Wanting to play a psychic for this. We're 15 point buy, but I'm playing an emberkin aasimar so I get the +2 to Int and Cha. Also rolled pretty well on the variant abilities and got +2 on saves vs fear, which is part of what got me thinking about a psychic.
I'd like to try out the Dream discipline, but it seems somewhat useless, and so I'm looking at the Rapport discipline instead.
So what kinds of things should I take into consideration (for build and tactics)? Anybody else played through this with a psychic?
Fear effects prevent casting spells with somatic/emotion components, and there are lots of scary things in this AP.
At the beginning of your career you can get around this with Logical Spell metamagic (an expensive build resource), a wand/potion of Remove Fear (gp expensive and not immediately available), or casting from the extensive list of verbal/thought component only spells.
Also note that an Abomination discipline psychic can avoid fear effects when invoking his dark half (mechanically and thematically, this seems the most popular discipline for this AP), and with 2nd level spells you can cast Placebo Effect (verbal/thought only) to remove fear effects from yourself without relying on items or outside help.
I think there is a trait or a feat that allows you to cast one spell even if you're feared. Just make that one spell remove fear.
I don't like Remove Fear because of the action economy, and you can generally just have the effect reapplied.
Take Iron Will.
Generally a good idea, but doesn't help against demoralize use of the Intimidate skill, which is an auto success at some point. If you're going this direction, Sorrow, Tranquility, Hag-Called, Rapport, and Bleaching disciplines all give discipline power bonuses to saves in general, or fear/mind-affecting saves in particular.
Another option is Intellect Fortress, an expensive (4th level spell known and slot to use) but immediate action way to remove fear effects from both yourself and your party at later levels if you need to bust out a big V,S spell immediately or prevent half your party from fleeing/cowering and being split up.
For low levels picking some solid verbal/thought only spells is the better strategy. Some combination of Command/Murderous Command/Deja Vu at 1st spell level and Blindness/Deafness or Suggestion at 2nd will ensure you can keep casting useful combat spells even when you're shaken. By the time you're casting 3rd level spells you can find space for Placebo Effect (a 2nd level spell) in your spells known, or take Intellect Fortress I as a 4th level spell.
A lot of what I'm looking for is what kinds of things I'm going to need to build around. Generally the biggest problems for a psychic caster are going to be immunity to mind-affecting, SR/high saves, and dealing with fear. Obviously all those things can be built around, but without knowing how prevalent each is, I don't know how to prioritize.
You need ways to deal with all of those. Fear is the one to prioritize because it is a problem at level 1, then probably immunity to mind affecting (summons, evocation, or crowd control spells in your spell selection), and SR is handled mid to late game by the reroll phrenic amplification, maybe also with Spell Penetration if you want to be extra certain.
I generally regard Will of the Dead as the first obvious phrenic amplification, Overpowering Mind/Relentless Casting as the other two in whatever order. The others are more fringe but can replace Overpowering Mind or be picked up for a feat if they meet your build.
Max out Intelligence to deal with saves, learn the Remove Fear spell and take the Logical Spell feat, take a few spells that aren't mind-affecting to handle immune enemies. It really doesn't take much to cover all the psychic's bases so long as you know what you need to be covering.
learn the Remove Fear spell and take the Logical Spell feat
This is common advice that I think is dead wrong. Devoting a spell known and a not otherwise useful metamagic feat to an avoidable problem is too big an ask.
If you hold on until 4th level you can learn Placebo Effect, which does everything Remove Fear does but more and also can be cast while you are afraid without metamagic help.
Until 4th level you just have backup spell options that don't require emotion components.
Alternately, take those options and retrain them later.
They’re still bad for action economy reasons.
Thanks, that's more what I'm looking for.
Follow up question. I know that in general the Lucid Dreamer feat is useless, but does it have any applicability in this game?
Abomination was the route I went in for a Psychic for this game....
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Follow up question. I know that in general the Lucid Dreamer feat is useless, but does it have any applicability in this game?
It's useless; Strange Aeons uses its own rules for the Dimension of Dreams that don't interact with the Lucid Dreamer feat at all.