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Psychic Battery is a Psi-Tech discovery for the psychic class that is meant to be used alongside technological items using the system outlined in the Technology Guide.
Psi-tech discoveries are taken in the place of phrenic amplifications, which are effectively metamagic feats applied to psychic spells.
Here is the text from the discovery:
"Psychic Battery (Su): You can expend an unused spell slot or a number of points from your phrenic pool as a swift action to power a technological device you are touching. Each spell level expended in this way grants the device 1 charge, and every 2 points from your phrenic pool spent grant 1 charge. Any charges unused at the end of the round are lost, and any charges used by the device that round that aren't provided by you must come from the device's own power reserves. You cannot use this ability to power timeworn technology. You can power only devices that use charges. You must be at least 7th level to select this discovery."
I cannot see why this ability isn't just garbage. I love the idea a lot, and it seems perfect for the psychic character my player is rolling up to replace his now-dead magus in our Iron Gods campaign, but since the charges are lost that round, it seems way, way underpowered. It's not nothing to sacrifice a spell slot, and it also means the character will never sacrifice more than a 2nd level spell over the duration of his adventuring career.
Moreover, how would the character use this? Why? Psychics don't wear armor. Psychics are unlikely to be using the technological weapons littered around Iron Gods except as a last resort, and most of the technological gear isn't suited for this because you're not likely to be needing a swift action charge buff RIGHT NOW.
Obviously it's possible that the ability is just underpowered, but can someone tell me why my reading is wrong?
If it turns out to be as bad as I think, I am going to boost the duration of the charges gained to equal the psychic level of PC and to allow the psychic to make a caster level check agains the Craft DC required to make the item in order to charge timeworn items. I've read the entire AP through twice, and with that in mind, even the short duration buff seems unnecessary, but I want to keep in the spirit of the original ability while enhancing it enough to be an attractive option for the PC in my campaign.
I'd love people's feedback.
Yes. It is a great trade. My big issue is with the ability's duration, not the ability itself.
It's not nothing to sacrifice a spell slot, and it also means the character will never sacrifice more than a 2nd level spell over the duration of his adventuring career.
Not sure why you think the bolded. You can spend it on (1) one hour increments of armor and utility thinks like communication gear or those eye visor things for a single spell level, (2) a full attack (up to 4 attacks total with free rapid shot and haste) with a pistol or rifle for a 4th level spell, or (3) a heavy weapon that can use up to 10 charges (Vortex gun) per shot, or up to 15 charges per round (X-laser) with a Haste boosted full attack, so up to a 9th level spell can be burned to boost existing battery charge and get those effects.
I'm not saying those are great returns for expending higher level spells, but you can actually do it and get something out of it. You can also serve as an assistant gunner for a more specialized martial character and feed charges to his weapon while he full attacks and would otherwise burn 6 charges per round, you can keep him going longer.
I think your duration change is ok, but note that the 500 gp Recharge spell can't ever charge a timeworn item, only the 10,000 gp Memory of Function can. Letting you do it for free, even sometimes, probably is out of balance with this stuff. If your GM would let you do this, he should just give you regular items that aren't timeworn in the first place.
The whole point of timeworn technology is to provide a limiting factor for GMs who don't want unlimited use tech. Allowing abilities to cheaply or easily overcome that would defeat the entire purpose.