Ardent Casting Method?

[CyberThread]

How exactly does Ardent casting work, even the handbook sort of left me confused.

[Bogardan_Mage]

I guess what you're talking about is how the Ardent, unlike all other psionic classes, does not have an explicit limit on what level powers it can learn? The only restriction is that the Ardent must be able to manifest the power, which means that, for example, an Ardent 2/Something Else 4 with Practiced Manifester is technically capable of learning 3rd level powers. This makes Ardent attractive to "all 9s" Theurge builds since anything that boosts manifester level effectively also boosts power level.

[Vaz]

Ardents do not have a list of powers. They have a list of mantles, similar to Cleric domains. Each mantle provides a list of powers that an Ardent can select as their powers known. Each Ardent selects two primary mantles and several secondary mantles oflver the course of their levels.

At each level, an Ardent chooses one power from any of his mantles which he can manifest. As you are limited to spending a number of power points equal to or lower than your manifester level, then you may not select a power that has a Cost of more power points than your manifester level.

Ie a 5th level ardent cannot select powers that require 5 or more pp to manifest (before augmentation). If you have ways of increasing your manifester level, such as combining overchannel and practised manifester on an ECL 15 character (with Ardent 10), then you kay select up to the equivalent of 9th level powers (although you take damage whenever manifest them) -17pp before expenditure.

With its awesome 10th level ACF ability, it is often considered to be a Psionic UrPriest.