Practical Optimization - psionics

[Myth]

I think it's time for me to delve into psionics. I'm sure I can dig up a handbook or three, but I wanted to ask for specific builds that you guys have tested and like.

1. Must make use of Psionics extensively (single class progression is not required, but don't give me Wizard 19/Mindbender 1 or something like that)

2. Must be good but still in the realm of practical use in a game, I'm not interested in the psionic version of Pun-Pun.

3. Bonus points for:

- 9th level casting (or you know, psionic stuff. which is casting)
- breaking the action economy (able to solo a gang of enemies close to his level or go nova vs one tough enemy)
- full BAB-ness attained either naturally or trough spell
- lots of (viable) physical attacks per round (not flurry of whifs style)
- being as SAD as possible
- equipment suggestions or notable mentions
- rule of cool

[Palthera]

My reply is neither technical nor particularly fussed with optimisation, but, having played it, I fully believe this combination is both awesome fun to roleplay, and extremely useful in many situations.

Psion (telekineticist)/Pyrokineticist

"Solve it with fire" is so much fun in so many ways. Plus the initial levels of psion give you a large range of non-solve-it-with-fire options. A combination of high intelligence and high charisma can be tricky if you don't roll (and rolls well) for stats. But I found I didn't need that much intelligence for the first few levels of psion (I think I had a 15), but pushed my highest stat into charisma in preparation for burny-burny-death.

[Gnorman]

I recommend Shaper 10 / Constructor 10 (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625b).

Astral constructs are pretty good at bashing things, you know - plus, since you're not doing it yourself, you'll have the action economy in the palm of your hand. Plus, some of the options allow you to create hordes of mobile artillery turrets, tossing out concussion blasts and energy bolts each round.

It's a bookkeeping nightmare, though. But hey, you're still a psion, and can pull out any number of awesome battlefield control tricks with Entangling Ectoplasm or Ectoplasmic Cocoon. Concealing Amorpha gives you the much-desired miss chance. You can also repair your minions with Psionic Repair Damage (and yourself if you're smart and go with a warforged). You're not going to be a great warrior, but with careful application of Vigor, Share Pain, and damage reduction from Adamantine Plating, you can be a decent tank. Creative players will find endless fun with creation powers and Fabricate - make a whole bunch of deadly poison and spread it all over yourself (you are conveniently immune to this if you are a warforged) - then play hot potato with yourself as the potato.

Shapers also have decent blasting abilities with crystal powers, though nowhere near the peaks kineticists can attain. They also have a save-or-die power that targets the Fortitude save, moderately rare in psionics.

Your only required stat is Intelligence, though extra Constitution is always a bonus, and you'll only sacrifice two manifester levels to do it, so you can still reach 9th level powers.

[DoctorGlock]

Ardents. Just ardents.

Full manifesters that pick powers off of ML rather than class level

Dominant Ideal lets them do terrible things to the action economy

Substitute power lets them be whatever they want

Supernatural transformation says "What XP cost?" for powers like Reality Revision

They get 3/4 BAB, so Ardent 10/Slayer 10 is a great gish

And they are powered by brute force of will, which is about as badass as you can get

[Varil]

For full pretty decent BAB goodness, start with Ardent from Complete Psionics(3/4 BAB), grab 1 level of any martial-weapon-proficiency granting class(probably full BAB), and go for Sanctified Mind from Lords of Madness(5/6 manifesting, full BAB).

With Ardent 4/Anything 1/Sanctified Mind 6, you're ML 9 with 10 BAB at level 11.

And...that's it! 9 more levels of Ardent will end you up at ML 18 and BAB 16.

For more fun, abandon Ardent after level 5(where you get another psionic mantle) and go for Illithid Slayer, which loses 1 more ML(down to 17 total) for full BAB(up to 18 total).

You could also use Practiced Manifestation to abuse how the Ardent learns powers. Namely, they learn powers based on total ML, not base ML, so you could afford to lose more manifester levels without losing power levels. You should probably avoid over using that, though, since you still end up down in power points and total number of powers.

Note that since the Ardent 5/Something 1/SM 6 build loses 2 manifester levels relatively early, you can abuse this somewhat. If your level 1 feat is Practiced Manifester and your second level is the martial-weapon class, you get powers as a 3rd level manifester(2nd level powers) when you get your next Ardent level. Even better, you never fall behind on power levels, even if you later go into Illithid Slayer and lose another ML.

