I had a ton of fun designing the psychic warrior on the stream today. This has been easily the most enjoyable stretch of work since the Happy Fun Hour started. Thanks to everyone who takes part in chat! welcome back to the micros heavy foot
hour I’m your host Mike miles I am the
franchise creative director on Dungeons
& Dragons apologies for being 59 seconds
late today actually it was all my fault
I had a meeting up in Seattle and I was
a little late getting back here down to
lovely Renton for the stream but here I
am and here we are and if you look at
our screen here we’ve got our from last
week our psychic mage so we had a lot of
stuff happened last week I started off
designing a wizard subclass that was
meant to be kind of like the psionic
wizard I didn’t think he would work and
I didn’t think people would be
interested in it but I think what we saw
through chat was there is some interest
in this idea of rather than thinking of
psionics as requiring whole new classes
now that doesn’t mean it can’t be whole
new classes and I think that especially
when we talk about dark Sun we would see
a sign of class but there seem to be
some amount of interest for Dungeon
Master’s the sense of give me the option
to have sign X in my campaign without me
as dungeon master needing to learn an
entire new system sort of the middle
ground approach if you want psionics but
you want it more closely adhering to the
core of the game so you get that flavor
without needing to do too many new rules
it’s kind of we’re looking to build out
here now like I said earlier this
doesn’t mean that like the Mystics going
away there are some settings where I
think it makes a lot of sense to have
soundex as its own thing and really
express a full full range of abilities
that are very much specifically tailored
for it but what we’re doing here
is kind of is this hopefully fun
experiment of going through we built the
a wizard who focuses on soundex and you
know we’re not I’m not gonna say we’re
faking it you know it’s not as what’s
the word everyone uses today
oh I forget there’s somewhere that means
all customized and it’s it’s a buzzword
they use now for everything someone in
chat might pop it up but the anyway it’s
not as super customized or as expansive
as a full system would be but I was
actually pretty happy with how so did
this chassis going over the wizard class
produce something I felt pretty good for
like a bespoke thank you automatic Bisou
de that is the act that I was looking
forward to spoke so this sort of froze a
cap on top of the wizard seem to do we
actually a half decent job of making a
sanic character let’s do a quick recap
what we’d end up doing was since you’re
your focus your subclasses the wizard
comes at level two that’s where this
comes in and what I wanted to do was
really give you really equip the
character with this real feeling of I am
psychic one of the things pointed out
was this idea that at low levels we
really especially the can trip level we
don’t have too many can trips that are
really specifically psionic in nature so
what I have in my notes here is we’d
want a psychic damage can trip some sort
of like mine blast some some ESP can
trip that allows for like very basic
mental connection we have me H and that
kind of basically covers our telekinesis
so that felt like it was covering those
we’d have to add those this job and
designed them but we’ll get to them and
then for the second 6th and 10th and
14th abilities wizard subclasses get
forced lots of things we can drop in we
just take a pretty straightforward
approach and I you know this is
something where I think the
and so maybe some of you have felt this
I see that I have a subclass it has four
positions or I can put things I always
feel this pressure I wanna make four
really unique special things but I think
what this might show is sometimes if you
have two very strong concepts let’s so
essentially at second level we’re giving
you a modified version of detect
thoughts that you can use to get across
this idea that you have ESP then it’s
six level we’re giving you a a similarly
modified version of the spell
telekinesis to give you a feeling of
your telekinetic – very classic sonic
abilities and then really at 10th and
14th we just improve those a tenth your
ESP ability gets better gets more
flexible gives you some more benefits
from using it and at 14 you’re at six
level we have to give you a reduced
version of the telekinesis spell since
it was I believe a fifth level spell at
14th now it is a lower than your highest
spell salt level spell we can up gun
that a bit we can make it a bit more
expanded and I think that really
sometimes for players that’s really all
they need you know if you have very
strong abilities at low levels you can
just improve them at higher levels the
players really enjoy using them rather
than giving them something else that
just complicates things they have a
track maybe it’s not as exciting no just
take the thing people really like and
make it better
so that’s why it was an interesting path
I did not think we’re gonna get there
but I think we did but we’ll see oh and
I also see under psychic and trips like
a force push ability can’t I’m a train I
can’t use on creatures so I kind of felt
we maybe we want something whereas I
can’t trip I can like push people around
or hold them back you use that that
mental telekinesis sort of feel the
clockwork this old this is not a
replacement for the mystic and I I still
right now feel de mystic will be
something we will explore more but I
really want to make sure we’re exploring
it in the context of dark Sun of athis
the world that really prominently
featured Sonics and also within ever on
thinking how would play on never on so
the but the fun thing here is this this
means we can just start playing with
Sonics right now we don’t have to wait
to get entire an entire character class
play tested especially with one that
needs so many essentially spells like
the mystic that’s a lot of work and
that’s kind of what we found to divert
for a second
the Mystics main issue right now is
it doesn’t have a strong identity it’s
kind of doing everything we really got
mystic pizza the Julia Roberts film from
early 90s or late eighties a Miss I am
as old as I look
that the the the the challenge of mystic
is getting that really finely tuned
identity in place that’s really came
through a lot in the play test feedback
I think people generally liked the
mechanics unbalanced they still need to
be refined but there really was we
really got a very consistent message
from the community that there was just
too much going on and I think for
Dungeon Master’s that yeah the Baker is
coming for you the mystic felt like two
or three classes I think it’s exactly it
you know em Dre code mystic is a bad
name actually it’s like point pushed my
glasses actually I was talking to a DNA
historian and that was mystic was the
name that they originally were
considering using for a Senate class way
back in the 70s but that’s also some in
which I think points to mystic just
being too broad what if he really did
zero in on that scientific feel having
this design might allow us to do that
because if you really want soundex but
really grounded in fantasy and the
