Hit your enemy 95% of the time, every time.

[Person_Man]

The Combo:

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Pyrokinesticist: One level gives you the Fire Lash, a whip which allows you to hit with touch attacks.

Ring of Blinking: On command (standard action) activates the Blink spell for 5 rounds. Physical attacks against you have a 50% miss chance, and the Blind-Fight feat doesn’t help opponents, since you’re ethereal and not merely invisible. If the attack is capable of striking ethereal creatures, the miss chance is only 20% (for concealment). You strike as an invisible creature (with a +2 bonus on attack rolls), denying your target any Dexterity bonus to AC.

Mage Slayer feat: From Complete Arcane. Spellcasters you threaten may not cast defensively. Taking this feat reduces your caster level for all your spells and spell-like abilities by 4. Required for...

Pierce Magical Concealment feat: Also Comp Arcane. You disregard the miss chance granted by spells or spell-like abilities such as darkness, blur, invisibility, obscuring mist, ghostform, and spells when used to create concealment effects. Taking this feat reduces your caster level for all your spells and spell-like abilities by 4. Finally, you take...

Pierce Magical Protection feat: Also Comp Arcane. As a standard action you can make a melee attack that ignores any bonuses to Armor Class granted by spells (including potions and wands). If you deal damage to your opponent, you also instantly and automatically dispel all that opponent's spells and spell effects that grant a bonus to Armor Class. Taking this feat reduces your caster level for all your spells and spell-like abilities by 4.

Put it all together, and when you attack you ignore Armor, Shields, Natural Armor, Dex bonus, Dodge bonus, and magical concealment, including the 20% miss chance you have due to your own Ring of Blinking. If your enemy happens to have a spell effect that you don't normally bypass, you can take a standard action to ignore it and automatically dispel all that opponent's spells and spell effects that grant a bonus to Armor Class.

How to milk it for all its worth:

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In most cases, you will now hit every time you roll to attack, unless you roll a natural 1. There are a few defenses you can't bypass, like a Monk's bonus to AC, but they're pretty minimal and should be well below your normal To-Hit bonus in most cases.

Your enemy is quite easy to hit, so you can max out Power Attack and Leap Attack without having to worry about taking Improved Bull Rush->Shock Trooper, and the low AC it entails.

Your enemy is denied their Dex bonus, so you can max out Sneak Attack, though this doesn't scale as well as Power Attack.

And there are any number of feats that will further add to your fun: Headlong Rush, Spirited Charge, Combat Reflexes, Karmic Strike, Hold the Line, Knock-Down, Knockback, Robilar's Gambit, etc.

The reduced caster level from the Mage Slayer feats don't effect manifester level. That means you can go Psychic Warrior or Psion 5/Pyro 1/PrC X or Psychic and get 19/20 manifester levels. This allows you to add all sorts of interesting powers to your attacks, and/or to diversify and add alternative attacks and defenses.

Or you're willing to spend a feat on Wild Talent to qualify for Pyrokinesticist, you can enter as a Paladin of Freedom, to boost your Saves, gain access to all those tasty Divine and Domain feats, and maybe pick up a special mount. After that, you can head into a good PrC like Cavalier.

Or you can pick up the Tome of Battle and head use maneuvers to boost your combat ability.

If you're afraid of Fire Immune enemies, you can be a variant Pyrokineticist, and use Acid or Sonic damage.

Why it's balanced:

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OK, compared to most builds, it ain't. I won't argue with that. But if your party is playing all full casters and ToB classes, it is.

First, you need to spend a standard action to use your Ring of Blinking, or have a party member cast Greater Invisibility, or you can use Mass Cloud Mind. But one way or another, you're not necessarily going to go first in the round, and even if you do you have to spend time to prepare your combo or risk missing enemies and leaving yourself vulnerable to attack.

Plus, just like everyone else, you're vulnerable to Dispel Magic and anti-magic areas. Though luckily, you'll have your psionics to fall back on if something like that happens.