[classy one]

Like everyone has said already: ardent but get the dominant ideal ACF and you can nova like crazy. This ACF let's you apply metapsionics without expending your focus so you could keep applying twining/linking synchronicity until your DM Kills you.

I personally think Wilders are fun if you want to blast and hit things. I would go with the Dreamscarred press version which has a flat 15% chance of daze even with maxed wild surge. The maenad racial level eliminates all chance of dazing. The best thing about Wilders is their PP recharge trick. Which makes novaing very viable.

[Tr011]

I recommend Shaper 10 / Constructor 10 (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625b).
+5 for that. Action economy [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NisCkxU544c&feature=player_embedded"]like a boss[/quote] via Schizm, that lvl 6 quickened-timestop-power and Psicrystal. Usefulness [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NisCkxU544c&feature=player_embedded"]like a boss[/quote]. We got one in our party and he can solve any encounter or problem by just wasting some power points. And since he got enough of them he just ran out of power points 3 levels ago IIRC. Since he is Elan he doesn't die easily (that save-boost and damage prevention are very decent).

[Myth]

So are ardents the psionic variant of a Batman wizard then?

[Psyren]

So are ardents the psionic variant of a Batman wizard then?

Erudite (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20060406b&page=1) comes closer to that ideal, but Ardents with mantle substitution are up there.

Be warned that this is not a simple class; you will need to discuss with your DM exactly how many unique powers per day they get, because it could go multiple ways.

Also, the primary ways to get +16 BAB is to gish, the most typical ways being Slayer or Sanctified Mind. There is no psionic power that can imitate Divine Power, but an Erudite can get access to it through tricks.

[Myth]

I am the DM. This is a learning experience for me :smallsmile:

[Dusk Eclipse]

If you use the 3.5 version of Contoil Body (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/controlBody.htm) you can double your actions per turn with the help of a psy-crystal.

Just manifest Control Body on yourself and then use solicit Psycrystal to give it the control of your body, now you have a full round action of physical abilities (controlled by yourself, the crystal only maintains concentration) and a full round action for mental ones.

[Psyren]

Two of the links in my sig should be helpful for you: The rules summary by Peregrine and the Psion Handbook by Saeomon.

Note also that some of the best Psionic material is online, in WotC's Mind's Eye (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/psi) archive. 3.5 psionics starts at 4/24/2004, though some of the 3.0 stuff (e.g. Planar Vanguard) can be adapted with minimal adjustment.

[Amphetryon]

An old standard:

Ranger 1/Psion (Shaper) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/classes/psion.htm) 9/Slayer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/slayer.htm) 10. Loses 2 manifester levels, is a solid chassis with the ability to create its own minions (or minion, singular, if you use the stupid Complete Psionics' Astral Construct nerf) and handle a wide variety of challenges.

[The Glyphstone]

2. Must be good but still in the realm of practical use in a game, I'm not interested in the psionic version of Pun-Pun.


Amusing trivia...the original Pun-Pun was, in fact, psionic. Level 15 Egoist, I think. So the Pun-Pun you know is actually the Arcane version, better and at a lower level.

And knowing is half the battle. The other half is red and blue cognizance crystals.

[Keld Denar]

I can't believe this thread got this far without mentioning the #1 cardinal rule of psionics:

THOU SHALT NOT SPEND MORE PP ON A POWER THAN THOU HAST MANIFESTER LEVELS!

The most common cry of "psionics iz teh brokzorz" is that some people still think that a level 4 psion can nova a 20d6 Energy Ray once a day. No. Just no.

[Psyren]

I can't believe this thread got this far without mentioning the #1 cardinal rule of psionics:

THOU SHALT NOT SPEND MORE PP ON A POWER THAN THOU HAST MANIFESTER LEVELS!

The most common cry of "psionics iz teh brokzorz" is that some people still think that a level 4 psion can nova a 20d6 Energy Ray once a day. No. Just no.

I invoked it by proxy, because it's mentioned in Peregrine's post.

But a little emphasis couldn't hurt. :smallwink:

[Novawurmson]

If you have any interest at all in Pathfinder, Psionics Unleashed (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed) and the yet-to-be-completed Psionics Expanded are both excellent.

Psychic Warrior is pretty fun, whether for King-of Smack-esque builds, Monk/PsyWar/Psychic Fist...

