Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Nephallim 06-17-07, 05:18 PM	I'm reposting this here...well...because its psionic. I want the widest possible feedback I guess. Scribed Warrior "Just the power scribed on my body is more than your puny mind will ever hold." --Inkscarr, Scribed Warrior Scribed Warriors are practitioners of a new and obscure martial tradition utilizing psionic tattoos. It is said that these inked iconoclasts learn to distill and utilize the latent psychic energy of their psionic tattoos in ways not concieved of by lesser psionicists. Table 1-1: The Scribed Warrior (HD: d8) Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Powers Known 1 +0 +0 +0 +2 Ink's Fluidity (Distill Tattoo), -- Potent Dyes 2 +1 +0 +0 +3 +1 level of manifesting class 3 +2 +1 +1 +3 Running Ink (Move Action) +1 level of manifesting class 4 +3 +1 +1 +4 +1 level of manifesting class 5 +3 +1 +1 +4 +1 level of manifesting class 6 +4 +2 +2 +5 Running Ink (Swift Action) -- 7 +5 +2 +2 +5 Retain Tattoo +1 level of manifesting class 8 +6 +2 +2 +6 +1 level of manifesting class 9 +6 +3 +3 +6 Ink Poisoning -- 10 +7 +3 +3 +7 Ink's Fluidity (Ink Empowerment) +1 level of manifesting class Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level): The Scribed Warrior's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (Psionics) (Int), Profession (Wis), Search (Int), and Swim (Str). Becoming a Scribed Warrior Almost any character capable of manifesting psionic powers could eventually learn the arts of a Scribed Warrior. However, due to required knowledge of psychometabolism powers, most who come to this path are either psychic warriors or egoists. ENTRY REQUIREMENTS Base Attack Bonus: +4 Feats: Psionic Body, Scribe Tattoo Skills: Autohypnosis 8 ranks, Knowledge (Psionics) 4 ranks Psionics: Able to manifest at least four powers from the psychometabolism discipline. Special: The character must have used at least nine power levels worth of psionic tattoos (three third level tattoos, nine first level tattoos, etc). CLASS FEATURES As a Scribed Warrior you cultivate your understanding of psionic tattoos, learning new uses for them and how to utilize them more quickly than other psionicists. Ink's Fluidity: Distill Tattoo (Su): At first level, as a swift action a Scribed Warrior may lose a psionic tattoo to gain an edge in combat. The Scribed Warrior's next attack gains a bonus to hit equal to the power level of the tattoo spent and a bonus to damage equal to 2 x the Power Level of the tattoo expended (to a maximum of the Scribed Warrior's Class Level. Potent Dyes (Ex): The Scribed Warrior may create psionic tattoos at manifester levels greater than the minimum manifester level to manifest its power. For example, an Egoist 8/Scribed Warrior 3 could create a manifester level 10 force screen psionic tattoo. Running Ink (Su): At third level, a Scribed Warrior may expend their psionic focus in order to activate a psionic tattoo as a move action instead of a standard action. At sixth level the Scribed Warrior may instead activate a psionic tattoo as a swift action. Retain Tattoo (Ex): At seventh level the Scribed Warrior may designate one or more tattoos to fill a number of tattoo slots equal to its power level x 3. When used, that tattoo becomes unavailable until the Scribed Warrior rests for 8 hours, but is not permanently expended. A Scribed Warrior may not retain a tattoo with a higher manifester level than he possesses with this power. Ink Poisoning (Su) At ninth level a Scribed Warrior learns how to break down the psionic ink of his tattoos to create a deadly poison. As a move action a Scribed Warrior may permanently expend one of his psionic tattoos to coat his weapon with one use of a potent poison. This poison is inflicted by injury and has a DC equal to 10 + the ML of the tattoo expended. The poison inflicts Constitution damage equal to twice the expended tattoos ML. If the poison is not used the round it is created, it drips away uselessly. Ink's Fluidity: Ink Empowerment (Su): At tenth level a Scribed Warrior may lose a psionic tattoo as a move action. Treat the Scribed Warrior's manifester level as being increased by the level of the psionic tattoo lost for the purpose of manifesting thier next psionic power. SCRIBED WARRIORS IN THE WORLD "Cursed youngsters with their loud music and deviant body art." --Melkhad, Human Seer Scribed Warriors can fulfill a variety of roles in any given setting. They could be a mysterious sect of psionic monks from a distant mountain fortress or a new tradition of young psionicists bent on proving their worth to their elders and challenging tradition. In the Forgotten Realms they could be an order of psychic bodyguards for the Red Wizards of Thay. In Eberron they could be associated with Riedra's Harmonious Shield or the Fortress Monastaries of Adar. The possibilities are endless. The following entries assumes that the Scribed Warriors are a new, experimental tradition of psionicists. Organization To be put simply, Scribed Warriors do not organize. They have no special schools or tradition of master and apprentice. Most who come to this path do so on their own, through independent research and self-improvement. When Scribed Warriors do encounter eachother in passing, its possible that they might not even recognize eachother as being students of the same teachings. When they do recognize similarities in techniques, however, they are more likely to become hostile to one another than to be friendly. Each Scribed Warrior sees themself as an individual, and another with similar techniques is a threat to their individuality. NPC Reactions Older, more traditional psions and psychic warriors are likely to look down on Scribed Warriors as self-taught charlatans, especially those who belong to a formal school or tradition of psychics. Wilders are more likely to be friendly towards Scribed Warriors, as they also strongly diverge from the psionic orthodoxy. Likewise, non-psionicists of chaotic or rebellious natures are more likely to befriend Scribed Warriors than those associated with establishe traditions or powers, although this is not always the rule. SCRIBED WARRIOR LORE Characters with the bardic knowledge class feature or ranks in Gather Information can attempt to pick up rumors about individual Scribed Warriors. The tradition isn't old or widespread enough for conventional knowledge skills to be useful.
