Dwarven Psions? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Dwarven Psions? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Focused
05-13-07, 08:26 PM Has anyone played this yet. Does it make any sense to anyone?
InkBlot
05-13-07, 08:30 PM Why wouldn't it make sense?

The duergar, a dwarven subrace dating back several editions, are all naturaly psionic.

The closest I, personaly, ever got to playing a psychic dwarf was playing a psychic gnome. In one game I DMed, in my homebrew world, the Norse (and therefore the dwarves) had highly refined psionics. The players never ran into an psychic dwarves, but they did find some dwarven runestones (power stones) in an ancient longship they dug up in Vinland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland).
JulesCARV
05-13-07, 08:40 PM I think the iconic war mind is a dwarf.

A typical, lightly-armored psion doesn't benefit from one of the dwarf's best abilities -- armor not slowing them down further -- but is still slowed by a dwarf's inherent slowness. Psychic warriors, ardents, and the like are better at taking advantage of the dwarf's racial advantages. A psion with a bit more heavy armor, like an illithid slayer, on the other hand, manifesting powers while holding a tower shield in one hand and a waraxe in the other...

On the other hand, a dwarf shaper with high ranks in craft (armorsmithing), psionic fabricate, an artiste psicrystal, and the like, is just cool. It takes the iconic dwarf smith and then gives it an aspect of mental power, especially with a few item creation feats.
Focused
05-13-07, 08:46 PM Thanks I was thinking of making a dwarven Psychic Warrior.
BadCatMan
05-13-07, 08:50 PM I once played a Dwarf Egoist/Fighter aiming for the Iron Mind PrC, named Khazad Crystalaxe.

His clan had built their town inside a giant geode (one of those crystal-egg things), and mined the crystal for their weapons and building materials. The proxmity of the crystals caused the dwarves to become more likely to be psionic.

They also buried their dead in crystal coffins, and over time the psychic energy of the dead leaked into the surrounding crystals, leaving a subtle psychic entity that they worshipped as the 'Ancestors'. Their psicrystals and intelligent crystal weapons were all fragments of the Ancestors.

It was a fun idea, though the game died very early on.
zuul88
05-14-07, 09:29 AM I am playing a Aletitain Dwarf Caradhaker[Slayer](Aletitain dwarves are from Minds Eye, I updated them to 3.5 thread is on here somewhere, I did a better job and made Paragon classes for it, still need to post those. Awesome dwarf +2 Int, +2 Con, -4 charisma) It is so much fun. He can blast anything(kinetitist) or jump into melee with no real problems. He is lvl 8 right now at level 20 he will have BAB+17 and ML 18. Whole new way to gish, I was going to play the duerger pyshic warrior until I ran across all the Sardior articles.

Long Live Sardior!!! Maybe one day WotC will inculde him with the rest of the dragons since he has been around longer then any other deities then tiamat and bahumt.

A typical, lightly-armored psion doesn't benefit from one of the dwarf's best abilities -- armor not slowing them down further -- but is still slowed by a dwarf's inherent slowness.
Paragon levels at least that is what I did. Martial weapon and all armor and shield(but not tower shield) full BAB, good fort save, Knowledge(dungeoneering), a whole bunch of bonuses(+30ft darkvision-no sensitivity, +3 saves to powers-poisons, improved stonecutting, 3/day psi-like ablilities plus the all important +2 int for psion or +2 str for psychic warriors; they pick which is thier favored class at creation and the paragon levels reflects the choice.), for the loss of 1 ML. For Aletitians. Duergers need Paragon levels but they will have much the same features, only problem is the fighter favored class but every dwarf needs some fighter in him I guess.

Only thing I needed was the track feat. It really makes sense that Illithid Slayers started from the dwarfs when everything you need is right there.

Respect
Nathan
Mercurius
05-14-07, 10:13 AM The only psion I've ever actually gotten to play was a dwarven psion, inspired in part by the D&D miniature Dwarf Ancestor, which I started thinking of as a large astral construct created by a dwarf shaper. This eventually lead to Gredand Forge, my dwarf Psion in a World's Largest Dungeon campaign. He wasn't the greatest, considering his level, but his abilities did manage to ensure that he and his party of second level characters subdued a total of four ogres at once (hooray disable) before the ogre barbarian killed him in one blow.

