Promethean
2022-12-05, 06:45 PM
Posting trick from a handbook I can't find anymore for the sake of archival.
TL;DR: By RAW, Psions and Wilders can chain psicrystals to gain extra(but not infinite) uses of Psionic Focus per turn.
How it Works:
Psicrystals, unlike familiars, have their own Construct Racial HD and an INT greater than 3. By RAW this means they can take Feats.
Note 1: Many DMs don't like this flavor of cheese and houserule that psicrystals don't get feats. As always, talk to your DM first.
As Psicrystals can take feats, they are also capable of taking Psicrystal Affinity and Psicrystal Containment as long as you can find some way to give them a manifester level(like the hidden talent feat for example). The text for Psicrystal containment also says:
You can spend a full-round action attempting to psionically focus your psicrystal. At any time when you need to expend your psionic focus, you can expend your psicrystal’s psionic focus instead, as long as the crystal is within 5 feet of you. Psionically focusing your psicrystal works just like focusing yourself. The psicrystal cannot focus itself—only the owner can spend the time to focus the crystal.
The fact it says "when you need to expend" rather than "when you choose to expend" means the feat should also cover involuntary expenditure of Psionic Focus, such as the Psionic Hole feat or Gray Glutton creature. Another interesting involuntary expenditure is if you happen to be a psicrystal and your master is expending your focus to substitute for theirs.
Problem 1:A Psion or Wilder can only get a total of 1 extra psicrystal online using the above setup.
A quirk of the Same Psicrystal rules that allow psicrystal to take feats is that Psicrystals only gain HD equal to their owners Psion or Wilder Levels. This means psicrystals, which only have construct racial HD, Can't contribute HD to their own secondary crystal. The Secondary Crystal thus Cannot take Feats.
Note 2: Having 0 HD isn't harmful to a psicrystal for the same reason having NULL HD isn't harmful to an intelligent item. A Psicrystal, like an intelligent item, has a hit point pool entirely unrelated to it's HD and only depends on it's own hit points. Constructs are perfectly capable of trucking along as long as they have hit points, regardless of their HD total.
Note 3: This also means psicrystals owned by non-psion/wilder classes are 0 HD Constructs incapable of taking feats. However, Ardent has Dominant Ideal, Erudites have Spell to Power, and both can abuse magic mantle for Supernatural Transformation(Psionics), so they have no right to complain.
Workaround 1:Give the psicrystal class levels.
As stated before, a psicrystal is an intelligent construct with a >3 INT score. At level 1 that Psicrystal only has 1 HD, which qualifies it for trading that HD for a Level 1 class by savage species rules. This also means the psicrystal gains a manifester level and the psicrystal affinity feat at level 1, letting it take psicrystal containment at level 3 rather than level 6.
Problem 2: the above workaround maxes out at 2-3 psicrystals anyway.
Psicrystal hit points have nothing to do with their HD, their HP is always half their owner's HP rounded down. This is great when a psicrystal has 0 HD and lets it truck along just fine, but also means class levels can't contribute to their hit points.
By extension, this means that when a psicrystal gains a secondary psicrystal, the secondary has half the primary psicrystal's HP, which is Half of their owner's HP. This means that the psion using a chain Must have hitpoints >= (2^the number of psicrystals) in the chain or the last crystal in the chain will have less-than-one HP(which gets rounded down to zero). Unlike constructs with 0 HD, Constructs with 0 Hit Points are destroyed.
Example: While a 3rd psicrystal requires a starting Psion or wilder to have 8 Hit Points(CON 14 for Wilder and 18 for Psion, very doable), the next crystal in line would require 16 Hit Points(a CON of 30 for a Wilder and 34 for a Psion, basically impossible outside of heavy optimization).
Problem 3: The Chain is set after level 1.
While the solution to problem 2 seems like it would just be "Level up to get more Hit Points", this also increases the HD of your psicrystals. At 2+ HD, psicrystals can no longer innately trade their Racial HD for a 1st level class, meaning your chain would Max out at 3 psicrystals(with psion levels) at 1st level and 5 Psicrystals at 6th level(4th crystal in the chain would have construct HD and the 5th would have 0 HD).
Workaround 2: Do the wight thing.
