Wilders, the manifesters who unleash surging blasts of psionic energy at the risk of psychic backlash. These practitioners of the psionic arts often rely on raw power over finesse, yet are equally capable of astounding displays of mental strength.
Contained within the 18 pages of Psionics Augmented: Wilders, you will find:
Two new archetypes, the surging muse and voidheart
Three new prestige classes, the cross-discipline master, the surge adept, and the volcanic mind
More than a dozen new feats, including a new feat type - surge feats, which are designed around the wild surge of the wilder
Six new psionic powers for wilders and other manifesters, including a new surge augmentation option, which allows wilders, and only wilders, to achieve extra augment options when invoking a wild surge while manifesting the power
Psionics Augmented is a series of products aimed at expanding the options presented in Ultimate Psionics.
Written by Jade Ripley, with artwork by J.D. Dianderas.
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This pdf clocks in at 18 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 1 page SRD, 1 page advertisement, leaving us with 14 pages of content, so let's take a look!
This pdf begins with a short introduction of the wilder class and a contemplation of its themes before diving right into the two new archetypes herein, the first of which would be the surging muse.
The surging muse is all about the Surging Aura-feat, granting such an aura even if the archetype does not have the feat or otherwise expands the range of it. More importantly, though, would be the fact that allies within the aura receive an insight bonus to damage equal to the surge's intensity. Surge blast is replaced with a very powerful ability - at the cost of expending psionic focus, the surging muse can add + her Cha-mod as force damage to all melee and ranged attacks of her allies within her aura and at 2nd level, the allies within the aura also receive a +1 dodge bonus to AC, which increases by +1 every 4 levels thereafter. I really enjoy the concept and generally, execution of this support archetype - the buffing capabilities are cool and the archetype is solidly written. That being said, the stacking of massive bonus damage to attack for all allies can very quickly escalate - badly. A wilder of 1st level can expend her psionic focus for AoE + 4 force damage, +1 for wild surge; that's AoE +5 to atk and damage at first level - presuming "only" a Cha-mod of 18. I've playtested this ability and it makes a meatgrinder out of any halfway decent adventuring group - +5 to damage at first level for all allies with 15 ft. may not seem like much, but try it in-game and you'll know what I mean. Additionally, I'm not that big a fan of force damage at first level, though here at least, the ability allows other PCs excel in the otherwise frustrating cliché shadow-boss fight that is sported in so many 1st level modules. One more thing - this ability makes dipping in the archetype much too good and resource-balancing wise, force damage is usually a limited resource for casters, not a semi-unlimited one, much less one available in this quantity. All in all, an archetype I really enjoy and one only a different, better balanced scaling mechanism (for said force damage) and some finetuning away from being really neat!
The second archetype herein would be a complex one, namely the voidheart. Not drawing upon emotion per se, but rather a sense of nihilistic emptiness, her surges actually decrease the manifester level of the surged power, but also decrease the level of means of dispelling powers and spells by such an amount. Effectively, this makes the surged powers less boomy, but also impedes means of actually eliminating them. And yes, this does get the complex wording required right. Voidhearts do not suffer from psychic enervation and receive immunity to energy drain in lieu of surge bond. More interesting would be the replacement of surge blast - by emitting a roar, a voidheart can affect a creature within medium range -on a failed save, this ability prevents any form of healing for Cha-mod rounds. I really, really, really love this ability - I've been experimenting with the like in my home-game and it adds an interesting dimension to combat. Now personally, I would have very much preferred an explicit statement regarding fast healing and regeneration, but since that is kind of subsumed under "healing of any variety", I won't hold that against the archetype. Further immunities centered on negative emotions and the theme of death and a surging euphoria complement this archetype further with a theme of an emotional vampire. The capstone allows for a 1/day-limited super surge at -10 ML that causes negative levels and power point loss. I adore this archetype. It completely changes playing experience, does not shirk from complex concepts and has style galore. Kudos!
Next up would be the first 5-level PrC, the cross-discipline master, who gets 3/4 BAB-progression, medium will-saves, d8, 5/6 manifesting progression, d8 and 4+Int skills per level. Yes, this PrC covers 6 levels, not the usual 5 or 10. As befitting of the name, at 1st level and every level thereafter, this PrC nets the character 1 power from a discipline chosen - even if it is not on the character's list. This gets multiple list-caveats right, btw. Additionally, the manifester level of the PrC for that discipline increases by a further +1. Conversely, it is this last component of which I am not a fan - Apart from 1 level, all levels net manifester level progression. This ability is supposed to broaden the options of the wilder, but, if you choose to, you can focus on one discipline, stacking up +6 ML for this discipline in addition to those granted by regular PrC-progression. Taking a look at the chassis of the PrC, I am pretty sure this is intended to offset the one progression-less level for the chosen discipline - so yeah, a slightly more precise wording to prevent a reading that allows for single discipline ML-stacking would be in order here.