system the game as is maybe you could
just use these subclasses if you really
want to explore it more and take a very
the more scientific terms the more stuff
especially from the second edition
execution of psionics then maybe that’s
where the mystic can come in and really
be true to that and maybe we can just
call the scion because now we know it’s
a different flavor Sonic’s so I could
sit here and give you a believe me I
could talk all stream long history of
B&E cuz turns out I’m a gigantic nerd I
hope I’m not letting any of you down by
admitting that yeah I don’t know if any
of you guys maybe you were watching to
get tips on haircare and stuff but uh
it’s not really my strength my strength
is nerding out about D&D and there’s no
better way to narrow down a nerd out
about D&D than making stuff for D&D so
I’m gonna scroll down the next page
because we’re gonna work on this week
psychic warrior let’s build a psychic
warrior because I want one
that said this is really the the main
tension between you know Jeremy is the
rules finisher often like I just want to
do stuff because I want it Jeremy
might not be the best thing for the game
yeah but the best for my game so that’s
why I run my own campaigns so this is
something here where I want to be a
psychic warrior because I also someone
in chat recommended last week we do a
warlock pact with an elder brain which
we’re going to do how could we not do
that but I want to do the psychic
warrior next cuz I feel like the scion
and the psychic warrior are kind of like
your foundational abilities for psionics
especially coming out of what we did the
third edition and then I want to start
looking at other classes and seeing
where we can build them now I did think
about which class this should be
attached to and I thought about
attaching it to the monk but I decided
not to because the thing with the monk
when I really when we look at the monk
and how we define it
while the Kensei is a subclass we
presented in Zen if there’s guide to
everything we do really think of the
that being an exception the monks are
generally unarmed so I think there is
space for a monk who has a sonic feel
but I also feel that the monk an idea of
the key Coldfire son to make the soul
life something like that might be
actually might have a really great home
in the monk because it’s a bit more
specific it’s a bit more speaking to
like this idea of a monastic tradition
and it could be something that really
plays well with the monks unarmed
component where that that that sonic
knife ability could play very well off
of unarmed attacks what I wonder if the
psychic warriors do a very very
straightforward take on the class as
presented in the third edition and there
was also the I think was the battle mind
the fourth edition that has had a
similar thing going on
so the exactly north and Kyle points out
monks don’t wield lightsabers but we
will let them do sort of construct
constructed blades and they’re fighting
the because often and I see that all the
time is this idea the psychic warrior
feels like a Jedi if you imagine in Star
Wars the idea that Jedi can they take
tremendous leaps they can throw enemies
away from them they can throw their
lightsaber and rip it and control it
very much you know when Star Wars was
creating the 70s very much tying in this
popular idea of ESP and
mental powers especially when you would
see a lot of science fiction that strays
a little bit in that science fantasy
territory where you know psychic
abilities are real mind-reading and
things like that you know very much as
affecting the world around them so
that’s we’re kind of aiming for yes I
did League Afrin any Blue Oyster Cult
references will win points with me
better than the psychic Wars got a love
like late 70s early 80s heavy metal the
it’s a it’s imperative now you must but
anyways and as I mentioned I think it
was with the disaster barbarian every
ability had to be the name of the
potential metal album okay so let’s get
into it let’s go to our handy dandy
dandy beyond window right over here and
let’s take a peek at the fighter we’ve
already got a fighter we did the warlord
which was like the most complicated
yes Manila Road thank you stabby road
games a falling me on Twitter but free
vanilla road I don’t know if you’d
listen to them before but middle road is
a fantastic band so if you just if I if
I help you discover them then awesome if
you already knew them that even cooler
but I awesome either way the let’s take
a look at our classes we’re gonna slide
over to the fighter so it’s a little bit
interesting we weren’t in a fighter but
this is actually it can be probably a
simpler implementation because the
warlord needed kind of like the the
mystic but you know a lot of stuff built
around it for it to work so in contrast
to the mystic the world had a very clear
identity and I think that the warlords
sort of zone of control mechanic was
something like me the mystic might need
something similar but I guess I don’t
want to just go to mystic let’s talk
about our psychic warrior which I think
psychic warrior totally fits that’s to
me is a very serviceable name tells you
what it is if you know about it from
playing in 3rd edition you’ll get it
battle mine was a cool name from forth
but I just always like psychic worry and
I think I would have called the class
and forth psychic warrior if I could get
away with it but I think at the time
that was like a big there are many wars
fought over names during that time
period like you know the history of
Dungeons and Dragons I originally wanted
to call it the iron jacked which no one
liked I thought that sounded cool like
Jack of Irons kind of thing but anyways
a loss that fight pretty decisively all
right so let’s go to the fighter let’s
take a look at our subclasses now what
we’re going to do is very similar to the
the warlord we’re gonna build this guy
off the elder tonight because I think
this is a spellcaster yeah this is a
character we want to be able to wield
magic essentially which we’re gonna
flavor Sonic’s pretty clearly that’s
where that works we’re not gonna base it
on the brute because I think I mentioned
this before but man you guys hated the
brute you would I could say that the
brute feedback was brutal so let’s not
use it there but which is funny that’s
another entire show to talk about the
brute and what that tells us about what
how people value things but anyway we’re
not gonna go there today because today
we’re talking the second courrier but so
let’s go to the elder tonight now the
big thing that this gives us is our
spell casting this is the really nice
thing about getting using off-the-shelf
parts and like reading up on stuff for
use it what this lets us know is this is
gonna give us a can I make some notes
here because I just what we’re gonna do
is going to talk through the class
features then we’re gonna go look at
spells I’m a hundred percent confident
that we will probably end up making
making this a subclass that has a
dedicated spell list well we’ll just go
through and say here are the spells you
get and if I have time I’ll start doing
that but this is something I’ll just do
it off camera and then just didn’t show
everyone next week because again my
impression is that watching me like
