MUST have powers for Psychic Warriors?

[Dusk Eclipse]

Which in your opinions are must have powers for a generic psychic warrior, feel free to include powers that CAN be get by EK.

Thanks in advance

[Yuki Akuma]

Psionic Lion's Charge, Metaphysical Weapon and Animal Affinity.

[Draz74]

There's no powers that are absolutely required for a Psychic Warrior; it would still be a good class with any one or two powers banned (if someone wanted to ban them for some reason).

The closest two powers to "must-have" status are probably Expansion and Hustle.

[Tinydwarfman]

Vigor, Hustle, Expansion, Emphatic Transfer (Hostile), and Metamorphosis (EK) are the most important ones I can think of off the top of my head. It also depends a lot on your build.

[Dusk Eclipse]

First of all thanks everyone for your quick responses.

Now I don't have a build in mind, I was just curious to the opinions of the playground on one of my favourite classes.

[erikun]

I would say the "must haves" are Expansion (1st), Vigor (1st), Astral Construct (1st, EK), and Hustle or Psionic Lion's Charge (2nd). Some form of Concealing Amorpha should als be on the list.

[Keld Denar]

Yea...if you are a grappler, Grip of Iron is awesome. If not, not so much. If use a weapon, Claws of the Beast are rather meh. If you make the most out of your claws with Rapid Strike and/or Imp Natural Attack, Claws of the Beast are AMAZING.

Its all in what your role is. In general though, Expansion is pretty sexy regardless, and either Psionic Lion's Charge or Hustle are vital for battlefield buttkickery.

[Sinfire Titan]

Psionic Lion's Charge, Metaphysical Weapon and Animal Affinity.

Hustle VS Psionic Lion's Charge. Really, I prefer the former because it gets me my Psionic Focus back whenever I need it.

[AslanCross]

I would say the "must haves" are Expansion (1st), Vigor (1st), Astral Construct (1st, EK), and Hustle or Psionic Lion's Charge (2nd). Some form of Concealing Amorpha should als be on the list.

erikun speaks the truth. Expansion is almost always on my list, as it's a sure damage boost. Hustle as well.

[jokey665]

By RAW, doesn't Psionic Lion's Charge grant pounce indefinitely because of the way it's worded?

[Prime32]

If you have a psicrystal: share pain (via Expanded Knowledge)

If you're a warforged: psionic repair damage (same)

[erikun]

By RAW, doesn't Psionic Lion's Charge grant pounce indefinitely because of the way it's worded?

I think you'd have a hard time convincing a DM to give your character a permanent pounce ability for expending 3 PP - or if they do, you can just pick Hustle anyways.

For the record: Psionic Lion’s Charge is more useful for chargers, as you can move twice and still full attack. Hustle is more useful for those who expend their psionic focus often, or are not as interested in full attacking for whatever reason.

[Dacia Brabant]

Lots of lower-level powers here but don't forget about high level play. Energy Conversion is really economical, Personal Mind Blank is a no-brainer () and Dispelling Buffer will help make sure your precious buffs don't go away.

And while by no means a must-have, for psionic archer builds Psicrystal Affinity + Immovability + Solicit Psicrystal (EK) = one heavy-duty cannon.

[Dusk Eclipse]

I seem to recall a trick for using deep impact on every attack of the full round action... does anybody know of it?

[Ashiel]

Vigor and Expansion are definitely good ones. In a team game dimension swap makes you the party's valorous hero really fast (since you take an ally out of danger in true self-imposed style). Of course, my favorite is again the Vigor + Psicrystal + Expanded Knowledge (Share Pain) to create a Tankmaster 9001.

Basically, you keep your Psicrystal on you. You manifest Vigor at full-power (1pp = 5 temporary HP, so at 5th level that's 25 temporary HP); share it with your Psicrystal (granting it 25 temporary HP as well); then manifest share pain on your Psicrystal so each of you split damage. Gives you the ability to Shrug off some serious punishment.

Combine with Stone Power from the Tome of Battle (allowing you to get an additional 10 temporary hp each round; which to my knowledge stacks with temporary Hp gained from other sources; at least it doesn't mention stacking problems in the Temporary HP section of the SRD when I checked), it allows you to shrug off obscene amounts of punishment.

You suck kind of offensively, but you can always grapple someone (touch attack) while Expanded and try to hold enemies while your party beats on them.

[Dacia Brabant]

Well if you feel like burning a whole lot of feats, you could go into Psychic Weapon Master to be able to have three psionic focuses active at once--one from yourself, one from your psicrystal and one from your bonded weapon. That would cover three Deep Impacts in a round, which is probably the most you'd ever need, but as I said it's very, VERY feat intensive.

