Understanding Spoons McGee

[Corinath]

Hey Everyone!

Spoons McGee (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=9940342&postcount=171) won an Iron Chef a while back. I want to understand what it is that makes the class work, but I can't figure out a whole lot of the psionic stuff. So I figured I'd ask you all, since Google is failing me.

1) Why is optimizing PsiCraft worth it, being that it's cross class for all classes? (Aracor got this one in the very end for me.)
2) Assassins aren't psionic classes. The Psychic Assassin variant is, but doesn't have great PP progression. How is it that taking 10 Assassin levels grants 27 Power Points?
3) Where did 90 Bonus Power Points come from? (Aracor and Piggy Knowles answered 2 & 3)
4) I found Burrowing Power. And I found Telekenetic Thrust. But what/where is Burrowing Metapower: Telekenetic Thrust? (Stegyre answered this one for me. :D )
5) What's the use of spending a feat on Crystal Shard, when Telekenetic Thrust becomes the main attack? (Canine answered this one!)

Thanks everyone!

EDIT: Thank you again everyone who posted. Still getting the hang of Psionics, so I really appreciate it. :)

[Stegyre]

4) I found Burrowing Power. And I found Telekenetic Thrust. But what/where is Burrowing Metapower: Telekenetic Thrust?
"Burrowing Metapower: Telekinetic Thrust" would mean he is taking the feat Metapower to combine the metapsionic burrowing ability with the Telekinetic Thrust power.

Bonus PP would be from the high intelligence. Assuming the build gets ML credit for all 20 levels, this would indicate (to me), that he boosts Int from the starting 18 to 28, which I expect would be trivially easy by 20th level (+5 from level increases, +5 inherent, not even counting another +6 from item).

[Piggy Knowles]

IIRC, there is a Psionic Assassin option that allows you to progress the manifesting progression of an existing class, rather than granting its own progression. I believe it's in Secrets of Sarlona. However, I'm running off memory and can't check right now.

[Corinath]

Thanks for clarifying that with the feat. The way it was written I couldn't figure it out.

His level 20 build has 34 INT in exactly the way you describe. So I think I'm at a loss as to how that number is calculated. Looking at Psychic Rogue (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723b), he steps out at level 5, which lists 6 PP. In his build he lists 6 PP coming from Psychic Rogue. That checks out.

Assassin (http://dndtools.eu/classes/assassin/), on the other hand, has consistent spell progression, but absolutely no Manifester Level or Power Points per Level listed. Psychic Assassin (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723d), which the build doesn't cite, states
"At 2nd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and 10th levels, a psychic assassin gains additional power points per day and access to new discovered powers as if she had also gained a level in whatever psionic manifesting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class."

Which means McGee gets 6 more levels of Psychic Rogue for the sake of ML and PP, which means he gets 24 PP, not 27 which is listed.

Black Dog (http://dndtools.eu/classes/black-dog/), the final PrC, doesn't have any reference to psionic classes, PP, or even magic. So, at best, his ML is 11, right? 5 from Psychic Rogue, 6 from Psychic Assassin.

This SRD table (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Ability_Scores#How_To_Determine_Bonus_Power_Po ints) shows Bonus Power Points granted per level. An INT of 28 and a class level of 20 puts him at 90 on the table. But, above it, it says Bonus PP = (Key Ability Mod * ML * .5). Which is 23/28(with Inherent Bonus)/34(With Inherent and Equipment) * 11 * .5, right?

This yields 126.5/154/187, neither of which are 90.

So, I'm still really confused.

[Aracor]

You're using the wrong psionic assassin. The one you're looking at is another class. The one they used is an alternate class feature on page 113 of Secrets of Sarlona in Eberron, which has 27 power points per day, and gets up to 4th level powers. It also has its own manifesting, separate from psychic rogue.

So two classes:
key ability modifier (12) times half of manifester level (10 for psionic assassin and 5 for psychic rogue)

12 * 10 * .5 = 60
12 * 5 * .5 = 30

Grand total: 90.

Make sense?

[Corinath]

Got it! I'll have to find that book then. Crossing that one off the list.

Thank you. :)

[Canine]

5) What's the use of spending a feat on Crystal Shard, when Telekenetic Thrust becomes the main attack?

It comes online 6 levels sooner, and it is good when you don't have a bunch of rocks sitting around to hurl. Plus, it is a ranged touch attack instead of a ranged attack, which can come in very handy.

[Corinath]

Touch attack is important, and with Sniper's Eye it'd grant Sneak Attack and Death Attach I think. But it's a single attack, right? Not something that could stack with the Telekenetic Thrust line of feats he's taken, where he attacks up to 13 times?

I'm mostly just trying to justify spending a feat on it vs having a wand of True Strike, for example (He has UMD skill points).

[Canine]

As a method of delivering sneak attack and death attack for 1 PP, it is solid. Bow+wand works too, but seems awkward to me. If you are starting below 15th level, you probably want Crystal Shard or something similar. Starting above 15th level, you can make a more persuasive argument for not taking it and getting something else instead.

Edit:
Plus, using a Wand of True Strike plus a Wand of Eagle Eye on the same attack will strike many DMs as shenanigan-ish, I suspect.

[Corinath]

Makes sense. I'm often pretty obtuse to shenanigans. LoL.

Crossing that one off the list. Thanks!

All that's left is why Psi Craft has such importance as to be given full skill points despite being cross class.

[Aracor]

That's easy! Burrowing Power requires a psicraft check to get through things. Not trying to be offensive, so please don't take it as such, but...I thought you said you read the feat!

Burrowing Power (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#burrowingPower)

[Corinath]

/Facepalm

You know what's weird. You know how there are things in life that are, like, supposedly really simple and for whatever damn reason it just doesn't "click" with you?

Psionics is one of those things for me. I miss obvious things. LoL

It all makes sense now. Thanks everyone! :)