TheKeyofE 06-17-07, 06:52 PM	Just a few immediate thoughts: On your entry requirements, 4000GP is WAAAAAY too much. I'd try half that much. Remember, you can meet the requirements at fifth level, and fifth level expected wealth is only 9000GP. Spending half your wealth on expendables seems like too much of a waste. Also, I think 3 psychometabolism powers might be better than 4. Less restrictive for non-egoists, but still forces you to specialize a little. x3 PP for Retain Tattoo also seems excessive. x2 might be better. I assume the purpose here is if someone else scribes a tattoo on you, then you can spend your PP to manifest that power without losing the tattoo, thereby giving you a wider range of powers. Otherwise, retaining a tattoo you scribed yourself is just a waste of PP. So you put the x3 to deter players from having other manifesters scribe them full of tattoos so they have a huge array of powers, but I think the x3 makes it far too situational, and I think x2 might still be enough to deter characters becoming a walking spellbook. EDIT: On further reflection, I may be wrong. The x3 might be just fine. Distill tattoo seems weak. What if it was a damage bonus of 2x level of power expended? The maximum manifester level of any tattoo is 5 (tattoos can only be scribed of 3rd level powers, and always at minimum manifester level). A Scribed Warrior of 7th level will always have a manifester level higher than 5, thus, you can remove the last line in the Retain Tattoo description. Does the x3 PP on Retain Tattoo break the "1PP per ML" rule, or is it limited by it? So a Psywar 5/SW 7 (ML 10) could retain a level 2 tattoo (9 PP), but not a level 3 (15 PP)? Overall, I think it's a cool idea but it seems slightly underpowered compared to a straight Psychic Warrior.
Nephallim 06-17-07, 07:09 PM	I don't see anywhere that says that the ML for psionic tattoos caps at 5. The prices in the psionic items section of the XPH assume minimum ML to manifest a power, but it would be possible to create, say, a ML 13 Animal Affinity tattoo that grants +4 to three abilities for 13 minutes. There's a reason the market price in the feat description is power level x manifester level x 50 and not just power level x a static number. And yes, Retain Tattoo breaks the 1 PP per ML rule. Otherwise, good suggestions.
Istarion 06-17-07, 08:00 PM	I believe that breaking the ML cap is to say the least, riskful. From a design point of view, It's inconsistant, precisely because it breaks the number one rule that holds the psionic system together. In the psionic tattoos description it clearly says that ML for a psionic tattoo is the minimum level necessary for manifesting the inscribed power, which can be to a maximum of 3rd level. (can't quote exact page, as my XPH is in Spanish, but it's here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/psionicTattoos.htm) under Inscribing and transferring tattoos)
axenome 06-17-07, 09:26 PM	It's a cool concept, but... Well, class features are a little on the weak side, and to make use of them as a character should make use of class features will be exorbitantly expensive for a mid level character. minimum manifestor level, first level power in tattoo form costs 50gp. 2nd level power 300gp, 3rd level power 750gp. And don't forget that a tattoo takes the crafter 1 full day to make, so that means the PsyW, every time he burns a tattoo, that's one full game day he will need to expend away from the party to replace it, because the power isn't being put into a bottle, it's being tattooed directly into his skin. Which brings me to Distill Tattoo. Distill Tattoo: 50gp for +2 damage on one attack. 300gp for +4 damage on one attack. 750gp for +6 to damage on... one attack. That's... pretty crappy. Not to mention all the time it will take to replace every tattoo he burns like this. A better form of this feature would be something similar to Smite- burn a tattoo as a swift action to gain a bonus to hit equal to twice the level of the power, and damage equal to twice the power's manifestor level, to a maximum of your hitdice. That would make this feature at least usable, if not rather expensive. Example: PsW6/ScW7 is a level 13 character. Burning a 2nd level tattoo with a ML of 3 would grant a smite attack with a +4 to hit and a +6 damage. A level 3 tattoo with a ML of 7 would grant a +6 to attack but only +13 to damage because he is only level 13, although the tapped tattoo could potentially go up to +14 damage for a higher level character. Retain Tattoo: I think the blanket PP x3 is a bit absurd. Make it PP to manifest equal to 2 times the level of the power + the ML of the tattoo(Not even x2), still limited to your ML in PP expenditure, usable a number of times per day equal to 1/2 class level, and no more than once per day per tattoo. This avoids the Font of Power type error in PrC construction- Font of power would be a neat class feature if the class itself didn't suck away its manifesting abilities into absolute uselessness. This