Today’s review looks at The Return of Psionics by Kyle Wagner-Totty. Originally published in August 2021, it received a major update in June 2022, which is the version I am reviewing.

This supplement contains three full psionic classes, six psionic subclasses, two races, and a dozen psionic feats.

Psionic Classes

The three classes here are explicitly inspired by 4e psionics, which I’ve previously reviewed. The Ardent is a support character, the Battlemind is a frontliner, and the Psion is your traditional backliner. Each of them use Psionic Augmentation.

Augmentation

The core psionics mechanic is simple in concept, but complex in play. Every class has more features than a normal class, but only some are available on a given day. Each long rest, a psionic character must choose to distribute their augment points amongst their features, with features growing in power based on the number of points invested. The introduction promises that this allows characters to choose between being a generalist versus specializing deeply; it’s up to the implementation to deliver on that promise.

As for damage scaling, many features both scale their damage by the number of points invested as well as the character’s level. The exact nature varies; some use points to scale the size of the damage dice, others use the points to scale the number of dice. Improvements based on character level come at the usual cantrip boosts — 5, 11, and 17.

The Ardent

This charisma-based weapon user specializes in manipulating the emotion of allies and enemies.

Basics. The ardent has a 1d8 hit die, which is backed up by medium armor and shield proficiency. Unlike the cleric, the ardent has baseline martial weapon proficiency. Wisdom and Charisma saving throws are more useful on a class whose primary ability is not a primary saving throw. The class has more skills than usual, starting with three instead of the typical two.

Ardent Aura. Many of the Ardent’s features key to their aura, which starts at 10’. This grows to 15’ at 11th level and 20’ at 18th. To be frank, this is pretty small - an Ardent is only going to support other melee characters if they’re in melee, or other ranged characters if they stand at range.

Sense Emotions. Sitting somewhere between a ribbon and a genuinely useful social ability, the ardent has mechanical support for their focus on emotions; the wording is fairly general, so power is DM-dependent, but it can be read fairly generously to be a major boon to social encounters. This ability receives flavorful upgrades at levels 5 and 18.

Augmentable Features. Drawing inspiration in both name and design from the 4e Ardent, the augmentable features overall favor a more melee build, supporting other characters who are the target of enemy attacks. The ardent gains new augmentable abilities at 1, 2, 5, 10, 11, 14, and 18. Many of these features compete for the use of the ardent’s reaction as well as their augmentation points, adding further hard choices. Some features also have usage limits, such as Ardent Resolve which is usable proficiency times per day.

The fundamental issue is many of these features aren’t very good; while in theory there’s a lot of flexibility, and the tapering of rewards for investing augment points seems to do a good job of balancing the incentive to go tall vs. wide, none of these features really do anything; there’s an overwhelming feeling that these features are just spinning wheels and giving the idea of doing things without comparison to the capabilities of other classes. The closest this class has to Extra Attack or other such feature is Ardent Hostility, which at level 5 provides an automatic source of psychic damage around the Ardent; it’s not a ton of damage, but it’s automatic and seems necessary to maintain the idea that the Ardent is contributing to combat encounters.

Disciplines

The ardent’s subclasses are known as disciplines, granting features at 3, 7, 15, and 20 like the paladin. Many of these features also require augmentation to do anything, although some grant a level of a base class feature for free.

Ardent Soul. This Life-domain style subclass runs into a very basic problem: For all of the ways the Ardent has to augment healing, none of their features actually heal until the level 15 Radiant Reserves, which is itself extremely limited in its capabilities. Notably, the base class feature Ardent Resolve only grants temporary hit points, rather than actually healing. In combination with another healer these features start to do things - even a ranger with Goodberry can go a long way - but this is a pretty fundamental gap in the subclass’s capabilities.

Psionic Binder. This subclass is extremely focused on two things: psychic damage and the restrained condition. Fortunately, the synergy here is pretty tight, especially at level 5 with Ardent Hostility; potentially restraining an enemy ever round, for free, is a very good feature to have; it even combos with polearms because the Ardent Aura has a base range of 10’.

Stygian Adept. This fear-based subclass has the usual ups and downs of a subclass that’s narrowly based on a mind-affecting condition: It can be pretty powerful against foes vulnerable to the condition, but there’s a fair number of monsters that are fully immune to anything it’s offering. Whether or not this is viable depends entirely on your campaign context.

