Quori Mindhunter : Nightmare Knowledge ability [Archive] - Wizards Community

Quori Mindhunter : Nightmare Knowledge ability [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Thot
08-02-07, 11:25 AM Well... I'm soon to play a Seer / Quori Mindhunter. When I looked at the level 6th ability "Nightmare Knowledge" (+1DC to powers with the fear descriptor, -2 to saves against fear-effects), I was thinking 'meh', since I'm not huge on fear powers anyway. But I decided to give it a closer look...
And I found a grand total of 2 (two) powers with the fear descriptor for psions ! Namely, Waking Dreams (MoE, p107) and Cerebral Phantasm (CPsi, p80)...
Have I overlooked something, or does it seem like a poorly designed ability ? I agree that the PrC is already good, IMHO, so that's not the point.
I'd much rather see it give me another +1 to saves against fear-effects instead, for instance...

What do you think of this ability, please ?
Thanks :)
InkBlot
08-02-07, 12:00 PM It's obviously poorly designed.

There's no way to know whether the author intended it to only work with the one fear power that was available at the time of the PrC's publication, whether the author simply didn't realize that there weren't enough fear powers, or whether the author wrote something completely different which was changed by the editors.

I could see the Quori Mindhunter becoming immune to fear, or even gaining an Aura Of Courage like a Paladin.
kyeudo
08-02-07, 01:03 PM There should also be Primal Fear from RoE.
AskaniPsion
08-02-07, 02:06 PM You could also take existing Fear spells and tweak them into Psionic powers - plenty of Fear spells in existence.
Thot
08-02-07, 02:11 PM 1) Primal fear from RoE : I checked, it's merely Mind-affecting, alas.

2) tweak spells into powers : sure, it's a possibility. But I think I'll rather talk to my DM about a possible bonus to saves against fear-effects. We'll see, it's still a few levels away.
Belabras
08-03-07, 05:06 PM I don't think GEO would have a problem with that Thot, but keep digging. I seem to remeber there being a way to make that Nightmare Knowledge ability useful, but I didn't make much of a note of it at the time.

*edit*
Powers with the Fear descriptor:
Waking Dreams (MoE) - not terribly useful
Cerebral Phantasm (Comp Psi) - not bad at all
Primal Fear (Comp Psi, RoE) - Why does this power not have the Fear descriptor? That's just silly.
Aversion (XPH) - Yet another that should have it, but doesn't
Form of Doom (XPH) - oddly, the Frightful Presence sub ability is a Mind Affecting Fear ability

And there sure are a lot of spells with it. Yeah, whoever wrote that part of the PRC was on crack.
kyeudo
08-04-07, 12:25 AM Aversion (XPH) - Yet another that should have it, but doesn't

Aversion causes the subject to dislike something, not to fear it. It causes disgust, not terror.
Genetic
08-04-07, 10:07 PM My favorite part about nightmare knowledge is that it says that it's good for telepaths in the "playing a quori mindhunter" section.

The class is awesome flavor-wise, but comes off a bit weak mechanically...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Thot 08-02-07, 11:25 AM	Well... I'm soon to play a Seer / Quori Mindhunter. When I looked at the level 6th ability "Nightmare Knowledge" (+1DC to powers with the fear descriptor, -2 to saves against fear-effects), I was thinking 'meh', since I'm not huge on fear powers anyway. But I decided to give it a closer look... And I found a grand total of 2 (two) powers with the fear descriptor for psions ! Namely, Waking Dreams (MoE, p107) and Cerebral Phantasm (CPsi, p80)... Have I overlooked something, or does it seem like a poorly designed ability ? I agree that the PrC is already good, IMHO, so that's not the point. I'd much rather see it give me another +1 to saves against fear-effects instead, for instance... What do you think of this ability, please ? Thanks :)
InkBlot 08-02-07, 12:00 PM	It's obviously poorly designed. There's no way to know whether the author intended it to only work with the one fear power that was available at the time of the PrC's publication, whether the author simply didn't realize that there weren't enough fear powers, or whether the author wrote something completely different which was changed by the editors. I could see the Quori Mindhunter becoming immune to fear, or even gaining an Aura Of Courage like a Paladin.
kyeudo 08-02-07, 01:03 PM	There should also be Primal Fear from RoE.
AskaniPsion 08-02-07, 02:06 PM	You could also take existing Fear spells and tweak them into Psionic powers - plenty of Fear spells in existence.
Thot 08-02-07, 02:11 PM	1) Primal fear from RoE : I checked, it's merely Mind-affecting, alas. 2) tweak spells into powers : sure, it's a possibility. But I think I'll rather talk to my DM about a possible bonus to saves against fear-effects. We'll see, it's still a few levels away.
Belabras 08-03-07, 05:06 PM	I don't think GEO would have a problem with that Thot, but keep digging. I seem to remeber there being a way to make that Nightmare Knowledge ability useful, but I didn't make much of a note of it at the time. edit Powers with the Fear descriptor: Waking Dreams (MoE) - not terribly useful Cerebral Phantasm (Comp Psi) - not bad at all Primal Fear (Comp Psi, RoE) - Why does this power not have the Fear descriptor? That's just silly. Aversion (XPH) - Yet another that should have it, but doesn't Form of Doom (XPH) - oddly, the Frightful Presence sub ability is a Mind Affecting Fear ability And there sure are a lot of spells with it. Yeah, whoever wrote that part of the PRC was on crack.
kyeudo 08-04-07, 12:25 AM	Aversion (XPH) - Yet another that should have it, but doesn't Aversion causes the subject to dislike something, not to fear it. It causes disgust, not terror.
Genetic 08-04-07, 10:07 PM	My favorite part about nightmare knowledge is that it says that it's good for telepaths in the "playing a quori mindhunter" section. The class is awesome flavor-wise, but comes off a bit weak mechanically...