[PF] Slicing, Clawing and Smashing: a Guide to the Pathfinder Psychic Warrior {WIP}

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-14, 11:35 AM (ISO 8601)

The Psychic Warrior's
Handbook

Introduction

After researching and looking into different options for a Psychic Warrior (Psywar as I will refer to them from here on) I was wondering on other people opinions on what I believe to be one of the best designed classes of DSP and Pathfinder in general. It turned out that there were very few sources available and only a rudimentary Guide to the PF Psywar. After spending more than a year on these very boards I decided it would be time to give something back and in the same breath share a class I love and think other people would love too if only they had some more information regarding it.

So join me as I explore different options on how to make your very own Psywar work. No matter if you want a skillfull swordsmaster who slices through his enemies, a totemic warrior channeling the most primal instincts of men or a nimble dagger throwing acrobat, I will show you how to make your vision reality.

Enter the world of the Psychic Warriors

Content

1. Introduction, Rating System and Abbreviations
2. Why play a Psywar?, Strengths/Weaknesses and Roles
3. Races and Ability Scores
4. Classfeatures and Skills
5. Feats and Traits
6. Warrior's Paths
7.Powers
8. Archetypes
9. Multiclassing and Prestige Classes
10. Items and Equipment

Rating System

Red: Just don't
Purple: not worth picking most of the time
Green: mediocre. neither especially good nor especially bad
Blue: good. pick this one most of the time
Gold: amazing. this is a must have for the right build

Abbreviations and Links

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UP = Ultimate Psionics
ARG = Advanced Race Guide
UC = Ultimate Combat
UM = Ultimate Magic
Psywar = Psychic Warrior
pp = Power Points
PF = Pathfinder
BAB = Base Attack Bonus
ML = Manifester Level
AC = Armor Class

For the sake of this guide I assume you understand how Psionics work in Pathfinder. If you don't I recommend you check out this guide written by Peregrine on PF Psionics: Link

Psywar on the PF SRD (note that I will use material from UP in this guide. Most of it cannot be found on the SRD as of the time this guide was written): Link

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-14, 11:36 AM (ISO 8601)

About the Psychic Warrior

Why play a Psywar?

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So why should anyone want to play a Psychic Warrior. Well first of all they are extremely versatile. Their powerlist is very strong from level 1 onwards and synergizes well with a wide array of different playing styles be it stealthy or pouncing charger. Aside from the powers you always have on your list you always can pick up Expanded Knowledge to get that tasty, tasty Astral Construct or Metamorphosis.

Next are their bonusfeats. One of the greatest things about Psywars is that they don't really need any of the bonusfeats to work properly. In fact all you will need most of the time is 2-3 feats which you will have at level 2 latest. Your powers take care of your problems already. What this means is that you can spend feats on increasing versatility and your options in and out of combat. It also enables you to pick a cool option from time to time which might not be optimal without penalizing yourself. Essentially they Psywar's Feats only add to the strength of the class instead of being required to be strong.

Last but not least we have the wonderful Warrior's Paths. At a first glance they don't seem to add to much. A small to-hit bonus here, some damage reduction there ... maybe a bonus to CMB. However upon closer looking you will find that the additional class skills, bonuspowers and especially the "Advanced xy Path" feats make them very unique in their own regards and similar to the feats only add on top what is already a solid chassis.

So why should you play a Psychic Warrior? They are by far one of the strongest and versatile melee classes out there (in my personal opinion the strongest). You don't have to worry about getting useless or swapping combat style mid campaign and impairing yourself with your own choices. Usually you have to start planning where to take a character from level 1 onwards so you know they will be effective at higher levels. Not so the Psywar. While you can do that and be potentially stronger than the other classes you also can just start playing and picking feats/powers along the way which look flavourful and good to you. If you only follow a few key rules I promise you will always end up with a strong and fun to play character.

I promise that there is some form of the Psywar everybody can enjoy. From blasting over ranged combat to hacking your enemies to bits. Your longings will be fullfilled.

Strengths and Weaknesses

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Strengths:
-very versatile through powers, paths and feats
-can spend feats more freely than other martial classes due to already covering usefulness with powers
-can adjust easily to how hard a challenge is (using more buffs if necessary / augmenting them more)
-easy way to move + full attack (something every other martial class has to deal with)
-very tanky through the Share Pain + Vigor combo (explained later for those who don't know) and access to useful defensive buffs
-very good damage output without much investment
-with investment in damage probably highest in PF (they beat minmaxed eidolons)
-Psywars can "melee-nova" in that they can at later levels buff up heavily and smash everything to pieces if necessary

Weaknesses:
-dependant on their powers to a certain degree meaning if you run out of pp you have to improvise. Must find ways to preserve pp / learn to manage them
-other melees in your group will envy you

Roles

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Short information on how good Psywars work in each role

Melee Combatant
This is the role the class was designed for and it excels at this more than anything else. There are several ways to play out this role but I guarantee you that it will work with a Psychic Warrior. Two handed shock trooper, two weapon skirmisher, natural weapon fighter are just a few possible paths to take. Even if you focus on one of the other areas you can mostly do this role secondary too through picking up a few melee powers (Battle transformation, expansion, etc.)

Ranged Combatant
Psywar also make for very good ranged combatants. They have bonus feats so you can get the necessary 4 feats pretty quickly and then deepen the style or widen your possibilities. Since Deadly Throw (dex to damage with throwing weapons) is a psionic feat you also get this one really easy therefor Psywars work equally good as bow-users and throwing weapon specialists. While a lot of powers on your list are melee only the more important ones are useable at ranged too (again Battle Transformation, compression). As mentioned before nothing stops you from becoming a decent melee combatant through some feats (weapon finesse + agile weapon or deadly strikes) and melee powers.

Tank
Take this rating with a grain of salt. Since every Psychic Warrior has access to Share Pain and Vigor + a Psicrystal you have enough hitpoints to sustain injuries which would even kill barbarians with high constitution. However this makes you only a tank in that "can eat a lot of damage". Tanking in and of itself isn't a role in Pathfinder since there is no mechanic to keep aggression of your allies. Psychic Warriors are therefor only tanks in before mentioned way and they are very good at it.
There is one way they become better than most other classes though and can do other things than eat up damage. The Protector Archetype + the right power selection can indeed tank and actually protect their allies. This makes them possibly one of the 2 best tank classes in Pathfinder (The other one being Warder also by DSP). More on the Protector Archetype in the Archetype-section.

Buffer (self)
This is a role you will have to fullfill in order for every other combat style to work (maybe except for blasting). Be it early level buffs like Vigor or Expansion or late-game buffs like Battle Transformation this is where most of your powerpoints will go to. This role is also the reason why Psychic Warriors can "nova" and grow up to the challenge. If you really need to you can burn most of your pp in a single fight and become way stronger than level appropriate encounters would expect. On the other hand be aware that without any form of buffs you will fall back behind most other melee classes.

Scout
This is of course dependant on your Warrior's Path to a certain degree since only one of them (Assassin's Path) gets Stealth as a class skill. It is however quite easy to grab it as a trait and you have many usefull powers and feats which compliment this role. A Psychic Warrior with Stealth (as a classskill) maxed, Perception maxed, the Chameleon Power active, Up the Walls feat and Speed of Thought feat is better at scouting than many more traditional scouts (like rogues or rangers for example ... it's hard to beat those but you will be somewhat on par). All of this of course doesn't stop you from being a melee monster.

Blaster
Again take this with a grain of salt. A normal Psywar won't be a Blaster. You just don't have the pp necessary. You could of course pick up a blasting power through EK (Expanded Knowledge) (Energy Ray or Energy Missile are good early/mid game powers) but in most cases it's better to just use a ranged weapon and buff yourself. Sometimes it's good to have some AOE capabilities so if you want to blow things up sometimes I won't say it's useless.
There is however the Martial Kinteticist Archetype. Make no mistake .... you won't be as good and versatile as a Psion and you won't match the raw power of a Wilder (Wildblooded with x-blooded Sorceror of course *shudder*) though you can still hold your own. The important thing to realize is even then that you are only half blaster and half melee. It is smarter to invest some feats in melee and buff up some and then fight and only blast when necessary (you will be a good blaster still but you won't have the ressources to make it your sole role). More on that in the Archetype-section.

Debuffer
In general this won't be a role you will be great at but the Psywar list has some hidden beauties which are not obivous at first glance. The 2nd level strikes which inflict conditions are especially nice and Strength of My Enemy is a brutal power if used on the right foes. Martial Kineticists are somewhat better at this due to blasting powers which can be enhanced by metapsionic feats easily to have some rider effects.
Taking everything into consideration Psywars won't be as good at this role as many other classes but they have very good single target debuffs with the right powers and in a weird way their own "debuff-niche".

Battlefield Control
Not something you will be particulary good at. You can pick up Stomp (which is good at early levels with a decent wisdom) but that's about it. There are some options later on and EK makes some more possible but since wisdom will never be your highest stat in most cases this is not a role you will really fill most of the time.
There are 2 exceptions however. Firstly Psywars make great grapplers and decent trippers so they have quite good single target control if built for it. Secondly Martial Kintecists again can be quite good at it since they usually have high wisdom and can add rider effects to their blasts if required.

Skillmonkey
Meh. This won't be anything you will be good at. In most cases your intelligence won't be higher than 10 or 12 (potenitally 13 of course) and your favoured class bonus shouldn't go to skill points. Pick up the skills you need (perception, autohypnosis come to mind) and leave this role to classes which are better stuited for it.

Face
Charisma is your dump stat and the only social skill you have out of the box is intimidate. Not that Psywars can't be good at it (EK and traits go far) but it require way too much work to be just decent so better skip this. They can however be quite good at intimidation through some feats and powers.

Healer
You can heal yourself with Body Adjustment ... which you shouldn't waste a power on. Even with access to Dorjes you won't heal anybody else. This is not a role you can fill ... even less so than the other bad roles since there are no powers you could pick via EK which would make you decent at this. Add on top that you won't need so much healing anyways (again vigor + share pain are your friends) and you have probably the worst role you want to fill.

Buffer (others)
In theory there are some ways to do that (mainly working through a Vitalist dip) but even then you are inferior to a dedicated Bard, Tactician, Cleric or really any class with some form of buffing. Skip.

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-14, 11:37 AM (ISO 8601)

Races and Ability Scores

Psionic Races (UP)

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Intro: With very few exceptions you always want to have one of these races for your Psychic Warrior. Not only do you get a free Psionic Talent to start with but also a fantastic alternate favoured class bonus (with very few exceptions you always want to pick the additional pp). While the best race depends on your build and playstyle it will always be one of the races below.

