Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Scottbert 01-12-07, 05:10 PM	I'm new to psionics and enjoyed playing a Shaper 4 in yesterday's game, however, sometimes I wondered if I could contribute more to the fight than an astral construct, some arrows, and an occasional energy stun. So I'm asking - How easily can a utility psion get set up so that if his allies are in trouble, he can blow up to 1/4 or even 1/2 of his PP on quick buffs (preferably not spending more than one turn manifesting -- ie, using linked power to get two buffs up) and charge in to help? Alternatively, is it better to just use those PP on blasting, or perhaps is there a way to buff my astral construct so it can hit things better?
chicgeek 01-12-07, 05:19 PM	Well, with Vigor, Share Pain (on Psicrystal), Inertial Armor, Force Screen, Thicken Skin or the like, I think the Psion can hold his own as a no-damage-dealing tank, while your buddies high tail it out of there. And you'd better save enough PP for a Skate to escape yourself. If you stick in the Kineticist's Control Body power, you can get even more mileage out of him. However, the best Psion combat power is Metamorphisis--discoverlots of attack form, but also some useful sneaking and travelling abilties. A Psion's strength is in versatility--not melee. So if you blow all your powers on combat buffs, then you're cutting yourself off from your real power. You should concentrate more on battlefield control (Entangling Ecoplasm, Decceleration, Cloud Mind, etc) to hamper your enemies than slugging it out hand to hand.
hogarth 01-12-07, 05:27 PM	I'm new to psionics and enjoyed playing a Shaper 4 in yesterday's game, however, sometimes I wondered if I could contribute more to the fight than an astral construct, some arrows, and an occasional energy stun. I wouldn't bother with melee. If you want to expand your capabilities, do what low-level sorcerors and wizards do -- buy some expendables. A few power stones (or even a dorje) of Entangling Ectoplasm, Energy Ray, or Matter Agitation might make you feel more useful in a fight. I'm playing a Shaper at the moment and my solution is usually to just keep manifesting Astral Construct I (we don't play with the "1 construct at a time" nerf). If they're not hitting very well, I order them to grapple. They're terrible grapplers, but if you have enough of them going at once one of them is bound to succeed!
Rathmun 01-12-07, 08:06 PM	I'm playing a Shaper at the moment and my solution is usually to just keep manifesting Astral Construct I (we don't play with the "1 construct at a time" nerf). If they're not hitting very well, I order them to grapple. They're terrible grapplers, but if you have enough of them going at once one of them is bound to succeed! Ahem, if you are in a game without the nerf, give your construct's wings, and set up lots of flanking+aid another. It is possible to have 17 ac's adjacent to a medium opponent. if all but one of those use aid another on the one who is actually grappling, that one gets a +32 on the check. even with the -1 base grapple of a 1st lvl ac, that's still a total of +31, and nothing of a similar level is going to be able to do anything. [note that the others are not actually in the grapple, that's limited to 4 creatures. Instead they are next to the grapple using aid another actions.] admitedly, putting that many ac's in the air before some of them start evaporating is not possible for lower level characters, it remains a good tactic for higher level shapers. (although, depending on DM, there is a feat in one of the Malhavoc books that gives them a flat 10 minute duration) One addition to the trick I particularly like is adding Anathemic Carapace to them. if one dies it deals 1d6+1d6/HD damage to all adjacent to it, usually provoking a chain reaction.