Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The_Rob 03-14-08, 10:51 PM	I'd like everybody's opinion on this prestige class; it's based on the Grim Psion but I threw in some things from other classes to make it a bit different too. I'm not sure if it's a bit overpowered, but I've been thinking of scrapping the DR and reducing the starting HD and promotions to d4 > d6 > d8. If you think it's overpowered, do you think that would balance it out? Please let me know. Thanks. I'd like as much feedback as possible before showing it to my DM. Psionic Reaper Hit Dice: d6. Requirements To qualify to become a Psionic Reaper, a character must fulfill all the following criteria. Race: Humanoid Alignment: Any nongood Skills: Knowledge (psionics) 10 ranks, Knowledge (planes or religion) 10 ranks Feats: Imprint Stone Manifesting: Ability to manifest a 5th-level power. Special: Must have at least one ectoplasmic power, and encountered some form of undead creature. Class Skills The psionic reaper's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Int), Craft (Int), Concentration (Con), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (any) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Remote View (Int), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), and Spot (Wis). Skill Points at Each Level: 4 + Int modifier. Level | BAB | Fort | Ref | Will | Special | Powers Known ------|-----|------|-----|------|--------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------- 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +2 | Undeath, Undead Seduction, Deathly Stare | +1 manifester level 2 | +1 | 0 | 0 | +3 | Walk of Shadows, Ectoplasmic Skin, Energy Leech | +1 manifester level 3 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +3 | Natural AC +2, Turn Resistance, Fear Cone 1/day | +1 manifester level 4 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | Attribute Gain +2, Paralytic Touch 1/day | ----- 5 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +4 | HD Promotion (d8), Bonus Feat | +1 manifester level 6 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Turn Resistance, Fear Cone 2/day | +1 manifester level 7 | +3 | +2 | +2 | +5 | Natural AC +4, Paralytic Touch 2/day | +1 manifester level 8 | +4 | +2 | +2 | +6 | Attribute Gain +4 | ----- 9 | +4 | +3 | +3 | +6 | Turn Immunity, Fear Cone 3/day | +1 manifester level 10 | +5 | +3 | +3 | +7 | HD Promotion (d10), Mind Construction, Paralytic Touch 3/day | +1 manifester level Class Features All of the following are class features of the Psionic Reaper prestige class. Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Psionic Reapers gain no proficiency in any weapons or armor, but they retain any previous knowledge they may have had. Powers Known At every level indicated on the table, the character gains additional power points per day and access to new powers as if she had also gained a level in whatever manifesting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. This essentially means that the level of Psionic Reaper is added to the level of whatever manifesting class the character has, then determines power points per day, powers known, and manifester level accordingly (except Special Characteristics, such as bonus feats, etc). A Psion’s psicrystal continues to grow more powerful. If a character had more than one manifesting class before she became a psionic reaper, she must decide to which class she adds the new level of psionic reaper for the purpose of determining power points per day, powers known, and manifester level, as well as ability gains. Undeath (Ex): By embracing this path, the psionic reaper is treated as an undead creature. She becomes immune to poison, sleep, paralysis, polymorphing, stunning, disease, death effects, and necromantic effects. She also ignores mind-influencing effects (charms, compulsions, phantasms, patterns, and moral effects). They are also not subject to critical hits, subdual damage, ability damage, ability drain, or energy drain. She has no Constitution score (and gains no bonuses to HD) and is therefore immune to any effect requiring a Fortitude save (unless it affects objects). As an undead, a psionic reaper is no longer healed normally. She requires negative energy (such as an inflict wounds spell) to heal, though regeneration and fast healing effects work normally. A psionic reaper is not at risk of death due to massive damage, but she is immediately destroyed if reduced to 0 hit points or less. She may negate possible negative hit points by spending an equal amount of power points to bring herself to 1 hit point. If she is destroyed, she cannot be brought back to life through use of Raise Dead or Reincarnate spells or abilities, but can be brought back to life through Resurrection and True Resurrection. During the resurrection the psionic reaper gains a measure of control which allows her to determine which state of being she returns to: her living self or her undead self. Should the psionic reaper choose to return to her living self, she loses all class abilities