It's...kind of impossible to talk about any of these subclasses without also talking about the Mystic/any other potential psionic class. That said, I'll give it a try...
The Psychic Warrior...I can dig it, but there was something about it that felt weird to me, and after thinking about it I finally figured it out: this feels like a Paladin subclass. It has a couple of aura-like abilities, it has a psychic equivalent to a Divine Smite, it has a straight up Paladin capstone at the end...I'm not opposed to any of this by the way, it's just weird is all.
Soulknife Rogue...I straight up love this. From the very moment I read it, I started making a character concept for it. There's a couple parts that need nerfing (at-will invisibility is a *smidge* strong for a Rogue) but on the whole I love everything about this. Strangely, I realize that choosing the HP boost or the Telepathy features would make for a stronger character, but to be perfectly honest I'd probably end up using the speed boost instead.
Psionics Tradition Wizard...this is the part of this UA that makes not talking about the Mystic/any potential Psionic class impossible. Personally I myself quite like it, and I can justify it lore-wise as a Wizard who has learned to tap into psionic abilities to augment their own spellcasting, but without a proper psionics class, judging this archetype is akin to judging the Eldritch Knight without having an official Wizard class as a basis for comparison. The closest we have right now is the UA Mystic, which is too raw to make a proper basis for comparison; although with that said, Jeremy Crawford said in a Sage Advice that the Mystic pretty much is serving that purpose at the moment, sooooo, maybe we have an even bigger surprise coming next year a la the Artificer? Anyhoo, all that said, I do like this Wizard.
It's...kind of impossible to talk about any of these subclasses without also talking about the Mystic/any other potential psionic class. That said, I'll give it a try...
The Psychic Warrior...I can dig it, but there was something about it that felt weird to me, and after thinking about it I finally figured it out: this feels like a Paladin subclass. It has a couple of aura-like abilities, it has a psychic equivalent to a Divine Smite, it has a straight up Paladin capstone at the end...I'm not opposed to any of this by the way, it's just weird is all.
Soulknife Rogue...I straight up love this. From the very moment I read it, I started making a character concept for it. There's a couple parts that need nerfing (at-will invisibility is a *smidge* strong for a Rogue) but on the whole I love everything about this. Strangely, I realize that choosing the HP boost or the Telepathy features would make for a stronger character, but to be perfectly honest I'd probably end up using the speed boost instead.
Psionics Tradition Wizard...this is the part of this UA that makes not talking about the Mystic/any potential Psionic class impossible. Personally I myself quite like it, and I can justify it lore-wise as a Wizard who has learned to tap into psionic abilities to augment their own spellcasting, but without a proper psionics class, judging this archetype is akin to judging the Eldritch Knight without having an official Wizard class as a basis for comparison. The closest we have right now is the UA Mystic, which is too raw to make a proper basis for comparison; although with that said, Jeremy Crawford said in a Sage Advice that the Mystic pretty much is serving that purpose at the moment, sooooo, maybe we have an even bigger surprise coming next year a la the Artificer? Anyhoo, all that said, I do like this Wizard.
Psychic Warrior: Not sure I agree with the Paladin comparison. I can see a bit of a similarity with the Telekinetic Bulwark (and to be honest, the Capstone ability does feel a bit out of place.)
SoulKnife: The theme of this thing tossing out psi-knives and just causing psychic feedback in the enemies minds is just fantastic. I do love that enough to overlook a lot. Also, the Invisibility at will is limited to up to 5 times a day IF you max out your Intelligence, which is not a given at all since it's a tertiary stat and Expertise makes the stat itself less useful than it would be for non-expertise skill classes. Also keep in mind that while this ability is strong, it's also a level 13 ability, and at a level that high you're closing in on Ring of Invisibility territory.
Psionic: I have to disagree, I don't think this Wizard subclass actually does anything to dissuade the addition of a Psionic class. The lore sort of insinuates that these are Wizards who are actively researching this new Psionic Phenomena. I think the only thing this actually does is remove the need for the Psionic Subclass to try and operate like a Wizard. The abilities themselves will drive the Wizard toward a tendency to lean on force and Psychic damage spells and they get a bit of a bump at level 10 with a bonus casting of Telekinesis or Dominate Person, but overall this is just a Wizard with a bit of flavor, an Arcanist dabbling in Psionics, at best he's a hobbyist or a researcher. He's not the real deal.
This also helps the Psionic class itself should it comes to fruition. Now it doesn't need to act like a Wizard. I expect we will see a similar effect when/if a Monk UA comes out for this as I could see them taking another part of the Psionic away and thus trimming the original Mystic down to a more manageable level
Does Soul Knife go off standard Str or Dex to hit and +damage?
yes, The Knife itself is a manifestation but still follows all the same rules for being a weapon.
The blade is a simple melee weapon with the finesse, light, and thrown properties. It has a normal range of 30 feet and a long range of 60 feet, and it deals 1d6 psychic damage on a hit.