There's also an Elan feat, I think Elan Retainment, that lets you retain your psionic focus after expending it, but it's only 1/day. And there's a feat in ToB that lets you regain psionic focus as a swift action but I'm not sure you can use a swift action in the middle of a full attack. I'm not sure of any other ways to do it.

[tyckspoon]

I seem to recall a trick for using deep impact on every attack of the full round action... does anybody know of it?

Schism/Synchronicity abuse could do it, I think (Schism manifests Synchronicity, shared with your Psicrystal, you and your Psicrystal ready action to restore Focus, make two Deep Impacts with you+psicrystal focus, Syncronicity action to regain, make two more Deep Impact attacks.) There's probably a less brute-force way to do it, but I'm not aware of it; you'll need either a means of holding (or not expending when you normally would) several focuses or reliably regaining focus as a free action.

[Sinfire Titan]

(allowing you to get an additional 10 temporary hp each round; which to my knowledge stacks with temporary Hp gained from other sources; at least it doesn't mention stacking problems in the Temporary HP section of the SRD when I checked)

Temp HP from multiple sources doesn't stack. Rules Compendium made that clear. The exception is a ruling in a FAQ made on the Duskblade's Arcane Channeling with Vampiric Touch.

[Ashiel]

Temp HP from multiple sources doesn't stack. Rules Compendium made that clear. The exception is a ruling in a FAQ made on the Duskblade's Arcane Channeling with Vampiric Touch.

Ahh, then you could save a feat then. It's overkill anyway. However, it's worth noting that nothing in the SRD that I've seen suggests otherwise; and the fact there's an exception for Vampiric Touch for Duskblades (though not expressly called out in the PHB-II) seems suspect at best.

By default, the SRD assumes that multiple sources of temporary HP do stack (IE - you cannot repeatedly cast vampiric touch or vigor to get tons of Hp, but you could have a vampire gain temporary Hp from their energy drain attack, as well as benefit from Vigor at the same time.

All of this is supposedly superseded by the Rules Compendium which is supposed to include Errata when applicable - but then again, the SRD is supposed to include Errata as well to my knowledge. So I guess it's something that varies. Ultimately one must ask that if it's not made freely available public errata, then is it not really errata at all but instead supplemental material?

Just an interesting thought.

[Sinfire Titan]

Ahh, then you could save a feat then. It's overkill anyway. However, it's worth noting that nothing in the SRD that I've seen suggests otherwise; and the fact there's an exception for Vampiric Touch for Duskblades (though not expressly called out in the PHB-II) seems suspect at best.

By default, the SRD assumes that multiple sources of temporary HP do stack (IE - you cannot repeatedly cast vampiric touch or vigor to get tons of Hp, but you could have a vampire gain temporary Hp from their energy drain attack, as well as benefit from Vigor at the same time.

All of this is supposedly superseded by the Rules Compendium which is supposed to include Errata when applicable - but then again, the SRD is supposed to include Errata as well to my knowledge. So I guess it's something that varies. Ultimately one must ask that if it's not made freely available public errata, then is it not really errata at all but instead supplemental material?

Just an interesting thought.

Just because you snarked, I looked it up. I was wrong, they do stack.

Temporary Hit Points

Through magic or the use of special abilities, a creature can
gain a number of hit points called temporary hit points.
When a creature gains temporary hit points, note its current
hit point total. If the temporary hit points go away through
a means other than damage, the creature’s hit points drop to
its current hit point total. If the creature has taken damage so
that its hit points are equal to or lower than the noted current
hit point total when the temporary hit points go away, all the
temporary hit points have already been lost. The creature’s
hit point total doesn’t drop further.

Temporary hit points gained from multiple applications
of the same effect don’t stack. Instead, the highest number
of temporary hit points gained from that effect apply.
If temporary hit points are gained from multiple, different
sources that stack, keep track of those sources and when they
were gained separately. Any damage taken is fi rst subtracted
from the oldest effect that granted temporary hit points.
When those are gone, subtract damage from the next oldest
effect, and so on.
When temporary hit points are lost, they can’t be restored
like normal hit points can be, even by magic.

[mabriss lethe]

Feat leech.

[Ranger Mattos]

Personally, the only ones that I need are Psionic Lion's Charge for pounce and Expansion to get big for better smashing.

[Lycanthromancer]

Try to avoid powers that get really expensive at later levels; generally, the best psychic warrior powers remain useful at their lowest augmentation throughout most of your career; powers like astral construct get really expensive unless you know how to wring every last bit of efficacy out of every power point you put into them. Frankly I'd rather spend a feat on a psicrystal than on astral construct any day.