[Rubik]

I recommend Shaper 10 / Constructor 10 (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625b).

Astral constructs are pretty good at bashing things, you know - plus, since you're not doing it yourself, you'll have the action economy in the palm of your hand. Plus, some of the options allow you to create hordes of mobile artillery turrets, tossing out concussion blasts and energy bolts each round.

It's a bookkeeping nightmare, though. But hey, you're still a psion, and can pull out any number of awesome battlefield control tricks with Entangling Ectoplasm or Ectoplasmic Cocoon. Concealing Amorpha gives you the much-desired miss chance. You can also repair your minions with Psionic Repair Damage (and yourself if you're smart and go with a warforged). You're not going to be a great warrior, but with careful application of Vigor, Share Pain, and damage reduction from Adamantine Plating, you can be a decent tank. Creative players will find endless fun with creation powers and Fabricate - make a whole bunch of deadly poison and spread it all over yourself (you are conveniently immune to this if you are a warforged) - then play hot potato with yourself as the potato.

Shapers also have decent blasting abilities with crystal powers, though nowhere near the peaks kineticists can attain. They also have a save-or-die power that targets the Fortitude save, moderately rare in psionics.

Your only required stat is Intelligence, though extra Constitution is always a bonus, and you'll only sacrifice two manifester levels to do it, so you can still reach 9th level powers.Oh gods, this build is SO FUN. Astral constructs are expendable and you can build them how you like, to match whatever situation you find yourself in. They work as mobile walls, mounts, swarms of Aid Another assistants, vegan meat-shields, doorstops, and whatever else you can think of. Plus the rest of the shaper discipline is amazing for utility and combat both (and they get Bluff, which is considerably more flexible and useful in diplomatic situations than just the 'lie to them' skill).

Use the Favored Contact feat from Cityscape to get in after shaper 5, then consider adding in 5 levels of astral zealot from Hyperconscious (3rd party, technically, but written by Bruce Cordell; look on the front of your XPH -- see who's on there? Right). Fun fun fun fun fun! Especially if you like thinking outside the box for solutions. For example... (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7390216&postcount=35)

[edit] Oh, and as for the difficulty of bookkeeping, this should help in a big way:

www.sendspace.com/file/1l2pyt

[jaybird]

I personally think Wilders are fun if you want to blast and hit things. I would go with the Dreamscarred press version which has a flat 15% chance of daze even with maxed wild surge. The maenad racial level eliminates all chance of dazing. The best thing about Wilders is their PP recharge trick. Which makes novaing very viable.

Wait, how does the PF Wilder recharge his PP again? :smallconfused:

[dextercorvia]

For full pretty decent BAB goodness, start with Ardent from Complete Psionics(3/4 BAB), grab 1 level of any martial-weapon-proficiency granting class(probably full BAB), and go for Sanctified Mind from Lords of Madness(5/6 manifesting, full BAB).

With Ardent 4/Anything 1/Sanctified Mind 6, you're ML 9 with 10 BAB at level 11.

And...that's it! 9 more levels of Ardent will end you up at ML 18 and BAB 16.

For more fun, abandon Ardent after level 5(where you get another psionic mantle) and go for Illithid Slayer, which loses 1 more ML(down to 17 total) for full BAB(up to 18 total).

You could also use Practiced Manifestation to abuse how the Ardent learns powers. Namely, they learn powers based on total ML, not base ML, so you could afford to lose more manifester levels without losing power levels. You should probably avoid over using that, though, since you still end up down in power points and total number of powers.

Note that since the Ardent 5/Something 1/SM 6 build loses 2 manifester levels relatively early, you can abuse this somewhat. If your level 1 feat is Practiced Manifester and your second level is the martial-weapon class, you get powers as a 3rd level manifester(2nd level powers) when you get your next Ardent level. Even better, you never fall behind on power levels, even if you later go into Illithid Slayer and lose another ML.

You will have the mantles of a 4th or 5th level Ardent though. That isn't much to choose from.

[Rubik]

By the way, psionic characters are kings of the action economy. With the Synchronicity power, lots of Swift- and Immediate action powers (and even a few Move-action ones), the Schism power, psicrystals and Co-Opt Concentration/Solicit Psicrystal (the former is better, since it does the latter's job and then some), Fission, Quicken Power, Split Psionic Ray, Metamorphosis + Psicrystal, and the Linked Power feat from CPsi (my absolute favorite thing out of the entire book), they can throw out a good dozen or more actions per round, though it can drain you VERY quickly if you're not careful.

