Psicrystal [Archive] - Wizards Community - Pages Merged by Solauren

Psicrystal [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Novem
09-07-07, 09:49 PM Background Information: I am making a 20th level party of Psions (Shaper, Seer, Telepath, Nomad) to be the leaders and saviours of the Kobold race in my campaign world.

They all have Leadership, Psicrystal Affinity, Psicrystal Containment, Psionic Body, Leadership, and Improved Psicrystal x8.

Their Psicrystals have Alertness, Improved Initiative, Leadership, Mounted Combat, Ride-by-Attack, Spirited Charge, and Weapon Proficiency: Lance.

By now, you have no doubt guessed the Psicrystal's usage, but let me first clarify: They (the Psicrystals) will all have Pseudodragon cohorts, whom they will ride into battle. This begs at the question, can *technically* a Psicrystal use appropriate-sized weapons? (Never mind that a Diminutive Lance deals 1d2 damage). The Self-Propulsion ability mentions Spidery legs, which hints at the Psicrystal being an Octopod, so, could it use 2 handed weapons? (Or any weapon, for that matter)?

Also, for those interested in Pun-Pun-esque Character Optimization, I think that you should investigate just how large an army you can get with Leadership, a Psicrystal with Leadership, Cohorts with Psicrystals who all have Leadership, etc.,.

I'm looking for feedback on just how evil a DM I am, and whether or not this would fly in a game other than mine (and what my vict- er, Players will think (Unrealistic?)).
Artector
09-07-07, 10:03 PM Players will definately give you an odd eye. I prefer the method of Thrallherds. Thrallherd 1 has 2 thralls who are also Thrallherds, and they each have a thrall, once you get past a certain point you'd have to give the followers leadership, but you could get some massive number loyal to 1 person (indirectly at least)
Bacris
09-08-07, 12:34 AM How are you psicrystals gaining Leadership? Do they somehow have class levels?

Character Level isn't Hit Dice, it's "Character Level: The total level of the character, which is the sum of all class levels held by that character."
Novem
09-08-07, 11:43 AM Last I checked, HD, or "racial levels", a type of "Character Level" count towards ECL, which, at last in my game, counts as Character Level.
Anyway, I am the DM, and I don't have to tell them that some are the followers are of the psicrystals- I just wanted a legit way a player or DM could (theoretically) do this.
Bacris
09-08-07, 11:59 AM Fair enough, just ECL and Character Level are two different things :)

Your call as DM.
Novem
09-08-07, 12:03 PM Fair enough, just ECL and Character Level are two different things :)

Your call as DM.

Poor players:schemes:
Lokiyn
09-08-07, 12:41 PM For those interested the relevent text is

character level: A character’s total level. For a character with levels in only one class, class level and character level are the same thing.

class level: A character’s level in a single class. Class features generally depend on class level rather than character level.

Hit Die/Dice (HD): In the singular form, a die rolled to generate hit points. In the plural form, a measure of relative power that is synonymous with character level for the sake of spells, magic items, and magical effects that affect a certain number of Hit Dice of creatures.

Hit Dice while providing feats and other benefits, do not stack with class levels for the purposes of feats that require a certain character level, at least according to the phb.

However adding in the monster mantual, one notes that in the level adjustment text "[La is] a number added to the creatures total hit dice to determine the effective character level of the creature"

As well as the entry for effective character level on page 308 of the monster manual.

So to be truely honest its safe to say that while your character's real "Character level" is only your levels in a class, the rules overrule that with the "[Effective] Chracter Level" for effects that call to Character level, Much in the same way that an orange ioun stone could, in theory, raise your caster level early for say, item creation feats by raising your effective caster level.

...

Which to sum up means that i think that a psicrystals Character level is "---" But for the purposes of spells, magic items, and magical effects the Psicrystal has an effective character level equal to its hit dice.
Novem
09-08-07, 12:49 PM HD adds to ECL. That's good enough for me.
locustechpriest
09-08-07, 01:44 PM I prefer the method of Thrallherds.

I wouldn't suggest stacking Thrallherds. While I find it unlikely that a psionic individual will succumb to the subtle psionic attraction of a Trallherd, another Thrallherd seems unimaginable. If you were to alternate, however, that would seem possible... though unlikely.

This begs at the question, can *technically* a Psicrystal use appropriate-sized weapons?

