Need help with a weird psionic gish build. And some Backstory/Roleplaying advice :)

[Kuu Lightwing]

Hello again, playground! I'm sorry that I only post here to ask help with some weird ass builds, but I hope it's fine :)

So, unfortunately the campaigns I'm playing in usually progress really slow and I get more ideas than I could possibly try out. I was playing a character in one of our campaigns, and because our DM is pretty new and he had to DM another campaign (which I also participate in) we put it on a hold, and actually might abandon it altogether. So I wanted to use my character from that campaign, but with a twist.

A bit of a backstory
Daelys "Willow" Amarail is a daughter of a really controlling nobleman who basically tried to use his daughters as an instrument for some political intrigues and stuff like that. I'm not going to dive deep into details, basically she and her twin sister (Daewyn "Winter" Amarail, my character from another campaign) ran away from the family manor and eventually from the kingdom, but now they're separated by a pretty huge distance of "Cursed Lands" which are as bad as that sounds. Their backstory is a bit more detailed than that, of course, but I don't want to go into details now.

Crunch-wise sisters are human DEX-based Duskblades that fight with rapier in one hand and nothing in off-hand - the characters are heavily inspired by Weiss Schnee from web-series RWBY (Link to the character trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt9vl8iAN5Q)).

Now, I want something different for Willow for various reasons, and given that there's probably going to be a big time skip before the next campaign featuring her, I had an concept idea for her: She got into some big trouble and nearly died/got hit by some nasty spell or effect and got saved by Elan community, but they had to turn her into an Elan (I know, the ritual is not really explained, so it might or might not be possible). I talked to my DM and he doesn't have any issues with that. Functionally she would just be a new character, and we're going to start at level 7-8, so that's going to require probably a significant time skip where she would have to deal with the problems coming with such a transformation, and accept what she has become. Also, I'm probably going to make her an Illithid Slayer, so that might also expand on her backstory. So, what do you think about all that? Any advice on how could I expand on it?

The build

Now, at first I wanted to make her a straight Psion, but I'm not quite digging the idea to be honest. I would prefer a gish, because that would make more sense with her character and previous life. The problem is that I want her to be a DEX-based fighter, with light armor, rapier and nothing in her off-hand, to preserve the fighting style of the original character and the inspiration, and also I want her to be an INT-based manifester (Well, Psion probably). We're playing a fairly low-OP campaigns so having a mechanically non-optimal concept for a build won't be that bad, but I want to make it at least viable. So, here's the things I really want to be a part of the build

- Level 8
- Elan (there's no way around it)
- Psionic gish
- INT-based manifesting
- DEX-based fighting style with light armor, single rapier and no shield. (yes, one hand is free) Probably using a dagger as an off-hand weapon occasionally.
- I would prefer to not focus on Metamophosis because of how broken it could be, and also because I don't think that shapeshifting would fit this particular character
- Probably a bit more combat-oriented than manifesting-oriented

It would probably be something like

Psion 4/<Martial class> 2/Illithid Slayer 2

Now, for a martial class I could use Warblade because It would give me some maneuvers (unfortunately up to level 2) and a stance which could really help to deal with low damage output of a DEX-based build with no Power Attack, but another problem is feats. Because of the build I chose, It would have to be Weapon Finesse and Combat Expertise. I also need Track to qualify for Illithid Slayer. I would most likely need Practiced Manifester as well. Also, it really asks for Knowledge Devotion, but I might skip this one, because I would only have 4 feats, one of which is a psionic feat. I could skip Warblade and go simply Fighter 2, which would grant me both WF and CE, but I won't get maneuvers, but given how feat-hungry the build is, that's probably the way to go. It also opens feat slots for stuff like Psionic Weapon, but I'm not sure if I will have a free "13" ability score to assign to STR given that I probably need also WIZ 13 for Psy meditation. So for now I assume that it would be Fighter 2 as a martial class and it would look like this:

Level 1: Track, Psionic Weapon (Psion)
Level 3: Practiced Manifester
Level 5: Weapon Finesse (Fighter)
Level 6: Psionic Meditation, Combat Expertise (Fighter)

Now, I need to chose psionic discipline, and it's a bit of a tough call. I kinda want Egoist because of Hustle and decent skill list, but given that I don't want to use Metamorphosis it kind of a waste. I can get Hustle with Expanded Knowledge, but it requires a feat slot. I could go Telepath, but I don't think it synergizes well with gish-type characters, except for Schism. So I would like to hear your advice on this one. Power selection is also an interesting topic, but I guess I'll try to pick them according to what fits the character as I see her, as well as what powers are good. Still open to suggestins.

So, waiting for your suggestions and advices! Thank you!

[ExLibrisMortis]

Have you considered the Sanctified Mind? It's a six-level full base attack PrC that advances manifesting at all levels but first. It requires Iron Will, which you can get from the Otyugh Hole (3000 gp), some low skill ranks, and +4 base attack. It has a good fortitude save, unlike the Slayer, and offers some useful class features, including the ability to resist daze/stun effects, such as Mind Blasts. You need proficiency with all martial weapons, which is easy, because you're taking warblade 1-2 anyway. You could do something like psion 6/warblade 1/sanctified mind X.

If you're going Illithid Slayer, a level of ranger gets you Track, full base attack, 6 skill points (take it at level 1!), and two good saves. It's probably better than dipping fighter. I would go with something like ranger 1/psion 4/warblade 1/slayer X. Druid can grant Track at level 1, but that costs you base attack bonus.

If you can use the Mind's Eye, you can try one of the ACFs that gets you a mantle. Hustle is a second-level power on the Freedom mantle, for example.

[Kuu Lightwing]

I probably won't go warblade route at all simply because I need feats to get my DEX to attack roll and BAB to AC. That's the problem with the style I'm going for. I know that greatsword + STR + power attack is more effective, but it's not what I want from this character.

Thanks for the advice, but I guess I have to dip fighter to get all the feats I need. Ranger dip for the track feat seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure if I want to dip two classes. Ranger 2 is no use for me, though, since she's going to use einhander style.

Sanctified mind - I thought about it but I'm not sure if the fluff fits the character and her backstory

[ExLibrisMortis]

You don't need feats to get dex to attack (buy a feycraft weapon instead), and you certainly don't want to focus on Combat Expertise - it's a really bad deal to trade attack for AC (it can be optimized, but basically at the cost of the rest of your build). However, Combat Expertise is useful as part of a Karmic Strike/Robilar's Gambit-focused build, using vigour + share pain to tank. You'd be a quick counter-attack focused fencer, using Stormguard Warrior to load a lot of attack and damage onto your rapier. That would be something like:

Warblade 1/psion 4/fighter 1/sanctified mind 2 (better with psychic warrior, but this will do)
1) Karmic Strike
flaw) Combat Expertise (prereq for Karmic Strike)
flaw) Dodge (idem)
psion) Psicrystal Affinity
3) Ironheart Aura (prereq for Stormguard Warrior)
fighter) Evasive Reflexes
6) [a feat]
otyugh hole/3000 gp) Iron Will
9) Stormguard Warrior (6 bab prereq, can't take it until level 8)
12) Robilar's Gambit

Karmic Strike gives you an AoO whenever you're hit; Stormguard Warrior gives you +4 to hit and damage if you don't take an AoO (see this post (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20951286&postcount=25) for more details). The more you get hit, the more you hit back, so drop your armour class (Punishing Stance!) and absorb damage with psionics. You use share pain on your psicrystal, and then share vigour to give it and yourself temporary hp. For example, you can burn 4 PP to get 20 temporary hp (each). You're hit for 40 damage, half is shared with your crystal, and that 20 temporary hp absorbs the entire attack (the crystal has 8 temp hp remaining, because it ignores the first 8 damage).

