Psicrystal Containment quesiton. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Psicrystal Containment quesiton. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Lokathor
10-30-07, 06:19 AM If I have both Psionic Meditation and Psicrystal Containment, can I store a psionic focus in my Psycrystal as a move action? or is it always stuck as being a full-round action?
Bacris
10-30-07, 11:12 AM The only real answer is: ask your DM.

The rules are nebulous - first it states in psicrystal containment that it's a full-round action, then it says it's identical to gaining psionic focus, so it can be argued either way that psionic meditation is applicable.
Lokathor
10-30-07, 12:20 PM Oh Psicrystals, is there anything you're not ambiguous about?

Thanks though Bacris. As more of a psionic expert than my DM (and the only player who uses it) I'll probably just say it doesn't mix and regain it out of combat.
AstralFireIX
10-30-07, 03:52 PM Think it's intended to be that way, really.
InkBlot
10-30-07, 06:12 PM I believe that the second statement ("just like focusing yourself") is a clarification of the first statement ("a full-round action"). That's generally how things work in english. See? I just did it there. The second sentence in this post is clarifying the first.

I allow the feats to combine, but your DM may vary.
Lokathor
10-31-07, 08:14 AM Well, yeah, I'd allow that too as a DM, but since the only reason I'd want them to combine as a PC would be for quicker Nova powers, as a PC I'd just avoid it myself. The DM for this character runs a game that tends towards the "1 encounter per day" style, and I could really run things outta wack very quickly that way.

Then again, the other players are an animal companion riding halfling druid, a warlock, and a save or die specialist necromancer. I suppose the druid and the necromancer can pull off the same crazy stuff anyways.
Lycanthromancer
10-31-07, 03:11 PM The core-only wizard, cleric, and druid are about >< this close to being, by far, the most powerful classes in the game.

In fact, the only things MORE powerful are a wizard, cleric, or druid that have access to stuff outside of core. Oh, and Pun-Pun/the artificer.

Spending your feats to make yourself better isn't metagaming, and it's not munchkinning. It's GOOD SENSE. People who like playing nigh-unplayable characters (such as a fighter with a Str, Dex, and Con below 5, while putting all their good scores in their mental stats) are either dumb or insane. Trying to overcome a single inherent weakness is alright (for a fighter, that would be his actual class), but making a character specifically to be unplayable just drags everyone else's fun through the mud and is, frankly, stupid. The others spend all their time trying to protect you, and you're just a drain on resources.

Sorry, but it's true.

*Ahem* In any case, spending lots of feats to get what a core caster can get out of metamagic feats is spending a LARGE number of resources in order to get the benefits. It's a good return on your investment, but it's a LARGE investment. If that lets you be slightly more versatile or powerful, more power to you. (AAAARGH! A PUN!)

[edit] Y'know, this was probably the wrong place for that rant. Sorry I got off-topic, but a friend of mine is the kind of person that makes a completely unplayable character and finds it fun, while everybody else struggles just to keep him alive. It...bugs me.
CrimsonDeath
10-31-07, 03:41 PM [edit] Y'know, this was probably the wrong place for that rant. Sorry I got off-topic, but a friend of mine is the kind of person that makes a completely unplayable character and finds it fun, while everybody else struggles just to keep him alive. It...bugs me.

Then why bother trying to keep him alive?...
Lycanthromancer
10-31-07, 03:52 PM It's called role-play.

Unfortunately.

Of course, that WAS the friend that decided to play a ranged-acupuncture ninja in a recent Hero System game. Which was awesome. I was wanting to throw decapitating pizza pans, but I never managed to get in on the game.
Lokathor
10-31-07, 05:15 PM Lycanthromancer, a counter-rant:
The core-only wizard, cleric, and druid are about >< this close to being, by far, the most powerful classes in the game.

Well yes yes, our good friend RT even came up with the phrase "CoDzilla" and all that.

But those things are only true if the players know what they're doing.