I would say no. They have spidery legs, yes? Spiders cannot wield weapons; in fact, it causes me pain trying to imagine them wielding weapons. Beyond that, I run into the same problem trying to imagine them riding on psudodragons. While I agree that they have have eight legs (thus "octopod" would be correct), it is worth noting that they are not prehensile tentacles, akin to those of an octopus.
EvilVegan
09-08-07, 02:01 PM What about this?

Psion (1)
/ | \
Affinity | Leadership
/ | \
/ Undead Leadership \
/ | \
Psicrystal (2) | Psion (3) ---> (Return to 1)
/ \ |
/ \ Undead Psion (4) --->(return to 1)
/ \
/ Undead Leadership
/ \
Leadership \
/ \
Psion(5) Undead Psion (6) ---> (Return to 1)
(Return to 1)

Rinse repeat. 1 psion, with 5 cohorts with 5 cohorts with 5 cohorts. The worst part about this is that they're all included in the CR of the original psion so they only get XP for him. :P
I'm not sure how you determine the leadership/maximum cohort level of the psicrystal, but assuming he's the same level as the psion:
level x #
20 x 2 (1 psion with equal level crystal)
18 x 8 (4 psions with equal level crystals)
16 x 32
14 x 128
12 x 512
10 x 2048
8 x 4096 (slows down here because you can't get leadership and undead leadership until 9th, but each of the psions gets psycrystal and leadership at least)
6 x 9192
4 x 18384

I'm sure my math is off, and it may not work with a psicrystal getting undead leadership (away from books), but if it does, that's 34,400 cohorts from the original psion/psicrystal. I don't feel like calculating followers, but it should be everyone everywhere if you have 4 psions doing this. 64064 people with followers, some of whom have hundreds of followers each, plus ways to increase the number of followers.

If psicrystals can't take undead leadership. . . sorry. I'm away from books as I said.

Also, as a side note you may want to check out "The big guy is with me (http://forums.gleemax.com/archive/index.php/t-463152.html)". It is a psi-crystal build that can deal thousands of d6s as I recall. Involved a few powers that let the psi-crystal grow medium sized tentacles (while being Fine sized) and each attack deals some crazy number of damage. . . I'd recommend at least one of these in the build.
InkBlot
09-08-07, 02:48 PM I would say no. They have spidery legs, yes? Spiders cannot wield weapons; in fact, it causes me pain trying to imagine them wielding weapons. Beyond that, I run into the same problem trying to imagine them riding on psudodragons. While I agree that they have have eight legs (thus "octopod" would be correct), it is worth noting that they are not prehensile tentacles, akin to those of an octopus.

Psicrystals have climb speed. They're pretty darn good at clinging to things, such as a saddle on the back of a pseudodragon.

Pseudodragons, being intelligent creatures themselves, don't need reigns to be directed. The psicrystals can telepathically command it's pseudodragon mount. Both psicrystals and pseudodragons are telepathic.
hunterc311
09-08-07, 06:19 PM Two sides of this coin:

1) Nowhere is it written that psicrystals cannot gain feats. Based on the fact that they gain hit dice, one can consider them able to gain feats as well.

Rule to apply here - "If it doesn't specifically say that I can't, then clearly I can."

2) The R&D department has stated that it is not their intention for psicrystals to gain feats. Since they designed the psicrystal, their word should be gospel when regarding any related to the psicrystal.

Rule to apply here - "Just because someone forgot to cover a base, does not mean it should be exploited."

What it comes down to? You decide what kind of DM/gamer you are.
Lokiyn
09-08-07, 10:05 PM Aside from the backhanded insults, i'd say i'm a gamer that believes in a good story as much as the nebulous "intent"

Here is my basic concept of gaming.

The Rules tell you explicitly what you can and cannot do, If a situation falls where the rules are silent, it is the dm and the totality of the players to agree on the interpretation that best benefits the story and the mutual enjoyment of the game.

After all, if no one is having fun or if even only one person is having fun (many dm's treat players as pawns in thier personal ego festival of npc's [See faerun and the soap opera of the gods{to a degree, the setting has way way to much divine meddling and ultra high level npc's for my taste}, On the other hand no one player should dominate the game, however if the majority of the players are for something One player shouldn't hold back the rest and get in line).

So Basically, It looks like these are npc's correct?