silently page through lists of spells is
probably not the most exciting point a
part of the micros happy fun hour but
hey you never know
maybe you guys will really enjoy that
the so okay let’s just make a quick note
here that here’s our spell casting and
again I was like my bullet point lists
so start it oh wow I used to drive when
whoever worked the help desk whoever I
worked I Drive nuts cuz I’d pry the caps
lock key off of my keyboard and
depending on other stuff is on my
keyboard I would pry other pieces off
too for a long time I used to work and I
was a programmer and I worked in a Linux
environment and so I wasn’t used to
having all these fancy keys at all this
fancy stuff I just needed you know an
open shell window and do my stuff from
there reading my email in pine and all
that but that’s way in the past the and
I’m not gonna start a virus in emacs war
on the stream but if chat if you want to
have one
that’s a great way to fill up the chat
if you’ve got any of those references
then kudos to you for being a tech
person okay so we get starting at third
so you’re gonna get canned trips too at
third I just make these notes I can kind
of member this as I go through and
design the rest of the stuff and then
our spells are another indent this is
something I like to do when I’m working
on a class especially I’m looking at the
class features this just grounds me on
so I can understand where spells are
coming in so one of the things that’s
really important is when you’re getting
spells that’s essentially a class
feature that’s how we treat it a new
level of spells if you look at the
wizard that’s one of the reasons why the
class doesn’t have a lot of class
features outside of its its subclass is
just because getting safe if little
spells that’s really powerful it’s also
decisions for the player to go out now
and familiarize themselves the new list
of spells and then pick a few they want
to be on the cast that’s enough
excitement for a level you know as far
as where we’ve calibrated the game in
terms of complexity away from the table
all right so I’m just gonna note here
the my spell casting here’s what I’m
getting so when I go through and you’ll
kind of see this come through a little
bit in the class features here you’re
getting spells and so the eldritch night
this is another handy reason why it’s
great to build off existing pieces
because these class features are already
built
assuming you’re getting all the power
from your spell slots so I don’t need to
worry about if I was like basing this
off of like the champion in looking at
those class features I might be seeing
well these feel weak yeah they’re weaker
because you’re getting all these spells
that getting these first second third
and fourth level spells these are really
that’s really the meat of what you’re
getting here all right so let’s take a
look so we’ve got each coming at 3rd 7th
10th 15th and 18th fighter since it
normally does not get spells has a lot
of space to fill in with class features
at third level if you’re an elder
tonight you get a weapon bond it’s a
ritual that this is really not
necessarily meant to be a load-bearing L
in the class it allows you over the
course of a short rest to essentially
create a bond with a weapon you can’t be
disarmed if you’re using that weapon
unless you’re incapacitated if it’s on
the same plane
you can summon it as a bonus action
causing to teleport instantly to your
hand you can have up to two bonded
weapons so I think the this is maybe
something what we can do with I don’t
want to just go out and do a weapon bond
immediately but I think what I want to
capture here outside of your spell’s so
one of the things that this class is
gonna be able to do is you know we
talked about a bullet points up top
quick review of those we’re looking for
incredible athletic ability so we’re
looking for the psychic were able to
transcend the bounds of what other
warriors can do really breaking laws of
physics and at least some minor way
psychic themed attacks that make sense
physical feats that astound and I think
our spells will capture a lot of that
but I think that we want to make sure
that we have some of that always going
on in the background so what I thought
about doing here was I want to affect
that’s flashy but not very powerful so
something I would throw in here the
first thought I had was essentially run
on vertical surfaces services surfaces
it’s funny if it sounds similar
nothing like so this is something I want
to start with now this might not be
again there’s what word the challenge we
have here since the spells carry so much
power I want you to be to do something
that’s flashy and fun but isn’t really
very powerful and being able to move
along walls is essentially something
that isn’t covered by spells so I’ve
seen it I think I’ve seen a couple of
suggestions of like hey maybe we keep
some people jump or some extra speed
those are things right now they’re
resting in the spell list so what what I
want to try to do is find things that
aren’t dispel but are still pretty
interesting now when we look at the
spells and that’s why I only do a I’m
gonna go back on it we’re gonna look at
the spells I’m gonna have we have to
look at the spells we don’t have a
choice
but I want to do is come up with a few
simple ideas for things that will make
you really feel like this is really cool
this is different but I’m not just
casting sin the jump spell and I’ve
pointed that at a couple times I’m
always a little disappointed when a
class feature just replicates a spell I
think sorry
I’m disappointed when it replicates a
spell by explaining what the spell does
and building this big wall of text to me
if that happens it’s best
to say you can cast the spell well on
whatever cooldown short rest long rest
or whatever but just lean into it don’t
try to get people to relearn something
you might create a weird gap you might
create some weird exception so you know
lean into the spell list when you when
you assume with the psychic warrior pay
players are saying yes I want to do the
cast spells leaving psionic themed
spells so don’t try to confound them by
trying to giving them a spell that’s not
a spell or vice versa war magic though
here’s something which we might just
steal when using your action cast a can
trip you can make one weapon attack as a
bonus action I think that would be
something that is you know we’ll just
pick up for now it’s serviceable and it
works and it may be less you feel like a
warrior animage a tenth bubble we’re
getting Eldred strike definitely you
learn how to make your weapon strikes
undercut it creatures resist your
spell’s when you hit a creature with a
weapon attack who tries disadvantage and
that saving that makes against the spell
you cast before the end of your next
turn this is another one which is very
useful we’re gonna be competing directly
against it because we need to convince
players but hey elegant right school but
psychic warriors cool also so this is an
area where we run into a little bit of
danger potentially if we make we could
just copy ll did strike but I’m gonna
write that down as an option but now we
might be hitting the point where people
like what’s the point like you just
created a subclass that is the subclass
