D&D: The Psykinetic Subclass Is One Of The Coolest Things I’ve Seen In A While
The Psion playtest adds a ton of new stuff to the game, but perhaps my favorite thing of all is the new Psykinetic subclass.
The Psion playtest brings a lot of new toys to D&D 5.5E. And while Psions themselves are hardly new to D&D, this interpretation broadens the subclass scope. There are four new subclasses (even the one that lets you cast Misty step a bunch), but of all of them, the Psykinetic might just be my own personal favorite.
And it’s not just because it lets you fly around while telekinesising people, though that is a big part of it, if I’m being honest. But it also has an interesting design, some fun sounding mechanics, and like almost all of the Psion features, it feels like you get too few psionic dice.
The Psykinetic – It Is About the Motion of the Ocean
All of the subclasses point out one of the inherent flaws of the Psion class, which is the competition of class features for use of your “do cool stuff” resource. In this case, it’s Psionic Energy Dice. I think it’s probably the biggest sticking point here – because the Psion class, without any extra subclasses, is already using its limited selection of Psionic Energy Dice to either shove folks around, or to enhancetheir spell casting or to use their Psionic Modes.
And the subclasses have features that use up even more of your Psionic Energy Dice. Which is kind of a bummer, because you want to do all the cool stuff that your subclass lets you do. Maybe if the dice came back on a Short Rest, or if you could refresh them sooner, it might feel different. But, you also still just have spells at the end of the day—so it’s probably all balanced. It just doesn’t feel great from first read.
Regardless, the Psykinetic is still my favorite subclass. Because even though Psions are resource hungry, the Psykinetic feels like there’s something cool waiting at each level. The features feel like a natural progression of growing psychic power and potential. Let’s take a look.
The Psykinetic Subclass – It Has The Power… To Move You
At level 3, the Pyskinetic gives you two big features. The first is a list of Psykinetic Spells that you’ll always have prepared. As you might imagine telekinesis and telekinesis accessories feature prominently on the list, starting with Cloud of Daggers, Levitate, Shield, Thunderwave, Slow, Telekinetic Crush (a new spell in the UA), Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere, Stone Shape, Telekinesis, and Wall of Force.
And the bread and butter feature is Telekinetic Techniques. This feature lets you shake up the Psion base class’s Telekinetic Propel, giving you an extra effect whenever you use it. So let’s revisit that feature real quick:
Telekinetic Propel: As a Bonus Action, choose one Large ofr smaller creature other than you that you can see within 30 feet of yourself, and then roll one Psionic Energy Die. The target must succeed on a Strength saving throw or be pushed or pulled (your choice) up to a number of feet straight away from yourself equal to 5 times the number rolled. The die is expended only if the target fails the saving throw.
I added some emphasis there at the end, because the Psykinetic seems to come with special rider effects that could possibly apply even if your target makes its save (and thus doesn’t use up one of your Psionic dice). You get three effects: the target’s speed increases by 10 feet (for allies), the target can’t make Opportunity Attacks, and the one that makes me think the other effects apply regardless of the save, Telekinetic Bolt, which specifies: “if the target fails the saving throw it takes Force damage equal to the number rolled on the Psionic Energy Die.”
That’s Telekinesis, Kyle
At higher levels, the Psykinetic has even more fun toys to play with. It’s got about the most exciting level 6 features I’ve seen, both are very cool. Starting with Empowered Attack Mode. This is a buff for the Psion’s Attack Mode. The basic Attack Mode lets you ignore Resistance to Psychic damage and spend a Psionic die to reroll damage. Kind of meh.
But the buff makes it fun to use, because now, while it’s active (doesn’t cost a Psionic die to activate), you gain a Fly speed of 60 feet and can hover, and whenever you cast a Psion spell, you can add your Intelligence modifierto one damage roll of that spell. Honestly, this feels like what the base feature should be.
You also gain Rebounding Field, a modifier for the Shield spell. When you use Shield (and the triggering attack subsequently misses), you can spend a Psionic die to rebound the attack back on the attacker. They save or take two Psionic Energy Dice worth of damage and you gain Temporary Hit Points equal to the damage dealt. That’s pure wins. Even if the attacker succeeds on their save, they still take half damage. 10/10 no notes.
The Psykinetic – Crush Your Head, Squish Your Face But For Real
At the highest levels, the Psykinetic is all about using telekinesis to damage enemies directly with the power of the mind. I love it. The first enhances the Telekinetic Crush spell, thanks to Enhanced Telekinetic Crush. So again, let’s take a look at what that spell does:
You create a field of crushing telekinetic force in a 30-foot Cube within range. Each creature in the area makes a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, the target takes 5d6 Force damage and has the Prone condition. On a successful save, a target takes half as much damage only.
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So it’s a weaker spell than Fireball (which Psions can’t cast). But it could potentially knock a bunch of creatures prone. And with Enhanced Crush, you can spend a Psionic die to modify the spell to halve the speed of creatures caught in it, whether they succeed or fail.
And at 14th level, you gain Heightened Telekinesis and all the stops get pulled out. You can enhance the Telekinesis spell with a Psionic die so that it doesn’t require Concentration, and you can target both creatures and objects of up to Gargantuan size with the spell. Truly incredible.
But just because it’s my favorite doesn’t mean it’ll be yours. You should let WotC know what you think! The feedback survey opens tomorrow at the link below – which is where you’ll find the playtest. So check it out!
And then go live out your Jean Grey dreams! You’ll have to talk with your DM about going through your own Dark Phoenix arc.
