Post/Author/DateTime	Post
celestialkin 02-25-08, 01:59 AM	Hey guys. After referencing your 3.5 psionics outside the XPH sticky I came across the Psionic Artificer. The class intrigues me, but it is something so outside what I am used to that I am not really sure what to do as one, even after thoroughly reading both the Articifer's and Psionic Artificer's entries. For example, what would be his main role in a party? Is my entire purpose to boost the party in the morning after resting and nothing else? Since I need a special lab/study to make all my psionic items, would I even be able to craft anything during an adventure? Since you often level a few times between entering and leaving a dungeon, that would leave me with quite a few crafting reserve points lost. Is this class even usable outside of eberron? Since it reference Action Points (which I am not sure what they are) this might be a problem. And these are just a few questions I am thinking about off the top of my head. If any of you have any advice, tips, suggestions, etc for a first timer in this class please share them with me. If you have played a Psionic Artificer before please tell me how it worked out for you, and what exactly you did during that time. As always, thanks in advance for your replies! http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e189/Celestialdragon100/Signature%20dragons%20and%20monsters/Raptar-41-height.gif ****
archerpwr 02-25-08, 02:34 AM	Umm, it's like artificer but not as good because psionics isn't as powerful as magic.
DracoPhoenix 02-25-08, 07:28 AM	Umm, it's like artificer but not as good because psionics isn't as powerful as magic. IIRC, MiC (and XPH) strongly hint at "if it's magic item, you can make a psionic one". People tend to gloss over the whole magic transparency thing assuming that because WotC have not released an sanctioned psi version, that it can't possibly exist. The artificer is geared more towards crafting than casting arcane spells. I tend to be a bit more liberal in that, because transparency exists and psionics gets next to no other references, that like for like is possible, even if you need to fudge a few things here and there. Oh, and dorje of energy ray - 4 energy types, 1 stick. Also, ectoplasmic armour :) (Pack that and +1 leather AC with +9 in buffs :P) As to what you can do with a Psi-Art, powerstones are going to be dungeon staples, until you get dorjes. Gives a whole new outlook on the vancian spell system too. All your powers become one shots. You'll probably appreciate debuffs and indirect tricks more to get better efficiency out of them. As the regular artificer can craft / use divine as well as arcane spells, you may wish to ask your DM to extend the psi-arts scope similarly (i.e. can create psi-art p.stones / dorjes for arcane and divine (allowing the reg-art similar access to psi). In most cases a near like for like conversion to psionics is possible (at least as far as spell completion / trigger items are considered). That said, you would actually be able to stone / use mantle powers etc, so it might balance there. But Life mantle healing is incredibly sucky. Flat line 1/4 of the max (excluding +CL bonus) comparable divine healing spells. (I would be happy with a flat 1/2 rate.) After that, you'll be a magic bias bard varient. Buffs from stones, infusions, trapfinding (people always seem to forget that in the artificer), disable device, open lock - worse case scenario, you have two search checks for it or aid another :P. That's at the early levels, depending on what you do with your psi-art, you could end up with a horde to do your work for you, burn through stones and dorjes, or get a really cheap skin of the proteus and have some fun up front. Craft construct (MM3.5 p303), can be fun once you have the gold to start crafting constructs. Pet dire lion, dire gorilla and dragon(s)? Costs a ton, but useful for mounts if nothing else. The dedicated wright homonculus and a portable hole (ok, not L1 items, but in the long run) can help you on that and the universal items front. If time isn't an issue so much in your campaign the 25% xp and gp discount feats will be invaluable. Don't press the DM for "Restriction" discounts. You're paying 37.5% of the book price to start with. Charge your party 50% book price (+ material costs) and you can save up a bit quicker (and they really can't complain on the price). Either that, or once you hit 5th and the magic items start coming in, claim first refusal for recycling the xp. Pack craft(armour/weapons) or similar. Mithril full plate is 10,500g. Or 3500g if you make your own. I'm sure if you ask nicely, the DM would allow the dedicated wright to craft mundane equipment too. One word of caution though, craft reserve and gold dissapear quicker than you think in the early levels. If you go the pokemon route with craft construct, or even just abuse homonculi, improved homonculus might be of interest as one of your bonus feats. Remember, no