free Mind- Aura of Mind’s Reach can teleport creatures within aura to another point in the aura, can make melee attack against any target within the aura if they are beyond melee range damage is psychic.

Ranger- Nightmare Trapper- Energy dice, hunters mark can deal all psychic damage,

Rogue- Soul Knife- already done

Sorcerer- Aberent Mind- already don

Warlock- Great Old One- already done

Wizard- Psykineticist- just make it a wizard subclass

Artificer- Void Crafter- can create some material components with its mind.

This is just a bunch of quick ideas.

I'm currently playtesting, and its actually pretty fun, and i like that it has a class plus subclass interactions.

thing with a sub class, is its always primarily the main class, and the subclass has to work within 

i actually like the energy dice and psionic class features more than any other caster's base kit, except warlock, if you consider them a full caster.

essentially, a class lets you dedicate more design space and features to one concept, while subclasses you can dedicate 4 or 5 features or so, but the base class dominates a lot of who the charachter is/does.

they can, and probably will make more 'psionic' subclasses for main classes. 

One last shot at what a Psion could look like. This time as a half caster, but with features that make it practically a full caster. I’m bored. This is what I do when I’m bored. Lol
Psion

D8 Hit Point Die, All other proficiencies, saves, and training the same

1st Spellcasting- Went half caster to make it different from Wizard but this is a full caster in reality through its features. No Components needed for Psion Spells except spells that have materials consumed by the spell or with a specified cost.

1st Psionic Power- mostly the same. Telekinetic Propel change “creature” to read “target” allowing this to be used on objects that are large or smaller as well. This helps offset the fact that I dropped subtle telekinesis. Telepathic Connection change it to 10ft for the base range and it last ten minutes, the roll only changes the distance.

2nd Psionic Discipline- no changes

2nd Psionic Modes- can be used unlimited times per day. The cost is just action economy. This  will change Psionic Surge

5th Psionic Gamble- All new feature that makes you practically a full caster and allows you the most versatile spell selection. “As a magic action choose a spell from the Psion spell list that is no higher than half your Psion level rounded up with a cast time of one action. You expend a number of Energy Dice equal to the Spells level +1. After you have cast the spell roll a d6. If the roll is equal or higher than the number of energy dice you expended you immediately regain a number of Energy dice equal to the spells level.” Note if you use this on a spell of 6th level or higher there is no point rolling the d6 since you cant roll a 7 higher. This does mean by sacrificing most of its ED this Psion could cast 2 9th level spells in a day. 

7th Psionic Surge- Allows you to exchange an Energy die for a hit die instead of a use of Modes since this version doesnt have limited uses of modes.

9th Mental Reserves- If you have no Energy Die at the start of your turn you gain a Reserve Energy Die. A It can be used for any Psion feature that you roll an Energy Die, but not for features that you only expend the die without rolling it. You may only ever have 1 Reserve Energy Die. If you gain an Energy Die while you already have a Reserve Energy, the Reserve Energy Die you already have is loss.

11th Awakened Power 6th level Spell- You prepare one 6th level spell from the psion spell list. You can cast it once without expending a spell slot. It requires no components unless they are consumed by the spell or has a cost specified in the spell. You may change one Awakened Power spell of a level you can cast for one of the same level when you complete a long rest.

13th Awakened Power 7th level spell

15th Awakened Power 8th level spell

17th Awakened Power 9th level spell

18th Enkindled Lifeforce-  no changes except level

20th Psionic Restoration- If you roll initiative and have less than Energy Dice you have 4 Energy Dice. Additionally when you use Power Surge to regain an Energy Die you regain 2 instead. 

I like Psions Fiction.

re half caster design psion

did you find the psion to be overpowered? because mostly this just lowers their casting power without gaining much.

generally half casters are designed to function without spell slots, but your will quickly struggle. they will only have access to weaker spells, and not many baseline uses without

The gambling for slots thing, I dont think its fits thematically with psychics. It also creates a game mechanic where you want to avoid spending dice for features, in case you want to cast more spells. You need seed money to gamble effectively, and you will need to gambke, because your total spell slots are halved.

if you are a level 8 psion, you'd have access to level 4 spells. youd have to spend 5 dice to cast one level 4 spell. your max dice is 6 at that level. if you roll a 5 or 6 the spell is free, if you fail, which is 2/3rds of the time, you have given up 5 .class mechanics to do something a normla full caster (or the old psion) could do two times, and 5 uses of energy dice.=

so now this level 8 charachter, without extra attack, or eldritch blast, or decent spell slots, and 1 energy dice, has only two level 2 spells and cantrips for the rest of that encounter.