A few years ago, I wrote up a homebrew Detective class for using in a friend's campaign (this was prior to the Inquisitive and Mastermind rogue subclasses). Since this was a full class, I also wrote up three subclass options for it, one of which was a psychic detective. One feature that that subclass had that I am seeing in the new Soulknife rogue class and Telepathic feat is the ability to communicate mentally with other creatures.
What we found as a group was that this ability generally kind of broke roleplay, and almost allowed a venue by which to metagame between characters by having this silent means of communication between characters. I will admit, my homebrew was less restricted than this playtest material (I think the range was longer and even allowed for communication between multiple creatures), but I do fear that introducing an unrestricted and silent channel of communication between two creatures could mess with some roleplay in campaigns.
I think that a better use of this would be to (like the new Wizard subclass) introduce some augmentation of the Message cantrip, thus restricting when the communication occurs specifically to when the cantrip is cast rather than having the "channel always be open" so to speak
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"Anyway, I don't like the Soulknife too much, it seems to close to the spell Shadowblade spell, but I would like to see it official just for someone who wants to play this type of rogue without multiclassing or being the arcane trickster. I think the Psionic Enhance ability is not great, the one that most people will choose is the Hit point maximum increase, maybe the telepathy if the character you're playing doesn't have great intelligence. I like the Terrifying Blade feature, it fits perfectly into the 9th level rogue subclass stereotype of useful but not too useful, and I'd love to see a multiclass between Soulknife and Oath of Conquest paladin, that would be an interesting mix of mechanics."
The problem with Shadowblade is that it is concentration and generally limits options if you're bringing in spellcasting. Arcane Tricksters don't get this until later and multiclassing delays your other abilities. This is a nice, infinite use alternative that you get immediately on taking this subclass and you can dual-wield them.
I agree the Enhance Ability is a bit lacking and frankly not sure the health and movement options make sense as a "psionic" feature. The health is useful but Telepathy is very useful. Let's you communicate with allies at distance without breaking stealth or, combine with Invisibility and stalk the enemy always whispering things directly into their mind. You could drive them crazy. The RP hijinks are plenty.
The Terrifying Blade is very useful, I think. Rogues are squishy and many enemies you face could certainly survive your sneak attack, this means you'll be attacking then running. Sneak Attack, Frighten Enemy, Bonus Disengage and move away. The Frightened condition means they cannot chase you and let's say you used the bonus for something else and need to risk an attack of opportunity? Well, it's at disadvantage - not only that but all of their attacks against anyone is going to be disadvantage as long as they can still see you. That's helpful for your allies as well.
Throw in Mobile feat and you have a nasty skirmishing rogue: Go invisible, manifest two blades, use one for Soul Rend for 12d6 damage (Int saving throw at disadvantage to half/avoid stun) - if they don't resist, they're stunned. Your allies come in, wail with advantage, next turn Sneak Attack, leave (no AoO thanks to Mobile), bonus action hide. Repeat. Sure, it's 1 turn of 3 where you're not damaging, but the 22d6 psychic damage (12d6 Soul Rend, 1d6 knife, 9d6 sneak attack) plus stuns will more than make up for it.
Like with most rogues your combat is going to become a sneak-attack routine, but this version will be more useful, you have more defenses while using it and you're guaranteeing decent damage output. The only weakness is enemies that are immune to psychic damage. But then, you're still a rogue - some backup daggers and regular sneak attack will do you just fine for those few inconvenient enemies.
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Haven't looked at the Fighter yet (I almost never choose Fighter) and limited on time, so I'll comment on that later.
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Thats an oddly specific example, so I am curious. But no, I did not. I think mine was limited to willing creatures.
A lot of the time, something being powerful is about the use case.
For instance, the presence of Telepathic Bond means that silent communication should be possible for any group with a wizard starting at level 9. So in theory, it shouldn't be all that damaging to gameplay. The only limiting factor in my mind then would be the stipulation of 'Willing Creatures' in Telepathic Bond. So I was curious how such a thing would become problematic if that stipulation were removed, as might have been the case for your homebrew.
It's the designer in me, I cant help it.
And Cyb3rM1nd, I actually played an Arcane Trickster for over a year and as much as Shadow Blade looks good on paper, in real life play you'd get WAY more mileage out of casting Hideous Laughter or Phantasmal force to use up the concentration. Being able to lock down a target for a few turns and give your group a numbers advantage is a much more powerful in the long run.
"Anyway, I don't like the Soulknife too much, it seems to close to the spell Shadowblade spell, but I would like to see it official just for someone who wants to play this type of rogue without multiclassing or being the arcane trickster. I think the Psionic Enhance ability is not great, the one that most people will choose is the Hit point maximum increase, maybe the telepathy if the character you're playing doesn't have great intelligence. I like the Terrifying Blade feature, it fits perfectly into the 9th level rogue subclass stereotype of useful but not too useful, and I'd love to see a multiclass between Soulknife and Oath of Conquest paladin, that would be an interesting mix of mechanics."
