Okay, a couple questions!
1) Can the Nomad psion teleport an infinite number of times per day using Nomad's Step?
2) If I'm rolling up a psionic character, what would I normally spend my WBL on?
3) Does Combat Casting give me the same bonus to manifesting psionic powers, or is it casters-only?
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Are you kidding? with abundant healing around, the only thing that stops most psion players from over channeling is the worry of running out of psi points.
A very real possibility. I tend to play psions very conservatively. Overchannel does look really nice with tons of healing though (1d8, 3d8, 5d8 damage can hurt a lot at the levels they become available). I generally end most adventures at around 1/2 PP, as I'm generally more prone to manifesting low-PP effects each round.
One of the most amusing encounters in our Reign of Winter game was one where we were waging an epic battle against some giants. Now, apparently the book thought that we were going to need the help of a non-player-thing to deal with the threat, but we were droppin' 'em like they were hot because of our formation and carefully considered pokes.
For example, turns out giants have cruddy Reflex saves, and a few well placed ectoplasmic sheens (grease) were devastating to them, as being prone or having trouble holding onto your weapons round after round with a cruddy save is really hilarious to watch.
I think I spent maybe 5 PP that combat. :3
The only downside is that you really have to start relying on Harness stone abilities at high levels to keep your to-hit on par with a fighter or smiting paladin.A 4 level dip into fighter (weapon master) would've helped a whole lot. You would get an extra +3 with the great sword if you bought Gloves of Dueling. You would be have 3 bonus feats. One would make up for the needing to take the Student of the Astral Suit feat so your astral suit customizations to continue to increase during the dip. You can also take offensive customizations like Improved Damage.
You would lose 2 uses of reconfigure and one of augment suit. The feats could help regain some flexibility if not used for pure damage like weapon specialization. You also lose a point of damage reduction.
I think I'll just go with pure Aegis. By the time I would like that dip (16+), I'm not taking combat feats anymore.
I think I'll be fine even without power stones. I can be a huge Aegis with powerful build wielding a gargantuan great sword for 6d6 damage and vital striking for 24d6 damage. Even if I don't power attack I'm looking at at-least 24d6+23 per round.
Soooo.... What are people's impressions of the Metaforge, Pyrokineticist, and the Cerebremancer?
The only downside is that you really have to start relying on Harness stone abilities at high levels to keep your to-hit on par with a fighter or smiting paladin.A 4 level dip into fighter (weapon master) would've helped a whole lot. You would get an extra +3 with the great sword if you bought Gloves of Dueling. You would be have 3 bonus feats. One would make up for the needing to take the Student of the Astral Suit feat so your astral suit customizations to continue to increase during the dip. You can also take offensive customizations like Improved Damage.
You would lose 2 uses of reconfigure and one of augment suit. The feats could help regain some flexibility if not used for pure damage like weapon specialization. You also lose a point of damage reduction.
I think I'll just go with pure Aegis. By the time I would like that dip (16+), I'm not taking combat feats anymore.
I think I'll be fine even without power stones. I can be a huge Aegis with powerful build wielding a gargantuan great sword for 6d6 damage and vital striking for 24d6 damage. Even if I don't power attack I'm looking at at-least 24d6+23 per round.
I'm planing on allowing DSP due to the good reviews, but this does worry me. What are the limitations on that?
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I'm planing on allowing DSP due to the good reviews, but this does worry me. What are the limitations on that?I think I'll just go with pure Aegis. By the time I would like that dip (16+), I'm not taking combat feats anymore.
I think I'll be fine even without power stones. I can be a huge Aegis with powerful build wielding a gargantuan great sword for 6d6 damage and vital striking for 24d6 damage. Even if I don't power attack I'm looking at at-least 24d6+23 per round.
It's 107 damage on a hit, other classes can do it as well or better (Druids with Strongjaw, Rangers can hit 24d6 as well), and compared to the damage output of a full attacking martial, it's not amazing. Nice on a standard action, but not overwhelming.