Most any power that isn't of instantaneous duration (other than dimension slide/door, hustle, psychic reformation, or psionic lion's charge) is worth considering (longer durations improve manifesting efficiency, which is a definite necessity with most any psychic warrior).

The ones I find most useful in more builds from the psychic warrior list are:

Spoiler

Show

1ST LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Bite of the wolf (for an extra attack that autoscales as you gain levels),
-Call weaponry (because getting your weapons confiscated can suck; also, the ACF from The Mind's Eye, which is incredibibble),
-Claws of the beast (for the same reason as call weaponry, as well as making -essentially- Two Weapon Fighting available at very low levels; also, the King of Smack),
-Chameleon (+10 to Hide for 10 min/lvl can be awesome for an assassin, especially since it's good at stacking with other bonuses),
-Expansion (THE king of 1st level powers: awesome for nearly any melee build and some archery builds; scales with level; grants sizable bonuses on pretty much every single combat maneuver you can get outside of ToB [and many within ToB]; segues extraordinarily well with other powers [see: damage increases on call weaponry, bite of the wolf, and claws of the beast, size bonus that stacks with grip of iron and so on]; and gives reach...lots and lots of reach, which helps you avoid AoOs when you don't have the feat needed to perform a specific combat maneuver [and if you do, the bonuses stack]; all in all, THE best first level power in the book, IMO),
-Force screen (This one gets better at higher levels, especially Extended, since it allows you to get a shield bonus while leaving your hands free for a two-hander, without having to spend a huge amount on an animated shield, although the duration is less than awesome at low levels, given how few pp you get),
-Grip of iron (Great for a grappler build, especially combined with expansion, though later levels make this less than awesome when you're trying to bring someone down who's buffed with freedom of movement),
-Hammer (If you're using the XPH version, this is great with lots of natural attacks; if you're using the errata, it's completely and utterly worthless),
-Inertial armor (This gives a good bonus to AC without having to spend money on armor, especially given its duration; more importantly, it works against incorporeal touch attacks AND stacks with a monk's belt [great for psywars, given that they should always have the highest Wis you can afford] or Talashtora/monk builds; AC isn't usually useful to pump high, but this can make it high enough to be worth it, and for relatively cheap as well),
-Offensive/defensive precognition (Defensive is better, IMO, since it grants bonuses to saves, but these help you against creatures that can hit hard, or that are hard to hit; it'd be better if they were combined, [as I did in my powers revision], but c'est la vie),
-Prevenom/prevenom weapon (Because automatic Con damage [no save] is worth the instantaneous duration; the weapon version is better, since it lasts longer, however),
-Skate (It's good for mobility builds, and has utility applications as well),
-Stomp (Good for use on a power stone, given CPsi's rules on manifesting from a stone using your own pp [and therefore, manifester level], though you probably don't want to take it as a power known),
-Synesthete (Not usually the best choice considering the limited number of powers psywars get, but having a power stone or five for specialized applications [such as when facing a medusa on its home turf] can very easily be a lifesaver [literally]),
-Vigor (As mentioned, this is awesome, especially with a psicrystal, et al),

2ND LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Animal affinity (An excellent way to boost stats when you don't need a permanent bonus to them [basically anything but your Wisdom, really]),
-Body adjustment (Good to have on a power stone here or there, but using vigor and share pain should mean you should rarely ever have to heal; this is more for emergency situations, really),
-Body equilibrium (Power stone ho!; this is too situational, otherwise),
-Body purification (Power stone; you won't be using this often...I hope),
-Concealing amorpha (AwesomeAwesomeAwesome; miss chances are sexy),
-Darkvision, psionic (Situational, and something you should have from your race, unless going human or warforged; get on a power stone unless you're adventuring in the Underd...wait, no; just be a race with darkvision or get an item),
-Detect hostile intent (Great for preventing surprise and 'seeing' invisible enemies; bettered only by touchsight, really),
-Dimension swap (The larger the group of allies, the better this gets; psicrystals, astral constructs, summons, and familiars all count, meaning you can go anywhere on the battlefield, either to save an ally, get into the fray faster, or enable an ally to do another charge next round [or all of the above]; you may want this on a power stone, though, until higher levels; however, share it with your psicrystal to swap both of you for two allies, and this gets even better),
-Energy adaptation, specified (Fairly situational, so unless you know you'll be hitting an elemental area a lot, it's time for some power stones),
-Feat leech (Great if you have a psionic psicrystal, psionic companions, and/or psionic cohorts; not so great otherwise),
-Hustle (Additional move actions are awesome; this is one of the few instantaneous-duration powers that are worth it),
-Psionic lion's charge (Full attack on a charge, along with lots and lots of attacks via race, powers, feats, and items, make this one of the best powers in a charger build's arsenal),
-Strength of my enemy (Usually the first second level power I get on an archer build, and very useful otherwise; it's a buff and a debuff all in one),

