Another Use for High-Op Ardent

[Rubik]

Ardents are pretty useless compared to psions unless you're utilizing the oddities of their manifesting or abusing their ACFs, but I found another way to use the aforementioned oddities to your advantage.

Ardent manifesting is based on one's manifester level, rather than the level in the class, as we all should know by now, so make one of your mantles the Magic Mantle and take the Supernatural Transformation (Psionics) feat to force your innate psi-like/spell-like manifesting into becoming supernatural manifesting. One of the benefits of doing so is that the feat specifies that your caster level for your new supernatural ability is equal to your Hit Dice. It's like Practiced Manifester and Practiced Spellcaster, but better. This means you could potentially take a single level of ardent and pay a psion to manifest the Psychic Chirurgery power (preferably using a thought bottle to offset XP costs) on you to give you higher level powers you can manifest, should you have enough power points to do so. If you happen to be playing an epic level game, take Improved Manifestation a few times to boost your pp pool.

9th level powers using a single class-dip. Combine with ur-priest and sublime chord or beholder mage for triple 9ths with a single level in three classes and an arcane/divine theurge PrC. Or use a StP erudite as your Psychic Chirurgery buddy with divine-spells-as-arcane-spells-as-psionic-powers and the Child of Eberron dragon archetype to get four sets of 9ths with a single level dip and some renewable resource expenditures (gp, basically).

[Rubik]

Also, StP erudite turns arcane spells into psionic powers. There are ways to turn cleric and druid spells into arcane spells, so those can become powers, too.

And since ardents have an ACF that allows you to exchange any power on your mantle for an appropriately themed power from another list, that means you can choose any arcane spell or cleric/druid spell to add to a mantle.

Quite abusable with Dominant Ideal, considering you can hit up any spell or power with potentially infinite Empower Powers.

[Stegyre]

This means you could potentially take a single level of ardent and pay a psion to manifest the Psychic Chirurgery power (preferably using a thought bottle to offset XP costs) on you to give you higher level powers you can manifest, should you have enough power points to do so. If you happen to be playing an epic level game, take Improved Manifestation a few times to boost your pp pool.
I think, therein lies the problem: powers without the pp to manifest them aren't all that useful.

You want to solve that problem by spending feats? Feats are about the most limited resource you have.

You want to solve the problem (perhaps) by using cognizance crystals? Thanks to the single-source rule, all pp must come from a single crystal, and the cost is PL for that capacity squared * 1,000. That will be 81,000 for the 17 pp capacity needed for a 9th level power, and after using it, you need a source of pp to recharge that amount.

[Troacctid]

Supernatural Transformation only works on innate spell-like abilities. This is generally interpreted as meaning spell-like abilities gained through your race, not through class levels.

Psionics are also a collection of many psi-like/spell-like abilities, not just one.

[A_S]

Psionics are also a collection of many psi-like/spell-like abilities, not just one.
Don't think this is the case. From the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicPowersOverview.htm) (emphasis mine):

The manifestation of powers by a psionic character is considered a psi-like ability
Can't speak to your other point; to the best of my knowledge "innate" isn't really a rules term, so there's nothing for it but to ask your DM what the heck an "innate spell-like ability" is.

[Troacctid]

Don't think this is the case. From the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicPowersOverview.htm) (emphasis mine):

Can't speak to your other point; to the best of my knowledge "innate" isn't really a rules term, so there's nothing for it but to ask your DM what the heck an "innate spell-like ability" is.

If the ability to manifest powers were a psi-like ability in itself, it would take a standard action on top of the action required to manifest any given power.

[Stegyre]

If the ability to manifest powers were a psi-like ability in itself, it would take a standard action on top of the action required to manifest any given power.
I don't think that is correct, although the whole discussion is TO and a bit silly. The "use" of the (su) ability would be the manifestation of the power, not using an ability to manifest the power. That would become endlessly reductive: "use an ability to use an ability to use an ability . . . to use an ability to manifest a power."

As for the manifesting time for the powers, themselves, specific overrides general, so if a power gives a different manifesting time than one standard action, that specific time controls.

Look at the other problems though: just because an StP Erudite could get a divine or arcane spell as a power does not mean an ardent (an entirely different class) could add such a spell-to-power to a mantle.

Using a very creative interpretation of the magic mantle, one could perhaps say any Magic Mantle Ardent could do this with any spell, without the need for any StP help. After all, "we're just treating magic and psionics as identical." But like I said, this is getting very silly.

Also, maybe I need to read up further on UrPriest, et al., but to my understanding, all of these other PrCs merely grant accelerated spell casting progression, not Ardent-like progression. Thus, having a CL equal to HD doesn't get you access to their 9ths. You have to take the actual class levels. (Nothing in Magic Mantle or Supernatural Transformation changes that.)