Psionic reserve feats [Archive] - Wizards Community

Psionic reserve feats [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
starkreality
02-26-08, 12:16 AM I'm currently running a campaign with my weekly group, War of the Burning Sky in particular, that I'm doing two things with: 1) making the atmosphere as "fourthesque" as possible,, by using things like reserve feats and Bo9S stuff, and 2) heavily featuring psionics. The problem I'm having is our party psion is practically bleeding power points all over the place, while our spellcaster (and warlock) are just slinging magic left and right, nonstop.

I've been thinking of ways to introduce psionic "reserve feats", but I feel like I'm copping out by just using the usual ones. I'm working with a few ideas, such as requiring a psionic focus, or other things of that nature.

Does anyone have any house rules like these already? Or how about some ideas to help me out? O would like to have a single good damage-dealing feat that I can show to my psion this coming weekend, so any help at all is appreciated.
Deekin
02-26-08, 12:44 AM Cut the psions power supply down to 1/5th, but have him regain it after 5 min of rest.
mtbOgre
02-26-08, 01:20 AM Cut the psions power supply down to 1/5th, but have him regain it after 5 min of rest.

I was thinking of doing something exactly like this with one small difference. My thought was to divide the power points by 6, have 1/6th a daily reserve and 1/6th be a per encounter. That way you have a bit more power if you really need it but once you burn that you are a bit weaker.
Lycanthromancer
02-26-08, 01:29 AM Depending on the build, power point bleed is a serious issue, yup.

There are several different ways to conserve power points while contributing to the group.

1.) Powers with durations. Energy wall, energy conversion (!) astral construct, entangling ectoplasm, psionic grease, wall of ectoplasm, and so on. This can seriously improve your psion's power point efficiency.

2.) Judicious use of powers. Don't spend more power points than absolutely necessary to inconvenience/destroy your opponent. If it has 3 hit points left (and you know this due to a skill check, such as Heal), you only need to spend perhaps 2 pp to destroy it (or 1 if you think you can make the roll).

3.) Judicious use of feats. Metapsionics for the win, baby. Think about how many power points you are spending, and how much more you could do with the appropriate feats applied. You can get 20d6 damage easier with Empower Power than simply spending power points. Likewise, it's easier to get a long-lasting astral construct with Extend Power, rather than manifesting it twice in a row. Think about what powers you're using, what you want to do with them, and how you want to maximize your efficiency. PrCs also figure into this category, as several of them can do similar things (see the 3.5 constructor in The Mind's Eye).

4.) Equipment. Powerstones and dorjes are awesome for extending your psion's shelf-life, and are (relatively) cheap. Also think about giving a gift to the psion player; say, a pouch of 50 +1 sling bullets of manifesting. Go look it up; that'll give your psion player a reason to jump for joy, especially if you also give him a few higher-level cognizance crystals to play with (but not TOO many; you don't want him to be able to nova indiscriminately).

5.) The talents in my powers revision. It's in my sig.

[edit] 6.) Choosing powers with the least chance of failure. Make frequent Knowledge checks to determine your opponents' more well-known strengths, as well as a few exploitable weaknesses. Does it have a high touch AC? Any weak saves? Weak ability scores? Immunities? Vulnerabilities? Power resistance? Knowing which powers will disable or destroy your foes most easily is a DEFINITE plus.

7.) Intelligent use of resources. Try to prep yourself beforehand; make psionic traps based on things like psionic minor creation, quintessence, and so on. Coating some poison or a few of the party wizard's delayed fireballs in quintessence allows you a few nifty grenades you can toss in lieu of expending power points. A wall of energy on one half of the battlefield that you can use astral constructs or a few well-placed energy pushes to shove your enemies into will increase your damage ratio. And so on. Psions should think with their heads, not with their power points.

~Fin
angellis_ater
02-26-08, 02:42 AM http://www.google.com/search?q=sequestral+feats
JulesCARV
02-26-08, 02:57 AM Maybe you could have psions have lower pp pool, but give them a feature that reduces the power point cost of all manifestations by a certain number -- down to zero.

For instance, maybe some rule like the PP cost reduction would equal psion level /4, rounded down. So, at level 10, a psion could manifest 1st level unaugmented powers or powers augmented with 1 power point for free. Manifesting a 2nd level unaugmented power would cost 1 pp. By level 20, psions can manifest 5 pp for free, while manifesting a 9th level power (17 pp) would cost 12 pp.

I'm not really sure how the power point pool would be reduced. Power points from levels 1-3 would be unaffected (unless you want to change them for other reasons, like thinking psions are underpowered at lower levels as is), but from then up, I'm not sure.

If you do this... erm... have it not apply to "bestow power."
StruckingFuggle
02-26-08, 02:59 AM Psions should think with their heads, not with their power points.

Is there a class for this?
Bacris
02-26-08, 08:02 AM The Sequestral Feats that Andreas linked do what you want specifically. :)
DracoPhoenix
02-26-08, 01:58 PM You could allow for certain reserve feats to operate while holding focus (as opposed to the norm of expending). Then you could just map existing feats over, but substitute spell level for min pp reserve remaining and perhaps a specific power. But hopefully the held focus would accommodate that.

