A Psionic Inquisitor [Archive] - Wizards Community

A Psionic Inquisitor [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Aktariel
02-09-07, 07:41 PM I had a hankering to play an inquisitor in a new campaign my DM will be running soon [although I will admit I have wanted to play an inquisitor for a very long time], and then, when he told me it was going to include psionics, I started grinning. It got even better when he told me that the way it was going to work was that magic was going to be really common, psionics quite uncommon, and that psionics could affect magic but magic couldn't do the same in return...

So let's build a Psionic Inquisitor/Witchhunter. Now - we're not looking for one of those rabid foaming at the mouth kill all the demonspawn types. We're looking for an honest, track and slay the foul necromancer type dude. Basically, a psionic mageslaying gish. With flavor!

Tempest Stormwind suggested [on a slightly different topic] Ardent 10/Quori Mindhunter 5/Witch Slayer 5 [from Complete Psionic, Magic of Eberron, and Tome of Magic, respectively.]

While this works fairly well in terms of flavor and abilities, we wind up with a BAB of +15 and a manifester level of 14. Not terribly hot for a gish.

Can we do better?
Aktariel
02-10-07, 03:53 PM A build of Kalashtar Ardent 9/Quori Mindhunter 5/Sanctified Mind 6 would net a BAB of 16 and a ML of 18 - a pretty good mix for a gish, but we wind up with a bunch of anti-psionic abilities and the abilities don't mesh well with the flavor I'm shooting for. The DM might be lenient enough to allow me to change the flavor of Sanctified Mind to be anti-magic, but I'd prefer to do it with out houseruling or homebrewing...

A PsyWar 8/Illithid Slayer 10/Sanctified Mind 2 nets a BAB of +18 and an ML of 18, but in addition to the above problems, it has less power than a traditional gish might (IE, the ML is quite good but the power list is still PsyWar, which does not have the same oomph that a psion of equivalent ML would have.)

Help? Suggestions?
RadicalTaoist
02-10-07, 05:09 PM Well, exactly how much do you want in the way of info gathering/hunting abilities? Or are you focusing more on the caster punishment?
Aktariel
02-10-07, 05:16 PM I want it all... What I can have is another story. :D

I guess mostly what I'm looking for is a build that can do some pretty good manifesting, stand up in a fight (IE, preferably four iterative attacks total), and have a little bit in the way of hunting down and tracking.

The point and shoot inquisitor rather than the careful investigator; or, "You know it's bad because they had to call me in" kind of thing.

EDIT
Primary Focus: Combat
Secondary Focus: Manifesting (Mostly buff with a few utility powers)
Tertiary Focus: Info gathering/hunting/tracking
Tempest Stormwind
02-10-07, 05:28 PM Heh, RT, this sounding familiar at all? :p

Ardent's still probably your best bet as a base psionic entrant. The Conflict mantle can provide you with a lot of buffs, as can the Physical Power mantle.

Taking the City Slicker feat adds Gather Information to your list of class skills for all your classes, and the Urban Tracking feat lets you use it to hunt down people in settlements. Track (or one level in Ranger) is used for between-settlements tracking at lower levels, or if you don't want to call attention to yourself in the higher levels.

As for some punch, there's a few ways to go about this. The easiest would be Slayer (The SRD version lets you pick your favored enemy), but there's more options available if you want to expand your search (i.e. if you're doing the AoO Doomsday Machine approach to combat, consider a few levels in Crusader, while if you're just wanting to beat stuff up normally, further levels in a gish manifesting class would do the trick).
Aktariel
02-10-07, 05:35 PM Gee... this sounds familiar...

Awright. Guess I have to buck up, stop whining, make up my mind, and build it.

Thanks again TS.
PhaedrusXY
02-10-07, 05:39 PM I think this (http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=9054561&postcount=24) looks like a lot of fun, and like it could be an effective "mage killer", mainly because of Divert Teleport. Whatever you do, I'd highly suggest getting that power. You might look over the other entries of that contest, also.
RadicalTaoist
02-10-07, 07:48 PM Heh, RT, this sounding familiar at all? :p
Exactly why I asked. Lehatharath's not as gishy as what he seems to be looking for; neither is the Seeker.
Aktariel
02-10-07, 08:11 PM Exactly why I asked. Lehatharath's not as gishy as what he seems to be looking for; neither is the Seeker.

