PDA

View Full Version : Starting with Psionics



--Lime--
2010-06-17, 10:03 PM
So that time has come - I'm about to embark on my first psionic character.

Level 5 Half-giant, but because it's Siegeball, all damage has got to be nonlethal and I can't take a weapon in with me.

What I want is good melee attack for the ball (doesn't have to be nonlethal) and a way to take down the opponents (has to be nonlethal)

The thing that got me thinking about half giants is that they're a beefy race so they can take a good deal of punishment, and get stomp (seems like a good area clearing ability), and if I put him in goal, he gets to have a large bat rather than a medium one.

Thoughts? Suggestions? I am really limited when it comes to knowing what's good with psionics.

Vaynor
2010-06-17, 10:31 PM
I'd suggest a psychic warrior, good offensive capabilities. You'll have access to up to 2nd level powers (I assume you mean ECL 5, so level 4 psychic warrior), so here's a few that might come in handy for siegeball:

1st:
Burst: +10 ft. speed for 1 round.
Call Weaponry: Summons a weapon, not sure if siegeball allows this or not.
Claws of the Beast: If weapons aren't allows at all, this will let you get some natural attacks. You can choose to do nonlethal, so coupled with Painful Strikes (see below) you could pull off 2d6+Str bonus nonlethal damage. You also get two of them, which helps.
Expansion: Enlarge Person for psionics.
Stomp: I know you get this as a half-giant but it might be useful to have it more than once. Deals nonlethal and knocks prone so is great for the other team's players.

2nd:
Body Adjustment: Heal yourself for obvious reasons.
Animal Affinity: +4 enhancement bonus to an ability score (pump Str, Con, etc).
Hustle: Instantly gain a move action to get across the field faster.
Painful Strike: +1d6 nonlethal on natural weapons.

DragoonWraith
2010-06-17, 10:36 PM
Also, as always should be mentioned to those first trying Psionics: You cannot ever use more Power Points on any given action than your Manifester Level. (unless you have Wild Surge or Overchannel, but only in those specific cases with those specific penalties)

Vaynor
2010-06-17, 10:37 PM
Also, as always should be mentioned to those first trying Psionics: You cannot ever use more Power Points on any given action than your Manifester Level. (unless you have Wild Surge or Overchannel, but only in those specific cases with those specific penalties)

Technically those raise your effective manifester level, so the rule remains constant. Still a good tip though. At this level you'll most likely only be able to augment a few level 1 powers, and even then most likely not.

--Lime--
2010-06-17, 10:39 PM
Well, when I posted it was ECL 6, but now that's changed, so ECL 5, yes.

I'm liking the look of that psychic warrior build. The list of abilities was a little overwhelming.

Tavar
2010-06-17, 10:40 PM
Expansion is going to be awesome. Large size ups your damage and reach. Shortish duration, so you probably don't want many other powers that are rounds per level. How about Offensive Precognition, Offensive Prescience? Minute per level durations, and they'll help you hit stuff. As for your last power, not too sure. Animal Affinity might be a good idea. Or the Dr power(biofeedback?).

The tricky thing is that you aren't going to have the PP for everything you want to do, but there's a couple things that you can do well. Right now, from race and class, you have 6pp. You'll probably only get 4 bonus PP, brining you to a total of 10. So the Stomp ability, while nice, isn't going to be a big contributer. If you really want BC you'll need to pick up some combination of Improved Trip, Improved Grapple, or Stand Still.

--Lime--
2010-06-17, 10:43 PM
Bonus PP? *runs off to check rules*

EDIT:
*Smacks head on table*
Yeah, like bonus spells. I was looking at that earlier.

Vaynor
2010-06-17, 10:44 PM
A good combination might be expansion, claws of the beast, and painful strikes. Claws of the beast last 1 hour/level, so you could probably invest 3 PP in that and have it still be worth it. Combined with expansion and painful strikes (both 1 round/level), you'd get a 3d6+Str bonus attack. You get two of them as well, so even without ≥+6 BAB you'd still get 2 attacks in a full attack. Keep in mind the -4 penalty to attacks for dealing nonlethal damage with natural attacks.

Tavar
2010-06-17, 10:47 PM
His ML is only going to be 4. It's not worth it to have more than 1 round/level effect to cast.

Vaynor
2010-06-17, 11:03 PM
He could probably take out quite a few of the other team's members in just 4 rounds if he did it fast enough. Anyways, just an idea.

DragoonWraith
2010-06-17, 11:05 PM
Practiced Manifester gets him up to ML 6...

Dacia Brabant
2010-06-17, 11:17 PM
I would consider going the Tashalatora route (from Secrets of Sarlona, Monk levels stack with a psionic class for determining many Monk abilities), requiring a dip into Monk to get your Improved Grapple and Unarmed Strike, and you'll need the Monastic Training feat before you can take Tashalatora. Then go the rest of the way in Psychic Warrior with the key powers being Expansion (you'll want Practiced Manifester so you can get the 10 min/level instead of 1 round/level duration) and Grip of Iron.

You'll want to ask the DM for fractional BAB though due to combining two average BAB classes, but even without it you'll still have a really high grapple check and should be doing at least 1d8 +Str nonlethal damage each round.

Tavar
2010-06-17, 11:23 PM
Doesn't work due to SRD only+it being a 5th level game.

--Lime--
2010-06-18, 03:35 PM
Improved unarmed strike is given to all players.