The problem with Shadowblade is that it is concentration and generally limits options if you're bringing in spellcasting. Arcane Tricksters don't get this until later and multiclassing delays your other abilities. This is a nice, infinite use alternative that you get immediately on taking this subclass and you can dual-wield them.
I agree the Enhance Ability is a bit lacking and frankly not sure the health and movement options make sense as a "psionic" feature. The health is useful but Telepathy is very useful. Let's you communicate with allies at distance without breaking stealth or, combine with Invisibility and stalk the enemy always whispering things directly into their mind. You could drive them crazy. The RP hijinks are plenty.
The Terrifying Blade is very useful, I think. Rogues are squishy and many enemies you face could certainly survive your sneak attack, this means you'll be attacking then running. Sneak Attack, Frighten Enemy, Bonus Disengage and move away. The Frightened condition means they cannot chase you and let's say you used the bonus for something else and need to risk an attack of opportunity? Well, it's at disadvantage - not only that but all of their attacks against anyone is going to be disadvantage as long as they can still see you. That's helpful for your allies as well.
Throw in Mobile feat and you have a nasty skirmishing rogue: Go invisible, manifest two blades, use one for Soul Rend for 12d6 damage (Int saving throw at disadvantage to half/avoid stun) - if they don't resist, they're stunned. Your allies come in, wail with advantage, next turn Sneak Attack, leave (no AoO thanks to Mobile), bonus action hide. Repeat. Sure, it's 1 turn of 3 where you're not damaging, but the 22d6 psychic damage (12d6 Soul Rend, 1d6 knife, 9d6 sneak attack) plus stuns will more than make up for it.
Like with most rogues your combat is going to become a sneak-attack routine, but this version will be more useful, you have more defenses while using it and you're guaranteeing decent damage output. The only weakness is enemies that are immune to psychic damage. But then, you're still a rogue - some backup daggers and regular sneak attack will do you just fine for those few inconvenient enemies.
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Haven't looked at the Fighter yet (I almost never choose Fighter) and limited on time, so I'll comment on that later.
I do think this rogue is awesome and terrifying, but the fact that it is so much like shadow blade is unsettling to me. I do like it, and I know there are key differences, but most of this feels awfully close to what an arcane trickster can do with enchantment and illusion magic for frightening and invisibility affects, while also creating a shadow blade. I know Shadow blade is concentration, and can't be used at the same time as invisibility spells, but still, it's very similar. I do like the differences, that they can make these blades an unlimited amount of times, they don't require concentration, neither does the invisibility, but I would prefer a rogue that relies on telepathy to gain sneak attack, or some ability along those lines.
I agree, the health and movement abilities are a bit out of place here, and that the telepathy is extremely useful, especially if you're not visible to the person you're hunting, and you can psychically intimidate them, not revealing where you are at the same time.
Terrifying Blade is extremely useful, goes along with the idea that this rogue is a terror in all circumstances.
This class would benefit from many different feats and multiclasses. I want to build a paladin oath of conquest/rogue soulknife character as a villain in one of my games now. That would be terrifying.
Enemies that are immune to psychic damage, such as the dreaded gazebo, or constructs, will be the bane of this rogue, now you'll actually have to use weapons! You're still good, you're a rogue, but this makes you not feel like the psychic terror that you actually are.
Again, I like this subclass, don't like how similar it is to certain abilities. I don't know how they could change this, maybe at higher levels you can turn your psychic blades into solid blades? That could be awesome.
I almost never play, I'm the DM, but I could certainly see myself making this be an enemy to one of my groups.
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It's...kind of impossible to talk about any of these subclasses without also talking about the Mystic/any other potential psionic class. That said, I'll give it a try...
The Psychic Warrior...I can dig it, but there was something about it that felt weird to me, and after thinking about it I finally figured it out: this feels like a Paladin subclass. It has a couple of aura-like abilities, it has a psychic equivalent to a Divine Smite, it has a straight up Paladin capstone at the end...I'm not opposed to any of this by the way, it's just weird is all.
Soulknife Rogue...I straight up love this. From the very moment I read it, I started making a character concept for it. There's a couple parts that need nerfing (at-will invisibility is a *smidge* strong for a Rogue) but on the whole I love everything about this. Strangely, I realize that choosing the HP boost or the Telepathy features would make for a stronger character, but to be perfectly honest I'd probably end up using the speed boost instead.
Psionics Tradition Wizard...this is the part of this UA that makes not talking about the Mystic/any potential Psionic class impossible. Personally I myself quite like it, and I can justify it lore-wise as a Wizard who has learned to tap into psionic abilities to augment their own spellcasting, but without a proper psionics class, judging this archetype is akin to judging the Eldritch Knight without having an official Wizard class as a basis for comparison. The closest we have right now is the UA Mystic, which is too raw to make a proper basis for comparison; although with that said, Jeremy Crawford said in a Sage Advice that the Mystic pretty much is serving that purpose at the moment, sooooo, maybe we have an even bigger surprise coming next year a la the Artificer? Anyhoo, all that said, I do like this Wizard.
