A new Psion class for Dungeons and Dragons appears to be on the way, with clues pointing to its debut alongside the Dark Sun setting in early 2027. The class was officially revealed in 2025 through two separate playtests on D&D Beyond, with the second round updating the class and its subclasses based on player feedback.
Psions previously appeared in earlier editions of the game but are getting a full revamp for the 5.5e rules introduced in 2024. Psionic themes currently live within the Psi Warrior Fighter and Aberrant Sorcery Sorcerer subclasses, but a dedicated Psion class would give psionics their own standalone identity for the first time in this ruleset.
Before any Psion release, D&D's roadmap includes Arcana Unleashed and D&D: World of Warcraft in 2026. The next major step after that is Dark Sun, the first M-rated D&D setting, arriving in early 2027 as the headline release of the Season of Survival. Its official description states that "magic defiles the land, psionic creatures prowl the wastes," a detail that strongly suggests a Psion tie-in, since nearly every creature in the setting's world of Athas carries some form of mental power, with the most gifted classified as Psions.
Across both playtests, the Psion used Intelligence as its primary ability, a stat currently shared only by the Wizard and Artificer as primary attributes, and used secondarily by the Eldritch Knight Fighter, Psi Warrior Fighter, and Arcane Trickster Rogue. A higher Intelligence score would boost Arcana, History, Investigation, Nature, and Religion checks for Psion characters.
The playtests also revealed a wave of new and returning spells. Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting and Enemies Abound are set to return, while Bleeding Darkness, Ectoplasmic Trail, Life Inversion Field, Summon Astral Entity, and Telekinetic Crush are brand-new additions available to Bards, Clerics, Sorcerers, Wizards, and Warlocks. Meanwhile, Ego Whip, Life Siphon, Psionic Blast, and Thought Form have been playtested as spells exclusive to the Psion.
Mechanically, the Psion is built around Psionic Energy Dice, which scale from a d4 up to a d12 as characters level up, echoing the Soulknife Rogue's Energy Dice system. These dice power the Level 2 Psionic Discipline feat, which allows players to select two disciplines at unlock and gain additional ones at levels 5, 10, 13, and 17 — a structure similar to the Warlock's Eldritch Invocations. At level 5, the Psionic Restoration discipline lets players regain spent Psionic Energy Dice, comparable to how Warlocks recover a Pact Magic Slot through Magical Cunning. In practice, using disciplines also resembles a Sorcerer spending Sorcery Points on Metamagic.
Four subclasses have appeared across the playtests: Metamorph, Psi Warper, Psykinetic, and Telepath. The Metamorph specializes in transforming its body, including turning limbs into weapons. The Psi Warper focuses on teleportation and battlefield movement, with access to spells like Feather Fall, Blink, and Mass Teleportation. The Psykinetic centers on controlling and dismantling enemies across the battlefield, while the Telepath specializes in probing the minds of others.
