Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lycanthromancer 05-13-07, 04:28 PM	I have to make two 10th-level characters for an upcoming campaign. One *was* going to be a wizard/psion/cerebremancer, but I'm revamping that one. The party is in desperate need of a melee specialist, and it's going to be rife with dragons and undead, so I figured I'd go for an unorthodox melee build utilizing psionics (in the vein of the The Big Guy is with Me build). Here's the build thus far: Human Egoist 10 (with 2 flaws - Likely Shaky and another custom one that gives him a -2 vs mind-affecting effects, or maybe something else, I haven't decided yet). Skills and equipment have yet to be determined, but his beginning stats are as follows: Str 10 Dex 16 Con 18 Int 18 (+2 with levels, and +4 with a Headband) Wis 14 Cha 12 Feats: 1. Human (Psionic Body), 1st (Psicrystal Affinity), Bonus (Improved Psicrystal x1), Flaw 1 (Improved Psicrystal x2), Flaw 2 (Improved Psicrystal x3) 3. 3rd (Improved Psicrystal x4) 5. Bonus (Improved Psicrystal x5) 6. 6th (Metamorphic Transfer) 9. 9th (Expanded Knowledge: Schism) 10. Bonus (Expanded Knowledge: Clairvoyant Sense) Powers: 1. Hammer, Inertial Armor, Vigor 2. Defensive Precognition, Offensive Precognition 3. Detect Hostile Intent, Share Pain 4. Concealing Amorpha, Animal Affinity 5. Body Adjustment, Touchsight 6. Dispel Psionics?, Hustle (I'm not sure about DP, as this DM is going with a magic/psionics interaction rule of -4, I think, and doesn't include psionics as a regular feature at all [Read: Ever]) 7. Metamorphosis, Energy Adaptation 8. Psionic Dimension Door, Telekinetic Maneuver 9. Telekinetic Force, Telekinetic Thrust 10. Crystal Shard, Intellect Fortress Since my psicrystal has 15 HD, and a good base attack bonus, that means it has the BAB of a 15th level fighter. My plan is to utilize long-lasting buffs, such as Inertial Armor, Share Pain, and Detect Hostile Intent, to keep battle-buffing somewhat minimized, then to use Metamorphosis at the beginning of each battle on my psicrystal, hide myself somehow, then buff and heal my psicrystal from the shadows. Vigor + Share Pain to keep hit points up, Inertial Armor and Defensive Precognition to keep saves and AC up, Body Adjustment to heal, and so on. In addition, since my psicrystal doesn't lose any of its Su abilities, it can fly and do other nifty things, too (and can even turn into a construct, which will be exceptionally useful against undead). When I'm not buffing, I can channel Telekinetic Maneuver through my metamorphed (Large or larger) psicrystal, using its size modifier on grapple, trip, and disarm checks. I can even grapple incorporeal foes this way, since the Telekinesis line are all force effects. I also have Crystal Shard for Antimagic fields. Any ways to make this better? I was considering buying a Necklace of Adaptation and hiding in a bag of holding while using my psicrystal to target foes and buffing him up in some of the nastier battles. And yes, I know I used a higher-level feat to get Clairvoyant Sense, but I want to know what I'm up against when I'm on the other side of a locked door. Also, any ideas on a secondary psion-character that would complement this build? No thrallherds allowed, and there can't be too many characters floating around (as controlling what amounts to two with this one character is already getting complicated). I'm not aware of everyone's characters, but I do know we have a cleric and two wizard/rogue multiclasses. Oh, and the psicrystal doesn't get feats.
Suldarr'essalar 05-13-07, 05:01 PM	My plan is to utilize long-lasting buffs, such as Inertial Armor, Share Pain, and Detect Hostile Intent, to keep battle-buffing somewhat minimized, then to use Metamorphosis at the beginning of each battle on my psicrystal, hide myself somehow, then buff and heal my psicrystal from the shadows. Vigor + Share Pain to keep hit points up, Inertial Armor and Defensive Precognition to keep saves and AC up, Body Adjustment to heal, and so on. Keep in mind, that you need to be 5ft away from your psicrystal to make those powers work, so hiding might be a problem.