Blue

One of the worse Psionic Races. They have very few things going for them aside from a bonus to Perception. I could see a dex based build work for them but considering what the other races offer you it stays a bad race. They do however have one thing going for them ... the alternate Racial Trait Psionic Prodigy nets them Unlocked Talent in exchange for giving up some minor advantages. This pushes Blue to mediocre and potentially good if you want to build a dex-based Psywar.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Psionic Prodigy (see above), Self Reliant (mainly because you won't be a diplomancer anyways)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp

Dromites

Bonus to a dumpstat makes this race even worse than the Blue. While Scent and a small natural armor bonus are useful they are not worth picking this class above others. Nice but not all that useful Alternate Racial Traits are just the last drop to make this race the worst Psionic Race (still better than some non-psionic). Only play a Dromite after carefully considering or if you are really into insectoid races.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Excavator (slow and steady is nice ... even though you'll probably be wearing light armor)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp

Duergar

Lets see. Boni to 2 useful stats and a malus to the dump stat? Count me in! Duergar have whole punch of useful abilities and useful alternate racial traits to boot. If you want to play a dwarf and be psionic then this is the race for you.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Reborn Ancestor (I think the higher saves is better but being able to reroll one d20 is pretty awesome too), Waking Dreamer (useful in some groups), Whispers of Insanity (again has it's uses)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp (note: the duergar racial is also nice but since Expansion is a power and extra pp are more flexible this option is somewhat better in most groups)

Elans

Elan are a very solid race for any Psionic Class and Psywars are no exception. Innately they are probably the most tanky race and add that on top of the already solid Psywar chassis and you got yourself an unkillable monster. If you prefer a more humanlike race then this is the race you want to play (because humans are not that good of a race for Psywars). They can't die of old age too which is awesome.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: generally none however there are some nice options with Failed Transformation or Strong Blooded. They are pretty much all weaker but if your campaign uses certain forms of combat more often they can be useful on their own. In my personal opinion they are only for flavour though.
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp

Forgeborn

Bonus to a pumpstat and malus to a dumpstat, Slow and Steady (though they sadly suffer from the slow movement speed) and a punch of things that make them hard to kill (natural armor, poisonresistence, no need to eat or breath) make this class one of the best in terms of durability. Forgeborn, while not optimal, make very strong Psywars and if you want to play one I can fullheartly recommend to do so.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Strange Mind (AC bonis are nice but the bonus to Willpower is better / not picking this trait is still viable if you feel you want to have a higher AC)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp

Half-Giants

One of the two best Psychic Warrior Races and the King of strength based builds. Boni to your 2 most important stats and a malus to a useful but neglible stat is great. The real draw however that will push this class to and beyond every other class is Powerful Build. Essentially this race has everything you need to be a great Psychic Warrior. Nice Alternate Racial Traits are just the icing on the cake. If you play a strength based Psywar and you want to go by Power only then this is the race for you.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Cold Acclimated (if you play in a snow heavy campaign ... same counts for Fire Acclimated), Flame of Freedom (potentially devastating on a Martial Kineticist), Juggernaut (if you want to focus on combat maneuvers), Liberty or Death (if not in a cold or fire heavy campaign the go to racial trait), Psionic Resonance (this + a trait for UMD can make you actually decent at using magic items ... consider it if you can spend the ressources)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp (Psychic Warriors however have one of the best Alternatives ... if you have a Path with strongly scaling powers then consider picking the higher ml instead).

Maenads

This race comes right behind the Half Giant in Power for a str based build. The Outburst Ability alone gets them there (note that the activationtime of Outburst isn't defined ... my guess is that it's a supernatural ability meaning it's a standardaction to activate. Try convincing your DM of allowing swift action activation like a Xeph's Burst ability). Trading out some of the less useful racial traits for alternates makes them a very strong race indeed.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Shore Bound (strictly better in non-seafarring campaigns), Crystal Ressonance (potentially useful on Martial Kineticist using Tattoos)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp

Norals

They have useful boni but a malus to dexterity and as opposed to Half Giants their Boni are not as good. Symbiotic Surge is always great but overall the race is just meh even counting in alternate racial traits. They are far from being the worst psionic race but neither are they good.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Resilient Symbionte (better than mindthrust)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp

Ophiduans

Now we are talking. This is the race for dex based Psywars. Don't let this fool you though. They are still very good for a str based build. Boni to your 2 most important stats (for dex based) and a malus to your dump start are only the beginning. A bonus to natural armor and a scaling bite attack are the next in line. The bonus to AC is always useful but a bite attack is great considering that you will most likely be dex based and not a natural weapon fighter. This is the trait for the times you end up in a brawl. They are overall extremely solid and have literally no drawbacks (even Half-Giants have them but they make up for it). Count in that they have one of the best Archetypes and they are truly a frightening race.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Deformed (synergizes better with a str based build so pick it then but don't on a dex based one),
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp (their racial bonus is nice but more pp is more flexible)

Xeph

I really like Xeph but they aren't that good for Psywars. A Bonus to a dump stat makes them mediocre from the get go. They do however have the Burst ability and a bonus to most relevant saves so that balances the Race somewhat. They don't make bad Psywars by any means but neither are they especially good though if you have high enough pointbuy or just generally high stats (as in the higher charisma doesn't take too much from your other stats) the Race becomes very solid for dex based builds. They also make surprisingly good throwers since they have free profiency with a good throwing weapon.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Bladeborn (free profiency with a good throwing weapon and quick draw make this trait worth losing Burst for throwing builds)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp

Non-Psionic Races (ARG)

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Intro: I'm just including these in short for completeness sake. They are all inferior to Psionic Races for Psywars so if you can get a Psionic Race always pick it above one of the regular races. That said there might be a game where you have no access to psionic races for one reason or another. In this case increase the rating of all non-psionic races by 1 step (except for the red races ... those will stay terrible). On another note I'll recommend hp for your favoured class bonus on most races. However if you have really high consitution, low intelligence or just feel like you need more skillpoints feel free to take those. Psywars are not so much dependant on hp as other classes are (well they are but they have ways of solving this problem with powers).

(In order of appearance in the ARG)

Core Races

Dwarves

Essentially worse Duergar they have nothing going for them what the psionic Dwarves can't do better. If you are stuck in a game with only non-psionic races then take a look at Duergar above and subtract the bonus pp. In that case they are actually decent.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Deep Warrior/Giant Hunter/Ancient Enemy/etc (dwarves have a lot of racial traits which are really good in some campaign so just go through them and see if any of them fits), Rock Stepper (always worth it)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp (alternative of bonus to CMD is nice but most likely you won't need it that often while hp or skillpoints are always useful ... again dependant on your campaign)

Elves

Elves are just meh for Psywars. They can make for a decent dex-based build but the penalty to constitution hurts. Nothing this race offers makes it a good choice for you. It's not so much that they are really bad (constitution is kinda bad but again you have other means of getting hp) but rather that almost every other race is better ... Skip.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Again many situational traits ... swap according to campaign
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: always extra hp

Gnomes

Gnomes make for OK dex-based Psywars but are inferior to Halflings in that regard. Also the charismabonus is essentially useless. Another race to skip.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Pyromaniac (if you can convince your dm of allowing this to count for energy powers with fire damage then a Martial Kineticist Gnome becomes actually mediocre), otherwise lots of situational traits again (look at your campaign)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp (consider extra skillpoints here)

Half-Elves

Bonus to one stat of your choice is always useful and the Ancestral Arms traits lets you pick up a good weapon profiency for free. You could for example pick up free profiency with the Elven Curve Blade which is always nice for a two handed dex-based build. I'm tempted to say that this is the best non-psionic core race after Half-Orcs because in addition to the free feat you have some useful skill boni and generally useful immunities. Not to forget is the decent alternate favoured class bonus and you have a pretty good race even in a psionic campaign (still not worth it compared to other options though).
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Ancestral Arm (if you don't pick this then the race is worse)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: +1/3 ML for Pathpowers (this is pretty good if you have the right paths)

Half-Orc

They make ok Chain Fighters (mainly due to an alternate racial trait) and have some solid boni but their real strength is their favoured class bonus ... they have the option to get bonus pp like psionic races. Even in a psionic game they are entirely viable though maybe somewhat below psionic races with the same rating.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Chain Master (good reason to play this class ... essentially free profiency), Toothy (not really suitable for a Natural Weapon Psywar but for regular Psywars a free natural attack is nice), Otherwise situational boni
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra pp

Halfling

The best non-psionic race for a thrower and argueably even good in a game where psionic races are allowed (Ophiduan beat them). They are ok as dex-based melee Psywars but only in range are they truly good. Again like Half-Orc a little below other Psionic races with the same rating but still viable.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Fleet of Foot (much better than the small skill bonus)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Humans

They have a decent favoured class bonus and a bonus feat which is always nice. However as I've mentioned before Psywars do not need that many feats to be effective and some other races and their racial abilities are more useful than the human bonus feat. Therefor and with a sadistic smile because I have good reason to do so (humans get too much love from Paizo anyways) I happily rate this race mediocre (more on the lower end).
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: dependant on the campaign
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra powers known

Featured Races

Aasimar

Decent skillboni and generally useful boni. Best about this race is the 2 feat access to (su) flight so there is that. I'm tempted to rate this race higher for that alone but they are just not there.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: nothing special ... if you have a very special concept there are some decent ones
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Catfolk

Bonus to a dump stat and malus to pump stat? Nope. The race can have other nice things going for it but a wisdom penalty is unacceptable.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Climber (better than Sprinter in most cases), Scent (better than low-light vision)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Dhampir

What a meh race. Some nice classfeatures but not for Psywars. Add a bonus to a dump stat and a malus to one of your more important ones and this race borders to being plain bad. Not a good choice overall.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Dayborn
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: always extra hp

Drow

Same as Dhampir applies here. They make for stylish Assassin's Path Psywars but it will only be that ... stylish. Better skip this one. The Noble Spellresistance feat makes them somewhat better than Dhampirs but they are still not good.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Darklands Stalker (even if not the best feat it's better than a cha-scaling sla), otherwise campaign dependant
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: always extra hp

Fetchlings

The bad races just keep coming. Flavourful abilities but same problems as with above 2 races. Not a good choice.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Gloom Shimmer (displacement is good)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: always extra hp

Goblins

Decent dex-based Psywars if nothing else and good Assassins (Stealth bonus + small size = win). Solid race for some builds.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: situational stuff mainly but Hard Head, Big Teeth might be useful (bites are good)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Hobgoblin

One of the better non-psionic races. 2 boni to useful (or potentially pump) stats + overall solid chasis make this race a good choice overall. Same as Goblins they have a bonus to Stealth making them good at it from the get go.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Fearsome (for Intimidate focus), Scarred (you have easy access to My Light but still depending on your build)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Ifrits

Same like Catfolk. Wrong Attribute Modifiers. They are horrible indeed. They have better arguements for playing a Psywar (Wildfire Heart is amazing) so I'm tempted to rate them just bad but truth be told the modifiers are just too bad.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Wildfire Heart (Only reason to play this race and not a good one considering the bad sides)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Kobolds

Not as bad as some of the other races. The penalty to consitution hurts so stay at range with a Kobold Psywar. The natural armor bonus is useful and small size help skirmisher build (along with the 30 feet movement). Overall they are ok but Goblins are somewhat better. They can get acess to flight via feats but it takes 3 feats so it isn't as good as Aasimar or Sylph but it is (ex). If you consider picking those feats then this race potentially is mediocre.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Gliding Wings (more useful than the trait it replaces)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: always extra hp

Orc

Good race for some martial classes, horrible for Psywars. Why? Penalty to wisdom. Psywars don't need only strength but rather the ability to buff themselves to points beyond what strength can accomplish alone. Clear skip. One of the races which improve to meh if psionic races are not allowed. They are bad but +4 strength is still nice.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Dayrunner (good if you can't get sun glasses), Smeller (potentially better than Ferocity and Weapon Familiarity isn't all that good for you)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp (consider extra skillpoints to make up for int penalty)

