Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Avatar of Kokusho 01-10-08, 07:34 AM	Well, my brother in law picked up the Undermountain adventure, and finally allowed me to play a psionic class (Took him long enough. Sheesh.). I chose the Ardent. Hopefully, this is a good choice... Mantles at level 1- Life and Mental Power. Feats: Psicrystal Affinity, Narrow Mind, and Psionic Body (two flaws, Unearthed Arcana) Race: Synad (curse you CPsi for not including age/etc for this race) My questions: 1. What's a good mantle to take as a secondary at level 2? I was thinking along the lines of Energy, but I'm not sure how good that is. I don't get to play psions often, so I'm used to straight arcane casters. 2. Is it inappropriate for my character to wear her psicrystal on her head as a sort of ornament? I do this for the humor factor. 3. The other party members include a variety of weirdness- a warforged that apprently fell through a portal landing in Waterdeep, a human favored soul, and an Azurin soulborn. Best way to mesh with this group in terms of powers?
InkBlot 01-10-08, 10:35 AM	1. Most of the mantles are good. It depends on what you want your character to be able to do. The Ardent class can be used to make many different kinds of characters, from blasters to utility casters to gishes. It has more character building options than a Psion or a Wizard. 2. I don't consider it inappropriate. After all, the crystal only has legs if you will it to. Just don't put any holes in the psicrystal when you mount it to your hat/crown/whatever, as that would hurt and be mean. 3. What class is the Warforged? What kind of spells does the Favored Soul like to use? Anyway, it sound like they have healing and melee combat covered. You could go for scouting/skills, unless the warforged is a rogue type. I would go with utility, e.g. dispell psionics, astral construct, fabricate, teleportation, etc.. Utility is always handy to have around. Psionics isn't good at party buffs -- all the decent buffs are self-only. Share pain is like the only exception.
Avatar of Kokusho 01-10-08, 10:39 AM	The warforged is an artificer who (thankfully) has never seen the builds on these boards, and I'm not telling him.:) The Favored Soul is actually an NPC played by the DM who is basically a walking Band-Aid and nothing else. Seriously. The only spell I've seen him use is Cure Light Wounds. If utility is the way to go, perhaps Creation mantle would be appropriate.
InkBlot 01-10-08, 12:43 PM	Creation mantle is the best for utility. It also gives you instant meatshields (astral constructs). Just keep in mind that your Ectopic Form won't be as good as a stock astral construct past about level 5. Astral constructs can be used to carry people over chasms, up cliffs, and generally bypass weird terrain. They're good at knocking down doors, fetching items, delivering potions, and such. You only need a 1st or 2nd level construct for most non-combat tasks (although riding them is easier once you get the large 5th level constructs). Can artificers augment any construct? I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I think the warforged artificer may be able to use his infusions to power up your astral constructs (if you take the Creation mantle). Also keep in mind that astral constructs can look like almost anything, with a successful craft (sculpture) check. This useful fact comes from page 185 of the Expanded Psionics Handbook. How easy it is to fool people with an astral construct is up to your DM (the constructs always retain an "astral glimmer" no matter their form), but it's still neat to make constructs that look like party members. Have you seen Minor Creation And You (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=747757)? That thread might be seen as overkill, but it makes a great point. Minor creation is an enormously useful power, especially for the low low cost of 1pp (it never needs augmenting). You can make ropes, bridges, blankets, cold weather outfits, certain alchemical items (maybe), weapons, shields, and such. You'll mostly manifest it out of combat, but it can even help in a fight. Later on, the Creation mantle also has fabricate, which is equally useful but fast enough to manifest it in combat. The Knowledge, and Fate mantles give you great ways to get more information. Knowledge is power. Since you don't have a rogue to scout ahead for you, these mantles might be good options. Clairvoyant sense, remote viewing, object reading, and psychometry are the powers you should look forward to from these mantles. These powers tell you things like "how many and what kind of enemies are waiting for us behind this door?" "What is the wicked baron up to right now?" "Where did this blood-stained cloak come from? "Who was the last person to come down this hallway?" The Freedom mantle gives you the freedom to move where you want, via flying or teleporting. This is necessary for getting out of, and sometimes into, trouble. Also, just for traveling across a big world. The Magic mantle is mostly interacting with other magical affects; your allies will love you when you can give them spell/power resistance 21+, dispel enemy spells/powers, and lay down anti-magic/psionic fields (it also lets you use magic devices as if they were psionic, but your artificer already has that covered). The Time mantle is mostly there for time hop. Send an enemy into the future, and give your allies the time to prepare for the fight. Send a locked door into the future, and move through before it returns. Send a bridge into the future, and your enemies can't follow you across it in the present. Send a wagon's wheel into the future, and end the chase scene in the present. Send a dying ally into the future, and use the time to pull out a potion and move to where he'll be when he arrives. There are other good powers on the list too, like temporal acceleration and time regression, but they're very high level. Does your ardent have a defined philosophy that he follows? I find that always helps when deciding between mantles.