The Psychic Warrior is very similar to a paladin. First, it essentially gets a psychic smite ability. Second, the aura. Third, the capstone ability is basically just a paladin capstone ability (not a good one, but still is one). Fourth, this subclass is modeled after Darth Vader. Make this subclass be a paladin subclass, adjust the level of the abilities accordingly, give them a dark cloak and helmet, and a red sun blade, and now you've made darth vader. I want this to happen, I don't want this to be a Fighter subclass, it should be a paladin subclass. Darth Vader is essentially a fallen paladin, and this feels like his subclass.
I like the Soulknife, just is a little quirky for me, might need some minor changes before I'd like to see it introduced. I've expressed my concerns above.
I like this wizard, I like that they've revealed that wizards no of the presence of psychic energy in the world that they can manipulate, but some of the abilities are strange, or a bit powerful, but I do like it, I just don't like that Wizards of the Coast have decided this is what they want 5e psionics to be for now. They never said that they're dumping a Psion class, but their video about this UA sure makes it feel like we're not getting that, at least not for now.
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It's...kind of impossible to talk about any of these subclasses without also talking about the Mystic/any other potential psionic class. That said, I'll give it a try...
The Psychic Warrior...I can dig it, but there was something about it that felt weird to me, and after thinking about it I finally figured it out: this feels like a Paladin subclass. It has a couple of aura-like abilities, it has a psychic equivalent to a Divine Smite, it has a straight up Paladin capstone at the end...I'm not opposed to any of this by the way, it's just weird is all.
Soulknife Rogue...I straight up love this. From the very moment I read it, I started making a character concept for it. There's a couple parts that need nerfing (at-will invisibility is a *smidge* strong for a Rogue) but on the whole I love everything about this. Strangely, I realize that choosing the HP boost or the Telepathy features would make for a stronger character, but to be perfectly honest I'd probably end up using the speed boost instead.
Psionics Tradition Wizard...this is the part of this UA that makes not talking about the Mystic/any potential Psionic class impossible. Personally I myself quite like it, and I can justify it lore-wise as a Wizard who has learned to tap into psionic abilities to augment their own spellcasting, but without a proper psionics class, judging this archetype is akin to judging the Eldritch Knight without having an official Wizard class as a basis for comparison. The closest we have right now is the UA Mystic, which is too raw to make a proper basis for comparison; although with that said, Jeremy Crawford said in a Sage Advice that the Mystic pretty much is serving that purpose at the moment, sooooo, maybe we have an even bigger surprise coming next year a la the Artificer? Anyhoo, all that said, I do like this Wizard.
The Psychic Warrior is very similar to a paladin. First, it essentially gets a psychic smite ability. Second, the aura. Third, the capstone ability is basically just a paladin capstone ability (not a good one, but still is one). Fourth, this subclass is modeled after Darth Vader. Make this subclass be a paladin subclass, adjust the level of the abilities accordingly, give them a dark cloak and helmet, and a red sun blade, and now you've made darth vader. I want this to happen, I don't want this to be a Fighter subclass, it should be a paladin subclass. Darth Vader is essentially a fallen paladin, and this feels like his subclass.
I like the Soulknife, just is a little quirky for me, might need some minor changes before I'd like to see it introduced. I've expressed my concerns above.
I like this wizard, I like that they've revealed that wizards no of the presence of psychic energy in the world that they can manipulate, but some of the abilities are strange, or a bit powerful, but I do like it, I just don't like that Wizards of the Coast have decided this is what they want 5e psionics to be for now. They never said that they're dumping a Psion class, but their video about this UA sure makes it feel like we're not getting that, at least not for now.
Jeremy Crawford said that the door isn't closed on the Psion, they are just focusing on Psionic subclasses at the moment. So we can have a psychic wizard and still get a Psion down the road (and hopefully soon)
That being said, I honestly believe that the Psychic Warrior should remain as a Fighter Subclass so that we can get something fresh for the Paladin (Order of the Avatar comes to mind as a potential avenue for some sort of Empath Paladin who can manipulate the emotions around them. That could also be a good Bard thing though now that I think about it). If you wanna go true Vader I'd see him as an even split between a Oath of Conquest and this Psychic Warrior.
Now, as for buffs for the Psychic Warrior, all I can see improving is if they allow them to use mage hand to make normal Athletics and Grapple checks within 10 feet. Basically just giving them reach and allowing us to then use Strength of Mind to pull an enemy in and then force choke them for full Vader goodness. Would it be balanced?.. who cares, it would be awesome.
Soul Knife is ALMOST there, though Psionic Enhancements needs to change. Giving them telepathy is too great of a feature to use any of the other enhancements here. So why not just give them telepathy straight up and either nix the other options OR make them more flavorful instead of "you have more health or movement". Things that come to mind:
Those hit by your sneak attack must make an Intelligence saving throw or be deafened (making your telepathy the only thing they can hear) until the next turn. Or getting hit by your sneak attack gives the enemy disadvantage on their concentration checks. Would this be useful all the time? No, is it more flavorful? Absolutely.