3RD LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Claws of the vampire/vampiric blade (Great powers; better healing than body adjustment and any cure spell, especially with powers such as bite of the wolf scaling in power at higher levels [and sizes]),
-Greater concealing amorpha (Total cover means a 50% miss chance for all attack rolls, AND complete immunity from targeted abilities, including attacks of opportunity and most single-target spells and powers),
-Dimension slide (Not quite as great as dimension door, but it doesn't require a feat and is lower level, so power stones are definitely recommended, at the very least),
-Ectoplasmic form (Useful, but only situationally; power stones are recommended),
-Empathic transfer, hostile (Check the augment: massively damage in an area, AND heal up that amount; better healing than heal, depending on how many you hit),

4TH LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Claw/weapon of energy (Use those +1s on your weapons for something else),
-Dimension door, psionic (Handily replaces dimension slide),
-Energy adaptation (Handily replaces specified energy adaptation, and flexible enough to take as an actual power known),
-Freedom of movement, psionic (Generally best used against solid fog and environmental effects, so get a few power stones and use them as such; after all, psywars are the kings of grappling [second only to totemists]; otherwise, dimension slide away),
-Steadfast perception (Power stone it),

5TH LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Oak body (Not much to choose from by this level, so take oak body for the wonderful immunities, then go after the lower level powers),

6TH LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Dispelling buffer (Most of your powers are obviously buffs, so this is the way to go),
-Form of doom (Unless you've got metamorphosis, this is an excellent buff to improve your combat effectiveness),
-Personal mind blank (Oak body grants immunity to [mind-affecting], but this lasts long enough that you won't have to worry so much about telepathic ambush),

PSION POWERS
1ST LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS
-Entangling ectoplasm (It's cheap, it's easy to use, and it's a fairly stiff penalty when you're hit with it; all the hallmarks of a good psychic warrior power),
-Grease, psionic (If anything, this one's better than entangling ectoplasm; you'll want to avoid it until level 3 due to duration issues [via research, of course], but this is the strongest level 1 debuff in the game, AND it remains useful into epic levels),
-Astral construct (CAN be useful if you know what you're doing, but unless you do, I'd advise against it, generally, for the reasons noted at the top of the post),
-----
-Minor creation, psionic (It has a great duration, is incredibly cheap, and allows you a ton of offensive, defensive, and utility ability; make poisons, combustibles, weapons, armors, vehicles, food, drink, tools, debuffs [use flour to turn invisible enemies visible], even emulation of other powers [such as vegetable oil to simulate psionic grease; you name it, you've got it, so long as it's made out of plants; this is my #1 pick for research/Expanded Knowledge, tied with metamorphosis, especially if you take Linked Power [which, as a psywar, you should always take...ALWAYS]),

2ND LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS
-Ego whip (This power is just too strong not to consider taking, especially if you want something that allows you to bypass attacking AC; a few good shots with this will let you take down lots of low-Cha creatures, and severely impair high-Cha creatures [after all, even monsters don't usually have high Cha unless its integral abilities - doubly so for N/PCs]),
-Share pain (Whether you have a psicrystal, an intelligent item, a cohort, an astral construct or summons, or even another party member, this will save you from a considerable amount of damage; a must-have power),
-Swarm of crystals (Everyone forgets about this little gem; normally this is a substandard power, since psions are never supposed to get into melee [and if they do, they're Doing It Wrong], but you'll likely be on the front lines anyway, and having a guaranteed source of Direct Damage regardless of saves or AC is a good thing, even if you have to rely on +1 manifester arrows for 5d4 damage each round),
-----
-Control air (Incredible with two manifestations, a psicrystal, and solicit psicrystal; get gale-force winds that can cause all sorts of havoc),
-Dimension swap (Yes, psywars get this on their powers known list, but nomads Do It Better, due to swapping two allies, rather than just you and an ally),
-Psionic repair damage (Decent healing if you're a warforged; otherwise, not so much),

3RD LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS
-Energy retort (Free damage against creatures that hit you is never a bad thing),
-Energy wall (A bit of battlefield control is never a bad thing),
-Solicit psicrystal (But only if you have other concentration-based powers and a psicrystal, obviously; depends on how much you plan on using it, really),
-Time hop (Great defensive and utility power, and if used properly, good to use offensively as well),
-Touchsight (Better blindsight than blindsight in some ways, and definitely better than blindsense; good stuff),
-----
-Fate link (Double the damage, double the fun; link with a disposable [and easily killed] minion to A.) reduce the number of saves that must be made, and B.) deal those yummy negative levels; otherwise, you can link to something with huge numbers of hp [such as a vigor'd psicrystal] that is easy to damage, and you get free hits on every round),
-Ectoplasmic cocoon (It's a good save-or-screwed power, which is good at taking out big bruisers while you clean up the rest of the field),