How you want to fluff that is up to you; vigour can represent toughness, but also a psychic field that pushes attacks away.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Thank you for the suggestion, but I think a build like that won't suit this character unfortunately. First, we don't use flaws, so no extra feats for me. Second, I don't want this character to have a pet rock. I know about Vigor + Share Pain combo, and Vigor would probably a part of her power list, I think it just doesn't fit her. And while you can refluff that combo like you said, it still kinda breaks immersion for me.

Now, since she won't have any shield and heavy armor, I need to find a way to boost her AC. I could use the psionic Shield thingy, but it eats a standard action, and another one would be used for Vigor, so I would skip two turns only to get ready for combat, which might be a bad idea.

Combat Expertise on the other hand provides up to 5 AC bonus without eating my standard action, and it is a Dodge bonus, so it helps against touch attacks as well. I know that usually it's not a very good feat, but I feel like it's the best way to get decent AC bonus, while sticking to the character concept.

As for Feycraft Weapon, if I read it correctly, it doesn't allow to use a rapier without Weapon Finesse, because rapier is a one-handed weapon, not a light weapon.

EDIT: Sorry for dismissing your suggestions, it's just that I might probably have a wrong mindset about it, or... I don't know. I want the mechanic represent my character smoothly and without much refluffing. Like if she's learned to wield her weapon using her agility, that would be a Weapon Finesse feat, so she now could take any rapier and fight with it, because SHE knows how to use it, not because she has a special rapier that she can use. Of course I won't pass the opportunity of using magic/psionic weaponry or Deep Crystal weapon, which would be very useful for her, but on a basic level I feel better when my character works like that.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Soo... any other ideas?

What would be a good power selection? Since she's probably would focus more on close range combat I'm thinking more about self-buffs and stuff that helps in combat, not Batman-esque shenanigans.

At 8th level, she's going to have 5x lvl1 powers, 4x lvl2 powers and 2x lvl3 powers. I guess I'll try Egoist for now. I'm thinking something along these lines:

Level 1
- Vigor
- Call to Mind
- Crystal Shard (I want to get at least some blasting powers, just in case)
- Force Screen
- Synchronicity or Precognition, Offensive (Is Synchronicity worth it without Linked Power shenanigans?)

Level 2
- Empathic Transfer (Not sure about this one)
- Energy Adaptation, Specified
- Ego Whip
- Crystalstorm (To continue the crystal theme)

Level 3
- Hustle (Maybe?)
- Touchsight

I also reread the Psionic Weapon description and remembered that refocusing provokes AoO and that Hustle is a 3rd level power which would make using it to refocus for Psionic Weapon a bit too expensive. So I guess I would actually pass on Psionic Weapon and take Knowledge Devotion instead, cause it also provides bonus to attack roll and doesn't eat actions. She had it when she was a Duskblade, so it makes sense that she kept it that way.

Because of that I might even skip Psionic Meditation, because unless I'm going to take any metapsionic feat I'm not going to need to refocus too often. Some of the extra damage would come from Deep Crystal weapon without the need of extra action and only for 2PP, so now taking Ranger seems more plausible since I'm not going to starve for feats that badly. Also, I'm considering to switch fighting style to two-weapon fighting with a rapier and a dagger, since I'm taking two levels of Ranger anyways, and backstory-wise it would even make sense to learn fighting like that as she doesn't need to use her hands for spellcasting anymore.

So, feat selection would change now:

1st level - Weapon Finesse, Speed of Thought
3rd level - Knowledge Devotion
5th level - Track (Ranger)
6th level - Practiced Manifester, Two-Weapon fighting (Ranger combat style)

I go Psion 4/Ranger 2 and not vice versa because I want to get enough skill points for knowledges to fuel my Know Devotion checks.
No Combat Expertise for me, though, so I guess I need to have Force Screen as power known, to have decent AC.

Also, not sure whom to chose as favored enemy, though so that it would make sense. I need to think more about the Elans who saved her, because they would probably help her with learning her new powers and with her training, so I guess those people themselves would be Rangers/Illithid Slayers, so, what, pick Aberrations as favored enemies? How would that work once I enter the PrC which grants Favored Enemy (Illithid), do I get bonuses for both Favored Enemy abilities?

[Honest Tiefling]

I'll leave the build to the far more qualified ExLibrisMortis, and try to tackle this backstory.



A bit of a backstory
Daelys "Willow" Amarail is a daughter of a really controlling nobleman who basically tried to use his daughters as an instrument for some political intrigues and stuff like that.

Why? There is no sign of such skills in her build. Psions are a bit skill starved, so I wouldn't really expect to see much in the way of skills one would expect from such a background. (Especially given the selection of Disciplines available.) Through it would be a unique twist that she was utterly bad at the expensive noble education in the backstory for once, heh.

Unless your DM has expanded something, I would definitely try to make it clear what sort of nobility they are and skills she was trained with. If we look to history for instance, her skills could range from managing property, archery, weaving or just fainting properly. As for the type of noble, what is the noble system in place, what do they do, and how powerful is the family?


I'm not going to dive deep into details, basically she and her twin sister (Daewyn "Winter" Amarail, my character from another campaign)...

These names remind me of Ancient Rome, where daughters would be named pretty much 'Daughter 1' and 'Daughter 2' and so forth. If this was NOT intended, I would...Distinguish the names a bit. Naming twins the same dang thing can stick out like a sore thumb and often seems weird. Could be a sign that the nobleman didn't even bother to come up with more then one name, but I would think he would hide it better. Unless he, too, was incompetent (or at least in one area, that is to say, hiding it), which could be amusing for a variety of reasons.

Given that you are reintroducing your old PC's twin sister, you...Might get an odd look or two if you don't change the name up slightly.


...ran away from the family manor and eventually from the kingdom, but now they're separated by a pretty huge distance of "Cursed Lands" which are as bad as that sounds. Their backstory is a bit more detailed than that, of course, but I don't want to go into details now.

This might be a problem. Why would she help the party, instead of trying to cross these lands? Now, I don't think it'll be impossible, and I think you could definitely do it. But you'll have to keep it in mind and remind the DM that this is an issue. It could be VERY hard to justify the character not returning to her sister if an easy way across presents itself. I would also detail the running away part, I mean, I assume the father is competent and would be looking for the two of them. Rival nobles might have an interest in the two, even if it is just to put their head onto a pike or force marriage.


Now, I want something different for Willow for various reasons, and given that there's probably going to be a big time skip before the next campaign featuring her, I had an concept idea for her: She got into some big trouble and nearly died/got hit by some nasty spell or effect and got saved by Elan community, but they had to turn her into an Elan (I know, the ritual is not really explained, so it might or might not be possible).

The ritual seems vague just for this purpose. Perhaps something that doesn't affect psionic people as badly? As in, they get sick but recover much better for whatever reason. Maybe even hints that the Elans made it, but it sorta got a wee bit away from them and then oops you have a plague. Or it could have been a protection on an item, where the owner was psionic and just assumed that most people of that power level would be able to get it anyway.


I talked to my DM and he doesn't have any issues with that. Functionally she would just be a new character, and we're going to start at level 7-8, so that's going to require probably a significant time skip where she would have to deal with the problems coming with such a transformation, and accept what she has become. Also, I'm probably going to make her an Illithid Slayer, so that might also expand on her backstory. So, what do you think about all that? Any advice on how could I expand on it?

I don't think that's a might. I don't think you should really have someone be the killer of one of the most terrifying races in existence as a side note! Unless you are willing to refluff the class as something else. If you are unused to playing with new people, they could also very easily feel overshadowed by a character who goes toe to tentacle with such a deadly beasty as well. Will the other characters be playing the ol' hero cycle PCs? Or will they too, be as experienced as this character?

[ExLibrisMortis]

Soo... any other ideas?
Some! Your options are somewhat limited because you prefer to get your abilities ready-fit fluffwise, but there are some further tricks.


... Hustle is a 3rd level power ...

[...]

