Post/Author/DateTime	Post
EonEdge 11-04-07, 11:59 PM	So with this power for a measily 13 pp i can manifest xp powers without spending xp on them? multiple times? if i wrap the crystal shard in quintessence does the duration last until i scrape it off? if so then using soul crystal, quitessence, and psychic reformation(cast through soul crystals) i can make unlimited amounts of these crystals with every power of up to 1 level lower than i can manifest and every psion/wilder power + discipline power i can manifest? my only limit is time and pp/day?
Grumman 11-05-07, 12:14 AM	if i wrap the crystal shard in quintessence does the duration last until i scrape it off? I don't know about your other questions, but I'm pretty sure something coated in quintessence would be unusable, if it is supposed to be psionically or magically active.
EonEdge 11-05-07, 01:26 AM	I don't know about your other questions, but I'm pretty sure something coated in quintessence would be unusable, if it is supposed to be psionically or magically active. but you can scrape quintessence off an item. I was thinking you make your soul crystal, apply quintessence, and then when you need to use that power scrape the quintessence off and the duration for the power starts up again.
InkBlot 11-05-07, 08:48 AM	Which book is soul crystal from?
CrimsonDeath 11-05-07, 11:20 AM	Which book is soul crystal from? Magic of Incarnum, I believe.
Slagger the Chuul 11-05-07, 12:00 PM	Soul crystal is indeed from Magic of Incarnum. So with this power for a measily 13 pp i can manifest xp powers without spending xp on them? Apart from potentially changing the manifestation time, soul crystal doesn't alter the stored power, and since there is no mention of imbedded experience points, the person using the crystal would have to pay any experience point cost required for the power. Using quintessence is a valid means of storing the crystals until they're needed, though. To be honest, I've gotten more use from soul crystal than any of the incarnum material in Magic of Incarnum.
EonEdge 11-05-07, 07:31 PM	Apart from potentially changing the manifestation time, soul crystal doesn't alter the stored power, and since there is no mention of imbedded experience points, the person using the crystal would have to pay any experience point cost required for the power. okay this still works for me, i'm a thrallherd so i can still avoid xp cost of reformation by having my thralls use it on me through a soul crystal, same with psychic chuirigy. also if you were to have the bestow power power is it possible to use it with soul crystal? It's not actualy an item that is created, the power isn't instantanious it's still just a power effect. if it did work you could store your unused pp at the end of each day, and get some of them back first thing in the morning after casting your all day buffs.
Slagger the Chuul 11-05-07, 07:54 PM	also if you were to have the bestow power power is it possible to use it with soul crystal? It's not actualy an item that is created, the power isn't instantanious it's still just a power effect. if it did work you could store your unused pp at the end of each day, and get some of them back first thing in the morning after casting your all day buffs. You're correct that the crystal is technically a power effect, not a psionic item, so it isn't excluded by the wording of bestow power. The flavour text in Magic of Incarnum mentions a psionic soul (which presumably holds onto the power points for the duration), so this makes sense in more than just game mechanics. Bestow power doesn't make it clear whether or not you can grant a creature more power points than its normal maximum, so you're going to need a DM ruling on that. I'd personally say that it can't, since it makes no mention of allowing you to exceed the normal limits, and it could easily get out of hand (for example, what's to stop a psion holing up somewhere for a few weeks of off-time then facing battle supercharged with power points). Using bestow power with soul crystal would at least allow you to recharge yourself during the day, and if you want to exceed your limits, you can always ready specific powers with the quintessence/soul crystal combo. It's not really the best use of soul crystal, but it works well if you can't trust your allies enough to share.
