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View Full Version : death urge as a way of meeting useful people?



kemmotar
2008-03-03, 04:21 PM
Hmm...i was looking at death urge and a very...peculiar idea came to me. Suppose you have a hostile NPC or other intelligent creature that is unarmed. Death urge only needs a mental action so nothing is displayed. Thus you cast death urge on him. Since he/she/it is unarmed it will come to you offering an opening for you to attack.

If you chose not to, could you use this to get a circumstance to diplomacy by saying something like "I will not kill, you we need you and will protect you from yourself life is worth living" or well something much better that i can't think of right now along the same cheezy lines:smalltongue: ...

What other ways are there to make someone you need, but is hostile on indofferent, to offer you the information or help you need without going along with the DMs plan just to piss him off...Oh and no diplo cheese...that's just too much, i remember a level 20 build in WoTC forums, the diplomacer i think...with a standard action he could turn a whole group of hostiles into fanatics...and have enough extra on the check to account for a lot of circumstance minuses...that's right out...

SurlySeraph
2008-03-03, 10:25 PM
On the subject’s next turn, it looks for the quickest method to end its life and attempts to do so. The subject takes no other action on its turn except attempting to harm itself.

If armed, the subject attacks itself as a full-round action. The attack automatically succeeds and deals damage as a critical hit. If unarmed, the subject moves adjacent to the nearest enemy and provokes an attack of opportunity, offering its opponent an opening, which the opponent may or may not choose to take advantage of.

If the subject is unarmed and no enemy is nearby, the subject simply does nothing at all. A subject close to an immediate and lethal hazard such as a cliff or a fire might hurl itself off the cliff or into the fire instead of striking itself with a weapon.

I bolded the part that you're relying on.

See, I think that the point of Death Urge is that it's a goddamn DEATH URGE. The creature does not want you to offer to save it's life, it wants you to kill it, and if you didn't kill it it would just go find some other way to die. Of course, this depends on what your DM thinks.

JBento
2008-03-04, 05:35 AM
I'd also like to point out that manifesting DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY.

If it has a mental display, then people around know that something is being done. More, they also know it's being done by YOU. The RAW is quite clear on this: even if you suppress the display (which is absurdly easy to do), people still see you concentrating in the power (which is why they'll still get AoOs againt you if you don't manifest defensively)

The_Snark
2008-03-04, 03:31 PM
I'd also like to point out that manifesting DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY.

If it has a mental display, then people around know that something is being done. More, they also know it's being done by YOU. The RAW is quite clear on this: even if you suppress the display (which is absurdly easy to do), people still see you concentrating in the power (which is why they'll still get AoOs againt you if you don't manifest defensively)

If it has a mental display, they will hear a faint mental chime, and see you concentrating on something (which could be mistaken for thinking about something). Unless you have a way of detecting psionics, there's no way to tell that somebody is manifesting a power as opposed to spacing out. In a battle, it's probably fairly obvious, but a telepath manifesting Read Thoughts in a social situation isn't necessarily giving himself away. (Somebody who knows they're dealing with a psion might be watching for it, though.) It's similar to casting a silenced, stilled spell.

However, I don't think Death Urge would work very well. They're perfectly aware that some outside force just tried to compel them to kill themselves. That is rather suspicious. And there are so many better options a psion has for making people cooperate (the most obvious being Dominate at the same level) that it's pointless to really try to do it.

Mewtarthio
2008-03-04, 04:31 PM
Death urge is a fourth-level power. Other fourth-level powers include psionic dominate and psionic modify memory. Of course, if you're not a telepath, you need to wait another power level and burn a feat to access them. How about a cheaper alternative, like psionic charm (first-level) or psionic suggestion (second-level), both of which are useful enough that a Psion could expend one of its many bonus feats to pick it up? Or, if you're too cheap to spare a feat, attraction (first-level; either to break the ice for diplomatic talks or to give him a really strong craving for the soup they serve in the mess hall on the other side of camp), or maybe disable (first-level, though you'll likely augment it much higher; "Behold! With my great psionic might, I have rendered you on the verge of death with but a thought! Surrender, and I will spare your pathetic life!").