The Artificer wasn’t the first shot at a new class in Dungeons and Dragons 5e, though. A long time ago, Wizards of the Coast released the Mystic class as Unearthed Arcana, the TTRPG’s version of playtest material. Unfortunately for the Mystic, it was quickly deemed too complicated and too powerful, and WotC scrapped it. Now that the Artificer is out of the way, though, maybe WotC can consider a second stab at the Mystic. Maybe a new version of the Mystic could turn out to be just what DnD needs, or perhaps the moment for the Mystic has passed.
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The Case Against the Mystic
There’s a few reasons that Wizards of the Coast probably shouldn’t try to revive the Mystic. One of them is that the class simply seemed too complicated to work. The intention behind the class was to introduce an Intelligence-based class that wasn’t a spellcaster. Instead, Mystics gain psionic powers and ’talents’ similar to but distinct from spells, spending class-specific points on class abilities not unlike a Monk.
The class heaped on abilities and leaned heavily on player customization, though. With so many psionic abilities imitating but replacing spells, the Mystic’s Unearthed Arcana document was monstrous in size. Creating a Mystic based heavily on that version of the class would probably still result in something unapproachable. Dungeons and Dragons’ 5th edition was designed to be simple and approachable for new players. The Mystic goes against that design philosophy.
Another point against the Mystic is actually the Artificer class. DnD’s new half-caster has been received well, filling in a fantasy niche that this version of the game has been missing. It also provides a second Intelligence based class to DnD 5e, which the game badly needed. Although there’s still only two Intelligence classes now, it’d be odd for Wizards of the Coast to release yet another Intelligence class after the Artificer.
It’s pretty clear that WotC actively replaced the Mystic with the Artificer, still intending to release an Intelligence based class. It probably doesn’t want to keep focusing on this niche. Any new class released in the near future will probably focus on something else — maybe a new Strength focused martial class, for instance.
The Case For the Mystic
The Mystic would be worth reviving and reworking by Wizards of the Coast for the same reason that the Artificer was worth adding: it fills a player class niche that DnD 5e is missing. As mentioned, the Mystic is supposed to be a psion using psychic abilities to fight. Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything added a couple new subclasses to the game that focuses on psychic powers, like the Psi Knight for the Fighter. While these subclasses are interesting, they’re still just subclasses, so they don’t fully embody the experience of playing a psion. They’re also pretty complicated for subclasses, which seems like an aftereffect of the Mystic, which they may have been designed after.
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The Mystic, then, could be revived in a very different form rather than as an adjusted version of the first draft. It’s okay if the Mystic is a full caster after all. Dungeons and Dragons could use a second Intelligence based full spellcaster to contrast with the Wizard more sharply than the Artificer. To achieve that, the Mystic could have a set list of spells like a Bard or Sorcerer, as opposed to the Wizard’s versatile spellbook. That’d leave room for the Mystic to gain some other psionic powers not well embodied by spells via class features.
The work done on making the Mystic a creative rulebreaker also shouldn’t go to waste. Dungeons and Dragons is slowly getting more comfortable with subverting mechanics set in stone at 5th edition’s outset. The Mystic did a lot of that when this edition of the game was a lot younger, so it’d be nice to see some more of those mechanics come back. More creativity and adaptation would serve the Mystic well. There’s a lot that the class could contribute to the game in spite of its troubled history.
The Mystic’s Uncertain Future
Overall, though, it might be best that the Mystic is allowed to rest, as there’s a couple big problems with reviving it. For one thing, the new subclasses that Tasha’s Cauldron introduced to the game helped lock it down that psychic players would always use Intelligence. There’s no real hope of moving the Mystic into a different core stat like Wisdom. Additionally, those subclasses suggest Wizards of the Coast has decided psionics aren’t important enough to dedicate to one class. Admittedly, there’s some interesting design space in adapting psionics to core DnD classes instead. At this point, Mystic would probably clash with the psionic subclasses that Tasha finalized.
It’s too bad that the Mystic didn’t stick the landing. It could’ve pushed 5th edition in a really interesting direction, possibly encouraging new subclasses to do more rule breaking. However, it still did something really important for Dungeons and Dragons: it motivated adding more classes to DnD, and kicked off the potential for a long-term pattern. With the Artificer done, there might already be plans underway to add a wholly new class to the game. The Mystic had its moment, but right now, Dungeons and Dragons is moving in directions that don’t suggest it’ll come back anytime soon. Maybe someday there’ll be another moment for a second draft of the Mystic.
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft, the next sourcebook for Dungeons and Dragons, releases on May 18, 2021.
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