Zerth Cenobite with war mind progression

[CyberThread]

Okay Question .



Zerth Cenobite, gets 10 powers known , 27 power points, and 4th level powers

War mind gets 6 powers known, 70 power points , 5th level powers.



Would Zerth gaining, the war mind progression instead of the already provided bit, change how the class plays much ?

[killem2]

What is a zerth and where can I find info on it? :smallconfused:

[Kuulvheysoon]

What is a zerth and where can I find info on it? :smallconfused:

Zerth Cenobite is a psionic monk PrC found in Complete Psionic.

[T.G. Oskar]

For one, you'd have less reasons to enter the class. Also, the amount of PP you mention for War Mind is wrong, something important to point out.

Zerth Cenobite can be considered an alternate progression of Psionic Fist (of Zuoken), where you progress Monk class features and gain psionic powers, but you sacrifice 5th level powers and bonus feats for 1/day class features related to time. Since you get the same amount of powers and the same PP progression as the Psionic Fist, you're sacrificing one thing for another; you lose the better powers a Psionic Fist has access to, but gain some quirky powers instead.

However, when doing a strict comparison, the Psionic Fist ends up winning, because 5th level powers do more than most of the powers Zerth Cenobites get. Of all the class features you get, only the first one (Temporal Distillation, IIRC) is worthwhile, and you only get one use of it at best. You get no more uses when it improves the granted action.

Now, if you switch progression from Psionic Fist (minus 5th level powers) to War Mind, you regain 5th level powers but lose 4 powers overall. War Mind is great because of its full BAB and Sweeping Strike, making it at best a 5-level class for whenever you want to have a build that can maximize Sweeping Strike, or gain psionic progression easily. If you drop four powers from Zerth Cenobite, you stop comparing that PrC to Psionic Fist and start comparing it to War Mind, and in that regard Sweeping Strike + full BAB edges over Temporal Distillation.

Considering that most people will readily choose Psychic Warrior and advancing Monk class features through Tashalatora instead of Psionic Fist, consider whether replacing Zerth Cenobite's psionic power progression will aid it. Sure, it'll change it, but not for the best.

[Psyren]

Also, the amount of PP you mention for War Mind is wrong, something important to point out.

I'm seeing 70 PP (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/warMind.htm) (base) on the SRD as well. Haven't checked XPH yet.

To answer the OP's question it would help quite a bit but wouldn't otherwise change them much. The class features are still too limited.

[CyberThread]

Am really confused, I understand breaking down class features, but am talking about power progression.


How would giving Zerth more power points and higher power list access be okay, but not in its best interest ?

[Psyren]

How would giving Zerth more power points and higher power list access be okay, but not in its best interest ?

I think Oskar was saying that your adjustment would help, but because it doesn't help a "psionic monk" build nearly as much as Tashalatora would, it would largely be ignored anyway. Basically, even 70 PP isn't a whole lot, and ZC doesn't have any truly potent class features to bring to the table either.

Compare to War Mind, which has features like full BAB, d10 HD, Sweeping Strikes (which works with maneuvers) and even Chain of Personal Superiority, which isn't much but is also very likely to stack with your other bonuses.