Psions and Grappling

[Thrawn183]

Can psions manifest powers while grappled? Do psions make concentration checks to "manifest defensively"? I'm so confused... what does the display have to do with powers (are they simply the psionic versions of verbal and somatic compontents?)

[NEO|Phyte]

Yes, with a concentration check.

Yes.

Psionic Powers Overview
Grappling or Pinned
To manifest a power while grappling or pinned, you must make a Concentration check (DC 20 + the level of the power you’re manifesting) or lose the power.

Manifesting Powers on the Defensive
If you want to manifest a power without provoking attacks of opportunity, you need to dodge and weave. You must make a Concentration check (DC 15 + the level of the power you’re manifesting) to succeed. You lose the power points without successful manifestation if you fail.

The display is just a side effect of the manifestation.

Psionic Powers Overview
Display
When a power is manifested, a display may accompany the primary effect. This secondary effect may be auditory, material, mental, olfactory, or visual. No power’s display is significant enough to create consequences for the psionic creatures, allies, or opponents during combat.

[Thrawn183]

That makes it so much harder to counter psionic casters...

[oriong]

That's the point.

It's one of the advantages psions and their type have, they still have numerous disadvantages compared to arcane and divine casters so it's not unbalanced.

[The Vorpal Tribble]

That makes it so much harder to counter psionic casters...

I'm feeling a little dense tonight, but... why?

And btw, its psionic manifesters. MANIFESTERS. Psionicists never cast. Ever.

[Fax Celestis]

I'm feeling a little dense tonight, but... why?

And btw, its psionic manifesters. MANIFESTERS. Psionicists never cast. Ever.

Because spellcasters have a tough time casting in a grapple.

[Thomas]

What's the difference to spellcasters? They need a Concentration check (DC 20) to cast in a grapple, yes? Exact same uses of the skill, exact same DCs.

[Bears With Lasers]

Somatic components, my friend. Somatic components.

[Yuki Akuma]

Somatic components, my friend. Somatic components.

Material components, too. And focuses (focii? God, I don't know).

[Thomas]

Ah, right you are. So you'll have to settle for dimension door or charm monster or irresistible dance or suggestion or teleport or time stop or wail of the banshee or something...

Isn't this pretty much precisely why everyone has at least one dimension door or teleport memorized (or known) at all times?

[Fax Celestis]

Material components, too. And focuses (focii? God, I don't know).

Focii is correct.

[Bears With Lasers]

No, focuses is correct, because this is English, not Latin.

[Fax Celestis]

No, focuses is correct, because this is English, not Latin.

Then explain the plural of "octopus" to me.

And this may be English, not Latin, but "focus" (like "medium" and "forum") is a Latin word that English thieved for itself. English does that a lot.

[Bears With Lasers]

Octopi is the English and the Latin plural of Octopus. Focuses is the English but not the Latin plural of Focus.

Simple, isn't it?

[Fax Celestis]

I suppose, but I've been forcibly "classically trained" by my librarian mother into using what she calls "the correct terminology", even if it is--in fact--not the commonly accepted (or even modern) usage of the term.

[Bears With Lasers]

Rebel! You can do it!

[Fax Celestis]

At this point, I'm probably a lost cause.

[Shhalahr Windrider]

Uh, the Oxford American Dictionary on my computer says both "focuses" and "foci" are correct.

Not that it has anything to do with manifesting during a grapple or anything like that...

[Jack_Simth]

Ah, right you are. So you'll have to settle for dimension door or charm monster or irresistible dance or suggestion or teleport or time stop or wail of the banshee or something...

Isn't this pretty much precisely why everyone has at least one dimension door or teleport memorized (or known) at all times?

At 7th+, sure.

A Psion can Manifest almost anything in his reptoir (the almost is due to time constraints) in the middle of a grapple at 1st+. And the Psion can do almost anything in a grapple he could do normally. So while the Wizard's options in a grapple mostly amount to "escape", a Psion can simply Concentrate on Disabling, Dazing, Pushing, Stunning, Sharing his Pain or any of a great many other things.

[oriong]

Not really, the psion still has to make the concentration check, which is DC 20 + level of power.

So, a 1st level psion (with lets assume a +5 or +6 to concentration) has a 75-80% chance of failing any attempt to manifest his powers while in a grapple, while his concentration skill goes up, so does his highest power level, so he has to manifest at lower level in order to get a good chance. He doesn't even have a 50% chance of sucess at manifesting a power until he reaches 7th level (which is also the level the wizard can start using things like dimension doors), if he's attempting to manifest a power of 3rd level (his highest at that point) then he has a 60% failure chance.

The psion may not be as screwed by the grapple as a wizard, but he's certainly at a disadvantage.

[Yuki Akuma]

The plural of 'octopus' is also 'octopuses', by the way. *cough* </derail>

[TimeWizard]

thats sarcasm then? Long live the guild of octopi and cacti! which is a wierd guild if you think about it.

[Matthew]

Nah, just type all four variants into a word document t o see that they are all valid spellings.