Furthermore, just like when you play a high powered PC in a gestalt game, you're still limited by Initiative and the number of actions you can take per round. Hustle will help, but for the most part, you this build can't or won't utilize Celerity, White Raven Tactics, Cunning Surge, Perpetual Options, or Time Stop. So even though you can pretty much hit and probably kill anything in 1 round, you can only do so much in that one round, while your DM is free to always add more enemies.

Thoughts? Suggested builds? Suggested feats? Best psionic powers to use with it? Does anyone play in a high powered campaign where they might actually use this?

[Jerthanis]

Thoughts? Suggested builds? Suggested feats? Best psionic powers to use with it? Does anyone play in a high powered campaign where they might actually use this?

A good combo, and the core of it I don't really see a problem with, but as long as your DM is using the Magic-Psionics transparency rule, the penalty to Caster Level applies to your Manifester Level as well. I don't see why that stops you from doing this idea with naturally psionic races and ToB classes though.

It seems like this is balanced in terms of excessively high-powered teams, but if this were run in an average powered game, it'd be kind of overly strong I think.

Also, if your opponent had uncanny dodge, they'd probably keep their dex bonus to AC, for what that's worth.

[Anxe]

That's evil. You are an evil man. You are like your signature, amazingly evil. The next time I make a Pyrokinetcist he is doing that stuff. For sure. I'm gonna be evil like you.

[The Glyphstone]

Yeah - the only flaw I can see is Psi/Magic Transparency, but if that's not in effect, it's very effective indeed. The other basic problem is that Fire Lash does a ridiculously low 1d8 damage, but as you mentioned, Power/Sneak Attack helps, as would powers and other things to boost it.

[Mr Pants]

The pyrokineticist ability you're speaking of, fire lash, uses a ranged touch attack and deals a measly 1d8 damage in each attack. You also couldn't power attack with it because its a ranged attack and theres no way to improve the damage of it. Personally I'd rather have an attack that hit less often but I could power attack with and actually did some damage worth-while.

Aside from that the build is fantastic. I love it, mostly because it kicks casters in the teeth.

[Jack Mann]

A whip is still a melee weapon, though it acts in many ways like a ranged weapon.

Psi-magic transparency does not affect feats. Otherwise, practiced spellcaster would work on psionics, and there would be no need for practiced manifester. The psi-magic transparency section of the SRD is quite specific on what is and isn't affected.

[deadseashoals]

Are you not playing with psionics-magic transparency? The Mage Slayer feat chain reduces both caster and manifester level in the default rules (with transparency). Which would also affect your manifester level for Fire Lash, since it's a psi-like ability.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

There's a slight problem with it...

Fire Lash (Ps)
A pyrokineticist gains the ability to fashion a 15-foot-long whip of fire from unstable ectoplasm as a move-equivalent action. She takes no damage from a fire lash she creates, and if she releases her hold, it immediately dissipates. The lash deals 1d8 points of fire damage to a target within 15 feet on a successful ranged touch attack. A pyro can take Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization (if she otherwise meets the prerequisites) in conjunction with the fire lash, as well as any feats that apply to the use of a standard whip. The whip remains in existence as long as the pyrokineticist holds it.

It isn't a real weapon, it is a fire lash. It is not a physical weapon. This means you can do touch attacks instead of regular attacks. This means you don't add Str damage, nor will Power Attack have any effect on it. So you're doing a flat 1d8 fire damage. If you run across anything immune to fire... tough luck.
Also, it's a psi-like ability... that means catapsi or other things which inhibit manifestation screws you over.

Find another way to continuously do touch attacks consistantly and it'll be a lot better.

Cute trick, though...

[Thinker]

Aside from that the build is fantastic. I love it, mostly because it kicks casters in the teeth.

How does it kick casters in the teeth? Its a good build, but its not a good build that negates other builds.

[Jack Mann]

Again, this is not true. Read the description of psionics-magic transparency. Feats that affect spells do not affect psionics.

EDIT:

There's a slight problem with it...



It isn't a real weapon, it is a fire lash. It is not a physical weapon. This means you can do touch attacks instead of regular attacks. This means you don't add Str damage, nor will Power Attack have any effect on it. So you're doing a flat 1d8 fire damage. If you run across anything immune to fire... tough luck.
Also, it's a psi-like ability... that means catapsi or other things which inhibit manifestation screws you over.