Oreads

Good attribute modifiers and overall useful abilities make this one of the best non-psionic races. Probably not as good as Half-Orcs but still viable and bordering to being good.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Treacherous Earth (makes getting AOO off easier), Granite Skin (useful in more situations), Crystalline Form (Earth Affinity is useless for you)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Ratfolk

Meh for a dex-based build mainly because they have nothing Goblins aren't better at. Neglible feats and alternate traits are just the last drop. Not a good choice.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Scent (you can outbalance the other drawbacks but Scent is good), Cornered Fury (Swarming won't be useful in most games), Unnatural (maybe good in some games)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Sylph

Good: easy access to (su) flight. Bad: attribute modifiers. They aren't bad by any means but neither are they especially good. If you feel like playing one go ahead but know there are better choices out there. Some alternate racial traits are rather nice too.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Breeze Kissed (quite good and replaces useless trait), Like the Wind (5 feet movement are always nice), Whispering Wind (this + Stealth as a classskill on a dex.based build and you are up there with Goblinoids)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: always extra hp

Tengus

Two good boni and one malus. Check. Some nice boni and the amazing Swordtrained trait plus a bite attack? Now we are talking. Definitely one of the better races. I'm tempted to rate Tengus better but the constitution penalty hurts too much. They can however get limited flight via Tengu Wings which is nice (level 5 and only one feat).
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Exotic Weapon Training (depending on what you want), Glide (more useful in most cases)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: always extra hp

Tieflings

Decent attribute modifiers but overall mediocre abilities. Traits make it somewhat better but doesn't raise them higher. The Armor of the Pit feat is a flat +2 bonus to AC so it's quite good and better than most feats (other ac feats are bad though) so something to consider.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Scaled Skin (better in some campaigns / if you plan on picking the Armor of the Pit feat then better not take this trait), Mar or Claw (pick Maw ... a free natural attack is nice for a weapon Psywar), Prehensile Tail (very nice for Psionic Characters)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Undines

Pretty decent for a dex-based Psywar overall. 2 good boni and 1 OK penalty for their modifiers and some nice alternate racial features make them one of the better races. This race is very good in an underwater campaign unless you get other races buffed.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Amphibious (ability to breath underwater is good), Deepsight (in underwater campaigns), Hydrated Vitality (similar abilities of the other elemental races are much worse than this which is both easy to trigger and useful), Water Sense (very strong in some campaigns .. blindsense for free essentially).
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Uncommon Races

Changeling

Overall mediocre ability modifiers and the other traits don't make up for it. The Claws are nice but not useful in most cases (as I've mentioned ... natural weapon psywars have Claws of the Beast and weapon psywars have a weapon in their hands). Hulking Changeling is the best choice for your Hag Racial Trait.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: none worth it
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Duergar (non-psionic)

Similar to dwarves and definitely worse than psionic Duergar. Giant Steps is a nice feat considering you have easy access to expansion and size increases so there is that ... making them somewhat better than regular dwarves.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Daysighted (60 feet is enough in most campaigns), dwarf alternate traits (as mentioned above pick ones suiting your campaign type)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp (extra skillpoints is a good option here due to your likely higher constitution)

Gillmen

Bad modifiers with just mediocre traits make this a horrible race for Psywars. They are generally not a good race. Skip.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Riverfolk (necessity in most campaigns),
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp (skillpoints a good choice too)

Gripplis

Good race for a dex-based Psywar. Almost as good as halflings but not quite there. They have a climb speed to boot and Camouflage is nice too so don't feel bad for playing a Grippli if you want (after all they are freaking frog people ... how awesome is that).
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Jumper (neat bonus which has it's uses more often than not), Princely (generally more useful if you aren't in swamps a lot of the time and want to use a web)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Kitsune
They have OK modifiers for a dex-based Psywar but their traits are horrible for you. Agile is nice and the Bite Attack too but if you haven't a very specific concept in mind you better skip this race.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Fast Shifter (might as well)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Merfolk

Well .... ahm .... no? I guess you could make a point for playing them in an aquatic campaign but to be honest even then Undines are likely better. They are just not flexible enough. Note that they become somewhat better with Speed of Thought and the Strongtail trait (25 feet movement-rate is decent along with the other boni you get).
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Strongtail (must have in a land-based campaign), Darkvision (good in water-based campaigns)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp (skillpoints are a great choice too)

Nagaji

Mediocre modifiers for a str-based Psywar. They also have a natural armor bonus which is always nice. Definitely not a bad race at all but not good neither. If you want a lizard-like race better play Ophiduan though.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: none
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Samsarans

Samsarans are a great race ... for spellcasters that is. The modifiers are decent but the classfeatures neglible and the penalty to consitution hurts with nothing really making up for it. Better skip this one.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: none
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: always extra hp

Strix

How to rate this race. Good modifiers for a dex-based Psywar and innate flight. I'm tempted to rate this race good but it would be because of the flight speed. Therefor I'll say the race is mediocre but if you have harder access to flight in the campaign and/or need early arial movement then the race becomes much better (in that case better than most psionic races).
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Frightening (for those interested in intimidate)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Sulis

Decent modifiers (though the charisma bonus is pretty useless) with some OK features. The energy resistance is good and Elemental Assault is a decent damage boon especially at early levels, but sadly limited in it's uses without a feat (Inremental Elemental Assault that is). Energy Strike gives you some utility and is basically a must-pick from a power perspective but even with it this race is just soso compared to other races (even non-psionic ones).
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Energy Strike (Icewalk and Earthfoot are both useful in different situations. The other 2 are not worth it with Shockshield being a bit better in most cases)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Svirfneblin

Good stats for a dex based Psywar plus nice traits make this race one of the best non-psionic races. Fortunate and Spell Resistance make you very resistance to spells/powers and your high dex, size and dodge bonus make you naturally evasive. Very strong indeed ... their better features even make up for the few useless traits they get (Svirfneblin Magic comes to mind). Best choice for a dex-based melee Psywar in a non-psionic races only game (Halflings making better throwers).
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: none
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Vanaras

Very solid stats for a dex-based Psywar like those of an Ophiduan. Sadly they have few other features though the climb speed and Prehensile Tail are situationally useful. I rate them as mediocre but they are somewhat above it. There is one reason to play one aside from personal preference .... If you want a Monkeyking-like Character a Vanara Meditant Psywar comes very close to what you want

.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: none
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Vishkanyas

Just no ... a penalty to a pump- and a bonus to a dumpstat are a no-go. They have some decent features for an Assassin-like Psywar and are pretty stylish but far from the best.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: none
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

Wayangs

Almost as bad as the Vishkanyas but this race lacks style too (well if you aren't into small creepy somethings that is) so better stay away from them.
Recommended Alternate Racial Traits: Dissolution's Child (might as well)
Recommended Favoured Class Bonus: extra hp

On Attributes

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Strength {str/dex}: For strength based builds the bread and butter ability. Your to-hit and damage will scale of this so keep it as high as possible. While you have numerous ways to increase your strength you want your highest stat here.

Dexterity {str/dex}: This is obviously the most important stat for a dex-based Psywar in any form but even for str- or maybe even wis-based Psywars you want a decent value here for Initiative and AC.

Constitution: Important stat as it is for any class even more so since you are melee. Since you have a good fortitude save already and ways to boost your effective hp a 14 is sufficient most of time.

Intelligence: Not really important in any way. See that you don't have a negative modifier here but usually you should have enough skillpoints to get the skill you need. You might want to have 13 here for some feats though.

Wisdom: This is your second most important stat. Your extra pp, DCs and of course maximum powerlevel scale of this. AC and Health (read dex and con) are something that can be buffed but extra pp isn't. This is the stat that makes you more flexible and powerful than other melee classes therefor put your second highest stat here. 14 is the bare minimum.

Charisma: Your only real dumpstat. Only use for you is the increase in Intimidate but there are numerous ways to deal with that particular skill. Just put your lowest stat here.

str-based: Str >= Wis > Con >= Dex > Int > Cha

dex-based: Dex >= Wis > Con > Int/Str > Cha

rare case of wis-based: Wis > Con >= Dex > Str (you want 13 here for Power Attack) > Int > Cha

Sample Attribute Distributions

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Intro: For this Samples I will use several commonly used methods to generate stats and show distribution for a str- and a dex-based Half-Giant/Ophiduan Psywar respectively.

Pointbuy (15/20/25)

15 Pb
str-based: Str 16 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 9 Wis 16 Cha 7 (alternatively keep dex at 10 (12) and increase int to 12 // alternatively decrease con to 12 to achieve the same)
dex-based: Str 11 Dex 16 Con 14 Int 13 Wis 16 Cha 5 (feel free to swap Str and Int if you feel you won't need it for feats)

20 Pb
str-based: Str 18 Dex 12 Con 14 Int 9 Wis 16 Cha 7 (see 15 pb)
dex-based: Str 11 Dex 18 Con 14 Int 13 Wis 16 Cha 5 (see 15 pb)

25 Pb
str-based: Str 20 Dex 12 Con 12 Int 10 Wis 16 Cha 7
dex-based: Str 12 Dex 20 Con 14 Int 10 Wis 16 Cha 5 (another way is to dump str to 9 and increase int to 13 for feats)

Rolled stats (4d6 and best 3)

note: I rolled randomly which turned out pretty bad therefor I included one fake result which summed up to a +8 bonus

8, 14, 8, 13, 13, 14
str-based: Str 16 Dex 11 Con 13 Int 8 Wis 16 Cha 8
dex-based: Str 8 Dex 16 Con 13 Int 13 Wis 16 Cha 6 (possibly swap str with int for melee builds)

12, 8, 13, 8, 13, 15
str-based: Str 17 Dex 10 Con 13 Int 8 Wis 15 Cha 8
dex-based: Str 8 Dex 17 Con 12 Int 13 Wis 15 Cha 6 (see above)

17, 15, 14, 13, 12, 9 (fake)
str-based: Str 19 Dex 10 Con 14 Int 13 Wis 17 Cha 9
dex-based: Str 12 Dex 19 Con 14 Int 13 Wis 17 Cha 7

Heroic (2d6+6)

11, 13, 13, 17, 17, 16
str-based: Str 19 Dex 11 Con 16 Int 13 Wis 19 Cha 11
dex-based: Str 13 Dex 19 Con 16 Int 13 Wis 19 Cha 9

9, 17, 10, 13, 13, 13
str-based: Str 19 Dex 11 Con 13 Int 10 Wis 15 Cha 9
dex-based: Str 10 Dex 19 Con 13 Int 13 Wis 15 Cha 7

8, 12, 13, 8, 11, 15
str-based: Str 17 Dex 9 Con 12 Int 8 Wis 15 Cha 8
dex-based: Str 8 Dex 17 Con 12 Int 11 Wis 15 Cha 6

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-14, 11:38 AM (ISO 8601)

Class Features and Skills

Class Features

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BAB
Well the bad thing is you've got only mediocre bab. The good part is you don't really care. Between enough boni to-hit (paths and buffs) and easy access to multiclassing to get 4 attacks at level 20 (16 bab needed) you will hit more often and heavier than some other martial classes with full bab. It is of course not optimal and we all would like to have full bab but I understand why DSP decided to give them half bab (this way your superiority above other martial classes is not that obvious ;) )

Saves:
-Fortitude good
-Reflex bad
-Willpower bad
Your good save is Fortitude which is nice. You have a lower Reflex Save and Willpower save which sucks (especially Willpower. Nobody wants the parties Big Fighter to get dominated). The advantage is that you have a secondary need for wisdom anyways and therefor you will have a decent Wil save. As many experienced players will tell you Fortitude and Willpower are the most important 2 saves since they affect the powers/spells which have the worst effects on you (Reflex is almost always plain damage). Your good Fortitude save on one hand and your higher than average wisdom bonus mean you have those 2 covered pretty well.