4TH LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS
-Intellect fortress (While it's not something you should use often, this power alone could prevent a TPK),
-Power leech (In a high-psionics game, you should disable a manifesting opponent, then drain the heck out of it; otherwise, avoid),
-Psychic reformation (Who wouldn't want to swap out their build at the drop of a tinfoil hat?; grab this one and Linked Power, if only for an emergency during a sticky situation),
-Telekinetic maneuver (Grapple foes at a distance; psywars are awesome grapplers, and this makes it even better; considering it's a [force] power, you can even grapple ethereal and incorporeal foes; also, you can bull-rush, trip, etc, even in situations where you REALLY wouldn't want to be doing so physically; add in solicit psicrystal for even more tactical viability),
-Wall of ectoplasm (Use to separate groups of enemies while you pick them off, as well as for blocking off exits and such as holding up a collapsing ceiling),
-----
-Metamorphosis (An absolute must-have, as it's insane for flexibility in offense, defense, and utility; a bit expensive, but you can always craft a psychoactive skin, then manifest your own when it's absolutely needed),
-Quintessence (Use to save objects affected by limited-duration powers until they're needed; instead of manifesting during a battle, use up any remaining pp at night, for use later),
-Schism (I actually don't recommend this one; it's extremely expensive, and Linked Power does its job nearly as well; use with extreme caution, unless you have more pp than you know what to do with),

5TH LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS
-Incarnate (Having at-will powers of lower level is always a good thing, especially if you're using power stones or psychic reformation to get powers you otherwise don't have),
-Leech field (Useful only in high-psionics campaigns, or if the DM says that spells count; if so, this is a good way to recharge pp),
-----
-Psionic revivify (Who needs a cleric, anyway?),
-Energy current (A good way to deal direct damage to a couple of foes; especially nice with fate link),
-Second chance (One reroll a round?; you betcha),

6TH LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS (Research or mantles only.)
-Psionic contingency (Get out of death free, if you word it right.),
-Disintegrate, psionic (Expensive, but good as direct damage [see fate link, hehe] and for removing obstacles),
-Temporal acceleration (Time stop on crack),
-----
-Mind switch ("Borrow" someone else's body; nice if you use ectoplasmic cocoon and Burrowing Power [or just channel through your psicrystal for a bait-n-switch]),

7TH LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS (Useful for power stone-using psychic warriors with mantle access.)
-Energy conversion (The ultimate blasting power; combined with enough op-fu and you can obliterate nearly anything, all day long),
-Moment of prescience, psionic (Numerical bonuses this high are always welcome, despite how much it costs),
-----
-Fission (Double the pleasure, double the pain; combine with a metamorphosis'd psicrystal for quadruple the death),
-ReddoPsi (I'm rubber, you're glue; it bounces off of me, and sticks to you; great for fighting caster-types)

Comments and questions welcome.

Enjoy!

[Ashiel]

Just because you snarked, I looked it up. I was wrong, they do stack.

Snarked? As in being snarky?

[Dusk Eclipse]

Spoiler

Show

Try to avoid powers that get really expensive at later levels; generally, the best psychic warrior powers remain useful at their lowest augmentation throughout most of your career; powers like astral construct get really expensive unless you know how to wring every last bit of efficacy out of every power point you put into them. Frankly I'd rather spend a feat on a psicrystal than on astral construct any day.

Most any power that isn't of instantaneous duration (other than dimension slide/door, hustle, psychic reformation, or [/i]psionic lion's charge[/i]) is worth considering (longer durations improve manifesting efficiency, which is a definite necessity with most any psychic warrior).

The ones I find most useful in more builds from the psychic warrior list are:

Spoiler

Show

1ST LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Bite of the wolf (for an extra attack that autoscales as you gain levels),
-Call weaponry (because getting your weapons confiscated can suck; also, the ACF from The Mind's Eye, which is incredibibble),
-Claws of the beast (for the same reason as call weaponry, as well as making -essentially- Two Weapon Fighting available at very low levels; also, the King of Smack),
-Chameleon (+10 to Hide for 10 min/lvl can be awesome for an assassin, especially since it's good at stacking with other bonuses),
-Expansion (THE king of 1st level powers: awesome for nearly any melee build and some archery builds; scales with level; grants sizable bonuses on pretty much every single combat maneuver you can get outside of ToB [and many within ToB]; segues extraordinarily well with other powers [see: damage increases on call weaponry, bite of the wolf, and claws of the beast, size bonus that stacks with grip of iron and so on]; and gives reach...lots and lots of reach, which helps you avoid AoOs when you don't have the feat needed to perform a specific combat maneuver [and if you do, the bonuses stack]; all in all, THE best first level power in the book, IMO),
-Force screen (This one gets better at higher levels, especially Extended, since it allows you to get a shield bonus while leaving your hands free for a two-hander, without having to spend a huge amount on an animated shield, although the duration is less than awesome at low levels, given how few pp you get),
-Grip of iron (Great for a grappler build, especially combined with expansion, though later levels make this less than awesome when you're trying to bring someone down who's buffed with freedom of movement),
-Hammer (If you're using the XPH version, this is great with lots of natural attacks; if you're using the errata, it's completely and utterly worthless),
-Inertial armor (This gives a good bonus to AC without having to spend money on armor, especially given its duration; more importantly, it works against incorporeal touch attacks AND stacks with a monk's belt [great for psywars, given that they should always have the highest Wis you can afford] or Talashtora/monk builds; AC isn't usually useful to pump high, but this can make it high enough to be worth it, and for relatively cheap as well),
-Offensive/defensive precognition (Defensive is better, IMO, since it grants bonuses to saves, but these help you against creatures that can hit hard, or that are hard to hit; it'd be better if they were combined, [as I did in my powers revision], but c'est la vie),
-Prevenom/prevenom weapon (Because automatic Con damage [no save] is worth the instantaneous duration; the weapon version is better, since it lasts longer, however),
-Skate (It's good for mobility builds, and has utility applications as well),
-Stomp (Good for use on a power stone, given CPsi's rules on manifesting from a stone using your own pp [and therefore, manifester level], though you probably don't want to take it as a power known),
-Synesthete (Not usually the best choice considering the limited number of powers psywars get, but having a power stone or five for specialized applications [such as when facing a medusa on its home turf] can very easily be a lifesaver [literally]),
-Vigor (As mentioned, this is awesome, especially with a psicrystal, et al),

2ND LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Animal affinity (An excellent way to boost stats when you don't need a permanent bonus to them [basically anything but your Wisdom, really]),
-Body adjustment (Good to have on a power stone here or there, but using vigor and share pain should mean you should rarely ever have to heal; this is more for emergency situations, really),
-Body equilibrium (Power stone ho!; this is too situational, otherwise),
-Body purification (Power stone; you won't be using this often...I hope),
-Concealing amorpha (AwesomeAwesomeAwesome; miss chances are sexy),
-Darkvision, psionic (Situational, and something you should have from your race, unless going human or warforged; get on a power stone unless you're adventuring in the Underd...wait, no; just be a race with darkvision or get an item),
-Detect hostile intent (Great for preventing surprise and 'seeing' invisible enemies; bettered only by touchsight, really),
-Dimension swap (The larger the group of allies, the better this gets; psicrystals, astral constructs, summons, and familiars all count, meaning you can go anywhere on the battlefield, either to save an ally, get into the fray faster, or enable an ally to do another charge next round [or all of the above]; you may want this on a power stone, though, until higher levels; however, share it with your psicrystal to swap both of you for two allies, and this gets even better),
-Energy adaptation, specified (Fairly situational, so unless you know you'll be hitting an elemental area a lot, it's time for some power stones),
-Feat leech (Great if you have a psionic psicrystal, psionic companions, and/or psionic cohorts; not so great otherwise),
-Hustle (Additional move actions are awesome; this is one of the few instantaneous-duration powers that are worth it),
-Psionic lion's charge (Full attack on a charge, along with lots and lots of attacks via race, powers, feats, and items, make this one of the best powers in a charger build's arsenal),
-Strength of my enemy (Usually the first second level power I get on an archer build, and very useful otherwise; it's a buff and a debuff all in one),

3RD LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Claws of the vampire/vampiric blade (Great powers; better healing than body adjustment and any cure spell, especially with powers such as bite of the wolf scaling in power at higher levels [and sizes]),
-Greater concealing amorpha (Total cover means a 50% miss chance for all attack rolls, AND complete immunity from targeted abilities, including attacks of opportunity and most single-target spells and powers),
-Dimension slide (Not quite as great as dimension door, but it doesn't require a feat and is lower level, so power stones are definitely recommended, at the very least),
-Ectoplasmic form (Useful, but only situationally; power stones are recommended),
-Empathic transfer, hostile (Check the augment: massively damage in an area, AND heal up that amount; better healing than heal, depending on how many you hit),

