Obsession with Mystic UA - why?

[Dhuraal]

Not trying to ruffle feathers, I just don't get it, why is everyone so fervently demanding this?

[Llama513]

For me personally I really enjoyed psionics, and really liked what I saw in the second iteration UA and so i really want to see the full thing as it looks like its going to be alot of fun, and destroyong things with my mind is just fun

[JumboWheat01]

Because it would give us a new toy. And new toys are always fun, especially if they're official new toys that don't even have the serial numbers attached yet.

[Kileonhardt]

Not trying to ruffle feathers, I just don't get it, why is everyone so fervently demanding this?

It's been in the works for a long time, and the most recent update should have been finished around December-ish. We all just want a new shiny 1-20 class to look over. And by look over I mean min-max to the teeth and pick apart every small detail that makes certain things bad.

[DragonSorcererX]

Because it's cool, and it makes psionic haters triggered (also because Eberron and Dark Sun).

[GhorrinRedblade]

Because it's cool, and it makes psionic haters triggered (also because Eberron and Dark Sun).

You accidentally put that second bit in blue.

[Dr.Samurai]

Not trying to ruffle feathers, I just don't get it, why is everyone so fervently demanding this?
Anytime you demand the Mystic your name gets entered into a raffle to win a free getaway for you and your adventuring group to WotC headquarters in Renton, Washington.

[DragonSorcererX]

You accidentally put that second bit in blue.

Oh, yes, it should have been purple, because the evil color is the nearest thing we have to acidic, toxic and offensive sarcasm.

But a UA about Traps is good too, I like Traps...

[Jarlhen]

Because people really want spell points. Mystics are probably going to be more powerful than any other caster based on that point alone. Plus, people were used to getting to pick from 80000000 classes in 3.5, so I think more classes is just something people want.

[DragonSorcererX]

Because people really want spell points. Mystics are probably going to be more powerful than any other caster based on that point alone. Plus, people were used to getting to pick from 80000000 classes in 3.5, so I think more classes is just something people want.

But there are Spell Points in the DMG already, if people were brave enough to kick the Sacred Vancian Cow, they would be happier. :smallamused:

[SharkForce]

psionics have always been one of the more popular parts of the game for those who like it (and also created a lasting hatred for it for those who didn't like it and still hate it a few editions after their reasons for hating it often no longer apply).

[Catullus64]

So that I can finally start running a 5e Dark Sun Campaign. The existing Mystic is serviceable, but just not quite right.

[Waterdeep Merch]

I've been playtesting the mystic in a game for the last year, and it's an incredibly fun class. The problem is that it's monstrously overpowered and needs the fine tuning of another iteration or two. I retired him several months ago after seeing how easily his toolkit could trivialize encounters, intent on picking him back up if the next version of the mystic tones things back down. I would very much like to play him again, as an arrogant, nihilist, hard-neutral nietzschean psychic is fantastic fun to roleplay.

Though, as someone who more often DM's, I'm not against getting more campaign tools first. I'm just against them being as terrible as those mass combat rules.

[Steampunkette]

Because I love the idea of there being a palpable difference in the way spellcasters work.

I love Warlocks. I love how their spells recover and how they work SO DIFFERENTLY from a Wizard or Sorcerer or Cleric or Bard or Druid, who all cast spells in the same way, aside from the occasional "I recover a spell slot here or there" or "I make a spell individually work a little different."

Not so with the Mystic. Their "Spells" are Disciplines with a variety of effects, with different ways of using the same Suite. You don't pick out a spell when you level up, you pick out a suite of spell-like functions that you gain access to. You augment those abilities with points to increase or change their functions, you do SO MUCH COOL STUFF mechanically compared to "I cast Magic Missile with a third level spell slot for 2 more 1d4+1 autohits"

I truly wish the Bard had been designed to use spellweaving with different effects overlapping with each other in an interesting buffing symphony or debuffing dirge. I wish there was some functional difference in the Prayers of a Cleric and the Mystical Finger-Wiggling of a Wizard.

But there isn't.

