What Mystic Disciplines are your 'must haves'

[Harrumphreys]

Hello all. The most recent iteration of the Mystic class has a staggering amount of options available to it, which are not limited by particular Mystic Order. This means that by level 6-8, two Mystic characters that started out dedicated to two different Orders may well have some Discipline overlap due to the sheer utility or strength of certain Disciplines.

What Disciplines would you consider as 'must haves' by level 8?

For me, I'm not too sure.

Order of the Avatar
-Mantle of Command
-Mantle of Joy
-Nomadic Chameleon
-Telepathic Contact
-Psionic Restoration
-Psionic Assault

The two Mantles seem the strongest for my playstyle and I am obliged to elect two from Order of the Avatar at character creation. Nomadic Chameleon seems strong if I can get Stealth proficiency from a Background, and a good chance to avoid deadly encounters so that my Mystic will live to see higher levels. Telepathic Contact seems amazing for manipulating people, which to my mind has the greatest payback when spending Psi Points as you multiply your investment by making your enemy spend theirs and may allow you to 'punch above your weight' (e.g Occluded Mind on that enemy Ogre to convince him that the Goblins that he is sharing his campfire with intend to rob him as soon as his back is turned, so he decides to wallop them all). Psionic Restoration is grabbed just in time for Avatar of Healing synergy, and Psionic Assault finally grants some powerful combat options when your Mystic has the Psi Points to fuel it (though Mastery of Air reads as amazing also).

What are your 'must have' Disciplines?

[Sicarius Victis]

Since I tend to prefer "martial" or "gish" characters to pure casters, either Psionic Weapon or Nomadic Arrow is a must for me. Along with those are Celerity, to abuse action economy, Psionic Restoration, because it's just a waste not to accept that healing, and Third Eye, because sometimes your normal senses just aren't quite enough. Nomadic Step is another common one, as I tend to enjoy teleportation, as well as Nomadic Mind, just so that you're never caught unprepared. IC, at least. OoC, there's no telling just how prepared you may or may not be.

[jaappleton]

I forget the name, but the Nomad one that's all about movement.

That one.

[WickerNipple]

None. I banned the entire class.

[jaappleton]

WickerNipple

That may very well be the best username I've ever seen. Simply astounding. I applaud you!

Why'd you ban the class? A dislike of Psionics, or a dislike of the mechanics of the class?

[Sir cryosin]

My favorites are giants growth, psiconic assult, telepathic contact,

[WickerNipple]

Why'd you ban the class? A dislike of Psionics, or a dislike of the mechanics of the class?

I've disliked how they've chosen to implement Psionics since 2e and felt this was a particularly poor attempt. Taking one class and giving them a grab bag of everything in the game is just a way to make munchkins drool.

[jaappleton]

I've disliked how they've chosen to implement Psionics since 2e and felt this was a particularly poor attempt. Taking one class and giving them a grab bag of everything in the game is just a way to make munchkins drool.

Do you think it'd work better to split the Mystic into, say, a 'Fighter' style that has a narrow scope, a 'Mage' class that has a narrow scope, etc? To divide the Mystic into separate, defined roles?

Because I honestly agree with that. As it is, its simply too well rounded, capable of doing too much in a single class.

[Harrumphreys]

Do you think it'd work better to split the Mystic into, say, a 'Fighter' style that has a narrow scope, a 'Mage' class that has a narrow scope, etc? To divide the Mystic into separate, defined roles?

Because I honestly agree with that. As it is, its simply too well rounded, capable of doing too much in a single class.

Don't you think that Mystics will naturally fall into traditional battlefield rolls from players choosing complimentary Disciplines that synergise? Front line Mystic, shooty stealth Mystic, blaster space lasers Mystic, etc. I don't think you'll find too many characters that excel at every aspect(?).

Despite what I said in my opening post about optimised Mystics having overlapping 'must have' Disciplines (e.g. Psionic Restoration, Telepathic Contact), I feel that you'll have distinct specialised sub-classes within Mystic rather than a character that excels with everything.

It's certainly a class that you have to ask follow-up questions about when you find out someone is playing one:

DM - "What class are you playing?"
P1 - "Rogue"
DM - "Okay. Shortbow and stealth, right."
P2- "Paladin"
DM - "Uh huh, armoured and smites with big sword"
P3 - "Monk"
DM - "Nimble guy who punches things lots, sure"
P4 - "I'm playing a Mystic."
DM - "Ah. What type of Mystic?"