In fact, it's really really easy to drain yourself dry really fast if you're not careful. It's highly recommended that as a DM you institute four (or more) heavy encounters per adventuring day (or at least the threat of such), to keep your psionic players on their toes. Tell them up-front that there will occasionally be time-limits, and not to go too blast-happy, because they won't want to be relegated to a crossbow for half the day.

You can build for massive stamina if you really try, but most newbies won't do this.

Just FYI.

[TurtleKing]

Ok folks I'll be the odd duck. The Soulknife. Yes I like the Soulknife and I know about it being weak. That being said for people that know me I like the extreme range sniper archtype and a Soulknife 5/Soulbow 10/Cragtop Archer 3 with the last two for either Soulknife or Cragtop Archer. Didn't think the could be done for a good while in psionics except for the Psy Warrior. Neat little trick from the 8th level of Soulbow is Phasing Arrow that "phases" the arrow through obstacles to hit your target. I'll let someone else clarify since away from books. There is a fix for the Soulknife on the homebrew forums that helps boost the power. For a shot could deal 1d8+4d6+2d8 or 3d8+10-30damage at around 2475ish ft that could crit on a 18-20/x4 with certain feats, attributes, and more.

[Gnorman]

Ok folks I'll be the odd duck. The Soulknife. Yes I like the Soulknife and I know about it being weak. That being said for people that know me I like the extreme range sniper archtype and a Soulknife 5/Soulbow 10/Cragtop Archer 3 with the last two for either Soulknife or Cragtop Archer. Didn't think the could be done for a good while in psionics except for the Psy Warrior. Neat little trick from the 8th level of Soulbow is Phasing Arrow that "phases" the arrow through obstacles to hit your target. I'll let someone else clarify since away from books. There is a fix for the Soulknife on the homebrew forums that helps boost the power. For a shot could deal 1d8+4d6+2d8 or 3d8+10-30damage at around 2475ish ft that could crit on a 18-20/x4 with certain feats, attributes, and more.

But by the time you can pull this off, the psion is a golden immortal godling. You, on the other hand, can shoot things sort of hard from far away through the occasional wall.

[Myth]

1. I am not interested in anything pathfinder or 3rd party related (though feel free to post it, this thread is for everyone)

2. I don't have a psionic character in my group though I might throw a high level one AT them at some point.

3. Rubik's explanation of the action economy is great. I need to look up these feats and powers.

Can someone explain and tell me where to read up on the abomination that is the STP Erudite? I hear he's somewhere between Arcane Swordsage and Lightning Warrior. How and why? Does he have a familiar?

[Thrice Dead Cat]

The STP (Spell to Power) Erudite is a poorly executed (based on certain readings) alternate class feature from one of the Mind's Eye (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070629a) articles found online. Basically, you sacrifice your first level bonus feat to instead be able to learn spells as discipline powers.

It can get nuts, because, well, there are a lot more spells than powers. Thus, Erudite's can just nab wizards and sorcerers, touching them inappropriately to learn their secrets. Maybe also from items like wands.

If you interpret their "unique powers per day per level" bit to be one unique power per power level you can cast in a given day, well, you're basically playing an amazingly spontaneous INT-focused cerebremancer, albeit with less "spell slots."

[Essence_of_War]

Thus, Erudite's can just nab wizards and sorcerers, touching them inappropriately to learn their secrets.


This is not how I pictured it working, but probably alarmingly close to how it actually plays out in-game :smallbiggrin:

On topic, for a powerful melee combatant with lots of physical attacks, one can hardly do better than the King of Smack. (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19866038/The_king_of_smack) In its simplest form, this build uses straight psychic warrior 20 (yes, psy war is that solid!), and employs the Expansion + Claws of the Beast + Vampiric Claws powers alongside the Improved Natural Attack, Rapid Strike and Improved Rapid Strike feats to make tons of claw hits, deal massive damage, and heal yourself on every hit.

Spoiler: You're taking Karmic Strike too so that anytime you take a hit, you can make an AoO and likely drain back much of the hp you've lost.