Also, allow Soul Knives to have a choice to either do their psychic knife thing OR imbue a weapon they already have with psychic damage (like a d4 or just replace the current damage type with psychic) so that the class isn't pigeon holed into always having to use psychic knives.
As for the Wizard... honestly it is pretty great and I hope they make it official. It need a bit of work, but Thought Form alone has validated it for me. Such a cool feature.
I wish Psychic Warrior got a weaker version of mind lash at level 3 and it gained strength as you level.. As it stand you have to wait until level 7 to do the thing you invested in the class for. Sure there's Mage hand but you can get that through Magic initiate, Eldritch Knight, or multiclass. Not Unique enough or fulfilling that Darth Vader fantasy at all. So many other ways to get, this subclass doesn't feel unique until level 7. An a lot of players never even make it that far. I feel like I could make a class that feels much more like Darth Vader earlier through other means...
Maybe if you got both Mage Hand and Chill Touch and they were both invisible (Force Choke)
I wish Psychic Warrior got a weaker version of mind lash at level 3 and it gained strength as you level.. As it stand you have to wait until level 7 to do the thing you invested in the class for. Sure there's Mage hand but you can get that through Magic initiate, Eldritch Knight, or multiclass. Not Unique enough or fulfilling that Darth Vader fantasy at all. So many other ways to get, this subclass doesn't feel unique until level 7. An a lot of players never even make it that far. I feel like I could make a class that feels much more like Darth Vader earlier through other means...
Maybe if you got both Mage Hand and Chill Touch and they were both invisible (Force Choke)
I say leave it as is, just make it a paladin subclass (though, maybe fix the capstone ability).
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Mystic was probably my favorite class to play in all of 5e. Yea, it's a broken class, but how customizable it was just left my brain racing. It was so fun, to see how I could miss match everything. Just balance it, instead of making it great at everything, just make it okay, that way they can serve as the filler class. In smaller groups you need someone who can do a little of everything, aka druid or cleric.Just give us something new and with depth. Just like druid and cleric.
"good at a little of everything" is bard, not druid or cleric. The appeal of the psion, to me at least, is the idea that you could adapt yourself to any playstyle. Not over a long rest or anything ridiculous, but the idea that you could make a build where you can pick and choose how you play. I would describe that as the opposite of "good at a little bit of everything".
Honestly I think that the mystic suffered from three major issues from the one time I played it for a few months.
1. The general ability to just take... any discipline. You could just take a splash from everything and really weren't actually limited by your archtype. If this was brought down and you only ever had access to say, one or two out of order disciplines, it wouldn't have been that bad.
2. The disciplines were overpowered. I think the idea of these aren't too bad, but nearly every discipline had SOMETHING poorly balanced. Whether emulating high level spells with a shockingly low psi point requirement (Truesight was available at level 5 for only 5 points with one discipline, that's 6 levels before any spellcaster could take it), or also removing limitations from those high level spells (The conjure elementals taking an action, rather than the I think minute spellcasting most casters needed to take to make one). The idea itself I think is ok to have these powers grouped up somewhat, but too many of these needed nerfing on one or more features.
3. I hated Psychic Focus. I just found these to be, in a similar vein of 2, generally overpowered/poorly balanced. I think that maybe having these limited by your order, rather than each individual discipline might serve us better and also mean we can get rid of a lot of these.
TLDR on this point, Psion was poorly balanced, but not poorly conceptualized. There are things we can save from it and revive it with something more playable and less dominating.
As far as Psionic subclasses go, some of them I think are great and work in other classes. Soul knife in rogue was awesome, Bard or Paladin maybe getting something based off of the Avatar Order, maybe Barbarians getting the Immortal line. If we did end up with a Psion class, I think having it act a little like a full caster, but with forced flexibility with disciplines giving them a mix of offensive, support, and utility.
I feel that these subclasses are a pretty good standing point for the Psion to be built on, but I believe that the Psychic Warrior needs to be buffed a little bit.
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I feel that these subclasses are a pretty good standing point for the Psion to be built on, but I believe that the Psychic Warrior needs to be buffed a little bit.
I agree with this. It's probably functional. But it doesn't have enough of the flavor J-Craw was promising. For 7 levels, it's just a warrior that can choose to do a little more psychic damage and mage hand...
Soul Knife too feels kinda boring. Psychic knives are cool in theory but it just feels like a psychic thief/assassin should be more flavorfully interesting.
I feel that these subclasses are a pretty good standing point for the Psion to be built on, but I believe that the Psychic Warrior needs to be buffed a little bit.
I agree with this. It's probably functional. But it doesn't have enough of the flavor J-Craw was promising. For 7 levels, it's just a warrior that can choose to do a little more psychic damage and mage hand...
Soul Knife too feels kinda boring. Psychic knives are cool in theory but it just feels like a psychic thief/assassin should be more flavorfully interesting.
