psionics: cryptic class woes

[w01fe01]

ok honestly i think i need to be sold on whats actually good on this class vs others. and i know thats presumptious of me to tell people on here to sell me on anything lol. not trying to be mean, but let me share iwth you all my thoughts and part of my discussions with another player on this class.

first, im not gonna do brutal disrupter, maybe some other time, but not now. i want the disable device features.

Second, i find, after looking at the class itself, its powers, its insights, that this class is WOEFULLY bad at scaling with damage, and bad at action economy to help with said damage.

being completly limited to one standard action to attack with there class ability a round, no way to make it faster. a power list that seems unfocused in incapable of filling any role in a party. examples

First thing i look at was damage, it starts out ok, but it quickly falls so low that from what i can tell it might top out around 110-120 damage a round at max level. thats just horrible, 200 would be..maybe...subpar but something. maybe i have a severely warped idea of what damage should be...

but ok, poor but consistant damage, maybe hes a SUPPORT class. so first lets look at offensive support...debuffing and debilitating enemies. i look at the power list, nothing, or almost nothing. i look at insights. what i found was weak to say the least. best i found was explosive+binding insights to do a aoe entangle...thats easy to break for anything that you dont want to move toward you.... Ok, then there is blinding, fort save...thats automatically bad vs again...anything you dont want hitting you. there is some weak other debuffing utility but all highly situational, like cutting a targets healing in half...sounds great, but unless your fighting a cleric or oracle i fail to see the light (pun intended). not too mention explosion doesnt differentiate between friendlies, so unles si go first im screwed with that.

Ok so offensive support is largely nill, how about DEFENSIVE support, healing, buffing stats, etc. look at power list...dare i say this seems worse then offensive. i look at the class...yup, its indeed worse.

so they are bad at damage, bad at offensive support, and bad at defensive support. they have little in the way of varied options to affect enemies nothing i can find that affects will or reflex saves that adds a debilitating effect.

what other role is there? face? bard has it better being cha focused and more skill points a level. then i look at the traps thing.

they have a extensive support for using traps in unique ways...but looking at prices to make traps, time to make traps, time to utilize traps in combat thats not a highly coordinated and pre-emptive setup (like getting ambushed ourselves), the cost of traps coupled with the fact they seem to be oneshot uses then your done. this all screams DM NPC, not PC class.

I am disheartened honestly, i want to like this class, but it seems far and away the weakest class in psionics BY FAR...to the point where i may roll one, but only to see if its as bad as im thinking it is.

[Skylancer4]

The class is more than consistent damage, it is extra damage without limitation (sneak attack) at range versus a touch AC. Every round of every minute of every hour of every day.
Oh look, you are flying and they aren't? Sucks to be them.

Then we add utility to the class.

Scribe tattoo is awesome, look up crawling tattoos. Read it, then read it again. Expanded Knowledge just became your best friend. Find nasty powers that target REF saves (Ectoplasmic Cocoon, anyone?). They are denied that save from the crawling tattoo after it makes a successful touch attack. Start the combat from stealth, send the tattoo in and because it is the surprise round no AoO (normally). Body Adjustment means you just became a battle field medic. Someone drops? Send a Tattoo over to heal/stabilize them.

Swift Trigger insight + Trapmaker? Booby traps or contingencies up the wazoo (yay folded traps!). Summoning Pattern.... The possibilities are scary. Essentially instant kill scary for a room with multiple nasty reset-able traps, which were really cheap due to efficient trapsmith and buffed with empower trap. Steal Pattern could be insanely useful, if only for the denial purposes, and you can take that from the get go.

Evasion is always good, some people dip to other classes for it. Improved Evasion insight, even better.

Hidden Pattern, hide in plain sight without limitation rolled into a class skill bonus with a class that has skill points to spare. You'll be making your rolls high enough to hide.

Rapid Defense, potentially a life saver. Free action bump to your AC for those unexpected things (like an arrow trap that you somehow failed to notice and walked past). Even better, that attack that *just* hit you, didn't. That crit that almost confirmed, didn't. Free action that can be used when it isn't your turn.

You don't even need to think far outside the box to come up with nasty things to do. The class is Macguyver incarnate. If you cannot think outside the box (not an insult but a statement) the class will be lackluster. If you can, it has A LOT to offer.

[w01fe01]

perhaps i was thinking too inside the box then. mainly thinking from the standpoint of damage, offensive support/defensive support/face.

also where is the crawling tattoos, having trouble finding it.

[Skylancer4]

It is in the base book, part of psionic tattoos. Search it @ d20pfsrd.com if you cannot find it in the book.