[WickerNipple]

Do you think it'd work better to split the Mystic into, say, a 'Fighter' style that has a narrow scope, a 'Mage' class that has a narrow scope, etc? To divide the Mystic into separate, defined roles?

Because I honestly agree with that. As it is, its simply too well rounded, capable of doing too much in a single class.

That's one possibility that I'd approve of. Another would have been to give psionic archetypes to existing classes.

But I apologize for de-railing the thread. This mystic just really bugged me.

[Steampunkette]

That's one possibility that I'd approve of. Another would have been to give psionic archetypes to existing classes.

But I apologize for de-railing the thread. This mystic just really bugged me.

Psychic Warrior (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rJAtCYXpx)
Psionicist (http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/rkvArFQTe)

*innocent whistle*

For my part?

Nomadic Step: Lots of teleportation options.
Psionic Assault: A little bit of unavoidable Psychic Damage is great.
Psychic Disruption: Why, yes, I would like to blind my targets with no saving throw to avoid it.

The powers in PD are a -teensy- bit on the "Too Strong" side, so I houserule them to allow saving throws to end the concentration effect at the end of each turn, but not avoid it in the first place. That, essentially, becomes the thing that separates Psionics from Magic: Guaranteed Status Effects but not Guaranteed Damage. Most "Damage + Effect" things mages get deal half damage on a failed save and don't apply the status effect.

[Harrumphreys]

I should've started the thread with a poll feature. Lots of nods for Nomadic Step so far!

[nilshai]

Psychic Assault (focus for cantrip damage, Magic Missile, AoE Stun - nice)
Bestial Form (Armor, Fly Speed)
Mastery of Air (summon, cheap defensive ability, another damage type and early AoE) or Mastery of Wood
Nomadic Step (teleport, cheap defensive ability that stacks with Mastery of Air)
Nomadic Mind (depending on party composition)

Of course various other defensive abilities are with other disciplines and may or may be not better, depending on the given campaign.

[jaappleton]

Any Mystic whose race doesn't have innate Darkvision can benefit a lot from focusing on Mastery of Light and Darkness. Plus, it gets a tiny Sunbeam for 5 points, which is pretty cool. Worth strongly considering for any non-Darkvision race, like VHuman.

[Mortis_Elrod]

i personally woouldnt have a mystic without mastery of the force. But all my mystics somehow become jedi, so there's that.

[jaappleton]

i personally woouldnt have a mystic without mastery of the force. But all my mystics somehow become jedi, so there's that.

Pfft.... Any true optimizer knows to make them into Sith :smalltongue:

[SharkForce]

bestial form gives a variety of fairly nice, long-lasting, no-concentration buffs. i would place it very high on my list, personally.

[Scathain]

Less "must have" from an optimization standpoint and more of a "I play a lot of necromancers so anything related is a 'must have' ", Mastery of Wood and Earth and Mastery of Light and Shadow. Shadow minions on a Wu Jen with Animate Dead IMO makes up for lack of Create Undead, and MoWaE gives a cool transmutation/necromancy vibe with its warp and animate features.

I have a player who took these two to fit the whole "power to raise the dead" trope on his Soulknife Dark Jedi.

[Asmotherion]

-Psionic Rewrighting of this as a Sorcerer Origin :3

[joaber]

Really depend of build. The one I did get:
Mastery of air - to many usefull stuff, but cloak of air is a must have in melee
Crowd of rage - the focus combined with cloack of air can make you the tank of party, great if have more melee characters. In my case I did an order of avatar mystic so I got 19 AC and give desadvantage for attacks agaist me and any character close to me
Mastery of light and shadows - amazing for ranged attackers, darkness+devil's sight for just 1 pp, and shadow beasts is great too. But I don't have that since my build work with crowd of rage+cloak of air.
Nomadic mind - best non combat focus, you can be proficient in any skill or tool for free
Telephatic contact - so many good thing in and out combat.
Psionic restoration - for an avatar this means 1d8+5 heal for just 1 pp, 2d8+10 for the cost of 1st lvl spell. Restore life is the same as revivify without the 300po cost.

