Psionic multiclass advice and hlep! please?

[Vixsor Lumin]

Hey I'm trying to get better at optimizing I figured the best way to do that was to learn to dip better. I usually play straight class either to 20 or mix and match PrC's, but I've never made a character (that wasn't copied from a forum) that used dipping. Tonight I had the idea for a wilder 1/ psion 6 for a campaign I'm thinking of joining. My question(s) is/are, how do the powers known stack? Or do they stack?

Also another question I just thought of, does wild surge affect all powers, or just the ones gained from the wilder class.

[lianightdemon]

You'd know all the powers and the power points would combine however the spells would be cast at different manifester levels. And your powers would use different DC's based on two different ability scores (Int and Cha)

However rather then multiclassing take the Anarchic Initiate prestige (cpsi)
all you need is overchannel feat and knowledge psionics 8 ranks and knowledge the planes 8 ranks and a chaotic alignment.

It gets you wild surge +2, and choatic surge, and a few other nifty abilities. Has better BAB then pure psion and more skill points. Also grants full manifesting, so you could take it at level 6 and not lose any psion manifesting.

[Vixsor Lumin]

Hmm ok ill look into that. I was mostly building for fluff, with a wilder being first, but fluff is easy to change and a stronger character is awlays better, right? Haha :smallsmile: thanks

[erikun]

Two psionic classes combine their PP pool, although they do both get bonus PP seperately. Bonus PP, though, depends on the class's Manifester Level (ML). Manifester Level generally only increases in the same way as Caster Level does.

For example, let's take a Psion 6/Psychic Rogue (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b) 1 with 20 INT. Both are INT-based psionic classes. The Psion would have 35 PP (Psion 6) + 15 PP (6th level char with 20 INT). The Psychic Rogue would have 0 PP (Psychic Rogue 1) + 2 PP (1st level char with 20 INT). The character would have 52 PP total, which they could spend entirely on Psion powers, entirely on Psychic Rogue power, or whatever combination they'd like. They are not limited to only spending 50 PP on Psion powers, or limited to only 2 PP for Psychic Rogue powers.

Psionic characters are still limited to how much they can spend based on their Manifester Level, much like how spellcasters are limited by Caster Level. The Psion 6/Psychic Rogue 1 has a Psion ML6 and Psychic Rogue ML1, so even though it has 52 PP, it can only spend 6 PP on any single Psion power and only 1 PP on any single Psychic Rogue power. Similarly, a Psion with Astral Construct (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/astralConstruct.htm) will only last 6 rounds, not 7, because they only have a Psion ML of 6.

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Optimization advise:

Complete Psionic has a feat Practiced Manifester which will add +4 ML to a single manifester class, but only up to the character's Hit Dice. This is handy for multiclassing, because a Psion 6/Fighter 4 with the feat can then spend 10 PP on a single power, much like a 10th level character. Do note, though, that you only increase the manifester level - you do not get extra powers or PP from it.

A character with two classes could take it twice, once for each class. A Psion 4/Wilder 4 could potentially that the feat for both sides, manifesting as an 8th level character for all their powers, although this wouldn't be very optimal. (Psion 8 would have better powers and more PP.)

Psion, Lurk (Complete Psionic), Erudite (variant Psion in Complete Psionic) and Psychic Rogue (above) are INT-based. Psychic Warrior, Warmind, Ardent (Complete Psionic) and the various Monkish prestige classes are WIS-based. Wilder is CHA-based.

Tashalatora is a feat from Secrets of Sarlona that allows a single psionic class to progress Monk abilities. This can be used with Monk/Psychic Warrior to give a very effective "psychic monk" character (generally with only Monk 1 or Monk 2, for evasion). Monk/Ardent can work as well, as will Monk/Psion and Monk/Wilder with the appropriate feats to adjust the WIS-to-AC to the character's manifesting score.

The Psionic Handbook recommends allowing magical items and prestige classes for spellcasters to progress psionics as well. With your DM's okay, this allows for some interesting combinations such as Wizard/Psion/Ultimate Magus/Cerebremancer, along with some very good gishes. (Psionics is generally a bit more multiclass-friendly than spellcasting.) You could also snatch up the various caster level-increase items and abilities, if you like the idea of your DM banning psionics for life afterwards. :smalltongue: