Psychic Meditation question [3.5]

[Optimystik]

This question concerns the Psychic Meditation feat. (Not Psionic Meditation, which just speeds up regaining your focus.)

First the question:

Can Elans and Psiforged combine Psychic Meditation with the normal meditation required to regain their power points?

My answer is yes (rationale to follow) but I was curious as to what other posters thought.

Rationale

Spoiler

Show

First, the feat's text itself:

Psychic Meditation [Psionic]

You allow your mind to rest and go quiet for a period of time, which allows the psionic energy in your body to grant you several psychic benefits.

Benefit: When you take this feat, you are granted access to the seven psychic energy centers. To gain a benefit from a center, you must first awaken that energy center. Awakening a psychic energy center requires 8 hours of uninterrupted meditation. You can have only one center awakened at a time.

Emphasis mine. Then, from the XPH:

Elans do not sleep as members of most other races do. Instead, an elan meditates in a deep trance for 4 hours a day. An elan resting in this fashion gains the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.

And from ECS:

Although living constructs do not need to sleep, a warforged wizard must rest for 8 hours before preparing spells.

These two races thus don't need to sleep - but they do have to meditate. Because Psychic Meditation is specifically described as "restful" it should allow those two races to recover PP while awakening an energy center.

Effect
This would make Psychic Meditation much more useful, as your meditating character wouldn't be forced to hold up the party while he awakened his energy centers - he could do it during the party's natural downtime, i.e. when everyone else is asleep.

In fact, it would actually be a tradeoff - Warforged/Psiforged would no longer be able to keep watch, craft at night etc. while meditating. Elans would have to remain inactive for a full 8 hours rather than their normal 4. (This could possibly apply to Elves too.)

Finally, it would make the Meditant PrC a much more useful and flavorful choice for psionic members of these races.

Comments? Agreement? Disagreement?

[The Glyphstone]

Since someone will make the mistake otherwise (I almost did) - he's not referring to Psionic Meditation.

[Optimystik]

But I linked it and everything!

Plus, the different letters and stuff.

But perhaps a clarifying edit is in order.

[Aharon]

Wow, that PrC is really feat intensive.
@Downtime
I would handle it this way, too.

[Dragonmuncher]

Yeah, I don't see why not.

I guess there could technically be an argument that there's a difference between "rest" meditation that elves and elans do, and psychic meditation... but that just seems pedantic.

[PhoenixRivers]

This question concerns the Psychic Meditation feat. (Not Psionic Meditation, which just speeds up regaining your focus.)

First the question:

Can Elans and Psiforged combine Psychic Meditation with the normal meditation required to regain their power points?

My answer is yes (rationale to follow) but I was curious as to what other posters thought.

Rationale

Spoiler

Show

First, the feat's text itself:



Emphasis mine. Then, from the XPH:



And from ECS:



These two races thus don't need to sleep - but they do have to meditate. Because Psychic Meditation is specifically described as "restful" it should allow those two races to recover PP while awakening an energy center.

Effect
This would make Psychic Meditation much more useful, as your meditating character wouldn't be forced to hold up the party while he awakened his energy centers - he could do it during the party's natural downtime, i.e. when everyone else is asleep.

In fact, it would actually be a tradeoff - Warforged/Psiforged would no longer be able to keep watch, craft at night etc. while meditating. Elans would have to remain inactive for a full 8 hours rather than their normal 4. (This could possibly apply to Elves too.)

Finally, it would make the Meditant PrC a much more useful and flavorful choice for psionic members of these races.

Comments? Agreement? Disagreement?

You wouldn't benefit from being able to awaken the center in 4 hours, rather than 8.

While an elan's meditation provides the same benefits of 8 hours of sleep in 4 hours, Psychic Meditation isn't saying you need to get 8 hours of sleep. You need 8 hours of meditation.

That said, you could continue your meditation for another 4 hours, and I can't see anything prohibiting awakening a center that way.

Basically: Elan Meditation (4 hours) + 4 hours of additional meditation = the 8 hours you need.

[ghost_warlock]

Wow, that PrC is really feat intensive.
@Downtime
I would handle it this way, too.

And the feats are really time-intensive. Each of the seven centers requires a separate 8 hours of meditation to awaken. Levels of meditant reduce the time to awaken the centers, but to use some features of the class you have to meditate for longer anyway.

[Optimystik]

Basically: Elan Meditation (4 hours) + 4 hours of additional meditation = the 8 hours you need.

That's exactly what I was proposing, actually
In the tradeoff section, I mentioned how Elans (and psionic elves) would now need 8 hours of downtime like every other race if they intended to change centers every night.

Anyway, it looks like the feat might be useful for Elans and Psiforged.

Wow, that PrC is really feat intensive.
@Downtime

I know... but I do love the flavor.
Being Ethereal all day doesn't hurt either it's almost like an Uncarnate that only loses 1 ML.