But with the Mystic? There's 50 disciplines, 6 orders, and a fighter subclass waiting to come out with a mechanically different system of casting "Spells".

And I can hardly wait.

(Edit) Got so into explaining it that I typoed. A LOT.

[King539]

Big Snip.

Quoted for truth. So much truth. You have said it far better than I could.

[Temperjoke]

Mystics are Jedi. :P That's really all that need to be said about why people are obsessed about them.

[Millstone85]

I play with someone who really liked psionics in 2e, and it makes me curious about 5e's take on the concept.

What got my attention in the UA is how each spell discipline comes with a stance focus. I would play a character who can switch between different modes like that. Plus, it is at-will and without concentration.


Mystics are Jedi. :P That's really all that need to be said about why people are obsessed about them.I think mystics might actually be less Jedi than wizards. An energy field that surrounds us? Nope, the mystic don't need it.

[Deleted]

Not trying to ruffle feathers, I just don't get it, why is everyone so fervently demanding this?

I love 3e and 4e psionics anf so far the 5e Psionics look like carp crap.

They don't have the talent to pull it off it seems.

[MrStabby]

I also don't get it. I don't mind peoples passion for the class - I don't hate it but in a world of so many possibilities it is a surprising thing for people to fixate on.

It is like Eberon - some people seem to have a weird fetish for the setting. It's OK, but just not exciting to me.

When it does come out I am sure I will enjoy reading it. I also imagine it will suit my playstyle well enough, but it isn't top of my list.

[Zilong]

I also don't get it. I don't mind peoples passion for the class - I don't hate it but in a world of so many possibilities it is a surprising thing for people to fixate on.

It is like Eberon - some people seem to have a weird fetish for the setting. It's OK, but just not exciting to me.

When it does come out I am sure I will enjoy reading it. I also imagine it will suit my playstyle well enough, but it isn't top of my list.

To be fair, there's probably something you adore that someone else would look at and go "meh". But for those of us that enjoy psionic themes it would bring something new. If not in the mechanics department (though they do look functionally different from what we've seen before) at least they will be a fairly unique flavor as steampunkette explaind.

[DragonSorcererX]

I also don't get it. I don't mind peoples passion for the class - I don't hate it but in a world of so many possibilities it is a surprising thing for people to fixate on.

That's exactly why people like it, it is not exactly "fixating on", it is that it is a new class, because just 12 classes aren't enough, we need more and more variation, like 3.5 created new classes and more unique classes (like the Warlock), I think 5e should have it's own class that fully uses the mechanics of this edition in the same way the Artificer fully used the mechanics of 3.5, a class that isn't restricted by any Sacred Cows and that could fit in most worlds of D&D (like the 3.5 Artificer who used the power of magic and money :smalltongue:, wich exists in most campaign settings except, maybe, Dark Sun).

[MrStabby]

To be fair, there's probably something you adore that someone else would look at and go "meh". But for those of us that enjoy psionic themes it would bring something new. If not in the mechanics department (though they do look functionally different from what we've seen before) at least they will be a fairly unique flavor as steampunkette explaind.

Oh absolutely, I wasn't trying to say these things were wrong. If people like them its good not bad.

As for things i would adore but other would probably go "meh" over:

Some kind of mad botanist with intelligence and crazy plant powers.

A knowledge based fighter class able to use anatomical knowledge and toxicological knowledge to take down enemies.

A master of the macabre - a showman combining illusion, enchantment and necromancy.


I think from what I have seen people ask for, no one else wants these. So I am totally on board with people wanting things that others don't. The interesting thing is the split between the theme and the mechanics that people are craving.

[DragonSorcererX]

A knowledge based fighter class able to use anatomical knowledge and toxicological knowledge to take down enemies.

Wait, isn't that a Rogue Assassin (Dex, Sneak Attack, Poisoner's Kit...)?


I think from what I have seen people ask for, no one else wants these. So I am totally on board with people wanting things that others don't. The interesting thing is the split between the theme and the mechanics that people are craving.