Lycanthromancer 05-13-07, 05:05 PM	Nope. I can channel the power through my psicrystal so long as I'm within 1 mile. The psicrystal gains extra abilities for higher hit dice through Improved Psicrystal, remember.
PhaedrusXY 05-13-07, 05:11 PM	Constructs have a medium BAB progression, not good. This kind of thing works a LOT better if the DM lets the psicrystal get feats. You still might be able to get it to work decently, though. As suggested in another thread on metamorphing psicrystals, take a look at the Tendriculous for a combat form.
Lycanthromancer 05-13-07, 05:22 PM	Ah. Sorry, my mistake. And here I was wanting a +15 BAB, too... As it stands, the crystal's BAB is still +11, which is better than a Good progression at level 10...Plus I also have Offensive Precognition. Not too bad.
Racinante 05-13-07, 06:00 PM	Also, a psicrystal is a construct so cannot be healed unless it is metamorphed into another type of creature. You will need a good craft check or a power that repairs the psicrystal to last more than a single combat or two.
Lycanthromancer 05-13-07, 07:26 PM	That's the thing, though. Nobody seems able to find the text that says that constructs can't be healed. They can't naturally heal, but they can be healed (barring finding the text that says otherwise). Where does it say that constructs can't be healed? Also, nowhere in the body adjustment power does it say that it doesn't affect constructs. It can even affect undead, after all.
Lycanthromancer 05-13-07, 08:32 PM	Oh, and later on, I'm adding DEATHRAYS. See the Energy Conversion power for details...
InkBlot 05-13-07, 08:48 PM	Psionic repair damage is tonnes upon tonnes more effecient than body adjustment. Get it if you can. Unless something goes Horribly Wrong™ your psion shouldn't need to heal himself. If something does go Horribly Wrong™ then your psion will have better things to worry about than healing himself.
Lycanthromancer 05-13-07, 08:54 PM	... I do believe I need a feat for that... Well, time to toss...SOMETHING out... Unless, of course, I want to just keep things as-is, and have a power that can affect both of us... [Edit] I suppose I could find a way to work in Hostile Empathic Transfer instead, though seeing as how undead are going to feature into it, that's probably not a great idea. Dragons' saves are too high, too. *Psigh.*
InkBlot 05-13-07, 09:35 PM	How does your DM feel about independant research? You could be just some time, XP, and a psicraft check away from adding psionic repair damage to your class power list.
Lycanthromancer 05-13-07, 09:44 PM	I could do that...later. Right now, I'd have to knock my character down a level. No extra XP.
Scion of Coldshard 05-13-07, 10:14 PM	As much as I love this type of build.. Since my psicrystal has 15 HD The psicrystal has as many hd as you do. Since you are level 10 I will assume that you have 10 hd so it does too. It looks like you want to be out of the way as much as possible though while the psicrystal does its thing so I would suggest using metamorphasis on yourself and turn into an object that will be in the psicrystals possession somehow. Schism doesnt really do you any good either and you want to get the psicrystals attacks up while keeping its defenses as well. Unfortunately that means likely not using metamorphasis on it so that means you can probably get rid of metamorphic transfer as well. You just need a way to make the psicrystal be a threat, which can be really tough! It would be a lot easier if the psicrystal gained feats but for this I guess it will have to come down to equipment choices and power selection. If you use a feat to pick up expansion and claws of the beast that alone will allow the psicrystal to have two attacks at 2d6-3 each and you even have a 5' reach now! Offensive Prescience will move that up to 2d6-1 for a single pp. A +2 str boosting ioun stone makes it 2d6. The stupid amulet looks to be the only way to make these attacks better so with a 24,000 gp investment you hit 2d6+2. At level 10 this might not be enough damage though, especially since the chance to hit is pretty low. Can you purchase items that have feats attatched to them?