Avatar of Kokusho 01-10-08, 07:30 PM	As far as I can tell, an astral construct has the construct creature type. If so, then an artificer can infuse it...but that's of limited help, since it won't last very long for him to actually use an infusion, unless he can begin the process right before I summon it. The philosophy that I have in mind for my character is that she is curious about life in itself- how if forms, how it lives, and how it stays despite adversity. Oh, and I wouldn't mutilate the psicrystal- I assume that the legs could cling to my hair :D
AntiDjinn 01-10-08, 08:18 PM	The ardent is best built with an eye towards long-term development. Because you only learn a limited number of mantles automatically, and must maintain at least as many powers in your primary as in any given secondary, it is a good idea to plan where you want the character to be many levels down the road. Compared to the psion, you will have fewer options for powers at any given level (you are choosing from a much shorter list) but since the powers are grouped by theme most of what a given character is supposed to be good at should be on the list. Ardents don't get bonus feats, but each mantle's granted ability is roughly equivalent to a feat (in some cases they are feats). You come out ahead of the psion as far as hit points and combat ability; all simple weapons, all armor types and shields 'cept for tower shields. Without buffs up you many not belong in melee, but when combat happens you hold your own about as well as a rogue or cleric. Having only one good save type sucks a bit. If the party is only 4 members and includes a favored soul, I would drop Life as a primary mantle (take it later, if you want to be a backup healed). Look at the powers it includes -- do you want all or most of them? If not, then don't make it primary since you are obligated to follow the stricture of primary mantles. Also note that mantles do not contain powers of every level (only 1st level powers are included in all mantles). Try not to pick two primary mantles with holes at the same levels. For example, Knowledge and Repose may be a tricky primary combo. Neither mantle has 5th level powers, so when you qualify for a 5th level pick, you either go back a grab a lower level power (often not a bad idea anyway) or pick off a secondary mantle. Knowledge tops out at 6th level and Repose at 7th, so while you can get 8th and 9th level powers off your secondary mantles, you must still know at least as many from Knowledge and Repose as any secondary so this may restrict your higher level choices. Avoid this by making sure at least one of your primaries has enough powers that you never lack for options. Flaws, huh? Has this worked out for your group? The extra feat is nice, but I have found that flaws frequently hurt you more than the added feat helps. Feats can be reselected with Psychic Reformation, but flaws are only dropped or changed with DM permission. If the added feat is one that gets better over time (Psionic Body for a character who is going to select lots of psionic feats continues to get stronger at higher levels) while the flaw never hurts any more or less as the character develops, then you should do OK.
CrimsonDeath 01-10-08, 08:36 PM	Oh, and I wouldn't mutilate the psicrystal- I assume that the legs could cling to my hair :D[/FONT] The psicrystal doesn't actually have legs until you spend a standard action to will them into existence. Even then, the legs only last 24 hours.
Avatar of Kokusho 01-10-08, 08:45 PM	I know that, and I'm assuming that unless I will it, the legs stay, so I get my Psi-Scrunchie.
Lycanthromancer 01-11-08, 05:02 PM	You could always say that your psicrystal formed in a doughnut shape, and wear it as a ring.
CrimsonDeath 01-11-08, 07:54 PM	You could always say that your psicrystal formed in a doughnut shape, and wear it as a ring. You might want to use the term "torus", though. It sounds a bit more like something a crystal might be shaped like.