of the Psionic Reaper PrC, except for Manifesting advancement, Psicrystal advancement, and bonus feats. Her Constitution score will also be restored to its previous state. A psionic reaper gains darkvision with a range of 60 feet. Undead Seduction (Su): At 1st level, the power of undeath is rich, heady, and difficult to ignore. Once you start on this path, it's hard to turn away, even for a short time. If you wish to advance a level in another class after taking your first level as a Psionic Reaper, you must succeed on a Will save, DC 20 + psionic reaper level. If you fail, you must stay in this prestige class and advance another level in Psionic Reaper instead. If you succeed, you can advance the level in another class, although you must still attempt the saving throw the next time you gain a level or default back to this prestige class. Superior Knowledge (Ex): At 1st level, the psionic reaper’s superior knowledge and willing transformation allows her to retain her race’s characteristics (such as Elan Resilience or Maenad Energy Ray), except natural armour is lost. Deathly Stare (Ex): At 1st level, the grotesque features of the psionic reaper’s rotting skin and skeleton gives her a +2 bonus to intimidate checks. Walk On Shadows (Su): At 2nd level, a psionic reaper’s skeletal feet will begin walking on unseen shadows. She glides along, floating one foot off the ground, unconcerned with the hard or difficult terrain or liquid. She can take normal actions and make normal attacks, and can move at her normal speed (she can even “run” at four times her normal speed). The psionic reaper will always be floating above the ground unless a successful concentration check is made to become grounded or swim, DC 15 + psionic reaper level. A psionic reaper must maintain concentration to stay grounded; if she is attacked or in distress, her concentration is broken with no save. She can choose to descend willing, but will be remaining hovering without a successful concentration check. Ectoplasmic Skin (Su): Beginning at 2nd level the psionic reaper’s skin has entirely rotted off and nothing and only her skeleton remains. As a solution to otherwise difficult encounters, she can draw ectoplasm from the Astral Plane and to cover her entire skeleton and give you the appearance of skin. The skin will look slightly unnatural but resembles her previous skin closely enough to deceive anybody who isn’t looking too hard; her hair does not grow back. A character who succeeds a Spot check with DC 10 + the psionic reaper level will know there is something supernatural about her. The character can then attempt a Knowledge (Planes) check of the same DC to understand the origin of this skin and what lies underneath it. The skin requires a concentration check to form, DC 15 + psionic reaper level, and another successful check to fully meld to her skeleton, DC 15 + psionic reaper level. The effect lasts until either the skin is dismissed or the character rests. If a roll is failed, she must wait 24 hours before she can make another attempt to manifest her skin. As your levels in psionic reaper increase, so does the difficulty in forming your ectoplasmic skin. Using this ability causes her to lose both her Natural AC, if any, and the intimidate bonus provided by Deathly Stare. Special: If the psionic reaper had a natural AC bonus before her undeath she regains that bonus when manifesting her ectoplasmic skin, but her undead natural ac is still lost. Energy Leech (Ps): At 3rd level, the psionic reaper gains the ability to blast a foe with negative energy for 7d4 damage and drain a number of hit points equal to half the base damage dealt by the attack (rounded down). You heal as many hit points as can be gained while the creature remains at 1 hit point or higher. Any damage that would reduce the creature to 0 or fewer hit points does not benefit you. As an undead creature, this power can be used against creatures from any plane, even other undead or incorporeal creatures (as long as you can see them). This power costs 7 power points to manifest and for every additional power point spend, the damage increase by one die (d4). For each extra two dice of damage, this power’s save DC increase by 1. A creature who makes a successful fortitude save only takes half damage. Fear Cone (Su): At 3rd level, as a standard action the psionic reaper can create a cone of fear 30 feet long. Creatures in the cone must make a Will save, DC 10 + primary attribute + psionic reaper level, and those who fail are panicked for 1d4 rounds. This power can be used 1/day at 3rd level, 2/day at 6th level, and 3/day at 9th level. Natural Armor Class (Ex): Due to the increasing toughness of her body, at 3rd level the psionic reaper gains a +2 Armour Class bonus. At 7th level, this armour class bonus increases to +4. Turn Resistance (Ex): At 3rd level, the psionic reaper gains a +3 bonus to resist turning. At 6th level this bonus increases to +6. Paralytic Touch (Su): At 4th level, the psionic reaper gains a touch attack that deals 4d8 points of