Lehatharath?
Tempest Stormwind
02-10-07, 09:12 PM Lehatharath?

RT and I game together; Lehatharath (http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=4710038&postcount=15) is his character in one of our two games. (The build was changed significantly, pretty much pure Ardent at the moment but going Crusader soon, since the group lacked a healer.) I was poking fun at him about it earlier, since he seemed rather like what you wanted with a bit more of an emphasis on info gathering.
RadicalTaoist
02-10-07, 09:13 PM I'm playing a game with Tempest where I'm a Kalashtar Ardent with a definite Bounty Hunter bent. I've taken City Slicker, Urban Tracking, and Expanded Knowledge: Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions for feats so far. Domains include Fate (to pick up Metafaculty later), Justice, and later down the line Knowledge.
But that's way more information gathering than what you're aiming for.
Aktariel
02-10-07, 09:42 PM Let's try Kalashtar Ardent 4/Quori Nightmare 5/Quori Mindhunter 5/Sanctified Mind 6 - Gish enough, BAB enough, and frightening enough. (BAB +16 [?], ML 17)

That and I went back and read the description of Psionic Transparency - most of those class features will affect magic users :D

EDIT: What exactly is the Expanded Knowledge: Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions feat?
Tempest Stormwind
02-10-07, 10:17 PM Let's try Kalashtar Ardent 4/Quori Nightmare 5/Quori Mindhunter 5/Sanctified Mind 6 - Gish enough, BAB enough, and frightening enough. (BAB +16 [?], ML 17)

That and I went back and read the description of Psionic Transparency - most of those class features will affect magic users :D

EDIT: What exactly is the Expanded Knowledge: Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions feat?