I'm planing on allowing DSP due to the good reviews, but this does worry me. What are the limitations on that?The only downside is that you really have to start relying on Harness stone abilities at high levels to keep your to-hit on par with a fighter or smiting paladin.A 4 level dip into fighter (weapon master) would've helped a whole lot. You would get an extra +3 with the great sword if you bought Gloves of Dueling. You would be have 3 bonus feats. One would make up for the needing to take the Student of the Astral Suit feat so your astral suit customizations to continue to increase during the dip. You can also take offensive customizations like Improved Damage.
You would lose 2 uses of reconfigure and one of augment suit. The feats could help regain some flexibility if not used for pure damage like weapon specialization. You also lose a point of damage reduction.
I think I'll just go with pure Aegis. By the time I would like that dip (16+), I'm not taking combat feats anymore.
I think I'll be fine even without power stones. I can be a huge Aegis with powerful build wielding a gargantuan great sword for 6d6 damage and vital striking for 24d6 damage. Even if I don't power attack I'm looking at at-least 24d6+23 per round.
By the time that comes online you have pouncing Barbarians.
Just sayin.....
I'm planing on allowing DSP due to the good reviews, but this does worry me. What are the limitations on that?The only downside is that you really have to start relying on Harness stone abilities at high levels to keep your to-hit on par with a fighter or smiting paladin.A 4 level dip into fighter (weapon master) would've helped a whole lot. You would get an extra +3 with the great sword if you bought Gloves of Dueling. You would be have 3 bonus feats. One would make up for the needing to take the Student of the Astral Suit feat so your astral suit customizations to continue to increase during the dip. You can also take offensive customizations like Improved Damage.
You would lose 2 uses of reconfigure and one of augment suit. The feats could help regain some flexibility if not used for pure damage like weapon specialization. You also lose a point of damage reduction.
I think I'll just go with pure Aegis. By the time I would like that dip (16+), I'm not taking combat feats anymore.
I think I'll be fine even without power stones. I can be a huge Aegis with powerful build wielding a gargantuan great sword for 6d6 damage and vital striking for 24d6 damage. Even if I don't power attack I'm looking at at-least 24d6+23 per round.
By the time that comes online you have pouncing Barbarians.
Just sayin.....
Yes, but there are ways of prevent charge/pouncing at that level as well. My question wasn't "This is broken, so I'm banning", rather "Before I make any rash judgement, what are the limitations of said ability?"
As a follow-up question, if the Nomad really can zip around the battlefield that many times a day with no repercussions...is that overpowered?
I think as a Gm, if a player were building towards a pyrokineticist, I'd work to make sure that they didn't deal with fire immunity all the time.
Pyrokineticist
It's a really, really neat class, but... Well, it's fire based. The most resisted element in the game. Yes, by level 10(level 15 total!) you can decrease a creature's fire resistance by 10.
That is not going to matter in the slightest.
I'm planing on allowing DSP due to the good reviews, but this does worry me. What are the limitations on that?The only downside is that you really have to start relying on Harness stone abilities at high levels to keep your to-hit on par with a fighter or smiting paladin.A 4 level dip into fighter (weapon master) would've helped a whole lot. You would get an extra +3 with the great sword if you bought Gloves of Dueling. You would be have 3 bonus feats. One would make up for the needing to take the Student of the Astral Suit feat so your astral suit customizations to continue to increase during the dip. You can also take offensive customizations like Improved Damage.
You would lose 2 uses of reconfigure and one of augment suit. The feats could help regain some flexibility if not used for pure damage like weapon specialization. You also lose a point of damage reduction.
I think I'll just go with pure Aegis. By the time I would like that dip (16+), I'm not taking combat feats anymore.
I think I'll be fine even without power stones. I can be a huge Aegis with powerful build wielding a gargantuan great sword for 6d6 damage and vital striking for 24d6 damage. Even if I don't power attack I'm looking at at-least 24d6+23 per round.
That was the estimate for a level 20 normal aegis. At level 11 my vital strike is 12d6+29, but I have mythic power attack and it was a 26 point buy char generation. Even with all of that, the blaster caster could do about that much damage to all monsters in the encounter, and they don't have to be mythic for it.