negative energy damage; a Will save, DC 10 + primary attribute + psionic reaper level, reduces the damage by half. If the target fails this save, it is also paralyzed for 1d3 rounds. She cannot heal herself through use of this. This power can be used 1/day at 4th level, 2/day at 7th level, and 3/day at 10th level. Attribute Gain (Ex): As the psionic reaper reaches 4th level, the governing attribute score of her selected manifesting class increases +2. At level 8, this bonus increases to +4 and is gained as if through level advancement. Hit Dice Promotion (Ex): At 5th level, each previous Hit Die gained promotes to a d8 if it was less than a d8. At 10th level, each Hit Die promotes to d10. Any levels gained after becoming a psionic reaper use the current psionic reaper Hit Dice type to determine hit points gained. Bonus Feat: At 5th level, the psionic reaper gains an additional psionic feat. Turn Immunity (Ex): At 9th level, the psionic reaper becomes immune to turning effects. She cannot be turned, rebuked, or commanded, but she is still subject to spells and powers that affect undead, such as sever the tie. Mind Construct (Su): At 10th level, the psionic reaper learns a form of mind store power. She prepares a storage gem to capture her mind’s essence if her physical form is destroyed. This gem must have a minimum value of 1,000 gp and takes a full day to prepare. The transfer from the destroyed physical form to the storage gem works over any distance, physical or extradimensional, unless some sort of special planar geometry supercedes the transfer. Upon transfer to storage crystal, the psionic reaper’s psicrystal is lost, incurring the normal penalties. Once in the crystal, raw, tainted ectoplasm is drawn forth to surround the crystal with a Diminutive astral construct form. The psionic reaper now has the listed stats of this construct, but she still has full command of her psionic abilities. She has ten days to secure a new body, otherwise her essence will pass on. The new body must be humanoid and dead, and it must have been slain in the past 9 days. Upon making contact with the corpse, the psionic reaper wills the transfer and the storage gem shatters into dust. She is now helpless for 24 hours, as the body decays to match her skeletal state, unless it is already skeletal. Mind Construct Size: Diminutive. HD: As the psionic reaper. Speed: 30 feet. AC: 20 (+4 size, +6 natural). Attack: None. Special Attacks: The psionic reaper loses all special attacks except psionic powers. Special Qualities: The psionic reaper loses all special qualities except psionic powers. Base Saves: As the psionic reaper. Ability Scores: Str 4, Dex 10, Con --, Int, Wis, Cha as psionic reaper. Alignment: As the psionic reaper. The mind construct is a Diminutive astral construct. It is humanoid in shape, and it is made of swirling black and purple ectoplasm with a pair of glowing red eyes.
The_Rob 03-15-08, 08:51 PM	Sorry to bump, but I'd really like some opinions on this... does anybody have anything at all to say about it?
McPoyo 03-18-08, 10:49 AM	Aside from the obvious part about BAB and Save values being incorrect, and not listing the levels that manifesting is advanced, I've got a couple questions. At level 8, you can become undead with only a 1 level dip. Somebody might feel free to correct me, but that seems awefully strong for not having a level adjustment, drawback cost to get into the class (XP loss, deleveling, extravagant GP cost, etc), or anything else added to it. Especially since a dc 10 + This PRCs level Will save isn't going to be hard to pass at all, especially for a psion (+5 base, + will +anything else. I can easily see a +10 mod at level 8, which means the character can progress into any other class on any roll other than a natural 1). I'm also not a fan of techniques that force characters to take other classes, but that's probably just me. Second, d6 HD, and losing your con mod blows. Especially with the existing low HD of most manifesters coming into this class. What exactly qualifies as racial characteristics that effect the physical body? Does it include racial bonuses/penalties to Dex and Str? This needs some clarification, to prevent abuse on both sides of the screen. Why does the DC to walk on the ground increase with level? This is just a curiosity point, since the next nearest ability (That of the Elocater) is gained a level earlier, and is much more powerful than this ability. Perhaps making it the same would work better, especially thematically (Assuming I've understood what you are going for here correctly). The Ectoplasmic skin ability seems to be pretty high on the DCs, for what they do, especially considering hair doesn't return (Easily explainable as bald), but the glowing red eyeless sockets thing seems pretty obvious. One or the other DCs should be put lower than 20 + Reaper level, otherwise either A) The reaper will never be able to use this reliably until they stop advancing in this class, or B) No one except elite NPCs will ever notice the difference on anything other than a rare occasion. Also, what intimidate bonus is being granted to Diplomacy? DM Fiat? Is there a specific value that was left out? Is it the entirety of their Intimidate modifier? If the latter, I see this being easily broken, by maxing out ranks in both skills and doubling up. I'd reword the Attribute bonus. It needs to be clearly stated the attribute being boosted is supposed to be the primary manifesting stat. Perhaps a clause stating that in the case of multiple manifesting classes, the one with the higher ML is the one whose stat you boost? Might be a tad restrictive, but that's up to you. The cone of fear thing needs clarification as well. How often can it be used? X/day? At Will? What is the save DC calculated under? 