Like, if this class concept and fantasy was a gambler, maybe you could justify this, but even then i think they need a better floor when gambling goes wrong, but for a class that isnt really about gambling, why do they give up so much on the prayer that they can get lucky and be equal to a full caster.

I undertand wanting to create distance between some full casters and psion, but this isnt worth it. And also, psion doesnt really play like wizards. Have you playtested the class? i think the many uses of energy dice ad fixed spells creates a notuceable difference between it, and wizards who have few mechanics outaide of casting spells more often.

No the problem isn’t that the current Psion is over powered, it’s that is pointless and should probably just be a wizard subclass as it’s currently written. That’s why I also suggested just making psionic subclass for every class. I was just looking to do something mechanically different. Originally the psionic gamble was just the level of the spell. But I realized that made it to power for repeatedly casting lvl 1 spells. The name was more of a reflection of the mechanics not the fantasy I was imagining. Note the ability allows you to cast from the whole Psion spell list and that is benefit that has to have some cost. Oh and I tried to offset the potential loss with 1d4 reserve energy die that allows you to use most of your features. Obviously I can’t whole heartily defend this design. I spent like 30-40 minutes on it. Most of that was just trying to get the grid to work. Lol I’m using an old tablet. If I end up staying up late and get bored I’ll take another swing at it. I get why designers struggle with the numbers when it comes to new mechanics. I was originally going to give it more energy dice, like 20 by level 20, but I realized it would be overpowered if it could cast multiple level 9 spells a day with ease. 

Ah well, to me the class feels nothing like a wizard. To me the wizard is a dude who can basically cast every spell, a lot of times, and select whatever spell is needed in preparation and thats about it.

This class is married to its spell list, has a much less diverse set of choices, and spends a lot of time managing and playing around with its unique mechanics. I have playtested them all at 3/6/10 and a lot of what you are thinking about is which energy dice mechanics you are goung to use in what order.

wizard is, what spells are the best ones to use today, and get em all.

and psion is how can i best make use of all my features

and i noticed that in your design as well, it turned the energy dice mechanics primarily into a spell feul, but the way the class plays your energy dice is usually the thing you are more enaged with. Like really i would much rather have 5 energy dice than cast a level 4 spell. Spending 3 dice for a level 2 spell at level 5 is also crazy. I get that you are thinking of averages, but since you took away its full casterness, and gave it nothing it didnt have before, its basically just a worse full caster.

spend dice to get to almost full caster levels if you are lucky, is strictly inferior to just being a full caster, and having your dice. and other half casters all have strong baseline usecases, yours doesnt.

as i said before, subclasses have less design space and budget. any psion subclass is mostly the main class.

the only thing psion has in common with wizard is that its spell list is mostly a subset of wizard(like every arcane caster, and a decent portion of any caster)

it gets to dedicate a lot more features and subclasses towards the concept of a psion than any psion subclass can. You wont get something like what these classes are from any subclass of another class.

Quote from Ain_Undos >>

No the problem isn’t that the current Psion is over powered, it’s that is pointless and should probably just be a wizard subclass as it’s currently written. That’s why I also suggested just making psionic subclass for every class. I was just looking to do something mechanically different. Originally the psionic gamble was just the level of the spell. But I realized that made it to power for repeatedly casting lvl 1 spells. The name was more of a reflection of the mechanics not the fantasy I was imagining. Note the ability allows you to cast from the whole Psion spell list and that is benefit that has to have some cost. Oh and I tried to offset the potential loss with 1d4 reserve energy die that allows you to use most of your features. Obviously I can’t whole heartily defend this design. I spent like 30-40 minutes on it. Most of that was just trying to get the grid to work. Lol I’m using an old tablet. If I end up staying up late and get bored I’ll take another swing at it. I get why designers struggle with the numbers when it comes to new mechanics. I was originally going to give it more energy dice, like 20 by level 20, but I realized it would be overpowered if it could cast multiple level 9 spells a day with ease. 

Probably better than this in the end. Though I'd love a redo of the 2e version of this class. MAD as hell, totally different and quirky power system. As long as it falls between worst and best classes currently in the game its fine. But make it feel different than just another caster somehow. At least 3e had a spell point system. Heck I think the warlock model would fit psions better than the wizard model.

