Psionic Githyanki?

[danielxcutter]

Okay, so when it comes to psionic Githzerai, choosing what class levels to give one honestly isn't too hard. The -2 Int penalty is a bit annoying, but the boost to Wisdom and Dexterity is good, so they make good Ardents or Psychic Warriors. Multiclassing isn't too hard either, due to the Tashatalora feat from Secrets of Sarlona - and Monk is their favored class anyways. The AC of a Monk/Ardent Githzerai can get really high.

When it comes to their more warlike cousins, the Githyanki, though... it gets a bit harder. The penalty to Wisdom means that they're not exactly good for Psychic Warriors or Ardents. Even as an NPC, Githyanki have PC class levels +1 for CR, so Fighter/Psion/Illithid Slayer doesn't really work that well either, at least not at hitting the "benchmark". And honestly, it kinda feels weird to give one just non-psionic class levels to the psionic version.

Does anyone have suggestions?

[MaxiDuRaritry]

They're best used by tossing them all in a chute with the party at the bottom, ready to grind them into Githburger.

How about incarnum? It segues really well into psionics.

[Nifft]

Does anyone have suggestions?

1 - Write a new version that works for you.

2 - Use something different.

3 - Change the CR.

4 - Cast summon githredsox.

[danielxcutter]

They're best used by tossing them all in a chute with the party at the bottom, ready to grind them into Githburger.

Could you elaborate?


How about incarnum? It segues really well into psionics.

Hrm... well, might work if using the suggested variant favored classes(Githyanki get Psion), but I dunno. Mostly I'm looking for something that fits with their war-like tendencies and stuff.

Edit:


1 - Write a new version that works for you.

2 - Use something different.

3 - Change the CR.

4 - Cast summon githredsox.

Heh.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Could you elaborate?Once they break their legs at the bottom, they'll be easy chum XP.


Hrm... well, might work if using the suggested variant favored classes(Githyanki get Psion), but I dunno. Mostly I'm looking for something that fits with their war-like tendencies and stuff.Warblade/warmind? Unfortunately, the githyankis' unfortunate Wis penalty means they don't always make the best decisions when it comes to ability score synergy.

[BWR]

My advice: don't think of it from a purely mechanical point of view. Look at the history of the race and its culture and see what fits. Plain Fighter works just fine for many 'yanki. Those who have enough Wisdom or Intelligence to pull off a psionic-based class are less common and valued, and gish (for once on these boards the word used in the proper sense) are even more rare and respected.

[danielxcutter]

Once they break their legs at the bottom, they'll be easy chum XP.

Heh. Okay, funny.

[quote]Warblade/warmind? Unfortunately, the githyankis' unfortunate Wis penalty means they don't always make the best decisions when it comes to ability score synergy.

Eh, at that point I think Psychic Warrior might be easier than trying to half-ass that. No offense.


My advice: don't think of it from a purely mechanical point of view. Look at the history of the race and its culture and see what fits. Plain Fighter works just fine for many 'yanki. Those who have enough Wisdom or Intelligence to pull off a psionic-based class are less common and valued, and gish (for once on these boards the word used in the proper sense) are even more rare and respected.

Well, true. Also, they don't have Intelligence or Charisma penalties, so Psions, Lurks, Psychic Rogues, and Wilders possible. There's that too.

[Elricaltovilla]

A -2 penalty to a key ability score is a PC problem, not a victim-of-the-PCs problem. Their job is to do something interesting, then die. Besides, you're the DM, right? Just remove the WIS penalty, or give them a "lower" CR rating for their level, or give them an extra class level, or higher base stats, or create a racial ACF that lets them run off of INT instead of WIS... You can do whatever you want to fix the problem as you see it, that's RAW.

Remember folks, PCs and monsters are not built to the same standards and are not expected to do the same things.

[danielxcutter]

A -2 penalty to a key ability score is a PC problem, not a victim-of-the-PCs problem. Their job is to do something interesting, then die. Besides, you're the DM, right? Just remove the WIS penalty, or give them a "lower" CR rating for their level, or give them an extra class level, or higher base stats, or create a racial ACF that lets them run off of INT instead of WIS... You can do whatever you want to fix the problem as you see it, that's RAW.

Remember folks, PCs and monsters are not built to the same standards and are not expected to do the same things.

Eh, yeah I guess. Besides, it's not that big of a penalty anyways...

[Zaq]

A -2 penalty to a key ability score is a PC problem, not a victim-of-the-PCs problem. Their job is to do something interesting, then die. Besides, you're the DM, right? Just remove the WIS penalty, or give them a "lower" CR rating for their level, or give them an extra class level, or higher base stats, or create a racial ACF that lets them run off of INT instead of WIS... You can do whatever you want to fix the problem as you see it, that's RAW.

Remember folks, PCs and monsters are not built to the same standards and are not expected to do the same things.

This. Besides, sure it’s suboptimal, but at least as NPCs, we still have dwarf Paladins, gnome Fighters, elf literally-any-class-that-doesn’t-go-undead-s, and so on.

[Psyren]

Per the Monster Manual, most of them are Fighters; it's also their favored class per XPH. Given that the next most common is wizard, I would expect Wizard or Psion to be the options of choice.

The level adjustment is irrelevant for NPCs - if you want your level 5 party to run into a level 5 Githyanki Psion, they just do.