2d6 rounds of Panicked at level 11 is ridiculous if it's At Will. ESPECIALLY when targeting Will saves. I can't think of an easier battlefield control ability. On top of this, it's not an SLA (Which is a mixed blessing, since it's harder to augment with most of the normal feats, but still possible), it's a SU ability, which means it's not provoking AoO's, it's not subject to being dispelled/countered, and it bypasses SR. This right here makes it ungodly strong if it's At Will. Especially at level 11 (Which is the earliest you could get it, level 4 + 7 levels of prereqs). SU rank higher than SLA's when it comes to power curves for a reason. I'm going to remention that it causes panicked. I hope you know exactly what that entails (Dropping everything, fleeing at maximum ability away, regardless. Massive penalties to everything, cowers when confronted, etc. You cannot progress fear farther along it's three tier progression shaken-frightened-panicked). 2 rounds as a minimum is nice, and 12 basically means you can deal with the guy at leisure. At worst, every other level you blast him again and keep smiting on him. I really hope this isn't At Will. The Hit Dice Promotion thing would be better handled by just giving the class a d12 HD right off the bat (See above for more on that, the Con negation at level one prevents this from being overpowered). Having Turn Immunity at level 13 is pretty strong. I'd probably make this scale, personally. Give turn resistance in a couple stages (+2, +4, then maybe immunity as a capstone ability) instead of a level 6 feature all at once. Prior to level 13, you'll be pretty easy to turn, post level 13, you lose one of the biggest disadvantages of being undead. Should definitely scale. Does the Cold Immunity grant fire weakness, like most cold immune creatures (by nature of the [Cold] subtype). They don't go hand in hand, according to RAW, although that depends on which one is granted. Level 14 might be a tad early, but at this stage in the game there are plenty of spells/powers/abilities that grant effective cold immunity anyhow, and there are still feats to get around this for attackers, so I'm not to certain you don't have this one pegged pretty good. The paralytic touch might be a tad to little, a tad too late. By this point, if I've got to fall back to a 1d8 will/half 1d3 paralyzing touch at level 18, I've seriously screwed up somewhere. You might want to think about swapping this for that second level Energy Leech ability, since Negative Energy is something with a lot fewer resistances against it, and since that Energy Leech ability even works on undead, it might be more at home in the 9th level slot. The Paralytic touch would probably be more useful (but probably still hardly used) in that second level slot instead. Am I correct in assuming that the Mind Construct ability is gained upon entering the Prc? Are there any penalties other than 1k GP and a day spent making a new crystal? At lower levels, that would still be a mighty deterrent against dieing, but once you get up there into the 12+ level range, 1k is nothing to drop for a free res. Actually, I take that back. 1k for a free res at 8th level is still an absolutely amazing bargain. Perhaps someone better than I at Phylactery type price scaling could work out a good formula for it, then again, maybe not? In that vein, does a Mind Switch bypass the "within 10 days" restriction? I foresee a lot of higher level Reapers just Mindswitching out and bypassing the "Helpless for 24 hours as the body decays" thing. Also, if the body is already skeletal, does that bypass the helplessness? For instance, kill something, burn all it's flesh off, inhabit? I see this functioning very similar to a dracolich, so it's more an issue of clarification of the wording than anything else. All in all, if the intent was to create a psychic Grim Reaper, I think you captured the feel pretty good. Minor adjustments (a few major ones) and this could be a pretty attractive PrC. As it is, I don't possibly see anyone ever NOT taking this, despite the drawbacks, since the power it grants (even at 1/2 ML advancement) is pretty strong. If it's a 7/10 ML advancement or higher, this is way too good for anyone to pass up, and if it's a 10/10, every psion would have to be a complete idiot not to jump on this.
