Given that the Psi Warper subclass was skipped this time (not dropped, but evidently so well-liked that they decided it didn't need further testing) we come to our last Psion subclass for the second round of UA testing.
We've been getting a lot of UAs lately, and I think especially after the delay on Eberron: Forge of the Artificer (FOTA as our default abbreviation?) it's been feeling like a lot of testing and not a lot of official content. But I guess that's ok, and I'm certainly happier to see brand-new stuff (well, at least non-reprint stuff) here with the Psion.
Telepathy is, I think along with Telekinesis, one of the absolute core fantasies of a psionic class. In fiction, these often come hand in hand. I'd argue that you might combine it a bit with what we'd term in D&D as Divination - I'm thinking about Danny Torrance in The Shining getting crucial warnings from his imaginary friend, or Eleven from Stranger Things being tested on whether she can listen in on Russian spies via remote-viewing. I don't think that this subclass focuses on that very much, but we'll see.
Once again, I'm looking at this fresh. My recollection was that the version that came out in May was a bit underwhelming, and given that I first read this UA a good while ago, I have only at the outset of this post the impression that this is, also, a bit underwhelming. Let's take a look.
Telepath Spells:
1st: Bane, Command
2nd: Detect Thoughts, Mind Spike
3rd: Counterspell, Slow
4th: Compulsion, Confusion
5th: Modify Memory, Yolande's Regal Presence
So, Command is a strong spell, especially as a pure caster. It's basically The Voice from Dune, a big influence on Dark Sun's psionics. Counterspell is not as powerful as it used to be, but still useful (and newer monster design often works in actual spellcasting to multiattacks). My friend's Bard in my Ravnica game has been having a lot of fun knocking foes around with Yolande's Regal Presence - I don't know if it's a great spell, but it's very fun.
Level 3:
Mind Infiltrator:
When you cast Detect Thoughts, you can expend a PED to modify the spell so it doesn't require spell components or concentration, and if you push deeper into someone's thoughts, they are unaware that you're reading their thoughts if they fail the saving throw.
Players often use this spell without realizing that you are going to need to wave your arms around - I like that in Baldur's Gate 3, the Githyanki guy who uses it on you very clearly performs the spell components. It's not subtle. But it makes sense that you should be able to use this spell without people noticing you doing it. I'd love for this to just prevent the creature from realizing you were reading its thoughts regardless, but it makes sense that on a save, perhaps the reason that they prevent you from reading the thoughts is that they know what you're trying to do. Very flavorful. Also, you can maintain this with some other spell you might already be using.
Telepathic Distraction:
When a creature you can see within range of your telepathy (30 feet by default, and can be extended with the level 1 Psionic Power feature) hits with an attack roll, you can take a reaction to roll one PED and subtract it from their attack. If this causes the attack to miss, you expend the die.
A kind of more wildcard Shield spell, but nice that you don't expend any resource if it fails to work. PEDs start at d6s, meaning it's probably going to block less than a Shield spell, but at higher levels, you'll actually tend to be more effective - though only against a single attack. Still, you can protect a friend, and generally DMs will call out what they roll, so if you know that you only need to reduce the attack by like two or three, it's probably worth it to try the reaction.
Level 6;
Bulwark Mind:
At the start of your turn, you can expend a PED to give you a few benefits for 10 minutes. You get resistance to Psychic damage, and whenever you make an Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma saving throw, you add a roll of your PED to the save (this doesn't expend it). You can't use this benefit if you are incapacitated.
So, on one hand, I feel like you should just get blanket Psychic resistance. However, adding to all mental saving throws for 10 minutes (and with no action required to set it up initially) is pretty good, even if Intelligence and Charisma saves are very rare.
Potent Thoughts:
You have telepathy out to 60 feet, and you add your Intelligence modifier to the damage of any Psion cantrip.
The "spellcasting mod on cantrips" is a pretty standard damage boost at level 5 or 6 on a pure spellcaster, so that's fine. The telepathy range of course also extends the reach of your Telepathic Distraction.
Level 10:
Telepathic Bolstering:
When you or a creature you can see within range of your telepathy (now 60 feet, plus potentially more if you boost it) fails an ability check or misses with an attack roll, you can use a reaction to expend a PED, rolling it and adding it to the d20, potentially changing it to a success. The PED is expended only if hte check succeeds or attack hits.
I feel like this could be phrased better - just say you roll it and then mention it getting expended at the end. What this is is essentially reaction-speed Bardic Inspiration that doesn't work on saves. The reaction speed element is kind of cool, and certainly there are high-stakes ability checks and attack rolls. I assume the flavor here is that you're mentally aiding the character. It's a little dry, flavor-wise, but useful.
Level 14:
Scramble Minds:
You can cast Confusion without expending a spell slot by instead expending four PEDs. When cast this way, you can modify the spell so that its radius becomes 30 feet (way bigger, the standard is 10 feet) and you can choose one creature in the spell's area to automatically succeed on the save. Additionally, when a creature under the spell's effect starts its turn, you choose its behavior instead of rolling.
The latter part is the really powerful element here. Yes, you get a one-ally Careful Spell, but the key here is that Confusion is a pretty random spell - there's a 20% chance that an affected creature just gets to take their turn as normal. As a note, the random movement from this has no caveat to prevent them running into something dangerous, like off a cliff. Confusion also doesn't function as a charm, so creatures immune to being Charmed can still be affected. I honestly like this, though I might like this more if you could modify the spell when cast with a spell slot by expending, like, 1 PED.
Overall Thoughts:
So, I think there could be some more here, but I don't hate this as much as I thought I would. I think that Telepathic Bolstering and Telepathic Distraction both feel a little unmoored from the flavor of the subclass - both useful features, but kind of blah. Again, I think there's room to play with some of that "remote viewing" element from genre fiction that has psionics. I think this would be functional, but again, I feel like there's a cooler way to implement this fantasy.
The only thing left from this UA to look at are the spells. A lot are just reprints (though with some revisions) of spells from Tasha's and Xanathar's. Unless we get some new UA before I can get to it, we'll probably take a look at those next.
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