3rd level nets 3/day swift action wild surges to temporarily learn a new power from a selected discipline for minutes equal to the wild surge's intensity, i.e. the plus-bonus. This is interesting since the PrC does not explicitly grant surging progression, making this a limited wildcard trick that broadens the very limited focus of the wilder without being broken. 5th level nets a decrease of all power point costs by 1, to a minimum of 1. 6th level nets an ability which hits one of my pet-peeves - you choose a metapsionic feat and can use it to manifest a power sans expending your psionic focus - 1/encounter. I do like the action economy and flexibility this grants, I really do...but why use a per-encounter-mechanic? Why not simply go with a cool-down based on actual in-game time?
The surge-adept gets d8, 3/4 BAB-progression, good will-saves, 4/5th ML-progression and, surprise, is all about the surge. The surge adept decreases her psychic enervation chance by 5% (to a minimum of 1%) and stacks class levels for the purpose of surge progression. At 3rd level, the adept may invoke her wild surge as an immediate action whenever an ally within 30 ft. manifests a power, lending the surge's effects to said ally, while the surge adept still is the one risking enervation. As a capstone, the PrC can 1/day declare a surge a master surge, ignoring power resistance and energy resistance equal to the surge adept's ML and does not cause enervation. The nitpicky sucker in me assumes that the ML in question is the one modified by wild surge, not the non-surged ML, as per default, but I won't hold this minor ambiguity against the PrC.
The 3rd one would be the Volcanic Mind, which uses the same basic class-chassis as the surge adept. They also stack wild surge-progression...but increase their psychic enervation chance by 5% every round not suffering from it, up to a maximum of 80%. Instead of suffering from a condition gained through psychic enervation, this PrC may opt to take 1d6 Wis-damage instead. Whenever a volcanic mind suffers psychic enervation, hostile creatures within 30 ft. suffer manifester level damage and become sickened for manifester level rounds due to the psychic eruption. Here, I am honestly not sure whether the ML of the surge that prompted the enervation or whether the unmodified ML is the one you go with. 2nd level nets cleaving power, a new feat, sans increasing power point cost - this works like cleave for targeted powers, btw., at the cost of +4 power points. Higher levels also add the deafened condition. More importantly would be that suffering from such a power eruption essentially negate the distance-requirements between wilder and target - the victims are treated as in range for as long as the effect persists. This is kind of problematic - while it works well for non-targeted powers with ranges à la close, medium, long, etc., the ability does fall apart to some extent when faced with powers of a different range, mainly because they cease making sense: Cover and concealment apply still, but what if the target teleports away? The ability explicitly states that it only requires the targets to remain on the same plane - no line of sight or line of effect. Is attacking foes that teleported away handled as attacking a target while blind? What about powers with a range of personal or touch? Can touch-based powers be enhanced like this? If yes, that is very powerful and pretty much an invitation for some very nasty, broken combos. What about otherwise personal powers? I firmly believe that this ability requires some clarification - I *think* the intent is to mitigate the range-restrictions. If that is the case, I'd suggest allowing for ranged touch attacks to work with it (providing rules for creatures out of sight/how the ability interacts with line of sight/effect) and explicitly excluding regular touch and personal powers. The Vent Agony feat, which extends overchannel or psychic enervation to the 30-ft.-radius and may one hostile creatures with its effects, also gets an AoE-upgrade and as a capstone, the staggered condition is added to the collective debuffs these guys can heap on opponents.
If the above was not ample clue, yes, this pdf does sport an array of new feats specifically for the wilder. In this chapter, the new [Surge] feat descriptor is introduced, which requires wild surge as an activation and prompt psychic enervation-checks. Enduring Mind and its follow-ups can be seen as providing a cushion for mental ability damage/drain, reducing that by 2, but thankfully not allowing for abuse regarding abilities of the character powered by burning mental ability, with the follow-up feat allowing for the expenditure of the psionic focus for full-blown negation while also scaling the base cushion up by a further +2. Gaining temporary hit points via psionic focus with a daily limit and follow-ups that grant fast healing (with a cool-down - hallelujah!) can be found alongside those that net you an AC-bonus while focused.