I already have but the challenge we have
here is I want someone doing a direct
comparison to see why they should choose
one and not the other the what I’m
thinking of doing is Haven 9 to 3 throw
those this idea like once per tak allow
me to add some psychic damage something
like that I think would be cool because
I think this is kind of pointing out
that you are a psychic warrior that
psychic damage is something that you can
do and so what I wanted to do is maybe
something that does additional psychic
damage or that confers vulnerability to
psychic damage I’m a little leery of
just again it’s got to be something that
stands up to Eldred strike disadvantage
and a saving throw is really good now
the one challenge with this is that it’s
a little bit
slow if you’re looking at it
mechanically I hit you then I have to
cast a spell the so I have to wait to my
next turn most likely now I might have a
bonus action spell that might fit in
well with what I want to do but chances
are especially when a third debuff on
you now someone up and shed also
mentioned that and I think this is
something that is interesting about
interesting in a way that can be really
a bug or it could be a feature depending
on you cut it right now the eldritch
Knight doesn’t really care about
intelligence you know it doesn’t really
show up anywhere it’s one of those areas
where a fairly subtle design decision
can really have more inflam influence
than you’d expect on your future design
with the psychic warrior I think we want
intelligence to be important again we go
back to though someone’s comparing the
Elgar’s Knight to the psychic warrior
the second query has clear attribute
dependence on intelligence is that
helping or hurting us it’s another thing
for us to consider so what I want to do
is let’s run through these and see what
we get then let’s take a look at the
spells then we’ll think about what role
we want intelligence to play the you
know it’s a little it’s a little tricky
you know because again you always have
to keep in mind this is one where we
have a very clear forerunner for what
we’re doing so this is design requires a
lot of thought ahead of time millwork
saying intelligence two weapon attacks
you know it’s in interest it’s actually
an idea that I think could work we
already did it now I know we did this
with the Warlock and the hex blade and a
lot of people a lot of people on who
take a very system approach to the game
would tell you that might be too good
that it’s very easy to become single add
single attribute dependent but the thing
is it really works well for that
character in terms of the story I don’t
know if the psychic warrior shouldn’t
look big and bulky the other challenges
that this comes in at third level so
again if you’ve I’ve talked about this
before I don’t like if it’s when you get
a subclass it really changes your
character dramatically almost like a
paper doll perspective imagine like your
first fight at first levels wearing
heavy armor and has got an axe and a
shield then you hit third level you take
let’s say we made a theoretical brawler
subclass and suddenly your characters on
and is punching people all the time I
don’t like that that feel the could the
psychic were throw up and have a return
ask the bassist Eric Baker is coming for
you yeah and I think that’s something
which we might there might be another
thing to to look at a variation on the
weapon bond I’d be a little worried that
it might be too specific to make a class
feature but we’ll see let’s look at 15
to 19th because the one thing I could
say is the 18th double feature is also
in a similar position as war magic and
other strike we’ll get to him in a
second though 15th double arcane charge
you gain the ability to teleport up to
30 feet to an unoccupied space you can
see when use your action surge you can
tell it but before after the initial
action
well this one’s nice because this is
giving us a lot of space to play I don’t
know if we necessarily need action surge
to come online here but I think what
we’d want to do this might be we just
give you a speed bonus and augment your
jump or we really just allow you to move
around pretty freely because you’re
doing these sort of astounding stunts an
18th level the night gets improved war
magic when used your action to cast a
spell you can make one weapon attack as
a bonus action basically as an upgrade
to war magic I think we would need this
now what I want to do here that was give
it a psychic a psychic feel without see
this is a trick we have to make it a
psychic feel about making it just more
powerful the you know what you could say
is like plus speed with contra something
really small like that again the danger
here there’s people look at and go this
is just strictly better what’s what’s
coming before I’m not gonna worry about
finessing this too much right now oh my
god delete the wrong thing the yeah so
this is this is why this is the sort of
thing you run into when you’re making
subclasses that are close to each other
it’s why you generally find we try to
push our design really far apart so the
yeah keeping a cube and 99 pointing at
you keep in mind controlled Mike of mine
spells like dominate monster like how
could these interact with these we’re
kind of leaning on the physical side of
it and we’ve got our 7th and 18th level
abilities sort of getting drawn into the
existing
tonight infrastructure to make it sound
really fancy but I think this is at
least playable one of my things which I
said before is that done I’ve said this
much times but like finished is a very
powerful argument right if something’s
done then at least you just move on
right like if you get it finished that
gives you a sense of the full universe
what’s going on and it lets you go back
and tinker in a more holistic manner so
let’s let’s just kind of pause here and
go you know what the we’ve got stuff
here that’s functional it might not be
exactly right but we’ve got something
here we know where we’re stealing some
things from the Eldridge night there’s
real pressure on us to do that you might
want to go back my priorities from here
would be revised 7th at 7th and 18th
humble in a way that makes them feel
distinct without making them clearly
better or worse and then refine 3rd 10th
and 15th to give us really decided we
want to give you more than athletic
ability here I still I still think
that’s kind of the direction I’d want to
go because I think that means I can do
these things I can be you know these
astounding physical feats without using
my spell slots I can focus those on more
things that I feel more powerful more
like telekinesis that well you won’t get
telekinesis you only get at level four
spells but the things like you know ESP
style effects charm effects so anyways
let’s go here and let’s take a look at
our spells so the spell is probably as
we found last week with us with the
psychic wizard the we didn’t have a easy
breakdown by school of magic they’re
kind of all over the place so what I
want to do is have it all spells using
my handy dandy spell filters here for
DNA beyond I’m just gonna dive straight
into first of all spells because we
already I would just the can trips I
mentioned for the this the psychic mage
are just ones we would need for the
