3.5 Psychic warrior - lycanthrope?

[andaval]

I've been trying to figure out a build that's fun to play even when using a lycanthrope template. At first glance, it seems like the lycanthrope features could work well for this class. You'd get the WIS bump, melee friendly NA bump and DR, and you could still use your powers in hybrid form.

Is losing the MLs bad enough to sink this idea? Would this really play worse than a were ranger or were rogue?

[ComaVision]

I've been trying to figure out a build that's fun to play even when using a lycanthrope template. At first glance, it seems like the lycanthrope features could work well for this class. You'd get the WIS bump, melee friendly NA bump and DR, and you could still use your powers in hybrid form.

Is losing the MLs bad enough to sink this idea? Would this really play worse than a were ranger or were rogue?

Losing the ML would definitely hurt. Lycanthrope Barbarian would work better since it doesn't really lose much from the LA.

[Flickerdart]

Losing ML hurts psychic warriors a lot, and in exchange you're just getting stuff that can be done more effectively with powers. After all, who cares about 1d6 claws when you can be rocking fully augmented 6d6 claws? Why have crappy DR/silver when you can have high DR/-? Who needs alternate form when you're a feat away from metamorphosis?

[Troacctid]

Yeah, the stat boosts are a trap. For some classes, like Barbarian or Fighter, taking LA and RHD doesn't hurt you as much because you get diminishing returns on class levels, but with Psychic Warrior, the opposite is true--each class level you have increases the value of subsequent levels.

If I were going to play a lycanthrope manifester, I would go with War Mind instead. Your racial HD can help you meet the prerequisites, and since it's only a 10-level progression, you can still get the whole thing.

[andaval]

Cool. Thanks for the input, everyone.