Erudite Unique Powers Per Day: uhhhh, what?

[TuggyNE]

I don't understand the in-game perspective of exactly how an Erudite is limited in UPPD. A wizard knows how much they can prepare; a sorcerer knows their stamina; a warblade knows how to alternate strikes; a psion knows their reserves — but how could anyone explain "oh, I chose this power by manifesting it, and now I can't trade it out for another option until tomorrow, but I still have two floating choices left, and I can pick between any of the options reified* so far" without resorting to purely metagame conceits?

Is it simply a metagame construct, a way to say "yeah, he was clever and selected X, Y, and Z on a hunch he'd need those, but since I'm not so good at hunches I had to retcon them in"? That's … not terrible, but it seems out of place in 3.x. It's also not mentioned in the CPsi/web enhancement writeup as far as I can tell.

*Firefox, that's a real word. Shut up.

[Tohsaka Rin]

Schrodinger's power pool.

Until the Erudite actually makes a choice, all of their powers remain a possibility. Makes a fun game for when you're inevitably questioned about what powers you know/can manifest.

"Technically? None yet. Also, all of them."

[Yuki Akuma]

When an Erudite manifests a power he hasn't manifested that day yet, he has tobring the power from his subconscious into his conscious mind, 'burning' it into his neural pathways. When he wants to manifest that power again, he can just shunt the power points through those neural pathways.

He only has so much room in the 'conscious' part of his mind, obviously.

(Note: this is complete nonsense I just made up on the spot.)

[Mnemnosyne]

If you're asking for 'potential in-character explanations', I can give it a shot:

Manifesting a power 'energizes' certain internal mental pathways, which stay 'hot' until the erudite has rested. An erudite only has enough mental 'room' for a certain number of these pathways to be 'hot' at the same time, so once she's energized enough different pathways to occupy all the mental space she has for them, she needs to rest before she can energize any that aren't already 'hot'.

As to why other psionic characters don't have the same problem: a psion or other character with limited powers known not only has knowledge of the power, but they also know its mental pathways better because they have devoted more time to perfecting the use of the powers they know, rather than learning such a wide array of powers. This allows them to use their 'mental space' much more efficiently.

Edit: Heh, and swordsaged on the concept.

[TuggyNE]

When an Erudite manifests a power he hasn't manifested that day yet, he has tobring the power from his subconscious into his conscious mind, 'burning' it into his neural pathways. When he wants to manifest that power again, he can just shunt the power points through those neural pathways.

He only has so much room in the 'conscious' part of his mind, obviously.

(Note: this is complete nonsense I just made up on the spot.)

Yeahhhhh, that could have worked, but the complete lack of any representation of that in the mechanics makes me uneasy. There is, for example, no action cost, no special check required (not even concentration as a free action), no nothing; it's just "oh, you've manifested a power for the first time? now you're stuck with it for the day".

Basically, I could buy that as a refluff for a particular character, even though it's a bit subpar, but as the fluff for the basic functionality of an official Wizards class? Not so much.

[Socratov]

or you could fluff the reverse: the Erudite knows how to reroute his neural pathways to reach a desired effect. however, this procedure is stressful and can only be redone after some intense rest (say 8 hours of sleep/meditation) after which he can repeat the process in the same or a different way.

As opposed to a Psion who aligns his neural pathways in a permanent manner to be able to achieve a desired effect in a quick and efficient manner

[Psyren]

I explain it pretty simply - the training technique that Erudites use allows them to store far more powers than a regular Psion, but each one they actually use sets up mental barriers between the others that can only be removed with daily rest.

However you justify it, remember the most important part - all the powers they know are in their head whether they have UPD left to manifest them or not, and other psionic classes can make mental contact with the Erudite and pull those powers out the same way they make contact with a power stone.