Lycanthromancer 05-13-07, 11:13 PM	Improved Psicrystal [Psionic] You can upgrade your psicrystal. Prerequisites: Psicrystal Affinity. Benefit: You can implant another personality fragment in your psicrystal. You gain the benefits of both psicrystal personalities. Your psicrystal’s personality adjusts and becomes a blend between all implanted personality fragments. From now on, when determining the abilities of your psicrystal, treat your manifester level as one higher than your normal manifester level. Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time, you implant a new personality fragment in your psicrystal, from which you derive the noted benefits, and you treat your level as one higher for the purpose of determining your psicrystal’s abilities.Emphasis mine. Note that it says that the psicrystal's abilities (it doesn't qualify which ones, so ALL of the psicrystal's abilities) are treated as though you were one level higher. Its HD are one of the benefits it gains from a higher manifester level, so it should be a 15 HD creature (though it technically won't gain any HD-based hp until it has a Con score). Also, Metamorphosis can be both offensive and defensive. Look at some of the really nice forms in the Monster Manual, and tell me they don't beat the living daylights out of simply Expansioning it. I'm not using MY version of Metamorphosis, mind, but the one in the actual XPH. I'm not allowed to use any of my stuff (as my DM doesn't want to read through it all). Schism will help with emergency manifesting, keeping up with Body Adjustments and low-level buffs for its duration. I can also share Schism with my psicrystal (while it's organic and a living creature) for things like firing off the rays from the Energy Conversion power I plan on taking. As far as the feat-on-an-item thing goes, I haven't asked about custom items. It might do, but I haven't asked about it (though I could try to work on the psicrystal feats, as this build is definitely unorthodox, to say the least, and as the psicrystal is doing the fighting, rather than me).
Scion of Coldshard 05-13-07, 11:18 PM	Its HD are one of the benefits it gains from a higher manifester level Its hd are based on the masters hd, not the masters manifester level ;) Also, Metamorphosis can be both offensive and defensive. Look at some of the really nice forms in the Monster Manual, and tell me they don't beat the living daylights out of simply Expansioning it. Losing hardness is a really big hit, especially for something that has half of your hp when you are a d4 hd class. Most of the nice forms, maybe even all that you have access to at this point, give up the construct type as well. Having your psicrystal get dominated would be no fun at all! You are right in the middle area of power. A little earlier and 2d6 damage is actually decent enough to be threatening and its armor class is significant enough to matter, plus that hardness 8 is hard to overcome. A little later and you could get form of doom or a number of powers from complete psionic which would help out the guy. Just a little bit off from each of the levels of power, a bit of a dip around level 10 it looks like.
Racinante 05-13-07, 11:21 PM	That's the thing, though. Nobody seems able to find the text that says that constructs can't be healed. They can't naturally heal, but they can be healed (barring finding the text that says otherwise). Where does it say that constructs can't be healed? Also, nowhere in the body adjustment power does it say that it doesn't affect constructs. It can even affect undead, after all. Construct traits specifically says that Cannot heal damage (though regeneration and fast healing still apply, if present). So regardless of whether the healing is natural or magical, the construct cannot heal damage. This is also covered in the rules of the game articles on constructs.
Lycanthromancer 05-13-07, 11:26 PM	The SRD I looked at said *natural* healing. Oh, well. Also, hp shouldn't be much of a problem; with Vigor + Share Pain, I've calculated that if I have exactly average hp, my crystal should have somewhere in the area of 200 hp, if it has even a decent Con score. If it stays a construct (which will be mostly against undead, which are mostly about special abilities, rather than damage), the total will be lower, but its immunities should definitely help it along. Constructs: Cannot heal damage on their own, but often can be repaired by exposing them to a certain kind of effect (see the creature’s description for details) or through the use of the Craft Construct feat. A construct with the fast healing special quality still benefits from that quality.Emphasis mine. It can't heal itself, but I can heal it (using psionic powers).