1st level - Weapon Finesse, Speed of Thought
I think the Freedom mantle is perfect: it gets you Speed of Thought (but you can take both, they stack) and hustle as second-level power. It also fits with 'rebelling against father'-type backstory elements. Now, in order to get a mantle, you need to spend feats (Tap Mantle and Don Mantle), but there is this neat erudite ACF here (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070629a). You can give up your first-level bonus feat to get a mantle. As it happens, erudites get two feats at level one: Psicrystal Affinity and any psionic feat. Give up the psicrystal for the mantle (you didn't want one anyway), and you're set. You can give up the second feat to get another ACF, such as Convert Spell to Power (awesome, but probably not worth it) or a discipline.

Your second issue is with refocussing in combat and Psionic Weapon. As it happens, there is a pretty nice feat for this in Tome of Battle: Instant Clarity. It allows you to become focused as a swift action three times per day, after performing a strike. It also qualifies you for feats, abilities, and PrCs as if it were Psionic Meditation, and it lacks the wisdom requirement.

Are you familiar with the Inevitable Nightmare build? It's a nice piece of optimization around Diamond Mind maneuvers, Stormguard Warrior, and Deep Impact, with the effect that you don't need to make any rolls (other than weapon damage rolls, but you can use a weapon with a damage die of 1), and still hit like a truck. Read for some inspiration here (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?471337-Weekly-Optimization-Showcase-Inevitable-Nightmare-(Tempest_Stormwind)). I would suggest taking a level in warblade, and getting Two-Weapon Fighting as real feat, instead of the ranger combat style - you have the dexterity anyway. You can target touch AC with Emerald Razor and flat-footed AC with Sapphire Nightmare Blade, and both work very well with Psionic Weapon (but not with TWF).

You'd get something like erudite 4/ranger 1/warblade 1/slayer 2, which gets you 5th-level manifesting and +6 base attack. Feats:
1) Weapon Finesse
Erudite) Psionic Weapon
3) Knowledge Devotion
Ranger) Track
6) Instant Clarity

Or, if you want to be super fast:
1) Weapon Finesse
Erudite) Speed of Thought
3) Knowledge Devotion
Ranger) Track
6) Practiced Manifester

50' speed at level 1. I don't think PM is as important as maneuvers, though. They really add a ton of options.


Also, not sure whom to chose as favored enemy, though so that it would make sense. I need to think more about the Elans who saved her, because they would probably help her with learning her new powers and with her training, so I guess those people themselves would be Rangers/Illithid Slayers, so, what, pick Aberrations as favored enemies? How would that work once I enter the PrC which grants Favored Enemy (Illithid), do I get bonuses for both Favored Enemy abilities?
Favoured Enemy generally stacks with itself, but the Illithid Slayer ability doesn't specify, so check with your DM. They are typeless bonuses from slightly different sources, though.

If you want psionics without any of the bother with class levels, I would also recommend a straight warblade with the phrenic template, especially with LA buyoff. You'd be a warblade 6-7/LA 1-2, and you'd have eight PLAs usable one or three times per day (14 uses total). Ask your DM to substitute some of the PLAs with thematically appropriate ones, and maybe switch the relevant ability score from charisma to intelligence. Because they're PLAs, they automatically scale with level, so you don't need to worry about full base attack manifesting PrCs.

[Kuu Lightwing]

I'll leave the build to the far more qualified ExLibrisMortis, and try to tackle this build.

Let me elaborate a bit. This character has already existed, and when I created her, she didn't have much of a backstory, and the thing with fake name came up later - it was more like a "test drive" to see if I can make a character inspired by Weiss Schnee work. It was a small online campaign which ended too soon since our DM didn't want to deal with two simultaneous campaigns - he just started a new one IRL. Both campaigns are happening on the same continent in the same world, but in different parts of the continent. I participated in that one as well and was dissatisfied by my previous character, because I didn't have much connection to him and he didn't have much story.

I decided to make a character similar to the girl from the online campaign and then I came up with the idea of two sisters who ran away from an oppressive father and I made a backstory for them involving them running away, finding an Elf mentor who taught them to fight with sword and magic (a Duskblade) and then having to part ways and leave the kingdom, because rumors were saying that father's people were looking for them. Her sister, Winter actually carries a broken Sending Stone with her all the time - they used them to communicate, but Willow got her stone broken in some of the adventure. The most part of the backstory - the part before Willow turns into an Elan is pretty much set in stone, because I have written it as a part of Winter's backstory and we already are playing that campaign. I could have posted the thing in here, but the problem is that I would have to translate it into English first :/


Why? There is no sign of such skills in her build. Psions are a bit skill starved, so I wouldn't really expect to see much in the way of skills one would expect from such a background. (Especially given the selection of Disciplines available.) Through it would be a unique twist that she was utterly bad at the expensive noble education in the backstory for once, heh.

Unless your DM has expanded something, I would definitely try to make it clear what sort of nobility they are and skills she was trained with. If we look to history for instance, her skills could range from managing property, archery, weaving or just fainting properly. As for the type of noble, what is the noble system in place, what do they do, and how powerful is the family?

She wasn't a Psion prior to the transformation, she was a Duskblade (Well. Swashbuckler/Duskblade actually) Actually she wasn't even a Duskblade - she didn't learn fighting with magic until she met the mentor. I mean, we were starting at level 3 or something, so I had some leeway in terms of when she learned what... Prior to leaving, she learned fencing a bit, she has read a lot of books (had a lot of Knowledge skills) and studying, and so has her sister. According to the backstory the father didn't want all of that, it was mostly their mother's initiative, so when she passed away (cliched, I know) father decided that they don't need it, they basically only need to faint properly :) The father is a marquis, but I haven't put much thought about explaining how big or influential is he.



These names remind me of Ancient Rome, where daughters would be named pretty much 'Daughter 1' and 'Daughter 2' and so forth. If this was NOT intended, I would...Distinguish the names a bit. Naming twins the same dang thing can stick out like a sore thumb and often seems weird. Could be a sign that the nobleman didn't even bother to come up with more then one name, but I would think he would hide it better. Unless he, too, was incompetent (or at least in one area, that is to say, hiding it), which could be amusing for a variety of reasons.

Given that you are reintroducing your old PC's twin sister, you...Might get an odd look or two if you don't change the name up slightly.

The names I chose by staring at the elven name suffixes/affixes thingy for hours trying to pick something that sounds good and makes some poetic sense by their meaning. So yeah, the came up pretty similar... They actually don't tell their real names to everybody, because they still kinda worried about father finding them... so, people know them as Willow and Winter White. They actually got used to those names so much that they're basically like real names for them.

And she would be reintroduced in an online campaign which still happens in a different part of the continent, so that won't be that much of a problem.



This might be a problem. Why would she help the party, instead of trying to cross these lands? Now, I don't think it'll be impossible, and I think you could definitely do it. But you'll have to keep it in mind and remind the DM that this is an issue. It could be VERY hard to justify the character not returning to her sister if an easy way across presents itself. I would also detail the running away part, I mean, I assume the father is competent and would be looking for the two of them. Rival nobles might have an interest in the two, even if it is just to put their head onto a pike or force marriage.
Yes, there's white spots like that, but unfortunately, given the circumstances (they had to be separated, after all for out-of-character reasons) I couldn't come up with anything better. I handwaved it by saying that their mentor suggested them to part ways and leave the kingdom because twins are too noticeable for anybody who tries to find them and thus they can't travel together.


The ritual seems vague just for this purpose. Perhaps something that doesn't affect psionic people as badly? As in, they get sick but recover much better for whatever reason. Maybe even hints that the Elans made it, but it sorta got a wee bit away from them and then oops you have a plague. Or it could have been a protection on an item, where the owner was psionic and just assumed that most people of that power level would be able to get it anyway.

