Options for Psionic Characters

[JKTrickster]

I will be joining an arena style, squad based DnD game sometime soon and I need a little help. It is based on each player controlling a small squad of PCs (1 leader and 10 followers) that are all ECL 15.

Stats will be handled with rolls, but anything below a 10 is automatically rerolled.

I want to make a full team (all 11 PCs :smallbiggrin:) of Psionic characters. So far I have a couple of ideas (2-3 Psions, 1-2 PsyWars, and 1 Ardent) but I'm no wear CLOSE to the full 11 that I need.

Does anyone know of any interesting Psionic character ideas that are out there? It is fine to suggest homebrew - the DM is open to (mostly) anything that I throw his way as long as I warn him about it first.

Current ideas:

Creation focused Ardent going into Constructor
Tashalatora PsyWar (probably tripping and some grappling thrown in) and
a Charger based PsyWar
A Telepath, Seer, and Egoist Psion (not sure about the Telepath though).

If you have any suggestions about the above, please feel free to talk about them! I mainly have the Ardents as a "summoner" with the Devoted Mantle ACF, the Telepath to communicate between characters, the Seer to make sure I'm prepared, and the Egoist because they're awesome.

The PsyWars I'm not not sure about, just picked options that seemed to do more damage while I was at it.

But thanks for any suggestions!

[Sir Homeslice]

Make the leaders and followers Psion/Thrallherds.

You know you want to do this.

[kardar233]

Make that Tashalatora PsyWar a full-blown God of Smack build. It'll be hilarious.

Otherwise, try taking Psionic PrCs that don't require psionics, like Warmind and Fist of Zuoken. They may be underpowered but the above will deal with that.

[Kalaska'Agathas]

You might peruse the Psionic Tricks Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=177889) for ideas.

If I had 11 psychics then I'd be looking into Affinity Field and Metaconcert nonsense. Of course, at ECL 15 you probably can't get Affinity Field up and running, without UPD or similar. One off the top of my head, assuming you can get Affinity Field up, would be to have some of the characters be high damage types, maybe PsyWars with lots of natural attacks, and then use some sort of teleportation effect (of level 3 or lower) to move all of them adjacent to a target (you'd want no more than 8 PsyWars of course). They then full attack, and another Psion (or Erudite or Ardent or Wilder or Whatever) teleports them out of harm's way.

That's one of many tricks you could pull off.

[erikun]

Schism (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/schism.htm)/Fusion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/fusion.htm) and have a single supercharacter that can take 12 actions a round?

[Seerow]

Schism (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/schism.htm)/Fusion (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/fusion.htm) and have a single supercharacter that can take 12 actions a round?

Can those powers be stacked like that? I was under the impression fusion could only fuse in one creature at a time, and didn't think Schism could get more than the 1 extra action.

[Godskook]

Let's see:

Thrallherd - There mostly to abuse leadership. If banned, skip it.
Shaper - Constructs make better tanks than squad members. Use it to your advantage.
Share Pain + Vigor health 'batteries' - You'll want a couple, in the back.
Wilder nukers - Psionics are better blasters, and the Wilder is their king, if for no other reason than for all the 'free' PP you can get as one, which allows you to manifest higher and/or longer throughout your day.
Ardent 'gishes'
King of Smack
At least one Seer, so you always know what to expect.
And this guy: http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheetview.php?sheetid=265125 His build continues as Barbarian 1/Totemist 2/Ardent 2/Soul Manifester 5/Totem Rager 10

[kardar233]

Hell with King of Smack, go with God of Smack.

Go Here, (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19539114/Psychic_Warrior_Build_Guide_38;_Compendium_Revised ) and scroll about 2/3rds of the way down. For pure damage, go for the Kalishtar version. For one more true to the Masochism style of the original, take the Half-Giant one through Rob's Gambit/Karmic Strike.

[Lateral]

Wilder nukers - Psionics are better blasters, and the Wilder is their king, if for no other reason than for all the 'free' PP you can get as one, which allows you to manifest higher and/or longer throughout your day.

At ECL 15, honestly, I'd go with Kineticist 5/ Anarchic Initiate 10; Chaotic Surge is better than ordinary Wild Surge, and the Psion gets some of those nice Kineticist-only powers without burning feats and has a lot more powers known for extra versatility.

[Hazzardevil]

I reccomend some shapers and thrallherds.
Also, I reccomend combining a god of smack with a build that uses Whirlwing attack to attack any enemy within 30 ft, Great Cleave means that anything that dies gives you another attack, and then add on sweeping strike so that every attack you make gives you another one on a target next to the initial target, therefore you can then get another chance to drop a target and then whirlwing attack again! And then sue improved trip everyone time, (Or Sunder) and you have a melee monster! And you can have lots of them!

[JKTrickster]

Well instead of a Shaper I thought of using a Dominant Ideal Creation Mantle Ardent to do the same thing, but better. The Dominant Ideal allows me to apply metapsionic feats without sacrificing my psionic focus AND reduces PP by 2. Or would a Shaper still be better?

Or should I just make an Ardent gish? Or both an Ardent gish and an Ardent Constructor?

