Mystic Class (5e)
In an April 2020 Unearthed Arcana¸ Wizards of the Coast formally announced the company was no longer pursuing the development of the Mystic as a full class option and instead were going to develop psychic-themed characters instead as subclasses. I felt that what was presented in those Unearthed Arcana showed more than enough proof that a full Mystic Class could be created¸ but Wizards of the Coast opted out¸ choosing to prioritize design time and resources towards other projects. This is a revival of the Mystic (akin to the many Artificer and Ranger revisions on the DMsGuild) that¸ while a significant proportion of it is original work¸ has much of its design scavenged from the abandoned Mystic class and repurposes features from Psionic subclasses from the following Unearthed Arcana articles: Crawford¸ Jeremy and Mearls¸ Mike¸ "Unearthed Arcana: the Mystic Class"¸ 2017. Crawford¸ Jeremy; Dillon¸ Dan; Petrisor¸ Ben; Rehman¸ Taymoor; and Schneider¸ F. Wesley¸ "Unearthed Arcana: Psionic Options Revisited" ¸ 2020. What is this Mystic? Proof of Concept I made this as something of a design challenge to see if there was just some issue with the Mystic as a class concept based on the features already put forth by Wizards of the Coast and a fresh eye on the concept. This is a working Character Option¸ fully playable from 1st to 20th levels with four unique subclasses based on classic psionic characters and abilities from fiction and mythology: The Order of the Channeler consorts with spirits of the recently deceased and can conjure them forth as a companion. The Order of the Oracle is a weaver of fate and definer of destinies¸ using their Psionic Talents to toy with dice mechanics. The Order of the Far Traveler stretches the boundaries of the physical and mental realities¸ guiding their allies through the journey of both. The Order of Wanton Fury is a mystic that has had a psionic awakening my means of an emotional snap. While most mystics favor psychic abilities and mental manipulation¸ the Wanton Fury Order favors fire and fear. Respectful of Class Identity This Mystic keeps much of the mechanic identity created by the 2020 Unearthed Arcana designed as a foundation for its core features. It also parses several of the 2017 Mystic Class's features but the similarities end there. The subclasses presented here intend to hit more conventional psychic tropes and avoid the class identity-encroaching issues of the 2017 Mystic subclasses that I felt mostly came down to a branding identity of the subclasses themselves. Reducing the Bookkeeping The 2017 Mystic was criticized for its complexity. Fifth Edition design convention usually keeps point-tracking for classes under quantities of 20 and the Psi Points and Psi Limits made the class a bit daunting to say the least. This mystic shouldn't be any more difficult to play than the Fifth Edition Paladin or Warlock. Supernatural¸ not Magical It was pivotal to me that the Mystic avoided conventional 5e spellcasting but could mimic spell-like effects through psionics. The way this has been approached in the past has usually been through the removal of the need for components to cast the spell and the effects are not magical by nature. This is a significant shake-up in the countermeasures for these spells¸ because it means a psionic caster can cast spells while paralyzed¸ silenced¸ grappled¸ and restrained! Many feel (myself included) that this is too strong to use as a blanket mechanic for psionics in Dungeons & Dragons. I believe it is this intrinsic tie between psychic power and magic may have needed to be the bond to break to make this really work. However¸ restricting what spells can be psionic talents really reigns this in¸ as it has shown with Warlock Invocations¸ but it allows the Mystic to still contribute the effects without totally stepping on spellc