I disagree.The UA Psion feels like a pointless wizard clone mechanically with some metamagic like features fuel by energy dice instead of sorcery points. Right now it’s just a middle ground between Wizard and Sorcerer with a narrower spell list. Maybe this fulfills the Psion fantasy for you, but I could get what this offers and more with a wizard and two feats. I’ve been playing this game for too long and if it’s just going to be repeated mechanics reskinned I won’t spend money on that book. If they are adding a new class it shouldn’t be this similar to what we already have. As a wizard subclass it would be fine. You really only lose Metamorph fantasy. 

Wizard Psion subclass

3rd Psionic Power- only changes would be that either you get Energy Dice equal to half your level in the this class or you get ED equal to twice your PB.

3rd Psionic Discipline- use exactly what’s in the UA

6th- Psion Modes- I still believe modes shouldn’t be a limited resource. 

10th- Pionic Surge- Since Modes arent limited hit die swap for energy die.

14th- Enkindled Lifeforce- A level 20 cap that doesn’t belong at level 20. 

This isn’t me saying that there shouldn’t be a Psion class to fulfill that fantasy. This is me saying that a wizard subclass could do everything that the version of Psion we were given does. It needs to be more unique. 

This UA provides the Psion with unique twists to spellcasting using Psionic Energy Dice and the Psionic Spellcasting feature, carving out a space to make the Psion stand out from its spellcasting peers

I read this in the UA and I completely disagree with it. It falls short of carving out a unique space from its Spellcasting peers. At first glance I thought it was simple and works, but it falls short of being unique. It’s an Int based Sorcerer. If that’s fun for you, do not let me rain on your parade. Enjoy it, but I want something more. 

Okay I tried to do a no spell slot version, but that got messy. Then I thought about what I would need from it to make it feel different enough as a full caster to merit its existence and I couldn’t put my finger on it. So I went back to the half caster version and spent more time on it. If you read the last one I got rid of the gamble mechanic and attempted to make give it more choices to make on its bonus actions. At this point I’m coming up on 3 hours of working on this if you include the time I spent on it yesterday. That’s way to much time not being productive.

Psion

D8 Hit Point Dice

1st Spellcasting- Went half caster to make it different from Wizard but this is a full caster in reality through its features. No Components needed for Psion Spells except spells that have materials consumed by the spell or with a specified cost.

1st Psionic Power and Subtle Telekinesis no change.

2nd Psionic Modes are not a limited resource but only last until the end of your next turn.

3rd Muster Power- As a bonus action you gather your mental energies in preparation to cast a spell. You may expend any number of Psionic Energy Dice, roll them and add the result. You create a Psychic Spell slot equal to the result or your Psychic Spell Slot max level, whichever is lower. You may only have one Psychic Spell Slot at a time. It vanishes once it’s used to cast a spell, when you complete a long rest,if you die, or when you expend an Energy Die to create a new Psychic Spell Slot. If you have a Psychic Spell Slot and roll to create a new one add 1d4 to the roll.

5th Mental Reserves- In combat if you have no Energy Die you can use a bonus action to gain a Reserve Energy Die. It is a d4 Energy Die that can be used for any Psion feature that you roll an Energy Die, but not for features that you only expend the die without rolling it. You may only ever have 1 Reserve Energy Die. If you gain an Energy Die while you already have a Reserve Energy, the Reserve Energy Die you already have is loss.

7th Psionic Surge- Allows you to exchange an Energy die for a hit die and vice versa instead of a use of Modes since this version does not have limited uses of modes.

9th Wild Talent Feat- You gain a Wild Talent Feat of your choice even if you have already taken one. This Feat counts as a general feat for you. 

11th Awakened Power 6th level Spell- You prepare two 6th level spells from the psion spell list. You can cast one of them once without expending a spell slot. It requires no components unless they are consumed by the spell or has a cost specified in the spell. You may change one Awakened Power spell of a level you can cast for one of the same level when you complete a long rest.

13th Awakened Power 7th level spell

15th Awakened Power 8th level spell

17th Awakened Power 9th level spell

18th Enkindled Lifeforce-  no changes except level

20th Psionic Restoration- If you roll initiative and have less than 4 Energy Dice you have 4 Energy Dice. Additionally when you use Power Surge to regain an Energy Die you regain 2 instead. 

