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Jimp
2007-05-01, 01:32 PM
I hope to be playing a level 4 Psychic warrior in an upcoming game. I've never played one before, or any other melee orientated character at that. Anyone got any tips for feats and power selection?

Aximili
2007-05-01, 02:25 PM
once you have a 1st level power to spare, I'd suggest claws of the beast. You never know when you'll find yourself weaponless, and it's a swift action with hour/level duration.

Drascin
2007-05-01, 02:29 PM
Thing is, the psywarrior can be quite versatile. In which direction do you want to head this hipotetical build? High-mobility Matrix-guy, Thog-smash twohander...? If we're to help you in what you want to do, it would help a lot to know what you want to do :smalltongue:

Jimp
2007-05-01, 02:40 PM
Something with a two handed great sword. I've never played a main melee character before so I'm not really sure what to expect. A pretty normal greatsword fighter I guess.

Aximili
2007-05-01, 02:54 PM
Just one more thing. First 6th level power you should get is mindblank. No matter what kind of psywar you're playing.

Person_Man
2007-05-01, 03:11 PM
1) How far will this build progress? Is it a one shot that will never go past 4th level, or is it a campaign that will go all the way to 20?

2) What books are available?

Jimp
2007-05-01, 03:18 PM
1. Probably to level 10 but it could go up to 20 if things pan out well. It's a long term game.

2. Everything except the fiendish codex

Da Beast
2007-05-01, 03:46 PM
You'll need a few levels to get this off the ground, but leap attack with psionic lion's charge is a pretty good combo.

SpatulaOfDoom
2007-05-01, 05:15 PM
The first power you should have a look at is Vigor. You gain 5 temporary HP per power point. It's actually better for psions and wilders who have the PP to spare but for a psi warrior it can be a life saver. Duration is 1 hour per level so think of it as healing in advance.

Person_Man
2007-05-01, 05:58 PM
1. Probably to level 10 but it could go up to 20 if things pan out well. It's a long term game.

2. Everything except the fiendish codex

OK, that's good to know.

1) Would you like to go Psychic Warrior 10, or are you open to other possibilities, such as using Prestige classes?

2) Just how powerful do you want to be? I know several variants of Psychic Warrior builds that can make DM's cry like the King of Smack (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=227556) or Flaming Homer, but some people find them too strong:


Flaming Homer, the Bowling Ball of Doom

Goliath

Overwhelming Attack Monk (http://www.systemreferencedocuments.org/35/sovelior_sage/unearthedCoreClass.html#monk) 2/Fighter 6/Psychic Warrior 2/Pyrokineticist 1/Warmind 5/Full BAB class 4

Feats: Improved Unarmed Strike, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Combat Reflexes, Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, Knock-Down, Cleave, Knockback, Leap Attack, Shock Trooper, Hold the Line.

Other Feats for Consideration: Mage Slayer, Battle Jump, Robilar's Gambit.

Books: SRD, Complete Warrior, Races of Stone (Knockback), Unapproachable East (Battle Jump), PHBII (Robilar's Gambit), Dungeonscape (Dungeon Crasher (http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=791388) ability).

Before combat, use the Expansion power on yourself to increase your reach.

Charge 10 feet into your enemy. Make a touch attack with your fire lash as a two-handed weapon (as it explicitly says you can in the FAQ). Transfer your full BAB to Leap Attack. Make sure that your initial enemy is close to you when you attack him if possible, as you want to keep your enemies in your threatened area each time you knock him back.

If you hit (you probably will) and deal more then 10 or more points of damage (you will) you get a free Trip attempt (from Knock-Down).

If your enemy is standing next to anyone, each attack also applies to them (Warmind Sweeping Strike). You will also get a free Trip attempt against him and a follow up attack (Improved Trip), which will also apply to someone standing next to him, until pretty much everyone in your threatened area has been hit multiple times and is prone.

Regardless of whether or not the Trip attempts succeed, you get a free Bull Rush attempt (Knockback, which requires that you be a Goliath) on each attack, applying your damage and Leap Attack bonus to the opposed Str check.

This should allow you to push your enemy several spaces backwards. For each space you move your enemy backwards, you may also shift him one hex to the left or the right (Shock Trooper). If this pushes your enemy into the same hex as another enemy, you get a free Trip Attempt on each of them (Shock Trooper again - though if one of the enemies is already Prone from a successful Trip, you can't Trip him again).

Again, each successful Trip gets a free follow up attack, and each successful melee attack gets a free Bull Rush, which can start another Trip. And every melee attack can also apply to someone standing next to your enemy using Sweeping Strike.

Plus, if you kill someone (you will) you get a Cleave attack, which will also apply to whoever is standing next to them, and start the Attack+Trip+Attack+Bull Rush+Trip+Attack... combo, again.

And, at any time you can Bull Rush an enemy into a wall or other inanimate object, and use the Dungeon Crasher ability to deal an extra 8d6 + (3 x Str mod) damage. This is really easy to pull off, since with Shock Trooper and your uber Bull Rush multiplier, you should be able to fling enemies pretty far.

If you're feeling really saucy, use Psionic Lion's Charge for a full attack.

If someone charges you (they pretty much have to in order reach you) you get a free AoO from Hold the Line, resolved immediately before the charge attack, in addition to the normal AoO you'd get for them moving through your threatened area.

Anywho, if you'd like to be Wolverine or a bowling ball of death, let me know, and we can work out the levels and feat combo's. If you'd like something more mundane, that's fine too. Basically, one of the best tricks for a Psychic Warrior is to combine lots of attacks with lots of damage and reach. There are numerous methods of getting there.

