Post/Author/DateTime	Post
awaken_D_M_golem 07-23-07, 07:09 PM	Lurk - True Thief The 11th level Lurk augments include Psionic Skill Mastery. It says: Psionic Skill Mastery: As long as you have your psionic focus, you gain the skill mastery special ability of a rogue. Minimum level 11th. And of course, you take the Lurk Augment feat that bumps your access 2 levels. So you focus, and pick 3 + Int mod number of skills. Drop your focus. Refocus, and pick another 3 + Int mod number of skills. I suppose this would be a countably second use of your Lurk Augs. At 9th level, you could do this 9 + Int mod number of times, amongst other things. This has to be good stuff.
forsaken1111 07-23-07, 10:45 PM	Lurk - True Thief The 11th level Lurk augments include Psionic Skill Mastery. It says: And of course, you take the Lurk Augment feat that bumps your access 2 levels. So you focus, and pick 3 + Int mod number of skills. Drop your focus. Refocus, and pick another 3 + Int mod number of skills. I suppose this would be a countably second use of your Lurk Augs. At 9th level, you could do this 9 + Int mod number of times, amongst other things. This has to be good stuff. What did you read that makes you can choose 3 new skills each time? As I read it, "As long as you have your psionic focus, you gain the skill mastery special ability of a rogue." means that you have the ability and pick 3 skills. Any time you are psionically focused you have mastery with those 3 skills. Any time you're not, you don't. It does not say "You may drop your psionic focus and then refocus to choose 3 new skills" and it does not say "Any time you gain your psionic focus you gain the special ability again." It simply says you have it when you're focused.
Suldarr'essalar 07-24-07, 01:41 AM	When you get psionicly focused, you get skill mastery: Skill Mastery (...) Upon gaining this ability, she selects a number of skills equal to 3 + her Intelligence modifier (...)You choose skills when you gain this ability, and you gain it every time you get psionicly focused, thus every time you get focused, you choose skills. It's not how it was intended though.
CrimsonDeath 07-24-07, 03:48 AM	It's not how it was intended though. Well, it's probably not how it was intended.
hovnarr 07-24-07, 12:56 PM	Surely, this couldn't be a random, unique and unexpected case of poor wording in an otherwise perfectly clear and high quality psionic supplement product, could it? Yeesh, it's Complete Psionics people, what did you expect? It's the worst thing since 3rd edition psionics.
SlanderPanic 07-24-07, 01:52 PM	Actually, it's Mind's Eye, which is continually praised around here. Some of the alternate class features are really good, but I think Mark dropped the ball a little on a few. Examples: *The egoist's "True Healer" feature is pretty redundant. Most of the Life Mantle powers are on the egoist's class list already. The granted power is a joke. (Who uses the Heal skill past 5th level?) The only powers worth losing a feat for are touch of health and mend wounds. Any egoist who is both serious about healing and allowed to use material from Mind's Eye will likely step into sangehirn at sixth level, gaining abilities that make either of those powers redundant. (Also, whose idea was from the brink? If a Life mantle ardent needs to stabilize someone, he can just use touch of health. It's more efficient and actually heals the target.) *The erudite's Convert Spell To Power is actually really neat, but pretty open to abuse. The lurk's alternate augment lists could benefit from a little clarification. I like that they expand the uses of augments beyond just hitting things in different ways. I think some of these would be better as tradeoffs for other lurk class features than as augments. For example, it's ironic that the lurk (oft described as a psionic assassin base class) can only get a death attack if he's less focused on killing things than other lurks are. If I were playing a lurk, I'd want death attack, but I wouldn't want to give up a plethora of infiltration and combat abilities for it.
hovnarr 07-24-07, 05:02 PM	But it is in Complete Psionics, even if it's also on the WotC website. The fact that it may have been published on-line for free before just makes it more embarassing that they didn't get it right this time either. Poor wording is acceptable now and then in an article series, but not as the general case in a published product that you pay money for.