Would it feel like a Psion if it had abilities that u can dump all your dice into them like you burning all you power in one attack? Add iconic spells as incantations like the warlock? Make abilities have more options the higher lvls to show growth ?

ain undos

your psion is the same psion with less overall resources, and more focus on manipulating spell slots to try to get normal spell caster power.

it dedicates so much to manipulating dice to get spells it ends up sacrificing its psionic abilities.

and it doesnt really change the actual gameplay structure or how the class approaches play like warlock

This still comes across as a gambler, ithe main concept of your additions is to sacrifice energy dice resources to gamble in hopes to get a few more high end spells than your average caster. You have to spend energy dice and bonus actions to do so.   The class has to spend its budget towards resource managment dice rolling.

And why is the psion fantasy linked to this resource gamble minigame? what about psions is symbolized by this system? 

have you balanced this? the reward seems minimal for a class that is giving up use of its psionic fueled features (like telepathic buffs, spell slots less TK abilities, spell alterations, stat alterations, etc) and a lot of action economy. trying to get spells others get by resting, with bonus actions. (each of these psychic spells requires 1 BA + 1 magic action to use) and to get a lesser version of your psychic powers back, (your energy die) you use another BA. In a class that already has a bunch of psionic features which use BAs.

To make a serious attempt at your version of the class, you need to redesign most of the features and spells to play a lot nicer with your hefty resource managemnt cost and action requirements.

Personally while i didnt love using the baseline spell slot system to fuel the class, i havent seen any suggestions that tie into the gameplay or thematica in a way that improves the class. And in actual playtests the class's focus on energy dice and dice based features end up defining the class and gameplay a lot more than its magic resource system. Which makes more sense to me since those features are the more unique features in the class.

have you playtested, solo or group the UA class, or your revsion?

to give you an idea, most subclasses i tested at 10 were spending about 4-5 energy dice per fight and 2-3 spells, most of which are highest teir or one below it 

can your design support that for 3 battles?, how much of the action economy is disrupted doing so?

as an aside, psion as presented in the UA cant be a wizard subclass unless you ignore all limits in budget, which if you are doing you could do with any two classes.

and also, psion gives you a base class with 4 different directions (subclasses) that increase its power and gameplay. whatever subclass you make would have to do the same thing with a lot less power budget and features dedicated to psionics.

Quote from Lia_Black >>

Would this class work better if it were more like the Half Caster Warlock UA and added in a lot more Disciplines that utilize the Psionic Mechanic more? Seems to me that it would help it stand out from Wizard and Sorcerer more. 

Just a thought

Yeah, I like the Psion but feel it would be nice to differentiate it even more from a Sorcerer with "psychic tweaks".

Like: a half-caster but with many more Disciplines, where some Disciplines just gave level-scaled "powers" (the Attack/Defence mode ability could be folded into these, e.g. a Discipline that gave Psychic Resistance and save boosts) while other level-gated Disciplines gave access to the higher-level spells and spell slots (for access to lovely Psychic Scream). Makes it a little bit of a half-caster warlock-y feel but think it would give more choices, so you could end up with very different Psions depending on which Disciplines you pick.

This would also fill in the weird gap where you get no class features at all.

GWAR1

No I didn’t playtest my half caster version. I spent like 40 mins on version 1, and maybe an hour and a half on version 2. They concepts not a finished class. The UA version does not use the energy die or other features enough to feel different enough than wizard and sorcerer. The disciplines already feel like variant metamagic. The mode is similar to innate sorcery. I played the UA Psykineticist and felt like I could have just been a Wizard. You are allowed to like the Psion as it is in the UA,  just like I’m allowed to not like it.