Scion of Coldshard 05-14-07, 12:02 AM	Also, hp shouldn't be much of a problem; with Vigor + Share Pain Vigor and Share pain is a very nice combo! You need to watch how many pp you are using though. Vigor and metamorphosis are both short term buffs. You will also wind up needing a lot of healing as well if you arent close enough to share the vigor rather than just putting it on the crystal, or if you are manifesting it individually on both ou are burning pp like crazy. my crystal should have somewhere in the area of 200 hp, if it has even a decent Con score. Its own con score is irrelevant though. If it stays a construct Which constructs were you planning on metamorphing into?
Racinante 05-14-07, 09:57 AM	Constructs: Cannot heal damage on their own, but often can be repaired by exposing them to a certain kind of effect (see the creature’s description for details) or through the use of the Craft Construct feat. A construct with the fast healing special quality still benefits from that quality. It can't heal itself, but I can heal it (using psionic powers). If you have a psionic power that can repair, not heal, constructs, yes.
Boondoggle 05-14-07, 07:14 PM	EK(Clairvoiyant Sense) is a bad idea. There's a 3rd eye for 24k that gives it at will. EK(Psionic Repair Damage) is a good idea if you want your psicrystal tanking. For an awesome 10HD form, check out retrievers (demon constructs).
PhaedrusXY 05-14-07, 07:51 PM	EK(Clairvoiyant Sense) is a bad idea. There's a 3rd eye for 24k that gives it at will. EK(Psionic Repair Damage) is a good idea if you want your psicrystal tanking. For an awesome 10HD form, check out retrievers (demon constructs).I'd also advocate making the psion a warforged. Psionic Repair Damage is a very efficient method of healing, particularly if the DM lets you and the psicrystal get full benefits when you share it (despite the Sage's stupid "ruling" to the contrary).
crizhII 05-14-07, 08:41 PM	Its own con score is irrelevant though. Unless it has Metamorphed into something with a Con score. Which constructs were you planning on metamorphing into? The bigger the better. It gets bonus hp's for being a Construct bigger than Medium.
Scion of Coldshard 05-14-07, 09:10 PM	Unless it has Metamorphed into something with a Con score. Since a con score will not change its hp it is irrelevant on the point I was talking about. The bigger the better. It gets bonus hp's for being a Construct bigger than Medium. Guy 1: What model of car do you want? Guy 2: Big! I know that bigger is better but this character is limited to constructs of 10hd or less. So what are his options? (after dm limitations are taken into account of course, no point in discussing things that are not allowed right? ;))
Racinante 05-14-07, 11:29 PM	Since a con score will not change its hp it is irrelevant on the point I was talking about. Except the addition of the polymorph sub-school and the changes to alter self and wild shape abilities did not change how polymorph and metamorphosis work. If you use either to change into a form with a higher con, you do get the hp boost.
Scion of Coldshard 05-15-07, 12:50 AM	If you use either to change into a form with a higher con, you do get the hp boost. The psicrystals hp are half of its masters, not half of its masters plus some con modifiers. I dont see anything here changing any of that.
crizhII 05-15-07, 04:05 AM	The psicrystals hp are half of its masters, not half of its masters plus some con modifiers. I dont see anything here changing any of that. Well Metamorphing into a larger construct would. I was just thinking however, why go with creatures at all? If it retains its Flight(Su) why not go with objects? An Iron cube 64' tall would do 132,603D6 damage if if it fell at least 10'. :D
Racinante 05-15-07, 09:52 AM	The psicrystals hp are half of its masters, not half of its masters plus some con modifiers. I dont see anything here changing any of that. Good point, I overlooked that.
PhaedrusXY 05-15-07, 01:52 PM	Well Metamorphing into a larger construct would.I don't think so, for the exact same reason that a Con change wouldn't matter.I was just thinking however, why go with creatures at all? If it retains its Flight(Su) why not go with objects? An Iron cube 64' tall would do 132,603D6 damage if if it fell at least 10'. :DGenius! :D Make it look like a gigantic boot and name it "Stompy" for bonus points! "Kill Stompy! Kill!"