For more information on Gredand (and a fictionalized account of his higher levels...), you can find his entry in Hero Craftsman #2 (http://boards1.wizards.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-702688), where he pulled a silver medal (and probably would have gotten gold if I hadn't messed up a bit in my skill calculations). Let it be known that his stats in the actual campaign were somewhat different (he had an 18 INT and CON, giving him lots of extra hp, and he got to take a level of psychic warrior as his favored class, instead of fighter). He was a fun character who I wouldn't have minded playing longer, and very flavorful without necessarily being bound by the standard psionic fluff.
MnemonicSV
05-16-07, 01:29 PM Be certain to check with your DM on whether or not he/she allows your racial +2 bonus to save against spells and spell-like effects to apply to powers and psi-like effects as well. Most DMs playing at full transparency allow it (especially if psionic-variant illithids are in play), but some may differ.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Focused 05-13-07, 08:26 PM	Has anyone played this yet. Does it make any sense to anyone?
InkBlot 05-13-07, 08:30 PM	Why wouldn't it make sense? The duergar, a dwarven subrace dating back several editions, are all naturaly psionic. The closest I, personaly, ever got to playing a psychic dwarf was playing a psychic gnome. In one game I DMed, in my homebrew world, the Norse (and therefore the dwarves) had highly refined psionics. The players never ran into an psychic dwarves, but they did find some dwarven runestones (power stones) in an ancient longship they dug up in Vinland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vinland).
JulesCARV 05-13-07, 08:40 PM	I think the iconic war mind is a dwarf. A typical, lightly-armored psion doesn't benefit from one of the dwarf's best abilities -- armor not slowing them down further -- but is still slowed by a dwarf's inherent slowness. Psychic warriors, ardents, and the like are better at taking advantage of the dwarf's racial advantages. A psion with a bit more heavy armor, like an illithid slayer, on the other hand, manifesting powers while holding a tower shield in one hand and a waraxe in the other... On the other hand, a dwarf shaper with high ranks in craft (armorsmithing), psionic fabricate, an artiste psicrystal, and the like, is just cool. It takes the iconic dwarf smith and then gives it an aspect of mental power, especially with a few item creation feats.
Focused 05-13-07, 08:46 PM	Thanks I was thinking of making a dwarven Psychic Warrior.
BadCatMan 05-13-07, 08:50 PM	I once played a Dwarf Egoist/Fighter aiming for the Iron Mind PrC, named Khazad Crystalaxe. His clan had built their town inside a giant geode (one of those crystal-egg things), and mined the crystal for their weapons and building materials. The proxmity of the crystals caused the dwarves to become more likely to be psionic. They also buried their dead in crystal coffins, and over time the psychic energy of the dead leaked into the surrounding crystals, leaving a subtle psychic entity that they worshipped as the 'Ancestors'. Their psicrystals and intelligent crystal weapons were all fragments of the Ancestors. It was a fun idea, though the game died very early on.
zuul88 05-14-07, 09:29 AM	I am playing a Aletitain Dwarf Caradhaker[Slayer](Aletitain dwarves are from Minds Eye, I updated them to 3.5 thread is on here somewhere, I did a better job and made Paragon classes for it, still need to post those. Awesome dwarf +2 Int, +2 Con, -4 charisma) It is so much fun. He can blast anything(kinetitist) or jump into melee with no real problems. He is lvl 8 right now at level 20 he will have BAB+17 and ML 18. Whole new way to gish, I was going to play the duerger pyshic warrior until I ran across all the Sardior articles. Long Live Sardior!!! Maybe one day WotC will inculde him with the rest of the dragons since he has been around longer then any other deities then tiamat and bahumt. A typical, lightly-armored psion doesn't benefit from one of the dwarf's best abilities -- armor not slowing them down further -- but is still slowed by a dwarf's inherent slowness. Paragon levels at least that is what I did. Martial weapon and all armor and shield(but not tower shield) full BAB, good fort save, Knowledge(dungeoneering), a whole bunch of bonuses(+30ft darkvision-no sensitivity, +3 saves to powers-poisons, improved stonecutting, 3/day psi-like ablilities plus the all important +2 int for psion or +2 str for psychic warriors; they pick which is thier favored class at creation and the paragon levels reflects the choice.), for the loss of 1 ML. For Aletitians. Duergers need Paragon levels but they will have much the same features, only problem is the fighter favored class but every dwarf needs some fighter in him I guess. Only thing I needed was the track feat. It really makes sense that Illithid Slayers started from the dwarfs when everything you need is right there. Respect Nathan
Mercurius 05-14-07, 10:13 AM	The only psion I've ever actually gotten to play was a dwarven psion, inspired in part by the D&D miniature Dwarf Ancestor, which I started thinking of as a large astral construct created by a dwarf shaper. This eventually lead to Gredand Forge, my dwarf Psion in a World's Largest Dungeon campaign. He wasn't the greatest, considering his level, but his abilities did manage to ensure that he and his party of second level characters subdued a total of four ogres at once (hooray disable) before the ogre barbarian killed him in one blow. For more information on Gredand (and a fictionalized account of his higher levels...), you can find his entry in Hero Craftsman #2 (http://boards1.wizards.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-702688), where he pulled a silver medal (and probably would have gotten gold if I hadn't messed up a bit in my skill calculations). Let it be known that his stats in the actual campaign were somewhat different (he had an 18 INT and CON, giving him lots of extra hp, and he got to take a level of psychic warrior as his favored class, instead of fighter). He was a fun character who I wouldn't have minded playing longer, and very flavorful without necessarily being bound by the standard psionic fluff.
MnemonicSV 05-16-07, 01:29 PM	Be certain to check with your DM on whether or not he/she allows your racial +2 bonus to save against spells and spell-like effects to apply to powers and psi-like effects as well. Most DMs playing at full transparency allow it (especially if psionic-variant illithids are in play), but some may differ.