HD: d8
This seems like a pity at first glance. D8 HD for a full martial class (well 3/4 martial) class is kind of low. Don't let this fool you though. What do hiddice do? They increase your hitpoint pool right? Well you are after all a Psywar so we surely have an answer for this problem. Yes we do. Share Pain + Vigor (Combo described in the Powers-section) will let you have plenty of hitpoints (Even if just temporary) to the point where you can eat up double as much damage as even barbarians. And you will likely have a higher AC on top of that. Weep before the power of Psychic Warriors!

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
You have proficieny with simple and martial weapons, all armor and shields except tower shields. Nothing special here. These proficiencies will allow for a wide array of martial combat styles. If you really want to fight with a towershield consider picking up the feat but generally it is a waste to do so.

Powers
This is the big reason you picked this class. Psychic Warriors have a very strong powerlist and the necessary amount of powers do not only allow them to be great at one thing but also to add some flexibility and options. They go all the way up to 6th level at which point you will be immensely powerful.
They get 20 powers over 20 levels which is a good amount considering they are essentially half caster / half melee. Add 2 (3 with secondary path) from your Warrior Path and you sit at 22 (23) by default which can be expanded greatly by spending some of your feats on Expanded Knowledge (more on that in the Feats-section).
The amount of power points Psywars get isn't all the great considering the amount of powers and options you want to maintain throughout an adventuring day. Luckily for you most of them are buff spells and need not be fully augmented to be useful. There is also a way to play a wisdom based Psywar. In this case you will obviously have a higher wisdom for a good amount of bonus-pp (power points). More on that in the featsection.
Finally the speed they get access to new levels of power isn't the fastest but considering their other options and their use for powers it is still very good. For the first 6 levels you are essentially on par with a Wilder (minus pp plus more powers known)

Bonus Feats
Another gold for these. As I've mentioned in the "Why play a Psychic Warrior"-section these are just the icing on the wonderful cake that is this class. They give you even more options on top of the ones you already have. Note that these are limited to combat feats and psionic feats. This however isn't really a problem. Aside from maybe Power Attack you could live entirely on feats from UP and most of the feats you need have the [psionic] tag anyways.

Psionic Profiency
This is entirely dependant on your build. If for example you picked the Assassin Warrior Path it becomes better since you get benefits right away (can pick Assassin's Venom earlier). In other builds it might be completely useless since you don't pick feats which require BAB (aside from the Advanced Path feat but that is more limited by ML). I will mention most of those cases in detail in the Feats-section.

Talents
Psionic Cantrips in essence those can be quite useful if you pick ones that give you options. You have 2 to pick from a decent list. Not the most but it will be sufficient for your needs. Detect Psionics is basically a must-have however more on that in the Powers-section.

Warrior's Path
The last one of the big three reasons you play this class (first ones being powers and feats). Warrior's Path will essentially decide which general area of expertice your Psywar will excel in. In and of themselves they are probably just good but with the addition of the Advanced Path feats this feature is one of the most important parts of the class (argueably more important than the feats).
However don't let the specialization those Paths offer fool you. Even if you pick a path doesn't mean you are necessarily that much worse at other combat styles. If for example you pick the Weaponmaster Path you can (and eventually should) still pick up natural weapon powers and be very good at it.

Expanded Path
Access to your Trance and Maneuver. Your classfeatures slowly start going.

Path Skill
Minor Boni to a limited list are a nice boon if nothing special. Their usefuleness depends on the skills you pick so be careful there but generally there isn't much which can go wrong with higher skillchecks.

Martial Power
Ok this is a fantastic classfeature. It is however somewhat dependant on the paths you pick since some have powers with very long duration which you should have active when combat starts. Even on those this classfeature enables essentially free action manifesting and the single reason you always want at least 6 levels in Psychic Warrior before you prestige out.

Secondary Path
Still a very nice addition. Essentially this just adds versatility (another skill, trance and maneuver) and another Pathpower (which works with Martial Power so win). In and of itself this feature is probably just good however there is also Pathweaving.

Twisting Path
Nice little feature. Enables faster swapping between your trances.

Pathweaving
This is incredible. 2 trances active at the same time doesn't seem like a lot at first glance but if you count in Advanced Path feats (which you should have both of) this becomes much, much better. I will go into combinations in the Feats-section of the Guide.

Eternal Warrior
Ok you made it to level 20 and get your capstone. And what a capstone this feature is. For 5 minutes you become a god of war. Adding your wisdom modifier to essentially all relevant combat stats as an untyped (meaning it will stack with all the other great buffs you will have active) bonus will let you wreck even the toughest foes and will push you far beyond what other martial characters can achieve.
Sadly you will often not get to level 20 (or want to prestige out) and therefor not enjoy this feature but it is great nonetheless. This feature is probably singlehandedly worth it to go straight Psywar for 20 levels (which is great anyways but most of the time you want Warmind for at least 4 levels to get bab 16).

Class Skills

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Acrobatics
Great Skill with many uses. Obviously especially good on a dex-based Psywar but even a str-based get's some tricks out of it.

Autohypnosis
Another one of those must-have skills. Even if you don't want to invest heavily in it you will need 4 ranks for Psionic Meditation. No questions. Just skill it.

Climb
Get 1 point here for the bonus ... most likely you won't need more. As a dex based put enough in it to get to a +5 bonus (so 1 or 2 points depending on your strength).

Craft
You won't have a high int and most likely you won't have the skill points nor reason to put points here. If you want it for flavourreason I won't stop you though.

Knowledge (Psionics)
As mentioned at Craft your intellince won't be high and you don't have points to spare to pump this. However put 1 point in it for the bonus and you can at least roll on it. Also don't forget that your Psicrystal can roll on this too and almost double your chance of getting some informations. Obviously if your Campaign requires this a lot it goes all the way to being good or even mandatory.

Perception
One of the most rolled skills in the whole game. Pumping this is an obvious choice and likely where 1/4 of your skillpoints will go to.

Profession
Just don't.

Ride
Well this isn't that great of a skill in most games. For a Scaled Rider or if you ride mounts regulary pumping this becomes a necessity. Even without those 2 cases putting 1 point here never hurts.

Spellcraft
Hmm this is an odd one. You need at least 1 point here but it probably won't be enough. My suggestion is to start with 1 point in here and see how your campaign develops and if you need it more often.

Swim
Same as with Climb. Make sure you get enough to sum up to a +5 bonus (even counting in armor penalties).

Cross-Class Skills

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Note: The skills I list here are ones which will be useful to you therefor getting them via a trait as a classskill is likely useful.

Intimidate
This is an odd one. You have low charisma but there are numerous ways to pump your check via items and powers so it becomes much more useful. You also have the feats to spare to make it more effective. Depends on your playstyle though. If you go unarmed with Broken Dreams Style + the followup feats then this goes all the way up to high priority (get a trait to make it a classskill as well).

Escape Artist:
Especially important for dex-based melee Psywars. Believe me ... you don't want to get grappled.

Fly:
Later in the game it will be necessary to put some points here.

Handle Animal:
Only if you spend a lot of times with a mount or are a Scaled Rider.

Sense Motive:
The only social skill you won't suck at. If you don't need one of the other Cross-Class Skills then this is a good choice. It has many uses and potentially is even useful in-fight.

Stealth:
Well you get this as an Assassin's Path Psywar anyways in which case you want to pump it. Even with other Paths it is a very good option and more so as a dex-based Psywar. With the addition of Powers like Chameleon and the right race you can become virtually undetectable (for example a level 1 Blue with Chameleon active and 20 dex can have a check of +25 but even Ophiduans can have +19).

Survival:
A nice skill with many uses. Potentially useful depending on your campaign.

Use Magic Device:
One of the best skills in the game this is a good choice for you too. Just don't expect to use it in-fight very often until later levels (Even then you usually have better things to do).

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-14, 11:40 AM (ISO 8601)

Feats and Traits

Introduction
This is the part were you customize your Psywar and add more options to an already great class. Note that quite a lot of the feats are rated for the most optimal build using them (ie Weaponfinesse for dexterity based fighters). I'll try to add some small note for every feat this applies to but keep it in mind still as I might overlook some.
I also only rate feats which can be applied to Psychic Warriors in the first place so if some feat is missing below then it is either because it's not a valid option or because it is so bad, that I didn't feel adding it. You are however very welcome to point out feats, which are missing.
Last but not least is should be noted that Advanced Path Feats recieve their own section in "Paths of the Warrior".

Ultimate Psionics
Note: Firstly I don't mention all feats here. Only ones which I think can be realistically attained or could be attained by one of the classes I deem worthy of multiclassing are mentioned (as Wilder isn't a multiclass-option none of the Surge Feats are mentioned for example).
Secondly while the feats are in alphabetical order, those with prerequisites in Ultimate Psionics can be found below the respective prerequisite feat.

