The Psion class has returned to Unearthed Arcana, reshaped by player feedback and ready for another playtest!
You can read the full playtest packet yourself or click below for highlights from the Psion and its subclasses, which include designer insights from Ben Petrisor.
The Updated Psion
Thanks to the massive amount of player response, we have been able to make substantial changes to the Psion. The majority of feedback on the class fell into three buckets: Psionic Energy Dice uses, Psionic Modes, and Spellcasting.
Following player feedback, we’ve made changes to the Psion to make their use of Psionic Energy Dice more flexible and easier to regain. Telepathic Propel and Telepathic Connection now allow you to use the feature, at least once, without expending Psionic Energy Dice; Psionic Restoration now restores all expended Psionic Energy Dice over a 1-minute meditation; Psionic Reserves is a new feature that allows you to regain uses of Psionic Energy Dice until you have four whenever you roll Initiative; finally, several Psionic Disciplines have been redesigned to allow you to either choose how many Psionic Energy Dice you expend or only expend the die on a success. These changes allow the Psion to have more uses of Psionic Energy Dice and be less reliant on resting.
Psionic Modes has been cut. The feedback showed that the feature added complexity to the class by being an additional limited-use feature to track and competing with other Bonus Action class and subclass features. Aspects of Psionic Modes that scored well, such as the modified options in the Psykinetic and the Telepath, have been adapted as new features.
Spellcasting now provides new cantrips at levels 4 and 10. In addition, the Psion’s spell list has gotten a huge update. The spell list now includes more spells, including updated versions of spells from previous books like Enemies Abound and Mental Prison. This UA also adds seven brand-new spells, adding to the Cleric, Psion, Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard spell lists.
Metamorph
Recurring player feedback was wanting expended uses of Psionic Energy Dice to include a roll of that dice. An example is in the Metamorph’s Mutable Form (formerly Extend Limbs), which now rolls the Psionic Energy Die to gain Temporary Hit Points. Life-Bending Weapons has been redesigned so that the extra damage your Organic Weapons deal does not expend a use of Psionic Energy Die, unless you use the feature to also restore Hit Points to yourself and your allies.
Organic Weapons can now be maintained longer, letting players walk around town with their limb transformed into a Viscera Launcher.
Feedback called out concern for the Organic Weapons competing with magic weapons. If the Metamorph appears in a book, magic items that provide benefits to Organic Weapons will appear alongside it.
Psykinetic
The Psykinetic gains a new level 3 feature, Stronger Telekinesis, that allows Mage Hand to have a longer range, and the hand can carry up to 20 pounds. Telekinetic Techniques is a core feature for the subclass, so we redesigned it to be able to be used every turn; Players can now use Telekinetic Propel without expending a Psionic Energy Die, but you use a d4 instead of the scaling die.
Destructive Trance (formerly Empowered Attack Mode) no longer uses Psionic Modes and instead can be activated at the start of your turn.
Now that the Psion has access to more Psionic Energy Dice, Heightened Telekinesis still expends four Psionic Energy Dice, but it doesn’t expend a spell slot.
Telepath
Telepathic Connection has been redesigned to grant a greater base range of telepathy. This lets us play with features that use that telepathy range.
Telepathic Distraction, a new feature, lets you interfere with another creature’s attack roll if it is within range of your telepathy. Bulwark Mind (formerly known as Empowered Defense Mode), like Destructive Trance, has been redesigned to not use Psionic Modes.
Potent Thoughts now also increases the base range of your telepathy out to 60 feet.
Player feedback showed that Scramble Minds added too many die rolls to rounds of combat, potentially slowing play down significantly. We redesigned the feature so that you choose the creature’s behavior, reducing die rolls, keeping allies safe, and getting the desired outcome for enemies.
Your Feedback Matters
Once you’ve read or played with these playtest materials, be sure to fill out the survey on D&D Beyond, coming on October 9, and let us know what you think.
