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View Full Version : Best things to do with a psicrystal



Trekkin
2010-04-02, 12:51 AM
So I'm to play in a campaign as a psion, and I've got a psicrystal that I'm using as both transport (it's faster than me and I weigh so little i count as a light load for it) and a bonus to Con checks. Now I'm wondering what else can be done with a psicrystal, and so I put the question to the forum:

What are your favorite/most effective things to do with a psicrystal?

Purely to forestall any debate, can we all just assume they gain feats?

Tackyhillbillu
2010-04-02, 12:58 AM
Give it the open Chakra feat, and use the Girillion Arms Soul Meld?

If have no idea if that would work, but it would amuse me to no end.

IonDragon
2010-04-02, 01:00 AM
Well, I don't know the D&D psycrystal rules because my group had a homebrew psionics system, however our homebrew system psycrstals can manifest using your power points. I once fired my psycrystal out of a sling, hit a kobold with it, it then killed the kobold while we did other things.

Trekkin
2010-04-02, 01:05 AM
Can psicrystals take incarnum feats? I was under the impression their lack of Con stopped them.

PhoenixRivers
2010-04-02, 01:08 AM
Well, if you have psicrystal containment as well, I recommend giving it wild talent, which will allow it to actually get a focus on its own (as it's psionic now).

After that, there are two paths.

1) Psionic feats + Steal them

2) Martial stances and maneuvers that help you (White Raven Tactics, anyone?)

Alleine
2010-04-02, 01:24 AM
I've used mine to pay people, then it simply walks out of their pocket. They have pretty much no way of noticing with its amazing hide checks.

Optimystik
2010-04-02, 08:15 AM
Metamorphosis it into a bruiser.

Hyperconscious has psionic staves that you can slot your psicrystal into. Doing so boosts their abilities as though your ML were 2 higher than it is. You can dock it and then undock it, and so long as it spends at least 1 hour out of every two docked (they do not need to be consecutive) you can gain the benefit all day. For example, a 7th-level psicrystal that charges up in a stave can fly (normally a 9th-level ability.)

HC also lets you turn it into a bomb :smalleek: 30d6, ignores SR, 8th-level power.

Eldariel
2010-04-02, 09:46 AM
Vigor + Share Pain = Lots of HP.

Radar
2010-04-02, 09:51 AM
Vigor + Share Pain = Lots of HP.
Affinity Field + Bestow Power (as I remember) = Infinity+1 PP :smalltongue:

Lycanthromancer
2010-04-02, 10:15 AM
I like using mine as a sentry; no need for it to sleep.

You can use it as a universal translator; it can communicate with others telepathically regardless of language.

It works well as an information relay; it can communicate with its owner telepathically out to a mile away, so send it scouting with the party's factotum/scout/rogue/ranger so you can A.) know what's going on ahead of you, B.) save his arse when he inevitably gets into trouble, and C.) kick his arse when he pockets a share of the treasure before you get there.

It can be used as a seeing-eye crystal; it can't be blinded (since it technically doesn't "see"), and its hearing isn't based on sound. It sees just fine in darkness of any kind, and it can qualify for both the Mindsight feat (LoM) and Life Sense (LM), which makes it impossible to hide from unless you're both mindless and nonliving (in which case you probably aren't much of a threat anyway).

Unlike familiars, it's a very tough little guy, what with a very large natural armor and hardness score, and it can't be taken from you permanently unless someone takes your Psicrystal Affinity feat from you. Just HOW you get it back after it dies is another matter, however.

Also unlike familiars, it can channel your manifestations for you, meaning you can give it to the party's barbarian, activate an null psionics field, and have him grapple the lich (whose racial attacks and most of his spells are now useless) until the party can beat it down (this is, of course, barring shrink item shenanigans, though if he grapples it BEFORE you turn on your NPF...). This gives you an awesome amount of flexibility, since the psicrystal can act as an aerial bombardment unit, and can sneak into positions you'd find impossible without metamorphosis or greater invisibility and assist in laying the smack down.

Since it has all of your skill points, it can Aid Another on all of your skills; this gives you an effective +2 to any skill you have points in (or untrained skills, for that matter), especially if it's a skill you can use to Take 10 on. It makes a great little browser and search engine for Knowledge skills; I believe I'll name my next psicrystal Chrome, in fact.

You can use metamorphosis on it (or expansion and a few maneuver/stance feats, to give it both reach and damage) and a few other buffs to turn it into a very powerful ally. Consider using fusion on it after summoning a cerebrilith. It gets a lot of psi-like abilities, boosts to its ability scores, and over a hundred hit points. And you can continue buffing it as you like to turn it into a search engine of death.

In fact, metamorphosis turns it into an awesome utility tool, as well; you can turn it into any object you can think of (up to, I believe, 15 hardness), which still maintains its psicrystal granted abilities, such as the ability to walk, climb, and fly. Imagine trapping an enemy in a steel cage, which is still mobile, can deliver touch powers and channel powers as you like, and can warn you when the prisoner is attempting to escape (you can do this around yourself as well, to protect you against attacks). If the ceiling is about to collapse, turn it into a hydraulic press or a plain stone column, and watch the DM turn purple. :smallsmile:

Seriously, these little guys have a metric ton of uses.

[edit] Oh, and did I mention using dimension swap to increase your mobility, as well as increasing dramatically your ability to lay out the battlefield using other allies?

It also increases your tactical options at later levels, since you can manifest from one of two different points at any time.

Eldariel
2010-04-02, 10:30 AM
Affinity Field + Bestow Power (as I remember) = Infinity+1 PP :smalltongue:

No! Bad Pharaoh! No infinite loops! No Affinity Field loops! No Synchronity! No STP Erudites! You can't just go around breaking the game left and right just 'cause you feel like it!

9mm
2010-04-02, 11:42 AM
No! Bad Pharaoh! No infinite loops! No Affinity Field loops! No Synchronity! No STP Erudites! You can't just go around breaking the game left and right just 'cause you feel like it!

body fuel + strongheart vest soul meld then....

Claudius Maximus
2010-04-02, 02:17 PM
Have it take Psicrystal Affinity.

Or Leadership.

Starbuck_II
2010-04-02, 02:21 PM
body fuel + strongheart vest soul meld then....

Body Fuel isn't ability damage (it is ability burn). Strong heart vest only works vs ability damage.
This is madness to invoke. It would be like applying I have a driver's license to whether you can own a concealed handgun. They have nothing to do with each other.

Edit: Okay, you can argue it:


Ability Burn
This is a special form of ability damage that cannot be magically or psionically healed. It is caused by the use of certain psionic feats and powers. It returns only through natural healing.

You aren't healing it so I guess it counts.

Claudius Maximus
2010-04-02, 02:23 PM
Body Fuel isn't ability damage (it is ability burn). Strong heart vest only works vs ability damage.
This is madness to invoke. It would be like applying I have a driver's license to whether you can own a concealed handgun. They have nothing to do with each other.

Ability burn is ability damage. It just has special restrictions on healing.

Citation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicPowersOverview.htm#abilityBurn):

[Ability burn] is a special form of ability damage that cannot be magically or psionically healed. It is caused by the use of certain psionic feats and powers. It returns only through natural healing.