Now that's a serious limitation here man. Remember that most players aren't CO greats, or even CO averages. Most players think the PHB is balanced. Lots of them don't see what's so great about the spiked chain. A guy on the Races board the other day suggested a race that got Plane Shift 3/day and Shapechange 1/day at LA +3. I told him I had to explain that I'd play with just the Shapechange ability and LA+10 and I'd still feel a bit too powerful. Most people just don't get the under-workings of this game man. It makes me sad sometimes.

My younger brother (the warlock) is a damn good better than his peers with the math and science, and has it in him to cultivate a tactical mind, but he's almost unbelievably lazy, so he plays a warlock and uses Summon Swarm every single round to inflict 1d6 damage plus the bleeding condition (-1hp/round) with his bat swarm. He's convinced the dice hate him, so even though he can do more damage with his 3rd level eldritch blast, he just doesn't use it.

My good friend the Necromancer wants to have a cool undead army, which is nice and all, but then he goes and plays a Wizard of all things. They're not very good at the undead. No matter. He's not very good at the wizard thing yet, he's only ever played monks and rogue/warblades and rogues and things like that. No matter. I just explain to him during the fight which spells he's casting and why. Simply put, he's never going to pull off the OMGMADNESS wizard stuff soon. If he does, it'll be because I explained it to him, and I like game balance, so I won't be explaining most of the things to him. Besides, with Enchantment, Illusion, and Evocation banned, he's got a fair handicap compared to a normal wizard. Necromancy slots out the ears though.

Then we get to the Druid. Charlie (the player) is a good friend of mine, but he's headstrong and silly about it. He's mounted on his riding dog that isn't trained for war, wielding a club without any Shillelagh spells ready, and then to top off the combo, he starts trying Produce Flame. The dog lasted longer then he did. The DM approved for him to use normal wildshape, which would normally be a problem, but the exact rules for it are so far over his level of interest it's actually not. He'd just use it to turn into a bird sometimes for flight to scout and stuff, because he doesn't care about looking into the other practical applications. He'll never be CoDzilla because he just doesn't care.

So then, my character, Telepath. Sure, I could work up some combination and blast a beholder to bits singlehandedly as soon as I hit 9th level with something like 56d6+56 fire damage spread over 7 actions crunched into 1 round with Twin Synchronicity abuse (or 7d4 to 14d4 Cha Damage, which is often more powerful). But it's just not fair to the other players. Instead, the character's plan is to get into Thrallherd and then use the thralls and believers to form a nation based on the Star Trek Federation. You can really do it. All you need is some source of easy infinite wealth (and we know how common those are in DnD). I even have notes written out to place said nation into a plane of its own once I get to a high enough level to place Psychic Chirurgery into a Shaper Thrall's mind, and then have him place Genesis into mine (among other cool Shaper powers). The whole thing isn't a masterfully powerful plan, but it is sure is cool. I'm the "captain" of the group and I make most of the round by round tactical decisions for the entire group (we still vote "where to go next" and stuff). It's a great time.

They still don't always understand why they're doing what they're doing.

EDIT (ha!):
The full feat progression for the Telepath5/Thrallherd5/Telepath5 build is going to be:
* 1: Psionic Body
* Hum: Psicrystal Affinity(Single-Minded)
* Psi1: Psicrystal Containment
* Noncombatant: Psionic Endowment
* Solitary Paragon: Inquisitor
* 3: Greater Psionic Endowment
* Psi5: Replace for Telepathy
* 6: Psionic Meditation
* 9: Twin Power
* 12: Expanded Knowledge[11,4th] Psionic Fly
* 15: Expanded Knowledge[13,6th] Psionic Revivify
* 18: Expanded Knowledge[16,7th] Fate of One
* Psi10: Expanded Knowledge[18,8th] Astral Seed