The_Rob 03-19-08, 04:05 PM	Thanks for your wonderful feedback McPoyo. It is greatly appreciated. I went through your suggestions and I think it's much better now. Please read through and let me know what you think. Aside from the obvious part about BAB and Save values being incorrect, and not listing the levels that manifesting is advanced, I've got a couple questions. Yea, I did it up without access to the correct values and had to wing it (was supposed to be Psion BAB). Fixed them up now. At level 8, you can become undead with only a 1 level dip. Somebody might feel free to correct me, but that seems awefully strong for not having a level adjustment, drawback cost to get into the class (XP loss, deleveling, extravagant GP cost, etc), or anything else added to it. Especially since a dc 10 + This PRCs level Will save isn't going to be hard to pass at all, especially for a psion (+5 base, + will +anything else. I can easily see a +10 mod at level 8, which means the character can progress into any other class on any roll other than a natural 1). I'm also not a fan of techniques that force characters to take other classes, but that's probably just me. I was hoping to be able to get the class early because many campaign end around 12-15, but I changed it to ability to manifest 5th level power. I think it's important to be able to finish this PrC by 20th level (if so pursued of course). I also removed the DR because I wasn't happy with it and figured the PrC would be better off without it. You get some Nat AC bonuses which I feel should be enough with the generic undead bonuses. Second, d6 HD, and losing your con mod blows. Especially with the existing low HD of most manifesters coming into this class. You gotta take the good with the bad. There's a couple things to consider: one, your dice is being promoted from d4 to d6 (if you were using a Psion anyway). Two, this can be considered one of the downsides of the PrC so that's it's not overpowered (as per your previous comment). Three, if you stick with the class, your dice improves further and it's retroactive for your previous dice (so you can re-roll all your dice, or just add the average or whatnot). I think the positives outweigh the negatives. What exactly qualifies as racial characteristics that effect the physical body? Does it include racial bonuses/penalties to Dex and Str? This needs some clarification, to prevent abuse on both sides of the screen. I hope this is better explained. I was trying to be generic, but mainly I was referring to Natural AC, but I also explained that it comes back when you use ectoplasmic skin. Why does the DC to walk on the ground increase with level? This is just a curiosity point, since the next nearest ability (That of the Elocater) is gained a level earlier, and is much more powerful than this ability. Perhaps making it the same would work better, especially thematically (Assuming I've understood what you are going for here correctly). In my mind, the grim reaper hovers above the ground. That's just how I picture him, and so I wanted to reflect that in this PrC. Because he naturally hovers, he has to concentrate to stay in contact with the ground, almost as if it's repelling his undead soul. This is also why the his PrC level affects his ability to be grounded because it gets harder for him as he gets stronger. The Ectoplasmic skin ability seems to be pretty high on the DCs, for what they do, especially considering hair doesn't return (Easily explainable as bald), but the glowing red eyeless sockets thing seems pretty obvious. One or the other DCs should be put lower than 20 + Reaper level, otherwise either A) The reaper will never be able to use this reliably until they stop advancing in this class, or B) No one except elite NPCs will ever notice the difference on anything other than a rare occasion. Also, what intimidate bonus is being granted to Diplomacy? DM Fiat? Is there a specific value that was left out? Is it the entirety of their Intimidate modifier? If the latter, I see this being easily broken, by maxing out ranks in both skills and doubling up. I removed the diplomacy bonus (it was supposed to be the +2 you got from Deathly Stare), and lowered the DCs but the point of this was that some ppl would figure it out (maybe some characters at the DMs descretion could make the checks), but not everybody. If everybody knew the truth, what would be the point? Let me know if this is still unclear or if you think the DCs are still bad, maybe suggest something for me. I'd reword the Attribute bonus. It needs to be clearly stated the attribute being boosted is supposed to be the primary manifesting stat. Perhaps a clause stating that in the case of multiple manifesting classes, the one with the higher ML is the one whose stat you boost? Might be a tad restrictive, but that's up to you. Hopefully this is more clear. I does relate directly to what is stated in the "Powers Known" section. The cone of fear thing needs clarification as well. How often can it be used? X/day? At Will? What is the save DC calculated under? 