Back to the half caster versions I mocked up. I listened to your critique of version 1 and agreed with some of your points. You made those same points about version 2 which means you didn’t really read it. Which is okay. Its only purpose is to make whoever reads it have ideas. There is no obligation for you to read it. I find it odd for you to comment about if you didn’t read it though. Version 2 definitely isn’t resource starved. It does have too many. I tried to off set how many resources it has access to by making it a class that focuses on what it’s doing with its action economy. At level 5 when it runs out of regular ED it can use a bonus action to get a 1d4 ED. It can then use its next bonus action to roll that ED to get a level 1-3 spell slot with a 50% chance it would be level 3 slot. At level 7 or above that 25% chance to muster up 4th level spell slot with the 1d4 energy die. Version 2 is overpowered and I knew it when I wrote it. Also it’s no longer a gamble mechanic anymore than an attack roll or damage roll is a gamble mechanic. It’s a die roll that represents how much energy you gather to form this extra spell slot. The class also has regular spell slots that can be used. You could also use the 1d4 ED on any feature that rolls the ED. I don’t have to playtest version 2 to know it’s not balanced, it’s actually too strong but you somehow think resource starved. Also the reason to focus on rolling the ED is to highlight that as the primary thing this does, so it’s not just being a wizard or sorcerer saying I cast _____ at 3rd level. So far we have two classes that use ED in the game. Psi Warrior and Soul Knife. They don’t have Spellcasting as a feature. The Psion should be a class that heavily focuses on ED use and management, not just Spellcasting. 

As far as making Psion a wizard subclass I don’t need 4 different subclasses to fulfill the fantasy. I already did a mock up of one that with the right spell selection covers 3. The only fantasy that can’t be covered by a single wizard subclass is the Metamorph. 

Again if you like this Psion, good for you. I don’t. If they print this UA in a book it’s one I will skip it. You can purchase it. 

Quote from Ain_Undos >>

GWAR1

No I didn’t playtest my half caster version. I spent like 40 mins on version 1, and maybe an hour and a half on version 2. They concepts not a finished class. The UA version does not use the energy die or other features enough to feel different enough than wizard and sorcerer. The disciplines already feel like variant metamagic. The mode is similar to innate sorcery. I played the UA Psykineticist and felt like I could have just been a Wizard. You are allowed to like the Psion as it is in the UA,  just like I’m allowed to not like it.

Back to the half caster versions I mocked up. I listened to your critique of version 1 and agreed with some of your points. You made those same points about version 2 which means you didn’t really read it. Which is okay. Its only purpose is to make whoever reads it have ideas. There is no obligation for you to read it. I find it odd for you to comment about if you didn’t read it though. Version 2 definitely isn’t resource starved. It does have too many. I tried to off set how many resources it has access to by making it a class that focuses on what it’s doing with its action economy. At level 5 when it runs out of regular ED it can use a bonus action to get a 1d4 ED. It can then use its next bonus action to roll that ED to get a level 1-3 spell slot with a 50% chance it would be level 3 slot. At level 7 or above that 25% chance to muster up 4th level spell slot with the 1d4 energy die. Version 2 is overpowered and I knew it when I wrote it. Also it’s no longer a gamble mechanic anymore than an attack roll or damage roll is a gamble mechanic. It’s a die roll that represents how much energy you gather to form this extra spell slot. The class also has regular spell slots that can be used. You could also use the 1d4 ED on any feature that rolls the ED. I don’t have to playtest version 2 to know it’s not balanced, it’s actually too strong but you somehow think resource starved. Also the reason to focus on rolling the ED is to highlight that as the primary thing this does, so it’s not just being a wizard or sorcerer saying I cast _____ at 3rd level. So far we have two classes that use ED in the game. Psi Warrior and Soul Knife. They don’t have Spellcasting as a feature. The Psion should be a class that heavily focuses on ED use and management, not just Spellcasting. 

As far as making Psion a wizard subclass I don’t need 4 different subclasses to fulfill the fantasy. I already did a mock up of one that with the right spell selection covers 3. The only fantasy that can’t be covered by a single wizard subclass is the Metamorph. 

Again if you like this Psion, good for you. I don’t. If they print this UA in a book it’s one I will skip it. You can purchase it. 

i have a different point if view than you on the overall  should this be a class or not, but thats not part of my critique of your caster version.

and i did read it, and then i compared to the UA psion in terms of resources. Its possible i missed something, but from what i can see;

it has the same amount of energy dice at the same levels., it can spend a BA to get a special weaker dice, it cant use this for all features because some features need multiple dice/dont roll dice

it can spend a BA to turn a ED into a spell slot. this means there is a lot of BA use and time between using features/spells.

