The youth stood in awe as he gazed into the orb he now held in his hands. It was nearly two feet in diameter, and quite heavy, as one would expect from a masterly crafted sphere of pure obsidian. What awed the young man however, wasn’t the craftsmanship, but the knowledge of what this orb contained, and how it came into being…
He had actually been permitted to watch as his master approached the traveler who had crossed into the valley of the last sea. No words were exchanged, but the young man had advanced far enough in his studies to know a great psychic battle had been waged. The stranger at first seeming able to put up a defense; was soon overwhelmed when the master duplicated and separated his mind from his body, storing it within his crystal focus; an amplifier and the source of power of all crystallites. Against the combined attacks, the stranger soon crumpled.
What happened next the young man would never forget, for it was a power he hoped to one day possess that he saw the master use. Approaching the collapsed remains of the stranger, the master held out his hand, the perfect obsidian orb appearing from wherever he had stored it. The young man saw the master reach down and place his hand upon the strangers form, and close his eyes. The orb briefly seemed to glow a faint red, but under the harsh Athasian sun, it was impossible to tell if the effect hadn’t been created by the blazing red sun as it descended towards the horizon.
Time passed; whether it was moments or minutes, the young man was unable to tell.
The master arose and handed the orb to the young man. The young man knew what was wanted, he was to place the orb with the others, to continue the defense of the valley.
“Always remember,” the master had told him, “we are responsible for the protection of this valley, we always have been, from the green age till now. Ours is the duty to restore and preserve the guardians which watch over, and serve us.” The phrase was one oft heard by the young man.
The young man took the heavy orb, and walked away towards where he would be burying it. It would be many years before he himself was able to hatch his Psicrystal into a true crystal focus like his masters, bursting forth from its current clumsy shell, into a swift, small, semi-transparent soft hued stone capable of amplifying the powers he was learning from his master. While away from his master he marveled at the might he might one day possess, as he dug deeper into the earth with his shovel… - Crystalite initiate
The Crystalite is a Psion who has devoted his development in the psionic arts to the study of the properties of gems and crystals, and how they uniquely effect the powers of the mind. The Crystalite learns how to channel powers through a special Crystal Focus in order to amplify his abilities, and to more fully utilize psionic items made of crystal. Ultimately he also obtains the ability to transfer the mind of another into a perfect gem or obsidian orb.
Crystalites are a very uncommon breed of psion, found mainly around the last sea region and in other sheltered pockets of athas that have been cut off from the rest of the world. Though a few members of the elusive order are rumored to be amoung their number.
Hit Die: d4
Requirements:
To qualify to become a Crystalite, a character must fulfill all the following criteria:
Skills: Knowledge (Psionics) 12 ranks, Knowledge (Gemology) 4 ranks, Craft (Gem Cutting) 4 ranks, Concentration 8 ranks
Feats: Psicrystal Affinity, Psicrystal Containment, Craft Cognizance Crystal, Any Metapsionic Feat
Psionics: Manifester level 9th, Able to manifest Schism (4th lvl telepath) and Feat Leech (2nd lvl power)
Class Skills:
The Cyrstalite’s class skills are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (All skills taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Psicraft (Int).
Skill Points at each level: 2 + Int modifier.
The Crystalite
Heh, I'll wait 'till the formating is there for further comments.
The crystal focus is merely an enhanced/altered version of a normal psicrystal (alread accepted by the rules). By 20th level (if you have completed this PrC), even without anyother outside improvements to your crystal focus it will have an intelligence of 18 with 5 different personality traits and the ability to manifest a power on its own. I think that qualifies as a mind. It should be noted that the same thing could be accomplished if you took the Improved Psicrystal feat four times.
Now, if the DS community wants to alter the rules for psicrystals to make them all obsidian orbs, then those will be the only things that can contain minds, but as the rules are currently adopted psicystals (and by extension crystal focuses) are a sort of back door exception.