Expanded Psionics Handbook, it's essentially similar to Extra Spell.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Aktariel 02-09-07, 07:41 PM	I had a hankering to play an inquisitor in a new campaign my DM will be running soon [although I will admit I have wanted to play an inquisitor for a very long time], and then, when he told me it was going to include psionics, I started grinning. It got even better when he told me that the way it was going to work was that magic was going to be really common, psionics quite uncommon, and that psionics could affect magic but magic couldn't do the same in return... So let's build a Psionic Inquisitor/Witchhunter. Now - we're not looking for one of those rabid foaming at the mouth kill all the demonspawn types. We're looking for an honest, track and slay the foul necromancer type dude. Basically, a psionic mageslaying gish. With flavor! Tempest Stormwind suggested [on a slightly different topic] Ardent 10/Quori Mindhunter 5/Witch Slayer 5 [from Complete Psionic, Magic of Eberron, and Tome of Magic, respectively.] While this works fairly well in terms of flavor and abilities, we wind up with a BAB of +15 and a manifester level of 14. Not terribly hot for a gish. Can we do better?
Aktariel 02-10-07, 03:53 PM	A build of Kalashtar Ardent 9/Quori Mindhunter 5/Sanctified Mind 6 would net a BAB of 16 and a ML of 18 - a pretty good mix for a gish, but we wind up with a bunch of anti-psionic abilities and the abilities don't mesh well with the flavor I'm shooting for. The DM might be lenient enough to allow me to change the flavor of Sanctified Mind to be anti-magic, but I'd prefer to do it with out houseruling or homebrewing... A PsyWar 8/Illithid Slayer 10/Sanctified Mind 2 nets a BAB of +18 and an ML of 18, but in addition to the above problems, it has less power than a traditional gish might (IE, the ML is quite good but the power list is still PsyWar, which does not have the same oomph that a psion of equivalent ML would have.) Help? Suggestions?
RadicalTaoist 02-10-07, 05:09 PM	Well, exactly how much do you want in the way of info gathering/hunting abilities? Or are you focusing more on the caster punishment?
Aktariel 02-10-07, 05:16 PM	I want it all... What I can have is another story. :D I guess mostly what I'm looking for is a build that can do some pretty good manifesting, stand up in a fight (IE, preferably four iterative attacks total), and have a little bit in the way of hunting down and tracking. The point and shoot inquisitor rather than the careful investigator; or, "You know it's bad because they had to call me in" kind of thing. EDIT Primary Focus: Combat Secondary Focus: Manifesting (Mostly buff with a few utility powers) Tertiary Focus: Info gathering/hunting/tracking
Tempest Stormwind 02-10-07, 05:28 PM	Heh, RT, this sounding familiar at all? :p Ardent's still probably your best bet as a base psionic entrant. The Conflict mantle can provide you with a lot of buffs, as can the Physical Power mantle. Taking the City Slicker feat adds Gather Information to your list of class skills for all your classes, and the Urban Tracking feat lets you use it to hunt down people in settlements. Track (or one level in Ranger) is used for between-settlements tracking at lower levels, or if you don't want to call attention to yourself in the higher levels. As for some punch, there's a few ways to go about this. The easiest would be Slayer (The SRD version lets you pick your favored enemy), but there's more options available if you want to expand your search (i.e. if you're doing the AoO Doomsday Machine approach to combat, consider a few levels in Crusader, while if you're just wanting to beat stuff up normally, further levels in a gish manifesting class would do the trick).
Aktariel 02-10-07, 05:35 PM	Gee... this sounds familiar... Awright. Guess I have to buck up, stop whining, make up my mind, and build it. Thanks again TS.
PhaedrusXY 02-10-07, 05:39 PM	I think this (http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=9054561&postcount=24) looks like a lot of fun, and like it could be an effective "mage killer", mainly because of Divert Teleport. Whatever you do, I'd highly suggest getting that power. You might look over the other entries of that contest, also.
RadicalTaoist 02-10-07, 07:48 PM	Heh, RT, this sounding familiar at all? :p Exactly why I asked. Lehatharath's not as gishy as what he seems to be looking for; neither is the Seeker.
Aktariel 02-10-07, 08:11 PM	Exactly why I asked. Lehatharath's not as gishy as what he seems to be looking for; neither is the Seeker. Lehatharath?
Tempest Stormwind 02-10-07, 09:12 PM	Lehatharath? RT and I game together; Lehatharath (http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=4710038&postcount=15) is his character in one of our two games. (The build was changed significantly, pretty much pure Ardent at the moment but going Crusader soon, since the group lacked a healer.) I was poking fun at him about it earlier, since he seemed rather like what you wanted with a bit more of an emphasis on info gathering.
RadicalTaoist 02-10-07, 09:13 PM	I'm playing a game with Tempest where I'm a Kalashtar Ardent with a definite Bounty Hunter bent. I've taken City Slicker, Urban Tracking, and Expanded Knowledge: Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions for feats so far. Domains include Fate (to pick up Metafaculty later), Justice, and later down the line Knowledge. But that's way more information gathering than what you're aiming for.
Aktariel 02-10-07, 09:42 PM	Let's try Kalashtar Ardent 4/Quori Nightmare 5/Quori Mindhunter 5/Sanctified Mind 6 - Gish enough, BAB enough, and frightening enough. (BAB +16 [?], ML 17) That and I went back and read the description of Psionic Transparency - most of those class features will affect magic users :D EDIT: What exactly is the Expanded Knowledge: Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions feat?
Tempest Stormwind 02-10-07, 10:17 PM	Let's try Kalashtar Ardent 4/Quori Nightmare 5/Quori Mindhunter 5/Sanctified Mind 6 - Gish enough, BAB enough, and frightening enough. (BAB +16 [?], ML 17) That and I went back and read the description of Psionic Transparency - most of those class features will affect magic users :D EDIT: What exactly is the Expanded Knowledge: Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions feat? Expanded Psionics Handbook, it's essentially similar to Extra Spell.