Not a problem then. Thanks for letting me know. Definitely going to be allowing the DSP psionics and Tome of Battle once that comes out.
I think for the martial psionicists, I'm flavoring it as a type of chakra/prana life force energy. I've always liked that style of psychic magic, focused on life energy and souls and spirits. It's cool.
PyrokineticistIt's a really, really neat class, but... Well, it's fire based. The most resisted element in the game. Yes, by level 10(level 15 total!) you can decrease a creature's fire resistance by 10.
That is not going to matter in the slightest.
This is a false argument. Just because many creatures resist fire does not mean the GM will use them.
Soooo.... What are people's impressions of the Metaforge, Pyrokineticist, and the Cerebremancer?
I like the look of a metaforge. It seems mechanically viable, while offering the ability to a martial not to have to play "the gear game". They still need gear, but the need for specific gear goes down.
Idk about the other two, my first impression of the Pyrokinticist was it being two focused, but I didn't look too much into it.
Aegis is the splashiest sonofa~ that you can roll, pretty much. With Student of the Astral Suit I recommend switching out around level 6 to get the other stuff you want - you can return to aegis afterwards. Whether that's a weaponmaster for 3 feats and gloves of dueling, or an archeologist to instead pick up a luck bonus, or six levels of adaptive warrior or whatever, well that's up to you. But the most important growth aspects will continue those four levels.
Student of the Astral Suit? I can't find that anywhere.
I'm planing on allowing DSP due to the good reviews, but this does worry me. What are the limitations on that?The only downside is that you really have to start relying on Harness stone abilities at high levels to keep your to-hit on par with a fighter or smiting paladin.A 4 level dip into fighter (weapon master) would've helped a whole lot. You would get an extra +3 with the great sword if you bought Gloves of Dueling. You would be have 3 bonus feats. One would make up for the needing to take the Student of the Astral Suit feat so your astral suit customizations to continue to increase during the dip. You can also take offensive customizations like Improved Damage.
You would lose 2 uses of reconfigure and one of augment suit. The feats could help regain some flexibility if not used for pure damage like weapon specialization. You also lose a point of damage reduction.
I think I'll just go with pure Aegis. By the time I would like that dip (16+), I'm not taking combat feats anymore.
I think I'll be fine even without power stones. I can be a huge Aegis with powerful build wielding a gargantuan great sword for 6d6 damage and vital striking for 24d6 damage. Even if I don't power attack I'm looking at at-least 24d6+23 per round.
The limitation is that you're size Huge.
Doors and regular sized buildings/caves/streets/whatever are a problem.
The limitation is that you're size Huge.
Doors and regular sized buildings/caves/streets/whatever are a problem.
You could say that's the biggest limitation. Huh-huh-huh.
I see what you did thur....
I'm thinking of making psionics not transparent. make it interesting...
Well. Pseudo transparent. need to figure out what would or wouldn't cross over first.
You could say that's the biggest limitation. Huh-huh-huh.The limitation is that you're size Huge.
Doors and regular sized buildings/caves/streets/whatever are a problem.
Vital strike can be USEFUL on an aegis, but it is not THE way to build one.
What I like most about the Aegis is their utility, movement, and special defenses. They can counter spells without literally eating them (barbar). Sure it takes effort to keep the damage up post 16, but by then it's more important being able to do your damage consistently than doing a lot of damage should the opportunity present itself (fighter).
My current Aegis just retrained from fighter, so I am really looking forward to being able to do little things like fly.
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I see what you did thur....
I'm thinking of making psionics not transparent. make it interesting...
Well. Pseudo transparent. need to figure out what would or wouldn't cross over first.
Thematically I see psionics and magic have the same effect just different ways to get there. Psions use mental power from themselves to imposed their minds eye reality on the real space while wizards use the fundamental rules upon which reality is built to bend it to their will.