Well, like I was saying, she wasn't a psion. I'm thinking more about of a part of some Elan Ranger/Illithid Slayer squad, who probably found a dying girl and saved her life. Heck, maybe she's been attacked by an Illithid and almost got her brain eaten? And the damage was so bad that they had to turn her into an Elan.


I don't think that's a might. I don't think you should really have someone be the killer of one of the most terrifying races in existence as a side note! Unless you are willing to refluff the class as something else. If you are unused to playing with new people, they could also very easily feel overshadowed by a character who goes toe to tentacle with such a deadly beasty as well. Will the other characters be playing the ol' hero cycle PCs? Or will they too, be as experienced as this character?

Well, to qualify for the prestige class, she only has to be a part of a group that kills an Illithid. So, if we're going to go with Elan Illithid Slayer squad, they helped her to recover, taught her to use psionic powers and she could have become a part of their squad for a while? Like she's not a full-blown Illithid killer, she only learns, and it kinda helps that she would have only two levels of that PrC.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Some! Your options are somewhat limited because you prefer to get your abilities ready-fit fluffwise, but there are some further tricks.
I'm sorry for being so nitpicky...
I mean, I probably haven't explained myself pretty well... I'm mostly asking not about optimizing the **** out of this concept, but something less bombastic - like pointing out the flaws of my feat/power choices, and for simpler things. Like our DM is pretty new and while he kinda understands what ToB is and how psionics work, because he played with those classes in his party (played by me), it would be hell for him to dive so deep into XPH, CPsi and ToB at the same time. This is one of the reasons why I decided to skip Warblade and ToB. Heck, I myself is a really new player and I played only one psionic character and not for long (Shaper, 6th level), so jumping onto stuff like Erudite with ACFs might be a bit too much for me as well.

A more minor part is that ToB has some specific fluff for its mechanics and classes, and given where this character is going in terms of his story, it would be weird for her to learn stuff like that. But it's a more minor part, the main thing is trying to keep things simpler - that's why I decided to try just Psion/Ranger/Slayer thing instead of mixing more classes in. At first I was thinking about the Warblade, because it's one of the best martial classes, but when I was writing it I didn't realize that I also would need a Track feat and I haven't thought much about how she would learn all the stuff - that realization came later. So, I'm sorry for not thinking about that earlier... I'm actually like trying to make the build myself as I'm writing those posts - you can see how I came up with the second version of feat selection and powers, so it is a bit of a train of thought.

Sorry, wouldn't you be too mad at me if I pass on the Erudite suggestion as well? I do see the benefits, and I appreciate the effort you put in your posts, and it's my bad that I didn't explain well what the hell do I want... I mean, would the build I came up with those feats and powers work okay? Is there any fundamental issues I would have with that?



Are you familiar with the Inevitable Nightmare build? It's a nice piece of optimization around Diamond Mind maneuvers, Stormguard Warrior, and Deep Impact, with the effect that you don't need to make any rolls (other than weapon damage rolls, but you can use a weapon with a damage die of 1), and still hit like a truck. Read for some inspiration here (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?471337-Weekly-Optimization-Showcase-Inevitable-Nightmare-(Tempest_Stormwind)). I would suggest taking a level in warblade, and getting Two-Weapon Fighting as real feat, instead of the ranger combat style - you have the dexterity anyway. You can target touch AC with Emerald Razor and flat-footed AC with Sapphire Nightmare Blade, and both work very well with Psionic Weapon (but not with TWF).

I took a look at first few paragraphs, and I like the idea of reliable damage. I will certainly give it a more thorough read a bit later on!



Favoured Enemy generally stacks with itself, but the Illithid Slayer ability doesn't specify, so check with your DM. They are typeless bonuses from slightly different sources, though.

Thanks! That would probably mean that they do stack... I'm not particularly sure if I want to meet an Illithid at level 8 still, though :)

[Honest Tiefling]

Ah, yes, I admit to being not so familiar with the psion rules, (I've never played psionics in my life), so that was my bad. As for the part about her not being psionic, (the trap, the disease) that was meant as a justification for why she might have been turned into a psionic character in order to save her life. Sorry if I was not clear.

As for the issue of her returning to her homeland, ask the DM for some help with a hook that ties to his plot. For instance, her sister might have accidentally come along or was dragged to this location due to the PC's own actions. This person or someone who has info on it coincidentally ties to the plot. Or maybe there's a doodad that will help her contact her sister, or help her get rid of her father. Or even just contact her! Like I said, I didn't think it was impossible, but I thought I should throw out some ideas to help you get a reason to adventure with the party.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Ah, yes, I admit to being not so familiar with the psion rules, (I've never played psionics in my life), so that was my bad. As for the part about her not being psionic, (the trap, the disease) that was meant as a justification for why she might have been turned into a psionic character in order to save her life. Sorry if I was not clear.

Ah, I understand. What do you think about the idea of Illithid attacking her? Also would help as a motivation to become an Illithid Slayer herself, I guess, and explain why are they going out of their way to save a stranger - if they're the ones who fight Illithids. I'm not sure how plausible is that, though lore-wise. I guess turning her into Elan to support her life by psionic energy is okay-ish, and probably repair brain damage with some Psychic Chirurgery would be okay.


As for the issue of her returning to her homeland, ask the DM for some help with a hook that ties to his plot. For instance, her sister might have accidentally come along or was dragged to this location due to the PC's own actions. This person or someone who has info on it coincidentally ties to the plot. Or maybe there's a doodad that will help her contact her sister, or help her get rid of her father. Or even just contact her! Like I said, I didn't think it was impossible, but I thought I should throw out some ideas to help you get a reason to adventure with the party.

Hmm... Well, sisters absolutely don't want to return to the homeland at this point - they live the lives of adventurers. They would probably like to meet again of course, but on the other hand that's kind of a bad idea for out-of-game reasons. Although, Winter is probably going to pay at least for divinations to find out whether her sister is alive to the very least. After transformation, Willow could be a bit hesitant actually. I mean, she probably looks the same, but she's not a human anymore. She would probably still want to see her sister and tell her everything...

[ExLibrisMortis]

I'm sorry for being so nitpicky...
That's quite alright, my flavour of suggestions can be the wrong flavour, sometimes. I hope you've gotten some ideas re:psionic characters for later use :smallsmile:.


I mean, would the build I came up with those feats and powers work okay? Is there any fundamental issues I would have with that?
Well, no, no fundamental issues. At worst, you're still a manifester who'll get 9ths at level 20, so you're still tier 1 or tier 2 material, depending on how you rate the psion. Mainly, the question is this: "How often do I have to fall back on straight manifesting, because my swordfighting isn't strong enough?" (this is basically always the question in D&D 3.5, except when it's spellcasting and axefighting, instead). Since you're trying to build a gish, the answer should be "Not very often, I'm pretty good with a sword". Whether your current build will do that, I can't tell, because I don't know your DM. If the monsters you're facing are vanilla-Monster Manual-level optimized, you should be fine. Your damage will be low, but you will have enough hit points and AC with vigour and assorted buffs, and enough speed and movement modes to avoid combat when it is not wanted.

One other thing: look into buying a dorje (basically a wand) of hustle, made by a psychic warrior, ardent or mantled erudite (that is, as second-level power). You're going to be spamming it pretty much every fight, because it allows you to move + full attack, so it pays to get a lot of charges. If you slot it in a wand chamber inside your rapier (not quite possible by RAW, but a reasonable houserule - they are activated like wands, and have a similar shape and size), you can activate it when wielding two weapons. Saves you a bunch of power points, so you can get more buffs. In a similar way, you can get a dorje of psionic lion's charge (wand chamber in your dagger!), but I don't think that's on the psion list, so you'd have to use UPD to activate it.

[Kuu Lightwing]

That's quite alright, my flavour of suggestions can be the wrong flavour, sometimes. I hope you've gotten some ideas re:psionic characters for later use :smallsmile:.

Yea, thank you for those ideas!