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Posted Oct 11, 2025It's for the sake of balance, and it not being an immediately overpowered class like the mesmer was. If they were going to go that route, then the same argument could be made for artificers, since they're not casting spells, but utilizing experimental, unstable inventions to replicate the same effects as magic.
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Posted Oct 11, 2025Psionics are not magic. Ask Kimmuriel Oblodra.
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Posted Oct 13, 2025I agree 100%. Unfortunately that runs counter to the entire ethos of 5e -- even more so with 2024 where everything is being homogenized. 5e satisfies its intent very well, but that intent is simplification and standardization. It's great for bringing new players into the game, but it's much less enticing to experienced gamers. Frankly, I would rather see them skip psionics altogether than jam it into the existing framework. And, if they're really thinking of bringing Dark Sun back, I foresee big problems with their current approach.
(Doesn't help that my 3e world of ~20 years used psionics and magic being almost non-interactive as the central pillar of its metaverse. I've long given up any hope of converting it to 5e.)
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Posted Oct 13, 2025Thor: "Is it though?"
Let's hold hands in a circle; speak to the dead; do a palm reading; look into a crystal ball.
Anything supernatural feels pretty magical; whether its Cyclops firing optic blasts of force; D&D potions; robots or power armors; the ZPM from Stargate; Psions being magical Psionics that cast spells in psychicy kinda way feels on brand so long as the flavor of what they're doing hits the right notes.
But, I suppose the beauty of this is, you can continue playing the game ignoring this exists. It ain't like this is the core 2024 PHB/DMG class/subclasses you have to sweat over at a table/game, but a wholly optional class that's been MIA in 5e since its release. No much will change if you don't buy this book, lol.
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Posted Oct 14, 2025But we already have alternate mechanics like the Monks Ki/Focus Points, Battle Masters maneuvers, Eldritch Invocations, etc. There's plenty of ways to make psionics unique without being a straight caster.
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Posted Oct 15, 2025Exactly my thought! And hoenstly they already have Psi Dice as a mechanic. It's just about expanding upon it.
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Posted Oct 15, 2025Those are merely superficial differences, they are not differences in the nature of world-building elements. That's like, if someone suggested photosynthesis and you said, "But we can already choose to eat with fork, spoon, or with our hands." They are not "orthogonal mechanics" as OP put it.
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Posted Oct 15, 2025It wasn't. The Psi-warper was passed through. The subclass scored so high, it's an automatic if and when the Psion gets published.
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Posted Oct 15, 2025Adding another magic system is not going to happen. They tried with the mystic, but it was a mess
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Posted Oct 16, 2025You're missing the point. Simply not being magic puts them in a whole different realm. Like the way a monk can enhance their physical abilities and effect their attacks with Ki, or the way Maneuvers happen with the attack usually. Even Eldritch Invocations which can be spells, allow you to mix and match abilities to make unique characters.
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Posted Oct 17, 2025A counterpoint: Imagine 5e only had pure martial characters and arcane casters. Then they release a playtest with beloved classes from previous editions, the Druid, Cleric, and Paladin. But, egad! “Faith and miracles aren’t magic! It doesn’t make any sense that a wizard should be able to counterspell the will of the gods! And the natural powers of the earth (or Oerth, Eberron, etc.) surely require their own orthogonal system, not just spel slots like a wizard!”
From a worldbuilding standpoint, it makes as much sense to have a separate system for the Cleric as it does the Psion, yet we all enjoy the mechanical similarities and cohesion of these different casters. (A wizard or artificer can make a fun multi class with a Psion; or the whole blend of SorBardLockadins.) If I’ve played a wizard before and used spells like Detect Thoughts, then I can roll up a Psion and actually play D&D with my friends with very little friction. And if I’m introducing the Psion to a DM, they’re likely a lot more comfortable creating encounters for a class that is distinct from others while using the same basic mechanics and underlying principles than they are a class that runs in a completely different design direction.
In short: Treating psionic as a branch of magic (like divine or arcane magic) makes enough sense to not break the world, and it makes Psions easier to learn and more likely to be played at the table.
