As a martial/melee type, can I say I love the Psi knight?
I feel it adds more functionality to the fighter abilities and makes it a bit more useful. I've currently played the revised version in 3 games at tier 2 so far. Can't lie. I went Darth Maul(fire genasi with a Halberd) and my DM was confused at first cause he thought I was attacking 4 times🤣. But I really like the fluctuating psi die, I have particular die set aside to help me keep track. Also the abilities are fun to RP. I hate to say the force strikes being able to be used only once a turn keeps it from being OP. Also I haven't seen a thread on this subclass yet and wanted to know what others thought or if they had any questions about playing one.
The only feature I dislike is Psi-Powered Leap, because it incentivizes constant long jumps (plus die rolls.) I would've preferred if the extra jump distance cost movement as usual so the feature was used primarily for crossing large gaps.
I can see that. I'm okay with it I guess because ring of jumping was my favorite magic item in ad&d 🤣. But I would rather a set number plus the number times 2 like base 5ft+2×number rolled. The long jumps come in handy if dealing with low flying creatures or snipers. But I see how it's just another way to expend your psi die cause with Githyanki they come equipped with the jump spell.
The Subclass is too wordy for my tastes. Concept is cool but its wording feels...sloppy for lack of a better word. The fluctuating die is also not my particular cup of tea either only because I'm not a fan of additional random chance in a game that involves dice rolls already, that's why I steer clear of Wild Magic Sorcerer.
When I think of a Psionic Fighter, three abilities come to mind: Telekinesis, Telepathy, and Augmented attacks as I feel those are core aspects that a this type of Fighter would focus on. As an INT based Fighter, I could see this archetype wanting abilities that have more versatility (TK and Telepathy) and then adding a bit of offensive flavor to make blows hit just a bit harder.
The fluctuating die is also not my particular cup of tea either only because I'm not a fan of additional random chance in a game that involves dice rolls already, that's why I steer clear of Wild Magic Sorcerer.
The additional randomness added by the changing die size is trivial though. If you still have a d6 or better you're extremely likely to get a couple dozen uses since even if you get a run of bad luck (e.g. a 6 and 4 right off the bat) the class comes with a once-a-day reset button built in.
In practice the difference between rolling a d6 or a d8 is really small; the biggest thing the die size determines is how many times you can comfortably use Telekinetic Thrust before you have to ease off and wait for the die to randomly re-grow (or you burn your die fully if you're really desperate, I guess.)
When I think of a Psionic Fighter, three abilities come to mind: Telekinesis, Telepathy, and Augmented attacks as I feel those are core aspects that a this type of Fighter would focus on.
The problem with telepathy is that they already gave it to the rogue and sorcerer. It's really not that much of a fighter thing in my opinion; I'd rather the Soulknife keep that.
I understand that the difference in die size is minimal but that isn't what bothers me about it. It's the sheer randomness and the fact that the system looks like it's punishing a player for rolling well by weakening the effectiveness. That is a sucky feeling. It'd be like rolling a Nat 20 in a clutch encounter but then being told that you then can't use a d20 until the next rest. Giving a once a day reset button is nice but it doesn't fix the problem I have with the other half of the mechanic.
And as far as Telepathy is concerned...its a common psychic ability in popular media and why would a INT based subclass themed around Psionics NOT have that ability? If anything, that should be the one ability that's common amongst all three. Why pigeon hole the Fighter with abilities only meant for combat? Let more Fighter subclasses delve into out of combat utility that doesn't involve multiclassing or spells.
Interesting. Well i can tell you that after 3 sessions it doesn't feel lacking and i have some pretty fair utility because fighters get extra ASI i just picked up telekinises. and as for all the fear about the fluctuating dice i only had to use my replenishment once so far.
Well your current experiences doesn't invalidate what I'm saying, it just means you have been fortunate, which I'm glad to hear. Played a two shot game where the fluctuating dice crippled what I could do for the majority of encounters. And if you are at a table where feats aren't allowed then the extra ASI argument is moot.
