| ButlerWizard |
Combining my two recent posts from DSP's giantitp.com FAQ:
The target of Dimension Swap is listed as an "ally". I have scoured the web looking for a definition of this (re: willing), but only seen whether you can be your own ally. The power would be too strong if you could just use Body Equilibrium to walk over the lake, then stand looking up at the guard atop the castle walls, and several rounds later be inside the castle with the guard suddenly drowning in the lake. Was it kept not "willing" to prevent this from working with Unwilling Participant, or was "ally" accidentally used instead of "willing"? If "ally" is effectively the same as "willing", but you still used the other term deliberately, what is the distinction?
Untouchable Aura has a Range of Aura, which leaves me uncertain whether to use it through a collective (range: greater than Personal) (target: "you", which is presumably a willing creature), or use it with Shared Power (range: Personal?) - was it meant to be impossible to manifest for others with either of these, or which does it qualify for?
"A character can only benefit from a number of mind stones equal to half his powers known from his manifesting ability. Extra powers known from feats like Expanded Knowledge or from effects like psychic chirurgery do not increase this limit."
Does the human's Favored Class Bonus (which works identically to the Expanded Knowledge feat) count as a power known from their manifesting ability? Does the bonus Talent from a Vitalist's Knacks (if not replaced by an archetype) count as one of these powers? If they take the Access Psionic Talent feat, do those five powers count as more of these powers?
Are powers gained from Expanded Knowledge available for manifesting with each class of a multi-classed character? (Assuming that the manifester level with each is high enough to do so.) When dipping cross-class for bonus feats, can those feats be used for enhancing class abilities of a different class? When dipping cross-class for bonus feats, must any Expanded Knowledge feats be calculated based on the manifesting level in whichever class went up a level when the bonus feat was gained? Combining these, can a Vitalist (level 7) dip into Psion for an Expanded Knowledge feat to gain a 3rd-level power from any class list, even though they cannot manifest 4th-level powers as a psion?
Rage power: Celestial Totem, Lesser
The non-spell examples given are still divine magic; does this interact with psionic healing? Can the additional healing be redirected (over a collective), or does it only kick in when the final recipient of some healing has been resolved? Must each recipient receive at least 1 point if they are to get a bonus from Celestial Totem, or can the entire psionic healing amount be redirected once the Celestial Totem healing kicks in?
Can the Persistent Power feat be used with the psi-like power in the Vitalist class, "collective"? Normally a free power (to add one or more new members to the collective), would paying a total of 2 PP require Unwilling Participant to make two saving throws, with the failure of either bringing them into the collective? If so (if someone was added to the collective with Persistent Power), must they later make all saving throws against other powers (class or psionic) as if still affected by the Persistent Power, fueled by that original payment instead of needing to pay another +2 for each further power?
Vitalist: Reduce the power point cost to augment powers that heal hit point damage by 1/2. [JBE:BoHR:AFCO]
How does the Samsaran favored class bonus (Vitalist) work? The "golden rule" explicitly limits the PP that may be spent, so a 4th-level manifester augmenting their Natural Healing power five times - normally a cost of 6 PP - would reduce that cost by 2, with the leftover (4) no greater than their manifester level. Or is it the amount they would spend that is capped at their manifester level (4), and then they expend less energy (reduce by 2) (leaving 2) to manifest it?
Can you manifest powers on targets you can only see through a member of your collective upon whom Sense Link has been manifested? Can you use the "share my senses" augment with extra-sensory powers that grant you sight, such as Clairvoyant Sense? Can you use that augment with Synesthate? (When seeing sound, and sharing sight, will those you share with see through your eyes when you cannot? If you are feeling light, will they gain the +4 bonus to Perception since their eyes are still working? Can you use that augment with extra-sensory powers like Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions, bringing everyone in on the same vision? Can you use one manifestation of Sense Link to see through the eyes of an ally using Enter Image, and another to let others in the group see what you are seeing through the ally's view from their image?
I've been assuming that Psychic Bodyguard, when augmented via the Vitalist's collective, can protect many people at once but collapses once a Will save is replaced for any of them. Can a Cap of the Free Thinker be used for that one saving throw? If a hostile power can affect more than one target and affects two members of your collective, do you make one roll to protect all of them from the power, or do you have to decide which member you will protect first?
When using Shared Power to bestow Inevitable Strike on every member of your collective, does it remain in effect for one attack each of them attempt, or does any one of them using it cause the power to immediately end for everyone?
Vitalist core Steal Health "A vitalist may use this ability on creatures with a total number of hit dice less than half his vitalist level, but he gains no healing from it."
Life Leech's Drain Health "may not be used against creatures with a total number of hit dice less than half the life leech’s level"
I've been reading this as "the Vitalist may steal health (lethal damage) from enemies who are not in the collective" (only the healing they gain from it cares about victim HD), but "the life leech cannot damage creatures in their collective if the HD are too low". That seems unusual, since the core vitalist is then better than the life leech at the damage side of things. A core Vitalist (level 5) would be able to murder 2nd-level commoners at will, whereas a life leech using their equivalent power would be utterly ineffectual. Was the intent for Drain Health to use the same wording as with Steal Health? (Should we treat it as having that wording?)
