Jade Phoenix Mage Psionic Adaptation

[Crake]

So I'm making a psionic adaptation for jade phoenix mage for my game right now and these are the changes I'm currently looking at:

Prereqs: 2nd level psionic power instead of 2nd level arcane spell, knowledge psionics instead of knowledge arcana, Autohypnosis instead of knowledge religion

Spellcasting: swap for psionics progression

Maneuvers: Diamond mind and 1 tbd discipline instead of desert wind and devoted spirit.

Arcane wrath: Change 1d10 per spell level to 1d4+1d4 per power point spent (up to ML as normal for manifesting a power)

Rite of waking: Refluffed to gaining a stronger connection with the psionic flow of the universe.

Mystic Phoenix stance: Instead of 2x spell level, DR X/??? equal to number of power points spent, maximum DR10/???

Empowering Strike: works same, but for manifesting instead of spellcasting

Firebird Stance: Untyped +2 bonus to str, dex and con, in addition, spend a number of power points and gain fast healing 1/3 power points spent for 1 minute (capped at ML as normal for manifesting a power)

Quickening strike: works same, but for manifesting instead of spellcasting

Emerald Immolation: Replace with reality revision 1/week as a psi-like ability, only within the normal limits (no greater effect based on DM discretion), and no ability to create psionic items, or non-psionic items up to 25,000gp. No xp cost either.

Edit: So yeah, does that seem balanced? Or did I make some grievous errors in the conversion somewhere? The main two I'm worried about are firebird stance, and emerald immolation changes, since those are more replacements than adaptations.

[Psyren]

Jade Phoenix Psion: (Jade Phoenix Mind?)

1) I think Desert Wind works fine as the second discipline (the fluff for how Desert Wind masters create fire fits psionics pretty well.) Dropping Devoted Spirit for Diamond Mind is good.

2) Your Arcane Wrath is fine. Lower maximum but higher minimum so it evens out, and the average damage barely shifts.

3) Rite of Waking: I would take this a step further and allow you to manifest Object Reading as a PLA on any object which belonged to one of your former selves. Part of the test to discover you would be similar to the Avatar's test regarding his childhood toys. You would be able to sense which objects this will work on by touching them.

4) Mystic Phoenix Stance is easy: DR = 1/PP spent + 1, must spend a minimum of 1 PP, maximum 9 PP per use. 9 PP is equivalent to a 5th-level slot, thus bringing this in line with that ability; the major difference of course is that ML is easier to raise than maximum spell slot, so you could potentially get DR 10/evil earlier than a JPM.

5) You did a pretty huge change to Firebird Stance. Care to go into why?

6) Quickening Strike is fine.

7) Why are you changing Emerald Immolation? Especially to Wish of all things; I would simply leave it alone.

Note EI's similarity to Fiery Discorporation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/fieryDiscorporation.htm) too.

[Crake]

Jade Phoenix Psion: (Jade Phoenix Mind?)

1) I think Desert Wind works fine as the second discipline (the fluff for how Desert Wind masters create fire fits psionics pretty well.) Dropping Devoted Spirit for Diamond Mind is good.

2) Your Arcane Wrath is fine. Lower maximum but higher minimum so it evens out, and the average damage barely shifts.

3) Rite of Waking: I would take this a step further and allow you to manifest Object Reading as a PLA on any object which belonged to one of your former selves. Part of the test to discover you would be similar to the Avatar's test regarding his childhood toys. You would be able to sense which objects this will work on by touching them.

4) Mystic Phoenix Stance is easy: DR = 1/PP spent + 1, must spend a minimum of 1 PP, maximum 9 PP per use. 9 PP is equivalent to a 5th-level slot, thus bringing this in line with that ability; the major difference of course is that ML is easier to raise than maximum spell slot, so you could potentially get DR 10/evil earlier than a JPM.

5) You did a pretty huge change to Firebird Stance. Care to go into why?

6) Quickening Strike is fine.

7) Why are you changing Emerald Immolation? Especially to Wish of all things; I would simply leave it alone.

Note EI's similarity to Fiery Discorporation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/fieryDiscorporation.htm) too.

I wanted to move away from the phoenix-y fire based stuff with the psionic adaptation, making it more about perfection of body and mind, and becoming one with the psyche of the universe sort of thing (Buddhism kinda thing) rather than fire, which is why I swapped out desert wind for iron heart, made the changes to firebird stance, and made the capstone basically the ability to 1/week rewrite the fabric of the universe, rather than blowing yourself up.

Suppose that was something I should have mentioned :smalltongue:

[Red Fel]

I wanted to move away from the phoenix-y fire based stuff with the psionic adaptation, making it more about perfection of body and mind, and becoming one with the psyche of the universe sort of thing (Buddhism kinda thing) rather than fire, which is why I swapped out desert wind for iron heart, made the changes to firebird stance, and made the capstone basically the ability to 1/week rewrite the fabric of the universe, rather than blowing yourself up.