If Players wanted to do this it would require months or even years of recruiting to build thier forces during which time the players would have to house and feed these followers. On the other hand as Npc's its easy to hand wave the enourmous logistical support under the table as "taken care of"
PhaedrusXY
09-08-07, 11:48 PM Psicrystals can certainly wear a Skin of Proteus, which solves all problems of them having hands, and alot of other things.
Novem
09-09-07, 12:40 AM A Psicrystal certainly gets feats, that's not the question, and my saying so does not change or say anything about my style of DMing. A Psicrystal must be of a certain type (unlike a Famailiar) and they have less variety. They require a feat to acquire, they have no natural attacks, and, in any case, the comparable Animal Companion gets feats anyway; so, my ruling that they gets feats is nothing if not logical and fair.
As to the spider legs, remember, they are made out of ectoplasm. And, for small, segmented legs could easily hold an appropriately-sized weapon.
Lastly, there is no rule explicitly saying they cannot gain XP or class levels, though they have +- LA and cannot be played by PC's. (My next encounter is going to be based off of a Psicrystal of a now-dead evil Telepath 20, who has levels of Psion itself).
PhaedrusXY
09-09-07, 01:34 AM Rule to apply here - "Just because someone forgot to cover a base, does not mean it should be exploited."

What it comes down to? You decide what kind of DM/gamer you are.What kind of insulting crap is this? So anyone who doesn't play the game in the same way you do is wrong? :rolleyes:
EvilVegan
09-09-07, 08:34 AM What kind of insulting crap is this? So anyone who doesn't play the game in the same way you do is wrong? :rolleyes:

I don't know if he was being purposefully insulting, but I think he was saying are you the kind of player/DM who uses the rules to break the game?

What he doesn't say is that this is a bad thing. It is a game, if you like playing uber-powerful pun-pun level stuff, have at it (it is still fun). There is definitely an implied insult, but only if you think it is a bad thing to "power-game".

One thing I did notice, this: "If it doesn't specifically say that I can't, then clearly I can." is almost completely untrue in D&D. If it doesn't specifically say you can, assume you can't, unless you can normally do so in real life / especially if you can't do so in real life.

A psicrystal doesn't specify that it can take feats in its description, but it does say it gains HD, which in turn specifies that they can gain feats. It isn't that the rules don't show that you can't take feats, so you assume you can, it is that the rules show that you can take feats, so you know you can.

As for intention of the creators, they should get better editors and maybe hire a CO regular (I nominate telial glgieuasux-however you spell that-, or caelic) to playtest (ie, attempt to break) things.
Lycanthromancer
09-09-07, 11:07 PM Spiders cannot wield weapons; in fact, it causes me pain trying to imagine them wielding weapons.Um...Sword-spiders?

...You can shoot me now.
hunterc311
09-10-07, 01:55 AM I don't know if he was being purposefully insulting, but I think he was saying are you the kind of player/DM who uses the rules to break the game?

What he doesn't say is that this is a bad thing.

Thank you, I also do not see where I said that either thing was good or bad. I wasn't calling anyone anything. I was simply saying that there are two ways to approach the situation.

a) Psicrystals get feats because, solely as written, they get feats.

or

b) Psicrystals don't get feats, because as intended by the designers, they don't get feats.

Why exactly is what I said being misconstrued and twisted? I don't see where I labelled anyone anything. Is it what certain people wanted to see so they could find a reason to be defensive and lash out? Of so, not cool.
EvilVegan
09-10-07, 08:27 AM Two sides of this coin:

1) Nowhere is it written that psicrystals cannot gain feats. Based on the fact that they gain hit dice, one can consider them able to gain feats as well.

Rule to apply here - "If it doesn't specifically say that I can't, then clearly I can."

2) The R&D department has stated that it is not their intention for psicrystals to gain feats. Since they designed the psicrystal, their word should be gospel when regarding any related to the psicrystal.

Rule to apply here - "Just because someone forgot to cover a base, does not mean it should be exploited."

What it comes down to? You decide what kind of DM/gamer you are.
I think the use of the word "exploited" followed by a value statement that most people would assume meant that one of the answers was negative implied that there was an insult, but there is no direct insult and it doesn't look like intentional implication.

Basically, it comes off as a little too "either/or", you're either a powergamer/ruleslawyer or a person who doesn't try to exploit the system. Exploitation isn't often seen as a good thing.

There is also that friendly in-between where you use the rules as written to create a balanced character. You psicrystal could have feats, but you don't have to give them 2 forms of leadership and use an infinite loop to get thousands of followers/indirect cohorts. Your psicrystal could instead have other, less abusive/exploitative feats, though I don't really know what feats to give a psicrystal (other than psicrystal specific feats and maybe skill bonus/save feats).