So it's not as if I'm dumping everything into just keep up with the casters. I just put in Expanded Knowledge because there aren't many better Psionic Feats, and I want the most out of Psionic Body.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lokathor 10-30-07, 06:19 AM	If I have both Psionic Meditation and Psicrystal Containment, can I store a psionic focus in my Psycrystal as a move action? or is it always stuck as being a full-round action?
Bacris 10-30-07, 11:12 AM	The only real answer is: ask your DM. The rules are nebulous - first it states in psicrystal containment that it's a full-round action, then it says it's identical to gaining psionic focus, so it can be argued either way that psionic meditation is applicable.
Lokathor 10-30-07, 12:20 PM	Oh Psicrystals, is there anything you're not ambiguous about? Thanks though Bacris. As more of a psionic expert than my DM (and the only player who uses it) I'll probably just say it doesn't mix and regain it out of combat.
AstralFireIX 10-30-07, 03:52 PM	Think it's intended to be that way, really.
InkBlot 10-30-07, 06:12 PM	I believe that the second statement ("just like focusing yourself") is a clarification of the first statement ("a full-round action"). That's generally how things work in english. See? I just did it there. The second sentence in this post is clarifying the first. I allow the feats to combine, but your DM may vary.
Lokathor 10-31-07, 08:14 AM	Well, yeah, I'd allow that too as a DM, but since the only reason I'd want them to combine as a PC would be for quicker Nova powers, as a PC I'd just avoid it myself. The DM for this character runs a game that tends towards the "1 encounter per day" style, and I could really run things outta wack very quickly that way. Then again, the other players are an animal companion riding halfling druid, a warlock, and a save or die specialist necromancer. I suppose the druid and the necromancer can pull off the same crazy stuff anyways.
Lycanthromancer 10-31-07, 03:11 PM	The core-only wizard, cleric, and druid are about >< this close to being, by far, the most powerful classes in the game. In fact, the only things MORE powerful are a wizard, cleric, or druid that have access to stuff outside of core. Oh, and Pun-Pun/the artificer. Spending your feats to make yourself better isn't metagaming, and it's not munchkinning. It's GOOD SENSE. People who like playing nigh-unplayable characters (such as a fighter with a Str, Dex, and Con below 5, while putting all their good scores in their mental stats) are either dumb or insane. Trying to overcome a single inherent weakness is alright (for a fighter, that would be his actual class), but making a character specifically to be unplayable just drags everyone else's fun through the mud and is, frankly, stupid. The others spend all their time trying to protect you, and you're just a drain on resources. Sorry, but it's true. Ahem In any case, spending lots of feats to get what a core caster can get out of metamagic feats is spending a LARGE number of resources in order to get the benefits. It's a good return on your investment, but it's a LARGE investment. If that lets you be slightly more versatile or powerful, more power to you. (AAAARGH! A PUN!) [edit] Y'know, this was probably the wrong place for that rant. Sorry I got off-topic, but a friend of mine is the kind of person that makes a completely unplayable character and finds it fun, while everybody else struggles just to keep him alive. It...bugs me.
CrimsonDeath 10-31-07, 03:41 PM	[edit] Y'know, this was probably the wrong place for that rant. Sorry I got off-topic, but a friend of mine is the kind of person that makes a completely unplayable character and finds it fun, while everybody else struggles just to keep him alive. It...bugs me. Then why bother trying to keep him alive?...
Lycanthromancer 10-31-07, 03:52 PM	It's called role-play. Unfortunately. Of course, that WAS the friend that decided to play a ranged-acupuncture ninja in a recent Hero System game. Which was awesome. I was wanting to throw decapitating pizza pans, but I never managed to get in on the game.
