Quick Psionic Question: Ectoplasmic Cocoon + Burrowing Power?

[pfooti]

Does that seem like a good idea? Let's say I do an ectoplasmic cocoon (and later on, mass ecto cocoon), and follow it up with something like a burrowing energy bolt. This seems like a pretty good idea, right, or am I missing something?

[PhaedrusXY]

You're not missing anything. It's an awesome combo. I'd suggest something like Energy Wall or Energy Current for the damage, though. The damage from Energy Wall likely won't do much to the coccoon if you pick an energy that only does half or 1/4th damage to objects, and Energy Current wouldn't affect the Cocoon at all, as it is a targetted power. Both are powers with durations of Concentration, meaning you can rack up tons of damage for only a few power points.

Edit: You'd probably need a way to "see" them to use Energy Current, though.

[pfooti]

Yeah, using clairvoyant sense would work to target things in a cocoon, especially a mass cocoon (since that's got hour/level duration). I think, though, that I'm going to avoid using this combo in actual play. I've got a bad reputation at the table as a munchkin (rather than just an optimizer) already, so I'm trying to not totally overpower the table level.

[Omen of Peace]

While one may think it works from the "looks" of things, EC has the following wording:

The creature within the cocoon [...] cannot be directly harmed or interacted with unless the cocoon is destroyed.

Since there is no definition for "direct harm" it's in the hands of the DM.
(It seems to me most powers you'd want to use cause direct harm.)

[pfooti]

That's definitely an issue. I would imagine that a liberal DM would overlook that - it seems more like it's in there to keep people from pincushioning the cocoon or whatever.

On balance, this entire notion is predicated on a particular feat that's otherwise not all that useful (burrowing power) and involves a multi-save situation that causes people to take HP damage. It's neat, and while I like the idea of a burrowing energy current blowing up a whole field of mass ecto cocooned foes, it seems like this might just take too much work to pull off, when you could just as easily use normal SoDs.