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pantoffelheld
2011-08-01, 08:32 AM
Hello everybody,

I was thinking of creating a warforged psychic warrior for Dnd 3.5 and, since I know you all love building characters so much, would like to ask you for help. The idea behind this character is that his powers look more like mechanical abilities than psionic ones. Like when I cast the power 'Skate', little wheels pop out beneath my feet. This is purely a fluff thing and will in no way influences the mechanics (for example, psionic/spell resistance will still apply).

I have some basic ideas in mind and am looking for some feedback and advice to make this character more useful to the rest of the party, both in and out of combat. If somebody has awesome fluff ideas, please share those too, like what a certain psionic power could look like in mechanical/robot form.
Please take in mind that this character is only level 7 and will probably never reach beyond level 12, so builds that only become useful with a level 20 capstone ability are not really worth it here. Also, I'm quite limited in books to use, owning only: PHB, DMG, MM, Expanded psionics handbook, Eberron campaign setting, Secret's of Xen'drik, Player's guide to Eberron, and Sharn: city of towers.

Alright, let's get going. We're using standard point buy, so I had the following set-up in mind: STR: 15, DEX: 10, Con: 13, INT: 10, WIS: 14, Cha: 6. The Warforged wisdom penalty really hurts me here, but I think this is an ok spread. I could put the 4th level attribute point in STR, and the 8th level... maybe CON? Probably also buying a +2 WIS item, to help with the power points.

As for feats, there are 2 I definitely want: Adamantine body (easy damage reduction) and Shocking Fist (from player's guide to eberron, page 151). Shocking fist allows me to inflict x damage (up to my BaB) to myself and deal xd4 electricity damage with my slam attack. I think this feat fits the fluff perfectly and can be used extremely well with the power Vigor.
As for other feats, I don't really have a clue what's important. I was looking at powerfull charge (may be useful with the power expansion) but I don't know only going for more damage is smart.

Powers are not yet decided either. I was looking at:
Vigor (Looks great, can be used with shocking fist),
Expansion (for the tanking aspect and occasional grapple, and this looks more useful than grip of iron),
Body adjustment (warforged are a pain to heal otherwise),
Animal affinity (always useful),
Levitate (some out of combat use, plus it could look like a jetpack which is frickin awesome)
...And that's pretty much it. I am wondering what the smartest way to go here is: should I mostly rely on my slam attack and pick powers supporting that (for instance, metaphysical claw) or is it smarter to just wield a weapon/armblade? I can't use shocking fist with a weapon, but I don't know if it is smart relying on slam for my main attacks?

Also, what items should I buy? Something to support my slam attack? And is using a shield a smart idea?

Thanks in advance for anyone helping me with this!

Psyren
2011-08-01, 08:40 AM
Handbooks are a big help for threads like these; try these links to narrow down your available options to something more manageable, then return for more fine-tuned advice.

Zugschef's Psychic Warrior Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162701) - this is your go-to

The older one just in case (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19539114/Psychic_Warrior_Build_Guide_38;_Compendium_Revised )

pantoffelheld
2011-08-01, 08:52 AM
Handbooks are a big help for threads like these; try these links to narrow down your available options to something more manageable, then return for more fine-tuned advice.

Zugschef's Psychic Warrior Handbook (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=162701) - this is your go-to

The older one just in case (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19539114/Psychic_Warrior_Build_Guide_38;_Compendium_Revised )

Alright, sorry. I'll narrow it down to one question then:

Is it viable to make a warforged psychic warrior who puts the most emphasis on his natural slam attack instead of other weapons? What powers, feats and items could help with such a build?
The handbook advices to take the "battlefist attached component, which is great for tashalatora characters" but I have no idea what tashalatora characters are:smallredface:

Psyren
2011-08-01, 09:15 AM
No need to apologize.

"Tashalatora" is an Eberron feat (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20070212a&page=5) that lets your monk levels (should you have any) stack with your Psywar levels to determine your unarmed damage, AC bonus and flurry. Since your natural attacks (including your slam) and your monk punches would benefit from a lot of the same things (e.g. Necklace of Natural Attacks), they're typically a good combo.

However, you want Adamantine Body, which would deny you a lot of the other monk benefits because it counts as heavy armor, and would thus switch off your class features. I wouldn't be experienced in building a slam build that doesn't go monk, so someone else might have to help you with that.


For "powers, feats and items" the handbook has you covered - read the relevant sections. Most of the ones you want as a psywar are pretty constant across builds. For instance, you'll always want Expansion, Vigor, Shared Pain, a psicrystal etc.

Greenish
2011-08-01, 10:19 AM
Since your natural attacks (including your slam) and your monk punches would benefit from a lot of the same things (e.g. Necklace of Natural Attacks), they're typically a good combo.Necklace that affects both slam and unarmed strike costs double.


As for slam in general, you don't have to use it as the main weapon to use Shocking Fist, you can use other weapons and the slam as a secondary.

Andorax
2011-08-01, 01:33 PM
Well, the most logical choice that comes to my mind (though it's from a book you don't have) is the Psiforged Body feat (from Magic of Eberron). Essentially a "subspecies" of warforged, these are warforged who are constructed with psi-active crystals as part of their physical makeup.

The downside is that it's like the other "body" feats, in that it has to be taken at first level. Barring flaws, this would prevent you from taking Adamantine Body...though if you went the Monk/Psiwar approach, that's not such a bad thing.

The benefits of Psiforged Body are 1 bonus pp (like many "psionic" races), and the ability to treat your own body as a cog. crystal worth 1 + 1/2 level capacity (1 at 1st, 4 at 7th, 7 at 12th, 11 at 20th).