question about psion shaper/diviner build.

[morkendi]

Dm started a underdark campaign. I made a drow shaper to start. I took 3 lvls psion and 1 diviner with precocious apprentice. Then i went cerebromancer which only goes 10 lvls. I have 2 choices really to steer for. If i go all 10 lvls, i can go arch psion at 15 and get access to 9th lvl powers at 17 and then finish last 3 lvls as diviner. Other choice is stop with shaper at the end of cerebromancer and finish off the last 6 lvls as diviner which would five me 9th lvl spells at lvl 20. I took practiced manifestor and spell caster. First option is basically 16th lvl psion and 14 diviner. Second is 13 lvl psion with access to 7th lvl powers and 17th lvl diviner though i could work in initiate of the 7 veils for the last levels. What do you guys think is the best option? I have 23 int due to stats and tome i read at 6th lvl. Rules are no homebrew. All wizards of the coast books allowed. Pathfinder allowed. No dragon magazine or other 3rd party. If he allowed dragon, i would go mind mage. Also, my prohibited school is evocation incase that matters. Psion give plenty of damage powers. Also, game is psionic transparency. Its just another type of magic.

[morkendi]

Also, my diviner is the full UA variant and lvl 6 right now.

[Psyren]

With a Cerebremancer, making the wizard side stronger is generally the way to go. There are several reasons for this;

- Lower level powers are more useful than lower-level spells; thanks to augmentation, low-level powers can scale up to stay competitive at high levels. For example, Astral Construct stays useful in combat long after Summon Monster I has faded into obscurity. This synergizes particularly well with your banned school (Evocation) as you can rely on augmented blasty powers to cover you for those times you want to blast.)

- Psionics makes for a better "passive side," i.e. the psionic side of your build has better action economy buffs. It can do this without particularly high power access, e.g. Synchronicity, Schism and Temporal Acceleration can all be gotten from your 10 Cerebremancer levels, and these will synergize with your spellcasting.

- If you ever do want to power up your psion side, the Mental Pinnacle spell instantly upgrades your ML to equal your CL. You can then use this influx of psionic ability with your existing repertoire.

So I recommend you make the wizard side higher in the end.

[morkendi]

I was leaning towards the wizard side just for utility. The only 9th level power i really wanted is genises, but wish could probably mimic that.

[Urpriest]

I was leaning towards the wizard side just for utility. The only 9th level power i really wanted is genises, but wish could probably mimic that.

Genesis is a spell as well. It's in the SRD, and originally in Deities and Demigods IIRC. It's actually got fewer restrictions than psionic genesis, though I would argue this is merely due to being printed before planar traits were ironed out.