Segev
2020-04-28, 03:19 PM
I'd been toying with uses of a psicrystal for a youth in a street gang who tried to contribute to his roguish compatriots' exploits with his psychic powers, and one of the things I'd thought myself clever for coming up with was using sense link (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/alternative-rule-systems/psionics-unleashed/psionic-powers/s/sense-link/) to not need to operate on second-hand telepathic reports but just to see what the psicrystal's Sighted power shows it directly when the little guy is out scouting. I was even considering solicit psicrystal to let him have the psicrystal maintain that for him at higher levels, so he could do other things while enjoying the Sighted advantages.
The 1 round/level shorter duration of solicit psicrystal is disappointing, and initially got me thinking along the lines of finding a way to get the psicrystal itself the power to manifest sense link augmented to 3 pp to impose its senses on others, since that'd let the psicrystal do the concentrating without any further power activation and at the full normal duration.
Unfortunately, while I was poking around trying to figure out how to do that, I discovered that it's even more necessary for such a stunt to work than previously thought: sense link is a mind-affecting power, to which a psicrystal, as a construct, is immune! So psions cannot manifest it on their little buddies! It also can't be made a Network power even with the metapsionic feat, so that's out. Using Share Powers doesn't work, because that doesn't bypass the immunity to mind-affecting.
This is probably intentional, and, if not, is not something I think the designers would say is a problem. Sighted is a powerful ability, mitigated by the fact that it is second-hand information when a psicrystal shares it with their partner.
However, IS there any way to get a psicrystal the use of sense link as a power augmented to 3rd level (specifically so it can share its senses, rather than borrowing the target's)? Remembering that, in Pathfinder, they don't get HD equal to their master's manifester level, so most "pick up these feats" shenanigans won't likely work. At least, not if the psicrystal is to have the feats.
Is there any other way to borrow the psicrystal's senses? The Implanted Psicrystal from Psionics Augmented can do it for a limited amount of time per day, so there's that. Any others?
The 1 round/level shorter duration of solicit psicrystal is disappointing, and initially got me thinking along the lines of finding a way to get the psicrystal itself the power to manifest sense link augmented to 3 pp to impose its senses on others, since that'd let the psicrystal do the concentrating without any further power activation and at the full normal duration.
Unfortunately, while I was poking around trying to figure out how to do that, I discovered that it's even more necessary for such a stunt to work than previously thought: sense link is a mind-affecting power, to which a psicrystal, as a construct, is immune! So psions cannot manifest it on their little buddies! It also can't be made a Network power even with the metapsionic feat, so that's out. Using Share Powers doesn't work, because that doesn't bypass the immunity to mind-affecting.
This is probably intentional, and, if not, is not something I think the designers would say is a problem. Sighted is a powerful ability, mitigated by the fact that it is second-hand information when a psicrystal shares it with their partner.
However, IS there any way to get a psicrystal the use of sense link as a power augmented to 3rd level (specifically so it can share its senses, rather than borrowing the target's)? Remembering that, in Pathfinder, they don't get HD equal to their master's manifester level, so most "pick up these feats" shenanigans won't likely work. At least, not if the psicrystal is to have the feats.
Is there any other way to borrow the psicrystal's senses? The Implanted Psicrystal from Psionics Augmented can do it for a limited amount of time per day, so there's that. Any others?