second warrior two so let’s take a look
at my spell level and let’s just take a
look at all of our first level spells
well filter and then let’s take a look
what so what we’re gonna do is just kind
of what I want to do with this stage is
just go through and I’m not trying to
spill the entire spell list what I want
to do is just go and focus on a few
spells that I think would be very
important to make sure that we have
access to
so I want to try to avoid these like are
these very warlock spells like my
magnificent towers of Hadar because that
that’s flavor really meant for the
warlock that’s not quite on point of
what we want but it see catapult let’s
see
choose an object weighing 105 pounds
applies the straight line up to 90 feet
in the direction you choose before it
falls okay that’s cool that feels like a
sort of telekinetic ability let’s throw
that on our list cause fear I think we
want that emotion control I think that’s
close enough here that one make sure we
have that charm person you know do you
think they charm people or to think they
cause fear or to think we don’t care I
think we don’t care I think we’re going
to put down strong person
chromatic orb color spray command is
another one compelled dual I’m writing
that one down but I’m going to open it
up because remember we never assume we
remember correctly but I think this one
it’s an enchantment this might be really
on point compel a creature into a duel
one creature you can see makes the
wisdom save it fails drawn to you now
this is irritating because it does say
divine demand we don’t know what spells
what classes we’ll get this how can we
say it’s divine but the anyways it’s the
detail so yeah forces you to fight that
feels very psychic warrior I’m using
essentially mind control to lock you
down comprehend language is a good
example of a kind of spell I want to put
on there just to make sure that you got
stuff to do that’s at a combat
craig destroy water that doesn’t quite
feel on point on brand for us the let’s
see who else cure wounds no i don’t
think your wounds would belong on there
i could see some healing that you do on
yourself
maybe that’s something for us to look at
for class features myself detection
spell disguise self this guy self is
really to know loot I don’t that’s quite
they’re defined favorite earth tremor
and snaring strike next time you hit a
creature with a weapon tap for the
Savelle ends writhing mass thorny vines
appear this is another one where the
flavor isn’t quite right but it might
make sense for us as a psychic Billy I’m
gonna say no I think conjurations are a
little they feel I don’t see the second
we’re creating
things exhibitions retreat the
transmutation spells in general we’ll
probably see a lot here and what would
be nice is if we saw the schools of
magic of emerge pretty pretty clearly in
terms ones we could just give you false
life yet some I think someone in chat
pointed that one out that’s a great one
yeah invigorate myself make myself Tom
Tucker further follow I think maybe
transportation might come in and this is
the case so in this case I got in like
two more spout pages of spills I’m gonna
stop here real quick good my handy-dandy
adventures I’m going to take a look at
all the transmutation spells at first
level and just see do I just want to
give all of these to you well look at
the wizard ones only to start with and
so catapult so all of these all of these
would fit in so I may just want to say
school now the one thing I do want to do
though wizard spells are not necessarily
tuned for a melee character so let’s
take a look at all of them and what are
we getting here we’re getting good Barry
okay so good Barry I don’t think no I
don’t wouldn’t want you to get good
Barry okay I think these are actually
maybe for strike you move like the wind
until the spell ends your movement
doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks
it’s a one-minute spell concentration
once before the spell ends you can give
yourself advantage on one weapon attack
role so I think just that the presence
of this spell alone tells me I maybe I
don’t want to just go through and say
wizard transmutation spells because this
would be a spell that feels very psychic
warrior yeah and right now L just nights
refer exclusively to the wizard spell
lists are changed Erica they’re good
Barry’s Mike they are good berries
they’re not necessaries for our psychic
warrior okay so at least I have one
pattern there but I think this does tell
me trying to say just by school in class
it’s not gonna work I don’t want to say
all transmutation spells in the game
though because it just this just doesn’t
enough of these if you don’t feel on
point for flavor creators straight
waters a similar thing
I don’t want to just have a blanket
thing all right so let’s just to go back
to our spells advanced filters and let’s
just so what I’m new here is just look
at the rest of the list and see do any
more patterns show up we were on page
two but my sense is we’re gonna have to
like handcraft this spell list
especially retreat that’s kind of there
if I’m familiar fog cloud no I don’t
think see I don’t see the second way of
making things seem with Greece when
guiding bolt hail of thorns hellish
rebuke terrorism that’s an enchantment a
willing teacher you crutches willing
teacher you touch as a Buddha pray Bree
I could see that I’ll throw this on the
list and misspelled so it’s it’s doing
everything wrong it can see hideous
laughter should the psychic warrior be
able to use hideous laughter I think so
I think this is kind of comes into the
case of one things you have to one of
the things I least for me what I find
with myself when I’m working in a
character like this I start to develop
in my mind of image of this character
that’s very useful but there are times
you might find that it gets overly
defining I think I might be not putting
enough thought into maybe the more mind
control II psychic warrior let’s look at
hex – yeah I think I don’t think I’m
paying enough attention day enchantment
spells you place a curse on a creature
you can see within range that doesn’t
really feel like a psychic warrior thing
because of the interaction with curse so
I think I may have to go back so this is
but you know in a hunter’s mark I’m not
crazy about because it’s pretty it’s a
signature spell for the the Ranger so I
don’t want to give it out unless it’s
like a really big decision ice knife can
I don’t think you’re making stuff jump
and long Strider oh right there we had
those in our transportations I won’t
blog writing them down remember we’ve
got our transmutation spells I said I’m
not trying to build the entire list and
just trying to get a sense of like which
spells should be here ray of sickness
sanctuary searing smite um some of these
smite spells should probably be here
I’ll just make a general note
summate spells and let’s go to the
fourth page sing Joey yeah you know what
that might be who shield I definitely
want to throw in there let’s take a look
this is sanctuary sanctuary you have the
right field we want it’s an aberration
you wore to creature within range
against a taxi this is though I think
it’s since it’s 30 feet away that
doesn’t feel quite and this was an
enchantment spell I think I’d be much