You can make the KoS even better by starting with an Elan and going PsyWar 8/Slayer 10/Warshaper 2. I'll quote from the link above:


Even without the Sharn/sadism abuse (which no sane DM would allow), the psiwar is still hitting pretty hard at 12d6 x6. The best thing about the character is that he's an Elan, and consequently extremely hard to kill. This guy is the ultimate in self-reliance, and a DM's nightmare, even without the damage. Even stripped naked in the middle of the desert, he'll survive. That's the beauty of psionics - psionicists don't need any gear, any spell components, or any other crutches. It doesn't matter if the Weave collapses or my god dies - with a thought, I can move mountains, travel through time, and bend the very fabric of reality. I AM a god. Elans don't even need food. He needs 1 round to set up his inertial armor and his claws, and he's ready to rock. Think about this:

* He can't starve to death.
* He's immortal, so he won't die of old age.
* He's only vulnerable for 4 hours a night, and even that is a trance, not sleep.
* Spot and Listen are class skills for the Illithid Slayer, so he is hard to surprise.
* His saves are decent, and he can add +4 on a critical save anytime.
* He's immune to scrying, so consequently almost impossible to ambush.
* He's immune to mind-affecting effects.
* If you want to kill him, you basically have to do it in one round - if you give him an action, he's going to heal all his damage back
with claws of the vampire. The problem is that you have to do a TON of damage. Anything that gets through his base HP and vigor HP can still be soaked with Elan's racial ability. If he has even 1 HP left, he's going to drain 36d6 from somebody next round. I have a mental image of a giant bashing this guy down to 1 hp with a critical hit - and then next round, this dude leaping at the giant, stabbing into his stomach with his claw, and then climbing his way up the giant's body by sinking his claws into the flesh, draining life all the way.

His only real weakness is death-type effects, and Elan's save bonus helps to deal with that. If you have a choice of magical items, get as much stuff as you can to improve defense and mobility - you have plenty of offense with the claws alone. Also get anything you can to increase your PSPs, as they are the core of your strength. This character is easily powerful enough to solo - he can tank, heal himself, and even blast (with expanded knowledge). Stealth can be a problem, but starting with a ranger level helps (but also gives you an XP penalty). If you get caught in an antimagic zone, well, you still have d8 hit dice and +18 attack bonus, so you can pick up any other good weapon and start bashing people with it.

Now who thinks the Frenzied Berserker has anything on this dude?

[Thrice Dead Cat]

This is not how I pictured it working, but probably alarmingly close to how it actually plays out in-game :smallbiggrin:

Honestly, if I were ever given the chance to be a madboy mindgod, I would ham it up like that. Probably go Synad or Elan for race, just for extra creepy points on being "not quite human." It's not that the character is doing it to harm the poor "defenseless" casters: he just wants REAL ULTIMATE POWER!(TM)

[kardar233]

The ultimate (as far as I've seen) outcome of the King of Smack results in the Tashalatoran God of Smack (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=5661.msg187309#msg187309), who gets up to 192d8 damage per hit, with quite a few attacks.

However, that iteration relies on a couple of "clear with DM" points, such as allowing size increases on Gauntlets to apply to your unarmed strike and being able to TWF unarmed strikes.

[Havelock]

Starts with Schism, that's like one free quickened power every round, and it only costs you the standard action and 7PP to manifest.

Temporal Acceleration is also tons of fun, it's timestop, only that you get access to it at LvL13....

For a spellcaster to rival Astral Construct he'll need shadowcraft mage tricks.

Twinned Ego Whip is a nice nova trick.

At level 20, over-channel for ML21. 8D4 (will half) charisma damage, follow up with another overchanneled schism ego whip for 4D4. Then pull a quickened one for another 4D4. The moment your turn is over, take immediate action to get anticipatory strike, do another twinned ego whip for more 8D4 and a schism one for 4D4 with overchanneling.

Requires overchannel, twin power, quicken power, psicrystal affinity, psicrystal containment and psionic meditation and probably straight Telepath 20 (or feat to gain access to schism).

All of those feats are very useful regardless though.

Comes at 102PP, with another 7 for schism. End result is 28D4 in charisma damage. Seven will saves involved, so reduced to 14D4 if all are succeeded, average of 35....there's PR/SR involved though, few things without that defence or mettle are going to be left standing after such treatment.