Well, no, no fundamental issues. At worst, you're still a manifester who'll get 9ths at level 20, so you're still tier 1 or tier 2 material, depending on how you rate the psion. Mainly, the question is this: "How often do I have to fall back on straight manifesting, because my swordfighting isn't strong enough?" (this is basically always the question in D&D 3.5, except when it's spellcasting and axefighting, instead). Since you're trying to build a gish, the answer should be "Not very often, I'm pretty good with a sword". Whether your current build will do that, I can't tell, because I don't know your DM. If the monsters you're facing are vanilla-Monster Manual-level optimized, you should be fine. Your damage will be low, but you will have enough hit points and AC with vigour and assorted buffs, and enough speed and movement modes to avoid combat when it is not wanted.

Well I guess that's the problem with all finesse builds - two-handed Power Attack is always so much easier and more powerful than any of those. I faced a similar problem with the Duskblade build. I used Deadly Defense and Knowledge Devotion to boost her physical damage a bit, and, well, there's of course Arcane Channeling.
I guess Deep Crystal weapon would help with damage a bit in this case, as well as additional attack with the dagger (Probably also Deep Crystal). That might burn power points pretty quickly, though.


One other thing: look into buying a dorje (basically a wand) of hustle, made by a psychic warrior, ardent or mantled erudite (that is, as second-level power). You're going to be spamming it pretty much every fight, because it allows you to move + full attack, so it pays to get a lot of charges. If you slot it in a wand chamber inside your rapier (not quite possible by RAW, but a reasonable houserule - they are activated like wands, and have a similar shape and size), you can activate it when wielding two weapons. Saves you a bunch of power points, so you can get more buffs. In a similar way, you can get a dorje of psionic lion's charge (wand chamber in your dagger!), but I don't think that's on the psion list, so you'd have to use UPD to activate it.

Yea, her sister, Winter, actually uses a rapier with a wand chamber (Wand of Cat's Grace for now), so I'm familiar with this thing. I like this idea, and I might ditch Hustle from my power list and free the slot for something like Time Hop or Dispel Psionics maybe (of course we'll be playing with transparency).

[Sagetim]

Alright, so before you plan on using illithid slayer during character creation make sure that your dm has okayed it. If he's okayed you being taken in and elanized, that shouldn't be too hard of a stretch. It's not like elan particularly like illithids, and would probably be willing to organize a hunting party for one from time to time. The main problem is making it plausible that your character could have been in a party of 6 or less that took out an illithid at some point before you started taking class levels in the prc.

That said, if you want to go book of nine swords and want to focus more on stabbing than powers, you could go for a mixture of psychic warrior and sword sage (something like psychic warrior 4/sword sage 2/illithid slayer 2). Sword sage would give you more maneuvers known, has an amazing wisdom to ac ability that works not only while wearing light armor, but unlike dex does not get negated while flat footed, and because psychic warrior is wisdom based, you have a good amount of synergy going on there. Furthermore, by starting sword sage with 4 levels of warrior under your belt, you can start by picking up 2nd level maneuvers for all six of your options at sword sage 1, because second level maneuvers don't require any maneuvers of the same type known to pick, just a minimum initiator level. Mountain Hammer ahoy.

Psychic Warrior also gets psionic bonus feats, letting you stuff more into your whole build. And if you want to be a sneaky snake that uses a short sword instead of a rapier, you could potentially pick up weapon finesse and the shadow hand feat that lets you add dex to melee damage while using a shadow hand weapon (Unfortunately I don't think shadow hand has rapier on their list, but they might. It's worth checking).

Between the extremely high will save (high on sword sage, high on psychic warrior, and wisdom being an important stat) your character could plausibly be part of a party that successfully kills a mind flayer without being dominated or mind blasted or what have you into submission in round 1. Now, admittedly, this kind of build doesn't get you the full manifesting that psion or ardent levels would, but it would be better in normal combat and wouldn't have to rely on a shield to have good ac (you could even take a diamond mind stance to get better ac against a single target, and by mixing a few sword sage levels in as you go up, you could take your 5th level sword sage stance as Black Pearl of Doubt to gain increasing ac against a single target the more they miss you. Be wary of nat 20's though).

Fighting style wise, you could act like an assassin by doing something like 'move in, mountain hammer + greater psionic weapon pop, next round cloak of deception to find hiding space to repleneish maneuvers and focus, come back 3 rounds later and repeat'. It could be very effective at surviving and killing things, but it's not going to win you any heroism awards. However, since you would have access to using all your starting sword sage maneuvers known on second level maneuvers, you could take a bundle of things like baffling defense (which lets you roll sense moving against an attack as an immediate action to try to avoid getting hit, using their attack roll as the dc) and just keep using them to avoid getting hit as you mix it up in melee. Psychic Meditaiton and Greater Psionic Weapon would be your friends in that situation, as your full round of actions would look like: standard attack, move refocus, swift saved to be use as emergency immediate action if things go down hill.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Alright, so before you plan on using illithid slayer during character creation make sure that your dm has okayed it. If he's okayed you being taken in and elanized, that shouldn't be too hard of a stretch. It's not like elan particularly like illithids, and would probably be willing to organize a hunting party for one from time to time. The main problem is making it plausible that your character could have been in a party of 6 or less that took out an illithid at some point before you started taking class levels in the prc.
DM is okay about her turning into Elan, I didn't tell him about Illithid Slayer plans yet, but I don't think he would be against it. And if anything, I could just use SRD:Slayer without any problems like having my character killing an Illithid. Basically I want to go Illithid Slayer route because it's a bit more flavorful and provides better ideas for backstory. I'm more concerned about possibility of the idea of "elanizing" to save her life after an Illithid attack.



That said, if you want to go book of nine swords and want to focus more on stabbing than powers, you could go for a mixture of psychic warrior and sword sage (something like psychic warrior 4/sword sage 2/illithid slayer 2). Sword sage would give you more maneuvers known, has an amazing wisdom to ac ability that works not only while wearing light armor, but unlike dex does not get negated while flat footed, and because psychic warrior is wisdom based, you have a good amount of synergy going on there. Furthermore, by starting sword sage with 4 levels of warrior under your belt, you can start by picking up 2nd level maneuvers for all six of your options at sword sage 1, because second level maneuvers don't require any maneuvers of the same type known to pick, just a minimum initiator level. Mountain Hammer ahoy.

Psychic Warrior also gets psionic bonus feats, letting you stuff more into your whole build. And if you want to be a sneaky snake that uses a short sword instead of a rapier, you could potentially pick up weapon finesse and the shadow hand feat that lets you add dex to melee damage while using a shadow hand weapon (Unfortunately I don't think shadow hand has rapier on their list, but they might. It's worth checking).

Between the extremely high will save (high on sword sage, high on psychic warrior, and wisdom being an important stat) your character could plausibly be part of a party that successfully kills a mind flayer without being dominated or mind blasted or what have you into submission in round 1. Now, admittedly, this kind of build doesn't get you the full manifesting that psion or ardent levels would, but it would be better in normal combat and wouldn't have to rely on a shield to have good ac (you could even take a diamond mind stance to get better ac against a single target, and by mixing a few sword sage levels in as you go up, you could take your 5th level sword sage stance as Black Pearl of Doubt to gain increasing ac against a single target the more they miss you. Be wary of nat 20's though).

Fighting style wise, you could act like an assassin by doing something like 'move in, mountain hammer + greater psionic weapon pop, next round cloak of deception to find hiding space to repleneish maneuvers and focus, come back 3 rounds later and repeat'. It could be very effective at surviving and killing things, but it's not going to win you any heroism awards. However, since you would have access to using all your starting sword sage maneuvers known on second level maneuvers, you could take a bundle of things like baffling defense (which lets you roll sense moving against an attack as an immediate action to try to avoid getting hit, using their attack roll as the dc) and just keep using them to avoid getting hit as you mix it up in melee. Psychic Meditaiton and Greater Psionic Weapon would be your friends in that situation, as your full round of actions would look like: standard attack, move refocus, swift saved to be use as emergency immediate action if things go down hill.

