How to make a worthy Telepath Psion Arch Enemy?

[nhurta12345]

As part of a 3.5 forgotten realms campaign I am running (Party is currently composed of four level 9 characters that can bring a lot of minions into combat thanks to a necromancer, druid, and a party emphasis on leadership feats) , I decided to start introducing psionic elements into the story with enemies that had psi-like abilities. The only problem is that with the limited time that I have, in addition to having this game often, I do not think I can work up good late game psionic encounters without making it a cakewalk or a suicide mission.

Thus, I hope that this forum's finest will help in this goal. My only restrictions on making this Telepath Arch Enemy is that;

1) You use content endorsed by Wizards of The Coast (since OGL books can be hit or miss, and I think SRD rules are just the generalized core books from WoTC right?)

2) that this psion's race must have or pull off a very human-like appearance (Human is preferred, though other races that are close like half elves or even elans could work too).

3) Level 20 should suffice, though a level 12 set up would be nice for mind seed minions (You could make him epic level, though I doubt this character will make it past the epic plot threshold point).

Other than that, I would appreciate this assistance and would love it if the Psion's build (Feats, Powers, etc.) could be cited from the books used and how this psion would go about scheming and tactics used in combat (Especially since I could use more advanced tips in psionics).

Thank you all very much.

[Flickerdart]

Yes, the SRD psionics material is just stuff from the Expanded Psionics Handbook with the serial numbers filed off. I'm going to refer only to SRD content here, even though there are other books with psionics things. I would recommend checking out the Mind's Eye articles on WotC's website for some free psionics content.

The key things to remember with telepaths in specific and psionics in general:

You cannot augment a power past your ML. This means no augmenting a damage power to deal 100d6 damage.
Mind blank is a very common protection at level 20, moreso with the psionic personal mind blank which comes in at a lower level. Taking over the mind of anybody important is tough. At level 9, it's not a problem.


Here are the powers your guy should be using:

Mindlink (level 1): Being able to set up a mindlink with a scout makes him very good at collecting information. An extended mind link lasts for nearly 7 hours, so he can manifest it on a bunch of guys in the morning and have them reporting to him mentally from wherever they are. The telepath should never be surprised. He can also use mind probe (level 7) to interrogate captives.
Modify memory (level 4): In contrast, the enemy's scouts will have the wrong idea about everything, if they are captured, because their memories can be rewritten.
Hostile empathic transfer (level 3) or empathic transfer (level 2), share pain (level 2) and vigor (level 1): Psionics doesn't have a lot of healing effects, but with these two powers, the telepath makes himself hard to kill. By sharing pain and using empathic transfer with his psicrystal (which is also under the effects of vigor) the telepath presents a temporary HP buffer that's difficult to penetrate, and can offload any real damage he takes onto his crystal, if the crystal has more HP left. Of course, using his injuries to attack the PCs is also legit!
Psionic dominate (level 4): Augmented, this is every bit as good as dominate person, or even better. While it's unreliable in combat, you can always use it before combat on some bozos, and force the bozos to fight the PCs for you.
Schism (level 4): Schism is amazing. Having an extra mind is basically like Quicken for free, except you can Quicken and use the Schism mind in the same round. Amusingly, you can share it with your psicrystal, though it has no use for the spare mind since it doesn't manifest powers.
Mind switch (level 5) + astral seed (level 8), or true mind switch (level 9): Your requirement that the BBEG be humanoid is odd, since telepaths can steal any body they desire.
Psychic chirurgery (level 9): The telepath will know many more powers than a typical psion - he can teach a psion psychic chirurgery and then have that psion teach him a bunch of powers in return (willingly, or due to domination). This lets him easily get powers from other discipline lists.

[Gildedragon]

If you don't mind some eberron mashing the... Hmmm. Enlightened? Are these vessels for evil unknowable powers. Can be crunchy and fluffy.
Undead are good too. Venerable necropolitan that keeps themselves looking fresh with illusions.

[nhurta12345]

Very good start here Flickerdart and Guigarci.

Those tactics will definitely even the playing field and make the party think twice before committing to a war against this psion.

The only reason I considered it limited to humanoid was because the party was given a sneak peak at the upcoming threat and I said it appeared humanoid. I guess if I wanted crack open the flood gates, I could reveal the villain actually used a means of polymorph or something to disguise its real form (whatever that may be).

As for evil unknowable entities, I already had the players encounter Thoon Soldier constructs that are actually working for the psion in question (definitely a good shocking plot point, or so I think anyway. Feel free to correct me as needed). Though now that you mentioned Ebberon, I have been considering that a late game threat could be the rise of the Daelkyr (Possibly as Thoon's greatest servants, who knows; Thoon is Thoon).

Keep up the good work people.

[Devigor]

Lookie here:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/prestigeClasses/thrallherd.htm

Minions, minions, minions. Lots of them. Make them a secret city of Psions. The thralls can be Thrallherds, too. Have them use Metaconcert together.

[daremetoidareyo]

Considering the minionmancy of the druid, how could the psion affect animal cohorts?

[Flickerdart]

Considering the minionmancy of the druid, how could the psion affect animal cohorts?
The same way he can affect anything else.


Directly - A psion has many different ways of attacking things. Psionic dominate works (how many people mind blank their pets?), as would blasting or similar powers. Powers like oak body that grant DR are excellent defenses against creatures that rely on a mass of natural attacks.
Indirectly - The primary advantage of a telepath is his dominated minions. If the druid brings an animal, the telepath brings a fighter. For most battles, the telepath shouldn't even be there.

[Quertus]

Bonus points if the level 20 BBEG is really just the mind seed of the epic BBEG.

[nhurta12345]

I'm really liking the thoughts going into this thread here.

A Thrallherd enemy sounds great, though I may want to save the secret city metaconcert for a late or epic game threat (Or at least keep it to one aspiring thrallherd if I wish to introduce it into the campaign now).

Good job Flickerdart for explaining how a psion would handle animals, it definitely shows that telepathy is better than enchantment.

As for an epic mind seed, that would be an entertaining thought. I just can't imagine the look on this party's faces when they see this M. Night Shamalan plot twist (if it comes about).

Really appreciating all the feedback so far, I hope this thread keeps getting better.

[Flickerdart]

As for an epic mind seed, that would be an entertaining thought. I just can't imagine the look on this party's faces when they see this M. Night Shamalan plot twist (if it comes about).
See if you can land some mind seeds on the party's closest confidantes. Give the telepath an easily recognizable tone (maybe he has a short list of aphorisms he's fond of, or a particular attitude towards a type of item, spell school, etc) and then see how many times you can drop it into the NPC's speech before the party catches it. Bonus points if the NPC normally holds the opposite view.

Alternatively, you can try and land a mind seed on a PC. Every once in a while surprise him by awarding him psionic powers known or power points, seemingly at random. One day, well... his sheet looks a lot like the bad guy's. Note that there's no reason for a mind seeded PC to betray the party - he still has all his memories and therefore his friendships, and evil people often have a "there can be only one" attitude. So the mind seeded guy still has all the reasons in the world to travel with the party and fight the bad guy.

[Ualaa]

See if you can land some mind seeds on the party's closest confidantes. Give the telepath an easily recognizable tone (maybe he has a short list of aphorisms he's fond of, or a particular attitude towards a type of item, spell school, etc) and then see how many times you can drop it into the NPC's speech before the party catches it. Bonus points if the NPC normally holds the opposite view.

I immediately thought of Zartan's whistling, in the G.I.Joe movies.