Artificer and Psion Questions

[Kesnit]

I'm playing an Gnome Artificer 6 in one game, and a Kalashtar Psion 8 in another. I have a few questions..

Artificer
1) Is there an item that will raise my UMD, like Masterwork Thieves Tools raise Open Lock and Disable Device? I know there's the general Masterwork Tool, but I'm not sure the DM will let me get away with that.
2) I currently have an Iron Defender and a Packmate that I use in combat, but am planning to make a Arbalester. (The Packmate only pours healing potions to downed allies.) Do my "pets" go on my Inititive, or do they have their own? (I'm pretty sure they go on mine, but just want to make sure.)

Psion
1) I have 2 Power Link shards and the Overchannel feat. Overchannel allows me to raise my manifester level by 2. Power Link shards augments powers by 2, above and beyond what I spend. Does this mean if I overchannel and tap both power link shards, I can manifest with 14 power points? (8 from ML, 2 from overchannel, and 2 each from the power link shards.)
2) The power Synchronicity says the readied action can be used "whenever you choose before your next turn." Does that mean it can be used like an interrupt? For example, I manifest that power (with the augmentation, so I don't have to declare what standard action I will do). Later in the round, a monster is about to attack the Rogue, so I use Dimension Swap to swap the Rogue and the Fighter, causing the attack to go to the high-AC, high-HP fighter.
3) If a creature fails it's Reflex save against Ectoplasmic Cocoon, does it get further checks (i.e. a STR check) to break out on its later turns?

[Segev]

1) Is there an item that will raise my UMD, like Masterwork Thieves Tools raise Open Lock and Disable Device? I know there's the general Masterwork Tool, but I'm not sure the DM will let me get away with that. The general MW tool is this, yes. The MW Thieves Tools are just the MW tool for those skills; you name the one for other skills whatever you like.

Do my "pets" go on my Inititive, or do they have their own? (I'm pretty sure they go on mine, but just want to make sure.) Unless there are special rules for these kinds of creatures, they get their own Initiative by the RAW.


The power Synchronicity says the readied action can be used "whenever you choose before your next turn." Does that mean it can be used like an interrupt? For example, I manifest that power (with the augmentation, so I don't have to declare what standard action I will do). Later in the round, a monster is about to attack the Rogue, so I use Dimension Swap to swap the Rogue and the Fighter, causing the attack to go to the high-AC, high-HP fighter.Readied actions take place before the action that triggered them (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/specialInitiativeActions.htm), so since you declare the monster attacking the rogue as the triggering action, yes, it would interrupt by going before it.

If a creature fails it's Reflex save against Ectoplasmic Cocoon, does it get further checks (i.e. a STR check) to break out on its later turns?Ectoplasmic Cocoon specifies that the creature trapped within can take purely mental actions. If any of those purely mental actions let it escape, it probably can, but it doesn't get further attempts to free itself by default.

[Extra Anchovies]

UMD being the crazyass useful skill that it is, I don't think just having an ordinary masterwork tool would fly with most DMs. They'd probably be more okay with some sort of expendable item, maybe some sort of drug. Possibly a powder that can either be inhaled directly (as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity) for a +2 bonus on UMD checks in the next three rounds or burned like incense (over the course of one full minute) for a +4 bonus on UMD checks over the next full minute. Pricing it somewhere around 10 gp per hit or so would make sense.

[Urpriest]

I'm playing an Gnome Artificer 6 in one game, and a Kalashtar Psion 8 in another. I have a few questions..

Artificer
1) Is there an item that will raise my UMD, like Masterwork Thieves Tools raise Open Lock and Disable Device? I know there's the general Masterwork Tool, but I'm not sure the DM will let me get away with that.


The "everything has a masterwork device" interpretation is the only one that works with that, unfortunately. There may be some magic items as well, but I'm assuming you're looking for something mundane.



2) I currently have an Iron Defender and a Packmate that I use in combat, but am planning to make a Arbalester. (The Packmate only pours healing potions to downed allies.) Do my "pets" go on my Inititive, or do they have their own? (I'm pretty sure they go on mine, but just want to make sure.)

IIRC, it's just mounts that go on your own initiative, as well as things you have to actively command like animal companions. Your homunculi should get their own initiative.

Not sure on the Psion questions, will have to wait for someone else to answer them.

[Kesnit]

The "everything has a masterwork device" interpretation is the only one that works with that, unfortunately. There may be some magic items as well, but I'm assuming you're looking for something mundane.

If there is a magical device, I'd be interested in that as well. I have a Cloak of CHA, but would like to specifically raise my UMD.

[Vaz]

Bear in mind that it's a circumstance bonus that you get from the "masterwork tools", you could have a tool okayed by your DM that might not be completely appropriate. For example, a pair of reading glasses with lenses made from a material which can reacts to extremely close by magic (say, the end of the nose distance). This allows you to gain a +2 UMD when dealing with magical items which rely on magical writing, like a scroll of some sort, say, while another is a glove that has some form of haptic feedback for magics, so that those which are held in the hand provide a bonus on check.

Said glove wouldn't help with scrolls, or some other form of magical item, like that Dwarf Anvil, say.

Bear in mind that a Masterwork item is something that's above and beyond the norm. A Disguise check requires the use of a makeup case, for example. However, one that has just the primary colours is going to struggle. One that has 15 different shades for the differences in skin tone, however, is possibly considered masterwork.

[sleepyphoenixx]

Spellsight Spectacles (MIC) raise your UMD by 5, but only for scrolls. They cost somewhere around 2-3000gp iirc.

[Urpriest]

A Circlet of Persuasion boosts Cha-based checks, including UMD.

[Psyren]

Psion
1) I have 2 Power Link shards and the Overchannel feat. Overchannel allows me to raise my manifester level by 2. Power Link shards augments powers by 2, above and beyond what I spend. Does this mean if I overchannel and tap both power link shards, I can manifest with 14 power points? (8 from ML, 2 from overchannel, and 2 each from the power link shards.)
2) The power Synchronicity says the readied action can be used "whenever you choose before your next turn." Does that mean it can be used like an interrupt? For example, I manifest that power (with the augmentation, so I don't have to declare what standard action I will do). Later in the round, a monster is about to attack the Rogue, so I use Dimension Swap to swap the Rogue and the Fighter, causing the attack to go to the high-AC, high-HP fighter.
3) If a creature fails it's Reflex save against Ectoplasmic Cocoon, does it get further checks (i.e. a STR check) to break out on its later turns?

1) Yes - with your 8 levels in psion + 2 from Overchannel that gets you to ML 10, so you can spend up to 10 PP, and then the shards will grant you 2 PP each beyond that, consuming a daily use from both. The power itself will still be ML 10, but if it has any augmentation effects they will be treated as if you had spent 14 PP on it. (Alternatively, you can use these free PP to pay for metapsionic feats instead, like Quicken Power.

2) Yes, readied actions interrupt the normal flow of actions for the round. Synchronicity is like a readied action, except you don't need to specify a condition ahead of time - just say "before X, I activate my synchonicity to..."

3) No. It can take mental actions, but it is otherwise helpless (no physical actions permitted.) This is why you have to augment it to wrap up big enemies.