Talaric Strategist. This defensive subclass provides lots of free movement, which can be useful but competes with the base class’s many reaction features. Later levels provide larger defensive benefits — Rapid Instinct in particular is a great way to defend an entire party against enemy AOE — but the core value of the class comes down to how much your DM uses tactical terrain in combat.

Awakened Visionary. This teleporting subclass emphasizes the ardent’s personal capabilities. The obvious combo here is with Polearm Master, using the teleport to maintain distance and constantly force enemies to approach into striking distance. The capstone here is unusually powerful compared to other capstones, providing total psychic damage immunity.

Catalyst. This generalist subclass is a grab-bag of useful features; there’s no particular synergies, but each feature is individually powerful. The capstone encourages being a generalist, with its damage tied to the number of different abilities the ardent is augmenting.

Phrenic Invader. This telepathic subclass runs into the problem that many of its features just don’t do anything. Immunity to blindness and deafness, for example, is somewhat handy but more of a ribbon than an actual feature. The first that does is Thought Theft at 15; even the capstone is a mere 2d4 psychic damage per turn.

Siphon. This vampiric subclass is fairly underwhelming; it’s early features require significant augmentation point expenditures and still don’t do much. The idea of gaining then spending temporary hit points is interesting, but neither the temporary hit points nor the rewards for spending seem to be worth the extra hoops.

The Battlemind

This wisdom-based master of mind and body takes to the front lines.

Basics. Heavy armor, shield proficiency, martial weapons and a d10 hit die put the Battlemind on par with the Fighter and Paladin. Strength and Wisdom saving throws are a good pair for a frontliner; Dexterity and Constitution saving throws are easier to compensate for than Wisdom. The class has better non-combat proficiencies than its martial counterparts, starting with three skills and a tool proficiency.

Battlemind’s Demand. The core “tanking” ability of the battlemind, it’s essentially a buff to opportunity attacks by inflicting damage on foes who move out of the battlemind’s reach.

Extra Attack. A tried-and-true feature, this 5th level feature alone cements the battlemind’s basic viability throughout tier 2. Even better, this feature upgrades at 11th level for three attacks, further providing a basic level of competence.

Augmentable Features. Like the ardent, the battlemind’s features draw clear inspiration from 4e. Unlike the ardent, the core function of the class is more straightforward and the features do a better job of accomplishing them; making a class that is good at dealing and taking hits is an easier task than making a class that supports others. The battlemind does have fewer augmentation points than the other two classes in this supplement, but these augmentable features clearly do things; there’s not lots of niche options, so the distribution will be more about playstyle than real daily preparation.

Studies

The battlemind’s subclasses are known as studies, and like the fighter they grant features at 3, 7, 10, 15, and 18. Many of the features require investing augmentation points to function, and several require taking a full action to make a single attack — this latter group is severely hampered by competing against the excellence of Extra Attack.

Eternal Blade. This straightforward tanking subclass improves opportunity attacks and is generally offensively oriented. Unfortunately, it suffers from the battlemind’s limited augmentation pool; it’s unlikely that its 7 or 15 features are worth investing in.

Iron Guardian. In theory, this subclass provides the ultimate tanking fantasy. In reality, it provides a narrow and weak focus on boosting AC without doing much else. The net result is not only boring but generally weak.

Steel Ego. Another defensive subclass, this focuses on the Battle Resilience augmentable feature, which allows the battlemind to reduce incoming damage as a reaction several times per day. Straightforward and effective, this subclass accomplishes what it sets out to do - turn enemies attacks against them.

Zephyr Blade. This speedy subclass prioritizes mobility. Unfortunately, it’s not a lot of mobility, so campaign considerations would need to very strongly favor a slippery battlemind for this to be comparatively worth it.

Blackstone Guardian. This subclass mixes defensive gains with mark improvements. The highlight is Immobile Stone, which at 3 augmentation points allows the battlemind to gain resistance to physical damage in exchange for forsaking their movement. This incentivizes both reach weapons as well as having a solid ranged weapon backup. Outside of that feature, the features on the subclass are mostly irrelevant.

Storm Disciple. This lightning-themed subclass improves upon the Persistent Harrier feature, but these improvements aren’t very good despite the base feature being strong. The flying speed it can later grant is shockingly weak for a 15th level feature, only working at half the battlemind’s speed.

Ironjack. Yet another defensively oriented subclass, it’s not clear what’s meant to distinguish this from the other turn-into-iron-like-Colossus-from-x-men subclasses. Granting extra saving throw proficiencies is nice, but the other features aren’t very good.

