pisonic gestalt

[Nosta]

what is a good pisonic gestalt combination? would one from the tome of battle Mix well?

[ZamielVanWeber]

That entire depends what class you are gestalting. Psion is int based so it will go well with Warblade or Factotum (for example), but Ardent is Wis based and would want wis synergy (such as from swordsage). Psionics is broad enough you will need to narrow down to what class you want before you can determine gestalt options.

[Troacctid]

Psion and Warblade is a classic combo due to the synergy with both Intelligence and the Concentration skill. (You can expend your psionic focus to take 15 on a check for a Diamond Mind maneuver.) Their chassises combine well together too.

[Nosta]

Psion and Warblade is a classic combo due to the synergy with both Intelligence and the Concentration skill. (You can expend your psionic focus to take 15 on a check for a Diamond Mind maneuver.) Their chassises combine well together too.

whats a good way to play one for combat heavy games?

[Troacctid]

Depends. What level are you? Your tactics will vary depending on the level of powers and maneuvers you have access to.

[Nosta]

Depends. What level are you? Your tactics will vary depending on the level of powers and maneuvers you have access to.
In this game I'm level 8

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Azurin, Psion (Egoist) 8+// Warblade 1/ Incarnate 2/ Warblade 5+, True Healer (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070314a) ACF. IF you would be able to use a dual-progression prestige class on a gestalt character, switch Psion 8+ to Psion 5/ Soul Manifester (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20060217a) 3+.

Get two flaws (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterFlaws.htm) (more here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?258440-The-quot-Best-quot-Flaws#30)) for two extra feats. That gives you six general feats starting out, plus one from Psion and one from Warblade. Your class bonus feats should be Psicrystal Affinity (Nimble) and Combat Reflexes. Your other six feats should be Midnight Augmentation, Power Attack, Overchannel, Speed of Thought, Extend Power, and Persistent Power (http://archive.wizards.com/d20/files/msrd/ArcanaOccupationsandFeats.rtf). Persistent Power is in the 3.0 Psionics Handbook, that link is to the d20 Modern version which is identical. Officially anything from 3.0 that wasn't reprinted in 3.5 is still valid for use in 3.5, which would include Persistent Power. Replace Speed of Thought with Azure Talent if you're able to use Soul Manifester.

Incarnate soulmelds give you a ton of options (http://community.wizards.com/forum/previous-editions-character-optimization/threads/1041916), especially if you can use Soul Manifester. I'm partial to Crystal Helm for your crown chakra, but you should look over what options you have.

Warblade maneuvers and stances, assuming you swap one out for a higher level one at 4th and 6th, should be one 1st, three 2nd, and two 3rd level or lower maneuvers, and one 1st and one 3rd level stances. Stances count as maneuvers for purposes of qualifying for other maneuvers/stances. I'll include the ones that were swapped out for proof of qualification.
Maneuvers: Steel Wind, Wolf Fang Strike, Leading The Attack, Battle Leader's Charge, Action Before Thought, Mountain Hammer, Iron Heart Surge, Emerald Razor.
Stances: Hunter's Sense or Bolstering Voice, Tactics of the Wolf or Leaping Dragon Stance.

Your Psion powers known are what's going to make this character powerful, because you'll have no daily powerpoint limit. You've got Midnight Augmentation, which you'll invest two essentia into every day to boost Bestow Power (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/bestowPower.htm), so for every one additional powerpoint you spend the target (yourself) gains two additional powerpoints. You'll be spending six powerpoints and your psionic focus to give yourself back eight powerpoints, as often as you want. Never let yourself go below five powerpoints if you manifest powers during fights, and since you have the life mantle you'll be able to heal everyone to full and then refill your powerpoints after every encounter. You can use Vigor before Overchannel to not take any actual damage, with Overchannel you can make 1st level powers persistent, and starting next level you can persist 2nd level powers.