I think that is why a wizard's 3rd level spell fireball does 10d6 at level 10, and a psions third level "spell" at ten still only does 5d6. The strength of the wizards spell is from knowledge, they can do more with less, while a psion requires the same amount of energy to impose their vision, they just get vastly more energy as they progress in levels.
That is how I justify transparency. Both psionics and magic augment the real-space and thus can interfere with each other easily.
I see what you did thur....
I'm thinking of making psionics not transparent. make it interesting...
Well. Pseudo transparent. need to figure out what would or wouldn't cross over first.
Be very, very careful treading down that road. o_o
It is almost impossible for some sort of drastic balance issue not to crop up. If you mod the resistances of all monsters (which you'd need to to not render 100% of the magic-resistant monsters super vulnerable to psionics) then you'd also have to be careful about the frequency of magic vs psionic effects. For example, dispel psionics is pretty weaksauce when the only effects you can dispel are your own. >_>
It's very easy to go swing from being awesome and balance to A) grossly overpowered as nothing can defend against them, to B) grossly underpowered because they no defenses or ways of dealing with problems.
I see what you did thur....
I'm thinking of making psionics not transparent. make it interesting...
Well. Pseudo transparent. need to figure out what would or wouldn't cross over first.
I highly recommend against this.
Not a problem then. Thanks for letting me know. Definitely going to be allowing the DSP psionics and Tome of Battle once that comes out.
I think for the martial psionicists, I'm flavoring it as a type of chakra/prana life force energy. I've always liked that style of psychic magic, focused on life energy and souls and spirits. It's cool.
That's how I fixed the monk. Dropped ki points and remastered them with psionics. Now they're freakin' awesome.
All true, which is why I'm apprehensive... But, meh.
That said.
I'm not a fan of monks losing Qi and going "Psion". But, then again, as a lover of martial arts myself, it's more personal preference.
That said.....
Anyone know if the d20pfsrd is going to put the Dark Tempest up, or am I going to have to see if I can't bum a PDF off a buddy?
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I'm not a fan of monks losing Qi and going "Psion".
It's kind of a tomato - tomato thing. The PP represents their Ki/Qi/Chi/Prana/Energy/Wisdom-Mojo, and I just felt like keeping the basic ki mechanics of the PF monk (which largely served the exact same purpose only in a far more limited range of possible ways to play your monk) would just be wholly redundant as it would basically leave you with two different resource pools that both represented the ki that you had to do mystical things like take spears to the throat and laugh about it.
The best RPing advice I could ever impart to anyone, ever, is don't worry much about metagame names. It'll just muddy the waters.
If you prefer the mechanical pool that the core PF monk has, then that's a different thing entirely. But if it's just the names, remember that is metagaming and nothing that has any bearing to what's going on in the actual world. :P
I see what you did thur....
I'm thinking of making psionics not transparent. make it interesting...
Well. Pseudo transparent. need to figure out what would or wouldn't cross over first.
Unless you have a lot of free time and a good understanding of psionics I would not go this route. With that said another poster asked about this recently.
I'm not a fan of monks losing Qi and going "Psion".It's kind of a tomato - tomato thing. The PP represents their Ki/Qi/Chi/Prana/Energy/Wisdom-Mojo, and I just felt like keeping the basic ki mechanics of the PF monk (which largely served the exact same purpose only in a far more limited range of possible ways to play your monk) would just be wholly redundant as it would basically leave you with two different resource pools that both represented the ki that you had to do mystical things like take spears to the throat and laugh about it.
The best RPing advice I could ever impart to anyone, ever, is don't worry much about metagame names. It'll just muddy the waters.
If you prefer the mechanical pool that the core PF monk has, then that's a different thing entirely. But if it's just the names, remember that is metagaming and nothing that has any bearing to what's going on in the actual world. :P
Example: You can easily reflavour the Aegis as Iron-Man. (he uses a fair bit of money to keep his suit outfitted in weapons)
Making a character for a Gestalt game with Psionics (mostly Psionics, in fact. Magic isn't banned, but heavily frowned upon).