4TH LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Claw/weapon of energy (Use those +1s on your weapons for something else),
-Dimension door, psionic (Handily replaces dimension slide),
-Energy adaptation (Handily replaces specified energy adaptation),
-Freedom of movement, psionic (Generally best used against solid fog and environmental effects, so get a few power stones and use them as such; after all, psywars are the kings of grappling [second only to totemists]; otherwise, dimension slide away),
-Steadfast perception (Power stone it),

5TH LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Oak body (Not much to choose from by this level, so take oak body for the wonderful immunities, then go after the lower level powers),

6TH LEVEL PSYWAR POWERS
-Dispelling buffer (Most of your powers are obviously buffs, so this is the way to go),
-Form of doom (Unless you've got metamorphosis, this is an excellent buff to improve your combat effectiveness),
-Personal mind blank (Oak body grants immunity to [mind-affecting], but this lasts long enough that you won't have to worry so much about telepathic ambush),

PSION POWERS
1ST LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS
-Entangling ectoplasm (It's cheap, it's easy to use, and it's a fairly stiff penalty when you're hit with it; all the hallmarks of a good psychic warrior power),
-Grease, psionic (If anything, this one's better than entangling ectoplasm; you'll want to avoid it until level 3 due to duration issues [via research, of course], but this is the strongest level 1 debuff in the game, AND it remains useful into epic levels),
-Astral construct (CAN be useful if you know what you're doing, but unless you do, I'd advise against it, generally, for the reasons noted at the top of the post),
-----
-Minor creation, psionic (It has a great duration, is incredibly cheap, and allows you a ton of offensive, defensive, and utility ability; make poisons, combustibles, weapons, armors, vehicles, food, drink, tools, debuffs [use flour to turn invisible enemies visible], even emulation of other powers [such as vegetable oil to simulate psionic grease; you name it, you've got it, so long as it's made out of plants; this is my #1 pick for research/Expanded Knowledge, tied with metamorphosis, especially if you take Linked Power [which, as a psywar, you should always take...ALWAYS]),

2ND LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS
-Ego whip (This power is just too strong not to consider taking, especially if you want something that allows you to bypass attacking AC; a few good shots with this will let you take down lots of low-Cha creatures, and severely impair high-Cha creatures [after all, even monsters don't usually have high Cha unless its integral abilities - doubly so for N/PCs]),
-Share pain (Whether you have a psicrystal, an intelligent item, a cohort, an astral construct or summons, or even another party member, this will save you from a considerable amount of damage; a must-have power),
-Swarm of crystals (Everyone forgets about this little gem; normally this is a substandard power, since psions are never supposed to get into melee [and if they do, they're Doing It Wrong], but you'll likely be on the front lines anyway, and having a guaranteed source of Direct Damage regardless of saves or AC is a good thing, even if you have to rely on +1 manifester arrows for 5d4 damage each round),
-----
-Control air (Incredible with two manifestations, a psicrystal, and solicit psicrystal; get gale-force winds that can cause all sorts of havoc),
-Dimension swap (Yes, psywars get this on their powers known list, but nomads Do It Better, due to swapping two allies, rather than just you and an ally),
-Psionic repair damage (Decent healing if you're a warforged; otherwise, not so much),

3RD LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS
-Energy retort (Free damage against creatures that hit you is never a bad thing),
-Energy wall (A bit of battlefield control is never a bad thing),
-Solicit psicrystal (But only if you have other concentration-based powers and a psicrystal, obviously; depends on how much you plan on using it, really),
-Time hop (Great defensive and utility power, and if used properly, good to use offensively as well),
-Touchsight (Better blindsight than blindsight in some ways, and definitely better than blindsense; good stuff),
-----
-Fate link (Double the damage, double the fun; link with a disposable [and easily killed] minion to A.) reduce the number of saves that must be made, and B.) deal those yummy negative levels; otherwise, you can link to something with huge numbers of hp [such as a vigor'd psicrystal] that is easy to damage, and you get free hits on every round),
-Ectoplasmic cocoon (It's a good save-or-screwed power, which is good at taking out big bruisers while you clean up the rest of the field),

4TH LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS
-Intellect fortress (While it's not something you should use often, this power alone could prevent a TPK),
-Power leech (In a high-psionics game, you should disable a manifesting opponent, then drain the heck out of it; otherwise, avoid),
-Psychic reformation (Who wouldn't want to swap out their build at the drop of a tinfoil hat?; grab this one and Linked Power, if only for an emergency during a sticky situation),
-Telekinetic maneuver (Grapple foes at a distance; psywars are awesome grapplers, and this makes it even better; considering it's a [force] power, you can even grapple ethereal and incorporeal foes; also, you can bull-rush, trip, etc, even in situations where you REALLY wouldn't want to be doing so physically; add in solicit psicrystal for even more tactical viability),
-Wall of ectoplasm (Use to separate groups of enemies while you pick them off, as well as for blocking off exits and such as holding up a collapsing ceiling),
-----
-Metamorphosis (An absolute must-have, as it's insane for flexibility in offense, defense, and utility; a bit expensive, but you can always craft a psychoactive skin, then manifest your own when it's absolutely needed),
-Quintessence (Use to save objects affected by limited-duration powers until they're needed; instead of manifesting during a battle, use up any remaining pp at night, for use later),
-Schism (I actually don't recommend this one; it's extremely expensive, and Linked Power does its job nearly as well; use with extreme caution, unless you have more pp than you know what to do with),