That's an interested idea and I might use it for some other character later, but for this character I would prefer Psion/Ranger route, because I want her to be INT-based, not WIZ-based, and I also want her to be more of a fighter rather than an assassin. And yea, Rapier is not a Shadow Hand weapon :(

[Kuu Lightwing]

Rolled stats for her. Pretty good array for a MAD character:

16, 16, 15, 15, 13, 11

So, I guess I assign it like this

STR: 13
DEX: 16
CON: 15
INT: 16
WIZ: 15
CHA (-2, Elan): 9

Now, since it's level 8, I'm not sure where to put those two +1's. It's either INT or DEX and I don't know really. I'm actually inclined more to boost DEX, because I won't be able to learn 9th level powers until level 20, so I would still be able to boost my base INT to 19 at levels 12, 16 and 20, and since I would prefer melee combat, extra AC and attack bonus won't hurt.

Also, maybe it would be a good idea to ditch Practiced Manifester for Expanded Knowledge: Psionic Lion's Charge actually? From my power selection, I don't need to augment most of them to 8PP, and difference between 5 min and 8 min for buffs usually won't matter much...

[Syll]

Well, on the flavor side of things....

Have you looked at Lurk? It's 3/4 BAB, Int Based, gets Light armor and martial weapon proficiencies, augment their attacks with special abilities (stun, ghost touch, reach, ignore concealment, etc)as a swift action, and 6th level manifesting. I mention it because RP wise, with her coming from a Duskblade non-full casting might make more RP sense?

[ShurikVch]

Second, I don't want this character to have a pet rock.then how about the dip in Psychic Weapon Master (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040827d)?
This way you will get pet rapier!

[Kuu Lightwing]

then how about the dip in Psychic Weapon Master (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040827d)?
This way you will get pet rapier!

That looks... interesting, but prerequisites are unbearable for a character like this one.

[khadgar567]

You say she killed iltith but why not use trallheard to make him your pet then send him to daddy as gift

[Kuu Lightwing]

You say she killed iltith but why not use trallheard to make him your pet then send him to daddy as gift

She's a good girl. Neutral Good actually :)

[Sagetim]

well, on the int boosting side of things, you would get more power points per day, and higher dc's on any powers that cause them. In addition, you would start getting +1 skill point per level at 8, and I'm sure you can find a use for more skill points. Depending on your DM, you might also be allowed to take an extra language known for free since your int bonus went up. I would also suggest having a headband of intellect +2 as part of your starting gear, because...again, more power points per day, and higher dc's. Ego Whip and some of the other low level powers can be highly effective even with a low manifester level as long as the target fails it's save.

Oh, also, when you have open space for a feat, you could look into Expanded Knowledge (or whatever it's called, it should be in the EPH, rather than complete psionic) will let you grab an extra power known from any manifesting class list. This includes Touch of Health (the spend 1 pp per 2 hp healed power from Complete Psionic). While the 5th level one is the most power point efficient (11 power points for 55 hp, +5 hp per power point spent over that), both are quite handy to have since psionics just doesn't do a very good job of healing. Neither is going to make you a party's primary healer, but options are always nice.

In a similar vein of 'options are always nice' you can use that same feat to grab Astral Construct off the Shaper's list. Other nice things from the Shaper's list include Fabricate as a 4th level power, and Greater Fabricate as a 6th level power. Hell, once when I was allowed to run a psion, once we hit 7th level my character used Fabricate to whip up suits of masterwork platemail until the demand for them in that city was satisfied. It threw off our wealth by level by a lot, but I don't think the dm minded so much. Greater Fabricate even has enough of an area of effect that you could potentially use it to build houses (though it would probably require multiple manifests to build anything big, or out of stone, so make sure whatever structure you use it to make can hold itself up while you whip up the rest of it).

Also, don't durations generally scale automatically?

And lastly, to reiterate: make sure your GM has okayed that prestige class. I wouldn't keep hammering on that point, but it's one of the best prestige classes around with it's full bab and full manifesting and also class abilities on top of that.

[Kuu Lightwing]

well, on the int boosting side of things, you would get more power points per day, and higher dc's on any powers that cause them. In addition, you would start getting +1 skill point per level at 8, and I'm sure you can find a use for more skill points. Depending on your DM, you might also be allowed to take an extra language known for free since your int bonus went up. I would also suggest having a headband of intellect +2 as part of your starting gear, because...again, more power points per day, and higher dc's. Ego Whip and some of the other low level powers can be highly effective even with a low manifester level as long as the target fails it's save.
I'll probably grab headband of intellect, yeah, and I do see the benefits of boosting INT instead of DEX, but I'm worried about low attack bonus and AC, since she's going to fight in melee a lot.



Oh, also, when you have open space for a feat, you could look into Expanded Knowledge (or whatever it's called, it should be in the EPH, rather than complete psionic) will let you grab an extra power known from any manifesting class list. This includes Touch of Health (the spend 1 pp per 2 hp healed power from Complete Psionic). While the 5th level one is the most power point efficient (11 power points for 55 hp, +5 hp per power point spent over that), both are quite handy to have since psionics just doesn't do a very good job of healing. Neither is going to make you a party's primary healer, but options are always nice.
Yea, it's "Expanded Knowledge" and I'm actually thinking about Psionic Lion's Charge from PsyWar's list. Healing is nice, but I hope our party would have somebody who would take care about that. And at least she's got Vigor.


In a similar vein of 'options are always nice' you can use that same feat to grab Astral Construct off the Shaper's list. Other nice things from the Shaper's list include Fabricate as a 4th level power, and Greater Fabricate as a 6th level power. Hell, once when I was allowed to run a psion, once we hit 7th level my character used Fabricate to whip up suits of masterwork platemail until the demand for them in that city was satisfied. It threw off our wealth by level by a lot, but I don't think the dm minded so much. Greater Fabricate even has enough of an area of effect that you could potentially use it to build houses (though it would probably require multiple manifests to build anything big, or out of stone, so make sure whatever structure you use it to make can hold itself up while you whip up the rest of it).
Constructs/other shaper things are nice but I just don't think they would fit the theme of this character. I'm actually playing a Shaper in another campaign right now, he's pretty low-level for now, though, and he also does a lot of blasting, with Energy Walls mostly.


Also, don't durations generally scale automatically?

Yes, they do. But if I don't take Practiced Manifester, my manifester level would be 5, not 8, so durations would go down accordingly. I would lose about 5 PP also, compared to having the feat, since bonus PP from high INT scale with manifester level.


And lastly, to reiterate: make sure your GM has okayed that prestige class. I wouldn't keep hammering on that point, but it's one of the best prestige classes around with it's full bab and full manifesting and also class abilities on top of that.
He's okay with it. He actually expressed concern about this character being too weak compared to like straight Barbarian or straight Psion of the same level, and to be honest I'm pretty concerned as well now. I need a good power selection that supports me in combat, but I'm not sure if I can find it, because most of the powers like that are buffs, and buffs take time to set up. I don't want to spend half of the combat doing nothing but buffing myself.

[Sagetim]

I'll probably grab headband of intellect, yeah, and I do see the benefits of boosting INT instead of DEX, but I'm worried about low attack bonus and AC, since she's going to fight in melee a lot.


Yea, it's "Expanded Knowledge" and I'm actually thinking about Psionic Lion's Charge from PsyWar's list. Healing is nice, but I hope our party would have somebody who would take care about that. And at least she's got Vigor.


Constructs/other shaper things are nice but I just don't think they would fit the theme of this character. I'm actually playing a Shaper in another campaign right now, he's pretty low-level for now, though, and he also does a lot of blasting, with Energy Walls mostly.