2d6 rounds of Panicked at level 11 is ridiculous if it's At Will. ESPECIALLY when targeting Will saves. I can't think of an easier battlefield control ability. On top of this, it's not an SLA (Which is a mixed blessing, since it's harder to augment with most of the normal feats, but still possible), it's a SU ability, which means it's not provoking AoO's, it's not subject to being dispelled/countered, and it bypasses SR. This right here makes it ungodly strong if it's At Will. Especially at level 11 (Which is the earliest you could get it, level 4 + 7 levels of prereqs). SU rank higher than SLA's when it comes to power curves for a reason. I'm going to remention that it causes panicked. I hope you know exactly what that entails (Dropping everything, fleeing at maximum ability away, regardless. Massive penalties to everything, cowers when confronted, etc. You cannot progress fear farther along it's three tier progression shaken-frightened-panicked). 2 rounds as a minimum is nice, and 12 basically means you can deal with the guy at leisure. At worst, every other level you blast him again and keep smiting on him. I really hope this isn't At Will. Lowered dice and set the limit. The Hit Dice Promotion thing would be better handled by just giving the class a d12 HD right off the bat (See above for more on that, the Con negation at level one prevents this from being overpowered). Yea. I see what your saying, but given you're undead and get many bonuses, you should have some weaknesses. This isn't supposed to be a melee build so hopefully you won't fair too badly on hd. Having Turn Immunity at level 13 is pretty strong. I'd probably make this scale, personally. Give turn resistance in a couple stages (+2, +4, then maybe immunity as a capstone ability) instead of a level 6 feature all at once. Prior to level 13, you'll be pretty easy to turn, post level 13, you lose one of the biggest disadvantages of being undead. Should definitely scale. Made it scale as per your suggestion. Does the Cold Immunity grant fire weakness, like most cold immune creatures (by nature of the [Cold] subtype). They don't go hand in hand, according to RAW, although that depends on which one is granted. Level 14 might be a tad early, but at this stage in the game there are plenty of spells/powers/abilities that grant effective cold immunity anyhow, and there are still feats to get around this for attackers, so I'm not to certain you don't have this one pegged pretty good. Ditched cold immunity. As you said, you can get it from other sources easily enough. The paralytic touch might be a tad to little, a tad too late. By this point, if I've got to fall back to a 1d8 will/half 1d3 paralyzing touch at level 18, I've seriously screwed up somewhere. You might want to think about swapping this for that second level Energy Leech ability, since Negative Energy is something with a lot fewer resistances against it, and since that Energy Leech ability even works on undead, it might be more at home in the 9th level slot. The Paralytic touch would probably be more useful (but probably still hardly used) in that second level slot instead. Made this scale as well. Am I correct in assuming that the Mind Construct ability is gained upon entering the Prc? Are there any penalties other than 1k GP and a day spent making a new crystal? At lower levels, that would still be a mighty deterrent against dieing, but once you get up there into the 12+ level range, 1k is nothing to drop for a free res. Actually, I take that back. 1k for a free res at 8th level is still an absolutely amazing bargain. Perhaps someone better than I at Phylactery type price scaling could work out a good formula for it, then again, maybe not? I added in the level. I couldn't figure out tables at the time so hopefully this is cleared up. In that vein, does a Mind Switch bypass the "within 10 days" restriction? I foresee a lot of higher level Reapers just Mindswitching out and bypassing the "Helpless for 24 hours as the body decays" thing. Also, if the body is already skeletal, does that bypass the helplessness? For instance, kill something, burn all it's flesh off, inhabit? I see this functioning very similar to a dracolich, so it's more an issue of clarification of the wording than anything else. You're only able to walk around and stuff as your original body decays because you chose that path, but if it's already skeletal, I don't see why you can't just get up and go. Of course, 9 day-dead skeletons aren't as common as corpses. And the convenience of just having a crystal is much better than actively mindswitching before you die, plus a lower XP cost, but it's untimately up to the player if that's the way they want to go about it. All in all, if the intent was to create a psychic Grim Reaper, I think you captured the feel pretty good. Minor adjustments (a few major ones) and this could be a pretty attractive PrC. As it is, I don't possibly see anyone ever NOT taking this, despite the drawbacks, since the power it grants (even at 1/2 ML advancement) is pretty strong. If it's a 7/10 ML advancement or higher, this is way too good for anyone to pass up, and if it's a 10/10, every psion would have to be a complete idiot not to jump on this. 8/10; as it's mainly following a Psion's abilities, the character should still be able to reach 9th level powers before level 20, imo.