Suppose that was something I should have mentioned :smalltongue:

Hmm... The thing is, the explosive phoenix-y bit is tied pretty closely with the fluff of the class. What you're describing is more of a Buddhist-style reincarnating sage, perhaps an Arhat or Pratyekabuddha, with psionic gishery attached. The JPM (Mage or Mind, whichever) is about a solemn oath made by a band of sages long ago to live as long as they can to maintain the seal on an evil entity. What you're describing basically discards that bit of concept, and seeks to build an entirely new psi-gish based loosely upon the JPM mechanics.

Don't get me wrong. I think JPM is a great model for a gish chassis, including psi-gish. But once it becomes about personal growth and navel-gazing, and abandons the fire and phoenix imagery, and discards the whole "I must be reborn to maintain the seal on the ancient evil" trope, it kind of ceases to be a JPM of any stripe.

If I understand what you're asking, in essence, it's: Can I make a ToB-psionics class that uses stances to boost my psionics, and PPs to boost my melee? And the answer is yes. But you're losing a lot of great stuff if you're just going to abandon the underlying concept of the JPM.

Might I instead suggest taking an adaptation of the Eternal Blade? You could easily refluff the Blade Guide as being, in essence, your character's prior incarnations. Change a few of the abilities to synergize with psionics, and it would be exceptionally potent, and fit your navel-gazing fluff better.

[Drachasor]

Jade Phoenix Psion: (Jade Phoenix Mind?)

I think Crystal Dragon Jesus works. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrystalDragonJesus)

[Psyren]

I wanted to move away from the phoenix-y fire based stuff with the psionic adaptation, making it more about perfection of body and mind, and becoming one with the psyche of the universe sort of thing (Buddhism kinda thing) rather than fire, which is why I swapped out desert wind for iron heart, made the changes to firebird stance, and made the capstone basically the ability to 1/week rewrite the fabric of the universe, rather than blowing yourself up.

Suppose that was something I should have mentioned :smalltongue:

I'd say Meditant (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040827c) fits that concept better personally.


I think Crystal Dragon Jesus works. (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CrystalDragonJesus)

There's already a Crystal Dragon psionic PrC though :smallwink:

[Crake]

Hmm... The thing is, the explosive phoenix-y bit is tied pretty closely with the fluff of the class. What you're describing is more of a Buddhist-style reincarnating sage, perhaps an Arhat or Pratyekabuddha, with psionic gishery attached. The JPM (Mage or Mind, whichever) is about a solemn oath made by a band of sages long ago to live as long as they can to maintain the seal on an evil entity. What you're describing basically discards that bit of concept, and seeks to build an entirely new psi-gish based loosely upon the JPM mechanics.

Don't get me wrong. I think JPM is a great model for a gish chassis, including psi-gish. But once it becomes about personal growth and navel-gazing, and abandons the fire and phoenix imagery, and discards the whole "I must be reborn to maintain the seal on the ancient evil" trope, it kind of ceases to be a JPM of any stripe.

If I understand what you're asking, in essence, it's: Can I make a ToB-psionics class that uses stances to boost my psionics, and PPs to boost my melee? And the answer is yes. But you're losing a lot of great stuff if you're just going to abandon the underlying concept of the JPM.

Yeah, that was kinda the intention. I know the jade phoenix mage fluff is really cool and all, but I'm using it purely as a mechanical chassis as you described, and making some new fluff from scratch.

Edit: The player is quite happy with the class, both fluff and mechanics-wise, but I'm just worried that maybe the more overt mechanical changes (firebird stance and emerald immolation being the two main ones) might have been too over the top.

I don't think reality revision 1/week is such a horrible call, since, at earliest, he'd get it at level 17, which is when wizards get 9th level spells anyway, and with the limitations I put on it, it's not going to break my in-game economy, or let him try and break the universe with a well-worded wish statement or anything. Basically a 1/week "cast almost anything i want, give myself an inherent +1, fix a bunch of status effects, or get out of jail free card"

[Feint's End]

Ok first of all what you did here seems less like a conversion (which just puts elements 1to1 into the other system) and more like homebrew so it might be in the wrong forum.

You can actually 1to1 convert the JPM quite easily but there is one ability to watch out for. Namely Psionic Wrath (renamed from Arcane Wrath) because if you convert it 1to1 you get 1PP / 3PP / 5PP / ... for 1st / 2nd / 3rd / .... slot and that means that a higher level manifester can just spam the weakest one for the +4 to hit (after all 1PP isn't that much for him).
I personally use the 1to1 conversion and don't think this option is too powerful but it's something to watch out for if you do it.

[Drachasor]

I don't think reality revision 1/week is such a horrible call, since, at earliest, he'd get it at level 17, which is when wizards get 9th level spells anyway, and with the limitations I put on it, it's not going to break my in-game economy, or let him try and break the universe with a well-worded wish statement or anything. Basically a 1/week "cast almost anything i want, give myself an inherent +1, fix a bunch of status effects, or get out of jail free card"

It's definitely more powerful than what it is replacing though. By quite a bit.

And it's like a Wizard getting Wish but not having to pay anything to use it (well, 1/week), which is a pretty big deal in how powerful an ability it is.

I'm not seeing how it necessarily fits into the perfection of self angle either. It seems to have most of its applications outward more than anything.