Regular and Psionic Feats
Additional Terror: If you go Dread it will only be one or two levels if you want Disciple of Fear. Investing more ressources for additional Terror's is a waste (especially since your charisma will likely not be that great).
Advanced Constructs: Good feat if you have access to Astral Construct. Boost Construct is the must have if you want to focus on this power but Advanced Constructs is just behind in usefulness.
Aligned Attack: Depending on your campaign this can be a very, very good feat or nigh useless. Therefor take this rating with a grain of salt. If you are playing a campagne focused on fighting exactly one type of aligned enemy (like say demons) and you often find yourself without psionic weapons then this is very much worth it.
Assassin's Venom: The DC boost is quite massive (+6 overall) but still won't be high enough to really threaten some of the tougher enemies. On top of that the power itself is very lackluster making this feat pretty much a waste.
Autonomous: No, just no. Unless you use very, very specific builds skill boosting feats are not worth the investment.
Body Fuel: The Power Point Recovery doesn't scale at all and is way too expensive. Skip.
Boost Construct: Very good feat. If you are a Martial Kineticist or even regular Psywar and you got Astral Construct via EK or even Unlocked Talent then there is no reason not to get this. This borders to golden.
Broken Dreams Style: Requires you to be an unarmed fighter and a Dread dip, so the costs are pretty steep. It is however worth considering since it adds 1d6+1 damage to all your unarmed attacks and the follow up feats can be very strong as well.
Shattered Dreams Strike:
Nightmare Veil:
Cloak Dance: Very nice option to get cheap concealment or total concealment. The full round action + hustle basically lets you reposition without the enemy knowing where you are.
Combat Manifestation: This is a bit better for Psywars than for other manifesters who don't have to melee very often. Personally I'd suggest learning to manage my powers and to avoid making Concentration checks all together though.
Critical Refocus:
Cushion the Blow:
Improved Cushion the Blow:
Greater Cushion the Blow:
Deadly Throw:
Deep Focus:
Disciple of Fear:
Dispelling Static:
Efficient Aid:
Empowered Shot:
Endowed Mind:
Enlarged Collective:
Expanded Collective:
Expanded Knowledge:
Expanded Martial Power:
Expansive Collective:
Extra Blade Skill:
Extra Customization:
Extra Power Known:
Extra Reconfiguration:
Extra Terrors:
Extra Transfers:
Fast Aid:
Fast Step:
Favoured Energy:
Fear Mastery:
Fear's Reach:
Feral Combat Training:
Fighter's Blade:
Focused Precision:
Focused Sunder:
Ghost Attack:
Gravitic Stability:
Levitative Transport:
Harmonic Resonance:
Hawkeye:
Improved Metamorphosis:
Improved Psi-Like Ability:
Inquisitor:
Insightful Terror:
Intimidating Shot:
Staggering Shot:
Crippling Assault: Paralyzed is a brutal condition but it comes with restrictions here. Still, if you are able to reproduce any of the situations regularily (for example Greater Concealing Amorpha for Flat Footed) and have a semi high wisdom then this can be absolutely murderous.
Intuitive Fighting:
Intuitive Shot:
Greater Intuitive Shot:
Killer's Vitality:
Knockdown Shot:
Mental Leap:
Metapsionic Mastery:
Mind Blade Knight:
Mind Knight's Arsenal:
Mind Over Body:
Mixed Combat:
Open Door:
Multiple Connections:
Open Minded
Overchannel:
Talented:
Penetrating Fear:
Persistent Focus:
Piranha Strike:
Power Channeler:
Power Penetration:
Greater Power Penetration:
Power Perfection:
Power Specialization:
Greater Power Specialization:
Psicrystal Affinity:
Improved Psicrystal:
Psicrystal Containment:
Psionic Body:
Psionic Bull Rush:
Psionic Critical:
Psionic Disarm:
Psionic Dodge:
Psionic Endowment:
Greater Psionic Endowment:
Psionic Fist:
Greater Psionic Fist:
Unavoidable Strike:
Psionic Meditation:
Psionic Overrun:
Psionic Precise Shot:
Psionic Shield Bash:
Psionic Shot:
Fell Shot:
Return Shot:
Greater Psionic Shot:
Psionic Stamina:
Psionic Sunder:
Psionic Talent:
Psionic Trip:
Psionic Unarmed Strike:
Psionic Weapon:
Deep Impact:
Greater Psionic Weapon:
Psychoportive Pathffinder:
Quick Suit:
Rapid Augmentation:
Rapid Draw:
Rapid Metabolism:
Ready Response:
Rebounding Throw:
Reckless Offense:
Returning Throw:
Ricochet:
Sidestep Charge:
Soul Warrior:
Speed of Thought:
Psionic Charge:
Student of the Astral Suit:
Swift Shapeshifter:
Master of All Forms:
Telepathic Link:
Terror Mastery:
Touch of Terror:
Toughened Suit:
Twin Throw:
Unlocked Talent:
Access Psionic Talents: Not worth taking most of the time. It might become occasionally useful for out of combat situations and you can choose from any class list so if you find some good uses for your campaign then it might be worth taking.
Unwiling Participant:
Up the Walls:
Urban Tracking:
Wounding Attack:

Item Creation Feats
Craft Cognizance Crystal: Leave this to the Psions. Only worthwhile if you can find a way to earn some extra money from it in my book.
Craft Crystalline Focus Item: This has pretty much nothing to do with your class since the items don't even work with Call Weaponry. When mutliclassing with Soulknife this can safe you some money but it is still just mediocre due to it's limited uses.
Scribe Tattoo:

Metapsionic Feats
Note: Metapsionic Feats have only limited uses for the Psychic Warrior unless you focus on offensive manifesting (which isn't all that useful for most variants) therefor read carefully which types of Psywar I recommend each feat for. Some are only really good on wisdom based ones, like Martial Kineticists or Psywars with Intuitive Strike.

Burning Power: Even for a 6 level power this only adds 12 damage as opposed to 11 from a fire power with favoured element (for the 2 powerpoints). And below level 6 this is just plain worse. Don't even get me started on the need to expend your psionic focus on top.
Burrowing Power: This feat's usefulness is depending on your kind of game. It can go from utterly useless to must have for offensive manifesters. In most games I wouldn't recommend it though.
Chain Power: This has it's uses on something like Energy Stun but generally you won't have that power even as a Martial Kineticist so better not bother.
Concussive Power: Now this is fairly nice for a Psywar using energy blast powers. Use an energy power with sonic first round to debuff your enemies and then blast them to shreds the following rounds with one of the other elements.
Dazing Power:
Empower Power:
Echoing Power:
Ectoplasmatic Power:
Enlarge Power:
Explosive Power:
Extend Power:
Flaring Power:
Focused Power:
Hustle:
Lingering Power:
Maximize Power:
Merciful Power:
Opportunity Power:
Persistent Power:
Piercing Power:
Quicken Power:
Redirect Power:
Rime Power:
Selective Power:
Malleable Power:
Shared Power:
Sickening Power:
Split Psionic Ray:
Thundering Power:
Toppling Power:
Twin Power:
Unconditional Power:
Widen Power:

Other Sources

Combat Feats

Style Feats

Path of War Feats

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-14, 11:41 AM (ISO 8601)

Paths of the Warrior

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-14, 11:44 AM (ISO 8601)

Powers

General

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Before we get to power selection there are a few general points I'd like to discuss. Most importantly do not spend too much powers known on powers which do the same or similar things. Secondly some powers increase greatly in utility when augmented and others don't. If this is the case I try to say so in the rating description but if I don't assume I rate for the unaugmented power. Now without further ado lets get to it.

Talents

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Blinding Flash: Don't spend actions on slightly debuffing a single enemy. Even if this would be AOE it's not worth it.
Conceal Thoughs: This depends somewhat on the game. Of course the bonus to bluff is neglible to you and the bonus to saves is kinda meh considering most group's playstyle. However if you are in a campaign with a lot of mind-reading NPCs then this goes up two steps.
Detect Psionics: In most games (read 9 out of 10) this is gonna be one of your two Talents. It has great utility and stays useful through all levels of play. Pick this.
Distract: This would be kinda useful to Assassin-style Psywars but it requires concentration and allows for a save. Without those two I could see it being useful but as is stay away from it.
Ectoplasmatic Trinket: This is actually pretty good. Aside from some utility you get out of creating small items you can create some decent throwing weapons like Darts or even ammunition for the ranged Psywars out there. Essentially call weaponry for cheap.
Float: Clear no for most campaigns. Swim with 1 or 2 points is enough or get Minor Metamorphosis as a Power. If you have a waterbased campaign it becomes somewhat better.
My Light: Necessary for Races without Darkvision. This is actually pretty decent since you don't have to hold anything (like with Light or Crystal Light). With Darkvision don't bother except when your group has no other way of getting Light at will.
Sense Poison: Bad in most campaigns but like Conceal Thoughts has it's uses in some. Now your DM's playstyle!
Telekinetic Punch: Aaaah. No. It is pretty cool to punch someone with your mind but in most situations this is pretty useless. If you take it because it's cool then I will look the other way though.
Vim: Just no. Only useful if you are in conditions where you get 1 damage a round for a long time (read: close to never).

Level 1

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Absorb Weapon: Good for Assassins in a campaign with lots of social encounters and strict weapon rules. Otherwise not worth it.
Astral Traveler: Leave stuff like this to your Psion. Not worth spending one of your precious powers on.
Biofeedback: Decent early on if you have time to buff up but the augmentation isn't worth it most of the time and 2 DR/- fall behind quickly.
Bite of the Wolf, Karak's: Only applies for Natural Weapon Psywars (which get it for free). For other Psywars this isn't a Power you want to pick (get Minor Metamorphosis for flexibility).
Burst: If this would be a Talent it would be ok but as is don't pick this. It has some utility with augmentation later on but even then it is just meh.
Call Weaponry: Yes for Mindknights, no for others. Mindknight's with the appropriate feats can make this almost as good aa Soulknife's Mindblade. Great Power for them. Other Psywars usually have better things to do than picking this power.
Catfall: Depending on your campaign but neglible in most. Think about it before spending on of your powers here. Survivors get some milleage out of this (mainly because it's free).
Chameleon: Yes for Assassin's Path Psywars. This is insane at level 1 (a dex-based Psywar with 20 dex and 1 rank in Stealth easily gets to +19) and becomes better with augmentation. Even good for other paths but more dependant on your playstyle and campaign.
Circumstance Shield: The short description says +2 but the text says +1 (which is the one you should rule by). Not worth it at first levels but becomes decent lategame.
Claws of the Beast: Rating applies to Natural Weapon Psywars. This is also better than Bite of the Wolf for other Psywars because it's swift action and has a long duration
Compression: Only for dex-based Psywars. Great power though not as good as Expansion.
Corrosive Aura: If you regulary fight mooks with low reflex saves this is kinda good and it becomes better the longer you play because it has longer duration and higher damage.
Dazzling Swordplay: Not worth it.
Deaden Attack: Potentially useful if you play a Subduer-style of Character. Otherwise not worth it.
Dissipating Touch: This is kind of good if you have a lot of pp but since you have better things to do with those than deal straight up damage stay away from this.
Elfsight: This power does some odd things. It essentially gives you the vision of an elf. Not bad for 1 pp but you have better things to spend your powers known on.
Empty Mind: At first glance this looks kind of bad but +2 to one of your weak (and important saves) is actually good. Not worth spending a power on but you shouldn't feel bad for playing a Weaponmaster's Path Psywar.
Expansion: Must-have for every str-based Psywar. This increases your damage twice (weaponsize and higher str) and increases your reach. With augmentation this becomes even better. Only reason you don't pick this is when you have Minor Metamorphosis via EK or potentially Unlocked Talent. Even then you want to retrain or reform one of your powers at level 7+ for this.
Force Screen: You don't want to wear shields so this is pretty decent. If it weren't for the lousy duration and action it needs this would be a must-have but as is it's just mediocre.
Fortify: Good power at first level but quickly falls behind since it's a resistance bonus (you will soon own a Cloak of Resistance).
Foxhole: I'm tempted to rate this higher due to the sheer utility it provides. With some imagination this is one of the few BFC powers you have and definitely a power you should consider strongely. Augmenting it makes it even better (eventually you can affect stone etc.). This borders to being great.
Grip of Iron: For grapplers only. It scales fairly well too.
Hammer: Meh. You have better things to do with your actions.
Inertial Armor: This isn't worth it for most Psywars. If you are a Meditant or a Tranceur though this becomes necessary. Don't feel bad. It scales very good into lategame.
Inevitable Strike, Roshan’s: This is like Truestrike on crack. Swift action activation makes it useable even while attacking and it scales pretty well too. If you have time to setup an attack use the standard action option. Must-have for most Psywars.
Metaphysical Claw: Not worth picking at early levels but try to get it via retraining or reforming at around level 10. That this is only for Natural Weapon Psywars should go without saying.
Metaphysical WeaponA: See above.
Precognition, Defensive: Insight bonus to AC and saves is great and it has a good scaling into lategame. Oddly enough this is a Pathpower for Ascetic's Path Psywars which already have an insight bonus to one of those two (both with a feat). This makes them kind of bad for them. Bad planning by DSP here.
Precognition, Offensive: In and of itself this is pretty decent but since Insightful Strike is a thing and has the same type (Insight) you are better off with picking it instead.
Precognition, Tactical: Good early on with builds focusing on combat maneuvers only. Meh for other builds. Has a good scaling like other Precognition Powers.
Prescience, Offensive: Bad for most builds. If you are two-weapon fighting it's actually quite good since it's a flat bonus and applies to both weapons equally.
Prevenom: It's ok but not worth spending one of your powers on.
Prevenom Weapon: This is actually much better than Prevenom since your Weapon stays coated as long as it doesn't leave your grip making this a viable debuffer until mid levels where you probably want to reform it into something else.
Shield Wall, Krakatal’s: Aaaah ... no. You don't want to spend a feat on shield profiency and without it this power is pretty worthless.
Skate: Might be useful but don't bother in most campaigns.
Stomp: This is a good power at early levels but sadly gets worse as enemies get flight. Potentially get this early and retrain or reform later on.
Synesthete: Get this on a dorje if necessary but don't spend a power on it.
Thicken Skin: Decent early on but falls behind quickly. Skip.
Vigor: Must-pick on every Psywar. In and of itself this Power is "just" good but with Share Pain and the nice little Psicrystal feature called Share Power this essentially doubles in effectiveness. For those who don't know how to combination works. First you buff Share Pain and affect your Psicrystal. Secondly buff Vigor and share it with your Psicrystal. So for every pp you spend you and your Psicrystal both get 5 temporary hp. Then laugh as pesky opponents deal only half damage to you which gets instantly soaked up by your temporary hp. With the combination you get 10 hp per pp which is an excellent ratio and the reason every Psywar can be considered a tank.