The only "problem" is trying to "break" the way leadership normally works, and leadership is already abusable and often considered the most overpowered feat, which is amusing to me because almost every class in 2nd edition had the features of leadership built into the class after 7-10th level. Thieves got guilds, fighters got units of soldiers, etc.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Novem 09-07-07, 09:49 PM	Background Information: I am making a 20th level party of Psions (Shaper, Seer, Telepath, Nomad) to be the leaders and saviours of the Kobold race in my campaign world. They all have Leadership, Psicrystal Affinity, Psicrystal Containment, Psionic Body, Leadership, and Improved Psicrystal x8. Their Psicrystals have Alertness, Improved Initiative, Leadership, Mounted Combat, Ride-by-Attack, Spirited Charge, and Weapon Proficiency: Lance. By now, you have no doubt guessed the Psicrystal's usage, but let me first clarify: They (the Psicrystals) will all have Pseudodragon cohorts, whom they will ride into battle. This begs at the question, can technically a Psicrystal use appropriate-sized weapons? (Never mind that a Diminutive Lance deals 1d2 damage). The Self-Propulsion ability mentions Spidery legs, which hints at the Psicrystal being an Octopod, so, could it use 2 handed weapons? (Or any weapon, for that matter)? Also, for those interested in Pun-Pun-esque Character Optimization, I think that you should investigate just how large an army you can get with Leadership, a Psicrystal with Leadership, Cohorts with Psicrystals who all have Leadership, etc.,. I'm looking for feedback on just how evil a DM I am, and whether or not this would fly in a game other than mine (and what my vict- er, Players will think (Unrealistic?)).
Artector 09-07-07, 10:03 PM	Players will definately give you an odd eye. I prefer the method of Thrallherds. Thrallherd 1 has 2 thralls who are also Thrallherds, and they each have a thrall, once you get past a certain point you'd have to give the followers leadership, but you could get some massive number loyal to 1 person (indirectly at least)
Bacris 09-08-07, 12:34 AM	How are you psicrystals gaining Leadership? Do they somehow have class levels? Character Level isn't Hit Dice, it's "Character Level: The total level of the character, which is the sum of all class levels held by that character."
Novem 09-08-07, 11:43 AM	Last I checked, HD, or "racial levels", a type of "Character Level" count towards ECL, which, at last in my game, counts as Character Level. Anyway, I am the DM, and I don't have to tell them that some are the followers are of the psicrystals- I just wanted a legit way a player or DM could (theoretically) do this.
Bacris 09-08-07, 11:59 AM	Fair enough, just ECL and Character Level are two different things :) Your call as DM.
Novem 09-08-07, 12:03 PM	Fair enough, just ECL and Character Level are two different things :) Your call as DM. Poor players:schemes:
Lokiyn 09-08-07, 12:41 PM	For those interested the relevent text is character level: A character’s total level. For a character with levels in only one class, class level and character level are the same thing. class level: A character’s level in a single class. Class features generally depend on class level rather than character level. Hit Die/Dice (HD): In the singular form, a die rolled to generate hit points. In the plural form, a measure of relative power that is synonymous with character level for the sake of spells, magic items, and magical effects that affect a certain number of Hit Dice of creatures. Hit Dice while providing feats and other benefits, do not stack with class levels for the purposes of feats that require a certain character level, at least according to the phb. However adding in the monster mantual, one notes that in the level adjustment text "[La is] a number added to the creatures total hit dice to determine the effective character level of the creature" As well as the entry for effective character level on page 308 of the monster manual. So to be truely honest its safe to say that while your character's real "Character level" is only your levels in a class, the rules overrule that with the "[Effective] Chracter Level" for effects that call to Character level, Much in the same way that an orange ioun stone could, in theory, raise your caster level early for say, item creation feats by raising your effective caster level. ... Which to sum up means that i think that a psicrystals Character level is "---" But for the purposes of spells, magic items, and magical effects the Psicrystal has an effective character level equal to its hit dice.
Novem 09-08-07, 12:49 PM	HD adds to ECL. That's good enough for me.
locustechpriest 09-08-07, 01:44 PM	I prefer the method of Thrallherds. I wouldn't suggest stacking Thrallherds. While I find it unlikely that a psionic individual will succumb to the subtle psionic attraction of a Trallherd, another Thrallherd seems unimaginable. If you were to alternate, however, that would seem possible... though unlikely. This begs at the question, can technically a Psicrystal use appropriate-sized weapons? I would say no. They have spidery legs, yes? Spiders cannot wield weapons; in fact, it causes me pain trying to imagine them wielding weapons. Beyond that, I run into the same problem trying to imagine them riding on psudodragons. While I agree that they have have eight legs (thus "octopod" would be correct), it is worth noting that they are not prehensile tentacles, akin to those of an octopus.