CrimsonDeath 07-24-07, 05:47 PM	Who uses the Heal skill past 5th level? I do. A Heal check consumes a smaller amount of daily resources than a spell slot. If they both do the same thing, it makes less sense to use a spell. Also, whose idea was from the brink? If a Life mantle ardent needs to stabilize someone, he can just use touch of health. It's more efficient and actually heals the target. One who's 30 feet away? Touch of Health is, as the name implies, a touch power. Plus, From the Brink is an immediate action. It has a lower action cost. I used to wonder why any Cleric would use the spell Close Wounds, since it's roughly half as effective as a spell a level lower, but there are people who swear by it. It's simply designed for a different situation.
suomynonAyletamitlU 07-24-07, 08:33 PM	But it is in Complete Psionics, even if it's also on the WotC website. Actually, I believe the OP is talking about an alternate system described only in the Mind's Eye (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070629a), not a default Lurk class feature. The lurk in CP does not have the augment described.
hovnarr 07-25-07, 08:34 AM	OK - my bad then for not knowing the finer points of Lurk variants. As I said, I'm OK with some poor wording in a free article series - I just think requirements should be higher for books that cost money.
SlanderPanic 07-25-07, 10:26 AM	I do. A Heal check consumes a smaller amount of daily resources than a spell slot. If they both do the same thing, it makes less sense to use a spell. I figure that's what orisons are best for. If all you're trying to do is stabilize someone, you can heal a hit point along with it by spont-casting a cure minor wounds. You're not likely to use your orison slots for much else. Also, I should note that I got the Life mantle's granted power wrong. I thought it allowed you to expend focus to take 15 on Heal checks, but it actually allows you to expend your focus to increase your manifester level for powers from that mantle. One who's 30 feet away? Touch of Health is, as the name implies, a touch power. Woops. I was AFB and didn't remember from the brink being a ranged power. Still, it's a little underpowered for a second level power, though it has a pretty cool augment. I'd probably lower it to first level. In Expanded Classes Part IV, Mark mentions mutable mantles, customizing a mantle's power list by swapping out some powers. If a DM is allowing the expanded classes anyway, I don't see any reason why he couldn't allow an egoist with True Healer to make a few substitutions. I retract my criticism.
awaken_D_M_golem 07-25-07, 04:59 PM	To Clarify: 1 Swift Action to activate Lurk Augment Lurk Augment lasts for 1 round only. Take 10 with 3 + Int mod # of skills. Round done = ability done. The Lurk True Thief option loses what the Lurk original flavor and the Lurk Tracker have at 9th level. Namely, the Lurk Augment that is a de facto pp recharge set-up. Thieves , urr ... Rogues get 3 + Int mod # of skills at will, not as a limited count, not cutting into other class sbilities, lasting longer than 1 round; or other choices. I fail to see how this is broken. I do see it as rather neat-o. Question: How many of the other Lurk Augments can you Take 10 on a skill with during 1 round?
Antendren 07-25-07, 06:28 PM	I'm not sure it's intended to cost an augment use. Note that the new abilities like this and trapfinding don't contain the text, "At the cost of a lurk augment . . .". I think these were intended to just be new abilities you got instead of getting an augment at that level, but it was easier to stick them into the augment table than to type it all out.
CrimsonDeath 07-25-07, 10:10 PM	I figure that's what orisons are best for. If all you're trying to do is stabilize someone, you can heal a hit point along with it by spont-casting a cure minor wounds. You're not likely to use your orison slots for much else. I'd probably only use my orisons to stabilize neutral NPCs or enemies I wanted to interrogate. If one of my allies drops in combat, I'm going to throw down the biggest cure-bomb I can. On the other hand, the Heal skill can also be used to treat poison. In my experience, combat seldom lasts a full minute, so a Heal check can be a more efficient means of dealing with secondary poison damage than a Neutralize Poison spell. Alternatively, it's also a good option before you have access to Neutralize Poison and Remove Disease, or for parties that end up not having them (and they do exist; I'm in one).