Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tyroki 06-21-07, 09:03 PM	I got this weird little idea when I saw someone post the idea of giving a Psicrystal the Leadership feat. This is all assuming, of course, that a Psicrystal can take feats. If you're one of the people who says "No, they don't", please don't critisise this idea negatively. Constructive Critisism only. Any ideas that could make this better would be greatly appreciated. Sorry if it sucks... Psicrystal Swarm Size/ Type: Diminutive Construct Hit Dice: As original crystals masters HD. (1/2 masters HP and HP +1 for each crystal in the swarm.) Initiative: +5 (+3 bonus) Speed: 30ft Armor Class: 15 (+4 size, +2 dex) Touch: 15, Flat-footed: 11 Base Attack/ Grapple: +0/-17 AttacK: - Full Attack: - Space/Reach: 5ft/0ft Special Qualities: Construct Traits, Hardness 8, Psicrystal gained abilities, Advanced Leadership, Crystal Ball. Saves: As masters, +2 on reflex. Abilities: Str 1, Dex 15, Con 0, Int 6, Wis 10, Cha 10 Skills: Climb +20, Listen +10, Move Silently +10, Search +2, Spot +6 Feats: Alertness, Leadership. Environment: Any Organization: Solitary Challenge Rating: Include with master. Treasure: None Alignment: As master A psicrystal who has gained the leadership feat calls out to everyday crystals near and far. Through the power the psicrystal gains via its master, crystals called become psicrystals with ectoplasmic legs, and travel to the original Psicrystal. In coming close, they activate the primary being of the swarm. Each crystal upgrades, gaining permanent legs. The original psicrystal remains the main consciousness of the swarm. Share Power: When the master of the original crystal shares a power with his/her crystal, the power is shared through the swarms collective. Advanced Leadership: The original crystal gains +1 to their leadership score for each HD they have. Crystal Ball: The collective may fuse together to become a single small construct with ectoplasmic legs. These legs can be appear on any side of the crystal, allowing it to always be the right way up. These legs allow the crystal to retain its footing on any surface, including walls and ceilings. The Crystal Ball gains an additional hardness of +6. This ability takes 2 rounds to both become a crystal ball, or revert from a crystal ball into a swarm.
munin 06-22-07, 10:42 AM	I'm confused. Does your psicrystal become part of a swarm, or is the swarm a separate creature under the control of your psicrystal? Should your creature description have the (swarm) subtype and "swarm traits" in its description? If your psicrystal becomes a swarm: In general, the swarm subtype is powerful, on par with the incorporeal subtype (+2 LA), so gaining it at the cost of a single feat (Leadership) seems unbalanced (and +1 hp per "follower"?). A swarm with improved evasion is terrific. If you want your psicrystal to gain the swarm subtype, I would shoot to have it culminate when you hit 15th level. You could develop a progression of three feats for your psicrystal, with Leadership as a prerequisite (or maybe a new 6th-level feat), to gain bits of swarm traits at 9th and 12th, and gain the full swarm subtype at 15th. Make the weapon damage immunity arrive at the same time as area vulnerability. Decide what happens when a construct swarm is reduced to 0 hp (is it destroyed or just "broken up"?). Constructs don't have Con 0, they have Con --. The term "crystal ball" has connotations you may want to avoid. "crystal sphere"? You also might want to look at the Silthilar from Lords of Madness, a Fine swarm which can coalesce into a Medium-sized creature. In its solid form it retains all swarm traits, including weapon damage immunity, except for its swarm attack and distraction ability. It trades its size bonus for a natural armor bonus. How would coalescing into a crystal ball change the creature's hardness? A 1-meter crystal has the same hardness as a 1-cm crystal. Without the hardness increase, why would it choose to coalesce? I don't think a coalesced swarm would have a "right way up". I would make coalescing a full-round action (if it takes two rounds, what are its traits in the middle, what if it's interrupted, etc.), and decoalescing a move action ("the sphere collapses into a hundred crawling crystals" -- they move out of the sphere). When your psicrystal gains the flight ability, is the swarm still land-bound? you have in the description: initiative bonus? reflex bonus? Advanced Leadership and Crystal Ball: are those abilities granted by the Leadership feat in some way? no climb speed? and swarms don't have a grapple modifier. is a psicrystal swarm's master subject to its distraction ability or does it know to avoid her? I would consider making a construct swarm's distraction ability depend on its Dex score instead of its Con score (you're distracted by its skittering movement, not its "ickiness"). As a construct, a psicrystal swarm is immune to Fortitude effects (except object-affecting like disintegrate) and mind-affecting effects (which most/many Will effects are). As a swarm it's immune to targeting effects (like ... disintegrate!) and weapon damage (but not extra damage from weapons like a flaming weapon's fire damage) and vulnerable to area effects (but most of those are Reflex effects, for which it has improved evasion). Because it has hardness, it has "resistance" against cold, electricity, and fire. The swarm subtype is a very good combination with the construct type and is very powerful. It should have a commensurate cost. I think this is more of a psicrystal's master's prestige class than a psicrystal's feat progression (one saving grace is that you don't currently grant a swarm attack). Interesting things to think about.