It's...kind of impossible to talk about any of these subclasses without also talking about the Mystic/any other potential psionic class. That said, I'll give it a try...
The Psychic Warrior...I can dig it, but there was something about it that felt weird to me, and after thinking about it I finally figured it out: this feels like a Paladin subclass. It has a couple of aura-like abilities, it has a psychic equivalent to a Divine Smite, it has a straight up Paladin capstone at the end...I'm not opposed to any of this by the way, it's just weird is all.
Soulknife Rogue...I straight up love this. From the very moment I read it, I started making a character concept for it. There's a couple parts that need nerfing (at-will invisibility is a *smidge* strong for a Rogue) but on the whole I love everything about this. Strangely, I realize that choosing the HP boost or the Telepathy features would make for a stronger character, but to be perfectly honest I'd probably end up using the speed boost instead.
Psionics Tradition Wizard...this is the part of this UA that makes not talking about the Mystic/any potential Psionic class impossible. Personally I myself quite like it, and I can justify it lore-wise as a Wizard who has learned to tap into psionic abilities to augment their own spellcasting, but without a proper psionics class, judging this archetype is akin to judging the Eldritch Knight without having an official Wizard class as a basis for comparison. The closest we have right now is the UA Mystic, which is too raw to make a proper basis for comparison; although with that said, Jeremy Crawford said in a Sage Advice that the Mystic pretty much is serving that purpose at the moment, sooooo, maybe we have an even bigger surprise coming next year a la the Artificer? Anyhoo, all that said, I do like this Wizard.
Psychic Warrior: Not sure I agree with the Paladin comparison. I can see a bit of a similarity with the Telekinetic Bulwark (and to be honest, the Capstone ability does feel a bit out of place.)
SoulKnife: The theme of this thing tossing out psi-knives and just causing psychic feedback in the enemies minds is just fantastic. I do love that enough to overlook a lot. Also, the Invisibility at will is limited to up to 5 times a day IF you max out your Intelligence, which is not a given at all since it's a tertiary stat and Expertise makes the stat itself less useful than it would be for non-expertise skill classes. Also keep in mind that while this ability is strong, it's also a level 13 ability, and at a level that high you're closing in on Ring of Invisibility territory.
Psionic: I have to disagree, I don't think this Wizard subclass actually does anything to dissuade the addition of a Psionic class. The lore sort of insinuates that these are Wizards who are actively researching this new Psionic Phenomena. I think the only thing this actually does is remove the need for the Psionic Subclass to try and operate like a Wizard. The abilities themselves will drive the Wizard toward a tendency to lean on force and Psychic damage spells and they get a bit of a bump at level 10 with a bonus casting of Telekinesis or Dominate Person, but overall this is just a Wizard with a bit of flavor, an Arcanist dabbling in Psionics, at best he's a hobbyist or a researcher. He's not the real deal.
This also helps the Psionic class itself should it comes to fruition. Now it doesn't need to act like a Wizard. I expect we will see a similar effect when/if a Monk UA comes out for this as I could see them taking another part of the Psionic away and thus trimming the original Mystic down to a more manageable level
Does Soul Knife go off standard Str or Dex to hit and +damage?
yes, The Knife itself is a manifestation but still follows all the same rules for being a weapon.
The blade is a simple melee weapon with the finesse, light, and thrown properties. It has a normal range of 30 feet and a long range of 60 feet, and it deals 1d6 psychic damage on a hit.
A few years ago, I wrote up a homebrew Detective class for using in a friend's campaign (this was prior to the Inquisitive and Mastermind rogue subclasses). Since this was a full class, I also wrote up three subclass options for it, one of which was a psychic detective. One feature that that subclass had that I am seeing in the new Soulknife rogue class and Telepathic feat is the ability to communicate mentally with other creatures.
What we found as a group was that this ability generally kind of broke roleplay, and almost allowed a venue by which to metagame between characters by having this silent means of communication between characters. I will admit, my homebrew was less restricted than this playtest material (I think the range was longer and even allowed for communication between multiple creatures), but I do fear that introducing an unrestricted and silent channel of communication between two creatures could mess with some roleplay in campaigns.
I think that a better use of this would be to (like the new Wizard subclass) introduce some augmentation of the Message cantrip, thus restricting when the communication occurs specifically to when the cantrip is cast rather than having the "channel always be open" so to speak
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Kaboom979,
Fascinating. Were you using this against unwilling targets that would be excluded from Rary's Telepathic Bond?
Thats an oddly specific example, so I am curious. But no, I did not. I think mine was limited to willing creatures.
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The problem with Shadowblade is that it is concentration and generally limits options if you're bringing in spellcasting. Arcane Tricksters don't get this until later and multiclassing delays your other abilities. This is a nice, infinite use alternative that you get immediately on taking this subclass and you can dual-wield them.
I agree the Enhance Ability is a bit lacking and frankly not sure the health and movement options make sense as a "psionic" feature. The health is useful but Telepathy is very useful. Let's you communicate with allies at distance without breaking stealth or, combine with Invisibility and stalk the enemy always whispering things directly into their mind. You could drive them crazy. The RP hijinks are plenty.