I absolutely adore the psi knight! I think it would be a great kind of way to keep the game fresh and interesting. I do wish with the psionics abilities it could offer some slight healing to yourself or others as a kind of last resort healing though. I think it should totally be used in the game.
I'm also very excited about the possibility of the Psi-Knight being added as an official sub-class once Tasha's Cauldron of Everything comes out. I'm anxiously awaiting to see how they settled on characters using psionics since they already said the "psi-dice" is not going to be in the final product.
I run a dex-based Psi Knight through two campaigns from level 2 to 7, and so far I'm pleased with it.
Force damage is nice at earlier levels, especially when we run into things that are sistant to non-magical weapon damage.
Force jumps are great, they let me jump over enemies and stab them in the back, keep up with our Barbarian and his 40 feet speed, an in one fight I jumped on a Warforged Titan's aecher/wanslinger platform to deal with it's crew. One of the best things you could get at 3-d level if not...
Force shields. Our GM ruled that if I block the phycical part of the attack with extra non-phisical damage (poisoned blade, Flind's flails, etc) it saves the character from the rest of attacks damage and it's effects. Also had few clutch saves where I lowered the damage our casters taken to the point they could pass the concentration checks or even to zero so no checks required.
On 6-th level I got the Telekinetic feat and when we don't fight indoors I jump over people, force-push them straight up and on 2+ on the psi die they take fall damage and are left prone, which is free advantage and one less attack for a Barbarina to spend to wrestle them down. Also pulled or pushed opur casters out of melee with it. Invisible mage hand is a minor boon, although that one time I used it to tie the shoelaces of the boss togherter while he was giving his evil monolofue was hilarious.
Sure, Battlemaster would be able to do more crazy stuff, but Battlemasters run out of their superiority die pretty quickly, while psychic dies is always there - in all the time I only run out of psi-die once and than just reset it with bonus action. Same way, protection stle would have negated more damage to my party, but force shields let me protect people from distance, not only those right next to me and sometimes lowering damage is better than lowering the chance to hit, and unlike with protection I can use it to shield myself.
As a martial/melee type, can I say I love the Psi knight?
I feel it adds more functionality to the fighter abilities and makes it a bit more useful. I've currently played the revised version in 3 games at tier 2 so far. Can't lie. I went Darth Maul(fire genasi with a Halberd) and my DM was confused at first cause he thought I was attacking 4 times🤣. But I really like the fluctuating psi die, I have particular die set aside to help me keep track. Also the abilities are fun to RP. I hate to say the force strikes being able to be used only once a turn keeps it from being OP. Also I haven't seen a thread on this subclass yet and wanted to know what others thought or if they had any questions about playing one.
The only feature I dislike is Psi-Powered Leap, because it incentivizes constant long jumps (plus die rolls.) I would've preferred if the extra jump distance cost movement as usual so the feature was used primarily for crossing large gaps.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
I can see that. I'm okay with it I guess because ring of jumping was my favorite magic item in ad&d 🤣. But I would rather a set number plus the number times 2 like base 5ft+2×number rolled. The long jumps come in handy if dealing with low flying creatures or snipers. But I see how it's just another way to expend your psi die cause with Githyanki they come equipped with the jump spell.
The Subclass is too wordy for my tastes. Concept is cool but its wording feels...sloppy for lack of a better word. The fluctuating die is also not my particular cup of tea either only because I'm not a fan of additional random chance in a game that involves dice rolls already, that's why I steer clear of Wild Magic Sorcerer.
When I think of a Psionic Fighter, three abilities come to mind: Telekinesis, Telepathy, and Augmented attacks as I feel those are core aspects that a this type of Fighter would focus on. As an INT based Fighter, I could see this archetype wanting abilities that have more versatility (TK and Telepathy) and then adding a bit of offensive flavor to make blows hit just a bit harder.