You are focused on the class part, and not considering how ED interacts with the subclasses, and design elements. (in terms of how much you think ED use factors into the class)

in playtests, i spend more ED than spell slots per fight, and the ED is tied more to the psionic stuff. But i'll come back to there.

first lets look at the resources, lets take level 10

UA psion psiwarper has 8 dice that are d8s.  it has 4:3:3:3:2 spells

Ain psion psiwarper has 8 dice that are d8s it has 4:3:2 spells. and one psychic dice.

in order to equal the amount of spells the UA psion has, it has to spend 6 dice that day.

so, the psion gets 8 dice, it recovers half its dice with ashort rest once a day, and 1 per SR. so it has a total of 8+5 ED per day, or 12.  so 6/12 dice

now, you added the reserve die, but it only works when you have zero dice, and it doesnt work for features that expend the dice without rolling it, that means it doesnt work for any feature that uses more than 1 die.

Id insinuation,  Psionic guards, Swift precognition, psionic backlash, Quickened healling, extend limbs/mutable form, Teleportation/teleportation combat,  warp space, Duplicitous target, ,  Mass teleportaion,  rebounding field, enhanced telekinetic crush, heightened telekinesis, mind infiltrator, scramble minds,  Thats the list of features which wont work if you are using emergency dice.  I believe thats more features than ones that will work with it.  If you add a rule that you can roll reserve dice multiple times(but only expend one), you get back psionic backlash and rebounding field.  And i think this also illustrates how much of this class interacts with ED, and how much psionic gameplay you are giving up since you are using the ED budget to create a spell management system.

that aspect aside, it means that the reserve dice doesnt give you the same access to your powers that the pure ED does,

So, why i think of it a gamble mechanic (and i dont mean that in a bad way, just in terms of the type of mini game it is) is because you are expending one known benefit, in exchange for a different benefit, with the hope that you gain something of greater value. And also within the context of, how can AIn psion equal or exceed the power of full caster? The 'win' here is rolling a max slot psychic slot, and what you can do is based on the result of that roll.  in the case of the level 10 psion, they need to roll 2 times 5 or greater, 3 times 4 and  3 one time. in order to break even with a casters power level. lose condition is something less than that, win conddition, ideally, is to roll 6 Fives.  And you did weigh the odds so that you''' probably, given 6 rolls, will roll 3 level 5s,   1-2 times roll  2 or less but thats on average in the actual play it will be fairly random, and adapting to that random would be a big part of playing that class.

now i dont really have a problem with this resource minigame in theory. For a class concept where the players pick it because they want this risk versus reward  it might be interesting, but since the price to play the spell slot resource game is ED, it means playing the spell slot game reduces your ability to use all those features up above, and adds a BA penalty to using the ones not on that list. IE a lot use of psionic things.

that aside lets look at what my psiwarper lvl 10 did in one fight and see how that translates

Before the fight, she used lvl 4 summon astral entity for crystaline. (lvl 4 is two attacks, so its a big difference)

round 1 of the fight she uses warp propel as a BA to teleport a commoner from a cultist(1 ED), casts blink, and has the crystaline entity attacks 2x the cultist.  as a reaction she uses psionic backlash to avoid an attack and deal damage (1 ED)

round 2 she uses steel wind strike on two targets, uses teleprter combat to do true strike (1 ED) crysatline entity attacks 2x

round 3 she uses psychic lance and teleprter combat( 1 ed)

total use, 4ED 1 level  5 spell. 2 level 4 spells. 1 level 3 spell  in  3 rounds time. (plus precast)

Ain psion class, has to spend at least 1 dice to get a level 4 or higher slot, to cast crystaline entity before the fight (1ED) if they roll too low they reroll, or dont cast it. On average is 62% chance to roll 4 or higher. so between 1 and 2 ED, lets call it it 1.5 ED on average.

round 1 she can expend 1 ED to propel and one of her level 3 slots to blink,  as reaction psionic backlash 1 ED entity attacks

round 2 she can use a BA to try to get a Steel wind strike,  (1 ED) no teleporter combat (because it uses a BA) 50% chance she gets it. 50% chance she has to do something weaker with her action. 37% chance she doesnt have anything better than a t3 slot. (which she doesnt even have an offensive tvl 3 slot actually, only 1 spell on the list is offensive) 

round 3 she can expend a ED to try to get a 4 or better slot, 62% chance, 37% chance another dud, no BA to use teleporter combat.

so, looking at this, to get similar gameplay, she spends 5.5 ED.  she does less damage on average, and makes less use of teleporter combat, a main feature of the subclass. She is less of a psiwarper. However, she might have rolled big and had a stronger crystal entity (level 5), and rolled 2 steel wind strikes. (or a lvl 5 psychic lance)

so ideally your structure in this fight is worse on average, but has a higher peak use of Spells, its less psionic though as it uses its telport and cantrip for one ED less often. and has less psionic dice for future fights. it spends two BAs that could have been active psionics manipulating dice to break even.