Sagetim 11-06-07, 06:57 PM	You're correct that the crystal is technically a power effect, not a psionic item, so it isn't excluded by the wording of bestow power. The flavour text in Magic of Incarnum mentions a psionic soul (which presumably holds onto the power points for the duration), so this makes sense in more than just game mechanics. Bestow power doesn't make it clear whether or not you can grant a creature more power points than its normal maximum, so you're going to need a DM ruling on that. I'd personally say that it can't, since it makes no mention of allowing you to exceed the normal limits, and it could easily get out of hand (for example, what's to stop a psion holing up somewhere for a few weeks of off-time then facing battle supercharged with power points). Using bestow power with soul crystal would at least allow you to recharge yourself during the day, and if you want to exceed your limits, you can always ready specific powers with the quintessence/soul crystal combo. It's not really the best use of soul crystal, but it works well if you can't trust your allies enough to share. I'm pretty sure that the power points gained from bestow power cannot be 'stored' in any way unless you're using a psychic mule of some sort. They can only go from one person to another, not into any kind of object or storage device. I don't have magic of incarnum, so I'm not sure if my point is valid, however I'm guessing that a soul crystal isn't a living, breathing, psionic creature. Therefore it is an invalid target for bestow power. The power itself states that it is linking two minds. Therefore you can't 'link' with a mindless entity to share power points with it. If the soul crystal has a mind, it would be a viable target. However, if the soul crystal is not sentient, it is not a valid target for the power.
Slagger the Chuul 11-06-07, 08:20 PM	The power itself states that it is linking two minds. Therefore you can't 'link' with a mindless entity to share power points with it. If the soul crystal has a mind, it would be a viable target. However, if the soul crystal is not sentient, it is not a valid target for the power. Soul crystal creates a temporary crystal that holds some power points and knowledge of one power. It allows the creature that uses it to manifest the stored power using the stored power points. When bestow power is manifested from the crystal, it's still a link between the mind of the manifester and the creature to which they are transferring power points ( a link between two creatures), but the crystal supplies the knowledge and power points necessary to do so. It's similar to manifesting bestow power using a cognizance crystal.
EonEdge 11-06-07, 11:17 PM	It's not really the best use of soul crystal, but it works well if you can't trust your allies enough to share. I'm not the best at optimizing, what are some better funtions of the soul crystal power? I am playing a thrallherd so I have a ton of allies I can trust completely
Slagger the Chuul 11-07-07, 07:19 PM	I'm not the best at optimizing, what are some better funtions of the soul crystal power? I am playing a thrallherd so I have a ton of allies I can trust completely The main advantage of soul crystal is that you can give it to someone else. Amongst other things, this allows you to manifest that power without relying on your own limited supply of actions per round to do so. This becomes vital in combat, where increasing the speed of your attack leaves less time for the enemy to fight back. For example, even a basic crystal shard can become instantly lethal if you have enough of them. Astral construct is especially good, since you can create a veritable army on demand, and, unlike a normal manifestation, they can act in the same round.
Sagetim 11-07-07, 08:33 PM	I'm not the best at optimizing, what are some better funtions of the soul crystal power? I am playing a thrallherd so I have a ton of allies I can trust completely Then make sure the one's who are level 3 and up have bestow power...mmm, free batteries.
CrimsonDeath 11-07-07, 09:18 PM	Then make sure the one's who are level 3 and up have bestow power...mmm, free batteries. Actually, you need Bestow Power, and they don't even need to be psionic. (They might not even need an Intelligence score; it says "any creature" can use the crystal created by the power.) In fact, it doesn't even help if the wielder is psionic. The power stored in the crystal can only be manifested using the PP stored in the crystal, and the PP stored in the crystal can only be used to manifest the power stored in the crystal.
hangedman1984 11-12-07, 02:03 AM	[QUOTE=Slagger the Chuul;14254162]Apart from potentially changing the manifestation time, soul crystal doesn't alter the stored power, and since there is no mention of imbedded experience points, the person using the crystal would have to pay any experience point cost required for the power./QUOTE] How about manifesting astral construct, then having your construct use the crystal? The xp would be taken from the construct, but since it is gonna vanish in a few rounds who cares.
InkBlot 11-12-07, 02:47 AM	The construct, as a being only brought into the world less than two minutes ago, would not have enough XP to manifest the power.
Slagger the Chuul 11-12-07, 08:09 AM	The construct, as a being only brought into the world less than two minutes ago, would not have enough XP to manifest the power. That's correct; even if you decided that having racial construct hit dice meant they had some amount of equivalent experience, they certainly wouldn't have any free experience points to use (and you can't spend XP that would cause you to lose a level on manifesting a power).