Psion Spies?

[kalos72]

Looking for a good base to create a group of psionic spies to lurk in my city.

There focus will be random readings and such of the population. Sort of like homeland security style...

I am open to other options/classes/kits, just psionic seems a clear choice.

Thanks!

[Lightlawbliss]

Complete Psionic has the Lurk class which may interest you, they are essentially psionic rogues.

and underneath some building or in the sewer are both classic locations for spy bases.

(and we all know a group of psionic spys will want to have people they can "trust" to handle matters the Psionic people can't do or feel is beneath them: like "gathering data" on the people trying to make life harder)

[Flickerdart]

Psions' pies? Probably cherry.

Anyway, there is actually a psionic rogue (https://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b). It's much better than the lurk at doing sneaky stuff...lurk is more of a (lousy) combatant type.

[kalos72]

I was going through the two psionic books I have...I wonder what power or perhaps new psionic magic item would be best suited for this sort of covert information gathering?

Maybe simple things like Know Alignment, something to tell if someone is lying, maybe something that will give quick flashes of whats on a persons mind? I thought I saw something about holding an object and learning things about the owner.

[AMFV]

The Seer power list is full of things that you could use to effectively spy on people. It's possibly one of the best lists in that respect. Although you may want to EK some powers off the Telepath list depending on what kind of spy you're wanting.

[Canine]

The Cryptic (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/classes/cryptic) gives you some good options, especially some of the archetypes.

Complete Scoundrel has the Psibond Agent, and Complete Arcane has the Mindbender.

[Mountain]

I played a Telepath (psion), with all of the mind-reading powers, and with a couple feats and an item, his save DCs were in the 30s. He was extremely good at getting into peoples' minds, and only required the XPH. A psion who specializes in powers like Mind Probe will probably be fairly adept at things like Suggestion and Dominate as well. Whether he uses those is up to the DM.

For sneaking, since hide isn't a class skill, take Martial Study (any shadow hand maneuver). That gives him hide as a class skill. Then pick up Child of Shadow stance. Now, whenever he moves, he has concealment. As long as he isn't being observed directly, he can hide. Alternately, a 2-level dip into swordsage could accomplish the same thing.

Psionic Overland Flight gives him a fly speed all day. He flies pretty silently (wouldn't be heard in a city anyway, but still), and with less-than-perfect maneuverability, he'll always be moving, thus, having concealment to hide with child of shadow stance.

Ta-da. You have a sneaky mind-reader.

[AMFV]

I played a Telepath (psion), with all of the mind-reading powers, and with a couple feats and an item, his save DCs were in the 30s. He was extremely good at getting into peoples' minds, and only required the XPH. A psion who specializes in powers like Mind Probe will probably be fairly adept at things like Suggestion and Dominate as well. Whether he uses those is up to the DM.

For sneaking, since hide isn't a class skill, take Martial Study (any shadow hand maneuver). That gives him hide as a class skill. Then pick up Child of Shadow stance. Now, whenever he moves, he has concealment. As long as he isn't being observed directly, he can hide. Alternately, a 2-level dip into swordsage could accomplish the same thing.

Psionic Overland Flight gives him a fly speed all day. He flies pretty silently (wouldn't be heard in a city anyway, but still), and with less-than-perfect maneuverability, he'll always be moving, thus, having concealment to hide with child of shadow stance.

Ta-da. You have a sneaky mind-reader.

That is pretty awesome, although to be absolutely fair, remote viewing and clairvoyant sense pretty much eliminate the need for sneaking around. Although then you have more of a big brother NSA type Psion spy as opposed to the more popular James Bond type spy.

[Brookshw]

Just stopping in to say at a glance I misread the thread title as "ponies spies" and had some strange thoughts of that was REALLY going on at that children's birthday party.

[Urpriest]

As has been said, there are lots of Seer powers that are awesome for this. Object Reading, for example, to spy on people through their trash.

[kalos72]

Yeah, I am looking for Big Brother not James Bond. :)

[Maginomicon]

If you're just wanting an example build, Tracker variant Lurk would work well for the base, followed by the Mindspy (CW 62; house rule that the detect thoughts spell can be substituted for the read thoughts power) and/or Shadowmind (CAd 74) prestige classes.

[AMFV]

Yeah, I am looking for Big Brother not James Bond. :)

Then you probably want a straight seer Psion, that's got the most big brother type things. There are a few prestige classes that might help some but most won't help that much. Frankly Seer 20, is probably a good build for that.

[kalos72]

What book is Seer 20 from? I havent seen that one yet...

[Gazzien]

What book is Seer 20 from? I havent seen that one yet...

Psion specialized in... Metadivination :P Whatever its proper name is called.

Or at least, that's my best guess.

[Urpriest]

What book is Seer 20 from? I havent seen that one yet...


Psion specialized in... Metadivination :P Whatever its proper name is called.

Or at least, that's my best guess.

Clairsentience. But yeah, Seer is just particular specialty of Psion, and putting numbers after the names of classes is just a normal way to refer to a number of levels in that class.

[TuggyNE]

What book is Seer 20 from? I havent seen that one yet...

XPH. It's the name for a psion of a given discipline.
A psion who chooses clairsentience is known as a seer. […]
A psion specializing in metacreativity is known as a shaper. […]
Psions who specialize in psychokinesis are known as kineticists. […]
A psion who specializes in psychometabolism is known as an egoist. […]
A psion who relies on psychoportation powers is known as a nomad. […]
A psion who chooses the discipline of telepathy is known as a telepath.

[holywhippet]

Take a close look at the psionic version of contingency. This is a very useful power as you can specify a contingency that will trigger when certain actions are performed which are against the city. Like someone breaking into a certain building or speaking the name of a particular enemy. Tie it to something that will let you locate and investigate the person.