Problem Powers [Archive] - Wizards Community

Problem Powers [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
deviknyte
01-23-08, 02:34 PM What are some poblem powers and psionic feats that I should be looking out for as a DM? I've got the easy ones. Metamorphosis and Temporal Acceleration. What ease poses a balance problem?
Ryuu_Tenshi
01-23-08, 02:49 PM What are some poblem powers and psionic feats that I should be looking out for as a DM? I've got the easy ones. Metamorphosis and Temporal Acceleration. What ease poses a balance problem?

Metamorphosis is only a problem for the same reason that Polymorph is a problem. I'd say that most Polymorph fixes (there are a lot!) can address this one.
One very quick fix is that the person in question must have either encountered the creature/object said person is transforming into to assume its form, or, better yet, have touched the creature in question (a la Animorphs.) Just apply the same to Polymorph and you're pretty set.

As to Temporal Acceleration, I was under the impression that it wasn't nearly as good/broke as Time Stop. Thoughts?
InkBlot
01-23-08, 02:53 PM What books do you use? Outside of Complete Psionic, there are only a small handful of problematic powers, and absolutely no problematic psionic feats.

Synchronicity, from one of the Races Of X books, can lead to infinite actions if it's abused. If it's not abused, it's just weak and quirky.

Metamind is problematic because it's a trap. A 20th level Psion has more power points than a Psion10/Metamind10, and a manifester level five higher. The Metamind sucks, but it gets to suck for free one minute per day. If a character in your game takes levels in Metamind, then you may find it difficult to create encounters where he or she can contribute meaningfully. Although, there is that ironically broken combo of Metamind and synchronicity.

edit: Yeah, temporal acceleration is fine in my book. It's only overpowered in combination with nova tactics, which are bad for the player in the long run. Just don't let your players get away with resting after every encounter, and you shouldn't need to worry about it.
Lycanthromancer
01-23-08, 02:59 PM There are numerous threads regarding this issue. Try rooting around for them. :)
Ryuu_Tenshi
01-23-08, 03:01 PM edit: Yeah, temporal acceleration is fine in my book. It's only overpowered in combination with nova tactics, which are bad for the player in the long run. Just don't let your players get away with resting after every encounter, and you shouldn't need to worry about it.

Yes, exactly. On a per-encounter basis, going nova (that is, throwing everything you've got) looks damn impressive, but in the long run it's going to hurt. Same with Wizards, really - if a wizard blows all his spells on one encounter, he may have just made the non-spellcasters look really bad, but the next rat he comes across is probably going to eat him.

So your psion just nuked the "boss" of the dungeon with Temporal Acceleration and some overchanneled, fully augmented powers. but oh, wait, you didn't kill the boss' pet. what now, sir? Did we mention you have to get -out- of this dungeon...?
InkBlot
01-23-08, 03:24 PM That's the gist of it. Although I'd argue that no full caster needs to nova in order to make a non-spellcaster feel small in the pants.

Going nova is a broken tactic no matter who uses it, but the repurcussions are worse for Psions than for Wizards/Sorcerers. In order to reach peak damage output, a Psion must expend all her power points in fully-augmented powers. That leaves the Psion bone-dry. A Sorcerer, however, can nova and still have all her lower level spell slots untouched. Spellcasters also have a few more advanced nova tricks that Psions can't keep up with, although the Psion's nova tricks are more obvious to newbies.

In any case, it's easy enough to make the player not want to nova. Just keep in mind that she may choose to keep her nova capability as a last-ditch effort when all else fails and the meatshield and medic are already dead. This isn't a bad thing. After all, in a scenario like that you're staring TPK in the face. TPKs are bad, m'kay?
Bauglir
01-24-08, 05:57 PM In the wrong setting, Ego Whip is broken. Most things that have high Charisma use it for something, and most things that don't need Charisma have it low. So a Psion will start knocking out or severely reducing the effectiveness of monsters with it. But immunity to mind-affecting things stops this one in its tracks, so it's not all-powerful and definitely insufficient for a one-trick pony. One of my houserules is to let the will save negate the Cha damage, but targets are still dazzled for 1 round/power point on a successful save. It really does depend on what sorts of monsters you face, though.
CrimsonDeath
01-24-08, 06:37 PM In the wrong setting, Ego Whip is broken. Most things that have high Charisma use it for something, and most things that don't need Charisma have it low. So a Psion will start knocking out or severely reducing the effectiveness of monsters with it. But immunity to mind-affecting things stops this one in its tracks, so it's not all-powerful and definitely insufficient for a one-trick pony. One of my houserules is to let the will save negate the Cha damage, but targets are still dazzled for 1 round/power point on a successful save. It really does depend on what sorts of monsters you face, though.

Actually, I think somebody ran some numbers and found that, in general, an optimized Ego Whip build doesn't drop monsters of the appropriate CR any faster than optimized non-nova blasting. Meanwhile, although many monsters use charisma, few are built around it; tank their Charisma, and they can still bite your face off or something. Plus, very few other tactics synergize well with it (Touch of Idiocy and a couple of poisons); direct damage is a lot easier for party members to cooperate with.