If you're willing to invest the cash(or already have a party with required characters) you can "retrain" your Psicrystal's Construct HD using negative levels and a thought bottle. As psicrystals are construct, and thus immune to level drain, you'd need to have a cleric DMM(persist): greater humanoid essence on your crystal, have an incantatrix wizard Extend the ongoing affect for more than 24 hours, and then use your favorite source of level drain to get things done. The resulting Psicrystal will be 1 Level lower than it's owner.
Problem 4: You Still max out at 8 psicrystals even at level 20 anyway because of exponential increase in required HP.
The minimum HP required for next psicrystal increases by increments of (2^psicrystal's place in chain). A Psion/Wilder's primary crystal requires 2 HP to give it 1, secondary requires 4, tertiary requires 8, a 4th requires 16, a 5th requires 32, a 6th 64, 7th 128, 8th 256, and finally a 9th would require 512 hit-points Minimum. A 20th Level wilder with Max HP on every hit die(120 HP) and 34 CON(18 start + 5 from levels + 5 inherent bonus + 6 enhancement) would only have a total of 360 HP.
Problems 5-7:
The same rules that allow a Psicrystal racial HD are also ambiguous on whether Psicrystal Hit Points are based on their Psion's Max HP or Current HP. Your DM is within their Rights to rule your psicrystals start shattering if your Psion loses enough HP to fall below the minimum HP threshold.
If using workaround 2, you technically get a new psicrystal immediately if your old one dies(and you have the HP to support it), but there's no guarantee that when your new psicrystals will have the Psionic class levels you spent however much gold to get the full set of 8.
Your DM is in their full rights to turn any psicrystal with class levels into NPCs. Each Psion-classes Psicrystal is essentially be a free cohort And can be doing more things with on your turn than just giving you extra Psionic Focus.
Workaround 3: Thrall herd. Just Thrallherd.
Thrallherds get Cohorts by default and those cohorts are replaced if they die. Having your psicrystal Be those cohorts(who can also take thrallherd) side-steps the above problems 5-7. Your max in the chain is still 8, but you can also take another cohort with your other thrallherd slot(your psicrystal would take thrallherd and use their own secondary crystal in their slot, etc.)
TL;DR: By RAW, Psions and Wilders can chain psicrystals to gain extra(but not infinite) uses of Psionic Focus per turn.
How it Works:
Psicrystals, unlike familiars, have their own Construct Racial HD and an INT greater than 3. By RAW this means they can take Feats.
Note 1: Many DMs don't like this flavor of cheese and houserule that psicrystals don't get feats. As always, talk to your DM first.
As Psicrystals can take feats, they are also capable of taking Psicrystal Affinity and Psicrystal Containment as long as you can find some way to give them a manifester level(like the hidden talent feat for example). The text for Psicrystal containment also says:
You can spend a full-round action attempting to psionically focus your psicrystal. At any time when you need to expend your psionic focus, you can expend your psicrystal’s psionic focus instead, as long as the crystal is within 5 feet of you. Psionically focusing your psicrystal works just like focusing yourself. The psicrystal cannot focus itself—only the owner can spend the time to focus the crystal.
The fact it says "when you need to expend" rather than "when you choose to expend" means the feat should also cover involuntary expenditure of Psionic Focus, such as the Psionic Hole feat or Gray Glutton creature. Another interesting involuntary expenditure is if you happen to be a psicrystal and your master is expending your focus to substitute for theirs.
Problem 1:A Psion or Wilder can only get a total of 1 extra psicrystal online using the above setup.
A quirk of the Same Psicrystal rules that allow psicrystal to take feats is that Psicrystals only gain HD equal to their owners Psion or Wilder Levels. This means psicrystals, which only have construct racial HD, Can't contribute HD to their own secondary crystal. The Secondary Crystal thus Cannot take Feats.
Note 2: Having 0 HD isn't harmful to a psicrystal for the same reason having NULL HD isn't harmful to an intelligent item. A Psicrystal, like an intelligent item, has a hit point pool entirely unrelated to it's HD and only depends on it's own hit points. Constructs are perfectly capable of trucking along as long as they have hit points, regardless of their HD total.