Lycanthromancer 05-15-07, 08:54 PM	My DM told me that according to Savage Species, being Small-sized is worth -1 LA, so I can get an extra level of psion out of it for him. (11-level Small human egoist psion with level 10 XP total and equipment.) The egoist is going to be a 10-year-old (Small) psionic prodigy. Since psionics is rare (read: extreeeeeeemely rare) in this world, he was abducted as a child by a cabal of wizards (since it's an amalgamation of a non-psionic Eberron and Dragonlance, it's House Cannith) who wanted to study this innate alien magic so they could build psionic-empowered warforged as weapons of mass destruction. They tore some of his soul out to empower a warforged, who immediately went berzerk, destroyed the lab, several wizards, and the creation forge, then escaped with the baby in tow. Ever since, the boy and his warforged guardian have been looking for his parents, with him usually metamorphosis'd into an item that the warforged carries on his person, with the psicrystal and the warforged both defending him. Thus, the egoist has been altered somewhat (I'll post his stats later, as I've altered things a bit), and the warforged is going to be a kineticist that focuses more on battlefield control than blasting (and might get Psiforged as a bonus feat), and as I mentioned above, he's going to wear the egoist as an item, possibly as a weapon. Also, since the two psions can manifest from each other's powers known (except for discipline-specific powers) as a full-round action, I've altered his power list to reflect that. Sound okay? [edit] Oh, and it's complete transparency, so I've got Dispel Psionics ready to go.
Eikre 05-15-07, 09:15 PM	Mixing Eberron and Dragonlance? But... But... But'che can't mix matter and antimatter, Capt'n! It'll blow everything up!
BlaineTog 05-16-07, 12:21 AM	My DM told me that according to Savage Species, being Small-sized is worth -1 LA, so I can get an extra level of psion out of it for him. (11-level Small human egoist psion with level 10 XP total and equipment.)Bullcrap, BULLCRAP. Small size is an advantage for casters. Savage Species is a series of guidelines (3.0 guidelines at that), not laws, and they have to be applied intelligently.
Lycanthromancer 05-16-07, 01:35 PM	I understand that. But he came up with it, not me. Thus, I'm willing to take advantage. :) Hmm. Maybe it's being a munchkin, and I should back out. I still like the idea of the 10-year-old psionic guru however. He can hide in the warforged's Heward's Handy Haversack. Also, here's his stats so far: Egoist 11 (or 10, if I own up...which I probably will) Str 6 (-4 for being Small) Dex 18 (+2 for being Small) Con 12 (-2 for being Small) Int 20 (24 after a headband of Int +4) Wis 16 Cha 12 Given what being Small does to my stats, is -1 LA really too much to give me in exchange? Feats: (+2 flaws) 1. Psionic Body 1. Mind Over Body (but Int mod instead of Con mod on all HD) 1. Psicrystal Affinity: Resolved 1. Improved Psicrystal: Hero 1. Improved Psicrystal: Spry (+2 to Ref saves) 3. Improved Psicrystal: Observant 5. Improved Psicrystal: Nimble 6. Expanded Knowledge: Psionic Repair Damage 9. Expanded Knowledge: Schism (for low-level buffs, healing, etc - it's better than Quicken) 10. Expanded Knowledge: Greater Concealing Amorpha Powers 1. Defensive Precognition, Offensive Precognition, Force Screen (He's got a psychoactive skin of ectoplasmic armor for both him and his psicrystal, so this will stack) 2. Hammer, Vigor 3. Empathic Transfer, Share Pain 4. Animal Affinity, Swarm of Crystals (which is a really nice pick for him, since he can manifest it through his psicrystal as a breath weapon, and its unavoidable) 5. Body Adjustment, Touchsight 6. Hustle, Telekinetic Thrust 7. Metamorphosis, Energy Adaptation 8. Dimension Door, Telekinetic Maneuver 9. Intellect Fortress, Psychic Reformation (always nice to keep this on hand for emergencies) 10. Energy Retort, Forced Share Pain 11. (If I take this level) Psionic Disintegrate Since the DM has ruled that I must succeed at an appropriate Knowledge check (DC 20 + monster's HD) to turn into a critter for the first time, I've dumped my skill points