Not all of these feats are this well-crafted, though - I am, for example NOT sold on using wild surge as a resource to heal damage to physical attributes equal to the surge's intensity - while not bad at mid to high levels, the low prereqs of this feat allow for pretty easy healing of attribute damage at lower levels, where it is supposed to be a powerful resource that cannot be easily negated. Mental Equilibrium is a feat that must die. It renders immune to the effects of psychic enervation, your own or others, apart from hit point or power point loss. This essentially takes away one crucial component of balancing the already pretty uncommon and somewhat wonky wild surge mechanics - and its effects are opaque - "You still suffer any other effects of psychic enervation." - so is one immune or not? Does this render the debuffing of the voidheart moot? If one assumes immunity, one cuts off a significant amount of the cool tricks of volcanic mind and voidheart in addition to the benefits for the wilder. Oh, and what about the extended target/range-abilities of the volcanic mind? Do they still work or not? This feat can btw. be taken at 1st level. It opens a can of worms of issues and imho is jeopardizing the intricately-linked abilities presented in this pdf. Well, there would be an option to make wilders superb counterspellers/manifesters, reducing the ML/CL of spells by wild surge's intensity, but increasing your chance of psychic enervation. Feats like this add much-needed breadth to the wilder's arsenal, but become infinite toolboxes once this loathsome Mental Equilibrium is introduced, it invalidates their drawbacks.
This is especially jarring since I do actually enjoy the design-style. Another feat would allow you to form a psionic collective that allows you to disperse the negative effects of psychic enervation to willing targets, providing concise rules for dividing damage incurred via Overchannel etc. and making for a much more compelling experience of teamplay - while also begging to have its cool idea expanded. Piercing energy and power resistance via a feat may be powerful, but seeing the wilder's limited power selection, it renders some otherwise bad choices more viable. So that one's fine with me as well. Another feat that needs to DIE is Psychic Celerity. Expend your psionic focus to move up to your movement rate as a swift action. No limits. Know what one of the most powerful low-level items is? Quickrunner's Shirt. It has a 1/day cap, sure, but ALL of my players try to get it as soon as possible. Any breaking of the action economy is a VERY strong benefit and this allows for the nigh constant breaking of it. Usually, the very few limited means of doing the like on a more flexible basis are relegated to beyond 10th level, usually capped in daily uses - and they are powerful then. With only 2 feats as a prereq, this one is terribly broken and needs some severe smacking with the nerf-bat. On the other hand, using wild surges to enhance mind blades is pretty cool, as is a reflexive damage to attempts at unwanted telepathic contact.
The new powers introduced here also sport a unique new rules-innovation - surge augmentations. These augmentations are only applied to a power when it is manifested as part of a wild surge. Getting a buffer versus physical attribute damage can for example be used via surges on other characters or to grant you DR/- equal to the surge's intensity. Yes, these augments provide the one thing the wilder severely lacked - breadth and versatility and in one case, once can choose from 4 regular and 1 surge augment - pretty cool, especially considering that the increasing costs of the regular augment provide an interesting scaling mechanism to keep the power relevant over the levels. Not all powers are perfect, though - there are some ambiguities. Take Fracture Pattern - it essentially forces a foe to take +50% damage from a damage type -you create a vulnerability and one that makes sense for the levels. However, the augment can also add UNTYPED damage. You know, the kind that has NO means of being negated. Worse, it is not clear whether this added damage effect is also negated as the primary effect of the power on a successful save - I assume so, yes, but clarification would be in order. EDIT: Since this has been questioned - yes, I am very much aware of "Save negates" usually also referring to the effects of augments, but when an augment provides a unique secondary effect, I consider a wording akin to how it's handled in pretty much every spell-write up that distinctly notes whether the effect is prtially or wholly mitigated in order. An aura of crystalline shards that can either provide some defenses or nasty damage to nearby targets, plus bleed damage on a failed save. While this aura only covers 10 ft., I do think it could require a nerf - why? Because 5d6 slashing damage sans save to halve or negate is pretty much a meatgrinder. I love this power's imagery and flexibility, but its balance imho is off - take a look at comparable effects of 4th level powers and you'll get what I mean - 5d6 + 2d6 bleed for 1/round per level, no save to mitigate 5d6 damage....that's capital letter level nasty. I do not object to the surge augment using offensive and defensive at once, but the offense does need a nerf.