InkBlot 01-11-08, 08:17 PM	Psicrystals are way too big for a human to wear as a ring. They're diminutive; only one size category smaller than a house cat; the same size as a hedgehog. A torus-shaped psicrystal might work well as a bracelet though. Since a psicrystal has a climb speed, it should be able to hold onto your head well enough.
AwsomeSauce 01-13-08, 05:18 PM	One of my players has a psicrystal. He mounted it on his staff. It's tight enough so it won't fall out, yet loose enough so it could wiggle free and scout ahead or whatever. If you use a sword, the psicrystal could be in the pommel. It'd be a big pommel, but a pommel no less. You could also have a psicrystal with a sharp edge and tell it to stab people for you, though that may be a stretch of the rules.
SkipSandwich 01-20-08, 04:02 AM	I figure most psi crystals are about half a foot long or less, so a psycrystal dagger isn't so very far feched, but the crystal itself lacks the strength to effectively use itself as a weapon in any way, so no stabbing.
CrimsonDeath 01-20-08, 01:47 PM	I figure most psi crystals are about half a foot long or less, so a psycrystal dagger isn't so very far feched, but the crystal itself lacks the strength to effectively use itself as a weapon in any way, so no stabbing. A Psicrystal is a Diminutive creature, which apparently means they're somewhere from six to twelve inches long. The XPH describes it as being "about the size of a human hand", so it's probably on the smaller side of Diminutive.
DracoPhoenix 01-30-08, 11:34 AM	Hmm.. Could you use craft(sculpting) to shape the psi-crystal when you create it? (or it's ectoplasmic limbs when they are formed) Last check, psi-crystals were suppose to be similar to coz crystals in appearance.
InkBlot 01-30-08, 01:58 PM	Psicrystals don't look much like cog-crystals, except in that both are crystal. A cognizance crystal consists of a core crystal and two or three smaller crystals arranged in specific positions areound it on strands of sliver wire. The crystals give off a faint glow. A typical cognizance crystal weighs approximately 1 pound, has AC 7, 10 hit points, a hardness of 8, and a break DC of 16. The XPH has several very different pictures of psicrystals. A psicrystal, by default, can have almost any shape. Since it's a hard solid crystal, it can't change shape normally. It's ectoplasmic limbs are "spidery" but otherwise offer a similar degree of customization (how many, how long, what shape, do they have pincers or hands or feet). http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/xph_gallery/80502.jpg http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/xph_gallery/33173.jpg There's also a great psicrystal picture on page 17, and many of the big crystals worn by the iconics may be psicrystals. In games I run, psicrystals are composed entirely of ectoplasm (like an astral construct is and with the same "distinctive astral glimmer"). A psicrystal can have almost any shape, but after creation it's form is no more malleable than that of an average animal. If their masters don't will them to move, then their ectoplasm condenses into a crystalized core that looks like an XPH-default psicrystal. But that's just my houserules.
Obsidianjaerc 01-30-08, 04:15 PM	In games I run, psicrystals are composed entirely of ectoplasm (like an astral construct is and with the same "distinctive astral glimmer"). A psicrystal can have almost any shape, but after creation it's form is no more malleable than that of an average animal. If their masters don't will them to move, then their ectoplasm condenses into a crystalized core that looks like an XPH-default psicrystal. I like that, a lot. Mind if I steal it?
Lycanthromancer 01-30-08, 06:21 PM	Too bad you can't use fabricate on your psicrystal. You could turn it into nearly anything.
InkBlot 01-31-08, 01:23 AM	I like that, a lot. Mind if I steal it? Not at all. I'm honored.
DracoPhoenix 01-31-08, 08:54 AM	Too bad you can't use fabricate on your psicrystal. You could turn it into nearly anything. There's very little raw material, you could probably re-shape it, but other than that, very little to change it into. Though maybe a crystalline Mini-me....
Lycanthromancer 01-31-08, 01:45 PM	Just minor creation it a new body to manipulate with its limbs?
InkBlot 01-31-08, 04:27 PM	A teddy bear with a crystal jammed into a hole in it's chest?
TheKeyofE 02-01-08, 09:49 AM	A teddy bear with crystal meth jammed into a hole in it's chest? FTFY. It's also in very poor taste.