Did I do this right? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Did I do this right? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
On_the_wings_of_TPK
06-19-07, 02:14 PM I posted this in on the CO boards, but they have yet to reply as of yet:

Hi all, This is my first real attempt at a psionic character. (I made one as an NPC a couple of years ago, it was a psionic mind flayer monk 1) I'm looking more for power then flavor, and well want it to be the best possible under the circumstances. The campaign is going to be mostly hack and slash centered around legacy weapons. As for the rules of engagement:

80 free style point buy. (All stats start at 0 and ability points are bought on a 1 for 1 baseous. max 18 before racial modifiers, and minimum 3 after.)

Characters are ECL 6 with 13,000gp starting wealth.
Books are races of: destiny,ebberron, wild, and stone, Complete: arcana, adventurer, divine, and warrior. Weapons of Legacy, and XPH. The DM is fairly strict on these.

He wants to vet all PrCs before hand, and is kinda guy shy towards caster like things. (He wants his meleers to be as good as casters. Yes I pointed out ToM, and no he isn't allowing it. Something about how 3 of the other players won't read it. Lack of literacy skills methinks.)

Also the DM is kinda special, so nothing too fancy, or anything requiring lots of explanation please.

What I've got so far: Elan Psion kineticist 6
Str 6
Dex 18
Con 16
Int 18
Wis 13
Cha 7

Skills: Authohypnosis 9 ranks, Concentration 9 ranks, Craft (Haven't thought of it yet) 9 ranks, Knowledge psionics 9 ranks, and Psicraft 9 ranks.

Feats: Overchannel, Imprint stone, Extend power, Craft Dorje, and Psionic meditation.

Powers known: 1st: Catfall, energy ray, inertial armor, mind thrust, and vigor
2nd: energy adaption, energy missile, knock psionic, and tongues psionic.
3rd: Body adjustment, Body purification, Dispell psionics, and energy bolt.

gear: Cloak of resistance +1, Dorje of energy missile, 2 potions of cure light wounds, a ring of protection +1, and a head band of intellect +2.

Basically I'm trying to see if this good, or if I could improve on it somewhere. Also if this is steaming pile of crap please let me know, and why.

I was also thinking of going for Tthralherder. In that case i would drop my con to a 12, and dex to a 14 and up my Cha to a 16. Or switch my Cha and int and play a wilder. Thoughts?

Thankx.

So uhmm yaa thoughts? Is it good, bad, ugly?
SlanderPanic
06-19-07, 02:38 PM I'm looking more for power then flavor.

Fail.
Knight0
06-19-07, 02:39 PM Skills: perfect
Feats: get rid of imprint stone for talented and craft dorje for Expanded knowledge[Astral Construct] (Kinetists get a d6 when chosing energy touch and its too good a power not to get) .
Powers: swap catfall for crystal shard. energy bolt isnt that helpful so I would swap it for timehop and swap knock for levitate.
Gear : replace the cloak for a vest. swap the potions for a ring of cure light. only 2000 gp and much longer lasting.
Scion of Coldshard
06-19-07, 02:46 PM You have some of the best damage dealers in psionics there, which should help for the damage dealing.

Why elan? It looks like halfling (strongheart for the feat or regular for the +'s to saves) or human (feat) would be better.

I would get rid of imprint stone and craft dorje, leave that to npc's.

If you pick up talented, psionic body, and psicrystal affinity (from strongheart halfling or human) then your hp will increase by 10 and you will have a lot more options.

Body adjustment just plain sucks, body purification is a little better but I would still drop it in favor of something more useful.

You dont get to use complete psionic? While most of it sucks there are some things in there which would help you out.

Str 6 = 6 pts
Dex 18 = 18 pts
Con 16 = 16 pts
Int 16 = 16 pts
Wis 13 = 13 pts
Cha 9 = 9 pts
= 78 -1 (from level 4) = 77.

It looks like you are missing 3 points worth of stats.

Your gear also looks a little light for that matter.
On_the_wings_of_TPK
06-19-07, 03:22 PM Fail.
Sorry you disagree with the campaign style, but thats what this is. If it were a more RP orientated type of game then I would build my character accordingly. However it is what is it, and I don't see the logic of using a screw driver when a hammer is what is clearly needed.

As for talented: Done that feat is in all ways superior.
Expanded knowledge {astral construct} That looks like a really good feat, and i will most likely end up taking it, but also in the party is a druid with augmented summoning, and 3 barbarians....so more meele smash probally isn't needed...maybe.

Psionic body: huh I don't get it? It would give me a net of 10 HP if I were human, and 8 if not...I could re-invest 2 more points into my con for 6 hp and still have the feat. Also I don't get the point of psionic affinity, as i don't see when I'll be needing to make a Use psionic device check, and I'll be maxing out ranks in psicraft regardless, so another +2 seems kinda redundant.