Level 2

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Animal Affinity, Lanis’s: Nice power with lots of flexibility. Only problem is level 2 is cramped with great powers so consider heavily before picking this. If you have problem with getting items it becomes somewhat better.
Body Adjustment: Don't do this. This has a horrible healing/pp ratio and you are better off preventing the damage via share pain + vigor.
Body Equilibrium: While this has a high coolness factor it's just not that good in most games. Next.
Body Purification: This is much better than Body Adjustment. Ability damage is a nasty little thing and this takes care of it pretty well. If you have a cleric in your group or even better can get a dorje don't bother picking this as a power known.
Concealing Amorpha: Yes to concealment. With augmentation this even becomes AOE. Good overall.
Deflect: Hmm not really worth it. Ranged attacks are a thing but this is way too limited and too expensive to bother spending pp on.
Defy Gravity: This is sometimes useful but there are things which are useful more often this level. Get a dorje if you really need it.
Detect Hostile Intent: Make sure your DM is ok with this. I don't want to say it's a must-have but it is an extremely strong power. Knowing who has a problem with you without allowing a save or pr is plain awesome.
Dimension Swap: Good utility spell. Climb a wall and swap place with a weakling who can't or get a groupmember out of melee. Definitely a strong choice.
Dissolving Touch: The standard action activation and that it only affects a single attack makes this a no-go. Just not worth it.
Dissolving Weapon: See above.
Distracting Strike: The attack penalty is neglible but the ability to deny opponents of attacks of opportunities is pretty awesome. Combine with Inevitable Strike for decent sucess. There are better strikes though.
Empathic Transfer: Generally a nono. Your powers are just too precious. The healing ratio is pretty decent though and you can negate a lot of the damage with share pain.
Endorphin Surge: Meh ... I'm not a big fan of this power. While unnamed boni to 2 of your most important stats are great, there are penalties and an action cost attached. Might be worth it late in the game (when you can augment it to +8 unnamed boni) or if really suits the flavour you are going for but generally there are better buffs (Expansion for example).
Energy Adaptation, Specified: Get this or energy adaption (probably this since you want other powers at higher levels). Not much to say. The option to manifest it as an immediate action is great later on.
Entangling Strike: Not only does this entangle with save:no sr: no but the option to disrupt enemy spellcasting is pretty nice too. Overall a good pick for a "strike" power.
Ephemeral Bolt: Too short duration, too high action cost and neglible effect unless you are in a very specific kind of campaign. Better pass. Very cool though.
Everyman: Nice power but unless you are an Assassin focusing on social infiltration you are better off without it.
Feat Leech: Maybe good in a high psionic group but in most cases something which has almost no uses.
Freezing Sting: Come on now. This is just bad for 3 power points. Get one of the other Strikes instead. 1d6 cold damage is very little for 3 pp and spending an action to give a minor penalty isn't worth it either.
Heightened Vision: Well this shouldn't be thing. There are enough ways to improve vision and for a sneaky character you want a race with darkvision anyways.
Hustle: I don't need to explain why this is amazing. Swift action movement is something most classes can only dream of. Add the possibility to restore Psionic Focus (you always get psionic meditation) and you have one of the best powers in the game.
Painful Strike: It would be good if it was a swift action. As it is you can most likely skip it.
Prowess: Too high action cost. If you are starving for more AOO then get Combat Reflexes.
Proximity Strike: The great thing here is save: no. Offers some nice mobility with early teleportation and some minor bonus damage. Enemies won't be able to escape you.
Psionic Lion’s Charge: If you want to focus on charging then get this. Otherwise go with Hustle which has just so much more utility.
Psionic Scent: Scent is a great thing to have however you'll run out of powers known so in 9/10 cases you won't have place for this.
Repositioning Strike: This is a very odd Power. You can do some really nice things with save:no swapping enemies but it is somewhat depending on your playstyle and creativity. Consider before picking this one.
Resist Toxin: If Toxin is a thing in your campaigns then a possibility but otherwise skip.
Shocking Strike: While the damage is decent, you have buffs with a much higher efficiency. If you are desperate for the occasional burst get a Deep Crystal weapon. 2d6 extra damage as a free action.
Sidestep: Ok this can potentially be extremely powerful. If you are in a campaign with enemies who hit very few times but also very hard. From my experience it isn't that big of a thing in most games though and you already have so many second level powers you want.
Sonic Blast: Now we are talking. Bonus damage and a free trip during the enemy round? Sign me up. If you manage to trip the enemy you basically took away the whole round depending on how your dm interprets interrupting the "attack action". If this is fine by your dm (which by RAW it should be) then this power potentially hits awesome territory. Only a pick for trippers though.
Strength of My Enemy: This might be good if you have a few strong enemies of which you can slaughter one (Getting up to a good bonus) and then slaughter the others. Problem is you barely ever get to having a decent increase in strength since most enemies die too fast. What a shame since this power has a very cool flavour.
Sustenance: if you are that desperate for it.
Thought Shield: While this has it's uses in some campaigns it's just too limited for most. Better skip.
Wall Walker: This makes your combat possibilities more 3d which is always a nice thing to have. Note that this rating is a very general assessment. In a campaign spent in a desert with no walls or vertical surfaces whatsoever this power drops straight to awful
Wintry Grasp: One of the best Strikes this is a straight up immobilize with no chance of countering unless the creature has sr. Very nice indeed. The cold damage can be great too.

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Level 3

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Claws of the Vampire, Hexelyan’s: This is actually pretty good since after applying most of your size increases (which is a big part of natural weapon damage) you can end up with 12d6/d8 damage respectively. Healing for half of the base damage becomes a viable strategy then.
Concealing Amorpha, Greater: Holy Expansion ... now we are talking. This is basically Greater Invisibility +++. Sure the 50% concealment is nice but that is assuming the enemy knows where you are. Greater Conealment actually blocks line of sight making you untargetable for a lot of spells and powers (everything except AOE really) and the best about it? See Invisibility doesn't counter it. One of the best offensive and defensive buffs out there.
Danger Sense: Meh. This isn't the worst power but a bonus against traps is hardly something you want to spend your ressources on.
Dimension Slide: A lot of people like this but I consider it to only be mediocre. It is a standard action to activate and only has short range. It's true that you can later activate it as a move action which makes it somewhat better but expensive too. If you compare it to, say, Hustle combined with Up The Walls it doesn't really look that good. If you are a sucker for having a teleportation effect ASAP I'd say go for it but from a pure optimization point of view wait for Fold Space.
Dispatch: Nice for Psywars focusing on trip or disarm. Poor for other builds (though the added option might come in handy.
Duodimensional Claw: The duration makes this power halfway decent. The problem is you have better powers to chose from and the damage of natural weapons doesn't come from crits.
Ectoplasmic Form: I do not like this power. While it does give you flight (kind of) and added utility (kind of) it doesn't mesh well with Psywars since you are now very limited in your actions (can't attack anymore). Generally stay away from this unless you really, really want to have a power which does almost nothing to your combat potential.
Ectoplasmic Grapnel, Syonique’s: This is gold for str-based mostly but even dex-based get a lot out of it. This power has so much utility which just gets better with Augmentation options. Pulling opponents near you or pulling yourself to bigger opponents are just the basic applications. The greatest part is the mobility it offers -> pulling yourself up walls, across cliffs and any other obstacle you can think of. A fantastic power that combines power with in- and out-of-combat utility.
Empathic Feedback: Just skip this. You don't want to spend precious pp on trying to deal damage.
Empathic Transfer, Hostile: The friendly version is great but this is just horrible. Unless your enemies have extremely low saves they are going to make the save.
Escape Detection: This is a very situational power. In most campaigns this isn't worth picking up and if you need it get a dorje. For some campaigns and character concept (like Assassin) this deserves a higher rating. Consider carefully before picking this power though.
Evade Burst: Not the worst but you have better thinks to do with your powers known. Just eat the damage up.
Exhalation of the Black Dragon: This is a blast and therefor not good for you. Too expensive to be made worthwile.
Expose Weakness: Not worth it for most Psywars. The boni are minor and while flanked is a nice condition it's just as easy to get with this power. Only reason you want this is if you took the Assassin Warrior's Path and the Advanced Path feat in which case this power becomes much better.
Graft Armor: The best application I can think of to use this is to use it on a mithral Fullplate to have it count as light armor ... which is actually pretty cool. Not worth it otherwise.
Graft Weapon: It's nice that it makes your weapon count as a Natural Weapon which makes it possible to use Improved Natural Attack on it. Combine with Expansion ^2 and Half Giant to basically wield a Kolossal Greatsword (which is 8d6 damage). In this case this power is almost worth it but there are still better ones out there.
Mental Barrier: While this power is pretty nice when you first get it it quickly starts to fall off as you get levels. The problem here is not the scaling but the Ring of Deflection +5 you'll pick up sooner or later. Consider this but reform it into another power later on.
Physical Acceleration: Alright this one is kind of hard to rate. On it's own this power is amazing for you. Basically haste for Psywars. The thing is that at level 4 you get a better version namely Battle Transformation. If your DM is liberal with retraining get this power for 3 levels and then retrain it or alternatively have a friendly Psion do it.
Sharpened Edge: Don't spend a power known on something you can get via and enchant.
Ubiquitous Vision: Might have it's uses but non of those are worth spending a 3rd level power on.
Vampiric Blade: While the natural weapon version is nice this one isn't. Manifactured Weapons have very low base damage making the healing neglible.