Doesn't anybody have anything to say about the balance of the abilities/progression of the class? Do you like the concept?
Its a daunting read.
Indepth posting will have to wait for now.
Sage- if you e-mail me a file with any fixes you made I can put all of the formatting issues to rest and add all the charts too.
This week is just really busy- but I will do it this weekend if you send it
Its a daunting read.
Very true (needs formating), but it's basically built around improving one's psicrystal. All the other abilities can be seen as offshoots of that core.
I think that's what we were going for mostly.
Definitely, and it turned out rather nicely :D
I only had minimal input on the creation, but I really like it- and I am glad that a form of the hide life I had suggested made it into the PrC.
Indepth posting will have to wait for now.
Sage- if you e-mail me a file with any fixes you made I can put all of the formatting issues to rest and add all the charts too.
This week is just really busy- but I will do it this weekend if you send it
Everyone's help was much appreciated :D , don't downplay your input Kal. I already sent everyone who worked on the project an RFT file of the class as an attachment on the last email I sent. Did you not get it
? Send me an email and I'll reply back with the RTF file if you still want it.I think the class looks great
Anyone tried playtesting it yet? or simply made up an NPC version for a campaign?Anyone think we should add a couple more resonance abilities? something to enhance nontelepathic powers perhaps? or does that seem overkill or unneeded??
Thoughts?
Hope you like it.
In red are the sections I couldn't understand at all.
Also in red is the feat leech prerequisite power. Why is it a prerequisite?
You'll discover many of the things you had to say...you no longer need to, if you tweak this and that in the structure of the phrase.
A good example is the # and * symbols you had to use for the chart: they are no longer needed.
Btw, I suggest asking Greyorm or another such talented individual if he could look your introductory story over. I did that for mine.
Also, your introductory paragraphs within the PrC itself are meager: I suggest fleshing them out and adding one or more paragraphs to them. Go wild with flavorful details.
At last, the 10th level ability I made a supernatural ability, not knowing how it functionned. Could you add a small section that actually explains what goes on, and how its done? The rules are fine, but you only wrote rules, no fluff for it.
Note: I barely touched the introductory story and paragraphs, so its pretty much like you wrote it.
----------------
Initiation
The youth stood in awe as he gazed into the orb he now held in his hands. It was nearly two feet in diameter, and quite heavy, as one would expect from a masterly crafted sphere of pure obsidian. What awed the young man however, wasn’t the craftsmanship, but the knowledge of what this orb contained, and how it came into being…
He had actually been permitted to watch as his master approached the traveler who had crossed into the valley of the last sea. No words were exchanged, but the young man had advanced far enough in his studies to know a great psychic battle had been waged. The stranger at first seeming able to put up a defense; was soon overwhelmed when the master duplicated and separated his mind from his body, storing it within his crystal focus; an amplifier and the source of power of all crystallites. Against the combined attacks, the stranger soon crumpled.
What happened next the young man would never forget, for it was a power he hoped to one day possess that he saw the master use. Approaching the collapsed remains of the stranger, the master held out his hand, the perfect obsidian orb appearing from wherever he had stored it. The young man saw the master reach down and place his hand upon the strangers form, and close his eyes. The orb briefly seemed to glow a faint red, but under the harsh Athasian sun, it was impossible to tell if the effect hadn’t been created by the blazing red sun as it descended towards the horizon.
Time passed; whether it was moments or minutes, the young man was unable to tell.
The master arose and handed the orb to the young man. The young man knew what was wanted, he was to place the orb with the others, to continue the defense of the valley.
“Always remember,” the master had told him, “we are responsible for the protection of this valley, we always have been, from the green age till now. Ours is the duty to restore and preserve the guardians which watch over, and serve us.” The phrase was one oft heard by the young man.