I choose Elan because: Bonus power points, the ability to: never have to worry about eating again, give myself a +4 to saves as an immediate action, and reduce damage as an immediate action, and as an abberation I'm immune to things that target humanoids such as charm person. I was looking more for survivability on that call.

I can not go with a light hearted halfling as they are not in allowed source material.

But I'm a little confused about the human racial choice? Could explain why it is better then Elan?

Unfortunately levitate is a nomad spell. To my knowledge I can't take it, unless I give up a feat for expanded knowledge at 5th, or 6th level.

Elans get a -2 to their Cha, and I put the extra point into int.

Thanks, oh and any thoughts on the thrallherder?
InkBlot
06-19-07, 03:30 PM Levitate is both a psion/wilder power and a nomad power. Look at the power description again. Any psion can learn to levitate themselves, but only nomads can learn to levitate other people/objects as well.
Kive
06-19-07, 05:15 PM ...and reduce damage as an immediate action...

You should be shot in the face for considering to use such a god-awful ability.

Other then that, your reasons for elan are fine. Human would net you another feat though.
Lycanthromancer
06-19-07, 05:25 PM You'd be better off using that as a last-ditch effort to avoid death. Vigor + Share Pain (with your psicrystal) would be a much better use of your power points, don'tcha know.

I mean, do the math; how many power points do you save using one manifestation of vigor + share pain at each level, versus the same amount of damage for your racial ability? Being prepared; that's the key.
Scion of Coldshard
06-19-07, 05:30 PM OWTPK, you might want to individually quote each person that you are responding to ;)

Psionic body: huh I don't get it? It would give me a net of 10 HP if I were human, and 8 if not...I could re-invest 2 more points into my con for 6 hp and still have the feat.

You could do both and have even more hp.

You said that you were going for power and the extra hp might help with that. It isnt a great feat, but if you already have 4 other psionic feats and arent above level 10 or so then it is a pretty decent boost.

It looks like you are missing stat points anyway. You could reduce your cha by 1 and make your starting con and int both 18. That would get you more hp, more pp, and more skill points.

At 18 starting int and a +2 enhancement item that gives you a +5 mod so your bonus pp will be 0.5*6*5=15.

Also I don't get the point of psionic affinity, as i don't see when I'll be needing to make a Use psionic device check, and I'll be maxing out ranks in psicraft regardless, so another +2 seems kinda redundant.

I am guessing that this is in response to my post. I said, 'psicrystal affinity'. It gets you a little buddy which can let you double up on some skills, gives you a boost to spot, listen, and a save or skill of your choice, plus later on you can take psicrystal containment so that you can use your overchannel/talented combo one extra time a combat for free, action wise.

At level 6 if you have a hero psicrystal then it will give you the alertness feat while it is within 5', you can have it deliver touch powers for you, it has telepathic communication, it can see through darkness, it has all of your skills plus extras, and you get a +2 to your fortitude save. Not too bad for the cost of a single feat right?

I choose Elan because: Bonus power points, the ability to: never have to worry about eating again, give myself a +4 to saves as an immediate action, and reduce damage as an immediate action, and as an abberation I'm immune to things that target humanoids such as charm person. I was looking more for survivability on that call.

Eh, you are in the mid-range right now. The extra pp is nice but almost not noticeable, you are almost beyond the range of the harmful person spells being used on you while the beneficial person spell hit really sucks sometimes, and the action cost of your abilities isnt beating down your door and strangleing you just yet.

In a few levels the pp boost is basically unnoticeable, the person immunity will essentially only be harmful, and the action cost of those abilities will suck for you.

I would definately go halfling, since you dont care for the feat. +1 to your AC means that you will essentially negate 1 attack out of 20. +1 to your attack rolls means that your energy ray will hit 5% more often plus other attack abilities. Being small size actually 'increases' the amount of weight you can carry slightly overall because most things you use go down in weight by a factor of 1/2 while your carrying capacity is 3/4 of norm. Plus, you get a +1 to saves all of the time without having to pay pp's or actions for it. Sure, +1 isnt as good as +4, but that +1 works when you dont have the action to spare, doesnt dip into your manifesting, and works while you are flatfooted ;)

Thanks, oh and any thoughts on the thrallherder?

Fun looking class, but I have no play experience with it and most dms I have played with dont care for having yet more characters to deal with at once. Which means no leadership either.
Fleem
06-19-07, 05:37 PM So, Int. is actually 19, then? Why not move a point from cha to wis to even things out? Hit points are usually a good thing, so you might see if you can afford that extra con if you're not going to take psionic body.