Note 3: This also means psicrystals owned by non-psion/wilder classes are 0 HD Constructs incapable of taking feats. However, Ardent has Dominant Ideal, Erudites have Spell to Power, and both can abuse magic mantle for Supernatural Transformation(Psionics), so they have no right to complain.
Workaround 1:Give the psicrystal class levels.
As stated before, a psicrystal is an intelligent construct with a >3 INT score. At level 1 that Psicrystal only has 1 HD, which qualifies it for trading that HD for a Level 1 class by savage species rules. This also means the psicrystal gains a manifester level and the psicrystal affinity feat at level 1, letting it take psicrystal containment at level 3 rather than level 6.
Problem 2: the above workaround maxes out at 2-3 psicrystals anyway.
Psicrystal hit points have nothing to do with their HD, their HP is always half their owner's HP rounded down. This is great when a psicrystal has 0 HD and lets it truck along just fine, but also means class levels can't contribute to their hit points.
By extension, this means that when a psicrystal gains a secondary psicrystal, the secondary has half the primary psicrystal's HP, which is Half of their owner's HP. This means that the psion using a chain Must have hitpoints >= (2^the number of psicrystals) in the chain or the last crystal in the chain will have less-than-one HP(which gets rounded down to zero). Unlike constructs with 0 HD, Constructs with 0 Hit Points are destroyed.
Example: While a 3rd psicrystal requires a starting Psion or wilder to have 8 Hit Points(CON 14 for Wilder and 18 for Psion, very doable), the next crystal in line would require 16 Hit Points(a CON of 30 for a Wilder and 34 for a Psion, basically impossible outside of heavy optimization).
Problem 3: The Chain is set after level 1.
While the solution to problem 2 seems like it would just be "Level up to get more Hit Points", this also increases the HD of your psicrystals. At 2+ HD, psicrystals can no longer innately trade their Racial HD for a 1st level class, meaning your chain would Max out at 3 psicrystals(with psion levels) at 1st level and 5 Psicrystals at 6th level(4th crystal in the chain would have construct HD and the 5th would have 0 HD).
Workaround 2: Do the wight thing.
If you're willing to invest the cash(or already have a party with required characters) you can "retrain" your Psicrystal's Construct HD using negative levels and a thought bottle. As psicrystals are construct, and thus immune to level drain, you'd need to have a cleric DMM(persist): greater humanoid essence on your crystal, have an incantatrix wizard Extend the ongoing affect for more than 24 hours, and then use your favorite source of level drain to get things done. The resulting Psicrystal will be 1 Level lower than it's owner.
Problem 4: You Still max out at 8 psicrystals even at level 20 anyway because of exponential increase in required HP.
The minimum HP required for next psicrystal increases by increments of (2^psicrystal's place in chain). A Psion/Wilder's primary crystal requires 2 HP to give it 1, secondary requires 4, tertiary requires 8, a 4th requires 16, a 5th requires 32, a 6th 64, 7th 128, 8th 256, and finally a 9th would require 512 hit-points Minimum. A 20th Level wilder with Max HP on every hit die(120 HP) and 34 CON(18 start + 5 from levels + 5 inherent bonus + 6 enhancement) would only have a total of 360 HP.
Problems 5-7:
The same rules that allow a Psicrystal racial HD are also ambiguous on whether Psicrystal Hit Points are based on their Psion's Max HP or Current HP. Your DM is within their Rights to rule your psicrystals start shattering if your Psion loses enough HP to fall below the minimum HP threshold.
If using workaround 2, you technically get a new psicrystal immediately if your old one dies(and you have the HP to support it), but there's no guarantee that when your new psicrystals will have the Psionic class levels you spent however much gold to get the full set of 8.
Your DM is in their full rights to turn any psicrystal with class levels into NPCs. Each Psion-classes Psicrystal is essentially be a free cohort And can be doing more things with on your turn than just giving you extra Psionic Focus.
Workaround 3: Thrall herd. Just Thrallherd.
Thrallherds get Cohorts by default and those cohorts are replaced if they die. Having your psicrystal Be those cohorts(who can also take thrallherd) side-steps the above problems 5-7. Your max in the chain is still 8, but you can also take another cohort with your other thrallherd slot(your psicrystal would take thrallherd and use their own secondary crystal in their slot, etc.)