Ectopic Form Questions

[Thalnawr]

So, I'm playing a Creation mantle Ardent in an upcoming game, and I ended up running into a few questions.

Does the feat Ectopic Form replace the normal menu items or do you get to add those on as well as the feat bonuses? I'm thinking the latter, but I'm not 100% sure.

Also, which Ectopic Form would be recommended?

[Psyren]

The ectopic forms are a preset kit of abilities for your construct. If you use the EF Astral Construct, you cannot modify it further with additional abilities because the various forms are pre-made. The tradeoff (supposedly) is that the preset forms get some minor buffs not provided by the menus, or that you could not get from the menus as efficiently. (For example: the Agile Loper moves faster at level 1 than an Astral Construct with Celerity.)

I don't recommend Ectopic Form though, because for the same feat expenditure you could pick up Boost Construct (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#boostConstruct) instead, and get most of the same benefits (multiple menu choices sooner) while keeping the ability to configure the construct as desired for any given situation.

Example: Alabaster Aerial gets the Fly and Deflection abilities (both Menu A) at 1st-level; a normal lvl 1 Astral Construct can only get both of these at 4th-level. BUT a normal lvl 1 Astral Construct with Boost Construct can also get Fly + Deflection; or Fly + Mobility, or Swim + Power Attack etc. And you would only need Boost Construct once, instead of needing Ectopic Form (X) for a flier, Ectopic Form (Y) for a swimmer etc; this frees up your feats for more important expenditures such as metapsionics and item creation.

The other advantage of the Ectopic Form feats is that they let you shape your construct without a Craft (sculpting) check. So if you suck at sculpting, you can still make a centaur or bird to ride on and not have it look like a four-year-old's attempt at claymation. But all Shapers should be good at sculpting anyway.

If you have your heart set on Ectopic Form, the Amber Tunneler is a good choice, as a burrow speed is not part of the normal AC menus.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Complete Psionic, page 120, you take the basic astral construct statistics block given for the appropriate level (which gets no menu abilities), and modify it as per the specific ectopic form statistics block. The end result gets no menu abilities, as it already has a list of abilities specific to that ectopic form.

However, you can get the Boost Construct feat and give an ectopic form extra abilities, provided you can determine which menu abilities its predetermined list are equivalent to. For example, a Psion (Shaper) 1 with Boost Construct and Ectopic Form: Emerald Gyre would create a 1st level Emerald Gyre with Improved Grab (a Menu B ability), plus one additional ability from Menu B or two abilities from Menu A. That 1st level character could make an Emerald Gyre with the Muscle ability, or he could give it Improved Slam Attack and Trip.

In the higher levels, you'll probably want to use Psychic Reformation to repick any Ectopic Form feats you get. They provide a nice boost in the early levels, but they quickly become inferior to the versatility of a standard astral construct. Personal Construct (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070411a) was the best thing to ever happen to the Astral Construct power, but you need to be a Psion (Shaper) to gain it.

[Thalnawr]

The Ectopic Form feat is a bonus, because I'm picking the Creation Mantle as an Ardent, so I'm pretty much stuck with it. I am taking Boost Construct, and Durable Construct from Hyperconscious, so he's going to last for 10 minutes.

[Psyren]

Loper is also a good choice to get you a speedy "horse" that you can control with your mind. As I said in my original post, the AL moves faster than an equal-level AC with Celerity bonuses.

I also agree with Biffo's reading that Boost Construct can let you add an ability to your EF constructs, so definitely make use of that. You probably won't be able to ride it until it's Large though (level 5.)