EvilVegan 09-08-07, 02:01 PM	What about this? Psion (1) / \| \ Affinity \| Leadership / \| \ / Undead Leadership \ / \| \ Psicrystal (2) \| Psion (3) ---> (Return to 1) / \ \| / \ Undead Psion (4) --->(return to 1) / \ / Undead Leadership / \ Leadership \ / \ Psion(5) Undead Psion (6) ---> (Return to 1) (Return to 1) Rinse repeat. 1 psion, with 5 cohorts with 5 cohorts with 5 cohorts. The worst part about this is that they're all included in the CR of the original psion so they only get XP for him. :P I'm not sure how you determine the leadership/maximum cohort level of the psicrystal, but assuming he's the same level as the psion: level x # 20 x 2 (1 psion with equal level crystal) 18 x 8 (4 psions with equal level crystals) 16 x 32 14 x 128 12 x 512 10 x 2048 8 x 4096 (slows down here because you can't get leadership and undead leadership until 9th, but each of the psions gets psycrystal and leadership at least) 6 x 9192 4 x 18384 I'm sure my math is off, and it may not work with a psicrystal getting undead leadership (away from books), but if it does, that's 34,400 cohorts from the original psion/psicrystal. I don't feel like calculating followers, but it should be everyone everywhere if you have 4 psions doing this. 64064 people with followers, some of whom have hundreds of followers each, plus ways to increase the number of followers. If psicrystals can't take undead leadership. . . sorry. I'm away from books as I said. Also, as a side note you may want to check out "The big guy is with me (http://forums.gleemax.com/archive/index.php/t-463152.html)". It is a psi-crystal build that can deal thousands of d6s as I recall. Involved a few powers that let the psi-crystal grow medium sized tentacles (while being Fine sized) and each attack deals some crazy number of damage. . . I'd recommend at least one of these in the build.
InkBlot 09-08-07, 02:48 PM	I would say no. They have spidery legs, yes? Spiders cannot wield weapons; in fact, it causes me pain trying to imagine them wielding weapons. Beyond that, I run into the same problem trying to imagine them riding on psudodragons. While I agree that they have have eight legs (thus "octopod" would be correct), it is worth noting that they are not prehensile tentacles, akin to those of an octopus. Psicrystals have climb speed. They're pretty darn good at clinging to things, such as a saddle on the back of a pseudodragon. Pseudodragons, being intelligent creatures themselves, don't need reigns to be directed. The psicrystals can telepathically command it's pseudodragon mount. Both psicrystals and pseudodragons are telepathic.
hunterc311 09-08-07, 06:19 PM	Two sides of this coin: 1) Nowhere is it written that psicrystals cannot gain feats. Based on the fact that they gain hit dice, one can consider them able to gain feats as well. Rule to apply here - "If it doesn't specifically say that I can't, then clearly I can." 2) The R&D department has stated that it is not their intention for psicrystals to gain feats. Since they designed the psicrystal, their word should be gospel when regarding any related to the psicrystal. Rule to apply here - "Just because someone forgot to cover a base, does not mean it should be exploited." What it comes down to? You decide what kind of DM/gamer you are.
Lokiyn 09-08-07, 10:05 PM	Aside from the backhanded insults, i'd say i'm a gamer that believes in a good story as much as the nebulous "intent" Here is my basic concept of gaming. The Rules tell you explicitly what you can and cannot do, If a situation falls where the rules are silent, it is the dm and the totality of the players to agree on the interpretation that best benefits the story and the mutual enjoyment of the game. After all, if no one is having fun or if even only one person is having fun (many dm's treat players as pawns in thier personal ego festival of npc's [See faerun and the soap opera of the gods{to a degree, the setting has way way to much divine meddling and ultra high level npc's for my taste}, On the other hand no one player should dominate the game, however if the majority of the players are for something One player shouldn't hold back the rest and get in line). So Basically, It looks like these are npc's correct? If Players wanted to do this it would require months or even years of recruiting to build thier forces during which time the players would have to house and feed these followers. On the other hand as Npc's its easy to hand wave the enourmous logistical support under the table as "taken care of"
PhaedrusXY 09-08-07, 11:48 PM	Psicrystals can certainly wear a Skin of Proteus, which solves all problems of them having hands, and alot of other things.
