[Psionics] Mindscape Battles

[Renen]

I would like some clarification on what I read about mindscape battles.

What I got from it (please correct me if im wrong):
1) It pretty much allows you to fight your opponent's soul to gain bonuses in the real world.
2) You can choose the "landscape to fight in" at the beginning of the fight
3) You gain benefits if you have one of two modes active that corelate to specific landscape, and win an opposed check vs your opponent.
4) Fighting a non psionic in mindscape, I have to make the opposed check to their will save.

Just wondering, do you think its worth it, spending 2 feats to be able to do this to non-psionics? Some bonuses look very good, including the increased Save DC.

[Renen]

Anyone? >_<

[JoshuaZ]

Are you talking about Mindscapes in 3.0 or Hyperconscious? They are very different.

[Renen]

Hyperconscious

Also, while I love the Mindscape idea, is there a way to completely draw an enemy into a dream world, and fight them there? (or not a dream, but something you make)

[WhatBigTeeth]

If you're talking about the in Hyperconscious, I'll answer what I can (I've read the system a few times, but never used it in play):

1 - Yes. That's a decent summary. Note that the advantages are specific against enemies that the winner beats in psionic combat, so that if Alice, Bob and Cerebnosticon the Brainy enter a 3-faction psionic combat and Alice outperforms Bob who outperforms Cerebnosticon the Brainy, Alice gains her bonuses against both of them, Bob gets his bonus against Cerebnosticon the Brainy,but not against Alice, and Cerebnosticon the Brainy doesn't get any bonuses against either.

2 - Mostly. It's not so much of a choice of mindscape as it is a random roll. The winner of the initiative roll may get to alter the roll if their "mode check bonus" is high enough. If I understand the notation correctly, "mode check bonus" refers to the class-based progression, but does not refer to the modifier drawn from a character's resting mode choice.

3 - Not quite. You can gain the benefits even if your mode does not correlate to the psychic landscape, just as long as you win. The reason the association with the landscape matters is that if a character uses an associated combat mode, they get a +2 bonus on their opposed check.

4 - Nonpsionic creatures can't enter the mindscape, so this can't come up. You might be confusing 3.0 psionic combat with the mindscape combat system.
I forgot the Overwhelm Buffer feat. So yes, you have that right.

[Renen]

So, do you think taking the feat (and it's prerequisite) is worth it?
Or perhaps taking them as psicrystal and feat leeching them.
Hell, if the psycrystal has it, do I even need to leech them?

[Renen]

Assuming level 10, and a non psionic opponent. From what I see, im pretty much guaranteed the bonuses. Is it worth spending 2 feats at that level?
Seeing as one bonus is +5 DC to (any?) spell

[WhatBigTeeth]

I tried to answer those questions in an edit, but that was confusing, so I'm going to add that reply here to make it more reasonable. My apologies if you already read it and this repost just makes things more confusing.


So, do you think taking the feat (and it's prerequisite) is worth it?
Or perhaps taking them as psicrystal and feat leeching them.
Hell, if the psycrystal has it, do I even need to leech them?

At high levels, I just don't think the psionic combat mode modifiers can keep up with will saves on the effects that would justify 2 feats. The max roll on a level 15 psion for one of the "<Combat Style> +0"s is 9 (class) + 2 (psionic landscape) + 3 (Mental Adversary feat) = +14, while the average monster will save is edging toward 16 (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19869122/Optimization_By_The_Numbers). You might be able to get some of the "<Combat Style> +2 or +4" effects in, but they're rarely worth one feat, and certainly aren't worth two.

But at low levels, when you're looking at two feats that can give DR 5/--, +4 to saving throws or +5 damage on a fairly reliable basis (a +5 to +8 modifier is probably going to blow most will saves out of the water at levels 1-3), it looks like a very solid feat.

So in campaigns entirely contained in the early levels, or where retraining is an option, I think you could do a lot worse than those feats. But I just wouldn't want them clogging feat slots at level 6 or 7.

[Psyren]

As far as Overwhelm Buffer, the idea is that you use it on a low-will opponent, like an Ogre. This is great because you can effectively turn it into a mind fog at the start of combat that doesn't take an action on your part, and can target other saves besides Will, or reduce AC (effectively) or boost your damage.

But I agree, it scales poorly at high levels - to have a decent chance of success against even a weak-willed opponent, you have to restrict yourself to a smaller bonus, and even the larger bonuses don't do much at high levels.

But one interesting note is that OB appears to work against mindless opponents, like constructs, plants and oozes. Since these types tend to be weak-willed you can gain a useful advantage.

[Renen]

So its not worth it?
Pity... looked like a fun mechanic

[Psyren]

So its not worth it?

Burning feats specifically to use it on non-psionic foes? I wouldn't bother with that, unless I knew the game was going to end at low or mid-levels. But it's up to your DM whether the mechanic itself sees play or not. It's a campaign choice, not a player choice.

I think Overwhelm Buffer would work out quite well in E6 for instance - assuming again a campaign that uses mindscape combat.