now, i will say, this doesnt look at reserve dice use, which probably wont come into play until later encounters, and the payoff is better in later fights as a normal charachter might have run out of high level slots. 

but reserve dice dont work with teleporter combat or extra misty step uses, warp propel also caps at 20 feet movment with reserve dice, and i cant use enhanced shatter. So at that point its mostly about rolling dice with bonus actions and hoping for something good from the spellcastingnlist.

and thats why i said what in my other post, the focus of the class becomes the dice minigame, and using full caster spells, not psionics, and the cost in terms of BAs and ED lowers your actual power level.

To me this concept would make more sense on a class that gambling or dice manipulation plays into the fantasy, or if on this class, it needs a big rework of features so that the BAs and use of resources are not in direct opposition to each other.

if the class had a seperate energy source for  gambling that could work

or if the class (and subclasses) are redesigned to clash less with the spell slot minigame, it could work

but as presented, this doesnt make it more distinctly psionic than a wizard/sorcerer, it makes it more unique in that it gambles ED and action economy for spells and has to adapt to what the dice gods say (literally changing battle strategies based on what you roll) But it doesnt play nice with psionic

to me it seems the psionic stuff is an afterthought to you in the classes design, the core of the class, as i think you say(maybe i misunderstand you). is the resource management.

like if we look at the ain psion fight narratively, it tells a story of a charachter during the fight trying to dig deep to try to get enough power. to do something, and being surprised or dismayed and adapting to the results.

the UA psion tells the story of a charachter who warps all over the place, hitting enemies with surprising attacks and appearing somewhere else.

GWAR1

I get it now. We have very different thoughts on what’s necessary to make a class feel different than another. I read everything you did with your psy warper and thought a conjugation wizard does stuff like that. This UA establishes that psionics is synonymous with magic. That is fine, but it makes it much harder to differentiate the classes. The mechanics I made aren’t there to make the fantasy of being a psion feel more psionic, they are only there to differentiate the play style of psion and a wizard. If you think it’s good enough great. I don’t. Before they lock in something in a book I like to play around with what could be. I think there needs to be a very different mechanic between wizard and psion mainly because they honestly fill the same roles. 

I’ll assume your numbers are correct about my version 2 because you took the time to run them. I would take time to week the numbers, but that’s not the point. The only reason I made it was to show there is another way that would actually feel like something new. Originally v2 was to differentiate to be a no spell slot concept, but that felt too messy. Now I thought about how I would do that. I will probably write it up after I get off work, but most likely won’t post it. Psion as a spellcaster either full or half is what most people seem to want on here. Plus if I make the class a without spell slots I have to redo all the subclasses as well. That takes up too much space on the forum for what is honestly just me typing out my thought experiments. 

IMO this version of the Psion needs a fireball to the head. It is unbelievably clunky, over-complicated, and worst of all makes them an actual spellcaster instead of someone who uses their mind to unlock powers that transcend mere spells and gives them control over mind, body, and matter. Yes, they are similar to spellcasters in that they tap into supernatural power and perform miraculous feats. But the mechanics of how they do it should be very different!

Look, I am not opposed to the idea that wizards and psions share some effects. They can both use Detect Thoughts, for example, and the end result can pretty much look the same. But the mechanism that makes it happen isn't the same. Psionics are not spells. The design team did a fair job of creating a list of effects that correspond to an existing spell, I will freely admit. But piling the mess of psionic modes, psionic disciplines, psionic dice on top of what would otherwise be a lackluster spellcaster with psionic spells...? Ugh. I would not allow this muddled mashup of bad ideas anywhere near any campaign I'm running. I certainly wouldn't want to play one and have to manage all of those fiddly bits.

IMO, psionics should be treated as something that sits between the skill classes and the magic classes. They should have different mechanics. I actually like the Wild Talents except for the restriction that you can only have one. But make psionics more of a skill-based class with psionic techniques (Detect Thoughts) grouped under psionic disciplines (Telepathy). And by all means there should be a completely new aspect to combat when it comes down to mind-vs-mind psychic battles. This is what the Psion is missing.

PS. Severely dislike the Metamorph subclass. Needs a total makeover and lose the unnecessarily gross powers.