Unbound Nomad. This subclass is another option for boosting Persistent Harrier, but more effectively; its ready access to teleports is a solid basis for a fun subclass. Even fairly mundane games are made more interesting when you can bend spacetime to your whim, and this overall delivers on the fantasy of being “inescapable”.

The Psion

This intelligence-based backliner has a unique array of abilities.

Basics. No armor proficiencies and a d6 hit die put the psion on par with the wizard. Intelligence and Wisdom saving throws and two skill proficiencies maintain the parallels.

Telepathy. All psions have access to 30’ of telepathy. This is a fairly standard feature to convey the flavor of the class.

Augmentable Features. The entirety of the psion’s capabilities rest in their augmentable features; there’s no separate list of spells for the class. A key caveat in design is there’s very little in the way of resource management; every feature until level 15 has been balanced around the potential for at-will usage, despite the other classes repeatedly leveraging limited-use abilities. This means that while the overall power level may be “fair”, in practice you’ve got a class that’s putting along in the backline until everyone else has used their limited resources, then resetting with a long rest. It’s generally unlikely this design will be optimal for a campaign, in part because every other class does have highs and lows from limited use abilities. The psion is also simply far less flexible in its problem solving capabilities than a wizard or sorcerer due to the limited number of features that can be augmented even at a long rest switching point.

Psionic Foundations

Like the wizard, the psion subclasses give features at 2, 6, 10, and 14.

Cerulean Adept. This anti-aberrant subclass provides radiant damage options alongside protection from psychic damage; it’s unclear how dealing radiant damage fulfills the flavor of “combatting the far realm”. The base feature Cobalt Focus giving a +2 bonus to Wisdom saving throws is good but doesn’t fit within 5e design principles of avoiding small bonuses to stats.

Dream Walker. This subclass is entirely dependent on its Dream Form ability, which summons a 1 hp copy of yourself as an action that only lasts a minute. Investing many more points can confer a degree of protection, but the fundamentals of the action economy and duration don’t work out.

Time Binder. This time-themed subclass provides a smattering of weak abilities not worth the augmentation points, but the 2nd level Time Lapse for +2 to save DCs is pretty good in light of how bad all of the other subclasses are. This subclass really highlights the problems many of these designs have, where abilities are heavily kneecapped by a need to make them “always available”, so effects can’t be more powerful than trading an action to force a save against -20’ of movement speed with no attached damage.

Alienist. This Far Realm themed subclass leans heavily into random risk, with the core “Psionic Insanity” feature having a 25% chance of a self-stun in exchange for also having a chance of a positive effect. The subclass features at least do things, but it’s not clear the risk is worth the reward.

Anathema. This necrotic damage themed subclass has features that actually do things, providing a range of direct damage options for single target and multi-target encounters. The level 10 feature does a good job of alleviating the main weakness of both necrotic and psychic damage builds, the fairly resistances to either, by granting the ability to ignore both.

Fire Starter. A pyrokinetic subclass that also straightforwardly does damage, it does so less effectively than the Anathema. The one comparative advantage it has is gaining its own fire resistance, but otherwise all of the damage dealing features are just worse versions of what’s available to the necrotic-themed subclass.

Thought Scholar. This telepathy-themed subclass is like if Student of War from the Battlemaster was stretched out to an entire subclass; the features may only take an action to use instead of a full minute, but they’re no more useful. Imposing disadvantage on incoming attack rolls isn’t much better than the Dodge action.

Thrallherd. This psionic dominator gets a genuinely strong feature: A semi-permanent thrall that keeps most of the statistics of the original creature. Thralls are a form of suspended animation, created by killing a creature with psychic damage. Commands only take a bonus action, and there’s no CR or creature type limitations; thralls can’t use legendary actions or spells, but basically every other monstrous ability is on the table. Thralls do have limited HP — 10 + 5x psion level — and their hit points don’t naturally recuperate, but thralls can still be healed by magical sources. The other subclass features build on this somewhat, but the base Enthrall feature alone puts this subclass light years ahead of the others.

Psionic Subclasses

In addition to the subclasses available to the ardent, battlemind, and psion, this supplement contains options for Wizards of the Coast published classes. None of these use psionic augmentation; instead, they stick to standard focuses on psychic damage and mental saving throws.

Sentience Crafter. This artificer subclass gives a bunch of ribbon abilities about its infused magic items having sentience. This misunderstands the balance levers in the artificer class; a significant portion of the power budget of the artificer is invested in its subclasses. The spell list further enforces this, giving a bunch of random utility spells instead of core capabilities.

