classy one
2014-01-13, 07:52 PM
Hello playground, the Classy One here to talk about the little known base class; the society mind (http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/society-mind). This is just a quick intro and mini review with the hopes that others will try it out and leave some feedback.
This is one of my favorite classes ever printed in terms of fluff and features. Admittedly it is not the strongest class out there, for pure support almost nothing tops it.
So what is the society mind? It's a base class first published in Untapped Potential by Dreamscarred Press. As far as I know it does not have a Pathfinder counterpart. It is primarily a support class but can be a potent debuffer with the right set up.
The class itself:
1/2 BAB, good will save, PP progression as a psion, 11 powers in 20 levels, 4+ skills, d6 hit dice. Clearly this is not a frontline fighter. It has an okay skill selection, but this doesn't really matter since it has many powers to give any skill a huge boost. The only important skills that you must keep high are Psicraft and concentrate.
Powers:
It selects powers in a prepared manner rather than spontaneous. The powers gained by the feat expanded psionic knowledge and hidden talent are not interchangeable. Given that they only have 11 powers in 20 levels, you would think that they would need to dump feats into EK but this really isn't the case as we will see.....
Weapons and armor: simple weapons and light armor. Standard for a support class.
Worldthought network: Get this at lvl 1. The main class feature of the SM and subsequent features add to this one. This feature lets you mentally connect with others (max members=1+class level) and alters many of your powers' features, most notably its range. The SM need a line of sight to establish this network and it stays active until the SM releases it (as a free action). At level 1-2 you can only have willing members. All powers with a range greater than personal can be manifested on others in the network regardless of its range. A power with the network descriptor can be manifest even if its range is personal. The range for this feature increases exponentially every 3 levels. By level 13 it is 13 miles. In essence, this feature will dramatically increase your powers' range. If a willing member of your network dies the SM will need to succeed a Fort save or lose HP and XP based on the HD of the dead member.
Cooperative healing: Also gotten at lvl 1. Allows for the SM to spread healing among an established network. Any healing that anyone in your network receives can be divided and diverted to another person in the network. The exception to this is healing from fast healing. So if the SM drinks a potion of cure light wounds but is at full HP he can send it all to the fighter in the front. Or the SM can send 4 to the fighter and 2 to the rogue.
Spirit of many: You get this at lvl2. This feature does 2 things: 1) When targeting powers within a SM's network, the power loses the mind-affecting descriptor and is treated as a Su ability (bypassing resistance and immune to dispels). And 2) it gives all powers with the Network descriptor the augmentation option to spend 1PP to have the power affect one other target in his/her network. This still is bound by the golden rule of psionics.
Social insight: Another lvl2 feature. As you can see, this is a very front loaded class. +2 bonus on all social checks. More for fluff than anything.
Soul-binding gaze: At lvl 3 you can use a standard action and expend focus to force others into your network. Unlike willing members, the SM needs to be in close range and have LOS to force a connection. They are allowed Will check (10+ 1/2 SM class levels+ CHA bonus). Once in the network they can only leave it if they spend a full round to get another will check. The best about this power is that it can bind multiple targets (1 per every 3 SM levels). Once in the SM network, the unwilling member gains no benefits of willing members (like cooperative healing), and their death will not force a Fort save or incur any penalties to the SM. At level 14 this can be used on things normally immune to mind affecting powers as well.
Telepathy: Also gained at 3rd level. This feature lets you talk to anyone telepathically in your network. The best part about this is that you can manifest any power known from another willing member. So if a psion has mind whip and is a willing member of a SM's network, the SM can manifest it. This is why a SM should have to worry too much about not having too many powers, he/she can just use someone else's powers instead. Oh and this feature qualifies you for mindsight.
Network sense: gained at 5th level, you basically gain favored enemy against everyone in your network. Or you can expend focus to get a member's exact location. Basically, once someone is in your network they cannot escape. Since mind blank is not listed as an exception it stands to reason that this feature even bypasses that.
Mystic echo: Gained at lvl 8, this let you duplicate any buff or debuff to another target if you make the needed psicraft check to ID the power. This is a standard action, but you can target multiple targets. Each extra target costs 4PP and this cannot exceed you ML. "As a supernatural ability, a society mind is permitted to spend more power points than his manifester level on this effect." So the original power is allowed to exceed ML but the cost to place it on more than one target is limited by the SM ML. Confusing, but very powerful. It also allows for personal buffs to be applied to the rest of your network. The main weakness of this feature is that it only applies the unaugmented version. Still, having your whole party with schism is really awesome.
Inner language: another fluff feature gained at 11. You know any language. Basically.
Divert concentration and efficient network: These high level features are about concentration and generally very meh since solicit psicrystal works much better. SM has many powers that require concentration and these features cater to them.
Unique powers: Society minds get access to 11 network powers. Some are well know like dimension swap and other are brand new. The ones that are worth pointing out are the "as all" powers. With these powers a SM can spread one attribute (skill, ability score, feat, saving throw bonus, BAB etc) to anyone in the network. So for a power like attack as one, the SM can have the share the fighter's full BAB with the rest of the party. All the "as one" powers require concentration.
