Dungeons & Dragons Discontinues Mystic Class

Dungeons & Dragons has announced that it is not moving forward with plans for a Mystic class. Earlier this month, Dungeons & Dragons released revised rules for several psionic subclasses and abilities for public playtesting. These revised classes added a new Psionic Dice mechanic and introduced new feats that allowed players to add psionic abilities to any character. In the playtest material, Wizards of the Coast also announced that they were formally scrapping plans for a Mystic class, which they first tested out back in 2017. The mystic allowed players to create a character that echoed the abilities of other classes, but with psionic enhancements.

The Dungeons & Dragons team explained that feedback about the mystic class stated that the classed on other classes' territory and that many felt it was either too complex, too powerful, or both. As such, the development team decided to move away from a dedicated psionic class and move on to other options, such as the three subclasses and multiple feats introduced during the most recent release of playtest material.

Psionics have had a complicated history in Dungeons & Dragons that dates back to the earliest days of the game. Although psionic abilities were introduced in the same early D&D supplement that introduced mind flayers, Demogorgon, and the druid class, they have never really been considered part of the core gameplay of the game. Although optional psionic rules were introduced in the first Player's Handbook, they didn't have a dedicated class - the psionist - until the release of the Complete Psionics Handbook for Second Edition. Several additional classes and subclasses were later introduced in subsequent versions of the game, giving players tons of different options. While psionic abilities are most associated with Dark Sun, they've appeared in just about every campaign setting and aren't necessarily affiliated with one particular world or style of campaign.

While some players will likely be disappointed that Dungeons & Dragons is moving away from the Mystic class, it seems clear that the game is looking to add some dedicated psionics options for players. Given that D&D is testing out a ton of different player options currently, it seems likely that we'll get some sort of major expansion to the game in the coming months.

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