Help me Min/Max a Psion.

[Gr1lledcheese]

A buddy of mine is starting a campaign and Im considering a Psion.

What I want from this character is to control the battlefield with buffs, debuffs, summons, and infrequent but effective blasts. I am likely to go the Metacreativity (shaper) route as an Elan. Astral Construct looks too good to pass up. However, this is my first dip into Psionic anything so Im going to need a lot of help picking feats, powers etc. Any help you guys can put together as I sit down to read the Expanded Psionic handbook cover to cover would be awesome. Any splat book out there is fair game, and any option is available to me.

Thanks so much!

[rubberduck]

you should take a look at the psion handbook
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=1036.0

and the minds eye archive at wizards http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/arch/psi

that should help

[mans0011]

Are you starting at level 1?
Elans are a little over rated, but they can be good.
Shapers are awesome, look into the Constructor PrC at Mindseye.

[Lycanthromancer]

Yeah. What level are you starting from? Because that can completely alter our advice.

[PhaedrusXY]

Elans are a little over rated, but they can be good.

I agree. Warforged are way better for Shapers, especially at low levels. 

[Gr1lledcheese]

I am starting at level 1, yes. I was also considering a human. Warforged are unfortunately not allowed 

[PhaedrusXY]

I am starting at level 1, yes. I was also considering a human. Warforged are unfortunately not allowed 

Then I guess it's not really:

Any splat book out there is fair game, and any option is available to me.

Is it? 

What about Kalashtar? That's another good psion race. Or is everything from Eberron banned?

[Gr1lledcheese]

Hmm, he hasn't said anything about warforged being not allowed, only that he would prefer if no races from Faerun were allowed. But since Warforged and Kalashtar are from Eberron, I may be able to convince him.

But first, what does the Kalashtar do? Im not familiar with the race. Does it have a level adjustment? Because I'll already be losing a Manifester level with Constructor Prc.

And also, for the constructor prestige class, there is a requirement Im not familar with: Augment Construction. Is it a feat? Is it a power? I don't know it doesn't say. 

[ReaderOfPosts]

Kalashtar gives a few small bonuses to skills and saves against certain effects (negligible), mindlink 1/day (somewhat passable), and 1 pp/character level (which is why they're great psionic characters). They have no level adjustment.

For a shaper, warforged are awesome, since A) psionic repair damage is a very efficient healing ability, especially when combined with share pain psicrystal/vigor B) The body feats let you get a decent AC without inertial armor, and C) Being pretty tough is nice.

[PhaedrusXY]

Doh! I'd forgotten that Kalashtar have Mindlink 1/day. That is perfect for entering Thrallherd without taking that as a power known, or blowing an Expanded Knowledge on it. Time to update my character I'm working on again!

[Gr1lledcheese]

That still doesn't solve my problem of not knowing what Augment Construction is for the Constructor prestige class.

[BowenSilverclaw]

IIRC it's a feat from Complete Psionic.

Not sure though, I'm AFB right now and it's been a while since I last checked the Constructor...

[PhaedrusXY]

That still doesn't solve my problem of not knowing what Augment Construction is for the Constructor prestige class.

I've never heard of an Augment Construction feat. Are you looking at the 3.0 version of the PrC? Here is the 3.5 one. It requires Boost Construct, which is in the XPH.

[BowenSilverclaw]

That still doesn't solve my problem of not knowing what Augment Construction is for the Constructor prestige class.

I've never heard of an Augment Construction feat. Are you looking at the 3.0 version of the PrC? Here is the 3.5 one. It requires Boost Construct, which is in the XPH.

Ah, I must have been confusing the 3.5 version with the 3.0 version. Sorry, Gr1lledcheese.

[Gr1lledcheese]

Whoa maybe I don't want to take this Prc. I would lose 2 manifester levels and I don't know if it's worth it.

Granted, summoning 3 astral constructs for 4 more PP is pretty intense though.

Argh, what do you all think? It is worth losing 2 manifester levels?

[Tazendra]

If you want to specialize in Constructs its a worthwhile tradeoff, as long as your DM doesn't use the idiotic Nerf from CPsi that only allows one construct to be available at a time.

If all you want to do is spam constructs, you may want to consider a Wilder entry instead.

[PhaedrusXY]

Psionic prestige classes are like that. You don't get something for nothing, like a lot of the arcane ones. Going Psion 20 is a perfectly viable option, and is competitive with PrCs.

[Gr1lledcheese]

Im pretty sure he wont use that nerf. This prestige class wouldn't exist if that nerf were viable IMO. Plus you lose 2 manifester levels, so it's a fair trade off.


The astral construct is a nasty Fing opponent though, even without this Prc. Summoning 3 at a time all boosted to hell makes me wonder what I need a fighter for.

One thing I am concerned about though is the amount of PP I will have at 20th level. Are there feats to boost your total PP?

Also, I feel like I should take extend construct before I go full constructor. Possibly as my level 3 feat if I can squeeze it in, or use flaws to get myself there. Should I grab that early? *Edit* Just noticed there isn't a feat for this. Never mind.

[PhaedrusXY]

The astral construct is a nasty Fing opponent though, even without this Prc. Summoning 3 at a time all boosted to hell makes me wonder what I need a fighter for.

This is a good question, Astral Construct aside.  Pretty much everybody can replace the fighter.

One thing I am concerned about though is the amount of PP I will have at 20th level. Are there feats to boost your total PP?

Well... technically Practiced Manifester should boost the bonus power points you get from having a high ability score, but the feat is worded in a way so that this probably isn't RAI. There are other tricks, like having a spellcaster use Mental Pinnacle, then Fuse/Metaconcert with a low level psionic follower who uses Bestow Power to transfer all the Power Points from Mental Pinnacle to you. Or the caster could put a Dweomer of Transferrance on you, and dump all their spells into it. Both spells can be found in the SRD.

Also, I feel like I should take extend construct before I go full constructor. Possibly as my level 3 feat if I can squeeze it in, or use flaws to get myself there. Should I grab that early? *Edit* Just noticed there isn't a feat for this. Never mind.

You could use Extend Power for this.

[BowenSilverclaw]

One thing I am concerned about though is the amount of PP I will have at 20th level. Are there feats to boost your total PP?

A batch of +1 Manifester Arrows should help somewhat