For me, both Theme and Mechanics are important, a class needs to be good enough to win encounters of apropriate CR, defeat easily enemies wich the class is intended to be used against (such as Paladins vs Undeads), be weaker against enemies wich the class is made to be weaker against (such as Fire focused Sorcerers against Fire-themed creatures), be defeated by encounters of higher CR than apropriate, and also have a cool backstory, cool and flavorful abilities, neat skills, etc... the 4 Elements Monks, for example, have cool abilities and fluff, but they lack everything else.

[Llama513]

I am interested in both the mechanics and the flavor of the mystic, as the level 10 version looked really interesting, and a full class is just exciting, no matter what, and this is one that I feel will be very different from what we have, and psionics, are weird to convert in a balanced way, otherwise I would take a shot, like I did with the other older classes that I enjoyed, the Inquisitor, and the Tome of Battle Material

[Ebor]

Love they have brought back some of these mechanics. Leveling a Monk now to multi-class with this.

[Ninja-Radish]

Personally, I love psionics, and I always have. I also HATE magic. I like the idea of having cool powers, but despise the image of my character spouting gibberish, wiggling his fingers and dancing in a circle throwing diamond dust and bat guano everywhere to cast a spell. Totally uncool.

I love psionics because it's the power of the mind. No gibberish and no bat turds. Just cool powers and a cool jedi-like character.

[DragonSorcererX]

Personally, I love psionics, and I always have. I also HATE magic. I like the idea of having cool powers, but despise the image of my character spouting gibberish, wiggling his fingers and dancing in a circle throwing diamond dust and bat guano everywhere to cast a spell. Totally uncool.

I love psionics because it's the power of the mind. No gibberish and no bat turds. Just cool powers and a cool jedi-like character.

I love magic, but I always flavor my magic a little bit like what you described your psionics... Except that there are also Generic Magic Runes apearing in mid-air and people screaming things like "FIREBALL" or "LIGHTNING BOLT" and my Dragon Sorcerers most of times just need to open their mouths and spit dat spell like a Breath Weapon.

I find this thing of chanting, dancing, and using components other than an arcane focus something really low magic and depressive realistic... I prefer everyone using magic like DBZ Ki Special Techniques, Fairy Tail Spells and Skyrim.

[Ninja-Radish]

I love magic, but I always flavor my magic a little bit like what you described your psionics... Except that there are also Generic Magic Runes apearing in mid-air and people screaming things like "FIREBALL" or "LIGHTNING BOLT" and my Dragon Sorcerers most of times just need to open their mouths and spit dat spell like a Breath Weapon.

I find this thing of chanting, dancing, and using components other than an arcane focus something really low magic and depressive realistic... I prefer everyone using magic like DBZ Ki Special Techniques, Fairy Tail Spells and Skyrim.

I really like your ideas, I think they're very flavorful.

I always thought it would be cool to play a Fiend Patron Warlock whose spellcasting was just shouting cuss words and making rude gestures in Infernal at bad guys. Like, the Infernal equivalent of two middle fingers and a shouted "F* YOU!" = Hellish Rebuke spell lol

[DragonSorcererX]

I really like your ideas, I think they're very flavorful. Unfortunately, the mechanics still require somatic and material components for most D&D spells. Meh.

I always thought it would be cool to play a Fiend Patron Warlock whose spellcasting was just shouting cuss words in Infernal at bad guys lol.

https://img.clipartfest.com/58a944ace65c9a77257b887a91cad688_-kamehameha-by-elvtrkai-dragon-ball-z-clipart-kamehameha_1600-1120.png

I like Arcane Foci, but Material Components are a pain, I like when they can be explained, for example Raise Dead, I would take away that Diamond and put it just as an sacrifice with some worth that must be equal or more expensive than 500gp, be it coins or items (or innocent lives), this offering to the Deities, Spirits of the Nature, etc... is just to show how autruistic you can be, how much you care about someone, or how much that life is worth to you (for Evil and Neutral Deities). I tend to ignore the Mgp components for Spells that aren't gamebreaking like Chromatic Orb.