Now, humanoids are a different story altogether. By around level 16, one Ego Whip will probably render most humanoids unconscious or largely ineffective. (But then, you have Mind Blank by then...)
Bauglir
01-24-08, 08:43 PM Y'know, that's a good point. It may just be that the people I play with have a tendency either to use Humanoids or primary bruisers (we're either lazy or really bored, apparently), so the power of Ego Whip seems exaggerated.
heavenisme
01-26-08, 08:05 AM Larval flayers & Elemental Steward + Astral Construct for the win... Three broken powers.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
deviknyte 01-23-08, 02:34 PM	What are some poblem powers and psionic feats that I should be looking out for as a DM? I've got the easy ones. Metamorphosis and Temporal Acceleration. What ease poses a balance problem?
Ryuu_Tenshi 01-23-08, 02:49 PM	What are some poblem powers and psionic feats that I should be looking out for as a DM? I've got the easy ones. Metamorphosis and Temporal Acceleration. What ease poses a balance problem? Metamorphosis is only a problem for the same reason that Polymorph is a problem. I'd say that most Polymorph fixes (there are a lot!) can address this one. One very quick fix is that the person in question must have either encountered the creature/object said person is transforming into to assume its form, or, better yet, have touched the creature in question (a la Animorphs.) Just apply the same to Polymorph and you're pretty set. As to Temporal Acceleration, I was under the impression that it wasn't nearly as good/broke as Time Stop. Thoughts?
InkBlot 01-23-08, 02:53 PM	What books do you use? Outside of Complete Psionic, there are only a small handful of problematic powers, and absolutely no problematic psionic feats. Synchronicity, from one of the Races Of X books, can lead to infinite actions if it's abused. If it's not abused, it's just weak and quirky. Metamind is problematic because it's a trap. A 20th level Psion has more power points than a Psion10/Metamind10, and a manifester level five higher. The Metamind sucks, but it gets to suck for free one minute per day. If a character in your game takes levels in Metamind, then you may find it difficult to create encounters where he or she can contribute meaningfully. Although, there is that ironically broken combo of Metamind and synchronicity. edit: Yeah, temporal acceleration is fine in my book. It's only overpowered in combination with nova tactics, which are bad for the player in the long run. Just don't let your players get away with resting after every encounter, and you shouldn't need to worry about it.
Lycanthromancer 01-23-08, 02:59 PM	There are numerous threads regarding this issue. Try rooting around for them. :)
Ryuu_Tenshi 01-23-08, 03:01 PM	edit: Yeah, temporal acceleration is fine in my book. It's only overpowered in combination with nova tactics, which are bad for the player in the long run. Just don't let your players get away with resting after every encounter, and you shouldn't need to worry about it. Yes, exactly. On a per-encounter basis, going nova (that is, throwing everything you've got) looks damn impressive, but in the long run it's going to hurt. Same with Wizards, really - if a wizard blows all his spells on one encounter, he may have just made the non-spellcasters look really bad, but the next rat he comes across is probably going to eat him. So your psion just nuked the "boss" of the dungeon with Temporal Acceleration and some overchanneled, fully augmented powers. but oh, wait, you didn't kill the boss' pet. what now, sir? Did we mention you have to get -out- of this dungeon...?
InkBlot 01-23-08, 03:24 PM	That's the gist of it. Although I'd argue that no full caster needs to nova in order to make a non-spellcaster feel small in the pants. Going nova is a broken tactic no matter who uses it, but the repurcussions are worse for Psions than for Wizards/Sorcerers. In order to reach peak damage output, a Psion must expend all her power points in fully-augmented powers. That leaves the Psion bone-dry. A Sorcerer, however, can nova and still have all her lower level spell slots untouched. Spellcasters also have a few more advanced nova tricks that Psions can't keep up with, although the Psion's nova tricks are more obvious to newbies. In any case, it's easy enough to make the player not want to nova. Just keep in mind that she may choose to keep her nova capability as a last-ditch effort when all else fails and the meatshield and medic are already dead. This isn't a bad thing. After all, in a scenario like that you're staring TPK in the face. TPKs are bad, m'kay?
Bauglir 01-24-08, 05:57 PM	In the wrong setting, Ego Whip is broken. Most things that have high Charisma use it for something, and most things that don't need Charisma have it low. So a Psion will start knocking out or severely reducing the effectiveness of monsters with it. But immunity to mind-affecting things stops this one in its tracks, so it's not all-powerful and definitely insufficient for a one-trick pony. One of my houserules is to let the will save negate the Cha damage, but targets are still dazzled for 1 round/power point on a successful save. It really does depend on what sorts of monsters you face, though.
CrimsonDeath 01-24-08, 06:37 PM	In the wrong setting, Ego Whip is broken. Most things that have high Charisma use it for something, and most things that don't need Charisma have it low. So a Psion will start knocking out or severely reducing the effectiveness of monsters with it. But immunity to mind-affecting things stops this one in its tracks, so it's not all-powerful and definitely insufficient for a one-trick pony. One of my houserules is to let the will save negate the Cha damage, but targets are still dazzled for 1 round/power point on a successful save. It really does depend on what sorts of monsters you face, though. Actually, I think somebody ran some numbers and found that, in general, an optimized Ego Whip build doesn't drop monsters of the appropriate CR any faster than optimized non-nova blasting. Meanwhile, although many monsters use charisma, few are built around it; tank their Charisma, and they can still bite your face off or something. Plus, very few other tactics synergize well with it (Touch of Idiocy and a couple of poisons); direct damage is a lot easier for party members to cooperate with. Now, humanoids are a different story altogether. By around level 16, one Ego Whip will probably render most humanoids unconscious or largely ineffective. (But then, you have Mind Blank by then...)
Bauglir 01-24-08, 08:43 PM	Y'know, that's a good point. It may just be that the people I play with have a tendency either to use Humanoids or primary bruisers (we're either lazy or really bored, apparently), so the power of Ego Whip seems exaggerated.
heavenisme 01-26-08, 08:05 AM	Larval flayers & Elemental Steward + Astral Construct for the win... Three broken powers.