That said, for psionics, I would be more inclined with the smaller pool, faster regen.
Jaid
02-26-08, 04:18 PM i will third the suggestion to invest in High Psionics: Sequestral Feats.

it is made of win and awesome (and awesomer!)

of course, first you have to accept third party materials, but i have found DSP to be one of only a few third party companies that i really, really like :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
starkreality 02-26-08, 12:16 AM	I'm currently running a campaign with my weekly group, War of the Burning Sky in particular, that I'm doing two things with: 1) making the atmosphere as "fourthesque" as possible,, by using things like reserve feats and Bo9S stuff, and 2) heavily featuring psionics. The problem I'm having is our party psion is practically bleeding power points all over the place, while our spellcaster (and warlock) are just slinging magic left and right, nonstop. I've been thinking of ways to introduce psionic "reserve feats", but I feel like I'm copping out by just using the usual ones. I'm working with a few ideas, such as requiring a psionic focus, or other things of that nature. Does anyone have any house rules like these already? Or how about some ideas to help me out? O would like to have a single good damage-dealing feat that I can show to my psion this coming weekend, so any help at all is appreciated.
Deekin 02-26-08, 12:44 AM	Cut the psions power supply down to 1/5th, but have him regain it after 5 min of rest.
mtbOgre 02-26-08, 01:20 AM	Cut the psions power supply down to 1/5th, but have him regain it after 5 min of rest. I was thinking of doing something exactly like this with one small difference. My thought was to divide the power points by 6, have 1/6th a daily reserve and 1/6th be a per encounter. That way you have a bit more power if you really need it but once you burn that you are a bit weaker.
Lycanthromancer 02-26-08, 01:29 AM	Depending on the build, power point bleed is a serious issue, yup. There are several different ways to conserve power points while contributing to the group. 1.) Powers with durations. Energy wall, energy conversion (!) astral construct, entangling ectoplasm, psionic grease, wall of ectoplasm, and so on. This can seriously improve your psion's power point efficiency. 2.) Judicious use of powers. Don't spend more power points than absolutely necessary to inconvenience/destroy your opponent. If it has 3 hit points left (and you know this due to a skill check, such as Heal), you only need to spend perhaps 2 pp to destroy it (or 1 if you think you can make the roll). 3.) Judicious use of feats. Metapsionics for the win, baby. Think about how many power points you are spending, and how much more you could do with the appropriate feats applied. You can get 20d6 damage easier with Empower Power than simply spending power points. Likewise, it's easier to get a long-lasting astral construct with Extend Power, rather than manifesting it twice in a row. Think about what powers you're using, what you want to do with them, and how you want to maximize your efficiency. PrCs also figure into this category, as several of them can do similar things (see the 3.5 constructor in The Mind's Eye). 4.) Equipment. Powerstones and dorjes are awesome for extending your psion's shelf-life, and are (relatively) cheap. Also think about giving a gift to the psion player; say, a pouch of 50 +1 sling bullets of manifesting. Go look it up; that'll give your psion player a reason to jump for joy, especially if you also give him a few higher-level cognizance crystals to play with (but not TOO many; you don't want him to be able to nova indiscriminately). 5.) The talents in my powers revision. It's in my sig. [edit] 6.) Choosing powers with the least chance of failure. Make frequent Knowledge checks to determine your opponents' more well-known strengths, as well as a few exploitable weaknesses. Does it have a high touch AC? Any weak saves? Weak ability scores? Immunities? Vulnerabilities? Power resistance? Knowing which powers will disable or destroy your foes most easily is a DEFINITE plus. 7.) Intelligent use of resources. Try to prep yourself beforehand; make psionic traps based on things like psionic minor creation, quintessence, and so on. Coating some poison or a few of the party wizard's delayed fireballs in quintessence allows you a few nifty grenades you can toss in lieu of expending power points. A wall of energy on one half of the battlefield that you can use astral constructs or a few well-placed energy pushes to shove your enemies into will increase your damage ratio. And so on. Psions should think with their heads, not with their power points. ~Fin
angellis_ater 02-26-08, 02:42 AM	http://www.google.com/search?q=sequestral+feats
JulesCARV 02-26-08, 02:57 AM	Maybe you could have psions have lower pp pool, but give them a feature that reduces the power point cost of all manifestations by a certain number -- down to zero. For instance, maybe some rule like the PP cost reduction would equal psion level /4, rounded down. So, at level 10, a psion could manifest 1st level unaugmented powers or powers augmented with 1 power point for free. Manifesting a 2nd level unaugmented power would cost 1 pp. By level 20, psions can manifest 5 pp for free, while manifesting a 9th level power (17 pp) would cost 12 pp. I'm not really sure how the power point pool would be reduced. Power points from levels 1-3 would be unaffected (unless you want to change them for other reasons, like thinking psions are underpowered at lower levels as is), but from then up, I'm not sure. If you do this... erm... have it not apply to "bestow power."
StruckingFuggle 02-26-08, 02:59 AM	Psions should think with their heads, not with their power points. Is there a class for this?
Bacris 02-26-08, 08:02 AM	The Sequestral Feats that Andreas linked do what you want specifically. :)
DracoPhoenix 02-26-08, 01:58 PM	You could allow for certain reserve feats to operate while holding focus (as opposed to the norm of expending). Then you could just map existing feats over, but substitute spell level for min pp reserve remaining and perhaps a specific power. But hopefully the held focus would accommodate that. That said, for psionics, I would be more inclined with the smaller pool, faster regen.
Jaid 02-26-08, 04:18 PM	i will third the suggestion to invest in High Psionics: Sequestral Feats. it is made of win and awesome (and awesomer!) of course, first you have to accept third party materials, but i have found DSP to be one of only a few third party companies that i really, really like :)