Added bonus is daze for one round if even one save is failed. Although, if we assume that critter will fail at least one out of four saves reliably, anticipatory strike might be dropped. Then we're at two rounds where we'll spend 57PP in each to dish out 16D4 (four will saves, each successful removes 2D4). On the third round, we'll use our swift action to replenish our focuses with an 11PP swift action temporal acceleration, while using 36PP on dealing 12D4 (three saves). Then start at round 1 schedule again....if save DC's are high enough, enemy should be dazed all the time, and then it collapses and you can coup the grace it.

[Person_Man]

Generic Psychic Warrior 20 or Psion 20 works just fine. All you have to do is pick decent powers. Since most powers are fairly strong for their level by default, it's pretty hard to mess up.

[Flickerdart]

Losing manifester levels hurts psionicists much more than it does spellcasters, and as far as I know there's only one psionic PrC (Anarchic Initiate from CPsi, AKA "how to be a wilder without having to be a wilder") that does not have at least one lost manifesting level. So always make sure that what you're multiclassing for is worth it - or that you're an Ardent.

Remember that Expanded Knowledge can grant you powers from another class list, so a Psion can comfortably grab Form of Doom, Claws of the Beast and all those other fun powers. Wilder is also good for this, since a Mind's Eye ACF gives them four free Expanded Knowledge feats.

[erikun]

I tend to stick with single classes over a lot of prestige classing or multiclassing, but I can probably offer a few options.

Psion 20 works out quite well. Schism (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/schism.htm) gives you two actions a turn by default, and both Chain Power (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#chainPower) and Twin Power (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#twinPower) will allow for multiple manifestings in one turn. Do note, however, that psionic focus generally limits you to one metapsionic per turn - and it usually takes a full-round action to become focused. If you are planning on doing that, then Psionic Meditation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#psionicMeditation) (psionic focus as a move action) and Psicrystal Containment (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#psicrystalContainment) can help you a bit with focuses.

There is also an interpretation that Practiced Manifester (Complete Psionic) works with Schism to increase your second mind to -2 manifester level rather than -6, but I've found this isn't a universal interpretation.

Psion (Egoist)/Slayer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/slayer.htm) gives up one manifester level and a feat for effectively medium BAB and a few other bonuses. Egoist is mentioned, because if you're going Egoist, you'll probably want to be punching people in the face - extra HP and BAB can help.

Psion/Anarchic Initiate (Comp Psi) is one of the few psionic PrCs that doesn't lose any manifester levels, and is a pretty good PrC at that.

Wilder with the Educated Wilder ACF (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a) is actually pretty good. Expanded Knowledge is a very nice feat, and gives it some benefit over the Psion.

Monk 2/Psychic Warrior with Monastic Training feat + Tashalatora feat (Secrets of Sarlona) will give you Monk progression on most abilities throughout your Psychic Warrior levels.

Psychic Warrior/Slayer, if you want near-full BAB on your Psychic Warrior.

The Ardent class (Comp Psi) has some funny wording where you choose powers based on your manifester level rather than your class level. Some tricks involve Practiced Manifester to dip or PrC a bit without losing progression - a Monk 2/Ardent, in this case, would still have full progression with this interpretation. Cleric 2/Ardent 1(with Practiced Manifester)/Cleric 1 might make an interesting entry into Psychic Theurge (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040925b) if your DM will allow it.

Vigor (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/vigor.htm) is a great survival tool; 1 PP for 5 HP is a great deal, can be applied before battle, lasts a good length of time, and can be re-applied as needed.


1. I am not interested in anything pathfinder or 3rd party related (though feel free to post it, this thread is for everyone)
You might want to allow the Pathfinder Soulknife (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/soulknife), simply because the 3.5e one just doesn't work well.

[Rubik]

Losing manifester levels hurts psionicists much more less than it does spellcasters, and as far as I know there's only one psionic PrC (Anarchic Initiate from CPsi, AKA "how to be a wilder without having to be a wilder") that does not have at least one lost manifesting level. So always make sure that what you're multiclassing for is worth it - or that you're an Ardent.Fixed that for you. Psionic characters can reach the equivalent of higher level powers much easier through augmentation than spellcasters can (because spellcasters can't). All you need is some ML boosters and/or Practiced Manifester.

Also, there's the ghostbreaker PrC in Hyperconscious that gives you 5/5 BAB and 5/5 Manifester Levels. It's not 1st party, but Bruce Cordell wrote the XPH, Hyperconscious, and approximately 1/8 of CPsi, so...