Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SKB 06-22-07, 04:58 PM	Ask Wizards: Link (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ask/20070618a) Q: Dear Sage Does the damp power psionic power (Complete Psionic, 82) trump an effect that empowers or maximizes a spell or power? --Ueno A: Yes and no. An empowered fireball affected by damp power would deal 1 point of damage per die, plus 50%. A 6th-level sorcerer’s empowered fireball would thus deal 9 points of damage. A maximized fireball, however, no longer has variable, numeric effects (because they’ve been maximized), so damp power would have no effect on its damage. Thoughts?
Tempest Stormwind 06-22-07, 05:01 PM	We discussed this at length earlier, long before Ask Wizards tackled it, and we reached the same conclusion.
AntiDjinn 06-22-07, 07:37 PM	While it may on rare occasions be difficult to explain from the character's point of view (a 6d6 maximized fireball and a 6d6 normal fireball that just happens to roll all 6's are functionally the same as far as the character being toasted can see, but different in game mechanics) this ruling is fair, balanced, and in accordance with the RAW. The psionic system is balanced because it adheres to the principle of getting what you pay for. If you want X, you pay for X with points or other resources. If you want a bigger X then you pay more points, have certain feats, expend focus, risk enervation, etc. The guy who just tossed a Maximized Energy Ball at you needed to have the Maximize Power feat, he needed to expend focus, and he needed to spend 4 power points on top of the cost of the power. If you could just negate this with 3 power points and an instantaneous action spent on Damp Power, then how balanced would that be? In any case, Maximize is not the major weakness of Damp Power. That would instead be the fact that anyone could just pull a weapon and hack your psion to bits if he is counting on this as his major defense.
Tempest Stormwind 06-22-07, 07:44 PM	In any case, Maximize is not the major weakness of Damp Power. That would instead be the fact that anyone could just pull a weapon and hack your psion to bits if he is counting on this as his major defense.Or just cast a second spell at you. Intellect Fortress, a higher-level effect than Damp Power, gets around both the Maximize and the multiple-spell options, but has potentially less of an effect than Damp as a result.
Psikerlord 06-23-07, 04:05 AM	I think a better outcome for the scenario is that the damp power cancels out the maximise, but the target still suffers standard damage (ie make the usual rolls, not auto maximise). In the same vein as light spells cancelling darkness spells, haste cancelling slow, etc
Zarreth_Nessad 06-23-07, 04:15 AM	A link to the thread where it was discussed prior to "Ask Wizards" would be much appreciated, please.
Tempest Stormwind 06-23-07, 11:39 AM	A link to the thread where it was discussed prior to "Ask Wizards" would be much appreciated, please. I looked for it and couldn't find it; it was a long time ago and we got rather heated. I'll keep looking. The general conclusion was, as I said, that a maximized spell had no variable numeric components. A maximized CL 10 fireball did 60 damage, period, no variable involved. Thus, Damp Power can't stop it any more than it could stop Empathic Feedback. ((EDIT: It seems to have been removed from the archive. It was a really long thread, too, with rather heated debates on it, but consensus was eventually reached except by the people who bowed out saying "that's stupid, I'll houserule it".))
InkBlot 06-23-07, 01:58 PM	I think it's less a matter of balance, or of math, and more a matter of "who would feel most ripped-off." You don't get many feats. On top of that, to use a metamagic or metapsionic feat requires an expenditure of limited daily resources and actions. If you expend your focus and pay extra pp, only to find all your efforts negated, then you'll feel pretty cheated. You only get one chance to expend your focus, unless you waste your next turn focusing or you spent yet another feat on Psionic Meditation. On the other hand, you have different fingers. A psion gets over 30 powers throughout her career, roughly two-per-level. On top of that, damp power only takes an immediate action to manifest. You still had all of your previous turn to put up defenses, and you have all of next turn (minus the swift action) to recover, put up yet more defenses, or simply blast your opponent to next Tuesday. You can quickly change strategy, and you know only very few foes will spend one of their precious precious feats, and even then they can only maximize a handful of their spells/powers. All in all, you shouldn't feel too ripped off. To sum up, a player who attempts to damp a maximized power and fails will feel less cheated than a player who manifests a maximized power only to have it damped. For that reason, I rule that maximized powers/spell are unaffected by damp power.
Bacris 06-23-07, 03:28 PM	((EDIT: It seems to have been removed from the archive. It was a really long thread, too, with rather heated debates on it, but consensus was eventually reached except by the people who bowed out saying "that's stupid, I'll houserule it".)) I've noticed a fair bit got pruned out of the archive... What's the point of an archive if it's not actually, you know, going to archive?