Will follow up on how all this mess translates to the table.
This is one of my favorite classes ever printed in terms of fluff and features. Admittedly it is not the strongest class out there, for pure support almost nothing tops it.
So what is the society mind? It's a base class first published in Untapped Potential by Dreamscarred Press. As far as I know it does not have a Pathfinder counterpart. It is primarily a support class but can be a potent debuffer with the right set up.
The class itself:
1/2 BAB, good will save, PP progression as a psion, 11 powers in 20 levels, 4+ skills, d6 hit dice. Clearly this is not a frontline fighter. It has an okay skill selection, but this doesn't really matter since it has many powers to give any skill a huge boost. The only important skills that you must keep high are Psicraft and concentrate.
Powers:
It selects powers in a prepared manner rather than spontaneous. The powers gained by the feat expanded psionic knowledge and hidden talent are not interchangeable. Given that they only have 11 powers in 20 levels, you would think that they would need to dump feats into EK but this really isn't the case as we will see.....
Weapons and armor: simple weapons and light armor. Standard for a support class.
Worldthought network: Get this at lvl 1. The main class feature of the SM and subsequent features add to this one. This feature lets you mentally connect with others (max members=1+class level) and alters many of your powers' features, most notably its range. The SM need a line of sight to establish this network and it stays active until the SM releases it (as a free action). At level 1-2 you can only have willing members. All powers with a range greater than personal can be manifested on others in the network regardless of its range. A power with the network descriptor can be manifest even if its range is personal. The range for this feature increases exponentially every 3 levels. By level 13 it is 13 miles. In essence, this feature will dramatically increase your powers' range. If a willing member of your network dies the SM will need to succeed a Fort save or lose HP and XP based on the HD of the dead member.
Cooperative healing: Also gotten at lvl 1. Allows for the SM to spread healing among an established network. Any healing that anyone in your network receives can be divided and diverted to another person in the network. The exception to this is healing from fast healing. So if the SM drinks a potion of cure light wounds but is at full HP he can send it all to the fighter in the front. Or the SM can send 4 to the fighter and 2 to the rogue.
Spirit of many: You get this at lvl2. This feature does 2 things: 1) When targeting powers within a SM's network, the power loses the mind-affecting descriptor and is treated as a Su ability (bypassing resistance and immune to dispels). And 2) it gives all powers with the Network descriptor the augmentation option to spend 1PP to have the power affect one other target in his/her network. This still is bound by the golden rule of psionics.
Social insight: Another lvl2 feature. As you can see, this is a very front loaded class. +2 bonus on all social checks. More for fluff than anything.
Soul-binding gaze: At lvl 3 you can use a standard action and expend focus to force others into your network. Unlike willing members, the SM needs to be in close range and have LOS to force a connection. They are allowed Will check (10+ 1/2 SM class levels+ CHA bonus). Once in the network they can only leave it if they spend a full round to get another will check. The best about this power is that it can bind multiple targets (1 per every 3 SM levels). Once in the SM network, the unwilling member gains no benefits of willing members (like cooperative healing), and their death will not force a Fort save or incur any penalties to the SM. At level 14 this can be used on things normally immune to mind affecting powers as well.
Telepathy: Also gained at 3rd level. This feature lets you talk to anyone telepathically in your network. The best part about this is that you can manifest any power known from another willing member. So if a psion has mind whip and is a willing member of a SM's network, the SM can manifest it. This is why a SM should have to worry too much about not having too many powers, he/she can just use someone else's powers instead. Oh and this feature qualifies you for mindsight.
Network sense: gained at 5th level, you basically gain favored enemy against everyone in your network. Or you can expend focus to get a member's exact location. Basically, once someone is in your network they cannot escape. Since mind blank is not listed as an exception it stands to reason that this feature even bypasses that.
Mystic echo: Gained at lvl 8, this let you duplicate any buff or debuff to another target if you make the needed psicraft check to ID the power. This is a standard action, but you can target multiple targets. Each extra target costs 4PP and this cannot exceed you ML. "As a supernatural ability, a society mind is permitted to spend more power points than his manifester level on this effect." So the original power is allowed to exceed ML but the cost to place it on more than one target is limited by the SM ML. Confusing, but very powerful. It also allows for personal buffs to be applied to the rest of your network. The main weakness of this feature is that it only applies the unaugmented version. Still, having your whole party with schism is really awesome.
Inner language: another fluff feature gained at 11. You know any language. Basically.
Divert concentration and efficient network: These high level features are about concentration and generally very meh since solicit psicrystal works much better. SM has many powers that require concentration and these features cater to them.
Unique powers: Society minds get access to 11 network powers. Some are well know like dimension swap and other are brand new. The ones that are worth pointing out are the "as all" powers. With these powers a SM can spread one attribute (skill, ability score, feat, saving throw bonus, BAB etc) to anyone in the network. So for a power like attack as one, the SM can have the share the fighter's full BAB with the rest of the party. All the "as one" powers require concentration.
Will follow up on how all this mess translates to the table.