The rest is party depedent, I get mantle of command, because this work great with the DPR guys. If you ready command to strike to use in the turn of the ally, he can trigger his extra attack. Cordinated movement help a lot to remove allies from your AoE powers or position allies in where they should be.
Mind storm is my AoE, maybe I change in lvl 9.

[furby076]

If you were to play an Awakened Mind mystic (v-human) - what's the must-have abilities (in order you would take them as you gain levels)?

At what level would you stop going mystic levels, or would you go all 20 (I am a fan of going all 20, but realize mystic doesn't gain more powers at a certain point).

What feats? I was thinking Tough or Alert - though not sure which.

[Ugganaut]

Psionic restoration - for an avatar this means 1d8+5 heal for just 1 pp, 2d8+10 for the cost of 1st lvl spell. Restore life is the same as revivify without the 300po cost.


That feature is worded so you don't get the buff to heals(ally), but they get the buff even if its not you thats doing the heal - as long as the heal comes from a psionic discipline. So would work well with two psions in the party.

I find it hard to pick "must haves", which is why I like this version of the Mystic - if something is standing out above the rest, its probably over powered, or the rest are under powered. It needs a lot of polish, but there are so many cool disciplines, it's hard to pick. If you have a character concept, like an elementalist, or ranged stealth, then the choices are easier. A lot of the disciplines have overlapping stuff, like a mobility power, a defensive power, offensive etc. Some powers are better than others, but I don't see a lot of gimped options.

If I'm playing a non-darkvision(as mentioned above), then Master of Light and Darkness or Third Eye is a must for me.

Psionic Restoration doesn't feel like the others, its all the healing/revivify wrapped up into a single discipline. For that reason I think it should be locked to one archetype, or even made features in an archetype. I don't feel as strongly as those that say the Mystic can do everything, but Psionic Restoration feels like giving the Life Domain to wizards - wrong. So personally I'd like to see the key elements of each archtype locked. Psionic Restoration might be locked to Avatar and Immortal, or just limited to healing only, no restoration or revivify. Teleportation to Nomad.
Like Wizard and Warlock, that are both arcane, but not every spell crosses over - a lot do though.

Got side tracked.

[skaddix]

Honestly there are so many good options...

Now some are so OP that they are probably universal.

Stuff like Beastial Form: Free AC and Flight with no concentration. Flight is awesome but you probably wont want to concentrate it on as your first option. The rest of the stuff is okay but one ability carries it.

Mastery of Air: I mean this is good overall but it has one ability that make it worth on its own. Disadvantage to all attack rolls against you. And if they are melee and they miss you make them hit themselves. The first part alone is powerful the whole package. Also gives fligth

Psychic Assault: go ham unstoppable guaranteed psychic damage.

[Syll]

I can't imagine a world where my mystic wouldn't have Nomadic Step.

Rather fond of Mastery of Air as well

I think everything else could be negotiable for me, but I would likely have Psionic Restoration and Pyschic Assault. The fact that Mystic is such a generalist is a large part of its appeal for me.

[Harrumphreys]

Nomadic Step and Mastery of Air seem very popular. Don't people think that the movement powers of each Discipline overlap slightly?

[joaber]

Nomadic Step and Mastery of Air seem very popular. Don't people think that the movement powers of each Discipline overlap slightly?
The reason to take mastery of air isn't the movement, this i just an small bonus. So they can work fine togheter.

At high level, nomadic mind+nomadic step+ precognition can make you and the party invade the BBEG room by his back, entire party get a surprise round and act first after that round. For expensive 21 pp.

[Arcangel4774]

Nomadic mind functions as a coverall for every skill, tool, and language with it's focus. Just drop and refocus when you want something new. Otherwise i imagine psionic restoration as a decent heal yo be found frequently. the combo between iron durability focus (+1), bestial form tough hide ( +2), and order of avatar (shield proficiency (+2)) gives a lot of bonus to AC that can easily be overwhelming.

Edit: mastery of wood and earth can do the same as iron durability

[Harrumphreys]

Okay, I suppose the next question would be what synergies exist between Disciplines?

E.g Tough Hide with Iron Durability for a +3AC

[Iamcreative]

Im going to throw third eye in here. Xray vision 4lyfe