The Terrifying Blade is very useful, I think. Rogues are squishy and many enemies you face could certainly survive your sneak attack, this means you'll be attacking then running. Sneak Attack, Frighten Enemy, Bonus Disengage and move away. The Frightened condition means they cannot chase you and let's say you used the bonus for something else and need to risk an attack of opportunity? Well, it's at disadvantage - not only that but all of their attacks against anyone is going to be disadvantage as long as they can still see you. That's helpful for your allies as well.
Throw in Mobile feat and you have a nasty skirmishing rogue: Go invisible, manifest two blades, use one for Soul Rend for 12d6 damage (Int saving throw at disadvantage to half/avoid stun) - if they don't resist, they're stunned. Your allies come in, wail with advantage, next turn Sneak Attack, leave (no AoO thanks to Mobile), bonus action hide. Repeat. Sure, it's 1 turn of 3 where you're not damaging, but the 22d6 psychic damage (12d6 Soul Rend, 1d6 knife, 9d6 sneak attack) plus stuns will more than make up for it.
Like with most rogues your combat is going to become a sneak-attack routine, but this version will be more useful, you have more defenses while using it and you're guaranteeing decent damage output. The only weakness is enemies that are immune to psychic damage. But then, you're still a rogue - some backup daggers and regular sneak attack will do you just fine for those few inconvenient enemies.
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Haven't looked at the Fighter yet (I almost never choose Fighter) and limited on time, so I'll comment on that later.
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A lot of the time, something being powerful is about the use case.
For instance, the presence of Telepathic Bond means that silent communication should be possible for any group with a wizard starting at level 9. So in theory, it shouldn't be all that damaging to gameplay. The only limiting factor in my mind then would be the stipulation of 'Willing Creatures' in Telepathic Bond. So I was curious how such a thing would become problematic if that stipulation were removed, as might have been the case for your homebrew.
It's the designer in me, I cant help it.
And Cyb3rM1nd, I actually played an Arcane Trickster for over a year and as much as Shadow Blade looks good on paper, in real life play you'd get WAY more mileage out of casting Hideous Laughter or Phantasmal force to use up the concentration. Being able to lock down a target for a few turns and give your group a numbers advantage is a much more powerful in the long run.
I do think this rogue is awesome and terrifying, but the fact that it is so much like shadow blade is unsettling to me. I do like it, and I know there are key differences, but most of this feels awfully close to what an arcane trickster can do with enchantment and illusion magic for frightening and invisibility affects, while also creating a shadow blade. I know Shadow blade is concentration, and can't be used at the same time as invisibility spells, but still, it's very similar. I do like the differences, that they can make these blades an unlimited amount of times, they don't require concentration, neither does the invisibility, but I would prefer a rogue that relies on telepathy to gain sneak attack, or some ability along those lines.
I agree, the health and movement abilities are a bit out of place here, and that the telepathy is extremely useful, especially if you're not visible to the person you're hunting, and you can psychically intimidate them, not revealing where you are at the same time.
Terrifying Blade is extremely useful, goes along with the idea that this rogue is a terror in all circumstances.
This class would benefit from many different feats and multiclasses. I want to build a paladin oath of conquest/rogue soulknife character as a villain in one of my games now. That would be terrifying.
Enemies that are immune to psychic damage, such as the dreaded gazebo, or constructs, will be the bane of this rogue, now you'll actually have to use weapons! You're still good, you're a rogue, but this makes you not feel like the psychic terror that you actually are.
Again, I like this subclass, don't like how similar it is to certain abilities. I don't know how they could change this, maybe at higher levels you can turn your psychic blades into solid blades? That could be awesome.
I almost never play, I'm the DM, but I could certainly see myself making this be an enemy to one of my groups.
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The Psychic Warrior is very similar to a paladin. First, it essentially gets a psychic smite ability. Second, the aura. Third, the capstone ability is basically just a paladin capstone ability (not a good one, but still is one). Fourth, this subclass is modeled after Darth Vader. Make this subclass be a paladin subclass, adjust the level of the abilities accordingly, give them a dark cloak and helmet, and a red sun blade, and now you've made darth vader. I want this to happen, I don't want this to be a Fighter subclass, it should be a paladin subclass. Darth Vader is essentially a fallen paladin, and this feels like his subclass.
I like the Soulknife, just is a little quirky for me, might need some minor changes before I'd like to see it introduced. I've expressed my concerns above.
I like this wizard, I like that they've revealed that wizards no of the presence of psychic energy in the world that they can manipulate, but some of the abilities are strange, or a bit powerful, but I do like it, I just don't like that Wizards of the Coast have decided this is what they want 5e psionics to be for now. They never said that they're dumping a Psion class, but their video about this UA sure makes it feel like we're not getting that, at least not for now.