Path of Fury. This barbarian subclass is intended to work as a tank… by giving enemies a bunch of bonuses when they target the barbarian. While clearly inspired by Reckless Attack, each of the features comes with an unnecessarily harsh drawback; at least the baseline “enemies have advantage on attacks against you while you’re raging” from Infectious Fury innately mitigates the drawbacks of Reckless Attack.

Insight Domain. This cleric subclass provides additional investigative power, including expertise on Insight and Investigation from 1st level. It never really progresses beyond granting basic access to divination spells — it doesn’t even grant Potent Spellcasting at 8 — and its capstone is a disappointing “cast some low level divination spells for free each day”.

Circle of the Hive Mind. This druid subclass looks to all sorts of swarm creatures for inspiration. This manifests as several features that only exist to give access to other nearby creature’s senses, with no other payoff. It does come with a few bonus prepared spells, but the small collection of extra enchantment and divination spells isn’t enough to make up for the weakness of the rest of the subclass.

Oath of the Story. This paladin subclass focuses on mental protection. The oath spells are a mix of useful divination and abjuration spells. Unfortunately, its weighed down by yet another feature doing a Battlemaster Know Your Enemy impression, in this case one of the Channel Divinity options. The aura also isn’t very strong, adding some psychic damage backlash to enemies that inflict mental saving throws. The capstone is legitimately powerful — flying around with +2d10 psychic damage per weapon hit is good — but this is a low bar for Paladin subclasses.

Far Realm Strider. This ranger subclass provides additional mental defenses, and a powerful retribution effect with Slayer of Horrors. One standout option is the subclass spell list includes shield, which does a lot to shore up a subclass that otherwise only has features in combats where the enemy is inflicting mental saving throws.

Other Character Options

This supplement includes options beyond the choice of class and subclass.

Psionic Races

The races presented here are in the original style, with alignment and ability score entries.

Shardminds. These crystalline humanoids share many of the features of warforged, trading the Integrated Protection and Specialized Design for Telepathy and resistance to psychic damage. The lore is reminiscent of their 4e origins, although not as well executed.

Osleer. These alien beings have only a single meaningful feature — a mass frighten that takes an action and only works on a creature once per day. While including an alien race is a good idea, the implementation comes across as half-baked.

Psionic Feats

The dozen feats in this supplement are generally ways to access the low level augmentable features of the psionic classes, some of which are genuinely pretty useful at this cost. However, for choices within a class, the correct option is always to prioritize Psionic Empowerment, which grants two whole psionic augmentation points; this is a substantial increase given that even the Psion caps out at only 15 points.

The Analysis

Unfortunately, this supplement has a lot of issues in basically every metric; still, there’s a few bright spots.

What Went Right

Art. The author’s original art is good and offers a distinctive style; photorealism isn’t the pinnacle of art, and I’d be happy to see a supplement fully illustrated in this style. I would like to see what can be done for backgrounds, as all of the art in the book is just figures with transparent backgrounds or the cover which uses a simple gradient.

Psionic Flavor. The abilities in this book are all sufficiently distinct from ordinary spellcasting, something that more limited takes can struggle with.

Callbacks. The 4e implementation of psionics was distinctive and fun, and this supplement does a good job of understanding what was appealing about those classes.

What Went Wrong

Layout. The text is laid out in a frankly amateurish fashion, with excessive white space and incorrect usage of paragraph indents all over the place. The credits cite usage of the Simple Microsoft Word Template, but having used the template it provides plenty of guidance on correct layout usage; this advice was ignored, much to the detriment of the readability of the text.

Dead Levels. Normally, every level either provides new class features or new spell levels. Functionally, this will often not be true for the psionic classes - augmentation points are precious, and so any underwhelming feature may as well not exist because it won’t receive any augmentation points to turn it on. This means that many levels will be totally “dead”, without a single active new feature.

Poor Balance. While there’s interesting ideas here, there’s a lot of features that are just traps and do nothing. This compounds the limitations of the psionic augmentation system, as any given character is going to be stretched thin between their different abilities. The general design problem is that any feature more complicated than “does damage” comes across as massively nerfed, especially those related to movement speed. The author seems to fundamentally misunderstand the expected value of an action, overly favoring abilities that are at most only useful in standoffs where you can take actions before the actual commencement of hostilities.

Conclusion

Even with getting a revision in 2022, this supplement really struggles to deliver quality content; large parts of the book are frankly unusable, and even the parts that seem to maybe get there (e.g. the Battlemind) are outmatched by other psionics implementations.