The additional randomness added by the changing die size is trivial though. If you still have a d6 or better you're extremely likely to get a couple dozen uses since even if you get a run of bad luck (e.g. a 6 and 4 right off the bat) the class comes with a once-a-day reset button built in.
In practice the difference between rolling a d6 or a d8 is really small; the biggest thing the die size determines is how many times you can comfortably use Telekinetic Thrust before you have to ease off and wait for the die to randomly re-grow (or you burn your die fully if you're really desperate, I guess.)
The problem with telepathy is that they already gave it to the rogue and sorcerer. It's really not that much of a fighter thing in my opinion; I'd rather the Soulknife keep that.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
I understand that the difference in die size is minimal but that isn't what bothers me about it. It's the sheer randomness and the fact that the system looks like it's punishing a player for rolling well by weakening the effectiveness. That is a sucky feeling. It'd be like rolling a Nat 20 in a clutch encounter but then being told that you then can't use a d20 until the next rest. Giving a once a day reset button is nice but it doesn't fix the problem I have with the other half of the mechanic.
And as far as Telepathy is concerned...its a common psychic ability in popular media and why would a INT based subclass themed around Psionics NOT have that ability? If anything, that should be the one ability that's common amongst all three. Why pigeon hole the Fighter with abilities only meant for combat? Let more Fighter subclasses delve into out of combat utility that doesn't involve multiclassing or spells.
Interesting. Well i can tell you that after 3 sessions it doesn't feel lacking and i have some pretty fair utility because fighters get extra ASI i just picked up telekinises. and as for all the fear about the fluctuating dice i only had to use my replenishment once so far.
Well your current experiences doesn't invalidate what I'm saying, it just means you have been fortunate, which I'm glad to hear. Played a two shot game where the fluctuating dice crippled what I could do for the majority of encounters. And if you are at a table where feats aren't allowed then the extra ASI argument is moot.
I absolutely adore the psi knight! I think it would be a great kind of way to keep the game fresh and interesting. I do wish with the psionics abilities it could offer some slight healing to yourself or others as a kind of last resort healing though. I think it should totally be used in the game.
I'm also very excited about the possibility of the Psi-Knight being added as an official sub-class once Tasha's Cauldron of Everything comes out. I'm anxiously awaiting to see how they settled on characters using psionics since they already said the "psi-dice" is not going to be in the final product.
I run a dex-based Psi Knight through two campaigns from level 2 to 7, and so far I'm pleased with it.
Force damage is nice at earlier levels, especially when we run into things that are sistant to non-magical weapon damage.
Force jumps are great, they let me jump over enemies and stab them in the back, keep up with our Barbarian and his 40 feet speed, an in one fight I jumped on a Warforged Titan's aecher/wanslinger platform to deal with it's crew. One of the best things you could get at 3-d level if not...
Force shields. Our GM ruled that if I block the phycical part of the attack with extra non-phisical damage (poisoned blade, Flind's flails, etc) it saves the character from the rest of attacks damage and it's effects. Also had few clutch saves where I lowered the damage our casters taken to the point they could pass the concentration checks or even to zero so no checks required.
On 6-th level I got the Telekinetic feat and when we don't fight indoors I jump over people, force-push them straight up and on 2+ on the psi die they take fall damage and are left prone, which is free advantage and one less attack for a Barbarina to spend to wrestle them down. Also pulled or pushed opur casters out of melee with it. Invisible mage hand is a minor boon, although that one time I used it to tie the shoelaces of the boss togherter while he was giving his evil monolofue was hilarious.
Sure, Battlemaster would be able to do more crazy stuff, but Battlemasters run out of their superiority die pretty quickly, while psychic dies is always there - in all the time I only run out of psi-die once and than just reset it with bonus action. Same way, protection stle would have negated more damage to my party, but force shields let me protect people from distance, not only those right next to me and sometimes lowering damage is better than lowering the chance to hit, and unlike with protection I can use it to shield myself.
It kinda does with shields. In one fight I went back and calculated that my shields prevented more damage than our priestess haled.