more open to it but being 30 feet away
that doesn’t feel like something a
psychic warrior does I’m having a little
trouble with the narrative there sleep
that doesn’t quite feel psychic enough
to me the illusions don’t quite feel
that way
shield of faith we had something that
was more transformational rather than an
aberration again I don’t like the idea
of the psychic we were touching someone
and giving them the bonus it feels like
this is something where see what does di
arranges 60 feets not even touching let
me doing it from across the room that
doesn’t quite feel like a psychic
warrior Tosh is hideous laughter well we
already have to use softer tensors
floating disk
I don’t think you’re making stuff smites
we’ve got thunder wave that’s probably
gonna be our signature text all kind of
see there’s a telekinetic wave unseen
serving I don’t think you make stuff the
unseen servants not really a thing it’s
more like a little magical force and so
yeah and then Zephyr strike and I throw
this one down here just remember so what
we’re seeing here is a combination of
spells that are there’s some amount of
mind control
just Antigua mentioned something a
suggestion I think yeah suggestion would
fit in well with this this character
because I think this is the mind control
I’m seeing in my mind for the psychic
warrior and maybe understanding mind
control by a psychic worries making me
say this terrible joke but the is this
idea that it’s not there is definitely a
sense if I can I can alter your moods I
can change who you are and I can change
who I am I can sort of transform myself
I don’t see this as a character who kind
of like the shield of faith example
shows yes you can skin it differently
but I don’t picture the psychic warrior
from across the room pointing at an ally
and going okay now you have an AC bonus
what I’d see instead is something like
I can deflect attacks that are meant for
you things like that like I could
potentially see this character using
shield and other characters and that’s
something which I’m gonna throw in here
is my other thing you know that might be
something which is fun enough that I
could just make it a class feature and
the nice thing about it is its power
neutral that’s the great thing about it
it’s really good
don’t get me wrong it’s very powerful
but I’m still charging with spell and
I’m forcing you to decide I can protect
my friends or I can track myself because
this is taking up my reaction and it’s
taking up a spell slot the and Draco has
mentioned you know the palin is a
template might better fit you know and
that’s actually something i was thinking
of because the paladins access to to the
standard smite smite ability but i think
there’s just too much baggage there with
the oaths and the codes that go with
them that just didn’t feel right for
this class the oh and major might be
another one Levi No thank you for the
suggestion to I don’t know if I think a
lot of characters will won’t take it
though just wear armor but it’s still
useful to have that as an option
so the yeah I don’t know a piece
Centennial you know spending reaction to
cast self react and spells and other
people we liked we try to avoid
open-ended abilities like that and in
the game because it puts like you’re
kind of seeing this here right now we
try to avoid the design that is going to
constrain future design so what that
would mean is whenever we did us a
reaction spell that had the target
itself we’d have to say hey what happens
if you cast this on someone else so
that’s an area where if we’re breaking a
very fundamental rule the game we try to
be very specific and for an instance in
this case we might give you a specific
list of spells that you could do that
with therefore on one hand you could
argue well it’s a little disappointing
if you do some more some new spells they
don’t just glide into this effect
seamlessly but we’re willing to trade
that away for the the ease of play of
not having to figure out as a dungeon
master wait a sec this the spell was
clearly not designed with this ability
in mind but yet they’re trying to
interact what happens next
so the major armors are ritual the I’ll
leave out yeah that’s a that’s an
interesting idea
I froze it on here and that’s a good
example what I was just talking about
we’ll just say hey you can cast some
spells you can’t normally house it’s
ritual will let you cast as ritual but
the end we would be specific not mage
hand that would be terrible ritual
because it’s just a can’t trip I guess
if you wanted to when it’s been an hour
whatever takes the yeah date and date of
the swing you know it is people play
classes because of the story elements
the this is a very important
philosophical thing which we have
embraced the player who can pull things
apart and reskin Andrey flavor that’s a
very advanced player it’s not someone
who needs a lot of support from us for
if you’re in that category what we try
to do is just give you pieces that you
can play with but we’re always gonna
give them wrapped up in a really
distinctive story element because for
all our other users that story element
really helps them understand it grasp it
and then really that’s what sparks that
interest because our feeling is if
you’re used to hacking then you can just
ignore that flavor you know there are
people would say you know and I’ve heard
this feedback from the community
like hey stop I don’t need this the
world detail around the hears that you
have this stuff what works I don’t need
that and yeah it’s right you don’t need
it
right but a lot of other players really
enjoy it and when I say you I mean like
the specific person giving you that
feedback and it’s one of the challenges
we have is we need to make things that
speak to enough of the audience that a
thing we make has a home but it’s very
rare that we make something where we’re
like everyone’s gonna like this
you know I guess we said free cake for
everybody but then maybe someone is
trying to watch their weight like I
don’t if we think so the free cake now
I’m off my diet right couldn’t resist
right even things that seem very benign
can you know can do that if you look at
zen affairs guide to everything i think
is the best example so far but both we
made where you it shows the real of the
range what we’re building and i think in
my mind
Dilek Afrin yes bring up the brood again
the Zan’s shows what we were trying to
do with that book was my idea behind it
when i was first thinking of it and as
it worked with jeremy and chris and the
rest of the team was this idea of if
people if any
indeedy and we’re player looked at this
book inside I really like 60% of this
book and I’m gonna use it like a lot the
other 40% I don’t know right then I feel
like we’re hitting it like that would
mean we’ve got a really wide audience
the name appendices in the back Penda
C’s in the back are a great example of
that a lot of people especially if
you’re a longtime dungeon master you
maybe already have naming resources
you’ve built up or you just used to
coming up with names off top of your
head and then so do you like I don’t
really need this but for a beginning
player a player who’s more just focus on
look I just play I like to make up my
character a dungeon master whose world