If I make 1 PsyWar God of Smack build should I bother with the charger one? Or just make 2 God of Smack build (one for pure damage, the other more masochistic)

Godskook, the linked character sheet - I'm not sure I understand what that character is supposed to be - a natural attacks monster?

And Share Pain + Vigor batteries? I know how that works with Psycrystals but how does it apply here :smallconfused:

Also a special note: Whoever I choose to be my "Leader" is extremely important. If the leader dies, I instantly lose and the team cannot continue. So it's important to build a Leader (or build the team) so that the Leader is resilient to attacks. And yes they will know who my Leader is IC (all the group leaders will met together for a meeting beforehand).

EDIT: I"m looking at these classes here (http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/base-classes) and they look pretty good! Any ones that I should pay particular attention to?

Also what do you think about this this one by ErrantX (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=153977) Or this Elocater base class (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192374)?

[Analytica]

Dreamscarred Press Society Mind is perfect for this! Basically you can hive mind your team, and move buffs and healing between them. Plus telepathy.

EDIT: In fact, your SM leader could be Somewhere Else and just spend PPs on buffing the group members.

[JKTrickster]

I just noticed that Society Mind and Worldthought Medic are REALLY similar. Is it worth it to have both?

And how is Thoughtsinger? It's like a Bard but is it worth it?

[Analytica]

Worldthought Medic is a variant Society Mind. I imagine that with 11 PCs (and as many Astral Constructs as you want...), you might want one dedicated healer and one dedicated buffer.

[Analytica]

If you want to be abusive... you can use Mind Seed. Meaning that your Leadership followers, or Thrallherd believers, can all be made into versions of the manifester eight levels lower. If allowed (unlikely), this allows hideous amounts of mooks. Furthermore, mooks that can donate power points via Bestow Power to your network-maintaining leader.

[JKTrickster]

So I guess Thrallherd is a must then? Everyone seems to be suggesting it - but are followers really that good?

EDIT: What does everyone think of the Lurk?

[Greenish]

So I guess Thrallherd is a must then? Everyone seems to be suggesting it - but are followers really that good?Followers? Nope, but the thralls are basically extra characters, which translates to more power, fast. Of course, given that every player will have a squad of characters, it might not be that good, though getting 3-for-1 deal is not bad.


EDIT: What does everyone think of the Lurk?Eh, could be better. Psionic rogue or psionic assassin might be better.

Oh, and Psionic Artificer is pretty nifty, too.

[HalfDragonCube]

The Up the Walls feat. Take it now. Doesn't matter what your build is. Matrix style is too awesome to pass up.

[Godskook]

Godskook, the linked character sheet - I'm not sure I understand what that character is supposed to be - a natural attacks monster?

Yep.


And Share Pain + Vigor batteries? I know how that works with Psycrystals but how does it apply here :smallconfused:

Share pain can target any two individuals. Battery soldier #1 uses it to establish leader->battery #2. Battery soldier #2 does the same for #1. Do this on eveyone you want to survive the first round of fighting, and then hide the battery soldiers somewhere where they can manifest vigor without interruption. Considering this effectively doubles the HP of your frontliners, it'll make your team very resilient.

[JKTrickster]

Oh okay I see how that works.

So my Team seems to be for now:

1 Society Mind (http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/society-mind)
1 Worldthought Medic (http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/worldthought-medic)
1 Seer
1 Soulknife (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=129691)
1 Mind Puppeteer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=187953&highlight=Psionic)
1 Elocater (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=192374)
1 PsyWar God of Smack build
1 Ardent -> Constructor
1 Psychic Guardian (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=167653)
1 Kinectist -> Anarchic Initiate
Don't know what to fill the last spot with.


Who should be the "Leader" of the group? I think Society Mind or Seer would work best.

And what should I fill the last spot with?

Also I rolled stats already and while some came out good, others were more meh.

Stat 1
15
16
15
15
17
13

Stat 2
11
14
11
16
15
14

Stat 3
13
17
13
11
14
16

Stat 4
17
14
12
15
15
14

Stat 5
14
15
13
12
14
14

Stat 6
10
14
12
12
13
14

Stat 7
15
13
12
15
15
13

Stat 8
10
12
13
13
10
14

Stat 9
15
15
13
17
12
15

Stat 10
16
14
11
17
13
13

Stat 11
15
12
15
16
11
16

[Draz74]

All of your full manifesters take the Psicrystal Affinity feat and the Energy Conversion power. One of them takes the Energy Wall and Solicit Psicrystal powers.

Before the battle, manifest Energy Wall (sonic) and have them all sit in front of it, taking "damage" that gets stored in their Energy Conversion batteries. Might as well do the same thing at the same time with another energy type, in case your opponents actually resist Sonic. Keep this up for at least 10 minutes (it's Concentration-duration).

Now, during the battle, any of them can use a standard action to blast a 45-damage energy ray at an opponent. More importantly, any of their Psicrystals can do the same. And all it cost you was 13 PP per character, plus another 15 PP for the guy who used Energy Wall to fill up all their batteries.