Part II of my review is in the product discussion. See you there!
The book begins with a quirky note from the author and an introduction to the Wilder class. Not crunch, but fun and informative. The introduction in particular helps to understand the Wilder. The layout is nice too, and contains plenty of art in color.
Archetypes come up first. These archetypes are both strong, with the Surging Muse focusing on buffing (very good synergy with the Leader’s Surge) and the Voidheart focusing on a unique brand of debuffs. The Surging Muse improves the Surging Aura feat’s power and range, can expend their psionic focus to further buff their ally’s damage, and even grant AC bonuses. Altogether, a very fun way of making your party feel strong without losing any of your potency. The Voidheart on the other hand trades their wild surge for an AOE caster level and manifester level debuff. I’ve never seen an ability like this anywhere else, but I love it. This is the kind of mold breaking I like to see in a third party product. The Voidheart is an expansive archetype, replacing almost every Wilder ability. This is not a complaint, and these abilities are strong, but situational and flavorful.
Now for the prestige classes. The Cross Discipline Master is an interesting one, being a 6 level prestige class. It is the only prestige class that specifically claims that it does not improve the effects of wild surge (note: in Ultimate Psionics there is text stating that all prestige classes that boost manifester level improve wild surge). So, for a prestige class to not boost wild surge, it must get a lot of fun tools, right? Right. This prestige class learns 1 power every level. This power does not need to come off the psion/wilder list, but must come from a different discipline every level. They can also use their wild surge to temporarily gain access to an unlearned power a few times a day. Noticing a theme here? The Cross Discipline Master is very versatile.
The Surge Adept on the other hand is all about wild surge. This 5 level prestige class has a lower psychic enervation chance, and can even share wild surge with allies! With bonus feats and a strong mini capstone, this prestige class rounds out to be a solid choice.
Last but not least is my favorite of the three prestige classes in the book, the Volcanic Mind. Weighing in at 5 levels, every level gains some strong feature. While most of the time, your Wilder is about wild surging, this prestige class is about psychic enervation. They build up mountains of psychic pressure and release it in devastating enervations that pain those around them. They also can use Cleaving Power (a metapsionic feat from this book) without expending having to spend additional power points (they still lose that psionic focus though!). This is a highly recommended prestige class for anyone who wants to make a psionic blaster.
Feats make up the penultimate entry of Psionics Augmented: Wilders. There is plenty in this section for any psionic character class to use. The Biokinetic Adept line gets you lots of temporary hit points, self-healing, and even some natural armor. Later feats in the Biokinetic Adept line require wild surge, and can be quite strong as well. Some of the feats benefit multiclassing, such as the Surge Blade feat, that allows wild surge to strengthen a mind blade. Cleaving Power is a strong metapsionic feat that allows you to use a power on a nearby foe if the augmented power brought a foe to 0 or fewer HP. There is even a feat that allows a wilder to overchannel and wild surge at the same time, at the cost of a 20% increase in enervation chance.
As for the new powers, every one of them is strong. And I mean strong, not overpowered. These powers use a new mechanic called the Surge Augmentation. Basically, if you manifest this power while using wild surge, it is augmented in a unique way at no cost. Most of these powers are not exclusive to the wilder, and are quite good without their surge augmentations. However, with their surge augmentations, these powers are truly awesome.
This book is a must have for anyone who wants to play a Wilder. The options presented are varied, strong, and interesting. Jade Ripley definitely brought this class to life.
Questions so far:
-Does the stagger from the Volcanic Mind's Cataclysmic Eruption last for the same duration as the eruption ability?
-Should Piercing Surge or Wild Mind be surge feats?
-Is Kyria the tiefling Wilder pictured in this book?
-Does the stagger from the Volcanic Mind's Cataclysmic Eruption last for the same duration as the eruption ability?
Yep. It's part of the overall penalty attached to eruption.
Quote:
-Should Piercing Surge or Wild Mind be surge feats?
No. While Piercing Surge's second effect modifies wild surges, neither of its effects require invoking the Surge to power them. Similarly, Wild Mind doesn't require you to invoke your Surge to power it. Surge feats give new uses for Surge.
Quote:
-Is Kyria the tiefling Wilder pictured in this book?
Yep, she's the iconic Volcanic Mind. The others are Adyel the Wanderer (female elan Cross-Discipline Master), Dymian Stormheart (male maenad Surge Adept) and Myra (female human Voidheart)
Thanks for clearing that up for me! And thanks for giving me the rest of their names. I was going to ask. I like this J.D. Dianderas artist! His characters have expressive faces. Perfect for a Wilder.