McPoyo 03-20-08, 11:05 AM	Need to list how the Will Save DCs are calculated for the abilities (I'm assuming 10 + Primary Stat + Grim Psion Level), and I'd personally put the two dead manifesting levels at 3rd and 6th, but that's just me. Looks pretty solid now, it's definitely not a weak PrC, but I don't see everyone scrambling to take it now, since the drawbacks aren't non-existent in comparison to the power gain. Someone else might see something I missed, but I don't see anything else that's not just a little nitpick of annoyance. Mind if I steal it for a BBEG?
The_Rob 03-20-08, 06:14 PM	Need to list how the Will Save DCs are calculated for the abilities (I'm assuming 10 + Primary Stat + Grim Psion Level), Yea. You're right. Fixed that. Psionic Reaper btw. :) and I'd personally put the two dead manifesting levels at 3rd and 6th, but that's just me. Any reason? I like of the idea of holding back the last two levels. Looks pretty solid now, it's definitely not a weak PrC, but I don't see everyone scrambling to take it now, since the drawbacks aren't non-existent in comparison to the power gain. Someone else might see something I missed, but I don't see anything else that's not just a little nitpick of annoyance. Mind if I steal it for a BBEG? The second draft that you helped with was really close to the Grim Psion and I felt it was overpowered looking at the numbers. I, too, think it's much better now. Got tons of benefits, but you're gonna have to give up a little comfort to enjoy them. ;) Everybody else seems to pass this topic by without commenting, so hopefully somebody can add something. And yea, if you want to use this for your BBEG, go for it. Let me know how the encounter turns out. Hopefully he won't destroy your party too badly. ;)
McPoyo 03-21-08, 08:20 AM	well, Dead level at 3 because you pick up the Fear cone then, and 6th because I just felt like being arbitrary :P Like I said, mostly just my preference on that one.
PsionMage 03-21-08, 12:09 PM	I have to admit, the class looks really tempting with one glaring issue: if you die, you're totally hosed as a character. I'm not sure how it goes in 'standard' campaigns, but in my experience, death happens about once every 4-5 levels. This class pushes you into paranoia the instant you set foot in it. Requiring the most powerful spell/power to bring you back if you die at level 10 would really be painful. Assuming the DM was going to OK this prestige, they'd have to resort to really odd reasons just to have you able to come back as a character. I'm assuming of course that level 17+ 'god-like' NPC's aren't just going to blow 30% of their level exp just to raise you because you give them money. Oh yeah, and they know you're undead, so they're most likely not 'Good'. Psionic ways to get around this: Fiery discorporation (kineticist only, can use a level before you get in the class, can be a VERY difficult DC and requires immediate action availability) Astral seed (Shaper only, earliest use: level 17) The 'capstone' ability addresses this, but I feel that if you haven't died in 10 levels... you're probably not going to need this capstone much.
McPoyo 03-21-08, 02:26 PM	True Res has no XP cost associated with it, and would work in that instance. Granted, it would cost something akin to 30k gp iirc, but assuming there's not an immediate spellcaster strong enough for it, you could always convince the DM to let you quest for such a revivification method. Or, you could just retire the character and start over :P
PsionMage 03-21-08, 03:47 PM	True Res has no XP cost associated with it, and would work in that instance. Not true, here's the text: She can be brought back to existence only through use of a wish or psionic reality alteration. The previous line that states that raise dead and resurrection don't work would hint that true res would work... but the next sentence (quoted above) explicitly states the only way to be brought back into existence.
McPoyo 03-21-08, 04:58 PM	Damnit, I was thinking general undeath, not in explicitness of this class. That might need to be changed in order to match the general Undeath raise dead restrictions.
The_Rob 03-21-08, 07:04 PM	A psionic reaper is not at risk of death due to massive damage, but she is immediately destroyed if reduced to 0 hit points or less. She can no longer be raised or resurrected. She can be brought back to existence only through use of a wish or psionic reality alteration. How about: A psionic reaper is not at risk of death due to massive damage, but she is immediately destroyed if reduced to 0 hit points or less. Her bones fall to the ground and she must be stabilized by the beginnings of a raise or resurrection spell within 30 seconds, or her bones turn to dust. She cannot attempt any saves of her own to stabilize and her bones begin to crack and splinter as the seconds pass. If her bones turn to dust, she can be brought back to existence only through use of a wish or psionic reality alteration.
McPoyo 03-22-08, 11:00 AM	Too complicated, imo. Might want to just go with the normal resurrection clause for the Undead type out of the back of the Monster Manual. May need to add an entry citing that if they ever cease being undead they lose the benefits of all class features sans manifesting progression.