The young man took the heavy orb, and walked away towards where he would be burying it. It would be many years before he himself was able to hatch his Psicrystal into a true crystal focus like his masters, bursting forth from its current clumsy shell, into a swift, small, semi-transparent soft hued stone capable of amplifying the powers he was learning from his master. While away from his master he marveled at the might he might one day possess, as he dug deeper into the earth with his shovel…
Crystalite
The crystalite is a psion who has devoted his development in the psionic arts to the study of the properties of gems and crystals, and how they uniquely effect the powers of the mind. The crystalite learns how to channel powers through a special Crystal Focus in order to amplify his abilities, and to more fully utilize psionic items made of crystal. Ultimately he also obtains the ability to transfer the mind of another into a perfect gem or obsidian orb.
Crystalites are a very uncommon breed of psion, found mainly around the last sea region and in other sheltered pockets of Athas that have been cut off from the rest of the world. Though a few members of the elusive Order are rumored to be among their number.
Hit Die: d4.
Requirements:
To qualify to become a crystalite, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Skills: Craft (gem cutting) 4 ranks, Knowledge (gemology) 4 ranks, Knowledge (psionics) 12 ranks, Concentration 8 ranks.
Feats: Craft Cognizance Crystal, Psicrystal Affinity, Psicrystal Containment, any one metapsionic feat.
Psionics: Manifester level 9th. Must know the schism power.
Class Skills:
The cyrstalite’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Knowledge (all skills, taken individually) (Int), Profession (Wis), and Psicraft (Int).
Skill Points at Each Level: 2 + Int modifier.
Do I get a
or a 
?
:D , thanks.
Like I said, read it carefuly.
If you like the changes (and wanted this class to have a chance to be included in Appendix II), then the layout and changes might make it easier for Jon to decide if its worth it. You have to consider readability, plus the amount of rewriting Jon will have to make to bring the class to standards: the less the better!
I'd love to have it added to apendix II.. I'll add my two cents worth when I get a chance.. and as for the opening story.. it was a rough draft that got added into the final before I could really do anything with it.. I don't mind a rewrite..
oops! sorry, I was in kind of a rush to put it on the boards.
oops! sorry, I was in kind of a rush to put it on the boards.
Its all ok, I was figuring the final rewrites would be after the peeps on the board gave their input, I wasn't concerned.. until no input was forthcoming that is :P but now we're getting some good input.
do we wish to have a rewrite by me? or by the other indiviudal recomended? I'm fine with either way, though my time is a bit cramped at present..• Overchannel Dorje (Ex): The crystalite learns how to overchannel the powers contained within dorjes by expending more then one charge at the same time. The crystalite can choose to use a number of extra charges equal to 1/2 his crystalite level (rounded down), expending his psionic focus in the process. The dorje's effective manifester level is increased by 2 for each extra charge expended, automatically augmenting the power if possible. Every time the crystalite overchannels a dorje there is a 5% chance of the process backfiring, destroying the dorje and dealing the crystalite 1d6 points of damage per extra charge expended. You cannot overchannel a dorje in excess of your manifester level.
You cannot use the Overchannel Dorje ability to increase a Dorje's effective manifester level beyond your own manifester level.
Metapsionic Resonance (Ex): Beginning at 6th level, the crystalite's crystal focus gains the ability to aid you in the application of metapsionic feats to powers you manifest. As long as his crystal focus is within 5 ft. of him, the crystalite's power point cost for applying metapsionic feats to powers is reduced by [how much?]. The cost cannot be reduced by more than 3 points through this ability. This ability can be used in conjunction with the Dorje Metapsionics and Power Stone Metapsionics abilities. The crystalite's crystal focus can only take a move action in a round that you utilize this ability. Nor does this ability allow you to exceed your normal manifester level for manifesting powers.
Its reduced by half. Somehow that word went missing.
This ability does not allow you to manifest powers with metapsionic feats at a higher manifester level than normal, it merely reduces to power point cost of applying metapsionic feats. Calculate the manifester level based on the unreduced cost for purposes of determining if you can manifest a power with a metapsionic feat applied to it.