Level 4

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Backlash: This power starts off very solid. It is a bit situational but it can be very nice especially during the last round(s) of combat when your enemy is almost finished and you want to stop them from retaliating. With the augmentation it becomes one of the best powers in game though effectively doubling your damage output when you stand next to an enemy (although you'll still miss the swift action). Get this power early if you can spare the power known but past level 14 it's a must have.
Battle Transformation, Galen’s: Now this is the power that makes Physical Acceleration redundant. It is one of the most important buffs of your whole career for any Psychic Warrior. Extra Attack and an augmentable luck bonus to attack and damage (and strength checks) is just that good. It stacks with everything you have.
Never pick Physical Acceleration over this.
Claw of Energy: This power has too short duration and takes too long to manifest to be worth the high cost. Skip.
Energy Adaptation: Nice if you want to have all bases covered. However in reality you can tank up most damage via Share Pain and Vigor so this Power, while nice, depends somewhat on the campaign you are in.
Flexible Trajectory: For Ranged Builds only. Ignoring cover can be crucial although it comes a bit late for my tasting. The augmentation options makes this power very powerful for late game ranged combat though.
Fold Space: Teleportation is nice and can give you that extra edge over other martials. Definitely a strong contestant for this level but not necessarily a must have. This power becomes more useful if your party doesn't have access to any other form of teleportation.
Immovability: Now this power is just plain cool. You'll be amost impossible to move (even by very strong enemies like dragons) and get a nice defensive bonus on top. Sadly the duration is concentration and therefor makes this power more of a utility thing than anything else ... you don't want to spend actions in combat on anything but killing. The immediate action augmentation makes it rather nice though and can bring up some interesting applications in fight.
Inertial Barrier: Decent power overall. DR 5 isn't all that much but if you are fighting a lot of small enemies who use mainly physical attacks this can be a true lifesaver and very pp efficient. Something to consider for the more tanky Psywars out there.
Psychic Drain: The action is not worth the result. Also it is way too situational and your save dcs won't be high enough so skip.
Shrapnel Burst:It is SR no and the burst is pretty big so that's something but Reflex is the overall highest save and it's too expensive to be worth the cost. It becomes better however for Martial Kineticist.
Slip the Bonds: Very good power for dex based Psywars who want to avoid being grappled and for those campaigns where you are under water or offen constricted. Something everybody should have later in the game.
Steadfast Perception: At this point you have to know what kind of enemies you are fighting. This power can be an absolute necessity in your games or nigh useless. Concealment and Invisibility hurt you a lot so you might want to consider it anyways.
Thundering Step: This strike is actually pretty good because there is no save against the initial daze effect (sr still applies though). The problem is however that at this point you have so many good powers to choose from and full attacks are a thing so you'll likely not take this. It is there however.
Truevenom: Can deal a lot of damage but likely won't since again your save dcs are not high enough. Martial Kineticist gets more out of this.
Truevenom Weapon: See above
Vanishing Strike: This attack does a lot of things at once and invisibility is nice. Again the problem is however that this level has better powers which have longer duration and are more flexible. It is still a viable choice though.
Weapon of Energy: See Claws of Energy.
Zealous Fury, Zelladariath’s: The effect is rather nice and can increase your damage output significantly. The problem with this power however is that it is very, very costly to use on a regular basis and that you could get just better overall results from using longer term buffs. It can be situationally useful however for when you really have to hit that full attack. Likely you won't have enough powers known to pick it though.

Level 5

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Adapt Body: This power is generally a good idea to have late in the game since it protects you from a whole lot of hazards. Especially if you are planehopping. It also has a nice duration so when you get it you can just extend it and have it active all day.
Barrage: This rating only applies to ranged weapon builds. Also quite a bit of personal preference and style points influence it so take it with a grain of salt. However there is no reason not to have it on any ranged Psywar at this point even if it is just situationally useful.
Biting Cold: One of the best strikes out there. Especially with the no save paralyze option ...spell resistance of course still applies but for everything without this power is as close to a no save just die you'll get. Very powerful indeed.
Bonding Strike: While this power is still very strong it is a bit situational. However if you come to the situation when you fight two enemies at once this is the strike you want to have. Combine this with Backlash and a halfway decent team and even the toughest enemy team will go down.
Catapsi: Just don't. Mind Affecting, allows save and allows sr are all horrible combined with your low saves. Even with a high wisdom score this option is very weak.
Metaconcert: Now don't get me wrong. Metaconcert is a truly strong power. One of the strongest in the book with tons of applications. It is however dependant on your group and especially something you should let your friendly Psion or Tactician pick up. If you have a strong psionics group and no other character is able to pick it up then this becomes a must have. However even then just convince the Psion to spend a feat on it.
Oak Body: Solid defensive power. Gives lots of very nice resistances and a bonus to natural armorclass (which stacks with your amulett of natural armor due to that one being an enhancement bonus). The penalties are neglible although the movement speed reduction can hurt. Overall still a good pick for a lot of builds.
Psychofeedback: Note that this power is mediocre in name only. In reality it can either be devastatingly good or devastatingly bad. Ability damage is pretty easy to heal (even for yourself) so that is a plus but the duration of the boni is really short so you have to make those worthwile. There are also some interesting roleplay implications for reducing intelligence to 2. And ability damage from enemies can hurt you really bad. To sum it up ... use on your own risk.
Summoning Strike: It allows a save and has short range so the things you can do with it are pretty limited compared to other powers you can pick at this level. It has the potential of course to be a game changer but those moments will be rare. Better pick Binding Cold.

Level 6

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Barred Mind, Personal: Good power. Makes you immune to a whole lot of stuff and if most enemies at your level already have immunity against that stuff you might as well have it.
Body of Iron: Nice immunities like Body of Wood. I personally think that for most Psywars Body of Wood is better though because the penalty to dexterity is lower and you'll likely already have a +6 enhancement bonus to strength anyways. Body of Wood has a natural armor bonus too.
Breath of the Black Dragon: Pretty bad blast by any standard. No idea who thought this would be a worthwile pick for anybody. It is your only way of dealing Acid Damage on AOE of course but that alone is no reason to get this over any other blast.
Brutalize Wounds: At this level I expect more. The damage bonus is neglible and the action needed and short duration are both really bad too. Skip this.
Defer Fatality: Can be an absolute necessity. However at this point in the game you'll maybe not really need it. In the situations where you do have it it's a great idea and a literal lifesaver.
Dispelling Buffer: It is ok if you expect dispels and especially late in the game you'll often have to. Solid pick since you are so buff dependant. It is however quite costly.
Form of Doom, Zikopathik’s: Holy Vigor ... this is a must have for every single melee Psywar. No questions asked. It is amazing for strength based Psywars and even dex based get enough out of it to make it worthwile. Natural armor, movement speed, unnamed bonus to strength, bonus natural attacks. What's not to love?
Suspend Life: I honestly don't know how to rate this. This is a story power in 9 out of 10 cases and is therefor entirely campaign dependant. It can sometimes be nice to be thought dead though so that's a plus for more casual use. Take the rating with a grain of salt.
Upheaval: This is a really cool power which adds some nice no save, no sr cc option + solid damage. I'd probably leave it to my Psion or Tactician though. If you fight in a lot of big battle on land (it's useless versus air enemies) then it is indeed one of the better 6th level powers.

Applicance of Expanded Knowledge

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-14, 11:45 AM (ISO 8601)

Archetypes

The thing to know about Psychic Warriors and Archetypes is that there is no Archetype which is a strict upgrade to the base class. Therefor all the ratings I provide below are mainly for specific builds and how well they manage to accomplish a certain flavour and/or concept.. Further the rating doesn't apply for every single variation of Psywars and if an Archetype is in fact a bad option for certain builds then I'll try to mention that in the description.

Martial Kineticist

Introduction: This is the Archetype if you want to combine Manifesting and Fighting. The most important thing to understand about this Archetype though is that you still won't be exclusively blasting. You should have a high wisdom modifier but even with the bonus pp you get you are still too low on overall powerpoints to just blast all day long. The better strategy is to pick a few good blast powers and combine those with the best buff at each level. This way you can melee very effectively when your energy starts to run low.

Changed Stat Priority: Wis > Dex > Con > Str = Int > Cha
The important thing is that you don't have proficiency with medium and heavy armor so a dex based build helps more. This way you can also hit your rays more reliable. Your first and third level feat (not the bonus feats) should be Weaponfinesse and Deadly Agility (from Path of War) so you can melee effectively. Don't pick this Archetype if you want to focus on melee and just blast occasionally. If you want to do that then just play a regular Psywar and get some blastpower through EK.

Features:
Class-Skills: It is a charisma based skill but it is also the best charisma based skill there is. Additionally you don't really lose anything in return and it can help you to preserve pp. It replaces the bonusskill from your Path but since it is a very good skill I'll say it's a nice little buff.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: This is what hurts most. The armor proficiency can be worked around because you want to be secondary dex based anyways but the martial weapon proficiencies will be missed.
Powers Known: Now this is the reason you picked this Archetype. Kineticists have some really nice blasting powers on their list. I'll give a rating of those powers below.
Bonus Feats: It is a loss of flexibility but since you won't need that many combat feats it isn't really a nerf.
Martial Psionics: Well this is a nice little bonus. You get a deflection bonus (which means you can save money from buying a ring of protection) and the bonus power is one you'd likely use anyways. You lose the Warrior's Path and that hurts of course but since you are only half fighter you can handle the loss.
Psionics Prowess: You lose basically nothing and get bonus pp. Very solid little buff.
Expanded Martial Psionics: Now this is hard to rate because I don't yet understand how it works. It is either very mediocre or really, really strong. If your DM rules the improved options only work for powers which explicitely allow multiple touch attacks then the improved version does nothing for you because there are no powers like that on your list. If it works on powers like energy ray then it is very powerful allowing you to deliver energy ray damage 4 times a round. Until I find out how exactly it was intended I'll not rate it.
Psionic Training: Replaces Pathskills so not really a buff but the reason I rate it this way is that the skills are rather nice. Nicer in fact than most paths.
Warrior's Path: Yes. Now you start to be almost equally good in fighting as regular Psywars. You can't use Expanded Martial Psionics and your Maneuver and Trance at the same time but this means you can basically swap between Blasting and Fighting Mode.
Martial Focus: Potentially be very useful for effects which require to maintain focus. At this level you are likely looking at a bonus of +5 or higher so having 5 rounds of extra focus can be very good. You lose Twisting Paths but since you are just half melee anyways this won't hurt you all that much.
Psionic Redopsi: This power depends on your enemies. If you fight a lot of Psionic enemies this is a very, very strong feature but if you are playing in a low psionics game then it is nigh useless. You don't lose all that much though so even though it's situational it is still ok.

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-14, 11:47 AM (ISO 8601)

Multiclassing and Prestige Classes

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-14, 11:48 AM (ISO 8601)

Items and Equipment

you may post now

**rollforeigninit** · 2014-07-16, 05:52 PM (ISO 8601)

Really looking forward to seeing this as progress is made in it. PW is by far my favorite class and DSP did a great job giving it what it lacked in 3.5.

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-16, 06:28 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by rollforeigninit

Really looking forward to seeing this as progress is made in it. PW is by far my favorite class and DSP did a great job giving it what it lacked in 3.5.

Feel free to share your favourite build if you have one. As I'm currently planning the last page will be there for sample builds and interesting concepts.

In general I'm not sure yet how long it will take to complete though. I should be done with the skin by the end of the week (read classfeatures) but the big part is gonna be feats. I'll definitely gonna need some help on those.

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-23, 08:53 AM (ISO 8601)

Could use some feedback on current structure of the guide (I oriented myself a little on Saph's wonderful summoner's guide).

Also I'm not sure if I should call the Path section Warrior's Paths or Paths of the Warrior.

Opinions?

**AMFV** · 2014-07-23, 10:03 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Feint's End

Could use some feedback on current structure of the guide (I oriented myself a little on Saph's wonderful summoner's guide).

