[3.P] Psibond Agent?

[Psyren]

So I was looking through Complete Scoundrel and I stumbled across this PrC. It's "psionic", but all you need to get into it is Wild/Hidden Talent or a psionic race - none of the abilities depend on nor progress manifestation, similar to the Pyrokineticist.

The sneak attack progression isn't stellar (3/10) but the Psibond itself seems very nice - if your target fails the initial will save, you get a variety of tricks to use on the subject depending on level. These range from linking with one of its senses (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/senseLinkForced.htm.htm), "nudging it" to one course of action or another, sensing its emotional state, confusing their senses (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/falseSensoryInput.htm), delivering a suggestion, or full-on domination. It requires concentration until level 5, at which point it lingers for a round after you stop focusing on it and can even be resumed after that one round gap. Higher up, you can psibond two targets at once.

What makes the psibond interesting is that it's Supernatural - therefore it bypasses SR, doesn't provoke AoOs, and other benefits. Also, while several of the effects of the psibond are mind-affecting, by RAW the psibond itself isn't, and the same is true for the "nudge" and empathy sense effects.

Has anyone seen this, are there any tricks with it I don't know, general thoughts, etc? What class would you enter it with (it's abilities are Cha-based?) Other than increasing the sneak progression, what changes would you implement to port it to PF?

[Cieyrin]

It was an Iron Chef Secret Ingredient, so I'd check through those builds for tricks and abuses.

[PotatoNinja]

I have a player whos going to be running a psibond coming up, so i've had to do some research myself, and i'de love to hear input.

As for my own input, here we go.

Psibond was covered decently in the Iron chef, but alot of Psibond falls under DM interpretation and liberties. It's a class that would be right at home in a urban Campaign, out fighting monsters.... it's usefull starts to become lack luster. Yes they can dominate a few combatants, but the save for it can quickly fall behind with no real accessible way to boost it other than your CHA mod.

Nudge is one of it's best tools, and can be very hard to house rule if you have clever/abusive players. This is where you will want to focus on tricks and stuff, as for examples, i don't have any specifics, but your imagination and inguinity are the limit here(OR the dm, ya know, it's whatever). The best way to abuse this is to try and always find a way to manipulate choice. Always try to set up only a few possibilities, or limited actions, and then push them into taking one that's favorable. it's hard to do as a player, and relies a little on the DM working with the player to ensure that the psibond can function as intended.

Confussing the sense, or sensing through them can be great for gathering information, or just throwing off a persuit. if you're being followed ro chases, just change what he see's to be "not you". If you know somebody is tracking you with smell, change what they smell to muffins. If you're sneaking past a gaurd, cut off their auditory senses or create something false. need to be privy to a closed door meeting? Just bond with the lowest level/will save and sit back and concentrate. you can bond with them long before they ever enter the meeting. You could use low level guards to sneak into a building and gather info passively too.


Suggestions got more coverage and so do dominate, and those are fairly standard/vanilla.

Also, because i'm running a slightly higher ended game in terms of power (not super optomized, but certainly smart/deadly) i allowed the player to take up pshychis rogue variant, and then put his psibond levels at half manifest level aqusition to stack with his rogue levels. This was done at every odd level. every odd level. It adds a few lower level powers to augment the psibond, a few SA die, and a small splattering of supporting material to help him get his jobs done, but still limits his BAMF potentiol.