5TH LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS
-Incarnate (Having at-will powers of lower level is always a good thing, especially if you're using power stones or psychic reformation to get powers you otherwise don't have),
-Leech field (Useful only in high-psionics campaigns, or if the DM says that spells count; if so, this is a good way to recharge pp),
-----
-Psionic revivify (Who needs a cleric, anyway?),
-Energy current (A good way to deal direct damage to a couple of foes; especially nice with fate link),
-Second chance (One reroll a round?; you betcha),

6TH LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS (Research or mantles only.)
-Psionic contingency (Get out of death free, if you word it right.),
-Disintegrate, psionic (Expensive, but good as direct damage [see fate link, hehe] and for removing obstacles),
-Temporal acceleration (Time stop on crack),
-----
-Dispelling buffer (Dispel psionics is your bane. Helps keep you from getting screwed),
-Mind switch ("Borrow" someone else's body; nice if you use ectoplasmic cocoon and Burrowing Power [or just channel through your psicrystal for a bait-n-switch]),

7TH LEVEL PSION & DISCIPLINE POWERS (Useful for Overchanneling psychic warriors with mantle access.)
-Energy conversion (The ultimate blasting power; combined with enough op-fu and you can obliterate nearly anything, all day long),
-Moment of prescience, psionic (Numerical bonuses this high are always welcome, despite how much it costs),
-----
-Fission (Double the pleasure, double the pain; combine with a metamorphosis'd psicrystal for quadruple the death),
-ReddoPsi (I'm rubber, you're glue; it bounces off of me, and sticks to you; great for fighting caster-types)

Comments and questions welcome.

Enjoy!

:Gawks: thank you very much this will be really helpful. :starts taking notes for a possible future build:

[PhoenixRivers]

I can't recommend touchsight enough. That said, Danger Sense can be pretty much Uncanny Dodge all the time, for pittance on PP. Situationally useful.

[Hornstien]

Personally I like the power Strength of My Enemy. It costs 3 power points and allows you to use a weapon to deal 1 point of strength damage per attack to your opponent and add it as an enhancement bonus to your strength to a max of +8 to your Strength, and its' duration is a number of rounds equal to your level. The spells' target is you and there is no save for your opponent. I like this because it acts as a temp. buff for you, and a debuff for your enemy. Even when your enhancement bonus dies away your opponent is still left with the strength damage. Its only a second level power, and while I'm not sure I believe that you can continue to deal strength damage even after you gain a +8 enhancement bonus, it just wouldn't add any more bonus's to your strength. Though I could be wrong, lemme know.

[Ashiel]

Personally I like the power Strength of My Enemy. It costs 3 power points and allows you to use a weapon to deal 1 point of strength damage per attack to your opponent and add it as an enhancement bonus to your strength to a max of +8 to your Strength, and its' duration is a number of rounds equal to your level. The spells' target is you and there is no save for your opponent. I like this because it acts as a temp. buff for you, and a debuff for your enemy. Even when your enhancement bonus dies away your opponent is still left with the strength damage. Its only a second level power, and while I'm not sure I believe that you can continue to deal strength damage even after you gain a +8 enhancement bonus, it just wouldn't add any more bonus's to your strength. Though I could be wrong, lemme know.

The man Hortstien offers a great option. Strength of My Enemy is a sweeeet power. Good call.

[Lycanthromancer]

The man Hortstien offers a great option. Strength of My Enemy is a sweeeet power. Good call.

Especially nice when you're wielding Rapid Shot or Multishot, and ESPECIALLY nice when it's on an elvencraft bow (counts as both a bow and a quarterstaff).

[PhoenixRivers]

The man Hortstien offers a great option. Strength of My Enemy is a sweeeet power. Good call.

Personally, I prefer to kill my foes in under 8 hits.

Especially nice when you're wielding Rapid Shot or Multishot, and ESPECIALLY nice when it's on an elvencraft bow (counts as both a bow and a quarterstaff).

Does it confer the property on the ammunition? If it doesn't, you'll have to bludgeon them with it.

That's why I like javelins so much.