Also I'm not sure if I should call the Path section Warrior's Paths or Paths of the Warrior.

Opinions?

Paths of the Warrior sounds better to me. As far as structure goes it looks fine. I can't really elaborate more because there's not so much there but the skeleton looks fine to me.

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-23, 10:17 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by AMFV

Paths of the Warrior sounds better to me. As far as structure goes it looks fine. I can't really elaborate more because there's not so much there but the skeleton looks fine to me.

Thank you ... will change it right away.

Yeah it's gonna take presumably 1-2 weeks to finish everything.

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-23, 10:39 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Andreaz

Thread favorited. I was one of the small mass of playtesters for that one, and is probably my favorite class ever <3

It is a wonderful class indeed. Feel free to leave your opinion on ratings if you don't think they are appropriate.

**rollforeigninit** · 2014-07-23, 01:58 PM (ISO 8601)

I didn't see you mention the skill points/level or class skills or good/bad saves. I know its kind of a given but you might want to include them for completeness sake. I have yet to get to play the new and improved version of my favorite class due to RL interference but hope to remedy that sometime. Path of the Warrior all the way, btw.

**JusticeZero** · 2014-07-23, 02:03 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Feint's End

It is a wonderful class indeed. Feel free to leave your opinion on ratings if you don't think they are appropriate.

The rating colors are a bit of confusing. They don't match with anything my brain considers to be linear in arrangement, and they are defined upside down.
I could see red purple blue green gold, or a spectrum, but I get thrown by the interruption with black, expect blue and purple to be adjacent, and never see blue and yellow adjacent.

**Muggins** · 2014-07-23, 03:37 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by JusticeZero

The rating colors are a bit of confusing. They don't match with anything my brain considers to be linear in arrangement, and they are defined upside down.
I could see red purple blue green gold, or a spectrum, but I get thrown by the interruption with black, expect blue and purple to be adjacent, and never see blue and yellow adjacent.

I actually don't mind it, so take that with a grain of salt.

**Beowulf DW** · 2014-07-24, 12:36 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Feint's End

Feel free to share your favourite build if you have one. As I'm currently planning the last page will be there for sample builds and interesting concepts.

Not sure if this is obvious or not, but the PsyWar is one of the few classes I know of that can make two-weapon fighting not only workable but optimal. With the bonus and regular feats going towards Two-Weapon Fighting and it's relations, and Psionic Lion's Pounce, the PsyWar can leap around the battlefield shredding enemies.

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-24, 12:45 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Beowulf DW

Not sure if this is obvious or not, but the PsyWar is one of the few classes I know of that can make two-weapon fighting not only workable but optimal. With the bonus and regular feats going towards Two-Weapon Fighting and it's relations, and Psionic Lion's Pounce, the PsyWar can leap around the battlefield shredding enemies.

Oh I am aware of this. I wouldn't call I optimal probably but they definitely can be very good at it.
Personally I'm not a big fan of charging since I feel it is a limited way of fighting in melee but I will include it anyways.

Luckily pf made TWF in general somewhat better by adding the agile enchantment and i might even make a small section in this guide dedicated to path of war. With the deadly agility feat TWF becomes even better (add that on top of buffs like battle transformation and you can truly cut through your enemies).

Edit: also i wanted to note that currently the grammar is partially pretty horrible ... forgive me on that. I focua on finishing the guide now. Structure afterwards. And then in the end I will correct the whole thing.

**Drelua** · 2014-07-24, 09:06 AM (ISO 8601)

I'm really glad to see this guide being made, I don't know how many times I've looked at Psyren's Soulknife handbook, and now I'm been thinking of playing a Natural Weapon Psywar, but I have almost no experience with any psionic class other than Soulknife.

I really like the Elocater, so I'm thinking my build at level 20 would end up being something like Psywar 6/War Mind 6/Elocater 8. It was kind of hard to figure out the cut off points for each class, but I really want Martial Power and Capricious Step, and thought Spatial Awareness +6 was better than Personal Superiority +4. I'll be taking Psionic Knack so as to keep my ML equal to my HD, and getting 16 BAB. I'm still not sure if I'd be Strength or Dexterity based.

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-24, 12:25 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Andreaz

If you need any help do not hesitate to ask. I can always dedicate an hour or two per day to this stuff.
Also you need to empty your inbox.
And I should probably delete this post once you reply(keeps the front page of the guide clean, you know?), so do it via pm :p

Well I will need some help on non-psionic combat feats since I'm not all that familiar with them. My plan was to just read through some of the fighter / barbarian guides and then look up the relevant feats but I'm equally happy about people submitting thoughts on featpaths (non psionic that is) here.

So that was why I didn't get pms anymore :D ... should have space again now.

Originally Posted by Drelua

I'm really glad to see this guide being made, I don't know how many times I've looked at Psyren's Soulknife handbook, and now I'm been thinking of playing a Natural Weapon Psywar, but I have almost no experience with any psionic class other than Soulknife.

I really like the Elocater, so I'm thinking my build at level 20 would end up being something like Psywar 6/War Mind 6/Elocater 8. It was kind of hard to figure out the cut off points for each class, but I really want Martial Power and Capricious Step, and thought Spatial Awareness +6 was better than Personal Superiority +4. I'll be taking Psionic Knack so as to keep my ML equal to my HD, and getting 16 BAB. I'm still not sure if I'd be Strength or Dexterity based.

Psychic Warriors are probably the best Natural Weapons Fighters in PF (as I've mentioned they can beat Eidolons damagewise) so you don't have to think all too much about optimization. Just go with Bite of the Wolf and Claws of the Beast for now.

The combination with Elocater is a bit odd but definitely workable. Spatial Awareness is pretty good since if you play your positions right (which you should) you will always be on higher position (or at least most of the time). Personal Superiority is somewhat more reliable so it comes down to preference but since you are already trying to get into position the Elocator level is probably better.
There is another thing you should think about though ... as a Natural Weapon Psywar you don't get so much from having higher bab so a straight Psywar for 20 levels is probably better from a strict power point of view.

Last as for the question to be Strength or Dexterity based. Be Strength based. Why? You want to have big damage die as a Natural Weapon Psywar so you want to have Expansion active. While it doesn't change your to hit with strength (+1 hit through higher strength -1 from size) and is a straight boon (more damage with die and more strength), it is extremely bad as a dexterity based fighter with -2 to hit (1 through lower dex, 1 through size) and a lower damage return (you get the higher dice but -1 from lower dex). This is just for large though ... you eventually want to be huge so that doubles.
Don't be dex based as a natural weapon fighter.

**Drelua** · 2014-07-24, 01:36 PM (ISO 8601)

That is a good point about expansion, I had forgotten about that power. I was thinking either half-giant for a strength based character or ophiduan for dex based, and was wondering if a half-giant's Powerful Build would effect my CotB and BotW damage? One thing I liked about ophiduan was the alternate racial trait that gives +1 ML to psychometabolism powers, which would include my claw and bite powers, stacking with them being path powers to let me manifest them at ML+2. That's not nearly as good as the size boost would be, though.

As for the War Mind levels, the main draw for me is Sweeping Strike. The image of clawing two adjacent enemies at once is really cool, although it gets a bit harder to picture with a bite attack. Not too reliable, but great when I can pull it off. I had forgotten about the trance and maneuver boosts at Psywar 7 though, so now I'm thinking Psywar 7/War Mind 5/Elocater 8. Elocater's mostly for the coolness, although it does get some pretty powerful abilities, mainly Spatial Awareness.

About not having to think about optimization, this is for a very high-op group that currently includes a cleric, sorcerer, and an alchemist, not to mention that some of them have been playing D&D in it's various incarnations for upwards of 30 years, so I've got some keeping up to do. I've already got a strength based ranger in the group, and he tends to do a bunch of damage, get killed, get a breath of life, and then do more damage, repeating until the fight is over, so I'm a bit hesitant to make another strength based character, but it is probably the smarter route. I'll probably make this character is a back up for when he inevitably gets too dead for a breath of life and decides he'd rather stay dead than come back for more.

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-24, 01:50 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Drelua

-Questions-

Yes to the Half Giant ... add Expansion to huge, Improved Natural Attack and you look at 4 size increases. Now add 4 size increases on top of 5d6 (CotB) at level 20 and you have 5d6>6d6>8d6>12d6>16d6 damage on each attack.

I understand why you want Warmind and Elocater (love the PRC myself) however straight Psywar is probably still more powerful for this certain build ... you have to be aware of this.

May I ask which level you are planning to start?

On another note: added BAB / Saves and HD to classfeatures (thanks for reminding me rollforeigninit)

**Drelua** · 2014-07-24, 02:20 PM (ISO 8601)

I'm not sure when exactly I'll need my backup character, something it was recommended I bring when I joined the group last year, but it probably won't be any earlier than level 12. I was thinking I'd start with something like Psywar6/War Mind 1/Elocater 5, then go up to 8 in Elocater and take it from there. I guess I can see how Psywar 20 would be more powerful, especially with the 2 lost levels from Elocater, but there's no reason I shouldn't temper optimization with coolness. I'll probably start with as much Elocater as I can fit in, but I can't see a way to waste a feat on Spring Attack any earlier than level 7 without weakening myself in the long run, not that's there's any good reason to rush. A lot of the really cool stuff comes at level 1, anyway.

**StreamOfTheSky** · 2014-07-24, 04:06 PM (ISO 8601)

Glad this guide is being made. I'd love to try a Half-Giant PsyWar with Interceptor path sometime, using either tripping or bull rushing w/ the psionic trip/BR feat. Seems like a solid build, it's my backup plan if my current PF character dies. Interceptor path is just...really good. As long as there's another melee PC in the party, the (more plentiful than usual for other paths) benefits are basically just constant (and work just as easily for ranged as they do melee!) and Expansion as a path power means infinite use and quicker use w/ Martial Power. Nice skills, too.

**Drelua** · 2014-07-26, 09:25 AM (ISO 8601)

I'm not sure if you know about this already, but I just found a pretty good weapon enchantment for natural weapon Psywars; Impact. It increases your damage die by one step. Oh, and it adds your enhancement bonus to bull rush checks, but that's not the important bit. The important bit is that my character can already get to 16d6 claw damage at level 12 with an augmented expansion.

**Feint's End** · 2014-07-26, 10:12 AM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Drelua

I'm not sure if you know about this already, but I just found a pretty good weapon enchantment for natural weapon Psywars; Impact. It increases your damage die by one step. Oh, and it adds your enhancement bonus to bull rush checks, but that's not the important bit. The important bit is that my character can already get to 16d6 claw damage at level 12 with an augmented expansion.

Good find! I'll include that in the item section.

On another note. Finished rating Psionic Races. Should be done with the 1. -4. post till end of the weekend.

**Beowulf DW** · 2014-07-26, 12:10 PM (ISO 8601)

Originally Posted by Drelua

I'm not sure if you know about this already, but I just found a pretty good weapon enchantment for natural weapon Psywars; Impact. It increases your damage die by one step. Oh, and it adds your enhancement bonus to bull rush checks, but that's not the important bit. The important bit is that my character can already get to 16d6 claw damage at level 12 with an augmented expansion.

Whether or not that applies depends on if your GM does not consider natural weapons light weapons. Unarmed attacks are considered light weapons, so it's a little iffy.

Thread: [PF] Slicing, Clawing and Smashing: a Guide to the Pathfinder Psychic Warrior {WIP}