Being in late to the party this product confuses me.
I picked up Ultimate Psionics which compiles Psionics Augmented but this seems to have come out after Vol: 1 of the Psionics Augmented that came out before Ultimate Psionics, or at least that's what I assume. Is it possible to get a subname on this line to differentiate it from the stuff that appears in Ultimate Psionics?
Two Questions. Does Enhanced Surging Aura, and Passion’s Dance replace anything for the surging muse? Usually archetype benefits trade things out.
2nd, do allies need to stay within the aura to benefit from Enhanced Surging Aura's damage boost or the bonus attack from the original surging aura feat? I assume they do based on the wording of Force Enhancement specifying they can leave the aura.
Two Questions. Does Enhanced Surging Aura, and Passion’s Dance replace anything for the surging muse? Usually archetype benefits trade things out.
2nd, do allies need to stay within the aura to benefit from Enhanced Surging Aura's damage boost or the bonus attack from the original surging aura feat? I assume they do based on the wording of Force Enhancement specifying they can leave the aura.
[Checks the PDF]
[Facepalming intensifies]
Thanks for the catch. I'm not sure where in the chain we forgot to clarify that (though it was probably my fault; these were some of the first archetypes I ever designed). We'll add it to the errata.
In the meantime:
Passion's Dance replaces Elude Attack.
Enhanced Surging Aura is a strict addition, which is not unprecedented but is admittedly unusual.
Awesome, thanks for the quick response. However, my other question was do allies need to stay within the aura to benefit from Enhanced Surging Aura's damage boost or the bonus attack from the original surging aura feat? I assume they do based on the wording of Force Enhancement specifying they can leave the aura.
Also, where is this errata located? I had issues finding good erratas for the few issues iv had with other Dreamscarred books as well. Namely a few unanswered questions i asked a few days ago on the ultimate psionics board as well.
Awesome, thanks for the quick response. However, my other question was do allies need to stay within the aura to benefit from Enhanced Surging Aura's damage boost or the bonus attack from the original surging aura feat? I assume they do based on the wording of Force Enhancement specifying they can leave the aura.
Also, where is this errata located? I had issues finding good erratas for the few issues iv had with other Dreamscarred books as well. Namely a few unanswered questions i asked a few days ago on the ultimate psionics board as well.
Well, thus far this is the only material in the Augmented: Wilder errata >.> We don't have a doc around yet, I'll make sure to announce when I do.
As far as Enhanced Surging Aura's damage boost, the wording doesn't require that they stick around. The exact process goes like this:
-> Invoke Wild Surge
-> Allies in aura yes/no
-> If yes, allies gain boost until beginning of next turn.
-> If no, nothing happens.
Ok, seems a bit beefy of a archetype then with only replacing the situational surge blast and personal AC. Regardless, the surging muse certainly puts a big target on their head for enemies witnessing their capabilities.
Any particular reason force enhancement states specifically that they can leave the aura and still benefit if it goes without saying such with the two previous examples? Just curious.
Ok, seems a bit beefy of a archetype then with only replacing the situational surge blast and personal AC. Regardless, the surging muse certainly puts a big target on their head for enemies witnessing their capabilities.
Any particular reason force enhancement states specifically that they can leave the aura and still benefit if it goes without saying such with the two previous examples? Just curious.
I was probably looking to provide optimal clarity. I may add such a clause to the Enhanced Surging Aura for similar reasons.
AoE sonic damage emanations are cool, though the wording here has a minor hiccup - "For each additional power point you spend, this power's damage increases by one die (d4)" - This may not be ambiguous, but usually, one would go for a wording à la "increases by +1d4". The words "increase" and "die/dice" in combination usually denote an increase in die-size from d4 -> d6 -> d8, etc. - now this will not influence the final verdict, but I still considered it worthwhile to mention. And yes, I am aware that psionics have used this type of wording before. As mentioned, a nitpick. Spreading fear-based affects between targets is also a cool idea - I btw. also like that this one has different power point costs for dreads and psions/wilders, though here, the massive debuff the surge augment grants is pretty nasty. Sacrificing up to 1/2 of your hit points to also deal this amount of damage to a target, with only a will to negate the added sickened condition would be another power that needs a heavy whack with the nerf-bat. It's terribly broken - a) The damage incurred by the target is untyped. b) The target has no save to negate. c) The damage is extremely reliable. d) The damage can easily be healed. If you can't see how this is broken as hell, make a high Con-character and combine that with reliable healing. If that's not enough to drive home the point I'm making, instead use a monster with high HP and add this power - this outclasses all 3rd and 4th level powers in damage potential as the numbers go up. "But Endy, surely that's not so bad?" - My group's 7th level witch has more than 50 Hp. Were the character a psion, that would amount to 25 points of guaranteed damage per round, with healing the damage being within the paradigm of what his friggin' cohort is capable of delivering. Need a better example? Give that power to a dragon. This archmage enshrouded in immunities and x protective sorceries? Pff, drop 100 hit points and booyah, guaranteed kill, no means to mitigate and through the PR you can cleave. If the dragon has wilder levels and surges, you could use the surge augment to instead deal 200 points of damage! Yeah, not gonna happen anywhere near my game - this 2nd level power outclasses harm and must DIE.
