Monday, May 28, 2018

Psionic Sub Classes for 5E



I've been watching The Mike Mearls Happy Fun Hour, lately. He's been showing off some of his design process a lot of it full of idea boards just tossed into a word document and him speaking about the story and feeling he wants represented in play. This is a messy process and it is inspiring to see such a prominent lead do this kind of work in public in an hour. He doesn't always finish what he starts in an hour but he makes a fair bit of progress. A few episodes ago he started looking at creating a psion like sub-class for Wizards. He made enough progress and had enough potential he went on to do this for the fighter and now the monk.


But, enough about how I feel about the videos. The import part is that it has inspired me to think about design. Largely in part because during a few episodes Mike mentioned that there was a design element for Barbarians thought of as the Nova Barbarian. The idea being when the Barbarian stops raging there is an affect that happens. What the design team found out was that it prompted players to enter rages and then end them the next turn to get that effect. This wasn't satisfying and didn't really feel like a barbarian tactic, so it was scrapped. I was thinking about this concept and wanted to try and make it work. That got me on the path to thinking of a barbarian that rages and while raging builds up a pool of damage that is dealt to everyone around her at the end of the rage. The longer the barbarian rages the more damage she will be able to do. But, I couldn't figure out a theme for it until Mike started the psionic sub class series. It made a lot of sense for this Nova Barbarian to be psionic themed. In addition it got me thinking of other classes and concepts to explore. So before showing off my Psionic Barbarian Path, the Path of the Telekinetic. I want to outline a few other sub class and psionic ideas in general. Mostly so when Mike beats me to developing them I can say I tried.

TelekineticistBarbarian - This class' psionic power is fueled by raw emotion. They are the most terrifying kind of wild talent because thing move and jump around them and often they will never control or understand their power. Those that do are terrible and dangerous because they've learned to tap into their internal turmoil and inflict it physically upon the world.


Mind Spiker - Rogue - This rogues sneak attack does psychic damage. At higher levels it causes confusion and maybe even lets them interrogate the minds of people outside of combat. In addition the mind spiker might even be able to render himself invisible to observers by removing the memory of his presence all together. The mental link to interrogate people might be the kind of thing that is a non-combat ability that the Mind Spiker achieves by "pickpocketing" the mind of another and allowing scrying like abilities on that person.


Mental Mage - Wizard - Mike already covered this and it might be better to run with his idea if it is ever released as an Unearthed Arcana. However I think there might be more options or space to play in particularly if this mage is about fear effects, illusions, and confusion, rather than the psychic damage/thought theft that Mike took the subclass in.


Psychic Surgeon - Bard (specialized in mind & body) - The bard already borders on psionic powers because this class is often about influencing emotions. But taken to an even higher level this class is so in tune with the effects of mind over matter that it can heal the body or tear apart the fragile minds of those that oppose it.

Etheric Summoner - Druid (summons the essence of nature) - This "druid" is attuned to the spirit of nature such that it understand the mind of wild beasts and plants and is able to bring into reality the truest essence of the form. This druid would be able to summon not a bear but instead it summons the essence of a bears rage manifested in a form that perfectly fits that beasts emotion. Or perhaps the druid can cloak herself in the essence of a lionesses' stealthy strike granting her a form and powers beyond just becoming a lion, then after the strike has been made the druid channels the stability and resilience of the spirits in the rocks around her to protect her for the rest of a fight.


Wild Talent - If the design encourages adding some "psionic" abilities that are generic across all the psionic classes or even a pool of abilities that are psionic and not specificall exclusive to class this would make them available to everyone in addition it might be nice if a player wants to add more psionic abilities to their class.


As you can see these classes above are still germinating ideas. But I hope they interest people enough to want to play them and also to want to make their own ideas. However this post has grown long enough that I think the Barbarian should in it's own post. That will be posted this afternoon once I have cleaned it up a little.

Path of the Telekinetic Rage

As I mentioned in my previous post here is the for the Path of the Telekinetic Rage. And please if you play this or like the idea but think it needs improvement let me know. If you hate the idea please don't let me know. I am not sure I want to deal with that kind of vitriol the internet can produce here.

Barbarian: Path of the Telekinetic Rage
This document presents a personally created and playtest quality option for the Barbarian: Path of the Frenetic Rage 
This Is Unofficial Content 
This is content has not be vetted by or reviewed by Wizards of the Coast. It was developed after listening to too much “Mike Mearls’ Happy Fun Hour”. I wanted to take a stab at a design the Mike Mearls shied away from. Feedback and comments are welcome.  
Primal Path 
At 3rd level, you choose a path that shapes the nature of your rage. At the DM’s discretion, the following primal path is available to a barbarian in addition to those offered in the campaign. 
Path of the Telekinetic Rage 
Those who choose the path of the Telekinetic Rage might have been thought of a possessed by spirits as a child or worse a controller of foul magics. As things around them occasionally moved.  But in truth it was just the force of their emotions acting upon the world. As they grew they learned to control and harness those emotions until they could embrace The Path of the Telekinetic Rage. Releasing that emotional force as an attack and cathartic release. 
Building Rage 
Starting when you choose this path at 3rd level, you can exert your emotion energy upon the world. When choose to enter a rage you may choose to enter a Building Rage. A Building Rage grants you a rage pool that adds one die at the end of every turn you are raging. When your rage ends for each die in your rage pool inflict 1d4 force damage to every creature within 10’ of you in addition you suffer one level of exhaustion. 
Kinetic Control 
Beginning at 6th level you are able to control your emotions enough to alter the world around you in more subtle ways. This allows you to cast mage hand at will. 
Rejuvenating Rage 
Beginning at 10th level you no longer suffer a level of exhaustion when you expend your Rage Pool and it results in damage to at least one enemy. In addition when you score a critical hit you may expend all the dice currently in your Rage Pool without ending your Building Rage. 
Ranged Rage 
Starting at 14th level when you expend your Rage Pool you can channel the energy to a point you can see within 50’. This creates a creating a 10’ burst centered on the target.