limits on how many you can have. Though you may want to invest in some level of telepathy to communicate with them. Also, snag a pet rock and see if your DM will allow you to "plug" it into you construct(s) to control them that way. It's good RP at any rate. I had a legacy gauntlet with a load of at will cantrips / utility effects. It was more fluffy than anything, but was building up to 2 scorching rays at will ;) As for UPD, Incarnum has a meld that boosts UMD by +4, again psi transparency might allow for a psi equivilent. But you'll get to a point where you can take 1 and still trigger wands fairly early on. I think the need for in combat healing is on the decline (not extinct, just not as "must have" as it once was), so p.stones of lesser vigor might be of interest. Remember that, like scrolls, p.stones can have more than one power / instance of a power embeded in them - which makes them better in terms of the 1000g/day/item crafting times. Admittedly, the eternal scrollcase is probably incredibly useful for reg-arts - a move action to find any particular scroll. You may be able to craft a similar (cost) item for powerstones. Perhaps a belt pouch of holding that can only hold p.stones. Direct combat, I crafted an arablaster and a magic cross bow. Both of which can be augmented later. Depending on how high you get, there's always crafting a Tardis. :devil: Requires Genesis (psi) (buy a p.stone, it's 8.3k, that's ~2k each), craft portal (reformable), the stronghold builders guide (and it's Land lord feat) and quite a bit of gold (hence land lord feat). But could be a good plot tool for the DM, as well as all the obvious porta-base functions. You could probably go to town on it's available functions too (cube of force anyone?) :). More info on request (I can go on and on with this one, is a mini project / day dream of mine :P). I would imagine, if you could live without the AP, then it should (DM0) be possible to use outside Eberron. I hope this helps more than confuses!
hogarth 02-25-08, 09:34 AM	To answer your questions: Your main role varies. You could be a blaster or a self-buffing melee/ranged fighter, for instance. At low levels, you'll rely on low level power stones (and probably a bow/crossbow); at higher levels, using the infusion Metamagic Item will allow you to do the really neat stuff (Twinned Maximized Energy Missile and so forth). But note that augmented dorjes are expensive to buy compared to high caster-level wands. The artificer gets some decent buff infusions, but most psionic buffs have Personal range so a psionic artificer won't be as good a party buffer as a regular artificer unless you make a lot of tattoos for your buddies. For crafting, power stones and tattoos can be made in a day; most DMs should allow you to make those on the road, I'd think. At higher levels, you can leave a Dedicated Wright homunculus at home crafting items for you -- or you can even carry one around in a portable hole. You don't need action points to play an artificer, but it helps. At low levels, I'd expect you to use power stones of Matter Agitation, Control Flames, Entangling Ectoplasm, Psionic Grease, etc., graduating to Crystal Shard, Astral Construct or Energy Ray once you can afford it. Once you can craft dorjes, expect to use metamagicked Ego Whip, Astral Construct or Energy Missile. I've got a link to a psionic artificer in my .sig under "Real Adventures". I haven't used him for very long yet, but he did get lucky with an Empowered Twinned Ego Whip once already. :)
awaken_D_M_golem 02-25-08, 04:40 PM	Psi-Arty : my favorite, but what the heck ?! It's so psi X, it makes me sick. Magic of Eberron has a feat for War(psi-)forged that makes it a 1 pp Cognizance Crystal. Get out Magic of Incarnum, and find Azure Talent and Psycarnum Infusion feats. Bingo, you have a pp recharge (though weird) at level 1. Non Warforged Psi-Arty can take Merchantile feat and Craft CogCrys at level 1, because of that +2 to level for crafting. It's alot more expensive as non warforged. Now, start making Power Stones. Use the Psicraft dc 15+1(or 2) over and over and over ... (and over); you get the point. Make a Skill bonus item for Psicraft. CPsi nerf, what CPsi nerf? Psi-Arty gets around the expend psi-focus on items. Dorjes are better than Wands, and go to higher levels. 1st level Swift powers Linked (metapsionic) Psychic Reformation !!! Redo yourself in 2 rounds, at 6th level and up. Dip 1 level of Divine Mind with the Consumption Aura, to recharge the party. Dip 1 level of Erudite to get a Psicrystal, with Spell to Power to get Arcane on your list. Dip 1 level of Ardent to get the Magic Mantle UPD=UMD thingy, with skill point boost. (boarders on broken) I've never worked one of these out, cause there's just been NO action on it at all. Better-Buff-ificer ; Better-Blast-ificer ; Better-Chameleon-ificer (if there is such a thing). You're an Artificer, so you're good. You might be better, if your DM allows.