BTW, why go thrallherd if you've already got too much meat hanging around?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
On_the_wings_of_TPK 06-19-07, 02:14 PM	I posted this in on the CO boards, but they have yet to reply as of yet: Hi all, This is my first real attempt at a psionic character. (I made one as an NPC a couple of years ago, it was a psionic mind flayer monk 1) I'm looking more for power then flavor, and well want it to be the best possible under the circumstances. The campaign is going to be mostly hack and slash centered around legacy weapons. As for the rules of engagement: 80 free style point buy. (All stats start at 0 and ability points are bought on a 1 for 1 baseous. max 18 before racial modifiers, and minimum 3 after.) Characters are ECL 6 with 13,000gp starting wealth. Books are races of: destiny,ebberron, wild, and stone, Complete: arcana, adventurer, divine, and warrior. Weapons of Legacy, and XPH. The DM is fairly strict on these. He wants to vet all PrCs before hand, and is kinda guy shy towards caster like things. (He wants his meleers to be as good as casters. Yes I pointed out ToM, and no he isn't allowing it. Something about how 3 of the other players won't read it. Lack of literacy skills methinks.) Also the DM is kinda special, so nothing too fancy, or anything requiring lots of explanation please. What I've got so far: Elan Psion kineticist 6 Str 6 Dex 18 Con 16 Int 18 Wis 13 Cha 7 Skills: Authohypnosis 9 ranks, Concentration 9 ranks, Craft (Haven't thought of it yet) 9 ranks, Knowledge psionics 9 ranks, and Psicraft 9 ranks. Feats: Overchannel, Imprint stone, Extend power, Craft Dorje, and Psionic meditation. Powers known: 1st: Catfall, energy ray, inertial armor, mind thrust, and vigor 2nd: energy adaption, energy missile, knock psionic, and tongues psionic. 3rd: Body adjustment, Body purification, Dispell psionics, and energy bolt. gear: Cloak of resistance +1, Dorje of energy missile, 2 potions of cure light wounds, a ring of protection +1, and a head band of intellect +2. Basically I'm trying to see if this good, or if I could improve on it somewhere. Also if this is steaming pile of crap please let me know, and why. I was also thinking of going for Tthralherder. In that case i would drop my con to a 12, and dex to a 14 and up my Cha to a 16. Or switch my Cha and int and play a wilder. Thoughts? Thankx. So uhmm yaa thoughts? Is it good, bad, ugly?
SlanderPanic 06-19-07, 02:38 PM	I'm looking more for power then flavor. Fail.
Knight0 06-19-07, 02:39 PM	Skills: perfect Feats: get rid of imprint stone for talented and craft dorje for Expanded knowledge[Astral Construct] (Kinetists get a d6 when chosing energy touch and its too good a power not to get) . Powers: swap catfall for crystal shard. energy bolt isnt that helpful so I would swap it for timehop and swap knock for levitate. Gear : replace the cloak for a vest. swap the potions for a ring of cure light. only 2000 gp and much longer lasting.
Scion of Coldshard 06-19-07, 02:46 PM	You have some of the best damage dealers in psionics there, which should help for the damage dealing. Why elan? It looks like halfling (strongheart for the feat or regular for the +'s to saves) or human (feat) would be better. I would get rid of imprint stone and craft dorje, leave that to npc's. If you pick up talented, psionic body, and psicrystal affinity (from strongheart halfling or human) then your hp will increase by 10 and you will have a lot more options. Body adjustment just plain sucks, body purification is a little better but I would still drop it in favor of something more useful. You dont get to use complete psionic? While most of it sucks there are some things in there which would help you out. Str 6 = 6 pts Dex 18 = 18 pts Con 16 = 16 pts Int 16 = 16 pts Wis 13 = 13 pts Cha 9 = 9 pts = 78 -1 (from level 4) = 77. It looks like you are missing 3 points worth of stats. Your gear also looks a little light for that matter.
On_the_wings_of_TPK 06-19-07, 03:22 PM	Fail. Sorry you disagree with the campaign style, but thats what this is. If it were a more RP orientated type of game then I would build my character accordingly. However it is what is it, and I don't see the logic of using a screw driver when a hammer is what is clearly needed. As for talented: Done that feat is in all ways superior. Expanded knowledge {astral construct} That looks like a really good feat, and i will most likely end up taking it, but also in the party is a druid with augmented summoning, and 3 barbarians....so more meele smash probally isn't needed...maybe. Psionic body: huh I don't get it? It would give me a net of 10 HP if I were human, and 8 if not...I could re-invest 2 more points into my con for 6 hp and still have the feat. Also I don't get the point of psionic affinity, as i don't see when I'll be needing to make a Use psionic device check, and I'll be maxing out ranks in psicraft regardless, so another +2 seems kinda redundant. I choose Elan because: Bonus power points, the ability to: never have to worry about eating again, give myself a +4 to saves as an immediate action, and reduce damage as an immediate action, and as an abberation I'm immune to things that target humanoids such as charm person. I was looking more for survivability on that call. I can not go with a light hearted halfling as they are not in allowed source material. But I'm a little confused about the human racial choice? Could explain why it is better then Elan? Unfortunately levitate is a nomad spell. To my knowledge I can't take it, unless I give up a feat for expanded knowledge at 5th, or 6th level. Elans get a -2 to their Cha, and I put the extra point into int. Thanks, oh and any thoughts on the thrallherder?