Yes, they do. But if I don't take Practiced Manifester, my manifester level would be 5, not 8, so durations would go down accordingly. I would lose about 5 PP also, compared to having the feat, since bonus PP from high INT scale with manifester level.


He's okay with it. He actually expressed concern about this character being too weak compared to like straight Barbarian or straight Psion of the same level, and to be honest I'm pretty concerned as well now. I need a good power selection that supports me in combat, but I'm not sure if I can find it, because most of the powers like that are buffs, and buffs take time to set up. I don't want to spend half of the combat doing nothing but buffing myself.

Bringing your dex up by level probably isn't going to make the difference you need to be effective in combat. For that you would want to look at enhancement bonuses on your weapon, gloves of dexterity, the keen enhancement, and maybe the psychic enhancement if you can swing it, which boosts the enhancement bonus of the item based on power point reserve and is cheaper than actually getting a +5 on a weapon (though it does have drawbacks, like if your power points go down below a certain amount, your enhancement bonus starts dropping down too). It IS a thematic drawback though.

On looking at Psionic Lion's Charge I can see where some of the appeal is. You can drop 8 power points on it to get a +5 to damage for each attack after a charge, in addition to getting pounce, and with a bab of, what, 6/1 that gets you two attacks. It's not necessarily the most efficient way to deal damage with psionics though, so let's compare it to, say, Energy Ray. Which is on the psion list and doesn't need a feat to get. It's a ranged touch attack that deals 1d6 per power point spent, cold and fire deal extra damage per die, lightning gets a bonus to hit against targets in metal armor, and sonic has an easy time breaking items though at a penalty to damage per die. For 8 power points you could shoot 8 1d6 shots over a number of rounds, or 1 8d6 shot. If you were looking for damage dealing potential, using the lightning element to get a bonus to hit would probably be your ticket if you were still worried about hitting. Doesn't exactly fit your theme though....

So how about Deep Strike? Or whatever it's called. It's the other feat that psionic weapon serves as a prereq for. Resolve a melee attack as a touch attack. That should handle any problems hitting, though you would be down to whatever your base rapier damage is and..that's not very high.

I think my main suggestion would be to focus on single hits per round instead of trying to use your multiple attacks as your bab goes up. It will mean hitting hard and accurately instead of often and like a freight train. Descriptively, it could be taking your time to line up the perfect strike, instead of stabbing out repeatedly for a death by a thousand cuts. You might be able to get the damage output you need by swapping warblade in instead of ranger, even with just a level or two of it, you could still pick up Mountain Hammer, Emerald Razor, and Wall of Blades. With Psionic weapon, and psychic meditation, your combat round could look something like:
round 1: move in, attack with mountain hammer
round 2: attack with emerald razor, expend focus for psionic weapon, refocus as move action
round 3: attack 'normally' expend focus with psionic weapon, refocus with move action. 'normal' attack counts for recharging warblade maneuvers.
rinse repeat, and never be without at least 2d6 extra damage a round. Stack psionic weapon and greater psionic weapon if necessary for damage output agianst tough foes.

Oh, and if you wanted to psionic lion's charge someone with that combo, you could monstrously stack damage up with psionic weapon/greater psionic weapon and mountain hammer and just make the one attack at the end of the charge instead of using the extras from bab. Against high ac foes, the extra attack(s) can get more like crit fishing instead of reliable attacks anyway. The damage would look something like 1d6 rapier + 2d6 mountain hammer + 2d6 or 4d6 psionic weapon/greater psionic + 5 lion's charge + let's say 2 enhancement bonus = 12-37 or 12-49 with greater psionic weapon.

What those maneuvers do:
Mountain hammer adds 2d6 damage and ignores dr (and I think hardness). It counts as standard action and a weapon attack (so you can't mix it into a full attack action).
Emerald Razor lets you roll concentration against the target's AC, and if you win you get to make your attack as a touch attack (it is also a strike maneuver, so standard action, no mixing into full attack action).
Wall of Blades is your 'ruh roh, gotta not get hit' button. You make an attack roll against an incoming attack roll to try and negate it. It requires having an immediate action open, so you can't use it the same round as psionic lion's charge for example. But because of the way warblade recharges, you can count on having regular access to it as a means of getting a second chance at defense. And since you're making an attack roll I would assume that a nat 20 would mean you win.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Bringing your dex up by level probably isn't going to make the difference you need to be effective in combat. For that you would want to look at enhancement bonuses on your weapon, gloves of dexterity, the keen enhancement, and maybe the psychic enhancement if you can swing it, which boosts the enhancement bonus of the item based on power point reserve and is cheaper than actually getting a +5 on a weapon (though it does have drawbacks, like if your power points go down below a certain amount, your enhancement bonus starts dropping down too). It IS a thematic drawback though.

On looking at Psionic Lion's Charge I can see where some of the appeal is. You can drop 8 power points on it to get a +5 to damage for each attack after a charge, in addition to getting pounce, and with a bab of, what, 6/1 that gets you two attacks. It's not necessarily the most efficient way to deal damage with psionics though, so let's compare it to, say, Energy Ray. Which is on the psion list and doesn't need a feat to get. It's a ranged touch attack that deals 1d6 per power point spent, cold and fire deal extra damage per die, lightning gets a bonus to hit against targets in metal armor, and sonic has an easy time breaking items though at a penalty to damage per die. For 8 power points you could shoot 8 1d6 shots over a number of rounds, or 1 8d6 shot. If you were looking for damage dealing potential, using the lightning element to get a bonus to hit would probably be your ticket if you were still worried about hitting. Doesn't exactly fit your theme though....

So how about Deep Strike? Or whatever it's called. It's the other feat that psionic weapon serves as a prereq for. Resolve a melee attack as a touch attack. That should handle any problems hitting, though you would be down to whatever your base rapier damage is and..that's not very high.

I think my main suggestion would be to focus on single hits per round instead of trying to use your multiple attacks as your bab goes up. It will mean hitting hard and accurately instead of often and like a freight train. Descriptively, it could be taking your time to line up the perfect strike, instead of stabbing out repeatedly for a death by a thousand cuts. You might be able to get the damage output you need by swapping warblade in instead of ranger, even with just a level or two of it, you could still pick up Mountain Hammer, Emerald Razor, and Wall of Blades. With Psionic weapon, and psychic meditation, your combat round could look something like:
round 1: move in, attack with mountain hammer
round 2: attack with emerald razor, expend focus for psionic weapon, refocus as move action
round 3: attack 'normally' expend focus with psionic weapon, refocus with move action. 'normal' attack counts for recharging warblade maneuvers.
rinse repeat, and never be without at least 2d6 extra damage a round. Stack psionic weapon and greater psionic weapon if necessary for damage output agianst tough foes.

Oh, and if you wanted to psionic lion's charge someone with that combo, you could monstrously stack damage up with psionic weapon/greater psionic weapon and mountain hammer and just make the one attack at the end of the charge instead of using the extras from bab. Against high ac foes, the extra attack(s) can get more like crit fishing instead of reliable attacks anyway. The damage would look something like 1d6 rapier + 2d6 mountain hammer + 2d6 or 4d6 psionic weapon/greater psionic + 5 lion's charge + let's say 2 enhancement bonus = 12-37 or 12-49 with greater psionic weapon.

What those maneuvers do:
Mountain hammer adds 2d6 damage and ignores dr (and I think hardness). It counts as standard action and a weapon attack (so you can't mix it into a full attack action).
Emerald Razor lets you roll concentration against the target's AC, and if you win you get to make your attack as a touch attack (it is also a strike maneuver, so standard action, no mixing into full attack action).
Wall of Blades is your 'ruh roh, gotta not get hit' button. You make an attack roll against an incoming attack roll to try and negate it. It requires having an immediate action open, so you can't use it the same round as psionic lion's charge for example. But because of the way warblade recharges, you can count on having regular access to it as a means of getting a second chance at defense. And since you're making an attack roll I would assume that a nat 20 would mean you win.


