Quote Originally Posted by ExLibrisMortis View Post
That's one hell of an assumption there. I guess wilders don't need psicrowns, torcs, dorjes, or power stones either?
I don't think I've ever used a psicrown, power stone or dorje. And a psicrystal practically has a head, so it should be able to wear head-slot items anyway.

Oh, and I guess wilders don't ever need to open doors, or pick up a macguffin, or open a chest. That's right, wilders are passive lumps of meat that only interact with the game through their powers!
I can go sarcasm mode too: Oh, yeah, I remember now! Wilders are loners who never adventure with anyone else, who might have hands!

Assuming that the party rogue has hands, whether or not the wilder does is basically 95% irrelevant.

Similarly, your assertion that 40' psychic vision somehow beats regular vision is deeply flawed. For example, you ask for directions. Anonymous commoner #14 points you towards the bell tower. You cannot see the bell tower. What do you do?
That depends, does the party rogue have eyes?

Even worse: you can't aim any of your powers beyond 40', so anything with Medium or Long range is essentially wasted.
Correction: the medium or long range of any power with medium or long range is essentially wasted. The power itself functions just fine at the range at which 97% of all activity in D&D takes place.

Overall, I think you're seriously underestimating what it takes to play a successful wilder (or ardent).
And I think you're seriously underestimating the value of teamwork.

Psicrystals get almost none of the things that other races take for granted--speech, hands, mobility, senses, slots. LA -0, easily.
Apart from hands, they get literally all of those things. I don't know why anyone thinks they can't speak when their description specifies that they can speak. They have ultravision, and I'd rather have three party members with normal vision, two with darkvision and normal vision, and one with ultravision than four with normal vision and two with darkvision and normal vision. They can move and climb, assuming self-propulsion active. And they definitely possess at least some item slots.

In combat, your vision is better than everyone else's and you don't need your hands to do anything you're likely to want to. Out of combat, having different party members with different vision types is helpful, and your party can use their hands to do whatever needs doing anyway. It's not a massive deal.