I’m feeling happy with psionics at this stage – concept is that a psionic cantrip creates a virtual construct that you then use as-is for cantrip-level power, or augment with spell slots to achieve greater effects.
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
Example: As an action I use Psionic Eye, a cantrip that gives me a perception buff and uses concentration. I can burn a 1st level slot for the eye to reveal invisible or hidden creatures within 10 feet of me for 1 minute.
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
The summoning cantrip creates your imaginary friend that has limited abilities, but with spell slots you can turn it into a nightmare beast that claws peoples minds to shreds.
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
For my design approach, I like it when I have a firm conceptual grip on what a thing does and how it differs from everything else. It makes design much easier, as I can envision the concept in the world and imagine how it might function.
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
Are psionics something that the game still needs though? In 2e it was a fun alternate caster system which felt novel but we have so many different versions of casters now. Psionics never felt ‘fantasy’ enough, even if it does have 25 years of momentum in the game. That’ll be a question for testing, but we do need it for settings like Dark Sun.
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
Fair. It is essential there. I take it Dark Sun is coming back then? Some day…
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
Are Psionics going to be limited to the Mystic class, or available to other spellcasting classes? Want to get psion design right, then will look at psionic subclasses for other classes
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
Just hypothetically, what might a few roguish psionic archetypes look like? Purely for curiosity and A MIGHTY NEED pic.twitter.com/cNfVRVxFd8
— James Robbins (@Jay_flamel) October 3, 2018
first cut – a rogue with access to teleportation and telekinetic psioinic disciplines
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
how soon do you think psionic classes will be on UA? Hard to say – depends on how well the design comes together
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
Will they Psionc points or spell slots? I’ve heard of them until recently. slots to start with
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
So is it safe to say that unearthed arcana psionic mechanics are pretty much scrapped? Mostly – will pick through to find stuff, but the feedback was just too strong against it to push ahead on that path. However, I want to capture the concepts covered there as much as I can.
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018
So psionic is a type of magic correct? As in, this cantrip summon could still be dispelled? that's the starting point
— Mike Mearls, but Spooky (@mikemearls) October 3, 2018