The Psionicist: A 5e Sorcerous Origin (Links to Homebrewery and PDF inside)

Tl;dr: I like the idea of psychics, but I don't like the Mystic. I made a sorcerous origin for the concept of a psychic, but I didn't bother trying to recapture all the features of the Mystic from previous and contemporary editions of D&D. Here are the Homebrewery link and the PDF link respectively.

I only started playing D&D in 5th edition, so I was never familiar with the Mystic and other psionic classes from previous editions. Still, when the UA Mystic came out, I was excited. I like how hodgepodge D&D is, so including psychic powers in my games and settings is cool with me.

However, I've found myself really not liking the Mystic on a fundamental level. My problem is that the Psionic Disciplines, which are a mechanic about as broad and deep as spellcasting, is a brand new part of the game that only Mystics get. Spellcasting, while mostly limited to magically oriented classes, is still available to some degree to all the main classes. Even Barbarians, Fighters, and Rogues can get some spells through specific subclasses, and beyond that, there are wands, scroll, and other magic items. But the Psionic Disciplines are basically exclusive to the Mystic, and barring a source book with 13 new psychic subclasses, it's probably going to stay that way for a while. I'm not even sure I'd want such a book, since I'm also not really fond of the way including Psionic Disciplines seems to kinda bloat the game.

So, instead of the Mystic, I've turned to subclasses and reflavoring spells for my psychic fix. I found a sorcerous origin homebrew by u/QalarValar called the Psychic Awakening origin that was created before the Mystic UA was released, and I liked it a lot for its flavor and what I thought of as clever ideas. However, it still wasn't quite right for me. It strives recapture the idea of the Mystic in subclass form, but I just wanted something that conveyed the idea of being a psionic.

I finally resolved to create my own homebrew, drawing lots of inspiration from both the UA Mystic and QalarValar's homebrew. The aim of this origin is not to be a Mystic subclass of the Sorcerer, but simply to be a psionic origin for sorcerous powers.

I start with flavor, and a lot of it is drawn from the Mystic UA. I also included the Mystic quirk table, because I liked it a lot and wanted to keep it in the same place as my psychic stuff for easy referencing.

At 1st level, the Psionicist gets two features. The first is Displays of Power, which is pulled from QalarValar's Psychic Awakening homebrew, with permission. That was my first introduction to the idea, and it really inspired my imagination. As I couldn't think of a much better way to communicate the idea, I requested permission to use the feature in my own homebrew, and QalarValar was kind enough to grant it.

The second 1st level feature is Psionic Magic, which grants five bonus spells from 1st to 9th level. These spells were chosen to give a Psionicist flavor, flexibility, and utility. By having a very small number of bonus spells a Psionicist gains much needed flexibility in their spell choices.

At 6th level, the Psionicist has Mental Assault, improving its offensive capabilities with reliable psychic damage. It can also change a few of its spell saving throws a day to Intelligence saves, making it an excellent debuffer.

14th level grants Psychic Defense, for a slight boost to defensive abilities, and Telepathic Bond, which is communication-based utility.

The 18th level feature, Psionic Body, is also defensive and is based mostly on the feature of the same name from the UA Mystic.

Once again, the Homebrewery link and the PDF link respectively.

Thank you for reading. If you want to share any thoughts or feedback, it'd be plenty welcome.