My absolute favorite characters to play are Soul Knives. But their abilities can be a bit confusing, mechanics wise. The psychic blade states “You can manifest your psionic power…. This magic blade….” Also, psychic veil says “you can weave a veil of psychic static to mask yourself. As an action, you can magically become invisible”. Now logically, it would seem that the intent was for the blades to be able to overcome resistances so the character doesn’t outgrow them, and the psychic veil should function LIKE magical invisibility (I picture Lamont Cranston’s ability to “cloud men’s minds from the Shadow) but all the abilities clearly state they are a function of psychic energy, NOT arcane. How do you deal with them in an animagic field? Some DMs rule that it has no effect because the abilities are psionic, not magic. But some DMs have said “If it says magic in the description, then it doesn’t work in an antimagic field. Does anyone have a definitive answer?
Strike that, the rules glossary tells us what a magical effect is: (among others) any phenomenon that rules label magical. Since Psionics do say they're magical, they are in fact magical.
Mechanically there is no distinction between “arcane” and “psionic” powers. Honestly, AMF is in a fiddly area with “magical effects”, but there’s no meaningful difference between psionics and other kinds of magic in 5e for how rules/features are applied.
To put it another way, there are no "psionics" in 5e, in the sense of a system of features and abilities that are distinct from magic
Labeling a Soul Knife's abilities as "psionics" is nothing more than flavor, and has no mechanical effect
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I don't see why Psychic Whispers wouldn't work in an Antimagic Field.
It requires a magic action to cast, so if you're in the Antimagic Field and attempt to cast, it wouldn't work.
There is no RAW suggesting you couldn't communicate telepathically if Psychic Whispers was set up outside the field and then the characters walked inside of it, but it would be up to DM to determine RAI, I suppose.
I don't see why Psychic Whispers wouldn't work in an Antimagic Field.
It wouldn't work for the same reason a GOO warlock's Awakened Mind feature wouldn't work
An aura of antimagic surrounds you in 10-foot Emanation. No one can cast spells, take Magic actions, or create other magical effects inside the aura, and those things can’t target or otherwise affect anything inside it.
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I don't see why Psychic Whispers wouldn't work in an Antimagic Field.
It requires a magic action to cast, so if you're in the Antimagic Field and attempt to cast, it wouldn't work.
There is no RAW suggesting you couldn't communicate telepathically if Psychic Whispers was set up outside the field and then the characters walked inside of it, but it would be up to DM to determine RAI, I suppose.
There's no Magic action in the version the OP uses 5E14.
I don't see why Psychic Whispers wouldn't work in an Antimagic Field.
It wouldn't work for the same reason a GOO warlock's Awakened Mind feature wouldn't work
An aura of antimagic surrounds you in 10-foot Emanation. No one can cast spells, take Magic actions, or create other magical effects inside the aura, and those things can’t target or otherwise affect anything inside it.
There's no Emanation.in the version the OP uses 5E14 so i don't see why Awakened Mind wouldn't work in an Antimagic Field.
In the original D&D 5E, none of the following features Psychic Powers, Psi-Bolstered Knack,Psychic Whispers or Awakened Mind say it's magic based on the Sage Advice Compendium official ruling.
So BLUF, all psionics are just a different way to cast magic? And if so, wouldn’t it follow that they could create signature effects just as spell casters can create spells? 🤔
So BLUF, all psionics are just a different way to cast magic? And if so, wouldn’t it follow that they could create signature effects just as spell casters can create spells? 🤔
Except 5e has no player facing mechanic for creating spells.
@benwoodtweet Can psionics be affected by anti-magic. Like the anti-magic cone from a Beholder? @JeremyECrawford The antimagic field spell in D&D affects spells, magic items, and other effects that are expressly magical. The spell doesn't care about the source of those things (arcane, divine, psionic, or something else). So some psionic effects would be affected and some wouldn't.
@koboldskeep Do you wish you had kept 3e's Ex/Su/Sp ability descriptors? @JeremyECrawford Nope. My only regret in this regard is that we left the open-ended "magical effects" wording in some places. Also, antimagic field is a funny spell in that it's the star of many internet discussions, despite not seeing frequent use at the game table.
So BLUF, all psionics are just a different way to cast magic? And if so, wouldn’t it follow that they could create signature effects just as spell casters can create spells? 🤔
I think in 2e, they were separate and distinct, but I've tried to block out that era. In 3.x, there were options to treat them as separate (ie, Dispel Magic couldn't counter psionics) or equivalent (and I think the same was the default), but they used different mechanisms for casting/activating (using power points instead of spell slots). I didn't play enough 4e to encounter them there. In 5e, they are the same mechanics with different flavor.
I think we have to look at each of the features individually to verify if they are magical or not. The Soul Knife features seem to be mostly magical. The Psiwarrior on the other hand seems to have quite a few features that are not magical. While we may want to have a generalized understanding of features that seem to share the same name, an “exclusion” based ruleset allows for those features to work differently than another.
I do wish there was additional info in the table of contents that clearly established a chapter with “general” rules vs areas that actually have “specific” rules. I also see people saying that “specific beats general” quite often when they seem to be comparing two separate “specific” rules.