Find another way to continuously do touch attacks consistantly and it'll be a lot better.

Cute trick, though...

It says that all feats that can be used in conjunction with a whip can be used with the fire lash. This includes power attack.

[Fax Celestis]

It isn't a real weapon, it is a fire lash. It is not a physical weapon. This means you can do touch attacks instead of regular attacks. This means you don't add Str damage, nor will Power Attack have any effect on it. So you're doing a flat 1d8 fire damage. If you run across anything immune to fire... tough luck.

Incorrect. According to what you yourself quoted:

Fire Lash (Ps)
A pyrokineticist gains the ability to fashion a 15-foot-long whip of fire from unstable ectoplasm as a move-equivalent action. She takes no damage from a fire lash she creates, and if she releases her hold, it immediately dissipates. The lash deals 1d8 points of fire damage to a target within 15 feet on a successful ranged touch attack. A pyro can take Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization (if she otherwise meets the prerequisites) in conjunction with the fire lash, as well as any feats that apply to the use of a standard whip. The whip remains in existence as long as the pyrokineticist holds it.

Power attack applies to standard whip use.

[Mr Pants]

How does it kick casters in the teeth? Its a good build, but its not a good build that negates other builds.

It negates all magical buffs and armor enhancements with a hit. Seems like that would affect a caster a lot.

[lord_khaine]

nahh, usualy if you get close enough to actualy hit a caster you will hit anyway.
and this build doesnt at the basic lv help in any way against things like mirrior image, fly, the targeting part of invisibility (the annoying part) or protection from fire.

and as for the mage slayer chain, yes it says only caster lv, though im pretty sure RAI would be manifester lv as well.
then again, you doesnt really need those feats anyway, the situations where they would be usefull are so few, and with even a halfway decent bab you would hit most of the time anyway.

to take this a step further, though the rink of blinking is pretty decent, i would proberly spend the gold on something like wings of flying instead, or boots of speed.

[Jack Mann]

The mage slayer line doesn't affect manifester level for much the same reason you can't overchannel spells.

[Zherog]

nahh, usualy if you get close enough to actualy hit a caster you will hit anyway.
and this build doesnt at the basic lv help in any way against things like mirrior image, fly, the targeting part of invisibility (the annoying part) or protection from fire.

It certainly helps with mirror image as one of the Complete Arcane feats (I'm too lazy to go look it up) makes it so you automatically know which is the real target and which are the images.

[Behold_the_Void]

Would power attack do the same energy damage as the lash? As I recall, sneak attack would.

[lord_khaine]

yes as i understand it would be fire damage.

and Jack, i know the feat doesnt say manifester lv, what im saying is i belive it was the intension, since the hit to caster lv is the balancing factor of a very powerfull feat, and the wizard writers usualy dont think about psionic when the write new books ect.

[Thinker]

yes as i understand it would be fire damage.

and Jack, i know the feat doesnt say manifester lv, what im saying is i belive it was the intension, since the hit to caster lv is the balancing factor of a very powerfull feat, and the wizard writers usualy dont think about psionic when the write new books ect.

We have a separate feat to increase ML and one for CL. Manifesters can overchannel, casters cannot. ML is not the same as CL. It is not the only balancing factor of the feat that is only powerful under certain circumstances. They are different. Transparency does not make both systems entirely equal in every way.

[Wolfbite]

That's...cute.
Whoever said about that build being a nice trick was dead on.
A lot of those custom, "I'm Joe the Master Tripper, It's all I do!" builds don't interest me...They are so specific and can end up pigeon holeing a player. There is a chance you may just want to reach outside your "awesome" flamewhip attacks...even if psionics aren't casters for the sake of caster level reduction feats, doesn't help you that much.
A ring of blink does run out, the anti-psionic anti-magic stuff was mentioned, immunities...The success on these builds depends so much on your GM it's ridiculous. I can see the Flame Lasher being useful for his flame lash in the easiest to low end moderate encounters, if it's just generic rolled material.