The_Mess 02-25-08, 08:26 PM	Action points were created for Eberron, but are also available as a "regular" D&D optional rule in Unearthed Arcana, easily my favorite D&D support book ever. They are OGC so you can read about them here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/actionPoints.htm). Speaking of Unearthed Arcana, you might be interested in the Craft Point system (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/craftPoints.htm), which let's you introduce items "on the fly" as if you had been working on them for weeks. "Luckily, I have just the thing!"
celestialkin 03-05-08, 05:31 PM	Thank you for the advice so far guys. I am still confused about some of it, but hopefully with time I will get it. However, I am still wondering about when he would get a chance to craft. If I level up in a dungeon I am going to need to leave and find someplace to craft my psionic items before I level up again and loose all those craft points. There is also the issue of needing a special lab to design and craft psionic items. When you are far away from everything, and/or crawling through a dungeon I doubt I will find one. Plus I am guessing that finding a psionic lab which will let him work there on the fly would probably be even harder than finding a magic one.
hogarth 03-06-08, 10:19 AM	However, I am still wondering about when he would get a chance to craft. If I level up in a dungeon I am going to need to leave and find someplace to craft my psionic items before I level up again and loose all those craft points. If your campaign has no down-time, then I agree you might have trouble crafting anything more complicated than the occasional power stone or psionic tattoo. There is also the issue of needing a special lab to design and craft psionic items. When you are far away from everything, and/or crawling through a dungeon I doubt I will find one. Plus I am guessing that finding a psionic lab which will let him work there on the fly would probably be even harder than finding a magic one. The way I tried to solve that with my psionic artificer is by using the feat Lucid Dreaming and the power Mind Vault (both from Hyperconscious). Mind Vault gives you a little pocket dimension you can visit in your dreams and Lucid Dreaming allows you to do work there (e.g. crafting items). So the artificer can visit the Mind Vault, start his Dedicated Wright homunculus working on some item, and then come back and pick it up when it's done. I don't know how well it will work, though; I just started playing the character. I can keep you posted, though.
celestialkin 04-01-08, 09:18 AM	Thank you all for your advice in this thread! I finally got this character started two days ago, and so far I have used quite a bit of the advice given in this thread. Surprisingly I am really enjoying this class. It is very different from what I am used to, and it is incredibly fun. I have gone the "pokemon route", and so far I have a large-sized effigy red dragon who has a compartment in it's chest for me to sit inside. Think the Green Ranger's Dragon Zord. :D The DM even allowed me to upgrade her (her name is Pucca) to be able to manifest my power stones and dorjes through her (think the White Ranger with the White Tiger Megazord when he would take a crystal ball off the wall of his cockpit, and then place it on the zord's dashboard). I am even going to give her intelligence(or as my character calls it, "a soul") once I get more money and and craft reserve. However, now I believe the DM is after me and my precious Pucca... [sblock=Possibly a slight mis-conception.] Depending on how high you get, there's always crafting a Tardis. :devil: Requires Genesis (psi) (buy a p.stone, it's 8.3k, that's ~2k each), craft portal (reformable), the stronghold builders guide (and it's Land lord feat) and quite a bit of gold (hence land lord feat). But could be a good plot tool for the DM, as well as all the obvious porta-base functions. You could probably go to town on it's available functions too (cube of force anyone?) :). More info on request (I can go on and on with this one, is a mini project / day dream of mine :P). I would imagine, if you could live without the AP, then it should (DM0) be possible to use outside Eberron. I hope this helps more than confuses! Where be this Tardis? Stronghold Builder's guide? Also, more information on this would be very appreciated! That is if you don't mind someone copying your idea. Psi-Arty : my