building really doesn’t like you know
straight toward toward naming things
like that who is more focused on plot
things like that like that’s just you
know not a strength of ayres they you
know we’ve seen really positive response
from those players and so you’re going
to see a lot of stuff where some people
look at and go I don’t need this but
what we want to is make sure if we give
you anything 60 Plus percent of you are
happy to have it and want it so anyway
there’s a very long depression thing to
get into this idea that everything has
its place but not everything we make is
gonna appeal to every person and we’re
okay with that so anyway we’ve got our
class here so I think let’s take a look
back now that we have a kind of a
profile for our spells
what we want is transmutation leading
offense we want is mind control we want
to get make sure we get that sort of
telekinetic field and it calls like the
brute force movement of other things
especially like attack spells we want
you to augment your physical abilities
so this seems to be the kind of the the
categories and I’m gonna throw in a
little summon okay transformation so
this kind of I think overall is getting
at what the nature of the spells are so
now we can go back and take a look at
our class features and I think yeah like
this the casting shield and others
that’s really fun major armors ritual
kind of now you know this is fun this is
a great place to be because I have more
things that I want to do then I have
space for which is great I think what I
want to do is combine shield and mage
armor into one thing this run
vertical surfaces thing I am always a
fan of because it’s just fun but maybe
we’ll make it come in at low at a higher
level
I really like the utility of giving you
spells and then giving you new ways to
use them that to me feels like not only
is it simpler for a player to learn but
it also gives you something that’s
pretty focused on hey I have these
spells now they’re kind of like my
abilities I’m expressing them the so
let’s do this but ya know I’m casual and
others and Mage Armor has a ritual we’ll
just throw that in there might not be we
finally go for but I like that idea of
the interplay between the spells with
more magic looking at these ones here
you know casting a can trip and swinging
Europe and that’s really good that’s
definitely something that is that’s a
load-bearing part of your character in
terms of your power but I want to go in
a very different direction I think what
I want to say here is because we’re
talking about a psychic character the I
think that the gravity shift ability
someone you’re sorry just missed your
name in chat asked about that but I
think we’re gonna put that at higher
levels and let you just do it all the
time I made me give you a speed boost
let’s get there first but I want to do
here is do what I’m calling splash
psychic damage so what I’m picturing is
with attack or spell deal psychic flash
target so basically if I’m shooting to
fight someone I’m also I can I can name
a very simple way to put this would be
one target of spell or attack take
psychic damage
I think that’s giving you a nice psychic
feel it’s also getting across the damage
output we need from the seventh level
ability in a way that’s more flavorful
than just picking in psychically a
Scholastic the let’s see then I’ll just
strike here so this was the ability that
let you give disadvantage on saving
throws I think what we want to do here
looking at are other things we’ve got
going on here what if we did the same
thing goes it’s very useful this
character is using some nice shut down a
bit
but I just don’t want to just copy that
so what if instead would know what have
we put a self-healing ability here I
mean that feels like a very psychic
warrior thing you can just heal up you
get some extra reserve to keep yourself
going mmm
I think I know what that one’s stand
right here what I want to be throw here
is ignore gravity I don’t know what that
is but this is the psychic ability to
just move I don’t want to just give you
a fly speed cuz I just feel like in fly
speed but doing something here where you
can just
oh yes yes self-healing oh that’s right
we already have a second one so let’s do
okay what if we did something with with
with second wind let’s go look up second
one before we start tinkering with it
remember we always look up things but I
have it I have an idea for something
which was probably broken so I’m
probably not gonna do it but let’s take
a look
that’s very funny I was about to like
let’s just redesign second wind because
the fight already has that so one of the
nice things about second wind is it’s a
bonus action so on your turn you can use
a bonus action TV game he points equal
to 1 to 10 plus or Foe fighter level
let’s do this with I’m gonna call it
psychic wind though it’s not
that’s what colleagues that sounds kind
of weird what if we did this what if we
improved you’ll know that’s lame no no
no let’s do this I don’t I don’t think
we can give you a spell back I think
that’s too good that was my first thing
was when you take a second wind I don’t
know what if we know what if we’d in
place of healing get a spell slop ok
here’s what I can do i that looking at
that one D 10 plus your fighter level if
we do the math very quickly a tenth
level that’s a 1 that’s 11 to 20 points
of healing I think that we can 100% give
you a spell slot back the because I
think that that will work math why is it
go up in level in actually know what I’m
gonna do I’m gonna say in addition to
Ealing
I think I’m gonna give you spell slot
back the yeah 10 10 to 20 points in our
chakra that’s more than cure wounds so I
think we might be able to do something
with this I’ll map it don’t worry about
it but I like the idea of giving you a
spell blitz lot back because and I feel
like that feels psychic to me this idea
that I can go into a trance for a moment
and I regained some of my energy and
maybe have to require some some
finessing spell slot for short rest that
might be a little too good if you look
at the wizard the wizard has arcane
recovery and that’s kinda basically like
writes the book on how those abilities
will typically look pop over that was it
real quick we saw so taking a look at
arcane recovery this yeah this is
essentially are sort of like gold
standard for these abilities when your
each second level nope that’s arcing
tradition sorry arcane recovery this is
the feature that gives you your spells
back and in just one arcane tradition
you have learned to regain some of your
magical energy by studying your spell
book once per day when you once per day
when you finish a short rest important
thing it’s only once per day you don’t
you can’t quite finesse this you can
choose expended spell slots to recover
the spell slots can have a combined
level of this equal to or less than half
the irizar level and none can be six
level or higher you see this a lot we
really are pretty rabid about letting
you only cast six level spells and
higher once per day so this challenge
here is that there does require some
finesse in the players part you can only
use this once so you can’t for instance
it’s not a pool of points you can expend
across multiple short rests you
