Hello Paizo Messageboard!
In the current campaign I am GMing, I have been using an NPC Vitalist to assist my players as no one was interested in the role of healing. Doing this, I realized Psionics are far cooler than I originally thought, and now am considering building a melee psionic class for a campaign where I'll be a player in the coming months.
However, I have no idea which melee psionic is for me, and as such, have turned here for advice! :D
The Psychic Warrior using the feral path, Aberrant Aegis, or Egoist Psion all jumped out at me somewhat, but I'm not sure which I like best. Each certainly has advantages and disadvantages though:
Egoist seems to be the most versatile in terms of powers, also being able to access more buffs that the PsyWar. That being said, its 1/2 BAB and d6 are smaller than the PsyWar and frail compared to the Aberrant.
Aberrant has no innate manifesting ability, but has access to things like tentacles and enhancement bonuses to its physical stats through customizations. The benefit I see here is no buff time, they just transform and wade into battle, especially with full BAB and d10 HD.
PsyWar seems like a middle ground between these. 3/4 BAB and d8 falls right in between the others, with medium power progression. It gains certain buffs faster than the egoist, but does not going the powerful metamorphosis powers they do. They also require several rounds to match the Aberrant's level of power, which is a big deal.
So, any suggestions? :P
I think PsyWar is a better choice than Egoist unless you really want to change shape. But even then, Claw of the Beast/Bite of the Wolf will do a lot more natural attack damage than the best Metamorphosis claw/bite you can get.
If you just want to slug it out, Aberrant Aegis is probaly the way to go. If you want more tactical choice, the PsyWar. Check out stuff like Vanishing Strike (hit, teleport and be invisible) and especially Thundering Step (it's possible to chain together Daze lock downs on a melee group and totally disrupt them).
If you're playing with a team that has at least two other melee/archer characters you might also consider the Tactician. I think the best Tactician builds focus on manifesting team buffs and the occasional low level debuff, but you can do some melee support with 3/4 BAB, d8, the same buffs you just gave your team, plus the teamwork shared feats later on.
Meditant Psychic Warrior if all you care about is dishing out some SMACK. Egoist is obviously going to win in terms of versatility, but Psionics is nice in that even the Psychic Warrior still has plenty of Versatility to work with.
I think PsyWar is a better choice than Egoist unless you really want to change shape. But even then, Claw of the Beast/Bite of the Wolf will do a lot more natural attack damage than the best Metamorphosis claw/bite you can get.
If you just want to slug it out, Aberrant Aegis is probaly the way to go. If you want more tactical choice, the PsyWar. Check out stuff like Vanishing Strike (hit, teleport and be invisible) and especially Thundering Step (it's possible to chain together Daze lock downs on a melee group and totally disrupt them).
If you're playing with a team that has at least two other melee/archer characters you might also consider the Tactician. I think the best Tactician builds focus on manifesting team buffs and the occasional low level debuff, but you can do some melee support with 3/4 BAB, d8, the same buffs you just gave your team, plus the teamwork shared feats later on.
I thought the egoist was a bit frail to be considered for a melee role, so thank you for confirming that. I like the idea of the Aberrant in that it maintains a certain level of power all the time, although after thoroughly examining the PsyWar's power list, I feel they are capable of buffing themselves to be much more powerful, that is, given enough time.
I think the Aberrant would be better suited to a tank role, what with a higher HD and more constant level of power, where the PsyWar is more useful utility and damage, as it can dish out an insane amount in a short period of time, but needs a bit of set up time to do so.
With Vigor + Share Power on a Psicrystal + Share Pain, any Psion who wants to can be the healthiest person on the planet.
With Vigor + Share Power on a Psicrystal + Share Pain, any Psion who wants to can be the healthiest person on the planet.
Oh of course, I only meant frail in the sense of base HD and BAB concerning melee :P I'm aware that psions have the most versatile power set available to them.
Slayer PrC allows you to maintain a very good manifest level and get a better BAB and HD. I believe that was what I did for my elan melee caster.
Slayer PrC allows you to maintain a very good manifest level and get a better BAB and HD. I believe that was what I did for my elan melee caster.
I'm not familiar with whatever that is, can you link to it?
Slayer PrC allows you to maintain a very good manifest level and get a better BAB and HD. I believe that was what I did for my elan melee caster.I'm not familiar with whatever that is, can you link to it?
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/psionics-unleashed/psionic-prestige-classes/phrenic -slayer
Full BAB, d10 hit die, 9/10 ml maintained