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Posted Oct 17, 2025We don’t need just another reflavored spellcaster. Give psions unique powers
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Posted Oct 17, 2025Honestly, your hypothetical is right. I'm sure that there would be groups of players that take issue with Cleric or Druid if they were introduced beyond the PHB. Thing is, the Psion isn't currently showing that it deserves to be a caster. How many spells have they designed to only be used by this new class? Maybe half a dozen? I bring this up because there is at least a vast distinction in the spell lists between Arcane, Divine, and Primal. There really doesn't seem to be much in the case of Psionics. I think there is a reason so many feel this is just another Sorcerer. Comparisons between Energy Dice and Metamagic aside, the spell list is just not that different from Arcane casters. Thematics matter for a new class, and the design could do a lot better trying to introduce a unique system.
And to your point on ease of use, I get that, especially with the design philosophy of 5e. But let us not forgot we already have subclasses with the Energy Dice subsystem. The power system for the Psion could be that, just expanded into a full class.
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Posted Oct 19, 2025I'm not sure whether I like it or don't like it, but it doesn't seem rational to me in terms of the unique flavor of this class. I've been playing D*D since the old AD*D/1st edition days, and what I remember of the original psionics rules as first introduced was that it was intended to be a completely different source of power from the arcane and divine streams which can be counterspelled. In fact in those days there was a lot less similarity to spells at all and more emphasis on unique mental attacks, defenses and powers. EDIT: that basically summarizes my first reaction to a lot of the other feedback I've read here regarding the psionicist's status as a full caster class -- not sure if I like or don't like their being at that POWER LEVEL, but I do think that if they are it ought to be in a way that's more unique to them instead of just giving them standard garden-variety full caster spells/slots/powers/etc.. And it doesn't have to be all or nothing, they could have a partial list of standard spells which are thematically related to the power of the mind, and then other spells and abilities that are unique.
Now IdoK that that was then and this is now, but I think it does at least offer some historical perspective on the side of those of us who intuitively feel that psionic powers ought to be differentiated in some way from other forms of magic; and one good way of doing that is to either maki=e it impossible to counterspell psionics or to introduce a unique "psionicounter" power that could be learned either by a psionicist or as a feat by characters whose backstory gives them some reason to have developed defenses against psionic powers. I'll definitely be suggesting that as part of my feedback to this UA round.
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Posted Oct 30, 2025Sounds like the Ki Focus solution from 4E (to allow Monks to have magic "weapons" that keep up with the magic weapon progressions of other characters while not being an actual weapon and thus allowing them to still do unarmed strikes rather than hitting the enemies with their prayer beads or sacred book).
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Posted Oct 31, 2025THIS.
Psionics used to be handled this way and I think is a much better way to handle psionic abilities and not make them just another mechanism to do the same magic spells every other spell caster is using.
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Posted Nov 1, 2025There is a fundamental rift in the D&D player base (or at least the ones who are interested in having Psionics added more vigorously to 5e):
There's not an easy way of squaring this circle.
5e from it's get-go, by deciding to table Psionics during D&D Next playtests, made the choice to go with Psionics as Magic by Any Other Name. Warlock's Great Old One Patron, Mind Flayers' spellcasting, etc just locked them in to Psionic Spellcasting.
Now, Psi Warrior and Soulknife show how you can do Psionics without Magic in D&D, by utilizing a new Psionic Die feature that's popular with BOTH camps, and for which they intend to use as the Psion's key non-spell resource that recharges partially on short rest and fully on long rest (akin to Bardic Inspiration Die, Fighter Second Wind, Druid Wild Shapes, Channel Divinity & Smite & Hunter's Mark, etc etc). This shows that Psionics is not JUST a magical power source. But Great Old One Warlock and Aberrant Sorcerer and Knowledge Domain Cleric (2025-revision) also show off Psionic Spellcasting without the Psionic Die.