favorite, but what the heck ?! It's so psi X, it makes me sick. Magic of Eberron has a feat for War(psi-)forged that makes it a 1 pp Cognizance Crystal. Get out Magic of Incarnum, and find Azure Talent and Psycarnum Infusion feats. Bingo, you have a pp recharge (though weird) at level 1. Non Warforged Psi-Arty can take Merchantile feat and Craft CogCrys at level 1, because of that +2 to level for crafting. It's alot more expensive as non warforged. Now, start making Power Stones. Use the Psicraft dc 15+1(or 2) over and over and over ... (and over); you get the point. Make a Skill bonus item for Psicraft. CPsi nerf, what CPsi nerf? Psi-Arty gets around the expend psi-focus on items. Dorjes are better than Wands, and go to higher levels. 1st level Swift powers Linked (metapsionic) Psychic Reformation !!! Redo yourself in 2 rounds, at 6th level and up. Dip 1 level of Divine Mind with the Consumption Aura, to recharge the party. Dip 1 level of Erudite to get a Psicrystal, with Spell to Power to get Arcane on your list. Dip 1 level of Ardent to get the Magic Mantle UPD=UMD thingy, with skill point boost. (boarders on broken) I've never worked one of these out, cause there's just been NO action on it at all. Better-Buff-ificer ; Better-Blast-ificer ; Better-Chameleon-ificer (if there is such a thing). You're an Artificer, so you're good. You might be better, if your DM allows. What exactly would be the benefit of redoing yourself so quickly and often? If your campaign has no down-time, then I agree you might have trouble crafting anything more complicated than the occasional power stone or psionic tattoo. The way I tried to solve that with my psionic artificer is by using the feat Lucid Dreaming and the power Mind Vault (both from Hyperconscious). Mind Vault gives you a little pocket dimension you can visit in your dreams and Lucid Dreaming allows you to do work there (e.g. crafting items). So the artificer can visit the Mind Vault, start his Dedicated Wright homunculus working on some item, and then come back and pick it up when it's done. I don't know how well it will work, though; I just started playing the character. I can keep you posted, though. Thanks dude! That idea worked out quite well for my character. Now the party has me crafting every night.
The_Mess 04-01-08, 01:04 PM	The TARDIS is the time travel device used by The Doctor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctor_Who). I'm pretty sure it has never been mentioned in an official D&D source, though I know it snuck into a few pictures by Keith Parkinson.
DracoPhoenix 04-02-08, 03:28 AM	Where be this Tardis? Stronghold Builder's guide? As mentioned, the Tardis is from TV show, below's the last working info I had on it. (Also left in the psionic screwdriver - another bit of kit from the same show.) Tardis re-worked slightly to be psion based: Intelligent Item? (With infinite ranks in knowledge(Time & Space). LN alignment - It's only worried about you breaking a few temporal rules. The whole morality thing is down to someone else.). Give it telepathic & comprehend languages abilities. Don't know if you would make the "outside" intelligent, or the demi-plane. Possibly the demi plane. A two way portal set up in the demi-plane and the inside of the "outside" part of the Tardis. You may need DM approval for this, or just plane shift the outside between the demi plane and the real world. Minimum Strong hold costs (book price) +15% exotic - maybe only on the portals as your creating a "easy" way to the plane, and you can pretty much pick where you want for supplies once the outsides linked to the demi-plane. -5% mobile (Flying, planeshift & teleport abilities) to the outside. +1(+) power stone of Genesis (if you can't manifest it. But you want to be it's creator so you can set the locks ) cost of (3825+5000= ) 8825g, else, 1000xp. +2 manifestations of planeshift (1 for Genesis, 1 back. Again, stones when you can't mainfest yourself @ 2x 1125g) (+1 Gtr Teleport to get back to the material world construction yard. If needed) The outside: +1 strong hold unit (or part of for 5x5ft space if applicable), Well, one heavily re-enforced (Adamantine?) box Cost as appropriate. +15,000g Flying +25,000g Plane shifting +50,000g Teleporting (1/day ability - I wonder if you could pay 5 times the price for an at will ability) +150,000g 2 way portal (+50,000k? for 1 mobile end) +120,000g for metamorphic. Well, actually I have no idea on this