Pathfinder help making a character.

[dragoon109]

Hello and good day. I am a new player in pathfinder. I play dnd but i have never played pathfinder before and the inst on how to make a character is confusing and i dont know how i play the characters either once made i have been looking over different sites for awhile now and am having difficulties in making my character i am hoping you can shed some understanding please?

my character is human male. psion. kinetic. str to cha are 13, 13, 14, 17, 16, 14. plan to add the 2 to int. plan on staying pure psion. feat would be psi crystal.

but i cant get my head around how to use him or play him. how do i play this and make him? what do i keep in mind?

[Calthropstu]

Pathfinder and 3.5 are very similar. That is what is so confusing about it. The way you play does not change, but many subtle mechanics do. Psionics run almost exactly the same as they do in 3.5 though, with an almost direct port, with a few edits to match pathfinder rulesets.

So run your character as it would in 3.5.

[dragoon109]

am afraid i dont know how becuase i have only played 5e dnd.

[digiman619]

3.5 (and therefore Pathfinder) psionics are a point based system. Rather than worry about spell slots like regular casters, you have Power Points (PP) to manifest your powers. One of the major things that separate powers from spells it that they can be augmented; i.e., you can pay extra PP to get additional effects. This makes it so one power might be the equivalent of a line of spells; astral construct is roughly equal to summon monster I-IX, depending on how much PP you pump into it.

This allows a lot of flexibility, but there is one fact to always keep in mind: you can not spend more PP on a power than your manifester level. Forgive the bolding, but it's a really important balancing factor that a lot of people forget and then claim psionics are unbalanced. Another thing to remember is that this flexibility has a downside; a psion has fewer powers known that a sorcerer, but can do more with them.

[dragoon109]

So how do you play one? I am a super noob. so the book dosent do a good enough explanation for me. lets say i am lvl 1 and i get into a fight. what do i do? where dose concentration come from? i choose psi crystal so how dose that come into play?

[digiman619]

So how do you play one? I am a super noob. so the book dosent do a good enough explanation for me. lets say i am lvl 1 and i get into a fight. what do i do? where dose concentration come from? i choose psi crystal so how dose that come into play?

Well, first things first, you are a full-caster, so you want to say on the back line. If you want to do some damage, consider choosing Psychokinesis as your discipline, as they get the good blasting powers and can change energy type of their damaging powers each time they manifest it (everyone else has to regain psionic focus to change energy type). Energy ray is a good choice of a 1st level power for that reason. If you're looking at being handy in a fight, entangling debris is a good battlefield control and inertial armor is a good defensive power.

As you gain lev els, decide on how you want to intereact with the game world; do you want to be artillery or subterfuge? Battlefield control or minionmancy? There's a lot of different options for you to choose depending on how you want to play. The class has a lot of flexibility for you to choose from.

Just stay off the front lines.

[dragoon109]

The book says i need to focus. what is that? are there any more resources anywhere that could help?

[JonathanPDX]

If you have no experience I strongly recommend you start with a different class. Psionics are tricky, require a firm grasp of both game and psionic-specific rules, and can easily be built without a clearly defined role in combat.

Read the basic rules on the D20PFSRD website first before adding anything additional, and psionics is a completely new set of rules to study.

If you really insist on playing a psion with your first character then read everything in the psionics section of the website and take detailed notes on every ability your character has. Writing them down and summarizing them in your own words will help you understand exactly how the abilities work.

[Calthropstu]

Actually, because psions can wear armor staying off the front lines isn't a complete necessity.

I will show how I play my psion to give you a clue:

Lvl 12: 5 Psion(telepath) 7 thrallherd.

I am equipped with a chain shirt +2, a short sword +2, a small shield +2 and an amulet of natural armor +2. My AC is 27... which is fairly decent. I do not carry my minions with me, instead they act as a spy network.
I use creature nullifying powers trying to dominate or disable our opponents via powers like crisis of breath or mind control. I can also throw some serious damage via energy powers, and via psychic reformation I can change my powers, feats and other abilities practically at will. Also, I picked up Astral Construct and boosted it with the advanced constructs feat. This allows me to summon one for non combat purposes, and have it around for 1h/ lvl. I can also customize my minions to their assignments... which means I get to alter them however I like.

So a psion can be very well rounded. You can also highly specialize, going full blaster and take a bunch of blast/defense powers allowing you to become the stereotypical glass cannon.

Psions are extremely versatile and can be built for almost any niche you want to fill. So the ultimate question isn't "how should I play it" but "how do you WANT to play it?"
Do you want to be the glass cannon? The battlefront caster? The battlefield controller? The dominator? The guy who dips into everything? Hell, with the right powers, you could send your psicrystal in and not see the front lines at all. So really how to play depends on what you build and the powers you select.