advice first lvl shaper.

[morkendi]

Starting at first, just looking for recommended feats and powers. I am drow, so only 1 feat. I am thinking inertial armor feat instead of taking the power. Powers i am thinking are astral construct, crystal shard, and vigor for hit points. DM allows us to change feats and powers when we level for a cost, so it can be changed later at any level.

[The Redwolf]

DM allows us to change feats and powers when we level for a cost, so it can be changed later at any level.

You could skip that part if you get to a high enough level as there's a power that allows you to completely respec your character. I can't remember what it's called, but it's pretty useful if you have someone that can repair the ability hits you take from using it, although I'm pretty sure they're temporary anyway.

[Novawurmson]

Astral Construct? 100%. Vigor? Not so much unless you're planning to get into melee. I prefer Energy Ray to Crystal Shard - gets around DR, and you can change the type of damage to deal with immunities/resistances.

Inertial Armor wouldn't be a bad pickup.

Maybe trade out Vigor for Entangling Ectoplasm to bring some crowd control?

[Novawurmson]

You could skip that part if you get to a high enough level as there's a power that allows you to completely respec your character. I can't remember what it's called, but it's pretty useful if you have someone that can repair the ability hits you take from using it, although I'm pretty sure they're temporary anyway.

Psychic Chirurgery (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/psychicChirurgery.htm)?

[morkendi]

Energy ray is fine over shard. I thought vigor as sort of a sideways heal untill i get body adjustment and then change it. Astral constuct is the must have. Thinking to cross class hide as well and let my pet fight.

[The Redwolf]

Psychic Chirurgery (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/psychicChirurgery.htm)?

No, it like lets you completely rewrite you levels, picking new feats, putting skill ranks elsewhere, getting different powers, stuff like that. It's in one of the psionic handbooks. I haven't played one but a friend loves them and that was one of the first powers he leapt on.

[Rubik]

Psychic Chirurgery (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/psychicChirurgery.htm)?

Psychic reformation, actually. (www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/psychicReformation.htm) Remember, it allows you to change anything you choose at a given level, but it only mentions feats, skills, and powers.

[morkendi]

I have used reformation before on other characters. Its nice, you can retrain for certain things, and retrain back. Our dm makes you train for lvls and feats. The only thing you dont have to train for is if you loose a lvl and gain it back and do the exact same things you trained before. You can gain experience, but not lvls untill someone shows you. You can not retrain unless there is a trainer available and you have the xp to lvl. All reformation does for us is empty the slot and let us go to the trainer at any time. Characters can train other characters if they have the lvl, feat, or skill you want.

[Urpriest]

Not that it's particularly relevant, but if you're starting from level 1 as a Drow, are you using Lesser Drow, or one of the Forgotten Realms variants that let you start earlier by taking penalties, or something else?

[Psyren]

Do note that while shard may be subject to DR, it does get around SR/PR, while energy ray does not. This could be relevant if you expect other Drow to show up during your adventure. You can also fling it into AMFs/NPFs.

Of course, you can always grab the ray for general blasting, then pick up something like Swarm of Crystals (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/swarmofCrystals.htm) for more niche use along those lines. Most DR caps at 10-15 so throwing in some metapsionics should get you over that hurdle easily.

[Rubik]

Of course, you can always grab the ray for general blasting, then pick up something like Swarm of Crystals (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/swarmofCrystals.htm) for more niche use along those lines. Most DR caps at 10-15 so throwing in some metapsionics should get you over that hurdle easily.I one-shotted a BBEG with this. She had immunities out the wazoo, including anything with SR/PR and wood/metal weapons. Pump your ML high enough, stack on enough Empower Powers, and get enough actions in one round and you can shred through nearly anything.

[morkendi]

I get a bonus feat at first I forgot about. Is it worth it to take overchannel and talented instead?

The other option i am thinking is discover power and take attraction. I am drow on the surface, so making the guard, merchant, whatever attracted to me could help.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

There is no Inertial Armor feat in 3.5, it was changed to a power with the psionics overhaul from 3.0.

Take two flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) if possible, to get two extra feats. That link contains all the flaws from UA, there are additional flaws in several issues of Dragon magazine if you have access to those (oblig Dragondex link (http://www.aeolia.net/dragondex/articles-subject.html#f)). The Dragon mag flaws are each intended for a specific class/race but the majority of them have nothing restricting them to any particular class/race.

