A Question of Psionics

[AmberVael]

Title probably gives the completely wrong impression, but meh, whatever.

Essentially, I'm going to be joining a group which currently possesses a Druid, a Rogue, a Paladin, and a Dragonfire Adept who is essentially a fireball on a stick.
So I was like "oh, they need an arcanist type person."
However, as they're low level (2), and I have an aversion to characters in any way normal, I immediately opted not to go for Wizard or Sorcerer.
As such, I considered more unique options like Duskblade, Beguiler, Warmage, Wu Jen, etc. Something a bit different, you know? As I was doing this, it occurred to me that a psionic character could easily fill the same role... and as such, I came up with a class which I had often deliberated about playing, but had never actually gotten around to...

The Erudite. Yes, the poor class which is not only in what many psionic fans label as 'the book which definitely doesn't exist' (AKA complete psionic), but also doesn't even get to be in the front of the book, but is put in the back as if it were some kind of afterthought, or a poor, unloved peer of all the other cool classes which hang out in the front of the book where its at.

So. The Erudite. Has anyone ever actually played it? Theoretically, what's the opinion on it? If allowed to take the Extra Unique Power feat, would it become much more worth it? How about the Convert spell to Power variant found here?
Other thoughts?
Should I be something completely different?

[Sinfire Titan]

If retraining is allowed, play that version up until you can manifest 4th level Discipline powers. At that point, retrain out the Extra Discipline ability for Spell-to-Power, then rape reality itself.

It's a Tier 1 class for a reason. It's the 6th member of the Big 5.

[Fax Celestis]

Convert Spell to Power is one of the most broken abilities in the game, if abused, and is balanced, if not.

I don't personally like the Erudite--I think it's kind of a cheap knock-off of the Psion, without the definition of a Discipline that Psions carry. Yes, yes, "generalist wizards" yadda yadda. Psionics are different, dammit.

[Starsinger]

I forget, what does the Erudite do again?

[AmberVael]

An Erudite is essentially a psion that can learn as many powers as they want. However, every day they select which powers they can use for that day (the number of powers is determined by their 'Unique Powers Per Day' number).

[mangosta71]

It sounds interesting. I've never played an Erudite, but I vastly prefer psionic to arcane casters. Wizards lack the spontaneity, and sorcerers are too limited in their known spells. And bards are completely useless except as a springboard to a few prestige classes that generally suck anyway. So I'd say go for it.

[Sinfire Titan]

An Erudite is essentially a psion that can learn as many powers as they want. However, every day they select which powers they can use for that day (the number of powers is determined by their 'Unique Powers Per Day' number).

Which is why Spell to Power is so broken. For those wondering, read the text of the spell "Arcane Fusion" from Complete Mage. Now combine it with the limitations on an Erudite's Unique Powers.

Result: Arcane Fusion allows the Erudite to completely bypass his normal restrictions for manifesting powers (up to a certain level).

At 20th level, they are capabel of manifesting any 9th level power on the Psion/Wilder list, any 8th level Discipline power, and any 7th level or lower spell at their leisure. One of their unique powers/day must be Greater Arcane Fusion for this to work, the rest can be whatever the hell they want.

[Emperor Tippy]

I don't like it (much prefer Psions) but it's balanced until you allow Spell-to-Power, in which case it becomes equal to any of the big 5.

[Drascin]

Yeah, StP is excessively brutal - one of the extremely few things around psionics that merits such a label.

But not using that that... well, I'm a diehard psionic fan, and my experience has been that the erudite is well enough in terms of power (that is to say, balanced - nowhere near the big 5, but a handy, useful class), but I personally dislike it on the basis of preferring actual psions.

[AmberVael]

If used casually and with Player and DM caution, would Spell to Power be unbalanced? My impression is that only with a few spells (like Arcane Fusion) that have 'special' wordings, does it become badly unbalanced. Is that mistaken?

(Fax, of course, already gave his opinion. Does everyone else agree?)

[Emperor Tippy]

It's borked even with those special spells removed. It can be used in balanced play (just like I can use Cindy in balanced play without overshadowing the party) but it requires the player to consciously do so.

But yeah, I mostly agree with Fax.

[Sinfire Titan]

If used casually and with Player and DM caution, would Spell to Power be unbalanced? My impression is that only with a few spells (like Arcane Fusion) that have 'special' wordings, does it become badly unbalanced. Is that mistaken?

(Fax, of course, already gave his opinion. Does everyone else agree?)

If the rest of the party is a bunch of optimized Druids, Clerics, Archivists, Artificers, and Wizards, then it should be fine. Otherwise, hell no!

As to how it becomes unbalanced, it's caused by a number of spells, not just Arcane Fusion. Spell Matrix is another example. Most spells they can access are broken as-is (as Wizards have some of the strongest BC spells in the game) and they can get ahold of Divine Power and such through a scroll scribed by a Wizard with the right Arcane Disciple domain.



But if the party doesn't mind having someone capable of blowing through every Arcane spell 7th level and lower in addition to the 8th and 9th level powers he will be flinging around, then by all means play one. It's entertaining trying to figure out what spell to use for a particular encounter.

And BTW: If you do play one, buy plenty of spare PP sources. Use those to manifest Arcane Fusion, and your normal points to use the real powers.