Well, the more I think about it, the more I realize that ToB would be the best way to go with this character because most of the psionic "damage" feats work on a single attack not on series of attacks... So, I'm thinking of making a more martial variant, basically ditching the most of manifesting.

I also want to keep the focus on Knowledges, to keep the character's essence and backstory. Story is the same - got attacked by an Illithid, saved by Elans, became an Elan with some psychic abilities. After that she spent a lot of time in a library, recovering her lost knowledge and skills, and learned some ways to use her new powers. While browsing the library, she found a book called "Book of Nine Swords" (WiP name :D), which explained some interesting fighting techniques. Given that she was relatively good at fencing before, she got really interested and started practiced those techniques. The part about the squad that saved her doesn't change.
Basically the build could be the following (ExLibrisMortis helped a lot!):

Egoist 2/Warblade 6+

STR: 13
DEX: 16 (+2) = 18
CON:15
INT: 16
WIZ: 15
CHA:9

Feats:

1) Weapon Finesse
Egoist) Psionic Weapon
3) Knowledge Devotion (Dungeoneering)
6) Psionic Meditation
Warblade) Improved Initiative (The list of Warblade feats is not that good, but at least it has this one)

Now, she would have 11 power points and 5 powers known. It's not that good, but it's something to work with for Elan racial abilities and there are some good 1st level powers that work fine without augmentation:

Powers Known:
- Call to Mind
- Matter Agitation
- Force Screen
- Synesthete
- Skate (Mostly because of this (http://i.imgur.com/skLZoGE.gifv), probably would change it for something better)

Also, Egoist levels allow me to use any dorjes with powers from the general Psion list + Egoist powers (such as Hustle), so chambered rapier with Hustle Dorje would work nicely.

Skills. Now it's a bit difficult. For levels 1-2 of Egoist I would get 25 skill pointss. I'll use them like this:

Knowledge (Arcana, Nature, Religion, Planes) - 5
Knowledge (Psionics, Engineering, Geography, Nobility) - 1
Knowledge (History, Local, Dungeoneering) - 0 for now
Autohypnosis - 1

Now as a Warblade she would get 7 skill points per level, 42 points total.

Knowledge (Dungeoneering) - 7
Knowledge (History, Local) - 1
Concentration - 11
Balance - 5
Jump - 5
Tumble - 10

Collector of Stories (Skill Trick) - 2

So, she would have +8 to most Know Devotion checks, which makes it pretty easy to get +2 to attack and damage, max concentration, good athletic skills (Boots of Agile leaping would make it even better), Nice set of Knowledges in general (and Call to Mind to help with that), and of course maneuvers.

Speaking of which. She starts at Initiator level 2, so Warblade 2 allows to pick Level 2 maneuvers already.

Maneuvers

1) -
2) -
3)Moment of Perfect Mind (DM), Sapphire Nightmare Blade (DM), Steel Wind (IH), Punishing Stance (Stance, IH)
4) Emerald Razor (DM)
5) Wall of Blades (IH)
6) Steel Wind (IH) -> Mountain Hammer (SD), Absolute Steel (Stance, IH)
7) Insightful Strike (DM)
8) -

Sounds about right. Diamond Mind school represent the idea of the character really well, and in general it provides a lot of options to attack the enemies.

[Sagetim]

Close, but not quite. You have to be initiator level 3 to start at maneuvers level 2, they follow a wizard style caster level to abilities level ratio. So going 4 psion would start you at level 2 maneuvers with the first level of warblade. Also, a stance to consider as a trade off for punishing stance would be white raven's leading the charge. It may not net you a personal bonus to damage while charging, but if you have allies who are going to be charging in with you, it could get some obnoxious bonus damage going on their attacks.

But yeah, it looks like your character is shaping up. If you still wanted to go illithid hunter it's probably not out of the question, it might just take longer to get levels in and it would unfortunately not progress any maneuvers known or what have you.

To make it clear: initiator for any class other than warblade, swordsage, or crusader only gives half progression. So 2 levels of psion = 1 initiator level, while 4 levels gets you 2 initiator levels as a starting point, plus one more for the maneuvers using class.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Close, but not quite. You have to be initiator level 3 to start at maneuvers level 2, they follow a wizard style caster level to abilities level ratio. So going 4 psion would start you at level 2 maneuvers with the first level of warblade. Also, a stance to consider as a trade off for punishing stance would be white raven's leading the charge. It may not net you a personal bonus to damage while charging, but if you have allies who are going to be charging in with you, it could get some obnoxious bonus damage going on their attacks.
I know that, I meant that my fourth maneuver would be level 2, not level 1. If you look closely, my selection is correct - Warblade 1 = level 1 maneuvers, Warblade 2 = level 2 maneuver. Then I pick one more level 2 maneuver and replace Steel Wind with Mountain Hammer. I'm not sure about charge thing because I'm not going to charge much, and rest of the party won't be CQC fighters.


But yeah, it looks like your character is shaping up. If you still wanted to go illithid hunter it's probably not out of the question, it might just take longer to get levels in and it would unfortunately not progress any maneuvers known or what have you.
Well, you don't need to be an Illithid Slayer to slay Illithids :) I mean, she would have pretty awesome Will because of Moment of Perfect mind, and also Elan resistance if that's not available...

To make it clear: initiator for any class other than warblade, swordsage, or crusader only gives half progression. So 2 levels of psion = 1 initiator level, while 4 levels gets you 2 initiator levels as a starting point, plus one more for the maneuvers using class.Yea I know this. like I said, I picked my maneuvers correctly. I just kinda like that I've lost only one IL :)

Also, one funny thing is that because of silly stance progression, this way I can actually get a 3rd level stance when I get to choose my second stance, unlike the pure Warblade build.

[Sagetim]

I know that, I meant that my fourth maneuver would be level 2, not level 1. If you look closely, my selection is correct - Warblade 1 = level 1 maneuvers, Warblade 2 = level 2 maneuver. Then I pick one more level 2 maneuver and replace Steel Wind with Mountain Hammer. I'm not sure about charge thing because I'm not going to charge much, and rest of the party won't be CQC fighters.
Well, you don't need to be an Illithid Slayer to slay Illithids :) I mean, she would have pretty awesome Will because of Moment of Perfect mind, and also Elan resistance if that's not available... Yea I know this. like I said, I picked my maneuvers correctly. I just kinda like that I've lost only one IL :)

Also, one funny thing is that because of silly stance progression, this way I can actually get a 3rd level stance when I get to choose my second stance, unlike the pure Warblade build.

Oh, yeah, now that I look closely it is first level maneuvers and such. Well, I feel silly. But it's always good to double check things. Now comes time to test it out in the actual game. If you find yourself lacking in power points each day, you might look to investing in crystal capacitors and charging them off any dregs you have left each day (or fully if you have sufficient downtime). You could possibly also get other elan to charge them as favors, as I don't recall any rules that prohibit you from using a capacitor charged by someone else. But that's more of something to consider if you find yourself running out of power points often.

[Kuu Lightwing]

Oh, yeah, now that I look closely it is first level maneuvers and such. Well, I feel silly. But it's always good to double check things. Now comes time to test it out in the actual game. If you find yourself lacking in power points each day, you might look to investing in crystal capacitors and charging them off any dregs you have left each day (or fully if you have sufficient downtime). You could possibly also get other elan to charge them as favors, as I don't recall any rules that prohibit you from using a capacitor charged by someone else. But that's more of something to consider if you find yourself running out of power points often.

Well, the campaign is not going to start until later, so the build could change a bit. I'm thinking of including some Tiger Claw maneuvers actually, especially things like Death from Above and Leaping Dragon Stance, because it helps to compensate for lack of damage, because it's flat bonus damage and also fits the character's fighting style.