InkBlot 06-19-07, 03:30 PM	Levitate is both a psion/wilder power and a nomad power. Look at the power description again. Any psion can learn to levitate themselves, but only nomads can learn to levitate other people/objects as well.
Kive 06-19-07, 05:15 PM	...and reduce damage as an immediate action... You should be shot in the face for considering to use such a god-awful ability. Other then that, your reasons for elan are fine. Human would net you another feat though.
Lycanthromancer 06-19-07, 05:25 PM	You'd be better off using that as a last-ditch effort to avoid death. Vigor + Share Pain (with your psicrystal) would be a much better use of your power points, don'tcha know. I mean, do the math; how many power points do you save using one manifestation of vigor + share pain at each level, versus the same amount of damage for your racial ability? Being prepared; that's the key.
Scion of Coldshard 06-19-07, 05:30 PM	OWTPK, you might want to individually quote each person that you are responding to ;) Psionic body: huh I don't get it? It would give me a net of 10 HP if I were human, and 8 if not...I could re-invest 2 more points into my con for 6 hp and still have the feat. You could do both and have even more hp. You said that you were going for power and the extra hp might help with that. It isnt a great feat, but if you already have 4 other psionic feats and arent above level 10 or so then it is a pretty decent boost. It looks like you are missing stat points anyway. You could reduce your cha by 1 and make your starting con and int both 18. That would get you more hp, more pp, and more skill points. At 18 starting int and a +2 enhancement item that gives you a +5 mod so your bonus pp will be 0.565=15. Also I don't get the point of psionic affinity, as i don't see when I'll be needing to make a Use psionic device check, and I'll be maxing out ranks in psicraft regardless, so another +2 seems kinda redundant. I am guessing that this is in response to my post. I said, 'psicrystal affinity'. It gets you a little buddy which can let you double up on some skills, gives you a boost to spot, listen, and a save or skill of your choice, plus later on you can take psicrystal containment so that you can use your overchannel/talented combo one extra time a combat for free, action wise. At level 6 if you have a hero psicrystal then it will give you the alertness feat while it is within 5', you can have it deliver touch powers for you, it has telepathic communication, it can see through darkness, it has all of your skills plus extras, and you get a +2 to your fortitude save. Not too bad for the cost of a single feat right? I choose Elan because: Bonus power points, the ability to: never have to worry about eating again, give myself a +4 to saves as an immediate action, and reduce damage as an immediate action, and as an abberation I'm immune to things that target humanoids such as charm person. I was looking more for survivability on that call. Eh, you are in the mid-range right now. The extra pp is nice but almost not noticeable, you are almost beyond the range of the harmful person spells being used on you while the beneficial person spell hit really sucks sometimes, and the action cost of your abilities isnt beating down your door and strangleing you just yet. In a few levels the pp boost is basically unnoticeable, the person immunity will essentially only be harmful, and the action cost of those abilities will suck for you. I would definately go halfling, since you dont care for the feat. +1 to your AC means that you will essentially negate 1 attack out of 20. +1 to your attack rolls means that your energy ray will hit 5% more often plus other attack abilities. Being small size actually 'increases' the amount of weight you can carry slightly overall because most things you use go down in weight by a factor of 1/2 while your carrying capacity is 3/4 of norm. Plus, you get a +1 to saves all of the time without having to pay pp's or actions for it. Sure, +1 isnt as good as +4, but that +1 works when you dont have the action to spare, doesnt dip into your manifesting, and works while you are flatfooted ;) Thanks, oh and any thoughts on the thrallherder? Fun looking class, but I have no play experience with it and most dms I have played with dont care for having yet more characters to deal with at once. Which means no leadership either.
Fleem 06-19-07, 05:37 PM	So, Int. is actually 19, then? Why not move a point from cha to wis to even things out? Hit points are usually a good thing, so you might see if you can afford that extra con if you're not going to take psionic body. BTW, why go thrallherd if you've already got too much meat hanging around?