D&D (2024) WotC Fireside Chat: Revised 2024 Player’s Handbook

In this video about the upcoming revised Player’s Handnook, WotC’s Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins reveal a few new tidbits.

• The books are near final and almost ready to go to print
• Psionic subclasses such as the Soulknife and Psi Warrior will appear in the core books
• Named spells have art depicting their creators.
• There are new species in the PHB.

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[Kobold Avenger]

I want a dedicated Psion race. What, we can have dedicated races for the elements (genasi), divinity (aasimar), and devil/demon stuff (tieflings), but not Psionics?

Bring back the Elan, a mostly human-like looking race (or lineage in the way the Reborn are) that with a psionic physiology who happen to be Aberrations.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

My opinion is Elan should be the easiest option to be added into a no-psionic campaign. The power points can be useful even if you don't choose a psionic class.

But we should remember out of the battlefield the psionic powers could break the power balance, for example the lurk, a stealth+psion manifester class (3.5 complete psionic) infiltrated into a party of high society, could be using her psionic powers, without verbal, somatic or material components, and nobody would realise. Not only to read minds but also using teletransportation to add poison to certain drinks. Let's imagine the main characters from Assasin's Creed or Hitman videogames with psionic powers.

 

[Older Beholder]

I want a dedicated Psion race. What, we can have dedicated races for the elements (genasi), divinity (aasimar), and devil/demon stuff (tieflings), but not Psionics?

Githyanki/githzerai ?

 

[Shardstone]

Githyanki/githzerai ?

Heck yeah brother

 

[Parmandur]

In theory, Monsters of the Multiverse was supposed to be '24 looking and be a repository for all the races not in the PHB. They have slowly eroded this however, first by having some races make the jump to the PHB (orc, goliath) with changes made to them, as well as changing how former subraces are being handled (from separate species sharing a type to being lineages in the core race, often just being a single species feature granting bonus spells) so I suppose a MotP Take 2 will eventually be released. Another excuse to sell us a book, I guess.

Not necessarily to the bolded, Crawford actually specifically addressed that they are happy to have multiple versions of the Species available as variants, though he was referring to the Fizban's Dragonborn continuing to ne viable as alternate takes. The rules options are not universal metaphysical laws of the universe.

 

[Faolyn]

Really, if you wanted a psionic PC race to take off, it's pretty obvious what needs to be done. They need to be tied to the illithid somehow. Maybe not too directly, since it's a very specialized taste to want to be a squidhead, but more directly than the duergar are. Because mind flayers are the most iconic and well established psionic monster in D&D, and that makes them the only hope for a psionic PC race to take off.

Thought: their ancestors had a tadpole stuck in them, but instead of taking over, it merged with them. Kind of like the aasimar, who have a link with an angelic forebear, these people have a link to an elder brain. Physically, they look human, but white-eyed and purple-skinned (or at least purplish markings). Maybe tentacles, but more like twilek lekku rather than illithid mouth-tentacles. Or maybe an ability to produce a mouth tentacle to do a grappling attack.

 

[Aldarc]

If you want a psionic PC race, you need to tie them to a psionic monster type. Eberron does this with kalashtar by inventing the quori, but that's very setting specific and never really got too popular because the quori are new and niche. And that's the problem with every new psionic PC race. They get bundled with the brand new psionic monsters in the psionic splatbook, and no one cares about the monsters or the PC race outside of the small number of devoted psionics fans.

Really, if you wanted a psionic PC race to take off, it's pretty obvious what needs to be done. They need to be tied to the illithid somehow. Maybe not too directly, since it's a very specialized taste to want to be a squidhead, but more directly than the duergar are. Because mind flayers are the most iconic and well established psionic monster in D&D, and that makes them the only hope for a psionic PC race to take off.

I would actually consider going with the Yuan-Ti. Call it another shot at the Pureblood Yuan-Ti that isn't so broken.

Dreamscarred Press had their Yuan-Ti like "Ophiduan" psionic race for their psionic materials.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

As long as it's not the 4e Shardmind!
View attachment 360169
Or at least, if it's something like that, it needs a new name and a new look!

I don't have a problem with psychic crystal-people, but the 4e "stick two words together" naming convention... didn't always strike gold, and the design... was not what I would call inspired (or inspiring).

You mean like Gith and Gem Dragonborn and Duergars?

 

[Kurotowa]

Thought: their ancestors had a tadpole stuck in them, but instead of taking over, it merged with them. Kind of like the aasimar, who have a link with an angelic forebear, these people have a link to an elder brain. Physically, they look human, but white-eyed and purple-skinned (or at least purplish markings). Maybe tentacles, but more like twilek lekku rather than illithid mouth-tentacles. Or maybe an ability to produce a mouth tentacle to do a grappling attack.

Yeah, that sounds about right. Between D&D and MMORPGs, I've come to the opinion that a successful player race has to check off at least one box from the list of badass, cute, or sexy. Players want easy visual hooks, and those are the top three in terms of popularity. Sexy purple humans with small decorative tentacles is the sort of thing that would sell.

Alternatively, you might have some success with a splinter variety of illithid tadpole that's gone symbiotic. Think the trill from Star Trek, or tok'ra from Stargate. But you'd still need to throw in some physical distinctiveness, so they're not just "humans with psychic powers".

 

[Remathilis]

Not necessarily to the bolded, Crawford actually specifically addressed that they are happy to have multiple versions of the Species available as variants, though he was referring to the Fizban's Dragonborn continuing to ne viable as alternate takes. The rules options are not universal metaphysical laws of the universe.

Oh, I wager they will spin it much like they did when they made the jump from Volo/Tome of Foes to MotM. You can use the old one, but the shiny new one works better with the current rules in the new PHB.

And to be fair, some do still work fine. Some don't (Earth genasi will be incompatible with the new version of blade ward) and some will change to match the new formatting (sea, astral, shadar-kai and eladrin elves being reduced to lineages of the PHB elf). And some are still waiting for their upgrade from 1.0 (Hello warforged). So I figure that update will come sooner rather than later.