Conclusion:
Editing and formatting are very good on a formal level - I noticed no significant glitches, though here and there some minor deviations from rules semantics have crept in. Layout adheres to Dreamscarred Press' beautiful two-column full-color standard and the pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience. It also sports some nice original full-color artworks and comes with a second, more printer-friendly version.
The wilder is the one psionic class I considered not too compelling -all about power, at the cost of limited flexibility. While nice for min-maxers who are okay with a limited array of options, I never considered the class too compelling due to its lack of breadth. Jade Ripley does a stellar job at expanding the options at the wilder's fingertips and I adore many of the choices herein: I love the voidheart. The PrCs are quite cool and while not perfect, they actually do some damn cool things with the wild surge - they feel UNIQUE and offer different playing experiences. The Surge-feats and Surge-augments are AWESOME choices and I sincerely hope we'll see many, many more powers with surge augments in the future -adding player agenda to alleviate the one-trick-pony playing experience of the wilder is EXACTLY what this class needs! I love this pdf for all of this and the total absence of anything that even remotely resembles cookie-cutter design -this is complex, worthwhile, high-concept material.
At the same time, I can't fathom how some of the feats and powers EVER got past playtesting. The numbers don't add up for the respective levels and some feats are more powerful than 10th-level-plus class abilities - essentially, there are quite a bunch examples herein that are textbook-broken. I'd honestly bash this further, but at the same time, this pdf provides several choices I absolutely adore - to the point where I was contemplating a 4.5 star + seal rating before properly analyzing the feats and powers chapters. Alas, these issues are here - and they are significant. I sincerely urge DMs to carefully consider allowing some of the options herein at the table, but at the same time, I find myself incapable of not recommending this pdf - it makes the wilder infinitely more compelling and offers some design-innovations I really hope to see expanded in the future - Jade Ripley has, in a nutshell, made a class infinitely more compelling, but also broke balancing HARD in quite a few cases, making this, in spite of the inspired components, a mixed bag that oscillates between "OMG, how awesome is this?" and *Plinkett-voice*"What were they thinking?" /Plinkett voice.
Still, as much as I love much of the content herein, with glaring balance-issues like this, I cannot go higher than 3.5 stars, rounded down to 3 for the purpose of this platform - I can still recommend this to any GM seeking to add actual identity to the wilder, though - just be sure you check this carefully and ban the living hell out of some components - what works herein in stellar material, after all.
Reviewed first on endzeitgeist.com, then submitted to Nerdtrek and GMS magazine and posted here and on OBS.
Crystalline Aura is way too strong. I don't think it should increase the bleed damage dice. It already does an average of 7 hp/round automatically, allowing it to increase that average is overpowering. I have a 13th-level Wilder that can let loose this power and cause creatures to suffer 24 damage/round on average just from bleed?
Crystalline Aura is way too strong. I don't think it should increase the bleed damage dice. It already does an average of 7 hp/round automatically, allowing it to increase that average is overpowering. I have a 13th-level Wilder that can let loose this power and cause creatures to suffer 24 damage/round on average just from bleed?
I believe it should stay at 2d6.
My rebuttal (not dismissal): even considering that it doesn't discriminate between friend and foe and requires the Wilder to be in rather dangerous range of anyone they wanna hurt with it?
Well an enemy using it could be the type that doesn't care for its allies so it is in the favor of the antagonists. For PCs I can see why it prevents them from being near an ally and limits assistance. But buff an ally with this power and have them run amok around a room shredding everything with ease and it is quite powerful. Don't forget expanded Knowledge feat, a melee type with this power would maul everything without much retaliation.
