Couple questions on psionic powers

[Sirdanile]

[weenog]

Then I use a surprise round of combat to cast Swarm of Crystals spending 7 pp to make it 7d4 damage, I rolled really well getting 25 damage, now it has a range of 15 feet, they're on the ground 20 feet below me, does gravity take the crystals and allow the spell to hit anyway? "Thousands of tiny crystal shards spray forth in an arc from your hand." Also the no save brought up a few questions.

This works, but not for the reason you think it does.  Spells, powers, etc affect the area they say they affect and no more, gravity and inertia and the like don't help you at all.  However, a cone-shaped spread effect starts in any corner of your space and widens as it goes.  You, being a Medium creature, take up a 5-foot cube of space, which means if you're clinging to a ceiling 20' off the ground, the lowest corners of your space are only 15' up, and the spread effect can reach from the boundary of your space down to the floor.  The power doesn't offer a save, but why should it?  The damage is awful.  You brought it up to 7d4 by paying for it as if it were a 4th-level power, and 7-28 slashing damage at a very short range, which may or may not be subject to damage reduction (more knowledgeable psifolk should know) is a pitiful thing to be blowing a 4th level spell or power on.

I declare that i am planning to cast it on the eagle druid to make it feel like it's having a heart attack (Having been lacerated by a bunch of crystals i'm merely changing the location of where the pain is felt). I was attempting to make the bird fall out of the sky and crash into the ground for some falling damage, and be unable to act for his next round

No.  FSI is a trickery power, not an attack power.  Even if you can provide the target with a sensation that indicates it's dying, it's not dying.  The phantom heart attack has no functional effect, except whatever reaction the target chooses to have to such misleading information (including no reaction).

I'm not touching Energy Wall.

[rot42]

Swarm of Crystals: what Weenog said. It is a Metacreativity (Creation) power, but the duration is instantaneous so the material created disappears promptly - no collecting the shards and selling them later, loading them in your ballista, or anything like that. edit: coises, foiled again by people who actually read the rules 

[Lycanthromancer]

Swarm of Crystals: what Weenog said. It is a Metacreativity (Creation) power, but the duration is instantaneous so the material created disappears promptly - no collecting the shards and selling them later, loading them in your ballista, or anything like that.

Actually, the crystals are instantaneous in the same way that a Wall of Stone is. They stick around forever. However, RAW, the crystals are only dangerous in the power's area of effect. The way I justify it is that the manifester is using psionic energy to fire them, and that energy only supports the shards in the AoE. Outside of it, they flounder, the same way Giacomo's arguments do when they're not supported by RAW.

And said arguments have no AoE, usually.

[Sirdanile]

Outside of it, they flounder, the same way Giacomo's arguments do when they're not supported by RAW.

And said arguments have no AoE, usually.

HAHA! Nice

Thanks for the responses guys, definitely helps having multiple knowledgeable outside sources

[Bozwevial]

Metacreativity (Creation) powers were errataed in Complete Psionic so that they do allow damage reduction, IIRC. However, that's kind of a stupid rule, so absolutely no one would blame you if you wanted to ignore it.

[Lycanthromancer]

Metacreativity (Creation) powers were errataed in Complete Psionic so that they do allow damage reduction, IIRC. However, that's kind of a stupid rule, so absolutely no one would blame you if you wanted to ignore it.

I disagree.

It's KIND OF nothing.

[Redeemer of Ogar]

However, RAW, the crystals are only dangerous in the power's area of effect. The way I justify it is that the manifester is using psionic energy to fire them, and that energy only supports the shards in the AoE. [/quote]

Agreed. Picture a bomb blast in a shop with a big plate window (we've all seen plenty of those types of images by now).  If you're near the window, the shards of glass are going to go right through you. If you're farther out away from it, you still might experience a light rain of glass, and maybe pick up a couple small scratches from the pieces being sharp, but it generally will not have a damaging effect because the force of the blast is weakened with distance.