I messed up as a GM and I should have put more thought into reviewing a players character.
In general, I KNOW how to deal with Arcane characters, but I have a MUCH bigger issue with Psionic ones.
Before you start spamming the same info about how Psionic's is balanced: I know. In terms of spells I consider them balanced. Because whilst a wizard has total more power, a Psions power is generally more powerful always. A Wizard is eventually forced to cast a 1st level spell. But a Psion can instead cast a second level spell with no augmentation. It does less damage (But the same as a 1st level spell), but is more effective. Thats balanced and OK.
My issue is with everything else. The Guy specialized in Psychoportation (I SHOULD have caught it, but didn't).
My issue with Psionics is MUCH more effective feats. Arcane feats are generally meh. Oh sure there are a few like Summoning augmentation. But most just give minor +1s or +2s, or maybe cast a spell at +1 caster level. Or require allot of feats or levels to get to the BEST ones.
Psionic feats are all about Bypassing any weaknesses or drawbacks the class has.
So Nomads step is an at will teleportation effect that can be used as much as he wants. And with a feat it now can essentially replace his movement with teleportation that will become more and more powerful with every level. And now with ANOTHER feat he can regain focus as a move action. And he can store an EXTRA Psionic focus in his familiar.
So now hes mister teleport.
Also with Share pain, Psycrystal spell sharing and vigor he can effectively DOUBLE the amount of HP he gets with every casting.
And before you go nuts YES there are plenty of arcane exploits. But I know how to deal with them beforehand, and Im knowledgeable with them.
Also he used a Ion stone and old age (As an Elan) to give himself an ability score boost in a game where I disallowed ability score boosting items. Again, its totes my fault. And I only noticed it late game, and its part of his character concept so doing anything about it would just be jerkish.
My issue is how do I challenge the guy without specifically targeting him to shut him down.
Oh sure I can create some crack squad of casters and Melee people all specializing in shutting him down and dealing massive damage, but I consider that just cheating.
How do I challenge him, without having to create challenges that are unrealistic (Whoops, I guess that Orc just HAPPENED to know that you like to teleport and just HAPPENED To carry around dimensional anchor Rods), and would destroy the rest of the group.
And I like creative places to fight, and creative approaches to attacking. Such ease in teleportation just bypasses all of them with incredible ease.
Its not too late, and Im probably going to ban any Large distance teleportation spells, but im just asking for help.
I'm not at all familiar with psionics, so I can't help at all there, but I'll try to give some ideas.
First thing that comes to mind is sight. Short range teleportation is line of sight based, correct? Then blind him. Fog spells, darkness and straight up blindness, whichever is appropriate to the scenario.
If they have an intelligent enemy/BBEG, there's no reason that they won't catch on to his favorite trick and start equipping their mooks and henchmen with ways to shut him down. If there's any way for word to get back to the enemy/BBEG, have them react appropriately. It's only cheating if there's no rational explanation for it, and it doesn't need to occur every encounter.
Turn it against him. Nothing like having your favorite deadly trick used by your enemies against YOU! Does he seriously think he's the first uber-mobile badass out there? There's all sorts of short range teleportation spells and items, or even just crazy mobile characters. (Fast monk with a quick runners shirt and boots of speed. ZOOM!) Have him come up against someone using the same trick in a different way, see how he likes it!
Okay, so I see that this character is super mobile and hard to kill... What else does he bring to the party? I'm not seeing where he's causing trouble other than being difficult to kill. Could we have some more detail? In an average encounter, what does this player do?
EDIT: One thought about the Share Pain/Vigor/Psicrystal trick... If you target the psicrystal itself, you should be able to wipe it out with relatively few hits. Using an AoE should involve both the psion and the psicrystal to take damage (if the psicrystal is on the psion, I think it uses the psion's reflex save, though), and that means the psion take 50% of the damage, and the psicrystal takes 150% of it. If the psicrystal goes down, he loses it for a day, and there goes his health trick and his extra focus.
Thanks guys. What I also asked him what I could do to come up with challenges.
We decided that his character concept will be "Solution" based. He can bypass most stuff, but not do that much damage himself.
Also, can't blind him. He has that other spell that makes him immune to blindness.
And yes I am planning to have a BBEG and they will start to catch on.
I especially like the idea of mobility guys.
Just tag him with dimensional anchor, a mere fourth level spell.
Did I mention that it could be set as the bonus to a hallow spell, perhaps one keyed to affect only non-worshippers of a particular deity?
And it's a very common spell for mid- or high-level spellcasters to have available, even if a teleporting PC wasn't on their appointment book. Maybe they were planning on binding an outsider later that evening.
You wouldn't want to use it every time, no fun for the player. But seeing if he can get along without his main shtick might be fun once or twice. One of my main meta-rules is "if you build a one-trick pony, don't be surprised when a smart opponent tries to trump that trick."
I don't speak psionics, sorry. But I can riff:
These here Phase Spiders have webs they use to contain their young until the young are grown enough to break free... and the webs block your teleport.
This square-grid-tiled room is defended by statuary of chess pieces, that move only very slowly, but when moving in the same way as the piece they represent, can teleport and attack. The path they took remains a valid teleport path for you, in either direction, but otherwise you are a King. If you take the emblem from a destroyed statue, you can move like that piece when you teleport. Your other party members can also use this trick, but it burns out the emblem.
Proof against teleportation, AoE. Any time you teleport into the area, you 'phase out' for two rounds,while the caster knows exactly where you will reappear. And you've no idea that any time has elapsed when you pop back in.
Takes care of a lot of teleport tricks. The enemy knows where you're going to pop up and can be right there to greet you. It's like a 3rd level spell.
And how did he get 'old' as an Elan? Because he was 'old' when he became an Elan? No. Elans have lifespans of thousands of years. He's not old the instant he became an elan, he's a new being.
Take him aside and tell him to get rid of the age mods. He doesn't have any, and won't for another several thousand years of the campaign. That's pure cheese and trying to avoid limitations, not your fault. If he doesn't want to, let him know his old character can join the campaign in ten thousand years, and in the meantime, does he want to play a fairer character?
Allow his porting character to shine at times, and then others times slam him and turn his strength into a vulnerability that can get him killed. He'll start being very careful about how he uses it.
==Aelryinth
I got a suggestion for you. This psion player of yours uses his PSP's allot, yes no. Well then, I would suggest giving a chance each time he or she expends a decent number of PSP's that it attracts a monster that is keyed to psions, or consumes psionic energy. Its not cheesy and I think makes sense. When players have psionics, they should also realize that psionic monsters are a danger. The threat of attracting undue attention may force your player to rethink their use of PSP's.
I'm kind of at a loss for how his teleporting himself helps the rest of the party.
For instance, if there is a rift, with archers on the other side, he can port over and engage, but that also leaves himself to be targeted.
He might be able to get away from melee engagers, but if he isn't doing that much damage, they'd be targeting other PCs anyway.
I DM'd a homemade class (time mage) where the PC had the ability to short range teleport all over. It was just like having a higher move rate, and really didn't help anyone else.
As for blinding him - he might be immune to blind but that doesn't mean he can see through fog or webbed areas or the like.
Also, with more factors - such as level of the PCs and such - we can offer more help.
I can see the old age thing being kinda cheese, but did he also have drawbacks from the old age? If you're old enough to gain points in wisdom, don't you lose strength or con? Throw some ability damage his way.