The Metamorph PrC is really damn good when you can have a full BaB component. Aberrant Aegis/Psion into that is sweeeeeeeeet.
The main problem is that you lose 2 Manifester levels, so you get the Major Metamorphosis 2 levels later, but the stuff is oh so worth it. CHange menu options on the fly (if you have Hustle you can change all of them as a Swift essentially, Swift for Hustle and use the extra Move for that), free uses of Metamorphosis per day, new abilities (which are honestly kinda meh because the save DCs are based on CLASS level in a 10 level PrC, but still nice), Permanent duration Metamorphosis at 10th level (15th/16th total), and the holy grail: Actually gaining a monster type when you transform.
'Scuse me while I stick with Elemental all day erry day and never worry about crits again kthx. Or occasionally Construct if we're fighting something that can slap you with any one of basically every condition in the game, since you can change it as a Swift.
Very nice.
As a follow-up question, if the Nomad really can zip around the battlefield that many times a day with no repercussions...is that overpowered?
Unless you have all 18s in your stats you're still going to be limited as you teleport. Teleporters' bane is weight and STR checks. So start getting some extradimensional storage with your WBL like Handy Haversacks and Bags of Holding (although those can be heavy too). A Heavyload Belt (Ant Haul spell from APG, Ultimate Equipment) is fine at low levels to change your encumbrance, but you still can't carry much with you until you change your STR modifier.
I actually prefer Inertial Armor over Mage Armor or even a suit of half-plate, because of the weight factor. Inertial Armor is pumpable, Mage Armor is not (until you are Level 16 with crafting). The same goes for Force Screen vs. Shield. One lucky AoO from a bad guy and you're going to be losing a lot of hit points while you've been stopped in your tracks.
If you're going with Psion (Nomad) you have got to, and I mean really got to, look at the Elocator prestige class. It's really one of the best prestige classes in the game. Not only does it give you some free teleporting and less-cost teleporting, you can walk on air with it. All day long. It's better than Boots of Levitation because it's not just straight up-and-down, it's at any angle you want to be at, even upside-down and carrying somebody. All your battles become 3-dimensional so you don't get in the way of the sword-and-board trying to get that flank around the BBEG.
As a follow-up question, if the Nomad really can zip around the battlefield that many times a day with no repercussions...is that overpowered?Unless you have all 18s in your stats you're still going to be limited as you teleport. Teleporters' bane is weight and STR checks. So start getting some extradimensional storage with your WBL like Handy Haversacks and Bags of Holding (although those can be heavy too). A Heavyload Belt (Ant Haul spell from APG, Ultimate Equipment) is fine at low levels to change your encumbrance, but you still can't carry much with you until you change your STR modifier.
I actually prefer Inertial Armor over Mage Armor or even a suit of half-plate, because of the weight factor. Inertial Armor is pumpable, Mage Armor is not (until you are Level 16 with crafting). The same goes for Force Screen vs. Shield. One lucky AoO from a bad guy and you're going to be losing a lot of hit points while you've been stopped in your tracks.
If you're going with Psion (Nomad) you have got to, and I mean really got to, look at the Elocator prestige class. It's really one of the best prestige classes in the game. Not only does it give you some free teleporting and less-cost teleporting, you can walk on air with it. All day long. It's better than Boots of Levitation because it's not just straight up-and-down, it's at any angle you want to be at, even upside-down and carrying somebody. All your battles become 3-dimensional so you don't get in the way of the sword-and-board trying to get that flank around the BBEG.
To be fair though, casters do have other means of not getting hit. Like mirror image and displacement/blur.
If you're going for pure manifester, then you want to look at Metamind or Psicrystal Imprinter. One gives you more points, which is the psion's bread and butter, while the other gives you more powers and crafting bonuses, along with a few extra psionic power points.
I will agree the three manifester levels you lose in Elocator (and other prestige classes, like Metamind) is hard for most to swallow, since it means no 9th-level powers. But the Nomad/Elocator fit has so many other advantages, that it is still one of the top 5 prestige combos in my book.