In 1-3e psionics existed as a seperate “thing” that the DM could rule was magical or not. Some DMs had it be affected by anti magic, others (like me) said they were not affected. 5e changed that. In 5e all psi effects are simply a separate type of magic and are effected by antimagnetic unless the DM houserules it different. So check with your DM on that.
My absolute favorite characters to play are Soul Knives. But their abilities can be a bit confusing, mechanics wise. The psychic blade states “You can manifest your psionic power…. This magic blade….” Also, psychic veil says “you can weave a veil of psychic static to mask yourself. As an action, you can magically become invisible”. Now logically, it would seem that the intent was for the blades to be able to overcome resistances so the character doesn’t outgrow them, and the psychic veil should function LIKE magical invisibility (I picture Lamont Cranston’s ability to “cloud men’s minds from the Shadow) but all the abilities clearly state they are a function of psychic energy, NOT arcane. How do you deal with them in an animagic field? Some DMs rule that it has no effect because the abilities are psionic, not magic. But some DMs have said “If it says magic in the description, then it doesn’t work in an antimagic field. Does anyone have a definitive answer?
The
bestmost detailed answer we have is from the sage advice available to the 2014 rules.Strike that, the rules glossary tells us what a magical effect is: (among others) any phenomenon that rules label magical. Since Psionics do say they're magical, they are in fact magical.
Mechanically there is no distinction between “arcane” and “psionic” powers. Honestly, AMF is in a fiddly area with “magical effects”, but there’s no meaningful difference between psionics and other kinds of magic in 5e for how rules/features are applied.
To put it another way, there are no "psionics" in 5e, in the sense of a system of features and abilities that are distinct from magic
Labeling a Soul Knife's abilities as "psionics" is nothing more than flavor, and has no mechanical effect
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Looking closely at the original Rogue Soulknife subclass;
L3 Psionic Powers doesn't say it's magic. Psi-Bolstered Knack doesn't say it's magic and Psychic Whispers doesn't say it's magic.
L3 Psychic Blades say it's magic.
L9 Soul Blades doesn't say it's magic.
L13 Psychic Veil say it's magic.
L17 Rend Mind doesn't say it's magic.
For clarity:
Psionic Powers is a pool of dice you can use to power some things. Psi-Bolstered Knack can be thought of as just focusing your mind to re-roll.
Psychic Blades are magic items, therefore Soul Blades would be magical as you must conjure Psychic Blades to augment them.
Rend Mind also uses your Psychic Blades, which are magic items.
Therefore, everything except Psi-Bolstered Knack is affected by an Antimagic Field.
I don't see why Psychic Whispers wouldn't work in an Antimagic Field.
It requires a magic action to cast, so if you're in the Antimagic Field and attempt to cast, it wouldn't work.
There is no RAW suggesting you couldn't communicate telepathically if Psychic Whispers was set up outside the field and then the characters walked inside of it, but it would be up to DM to determine RAI, I suppose.
It wouldn't work for the same reason a GOO warlock's Awakened Mind feature wouldn't work
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
There's no Magic action in the version the OP uses 5E14.
There's no Emanation.in the version the OP uses 5E14 so i don't see why Awakened Mind wouldn't work in an Antimagic Field.
In the original D&D 5E, none of the following features Psychic Powers, Psi-Bolstered Knack, Psychic Whispers or Awakened Mind say it's magic based on the Sage Advice Compendium official ruling.
So BLUF, all psionics are just a different way to cast magic? And if so, wouldn’t it follow that they could create signature effects just as spell casters can create spells? 🤔
Except 5e has no player facing mechanic for creating spells.
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I think in 2e, they were separate and distinct, but I've tried to block out that era. In 3.x, there were options to treat them as separate (ie, Dispel Magic couldn't counter psionics) or equivalent (and I think the same was the default), but they used different mechanisms for casting/activating (using power points instead of spell slots). I didn't play enough 4e to encounter them there. In 5e, they are the same mechanics with different flavor.
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My houserulings.
I think we have to look at each of the features individually to verify if they are magical or not. The Soul Knife features seem to be mostly magical. The Psiwarrior on the other hand seems to have quite a few features that are not magical. While we may want to have a generalized understanding of features that seem to share the same name, an “exclusion” based ruleset allows for those features to work differently than another.
I do wish there was additional info in the table of contents that clearly established a chapter with “general” rules vs areas that actually have “specific” rules. I also see people saying that “specific beats general” quite often when they seem to be comparing two separate “specific” rules.
Scratch that, as per Monster Manual definition Telepathy is magical:
In 1-3e psionics existed as a seperate “thing” that the DM could rule was magical or not. Some DMs had it be affected by anti magic, others (like me) said they were not affected. 5e changed that. In 5e all psi effects are simply a separate type of magic and are effected by antimagnetic unless the DM houserules it different. So check with your DM on that.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Untrue for 3e; 3e psionics had a "Psionics-Magic Transparency" rule that in practice meant psi was magic wearing a funny hat.