This seems to be WotC's compromise. Psionics involves both psionic spellcasting and psionic powers and disciplines that are separate from spells. This makes a lot of sense, because there are a lot of spell-like Psionic Powers over the years that were literally just the Psionic equivalent of an Spell (often Divination, Illusion, or Enchantment, but there's also Psionic parallels for Abjuration, Conjuration, Evocation, and Transmutation at the very least).
This is because non-D&D sources often treat Psionics as Magic with a funny hat on it. Scarlet Witch is a Mutant whose activated gene opened up her wild Psychic Powers, but no wait she's a Witch drawing on an ancient Fiend Patron Warlock bloodline, but no wait actually her psychic powers were given to her by the Mind Stone, one of the fundamental batteries of the universe that create what we percieve as the flow of time, but no wait the Mind Stone only just awoke her powers that were inside of her all along from her Wundagorian ancestry but no wait that Witch bloodline is actually a Mutant Bloodline all along and the Psionic Witches had their power with or without the pact with devils.
That's just one popular Psionic character from one non-D&D franchise, but there are similar conflations all over media.
D&D's Psionics have a history of being magic that doesn't play nice with other magic on the basis of being called not-magic. But 5e is largely about streamlining these things; if a non-spellcasting class has a feature that looks like an existing spell, they're just given that spell and a unique recharge schedule for it. Likewise, there's no need to pad out a whole extra tome of just Psionic Powers when half of the powers are nigh identical to spells in the Player's Handbook. Just use those spells (assuming they don't have a particularly "arcane" or "divine" flavored name), and only print the psionic power spells that don't have functional equivalents. You can either lock most of these new spells to the Psionic Spell List (accessible by Psions and by Magic Initiate (Psion) feat takers, or you can see which ones would also make sense on the Wizard, Sorcerer, Bard, etc lists. Sorcerer especially here -- The Wilder class in 3e is essentially just a Sorcerer without the funny hat but with the funny Ioun stone floating around them. 5e realised this and gave them the Aberrant Sorcery font of magic, but also the whole Sorcery points and metamagic mechanics are nigh on identical to how PP investment worked in 3e and 4e Psionics. The only thing the Sorcerer was really missing was a way to remove VSM components from their spells (Aberrant Sorcery is close, but it only allows removal of these certain number of times a day). This seems like a very easy feat or metamagic investment to do (give more non component spellcasting). But I'd note there's a reason why they haven't been playtesting a Wilder class. We don't need it - Sorcerer works just fine.
I say all this, but it's clear I'm on the camp of don't keep reinventing the wheel and just use what you already have made and balanced and incorporate that into the Psion. But I also recognise the feeling of magic spells being too often the answer for class features rather than just giving a class feature, and this can sometimes make Martial characters feel like second fiddle to Mages (Linear Fighters, Quadratic Wizards only avoided by giving Fighters magic doesn't really solve the problem). But I'd argue that same problem would exist even if wew had Psionics make its own compendium of powers and disciplines, and it's likewise the same problem faced by the Way of the Four Elements Monk back in 2014.
D&D's strength as a TTRPG is that it can emulate all sorts of different genre fiction relatively well, but that means by its nature it can't afford to invest too heavily in a system that uses the same language as other media (i.e., words like Psionics) and then does its own thing with it. That's better left to other TTRPGs that can build that sort of Mage vs Psion conflict into their worldbuilding and lore. D&D had that at times in the past, and other times hasn't, but in 5E it doesn't have it because it was both too difficult during 2012-2014 design phase to lock down what Psionics should be, but more importantly because D&D Psionics needs to be wide-hat enough to fit psionics from most if not all other genre fiction reasonably well.
I guess what I mean by all of this is that if you want a HARD break between Psionics and Magic, you won't find it in 5E, because that ship sailed in 2014. You might be able to successfully argue for it in 6E, whenever that happens (likely not before 2034 at the very least).
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Posted Nov 12, 2025I'm just glad they restored Tasha's Mind Whip to its former glory after crippling it in the previous UA.