Lokathor 10-31-07, 05:15 PM	Lycanthromancer, a counter-rant: The core-only wizard, cleric, and druid are about >< this close to being, by far, the most powerful classes in the game. Well yes yes, our good friend RT even came up with the phrase "CoDzilla" and all that. But those things are only true if the players know what they're doing. Now that's a serious limitation here man. Remember that most players aren't CO greats, or even CO averages. Most players think the PHB is balanced. Lots of them don't see what's so great about the spiked chain. A guy on the Races board the other day suggested a race that got Plane Shift 3/day and Shapechange 1/day at LA +3. I told him I had to explain that I'd play with just the Shapechange ability and LA+10 and I'd still feel a bit too powerful. Most people just don't get the under-workings of this game man. It makes me sad sometimes. My younger brother (the warlock) is a damn good better than his peers with the math and science, and has it in him to cultivate a tactical mind, but he's almost unbelievably lazy, so he plays a warlock and uses Summon Swarm every single round to inflict 1d6 damage plus the bleeding condition (-1hp/round) with his bat swarm. He's convinced the dice hate him, so even though he can do more damage with his 3rd level eldritch blast, he just doesn't use it. My good friend the Necromancer wants to have a cool undead army, which is nice and all, but then he goes and plays a Wizard of all things. They're not very good at the undead. No matter. He's not very good at the wizard thing yet, he's only ever played monks and rogue/warblades and rogues and things like that. No matter. I just explain to him during the fight which spells he's casting and why. Simply put, he's never going to pull off the OMGMADNESS wizard stuff soon. If he does, it'll be because I explained it to him, and I like game balance, so I won't be explaining most of the things to him. Besides, with Enchantment, Illusion, and Evocation banned, he's got a fair handicap compared to a normal wizard. Necromancy slots out the ears though. Then we get to the Druid. Charlie (the player) is a good friend of mine, but he's headstrong and silly about it. He's mounted on his riding dog that isn't trained for war, wielding a club without any Shillelagh spells ready, and then to top off the combo, he starts trying Produce Flame. The dog lasted longer then he did. The DM approved for him to use normal wildshape, which would normally be a problem, but the exact rules for it are so far over his level of interest it's actually not. He'd just use it to turn into a bird sometimes for flight to scout and stuff, because he doesn't care about looking into the other practical applications. He'll never be CoDzilla because he just doesn't care. So then, my character, Telepath. Sure, I could work up some combination and blast a beholder to bits singlehandedly as soon as I hit 9th level with something like 56d6+56 fire damage spread over 7 actions crunched into 1 round with Twin Synchronicity abuse (or 7d4 to 14d4 Cha Damage, which is often more powerful). But it's just not fair to the other players. Instead, the character's plan is to get into Thrallherd and then use the thralls and believers to form a nation based on the Star Trek Federation. You can really do it. All you need is some source of easy infinite wealth (and we know how common those are in DnD). I even have notes written out to place said nation into a plane of its own once I get to a high enough level to place Psychic Chirurgery into a Shaper Thrall's mind, and then have him place Genesis into mine (among other cool Shaper powers). The whole thing isn't a masterfully powerful plan, but it is sure is cool. I'm the "captain" of the group and I make most of the round by round tactical decisions for the entire group (we still vote "where to go next" and stuff). It's a great time. They still don't always understand why they're doing what they're doing. EDIT (ha!): The full feat progression for the Telepath5/Thrallherd5/Telepath5 build is going to be: * 1: Psionic Body * Hum: Psicrystal Affinity(Single-Minded) * Psi1: Psicrystal Containment * Noncombatant: Psionic Endowment * Solitary Paragon: Inquisitor * 3: Greater Psionic Endowment * Psi5: Replace for Telepathy * 6: Psionic Meditation * 9: Twin Power * 12: Expanded Knowledge[11,4th] Psionic Fly * 15: Expanded Knowledge[13,6th] Psionic Revivify * 18: Expanded Knowledge[16,7th] Fate of One * Psi10: Expanded Knowledge[18,8th] Astral Seed So it's not as if I'm dumping everything into just keep up with the casters. I just put in Expanded Knowledge because there aren't many better Psionic Feats, and I want the most out of Psionic Body.