basically get one so the but this one’s
pretty generous and what it’s giving to
you so I think saying that with
essentially once a short rest when you
second win you get a spell slot back
that’s not crazy we’ll have to take a
look I think it’s gonna be restricted to
first and maybe like it 17th or higher
it gets to be a second double spell slot
the nice thing about this though since
it’s a bonus action you can use during a
fight if you want to do something like
use a false life Exodus just retreat you
can kick in one of those buffs basically
for free once for short rest which I
like and shields also cool boy this is a
good spell
might be one of the most for its pound
per pound one of his powerful spells in
the game and especially we can let you
cash fuel than others then your Wow
that’s even nicer I can get a I can
I get an extra shield protect my friends
that’s kind of where the battle mine
flavors coming in fourth but I might and
forth was it was a very defensive
character so that’s some of that flavors
getting him through there see if you’re
playing a battle night and forth this is
maybe starting to get some that flavor
okay so fifteenth we’ve got you ignoring
gravity then an eighteenth this is when
we say when you cast a spell you’re
getting but you know what could we just
say no I don’t think we can say with
casting a spell at seventh because then
you’re gonna be stacking it on top of
like you’re really powerful spells so I
think the this is gonna have to be on
camera
the something we have throw in here the
you know we could just let you write
grant psychic vulnerability with attack
or spell failsafe bill so basically my
attacks up on I can throw this on them
so basically I’m gonna it’s probably any
short rest cooldown but if I hit someone
or throw a spell on them then I can give
them vulnerability to psychic damage
which means the all psychic party the
old sanic party is pretty potent this is
your warrior and he’s coming pretty well
with the with the psychic mage the all
right so the one thing I think we are
missing is yeah am draco see a force
push with attacks that is something
which that’s another really see there’s
so many good ideas here that would be a
fun thing to throw it first level the
third level but I kind of like these two
I’m gonna bake these in here too cuz I
have other sub classes to build and I
don’t want to use all of our good ideas
at once but that’s also another fun
thing yeah what I’m always looking for
third and this is one thing that’s give
me a little pause about these third
level abilities I want something that’s
a bit more activated all the time rather
than something that’s dependent so I
think I am gonna put the
use this in place of major mirza ritual
cuz i do want something that’s not super
high-powered but is on all the time to
make you feel like a psychic warrior I’m
a little worried we might lose some of
that flavor but this has built but and
then this is probably maybe an op gun
version of it maybe this even lets you
phase through things and stuff like that
again it would require cooldown now
nothing would make DMS tear their hair
out and yell at me more than saying
players can just walk through dungeon
walls the oh and mad hatter him a
levitated weapon attacks melee weapons
arranged that is something which we want
to throwing weapons so this in here this
almost feels like there might be enough
stuff in here that okay now I’m getting
more ambitious than maybe I should I
could see the psychic warrior getting a
set of stunts that you could pick from
that are about my minor psychic
abilities that we could just so many of
these are really power neutral being
able to throw your great sword we gave
it a 30-foot range it’s a great example
of something which the system would see
that is entirely power neutral right we
really don’t know we slash don’t slash
shouldn’t really shouldn’t tax you for
using a range weapon versus close in if
anything closing is better because I’m
exerting my zone of control there might
be enough ideas here that this might be
a little bit like the warlock and that
it just gives you access to maybe some
sort of town like a talent system but
just you know I don’t want a list of
forty but there might be like ten ideas
here but if I’m getting a talent or two
a third and then a talent or to it like
fifteenth you know it’s not a lot but it
might be just enough fifth like I you
let players sculpt their character a
little bit more the OH
stabby rogue games what if all classes
could pick in the same list of psychic
stones that max you might be a fun way
to bring these things into their own
little self-contained universe that
would be fun cuz then you would know
it’s like a static class has this
distinctive thing that brings
all together that’s cool idea okay well
leave it there
we’re at five of this is our traditional
stopping point I’ll give me an extra
fifty seconds to make up for running
late today again sorry about that the
we’ve actually been early I think a
couple times but the in any case this
though has been a ton of fun to work on
so we’ve got our basic skeleton what
structure were looking for in spells we
kind of know like okay beyond the lip up
her spells that match this kind of
description but it’s very it’s a vague
enough description they’re gonna bring a
lot of people in it’s not just one
person we’re looking for
we’ve got some come class features here
we’ve got a very potentially interesting
idea for extending this stuff across
multiple character classes in a way that
is really gives you a sense of okay
these are the psychic subclasses here’s
something they share so that’s that’s
fun that’s nifty in a kind of this is
coming out you know not quite what I
expected but like better than I expected
so next so we’ll do some more refining
work on the psychic warrior I might just
jump ahead and take a look at the monk
or the warlock next week I think if we
hit embracive about four classes I think
we’re good for now I don’t I don’t to
turn this into the Mike Romero’s happy
fun psionics hour for like the next
eight months but it’s a good sign that I
feel like I could write I think I could
almost do this rummy character class the
so thanks for stopping in thanks for
watching I’ll do some more refining work
on this so we’ll tackle um see monk or
warlock hit me up on Twitter on the
comments when this gets posted to
YouTube I guess you can also throw up in
chat I think I if I go back I think our
episode capture captures the chat to the
the yeah we could use like that tons of
suggestions here it’s always fun and
this is something we should probably
look at maybe getting this up in the DM
z– guild somehow too so people can
start playing with it because I’m seeing
definitely a lot of ideas in chat let’s
see a lot of suggestions for monks we
see a monk or warlock we’ll see okay
anyways thanks everyone for tuning in
and I’ll head out and again hit me up on
Twitter where I am Mike Morell one word
comments on the YouTube video or just
comments here in shacks I believe if I
go back and look I can do a quick count
hi very highly scientific you know plug
in all the numbers figured it all out
it’s been a ton of fun thanks for
joining me and I will
Hach everyone next week
[Music]— Mike Mearls (@mikemearls) May 9, 2018