1st: Touch of Health, Vigor, Thicken Skin, Force Screen, Inertial Armor
2nd: Animal Affinity, Bestow Power, Share Pain, Energy Stun
3rd: Hustle, Time Hop, Dispel Psionics, Body Purification
4th: Metamorphosis, Psionic Freedom of Movement, Energy Adaptation, Psionic Dimension Door

Force Screen and Thicken Skin should be persistent. Next level you can persist Animal Affinity three times. Always keep a fully augmented Inertial Armor active.

Always keep Share Pain on your Psicrystal, and keep it in a compartment on your person so opponents will never have line of sight or line of effect to it, so it will never be hit by area effects or attacked directly. You can still share powers you manifest on yourself with it, and you'll always take half damage from all sources and be able to reduce it for DR or energy resistance after it's halved. The Psicrystal has Hardness 8 and always reduces the damage it takes from Share Pain by that amount, regardless of the original attack's damage type. You should always share all of your buffs with the psicrystal, especially Vigor.

Always buff when you're expecting a fight, such as Vigr, Psionic Freedom of Movement, Energy Adaptation, Animal Affinity, and especially Metamorphosis (with Overchannel) into a powerful form such as a Cave Troll.

Time Hop is useful for disarming a dangerous opponent, removing an obstacle such as a door or the bridge the opponents are crossing or an enemy's armor or shield, or for just taking an opponent out of the fight for several rounds. Energy Stun is useful for dealing damage at a distance and temporarily disabling multiple opponents, and remember that stunned creatures drop what they're holding.

Carefully read Dispel Psionics, particularly how the augmentation affects your dispel check. Without augmenting it, your dispel check is 1d20 + your manifester level, maximum +10. When you augment it, you gain an additional +2 to your dispel check for every additional powerpoint spent, in addition to your manifester level. At your current level with overchannel, you can spend ten powerpoints on that to make a dispel check at 1d20+20. Expect your DM to house rule that augmentation to give a bonus to your maximum dispel bonus based on your manifester level, rather than just adding a bonus to your total dispel check.

Your equipment should include any necessary effects (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items) that your powers/manevuers/soulmelds don't cover. Put a Healing Belt on your Psicrystal so it can use that on you during combat when necessary. Get a decent weapon, I'd get a +1 Deep Crystal (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/specialMaterials.htm) reach weapon and put a weapon crystal from MIC on it. You won't need to buy armor or a shield, but an item that increases your Int score can be useful. There may be specific items for Incarnum users (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=551.0) to consider. The XPH version of the Torc of Power Preservation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/items/universalItems.htm#torcofPowerPreservation) will allow you to persist Animal Affinity at your current level.

[AirApparent]

I'm a fan of gestalting psion (at least for a few levels) with Wilder. Wild surge on a psion's power list.

[Troacctid]

Your Psion powers known are what's going to make this character powerful, because you'll have no daily powerpoint limit. You've got Midnight Augmentation, which you'll invest two essentia into every day to boost Bestow Power (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/bestowPower.htm), so for every one additional powerpoint you spend the target (yourself) gains two additional powerpoints. You'll be spending six powerpoints and your psionic focus to give yourself back eight powerpoints, as often as you want.

That's quite a permissive reading of Midnight Augmentation.

[torrasque666]

That's quite a permissive reading of Midnight Augmentation.
Eh. I'm that guy who usually hates Biff's interpretations and the only way I can read it differently is that it only works once. But its simple to read it his way.

Midnight Augmentation reduces the augment cost of a power by 1 for each essentia. Invest 2 to reduce the cost of augmenting Bestow Power to 1 from its usual 3. Every augmentation(normally 3, now 1) adds on another 2 points. All you have to do is spend enough points to get it to 3 augments on top of its normal 3 cost, spending a total of 6 points.

[HunterOfJello]

Swordsage//Psychic Warrior and Swordsage//Ardent have always tempted me.

The psychic warrior one would grab lots of self-boosting powers and utility that can be used as swift actions (along with all those bonus feats). The ardent would grab powers depending on what type of Oomph! the player is looking for. There's lots of ardent variations and some are pretty impressive when backed up by a whole other gestalt side.

[Prime32]

Go Psion//Wilder or Psion//Ardent. Enjoy your endless power points.

If you want a gish, go Psychic Warrior//Ardent.