In 3.5, which is when I started playing, The Expanded Psionics Handbook was my absolute favorite book. The Psion was my absolute favorite class. It wasn't about how powerful I could be it really was just about the flavor. So when I saw the UA Mystic I was excited. But as I read it all some of it just didn't work for me.
This is my personal opinion on the Mystic.
I don't like the class name, "Mystic." Mystic is such a generic term. The hermit wizard in his tower, the old crone at the edge of town that makes potions, the traveling fortune teller *****, these can all be labeled as mystics in the realm or most fantasies. The Psionic or Psion of previous editions was a perfectly fine name and in my opinion a much more specific name, it told you exactly what it was.
The class and some of the orders feel disconnected. I think the Mystic should be broken up into two distinctly different classes. The Awakened and the Nomad feel great. They feel like they fit in the base class very snugly, like a glove if you will. The Avatar, Immortal and Soul Knife need their own class, something akin to being a paladin compared to a cleric. Awakened and Nomad are full casters and these would be half-casters. The Wu-Jen just feels odd, if I remember correctly they were just another arcane caster in 3.5. I don't see why Wu-Jen isn't just another Sorc sub-class.
The Immortal I think is in a solid place. But, the Unarmored Defense needs adjustment. Currently it is AC=10+Dex+Con. I believe the Con should be replaced with Int. When some of your Disciplines require a saving throw and you have a low Int because you're a melee tank/bruiser, you're not generally going to have a worthwhile DC. Changing the Unarmored Con to Int would alleviate this problem.
The Soul Knife feels completely awkward, it has bad "Action Economy" and the flavor just doesn't work. The Soul Knife of old felt like an assassin or a rouge, something like Psylocke from X-men or Zeratul from Starcraft 2. The current build feels like another Tankish Bruiserish front liner, which is already being taken care of by the Immortal. The use of the bonus actions is oppressing the innate dual wielding of the class. Requiring a bonus action to first draw(manifest) your weapon, when other classes can draw with their move action, leaves you with a hampered opening to combat. Require a bonus action to stow your weapon is just silly, this should be a free action. Several of the disciplines require the use of a bonus action as well. With all of the competition for that ever valuable bonus action you may never see an offhand attack. Since this is the case why bother having 2 soul knives. I would replace the Parry ability at level 1 with the Hone the Blade ability from level 3. I don't feel that Hone the Blade would be overpowered at level 1 as it could be limited by psi limit and the amount of psi points at such a low level. It Would also cement the Order as a damage dealer rather than a Tank. At level 3, I would make an ability to remedy the Action Economy, something akin to Quickening MetaMagic feats, Like reducing the speed of a bonus action to a reaction or allowing 1 free bonus action X amount of times a day equal to Int.
Wu-Jen, I don't like it. It is out of place and out of time. It is an oriental adventures class and it feels like a sorcerer that focuses on elements.
Disciplines: I love this aspect. They give you so much versatility and the way the Psi-limit works makes level requirements completely unnecessary. I do believe there should be Order requirements on some of them. The Orders and their flavor just feels REALLY watered down if every Order can take ever Discipline. I mean why not be Professor X that can Teleport. Or Nightcrawler that has steel skin like Colossus. A Nomad should focus on manipulating positioning for themselves, their allies and the enemy. The Awakened should have unfettered access to the mind, and so on. If not Order requirements for the whole Discipline a "Line Item" requirement could be mad in the Discipline making the strongest parts available only to the appropriate Order i.e. Psychic Disruption could be available to all Orders but Mind Storm be limited to the Awakened. Focusing and elaborating these abilities would cement the flavor of Orders.
Please feel free to give me some feed back. I would love to hear some other ideas on how to fix it or why to leave it alone.
In 3.5, which is when I started playing, The Expanded Psionics Handbook was my absolute favorite book. The Psion was my absolute favorite class. It wasn't about how powerful I could be it really was just about the flavor. So when I saw the UA Mystic I was excited. But as I read it all some of it just didn't work for me.
This is my personal opinion on the Mystic.
I don't like the class name, "Mystic." Mystic is such a generic term. The hermit wizard in his tower, the old crone at the edge of town that makes potions, the traveling fortune teller *****, these can all be labeled as mystics in the realm or most fantasies. The Psionic or Psion of previous editions was a perfectly fine name and in my opinion a much more specific name, it told you exactly what it was.
The class and some of the orders feel disconnected. I think the Mystic should be broken up into two distinctly different classes. The Awakened and the Nomad feel great. They feel like they fit in the base class very snugly, like a glove if you will. The Avatar, Immortal and Soul Knife need their own class, something akin to being a paladin compared to a cleric. Awakened and Nomad are full casters and these would be half-casters. The Wu-Jen just feels odd, if I remember correctly they were just another arcane caster in 3.5. I don't see why Wu-Jen isn't just another Sorc sub-class.
The Immortal I think is in a solid place. But, the Unarmored Defense needs adjustment. Currently it is AC=10+Dex+Con. I believe the Con should be replaced with Int. When some of your Disciplines require a saving throw and you have a low Int because you're a melee tank/bruiser, you're not generally going to have a worthwhile DC. Changing the Unarmored Con to Int would alleviate this problem.
The Soul Knife feels completely awkward, it has bad "Action Economy" and the flavor just doesn't work. The Soul Knife of old felt like an assassin or a rouge, something like Psylocke from X-men or Zeratul from Starcraft 2. The current build feels like another Tankish Bruiserish front liner, which is already being taken care of by the Immortal. The use of the bonus actions is oppressing the innate dual wielding of the class. Requiring a bonus action to first draw(manifest) your weapon, when other classes can draw with their move action, leaves you with a hampered opening to combat. Require a bonus action to stow your weapon is just silly, this should be a free action. Several of the disciplines require the use of a bonus action as well. With all of the competition for that ever valuable bonus action you may never see an offhand attack. Since this is the case why bother having 2 soul knives. I would replace the Parry ability at level 1 with the Hone the Blade ability from level 3. I don't feel that Hone the Blade would be overpowered at level 1 as it could be limited by psi limit and the amount of psi points at such a low level. It Would also cement the Order as a damage dealer rather than a Tank. At level 3, I would make an ability to remedy the Action Economy, something akin to Quickening MetaMagic feats, Like reducing the speed of a bonus action to a reaction or allowing 1 free bonus action X amount of times a day equal to Int.
Wu-Jen, I don't like it. It is out of place and out of time. It is an oriental adventures class and it feels like a sorcerer that focuses on elements.
Disciplines: I love this aspect. They give you so much versatility and the way the Psi-limit works makes level requirements completely unnecessary. I do believe there should be Order requirements on some of them. The Orders and their flavor just feels REALLY watered down if every Order can take ever Discipline. I mean why not be Professor X that can Teleport. Or Nightcrawler that has steel skin like Colossus. A Nomad should focus on manipulating positioning for themselves, their allies and the enemy. The Awakened should have unfettered access to the mind, and so on. If not Order requirements for the whole Discipline a "Line Item" requirement could be mad in the Discipline making the strongest parts available only to the appropriate Order i.e. Psychic Disruption could be available to all Orders but Mind Storm be limited to the Awakened. Focusing and elaborating these abilities would cement the flavor of Orders.
Please feel free to give me some feed back. I would love to hear some other ideas on how to fix it or why to leave it alone.