The_Rob 03-23-08, 11:44 PM	As an undead, a psionic reaper is no longer healed normally. She requires negative energy (such as an inflict wounds spell) to heal, though regeneration and fast healing effects work normally. A psionic reaper is not at risk of death due to massive damage, but she is immediately destroyed if reduced to 0 hit points or less. She can no longer be raised or resurrected. She can be brought back to existence only through use of a wish or psionic reality alteration. She cannot be brought back to life through use of Raise Dead or Reincarnate spells or abilities, but can be brought back to life through Resurrection and True Resurrection. Should the psionic reaper choose to return to her living self, she loses all psionic reaper's abilities, retaining only her selected feats, level increases, psicrystal increases, and manifester level / power gains. Better? Shouldn't there be a time limit on it or something? Otherwise you can effectively be brought back to life at any time.
McPoyo 03-25-08, 08:36 AM	Well Resurrection is a 7th (iirc) level spell, which does have a time limit (10 years/CL, iirc, I'm AFB), and True Res is a 9th level spell. If it takes a wish or miracle, neither of which can duplicate other 9th level spell effects (Okay, Miracle can duplicate scale of effect, but not the spell itself), I fail to see why it's not just as powerful as any other 9th level spell. Neither one works if the guy died of old age. Personally, I'd be more worried about having X level of Ex-Paladin without hope of an atonement, since that's essentially what would occur. Up until 10th level in the PrC (19th actual level if you went in as early as possible), if you die you lose all the benefits of the PrC if you get resurrected, and actually end up worse in the long run (2 less Manifester levels which is a whole level of powers up to that point, among other things like class features from other classes you could have taken instead, etc). I personally think the drawbacks warrant allowing a 7th level spell to work just fine on the guy, especially because if the Reaper dies before he can make that crystal, he's gotta think long and hard on whether he wants to come back with that much of a loss. Would be great to RP out, mind you, but mechanically the player's character would be considerably weaker. It might be possible to go on a massive time-consuming Retraining Quest (using PHB2 rules) to remove those Reaper levels and advance into something else (or perhaps even restore his reaper-ness) if the other players and DM have no problem with it. Like I said, it's not game destroying to have Res and True Res work, imo, but the player really has to think about how his character would respond in that situation before coming to a conclusion about whether to even respond to the Res or not. Side note: that last sentence is kind of cumbersome. Perhaps something along the lines of "Should the psionic reaper choose to return to her living self, she loses all class abilities of the Psionic Reaper PrC, except for Manifesting advancement, Psicrystal advancement, and bonus feats." Normal feat and stat points aren't considered class features, so they shouldn't be adjusted anyway (and make it more cumbersome), and the only potential level loss would ever come from the spell used to raise them, so no worries about cumbersomeness there. Much simpler to read too. Ymmv, but that's just my opinion :) Side Note 2: Looks really snazzy, btw. Great job on writing it up.
The_Rob 03-25-08, 12:47 PM	Okay, switched it to: A psionic reaper is not at risk of death due to massive damage, but she is immediately destroyed if reduced to 0 hit points or less. She cannot be brought back to life through use of Raise Dead or Reincarnate spells or abilities, but can be brought back to life through Resurrection and True Resurrection. During the resurrection the psionic reaper gains a measure of control which allows her to determine which state of being she returns to: her living self or her undead self. Should the psionic reaper choose to return to her living self, she loses all class abilities of the Psionic Reaper PrC, except for Manifesting advancement, Psicrystal advancement, and bonus feats. Her Constitution score will also be restored to its previous state. Now, again we have one small-ish problem. If you are reduced to 0hp, you're virtually dead. There's no opportunity to be stabilized and healed as there is for other characters. That's what I was really trying to fix with the "resurrection spell must be started within 30secs or you're dead" thing. Any idea how to change this or should it just be left as one of those risks of taking this particular PrC?
McPoyo 03-25-08, 03:57 PM	Left as-is. It's the risk of becoming undead and gaining all those nifty immunities.
The_Rob 03-26-08, 12:49 PM	Awesome. So think this is all done? Good and complete PrC? Edit: I added "She may negate possible negative hit points by spending an equal amount of power points to bring herself to 1 hit point. If she is destroyed," just so that you have an opportunity to recover from 0 or less hp. Doesn't seem right to not at least have some opportunity to survive.