Definitely pick up Psicrystal Affinity, preferably for a Hero or Nimble or even Single-Minded personality. As soon as possible you should keep Share Pain active on it, so every instance of damage you take will be split in half and its Hardness 8 will usually negate any damage it would take. You can share buffs with it, such as Vigor, and you'll have a considerable HP cushion for difficult fights. Keep it in a compartment on your person that's out of both line of sight and line of effect to opponents but not to yourself, so it can never be targeted directly and it won't get hit by area effects.

If you plan on summoning a lot (i.e. every fight), then consider taking Boost Construct along with Ectopic Form: Emerald Gyre from Complete Psionic. Even a 1st level Emerald Gyre has Improved Grab, a Menu B ability, so Boost Construct will always give it at least another Menu B ability, or two Menu A abilities. Later on when Emerald Gyre won't be as useful you can swap it out for a different feat. Be sure to get the Personal Construct ACF (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070411a) at Psion 5, so you can pick your best/most useful construct loadout and manifest it as though Quickened, but you only spend your psionic focus plus the power's normal cost.

Consider taking the Anarchic Initiate prestige class from Complete Psionic, mostly due to it granting the Wild Surge ability of a Wilder. Ask your DM how he thinks the last line of Wild Surge interacts with augmented powers: "In all cases, the wild surge effectively pays the extra power point cost that is normally required to augment the power; only the unaugmented power point cost is subtracted from the wilder’s power point reserve." That basically says that a 1st level power from a 9th level manifester who uses Wild Surge +1 for a manifester level of 10, who augments a power to 10 powerpoints, would actually only have to pay 1 powerpoint because the wild surge pays the extra cost. If he agrees with that, then definitely get Anarchic Initiate and pick up the feat Quick Recovery in Lords of Madness to shake off the daze drawback of Psychic Enervation by spending a move action.

[Mithril Leaf]

I'd recommend some powers more along the lines of entagling ecotplasm, inertial armor, and minor creation. Pick up an artiste psicrystal and toss out some poisons to buff your early damage. At level 2, I would pick up astral construct. Summoning kinda blows early on.

[Fuzzy McCoy]

I'm going to agree with everything Mithril Leaf said. In addition, feat selection depends on whether you want to be more battlefield control or blaster. If you want to do blasting, point blank shot is the prereq for the psionic shot line of feats (and these can produce some seriously heavy blasting), so that's a golden choice.

BCwise, enlarge, extend, and widen are all decent choices, though extend is probably the best.

Overchannel, talented, and psicrystal affinity are all good feat choices if you don't know what to do. Same with psicrystal containment and, later down the line, psionic meditation.

[morkendi]

Looking at the elemental envoy, its very powerful at low levels. Being that we can retrain, it is an option as well.

[morkendi]

Got my build done. I took psicrystal and elemental envoy. The elemental steward is powerful at low level, and the fire one us save or catch fire. For powers, i took inertial armor, energy ray, minor creation. Being drow, i can apply poison without a chance of poisoning myself. I took knowledge poison, knowledge nature, craft poison so I. Can reasonably know different plant types of poison. Minor creation summons 1 cubic foot of plant material. I summon and dose my bolts for my hand crossbow. Seems very drow like to me. Black lotus is dc 20 with 3d6 con first round and 3d6 con second round.

[Rubik]

If you plan on summoning a lot (i.e. every fight), then consider taking Boost Construct along with Ectopic Form: Emerald Gyre from Complete Psionic. Even a 1st level Emerald Gyre has Improved Grab, a Menu B ability, so Boost Construct will always give it at least another Menu B ability, or two Menu A abilities. Later on when Emerald Gyre won't be as useful you can swap it out for a different feat. Be sure to get the Personal Construct ACF (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070411a) at Psion 5, so you can pick your best/most useful construct loadout and manifest it as though Quickened, but you only spend your psionic focus plus the power's normal cost.
Actually, ectopic forms don't gain menu abilities. They gain abilities that happen to be on the Astral Construct menus, but they don't actually gain menu abilities; thus, they don't gain any benefits from Boost Construct. Bruce Cordell is even quoted saying they don't.

That's one reason why ectopic forms suck so much.