in the knowledge skills specifically necessary for knowing about creatures. Arcana, Religion, Psionics, etc. I didn't worry about Knowledge: the Planes too much, since I can't turn into either elementals or outsiders anyway. His psicrystal has a psychoactive skin of ectoplasmic armor, and a cloak of resistance +2/wilding clasp combo as his items. I'm using the warforged's money to buy a few more wilding clasps for any nice items I get later on, since I likely won't find any more. If I forego 11th level, I'll just switch out EK: Schism for another Improved Psicrystal. And for his warforged/psiforged companion: Haven't decided on stats yet, but he's likely going to have... Str 14 Dex 12 Con 20 (24 after a headband of Int +4) Int 20 Wis 14 Cha 8 Feats (+2 flaws) 1. Psiforged Body (Bonus feat given by the DM) 1. Psicrystal Affinity: Resolved 1. Empower Power 1. Power Penetration (or perhaps something else) 1. Improved Psicrystal: Spry (+2 to Ref saves) 3. Psicrystal Containment 5. Psionic Meditation 6. Expanded Knowledge: Clairvoyant Sense 9. Expanded Knowledge: Schism 10. Expanded Knowledge: Fate Link (see Energy Current below; also, he's going to have several Bags of Tricks to bestow lots of negative levels) If I end up having to spend a feat for Psiforged Body, I'll skip learning Schism, I think. Powers 1. Entangling Ectoplasm, Psionic Grease, Deja Vu 2. Crystal Shard, Vigor 3. Detect Hostile Intent, Ego Whip 4. Concussion Blast, Energy Stun 5. Body Purification, Time Hop 6. Dispel Psionics, Solicit Psicrystal (hooray for complete transparency!) 7. Control Body, Dimension Door 8. Intellect Fortress, Wall of Ectoplasm 9. Energy Current, Psionic Major Creation 10. Ectoplasmic Shambler, Psionic True Seeing Note that this is NOT a build meant for blasting, but for battlefield control and support. We already have a wizard in the party; he can do the blasting. Oh, and it's not a point-buy or rolling...It's an array of stats (18, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10). These tend to be extraordinarily high-powered games. Given my stats and what I'm doing with the build, the egoist (D'Mitri) should have an hp total of 11d4+81. That's 106 hp before anything else. Add in a shared Vigor + Share Pain, and I should have an extra 110 hp. So that's 216 effective HP when I've buffed up a bit. My psicrystal should have 163 hp when in a construct form (but that's not including bonus hp for construct size). Given that it has HD, and when it gains a Con score that's added on top of his current hp (with a Con score of --), that should be much higher. Basically, buffed and Metamorphosis'd, my psicrystal should have far more hp than a character with a d12 hit die and a 20 Con.
Lycanthromancer 05-23-07, 08:35 PM	When metamorphed, my psicrystal is going to retain its crystalline appearance when it turns into something organic. Imagine a wolf made out of organic psicrystal. And it's going to look...well...Transformer-ish when it Metamorphoses. This is going to be cool. Oh, and the Mind Over Body thing is a wash. Instead, he's given me a custom feat, Psicrystal Body, that gives the psicrystal my hp total, rather than half of it. I just changed the kid's Con to be 16 instead, giving them both reasonable (if not as high) hit points. I also took out energy retort (a touch attack AND a save?!) and forced share pain, and exchanged them for psionic freedom of movement and psionic true seeing which might actually come in handy somehow. Maybe. [edit] Oh, and since the psicrystal abilities are technically bestowed by the fact that the psicrystal is still my psicrystal even when he's metamorphosed, and the psicrystalline abilities are granted by my manifester level, he retains all of his psicrystal abilities (even Ex ones) when Metamorphed. Even if it's not RAW, that's how we're playing it (probably because the psicrystal doesn't gain feats, even though that IS RAW). So, he's going to have some really nice abilities. A retriever with Improved Evasion? A clay or flesh golem with a fly speed of 50 ft? Oh, dear... If the psicrystal turns into something with a Con score, it gains the bonus hp for a high Con (since it has HD).