could very well wind up being just such a class feature, because a character with 18 wis and 6psw/7ScW will have 35 base pp + 22 bonus pp for a total of 57 pp. Meaning that for a minimum manifestor level 3rd level tattoo to make use of the Retain Tattoo class feature it will cost him more than 1/4 his entire PP reserve for the day. I gave an idea of how I think it could be improved, my reasons for why I don't think the class is strong enough and too expensive, but I may be looking at this from a skewed perspective. In my opinion the features as a whole were far too weak to take away 3 manifestor levels. But don't think you have to take my advice- you may keep the class as you choose or make some completely different alterations. Also, Istarion, I saw the entry you refer to, but the Scribe Tattoo feat states a formula for crafting tattoos at a higher manifestor level than minimum; ergo if it is possible to make them at higher than minimum level, it's likely WotC meant it to be possible to buy them that way as well. Just my $.02
Nephallim 06-17-07, 09:29 PM	I believe that breaking the ML cap is to say the least, riskful. From a design point of view, It's inconsistant, precisely because it breaks the number one rule that holds the psionic system together. In the psionic tattoos description it clearly says that ML for a psionic tattoo is the minimum level necessary for manifesting the inscribed power, which can be to a maximum of 3rd level. (can't quote exact page, as my XPH is in Spanish, but it's here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/psionicTattoos.htm) under Inscribing and transferring tattoos) Added a class ability at first level to get around the ML limit of Psionic Tattoos. Personally, I don't get the point. Just continue to increase the market price as usual for tattoos of higher ML...*shrugs* Also, I could just just say "for the purpose of spending PP for Retain Tattoo, treat the Scribed Warrior's ML as if it were three times higher," and it would have the same affect. I don't see anything unbalanced about it as written. Alright...how bout this for a revised Retain Focus? The Scribed Warrior may designate one or more tattoos to fill a number of tattoo slots equal to its power level x 3. When used, that tattoo becomes unavailable until the Scribed Warrior rests for 8 hours, but is not permanently expended. Note: The maximum number of psionic tattoos a character can have on their bodies at one time is twenty. For example, a second level tattoo selected to be retained would take up space on a Scribed Warrior's body as if it were six tattoos instead of one.
Nephallim 06-18-07, 05:46 PM	Distill Tattoo and Retain Tattoo have been revised. Also... Bumpity bump.
Istarion 06-19-07, 12:09 AM	The idea behind the ML cap on the tattoos was because they were designed as the equivalent to potions, so they let powers with self only, affect other people. That's the reason behind the cap. It's logical for a scribed warrior to break that rule, as they will specialize in them.
Eikre 06-19-07, 02:44 AM	I believe that breaking the ML cap is to say the least, riskful. From a design point of view, It's inconsistant, precisely because it breaks the number one rule that holds the psionic system together. *Raises eyebrows* Hey, brother. I think you oughta come out to one of our meetings, I know a few like-minded people. Go swing by the Klavern- Ah, I mean, the pub- around 10:00, alright? Tell one of the blokes there that you really, really hate Wilders. Yeah, man. Bring a white sheet.
Nephallim 06-19-07, 08:38 AM	The idea behind the ML cap on the tattoos was because they were designed as the equivalent to potions, so they let powers with self only, affect other people. That's the reason behind the cap. It's logical for a scribed warrior to break that rule, as they will specialize in them. Except potions can be made at higher CL than the minimum for the spell. That's why you have things like Greater magic weapon +5 oils (99 under major on table 7-17 in the DMG). Tattoos are the psionic equivalent of potions, I'll give you that, but that comparison is a bad justification of capping the tattoo ML. I think its more likely that when the XPH refers to the cap, they're simply stating that the ML of the tattoos you buy with the prices in the item chapter (the minimun prices for tattoos of that level) are bought at minimum ML, as that's what the price is for. So, using the forumulas in the Scribe Tattoo feat, a character could still go out and buy a ML 13 tattoo of Animal Affinity to get +4 to Str, Dex, and Wis for 13 minutes, but he'd have to find a manifester of high enough level with the feat, who's willing to either spend a day scribing on his body, or who already has scribed said tattoo on himself and is willing to part with it. Sorry if I ramble.
Nephallim 06-20-07, 05:33 PM	Bumpity. Anyone have any further concerns, questions, critiques, criticisms, objections, or suggestions? Or is it shiny and ready to be declared finalized?