ShneekeyTheLost
2007-05-01, 07:05 PM
Two handed smack-down build at level 4? Whew... don't ask for much, eh? But I suppose I can come up with something...

Half-Giant Psiwar3

Feats:

1st level: Combat Expertise, Improved Trip (these don't require a +1 BAB)
2nd level: Power Attack
3rd level: EWP Spiked Chain

Reasioning:

So, why bother with Combat Expertise and Improved Trip? Threaten everyone in a rediculous range, and do sick damage. You're treated as one size larger for anything which counts (except range) so you get a +4 size bonus on trip and grapple checks. Trip, make a free attack when you trip them. Not only are they hurt for your attack, but they're prone as well.

But wait, there's more!

What you want to do is keep your Concentration and Knowledge (Dungeoneering) capped. At level 5 you get 8 ranks of Concentration and 4 ranks of Knowledge (Dungeoneering). Take a cross-class level in Craft (Alchemy) and two ranks in Knowledge (Psionics) and you qualify for Pyrokeneticist to slide into 6th and 7th levels before starting your Slayer progression.

Here's why:

Pyro you can slide into quicker than Slayer, due to relaxed BAB requirements. 1st level Pyro lets you manifest a Flame Lash. This beats Claws of the Beast fairly soundly by being a reach weapon you can trip with as a backup weapon. at 2nd level you get Fire Resistance 10, and the ability to do 2d6 fire damage on a touch attack. Oh, and a +4 save vs anything Fire, like... say... a Fireball. So a wizard chunks a fireball at you, you make your save for 1/2 damage... then subtract 10. Yea... you're not worried about that too much anymore.

In fact, if you want to go Pyro4 instead of Pyro2, you can add 2d6 fire damage to your weapon and shoot 4d6 bolts of fire if they're out of range. Free unlimited Scorching Rays? Yes, please.

Then you go Slayer. Why? Manifesting + Full BAB = Win.

Feats to look at getting:

5th: Improved Bull Rush. Trust me on this.

6th Track. Prerequsite for Slayer.

9th Shock Trooper. Needs Improved Bull Rush and Power Attack. Trade AC instead of attack roll penalties for bonuses to damage. Considering we're doing double (and soon to be triple... more on that later) PA damage due to it being a two-handed weapon... fun times.

12th: Leap Attack. Now you do triple damage Power Attack damage on a leaping charge. In addition to 1.5x your Str mod. You should be consistantly doing over 50 damage a hit by now.


Powers to get:

1st level: Expansion. You were considered Large. Now you're Huge
2nd level: Biofeedback. DR helps reduce damage you take. Good.
3rd level: Pick another one.
4th level: Psionic Lion's Charge. Now you can do a full attack when you charge. Granted, not as handy just yet, but just you wait...
5th level: Pick another 2nd level Power. Concealing Amorpha makes you immune to rogues... which is handy. So is Hustle.

Your Tactic:

Charge in. Smack down. Keep everyone around you from charging your buddies. If they move within 10' (and when under the influence of Expansion, 20') of you, they provoke an Attack of Opportunity. Which means you are Battlefield Control as well as Smack Down. Keep them tied up and beat down while the rest of the party backs you up.

Annarrkkii
2007-05-01, 09:08 PM
Psionic Weapon/Greater Psionic Weapon + Psychic Meditation + Solid CON + Hustle means you can hold your own with standard actions at low levels. Psychic Warrior is arguably on par with Swordsage as one of the most versatile combative classes in the game, and you can go in just about any direction. At level 4, I believe the standard is to go for Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, and Lion's Charge, with the intention of snatching Leap Attack as your 5th bonus or at 6th. For a THFing build.

Alternatively, but equally viable, for a THFer, is a slightly more defensive build. A fond tactic is reach weapon + expansion + Knight 3, which makes you able to guard a 10-ft. radius circle around yourself quite efficiently, as well as being 10 by 10 yourself, making for a 30 ft. barrier of AoO provocation and difficult terrain. You are a one-man wall. An animated shield ASAP makes the build that much more effective, and Dwarven Defender or Crusader levels can season it quite nicely.

Sunder is generally under appreciated, but Greater Psionic Weapon + Improved Sunder + Power Attack + Shock Trooper should end plenty of weapons in 1 round.

magicwalker
2007-05-01, 10:30 PM
Wow Person Man that's ridiculously ridiculous. CharOps boards scare me.

Person_Man
2007-05-02, 02:52 PM
Wow Person Man that's ridiculously ridiculous. CharOps boards scare me.

Meh.

The King of Smack can be defeated by any number of CR appropriate spells or powers, especially anything that limits his mobility. And without expensive magic items, he's defeated by anything with flight.

Flaming Homer, which is my creation, can be similarly defeated, though its more difficult to do so since he has a much bigger reach.

The fundamental problem with all melee builds is that they're generally beaten by anyone with access to any number of spells - Greater Invisibility, Fly, Solid Fog, Dominate Person, etc.

If you build your melee character to defend against those things (for example, a Scout/Hexblade/Blackguard) then you almost always lack any meaningful combo that actually kills your enemies. So even if I make a super-charger character that deals 1,000 points of damage to everyone within 60 feet, he's still screwed if he loses Initiative to almost any full caster.

If the DM chooses to use a lot of full casters or otherwise magical enemies in his encounters, then you're screwed no matter what you do, because you're a one trick pony (KILL! *clapping* And for my next trick, I will KILL some more!!!). If he doesn't, then you quickly defeat everything on the battlefield, and everyone else in your party is bored. So they're really much better as thought experiments, rather then actual PC's.