Unless of course these brainchilds are for the vidoegames? I can see how that would be the most boring endeavor ever.

I got a build to contribute, it's called, Master Dice Roller It relies solely on your GM's ability to let you roll dice. A tough set of circumstances to meet I know, but it is worth it!
The next step is to roll a 20 on every skill check, attack roll, saving throw...pretty much any roll involving the d20 You'll find that provided you have the hit points, the AC, and the save bonuses, you'll be able to do anything within your EL range! Massive damage crits, overcome spells, dodge that Tiamat's multi-breath attacks! Find the hidden doors, convince the king to let you marry his 5 daughters, make any skill check untrained (not including skills that are barred from your class though, I know it's ok...) You also should not die (that is what your other party members are for). You will be the star of the game. It's fool proof you can not go wrong!

[Zherog]

A ring of blink does run out...

Elaborate, please? Are you talking about the duration ending? If so, you just re-activate it... So you have to spend a standard action every 7 rounds.

[SadisticFishing]

Blinking isn't "concealment" at all. That last bit doesn't work.

[Stephen_E]

Blinking isn't "concealment" at all. That last bit doesn't work.

Reread the spell Blink. It specifically makes clear that Blink is in part concealment. From the SRD -
--------
Physical attacks against you have a 50% miss chance, and the Blind-Fight feat doesn’t help opponents, since you’re ethereal and not merely invisible. If the attack is capable of striking ethereal creatures, the miss chance is only 20% (for concealment).
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Stephen

[SadisticFishing]

That sentence is self-contradictory.

[Dhavaer]

That sentence is self-contradictory.

Then where is the contradiction?

[SadisticFishing]

Physical attacks against you have a 50% miss chance, and the Blind-Fight feat doesn’t help opponents, since you’re ethereal and not merely invisible. If the attack is capable of striking ethereal creatures, the miss chance is only 20% (for concealment).

^ Here :P

Blind-fighting doesn't work, as you don't have concealment, you're ethereal.

[Tor the Fallen]

Very nice Mann, I like it.

That's...cute.
Whoever said about that build being a nice trick was dead on.
A lot of those custom, "I'm Joe the Master Tripper, It's all I do!" builds don't interest me...They are so specific and can end up pigeon holeing a player. There is a chance you may just want to reach outside your "awesome" flamewhip attacks...even if psionics aren't casters for the sake of caster level reduction feats, doesn't help you that much.
A ring of blink does run out, the anti-psionic anti-magic stuff was mentioned, immunities...The success on these builds depends so much on your GM it's ridiculous. I can see the Flame Lasher being useful for his flame lash in the easiest to low end moderate encounters, if it's just generic rolled material.

You couldn't be more wrong. The weakness of melee classes is the fact that their only defense against enemies is a high fortitude save and a lot of HP. In many cases, they MUST dish out a lot of damage in order to break through the ranks of enemy fighters to put the hurt on the sorceror who is spamming dominate person on him. Unfortunately, all the HP in the world won't help a fighter against an airborne, invisible caster spamming save-or-die spells.

Because of this, melee classes must focus on doing one specific thing, and doing it well. Why? Because melee classes can only hit stuff, and if they can't hit stuff, they're going to die.

Ergo, if you want a successful melee character, you better be able to lay the hurt on thick and fast.

Mann's lasher, on the other hand, avoids many of the weaknesses of core melee because it's psionic. A psychic warrior/pyro/illithid slayer would be very, very powerful. At level 20, it's BAB would be near that of a fighter, and still have 18 manifester levels. Those manifester levels means all sorts of stuff- dimension door, healing, buffing, flying.

The lasher would serve as a phenomenal melee character, as he could be controlling the battle field with trip, as well as dealing huge amounts of damage. Additionally, he has versatility the fighter could only dream of, thanks to the manifester levels.

The only thing that would really put pause to this character would be fire resistant/immune creatures. That's when you whip out your alternate weapon; a greatsword, a ranseur, whatever. You still have a bunch of fighter feats, you can still be stabbing the holy hell out of everything. Except now you'll be doing it about as well as the party fighter.