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Jeremy Crawford said that the door isn't closed on the Psion, they are just focusing on Psionic subclasses at the moment. So we can have a psychic wizard and still get a Psion down the road (and hopefully soon)
That being said, I honestly believe that the Psychic Warrior should remain as a Fighter Subclass so that we can get something fresh for the Paladin (Order of the Avatar comes to mind as a potential avenue for some sort of Empath Paladin who can manipulate the emotions around them. That could also be a good Bard thing though now that I think about it). If you wanna go true Vader I'd see him as an even split between a Oath of Conquest and this Psychic Warrior.
Now, as for buffs for the Psychic Warrior, all I can see improving is if they allow them to use mage hand to make normal Athletics and Grapple checks within 10 feet. Basically just giving them reach and allowing us to then use Strength of Mind to pull an enemy in and then force choke them for full Vader goodness. Would it be balanced?.. who cares, it would be awesome.
Soul Knife is ALMOST there, though Psionic Enhancements needs to change. Giving them telepathy is too great of a feature to use any of the other enhancements here. So why not just give them telepathy straight up and either nix the other options OR make them more flavorful instead of "you have more health or movement". Things that come to mind:
Those hit by your sneak attack must make an Intelligence saving throw or be deafened (making your telepathy the only thing they can hear) until the next turn. Or getting hit by your sneak attack gives the enemy disadvantage on their concentration checks. Would this be useful all the time? No, is it more flavorful? Absolutely.
Also, allow Soul Knives to have a choice to either do their psychic knife thing OR imbue a weapon they already have with psychic damage (like a d4 or just replace the current damage type with psychic) so that the class isn't pigeon holed into always having to use psychic knives.
As for the Wizard... honestly it is pretty great and I hope they make it official. It need a bit of work, but Thought Form alone has validated it for me. Such a cool feature.
I wish Psychic Warrior got a weaker version of mind lash at level 3 and it gained strength as you level.. As it stand you have to wait until level 7 to do the thing you invested in the class for. Sure there's Mage hand but you can get that through Magic initiate, Eldritch Knight, or multiclass. Not Unique enough or fulfilling that Darth Vader fantasy at all. So many other ways to get, this subclass doesn't feel unique until level 7. An a lot of players never even make it that far. I feel like I could make a class that feels much more like Darth Vader earlier through other means...
Maybe if you got both Mage Hand and Chill Touch and they were both invisible (Force Choke)
I say leave it as is, just make it a paladin subclass (though, maybe fix the capstone ability).
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Mystic was probably my favorite class to play in all of 5e. Yea, it's a broken class, but how customizable it was just left my brain racing. It was so fun, to see how I could miss match everything. Just balance it, instead of making it great at everything, just make it okay, that way they can serve as the filler class. In smaller groups you need someone who can do a little of everything, aka druid or cleric.Just give us something new and with depth. Just like druid and cleric.
"good at a little of everything" is bard, not druid or cleric. The appeal of the psion, to me at least, is the idea that you could adapt yourself to any playstyle. Not over a long rest or anything ridiculous, but the idea that you could make a build where you can pick and choose how you play. I would describe that as the opposite of "good at a little bit of everything".
Honestly I think that the mystic suffered from three major issues from the one time I played it for a few months.
1. The general ability to just take... any discipline. You could just take a splash from everything and really weren't actually limited by your archtype. If this was brought down and you only ever had access to say, one or two out of order disciplines, it wouldn't have been that bad.
2. The disciplines were overpowered. I think the idea of these aren't too bad, but nearly every discipline had SOMETHING poorly balanced. Whether emulating high level spells with a shockingly low psi point requirement (Truesight was available at level 5 for only 5 points with one discipline, that's 6 levels before any spellcaster could take it), or also removing limitations from those high level spells (The conjure elementals taking an action, rather than the I think minute spellcasting most casters needed to take to make one). The idea itself I think is ok to have these powers grouped up somewhat, but too many of these needed nerfing on one or more features.
3. I hated Psychic Focus. I just found these to be, in a similar vein of 2, generally overpowered/poorly balanced. I think that maybe having these limited by your order, rather than each individual discipline might serve us better and also mean we can get rid of a lot of these.
TLDR on this point, Psion was poorly balanced, but not poorly conceptualized. There are things we can save from it and revive it with something more playable and less dominating.
As far as Psionic subclasses go, some of them I think are great and work in other classes. Soul knife in rogue was awesome, Bard or Paladin maybe getting something based off of the Avatar Order, maybe Barbarians getting the Immortal line. If we did end up with a Psion class, I think having it act a little like a full caster, but with forced flexibility with disciplines giving them a mix of offensive, support, and utility.
I feel that these subclasses are a pretty good standing point for the Psion to be built on, but I believe that the Psychic Warrior needs to be buffed a little bit.
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I agree with this. It's probably functional. But it doesn't have enough of the flavor J-Craw was promising. For 7 levels, it's just a warrior that can choose to do a little more psychic damage and mage hand...
Soul Knife too feels kinda boring. Psychic knives are cool in theory but it just feels like a psychic thief/assassin should be more flavorfully interesting.
I agree
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