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Lycanthromancer
2007-05-14, 07:34 AM
I enjoy making unorthodox builds that are reasonably as effective as a standard build meant to do the same kinds of things, and I was wondering if anybody here had anything similar to the following (especially if it fills a different role and complements that one well): http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=846560

Anybody? :thog:

Thanks.

(Oh, and no arguments about psionics being 'broken.' As far as I'm concerned, they're not, so let's not derail the thread, eh?)

Saph
2007-05-14, 08:36 AM
Two flaws and a point buy total of 54? Psionics may not be broken, but your character creation guidelines sure are . . .

Anyway, if you're asking for "My Pet Is Stronger Than Your Melee Character" type builds, there are several I've seen on this board that revolve around using an animal companion/paladin mount and a prestige class or two to make your animal as powerful in melee as most melee classes. A search should turn them up.

- Saph

ghost_warlock
2007-05-14, 08:42 AM
I have an elan egoist tank build that's a bit unorthodox and it's nowhere near perfected, but I think it'd be okay. Base stats: Str 11, Dex 11, Con 16, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 8.

I start out fairly normal with Psionic Body and Psicrystal Affinity (single-minded). From there, I use Expanded Knowledge a number of times to gain access to psychic warrior powers like claws of the beast and strength of my enemy. Things should really pick up once I get metamorphosis at 7th.

During combat, I'd keep hp through a large number of psionic feats (via pisonic body) and vigor.

At higher level, I'll use my psicrystal + psionic meditation to unleash quickened powers while in melee (Concentration checks shouldn't be an issue).

Renx
2007-05-14, 08:45 AM
Crystal fighter+construct... nifty.

Psybot, I choose you!

ZeroNumerous
2007-05-14, 09:11 AM
Two flaws and a point buy total of 54? Psionics may not be broken, but your character creation guidelines sure are . . .

.. How do you get point buy 54? That doesn't make sense, he dumped his 4th and 8th increases into Intelligence and bought a headband of Int +4.

EDIT: Metamorph it and yourself into War Trolls.

Psion: I don't need to hide!

Nahal
2007-05-14, 09:19 AM
Don't know how unorthodox this is, but I ran up a Shaper10/Constructor(3.5E)10 with no psicrystal, and who uses Overchannel and Talented to put out multiple 9th-level constructs. I even named a couple stock ones, and for added fun use the class' capstone ability (quicken Astral Construct with no PL adjustment by spending psionic focus) to churn out a small army.

Marius
2007-05-14, 09:30 AM
He probably rolled those stats. Sometimes you're lucky to get even better scores than those.

A player in one of my games had a paladin with 3 18s 1 17s and 2 16s...

Artemician
2007-05-14, 09:31 AM
I personally don't like to use Psicrystals (personal preference. I very much prefer going Egoist Tank or Astral Construct Spam, as they're much more fun to RP.

But.. one unconventional build I used was a Wilder 20. Yes. Wilder 20. Godly Cha mod, Wild Surge + Ioun Stones + random ways of boosting ML. It could dish out 54 points of Cha damage a round, through maximized Ego Whip w/ Schism. And it was fun to play too.

ZeroNumerous
2007-05-14, 10:58 AM
One unconvential build I had made was.. Fighter 20. It sucked and I never played it, but it was still Fighter 20. [/joke]

ravenkith
2007-05-14, 01:36 PM
A particularly interesting and useful psionic character that I played was a Warforged Shaper.

Taking the adamantine body feat and the repair construct power goes a long way towards making the build survivable, especially at low levels.

Later on, Expanded Knowledge: Metamorphosis and the metamorphic transfer feat really kick the build into high power, especially when combined with the early acquisition of a psicrystal.

With this character, you can summon an astral construct, and then use metamorphosis to allow yourself and your psicrystal (via share power) to assume combat forms, giving you all the usual options as well as constructs.

In addition, picking up powers that target the different saving throws pays dividends.

I played the character as an explorer 'forged who was constructed to go out, analyze a situation, select the most efficient means to resolve it, and then execute.

I used his knowledge skills to simulate his prior experiences in the field... picking up a few ranks in nature, arcana, and dungeoneering etc., to reflect prior encounters. Using the skills to identfiy monsters and weaknesses of said critters became an integral part of the build, and fun to play.

I even went so far as to limiting myself to improving those skills only when I ran into monsters that fell under the various categories....animals = nature, magical beasts = arcana, dungeoneering = oozes & slimes, etc....

Lycanthromancer
2007-05-16, 01:13 PM
I didn't roll those stats; the DM gave everybody the choice of an array (18, 18, 16, 14, 12, 10) or rolling 4d6, and 1s are automatic 6s.

So, I chose the array.

As far as RP goes, he's a small child that was abducted as a baby for study of his psionic powers, and had a part of his soul torn out and implanted in a crystalline warforged. The warforged went berzerk and destroyed the wizards and the creation forge, saved the baby, and they've been looking for his parents ever since. It's funny; in a way, the warforged is D'Mitri's offspring (of his soul, if not his body), and yet the warforged has pretty much raised him.

That's why he has the psicrystal fight for him; he's only a child, and can't do so himself (but he's an exceptionally bright and gifted child, and is quite good at strategy and tactics, so he directs his minions during battles). Muahahaha...

Lycanthromancer
2007-05-23, 07:25 PM
When metamorphed, my psicrystal is going to retain its crystalline appearance when it turns into something organic. Imagine a wolf made out of organic psicrystal.

And it's going to look...well...Transformer-ish when it Metamorphoses.

This is going to be cool.