"If your rank in that skill is higher, the target uses your ranks in place of his own ranks (maximum 5 ranks), and vice versa. If a target’s skill ranks are replaced by this power, they are treated as though they actually had the shared ranks in the skill for all purposes (including class skill bonuses and the use of trained-only skills)."
Can the Skills As One power be used within your collective to relay skills? If you are treated as though you actually had those ranks in the skill "for all purposes", can you manifest it through the collective to acquire skill ranks from one member (who has them) and then share them with another member (who, like you, does not), effectively enabling the first member to share their skill ranks with the second (even though they cannot use the power) using you as a conduit?
"Damage: This damage does not actually reduce an ability, but it does apply a penalty to the skills and statistics that are based on that ability. For every 2 points of damage you take to a single ability, apply a –1 penalty to skills and statistics listed with the relevant ability. If the amount of ability damage you have taken equals or exceeds your ability score, you immediately fall unconscious until the damage is less than your ability score. The only exception to this is your Constitution score. If the damage to your Constitution is equal to or greater than your Constitution score, you die."
Strength Of My Enemy: can we pull a rat out of the Bag of Tricks and spend a few rounds (before battle) petting it with our weapons to max out the Strength bonus? There's no chance of killing it, provided we avoid even any non-lethal damage (though if that's a concern we can always have an NPC hireling there who is willing to be alternately beaten up and healed in return for a living wage). Once its penalties are maxed out, can we still gain any Strength bonuses from it? If we don't have to deliver a fatal blow and the target is completely willing, how rapidly can we 'hit' them to trigger the power? As written it would trigger multiple times in one round if we had multiple attacks; if we're trying to hit a willing target, how fast can we do that?
Powers taken with Expanded Knowledge: do they use the primary stat of the class they are being manifested with? I want to have Untouchable Aura (which, with Shared Power, can simultaneously ward the entire party), but the effectiveness of its protection is limited to my DC for a Will save. In the case of Untouchable Aura, a Dread power, is the DC set by original class (in the Dread case, using my Charisma bonus), by my class, or may I select which to use if, e.g., my permanent Charisma stat is actually higher than my primary casting stat? If, on the other hand, my Charisma is lower than 10, the power would be keying off of a dump-stat, and then I cannot manifest it at all. If the manifester has multiple classes which might manifest the power from a single Expanded Knowledge feat, may they select per manifestation which class they manifest it from to use the stat that is highest at that moment?
Strength of My Enemy only calls out "natural or manufactured weapons", not melee vs ranged - can this power affect a bow and then trigger when each of the arrows loosed by it hits an enemy? Or would this have to be "pick one arrow per manifestation"?
Starting at 1st level, "a psychic warrior gets a bonus combat-oriented feat", but the same text later goes on to note that they "must be drawn from the feats noted as combat feats or psionic feats". Is this "or" meant as "you may take a combat feat" and "you may take a (non-combat) psionic feat", or "take any 'combat feat', looking in both the 'combat feats' area and (any combat-specific psionic feat from) the new 'psionic feats' area"? In short, is the Psychic Warrior dip-friendly for 1-2 levels of non-combat psionic feats?
When manifesting unknown powers as when addressing a power stone, can Use Magic Device (psionics version) be used here to pretend your class is the one with that power on its list? Would this change the automatic failure on Spellcraft check #2?
The class ability "collective" has no PP cost - with effectively infinite use, line-of-sight becomes "I try until my target rolls a 1 on their save". We're looking for low-level spells that protect against it. Protection From (Evil/Good/Chaos/Law) would prevent possession, which this isn't, and prevent mind control, but a collective isn't controlling anyone's mind, so the spell would provide a +2 bonus on Will saves. Are there any high-level detection spells that would interact (assuming less than full magic/psionics transparency) with a collective? Are there any high-level countermeasures? (If it matters, our transparency level is "distinct fluff"; Spellcraft won't help with psionics (have to dedicate ranks to Psicraft instead), detect magic doesn't register psionics; the Inspired recently arrived in Stormreach but Gather Information didn't mention anything about their unusual magic, so it seems likely that most magic-users won't have heard of psionics yet.) How can a magic-user who is unprepared for psionics defend themselves?
Many animals are listed as having 1 HD - can a Sadist bring one into the collective, let someone else kill it (since per my reading of Drain Health, above, they can't simply snuff out the poor creature's life on their own), and then have a bonus PP to use on buffs before cooking and eating the animal? Do they need the animal to suffer, or is this fluff that can be readjusted for a painless mercy killing?
Last question I think I figured out an answer to myself, though it did take me a while: Persistent Power has no minimum level to reach before taking the feat (so it can potentially be taken at level 1), but the +2 PP makes it almost impossible to use at first level - the only exception I can think of being Wilder+Overchannel (or possibly a Torc of Power Preservation, if wildly exceeding WBL guidelines). Even a talent wouldn't work, because focus must be expended to reduce a talent's cost below 1, and Persistent Power also requires expending focus to use. Apart from the wilder+overchannel combo I can see this being left open because it's another feat that can be taken before third level, and the +2 PP does effectively hold its immediate usefulness back. So this does reasonably seem like a non-omission.