[Jack Mann]

Person_Man's lasher. I was just showing that it actually worked.

[Tor the Fallen]

Person_Man's lasher. I was just showing that it actually worked.

Oops. Sorry Person_Man. All these men with their underscores confused me.

[Person_Man]

Re: Damage Dealing

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A Fire Lash specifically acts like a whip for feats. Thus it can be used with Power Attack, and all other melee combat feats. According to the FAQ, you can use a whip two handed with Power Attack (and thus Leap Attack as well).

And that's before you consider any class abilities you might have that add damage. So clearly, hitting and killing isn't going to be a problem for this build.

Re: Transparency

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Here are the transparency rules:

Combining Psionic And Magical Effects

The default rule for the interaction of psionics and magic is simple: Powers interact with spells and spells interact with powers in the same way a spell or normal spell-like ability interacts with another spell or spell-like ability. This is known as psionics-magic transparency.

Psionics-Magic Transparency

Though not explicitly called out in the spell descriptions or magic item descriptions, spells, spell-like abilities, and magic items that could potentially affect psionics do affect psionics.

When the rule about psionics-magic transparency is in effect, it has the following ramifications.

Spell resistance is effective against powers, using the same mechanics. Likewise, power resistance is effective against spells, using the same mechanics as spell resistance. If a creature has one kind of resistance, it is assumed to have the other. (The effects have similar ends despite having been brought about by different means.)

All spells that dispel magic have equal effect against powers of the same level using the same mechanics, and vice versa.

The spell detect magic detects powers, their number, and their strength and location within 3 rounds (though a Psicraft check is necessary to identify the discipline of the psionic aura).

Dead magic areas are also dead psionics areas.

Notice how there is nothing there that says psionic feats count as magical feats, or that caster levels count as manifest levels. This is very important, because it means I can't apply metamagic feats to my psionics, and vice verses. Nor can I take Radiant Servant of Pelor to progress my Psion manifester levels. Transparency is about how spells interact with psionic powers, not about feats or caster levels. And thus, the caster level penalties from the Mage Slayer feats don't apply to psionic manifester levels.

If for some reason you think it should be and want to make a house rule, this build can still be used quite effectively by any number of non-manifester class combos, with or without the Tome of Battle.

Re: Whether or not Blinking is Concealment

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It doesn't matter. Pierce Magical Concealment clearly says that "You disregard the miss chance granted by spells or spell-like abilities such as darkness, blur, invisibility, obscuring mist, ghostform, and spells when used to create concealment effects." Clearly, it is meant to disregard the miss chance granted by spells or spell like effects, and then they just list off some of the things that do that, including things that don't count as concealment. Invisibility isn't concealment, its invisibility. Ghostform isn't concealment, it makes you incorporeal. And according to the Blink spell, "An ethereal creature is invisible, incorporeal, and capable of moving in any direction, even up or down." So Pierce Magical Concealment clearly disregards it.

And again, if for some reason you want to house rule otherwise, the build will just have to ask the arcane caster in the party to use Greater Invisibility, or you'll have to use the psionic power, Mass Cloud Mind.

Also, I think Tor perfectly describes why I like this build. It's been my personal experience that melee builds get really boring, really quickly. In order to survive any high-powered campaign, you insanely high hit points and a powerful damage combo. If you don't have both of those things, you will quickly be dead the first time your DM throws any full caster above CR 9ish at you. This build allows you to have the fun of hitting stuff, you can still play the meatshield role thanks to your huge reach and ability to prevent casters from casting defensively, and you can be as versatile as you want to be with your manifester or Tome of Battle abilities. It's can fill any role (except maybe party healer, unless you want to invest in Able Learner and UMD so you can use Wands), and it can do it well.

[SadisticFishing]

Oh I'm sorry, I'm actually wrong -_-

But it wasn't from misunderstanding Blink, it was from not reading Pierce Magical Concealment better :P

I'm not sure it was meant to let you pierce your own magical concealment though -_- haha. Well played