Post/Author/DateTime	Post
lunarflare1001 11-27-07, 11:45 PM	I've been lurking around these forums for a while, having never posted here since I dont even own the XPH... Recently, I read that XPH wasn't being printed anymore (*shakes fist*) so I printed out the SRD and I'm thinking of buying the CPsi. Anyway, when I looked over the Psionics FAQ: I read that CPsi is a total heap of trash. I'm looking around to find out why.. What exactly makes the CPsi suck? Please be specific
Salla 11-28-07, 12:05 AM	I've been lurking around these forums for a while, having never posted here since I dont even own the XPH... Recently, I read that XPH wasn't being printed anymore (*shakes fist*) so I printed out the SRD and I'm thinking of buying the CPsi. Anyway, when I looked over the Psionics FAQ: I read that CPsi is a total heap of trash. I'm looking around to find out why.. What exactly makes the CPsi suck? Please be specific They functionally errata'd several powers and rules (and made us pay for them) without commensurate errata to magic. For example, by the rules as printed, Psi-powers that deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage (like, say, Crystal Shard) will be subject to Damage Reduction, while a spell that does the same (like Evard's Tentacles) is not. You can only have one Astral Construct in play at a time, but wizards and druids can still spam the battlefield with their summoned pets. This is arguably 'the big one' that hacks many of us off. The Divine Mind is an incredibly weak class, to the point of unplayability. The Illithid Heritage feats simply don't work, either flavor-wise or rules-wise; for example, there's no power point cost listed for Illithid Blast. General poor editting; Xeph Burst feat says you can use the burst 3/day, but you can ALREADY use it 3/day, for example. The Anarchic Initiate is, supposedly, a class for Wilders, but they can't complete all 10 levels of it pre-epic because it requires 8 ranks of a non-class skill to enter.
Tempest Stormwind 11-28-07, 12:39 AM	This (http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-760291) is linked in my sig. See Lycanthromancer's post for one of the best summaries of it I've seen.
CrimsonDeath 11-28-07, 12:45 AM	A lot of things are poorly worded, likely due to copy/paste errors. For example, it's not clear how the Erudite's Unique Powers Per Day are calculated, nor whether he can learn general Psion/Wilder powers in the same way that he can learn Psion Discipline powers. (Many feel that the XP cost for learning a power should depend on the power's level rather than the character's class level.) The feat Practiced Manifester mentions that the feat does not grant more "powers per day", but no such thing exists; the number of powers it's possible to manifest each day is determined only by the number of PP the character has. Some of the Synad's racial traits are a little unclear in how they work as well. A lot of powers have the [good] or [evil] descriptor, which many people feel defies the flavor of psionics. There are also several powers that manipulate positive or negative energy or summon actual creatures, which also seem to go against psionic flavor. There's one power that inflicts a single temporary negative level for one round, but unlike all the other negative levels in the world, this one can't actually kill a 1HD creature; it'll just daze him. There are some worthwhile things-- the Ardent, the Soulknife feats and PrCs, some of the powers... But it's a real chore to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Shadowswift 11-28-07, 01:07 AM	tell me shadowswift9@gmail.com on gtalk
AntiDjinn 11-28-07, 01:31 AM	Basically, it comes down to the fact that the book fixed "problems" that were not problems, provided "answers" to questions that absolutely no one asked, yet failed to provide solutions for questions that have been in the FAQ since the XPH landed. Did anyone ask: "What could be done to nerf Astral Construct even though it already falls behind monster summoning at higher levels?" Nope, but that question was addressed. How many have asked what happens if their psicrystal dies? How many have asked for clarification of Metaconcert? Such matters could have been addressed in the space that was given over to Illithid Heritage feats and dross powers such as Stygian Discernment.
lunarflare1001 11-28-07, 02:53 AM	Thanks for the fast and informative replies! The FAQ was a bit vague, so I'm glad I have it all clear now.. I now DO NOT EVER want to even open the CPsi; it sounds terrible.. Sadly... I just got off of the phone; one of my fellow group members had just bought the book...Urgh.. I'm going to have to beg him to return it tomorrow :P One thing though, is it worth looking at the horror that is CPsi for the Soulknife feats? Flavour-wise: the soulknife is my favourite class, but I was disappointed by the lack of supplement for it...
CrimsonDeath 11-28-07, 03:45 AM	If you're open to third-party material, Untapped Potential from Dreamscarred Press has better Soulknife support (or so I've heard). The best thing the Soulknife gets out of CPsi, in my opinion, are the Soulbow and Illumine Soul prestiege classes.
Bacris 11-28-07, 08:54 AM	Complete Psionic isn't a total waste. But the big animosity toward it is the fact that after the XPH was released, the amount of psionic support we saw could be fit on about 20 pages. So Complete Psionic was something the psionic fan-base was really looking forward to. It comes out, and a lot of it either defies canon (Illithid Heritage feats violate all Illithid material prior), nerfs items that weren't in need of nerfing (the aforementioned Astral Construct & Crystal Shard), simply has poor editing (the aforementioned Practiced Manifester / Illithid Blast), or has excess padding (reprinting the ENTIRE power lists for all classes, including the classes in the XPH and all the powers in the XPH, and the bloated feats section), yet does not address problems with some of the psionic material produced after XPH (synchronicity comes to mind), and then still has one of the smallest page counts of the Complete line of products. In addition, most of the support in the book is aimed at the Ardent, Divine Mind, and Lurk, the three base classes in the book, without providing new support for the base classes in the XPH. With all that being said, the Ardent, Lurk, Soulbow, and some of the other material in the book is good. But it was a severe disappoint for those of us hoping for some REAL psionic support, closer to what the Mind's Eye used to put out.