cost. (As per the worst possible costing though: ) ML 4, xHD (equivilant, max 15 as per the power) x 2000 (duration for objects is in hours, so that should be ok as long as it's restricted to objects only) (But you have to love that no maximum size bit ) +cloud mind, mass - for cheap camoflage. It's there, but no one pays any attention to it. Book gives 5,500g for invisibility. Not quite the same, but similar effect. Optional, but in theme outside components: +? Escape Detection (Psionic Non-detection) +230g + 5g per key Improved Arcane lock (but if you can, ML20 if possible, deity cast if you can get it), well you don't want just anyone getting in. + appropriate key items, don't make them obvious, make them as mundate as you can, even better see if you can't enchant them so they can't be scried and like the tardis, people don't register them. (A Permanent Phase Door might be worth the investment though (18250g)) The inside: +Std construction costs for the demi plane stronghold. Though you may need to factor in the maximum size of a portal in any materials transport - so you may need additional planeshifts for the really large stuff. Or just pay up front for a larger portal. This is where things start to get really expensive though Putting it together: 1) Start Genesis rolling (it's going to take a while) 2) Build the outside. 3) Build the portals. 4) Build the inside on the demi-plane. (moving & morphing the outside to allow large items to pass if needed). Fitting the Outside with a cube of force's abilities might be a interesting investment... Psionic screwdriver had: On command : prestidigitation, mending, open / close, Shatter, Knock, Lock Detect (magic, poison, + what ever) Know direction & location. (optionally) light. I think there were some others, but I can't remember what they were. Hope this at least helps you get started.
awaken_D_M_golem 04-05-08, 02:33 PM	Linked Power Metapsionic feat + PsiArty = wow here's Edymnion's artificer guide ---> http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=813665 Normally, once a spell trigger or spell completion item (aka a wand or scroll) is made, it cannot be changed. A fireball scroll is a fireball scroll, and nothing you do will ever make it be anything but a fireball scroll. Or a wand of lightning is always going to have a set number of damage dice (like 9d6), and there is nothing you can do to change that. Unless you are an Artificer. These two abilities are the core of the Blastificer build, and allow you to apply any metamagic feat you know to any wand or scroll you have. If you have a fireball wand and are going up against a fire elemental, the wand would be useless to you. If you had Metamagic Spell Trigger, the Energy Substitution (Cold) feat, and that wand, you could apply the metamagic you know to the wand, letting you fire off Coldballs at the elemental instead of Fireballs. The drawback to this is that if the metamagic has a level adjustment to the spell (which they almost all do), each extra level uses up an extra charge from the wand when you use it. Maximize is a +4 SLA to do maximum damage, and you could apply that to a fireball wand to maximize it’s damage, but doing so would cost you 5 charges per shot, one for the spell, 4 for the spell level adjustment from the metamagic. There has been some debate over the nature of these abilities, namely on whether or not you could apply more than one metamagic to a single item at a time. This is the core of many of the claims that the Artificer is overpowered, because a sufficiently determined Blastificer could potentially do damage numbering in the thousands of points by piling on metamagic feats like Empower, Maximize, Twin, Chain, Repeating, Energy Admixture, etc onto one single shot. Of course, the drawback to this is that the level adjustment on that kind of metamagic stacking is so high that it can potentially drain a fully charged wand in a single blast, but oh what a blast it would be. The official word is that the intention of this ability is that it can only apply one metamagic trigger at a time, although the wording in the books do leave it open for interpretation. Many DMs limit to only one use for the sake of balance, precisely to eliminate pouring an entire wand into one massive shot as previously mentioned, as almost nothing in the game can withstand that kind of brute force damage from a single hit. Infuse any power via Linked Power = strange and spooky effects.