Novem 09-09-07, 12:40 AM	A Psicrystal certainly gets feats, that's not the question, and my saying so does not change or say anything about my style of DMing. A Psicrystal must be of a certain type (unlike a Famailiar) and they have less variety. They require a feat to acquire, they have no natural attacks, and, in any case, the comparable Animal Companion gets feats anyway; so, my ruling that they gets feats is nothing if not logical and fair. As to the spider legs, remember, they are made out of ectoplasm. And, for small, segmented legs could easily hold an appropriately-sized weapon. Lastly, there is no rule explicitly saying they cannot gain XP or class levels, though they have +- LA and cannot be played by PC's. (My next encounter is going to be based off of a Psicrystal of a now-dead evil Telepath 20, who has levels of Psion itself).
PhaedrusXY 09-09-07, 01:34 AM	Rule to apply here - "Just because someone forgot to cover a base, does not mean it should be exploited." What it comes down to? You decide what kind of DM/gamer you are.What kind of insulting crap is this? So anyone who doesn't play the game in the same way you do is wrong? :rolleyes:
EvilVegan 09-09-07, 08:34 AM	What kind of insulting crap is this? So anyone who doesn't play the game in the same way you do is wrong? :rolleyes: I don't know if he was being purposefully insulting, but I think he was saying are you the kind of player/DM who uses the rules to break the game? What he doesn't say is that this is a bad thing. It is a game, if you like playing uber-powerful pun-pun level stuff, have at it (it is still fun). There is definitely an implied insult, but only if you think it is a bad thing to "power-game". One thing I did notice, this: "If it doesn't specifically say that I can't, then clearly I can." is almost completely untrue in D&D. If it doesn't specifically say you can, assume you can't, unless you can normally do so in real life / especially if you can't do so in real life. A psicrystal doesn't specify that it can take feats in its description, but it does say it gains HD, which in turn specifies that they can gain feats. It isn't that the rules don't show that you can't take feats, so you assume you can, it is that the rules show that you can take feats, so you know you can. As for intention of the creators, they should get better editors and maybe hire a CO regular (I nominate telial glgieuasux-however you spell that-, or caelic) to playtest (ie, attempt to break) things.
Lycanthromancer 09-09-07, 11:07 PM	Spiders cannot wield weapons; in fact, it causes me pain trying to imagine them wielding weapons.Um...Sword-spiders? ...You can shoot me now.
hunterc311 09-10-07, 01:55 AM	I don't know if he was being purposefully insulting, but I think he was saying are you the kind of player/DM who uses the rules to break the game? What he doesn't say is that this is a bad thing. Thank you, I also do not see where I said that either thing was good or bad. I wasn't calling anyone anything. I was simply saying that there are two ways to approach the situation. a) Psicrystals get feats because, solely as written, they get feats. or b) Psicrystals don't get feats, because as intended by the designers, they don't get feats. Why exactly is what I said being misconstrued and twisted? I don't see where I labelled anyone anything. Is it what certain people wanted to see so they could find a reason to be defensive and lash out? Of so, not cool.
EvilVegan 09-10-07, 08:27 AM	Two sides of this coin: 1) Nowhere is it written that psicrystals cannot gain feats. Based on the fact that they gain hit dice, one can consider them able to gain feats as well. Rule to apply here - "If it doesn't specifically say that I can't, then clearly I can." 2) The R&D department has stated that it is not their intention for psicrystals to gain feats. Since they designed the psicrystal, their word should be gospel when regarding any related to the psicrystal. Rule to apply here - "Just because someone forgot to cover a base, does not mean it should be exploited." What it comes down to? You decide what kind of DM/gamer you are. I think the use of the word "exploited" followed by a value statement that most people would assume meant that one of the answers was negative implied that there was an insult, but there is no direct insult and it doesn't look like intentional implication. Basically, it comes off as a little too "either/or", you're either a powergamer/ruleslawyer or a person who doesn't try to exploit the system. Exploitation isn't often seen as a good thing. There is also that friendly in-between where you use the rules as written to create a balanced character. You psicrystal could have feats, but you don't have to give them 2 forms of leadership and use an infinite loop to get thousands of followers/indirect cohorts. Your psicrystal could instead have other, less abusive/exploitative feats, though I don't really know what feats to give a psicrystal (other than psicrystal specific feats and maybe skill bonus/save feats). The only "problem" is trying to "break" the way leadership normally works, and leadership is already abusable and often considered the most overpowered feat, which is amusing to me because almost every class in 2nd edition had the features of leadership built into the class after 7-10th level. Thieves got guilds, fighters got units of soldiers, etc.