While I would agree that flayerspawn psychic is prolly 0 I would have to say that I disagree with some of Zarothar's assuptions. First, you get 3 feats from 10 levels of this PrC, not 2, also these feats are heritage feats not psionic so you cannot select them as bonus feats as a psion. You would have use character feats to get them which makes getting extration very difficult. Second, I was under the impression that you compare the entry class to the multiclassed and see if there is an I
improvement, not how it compared to higher tier base classes (since we are not comparing base classes).
Yes, I know you get three feats. However, unless you want to suffer -4 ML (and manifester level is VERY important for augmentation), you need to spend a feat on Practised Manifester. To me, that means that you only get two bonus feats. If you sacrifice your ML, you're making the Flayerspawn Psychic even WORSE.
Complete Psi, page 61: "Illithid heritage feats are considered psionic feats."
Psions can take any psionic feat as a bonus feat. Happily, so can Psychic Warriors; in fact, if you want to be eating brains, you really should have some front line ability. It's easy to miss, so I don't blame you. Kinda sad that even that tiny niche of Illithid Heritage-grubbing that the Flayerspawn Psychic potentially had is actually a lie.
I'm under the impression that you consider the initial position of the class (in the case of Psion, Tier 2). Only if the PrC can boost you up a tier should it be considered +1. Maybe I misunderstood the tier system Zeal was going for...
Besides which, the Flayerspawn Psychic is a clear downgrade on the Psion. Even by your conceptualisation of the tier system, it's a pretty safe bet for -1 tier (maybe -2). Psion 20 does it better. Way better.
About anarchic initiate, same thing, the big 5 have nothing to do with conversation even mentioning them betrays the point of this debate. How does a psion 20 compare to psion10/AI10? Assuming the psion uses research to get must have powers and psychic reformation to get must have feats. The multiclassed is clearly on top and wild surge effectivily increses points and MLs, I won't even mention the infinite point loop a psion can have with bestow power, earth power and surge. Want to nova every encounter as a psion? Now you can.
Again, I'm under a different impression of the tier system than you. Besides, I agree that there is the potential for a +2 tier ranking, I'm just not completely convinced of it.
Ebon saint loses 2 MLs not one. The capstone for ebon saint is basically an upgraded cloud mind, very underwhelming when you could get it as a lurk. Only benefit you have is they don't remember they saw you. Of course, good skills in hide and/or disguise do the same thing.
Check again. It's only 1 ML.
Besides, don't look at just the capstone. The 3rd level augment, Mind Interrogation, means that you can get information from almost anyone. Immunity to mind-affecting abilities? No problem, all it requires is a successful Dire Strike. Immunity to Sneak Attack isn't a big deal either, as there are ways to sneak attack just about anything. Think about what you can do with that in a stealth/spy campaign - nobody can hide things from you.
The 4th level augment, Steal Form. Well, that's basically a weird way of getting Alter Self. Again, you can sneak attack undead/constructs through various means, so your Dire Strike should be able to pick up just about anyone. Add on Metamorphic Transfer, and you can steal abilities from all sorts of people.
The 2nd level augment, Thought Theft, has a decent DC and, importantly, a favourable scaling DC augment. Consider that the Read Thoughts power does not have a scaling DC, and you've got yet another niche where the Ebon Saint can potentially come out ahead. It's a limited version of Read Thoughts, but a valuable one nonetheless.
I agree that Disappear from Mind is unspectacular, but it does have uses. A mediocre capstone doesn't render the rest of the class useless, however. I should note that you also get the ability to use three dire augments at once at 5th level, so Disappear From Mind isn't the only feature that you get at that level.
Storm diciple sucks because you will lose an aura to stack. A divine mind 10 would have 2 auras up at the same time while a DM5/SD5 would only have one. A clear lose.
It's a loss for a Divine Mind, yes, but it's +0 for a Fighter x/Ardent 1. All you need is a single level of Ardent to pick up a mantle, and you're in the class. The class features are absolutely lame, even compared to Fighter bonus feats, but I think that three extra levels of manifesting make up for that to an extent. Divine Mind should be avoided in the first place, frankly.
Ectopic adept is only bad if you compare it to pre-errata AC. But to judge this class on a rule that is no longer in effect is just not fair. Even f you compare this to the constructer on Mind's eye website, this one is a bit better because it has less feat requirement, gets 2 construct in only 5 levels and free ectoptic forms
Complete Psi isn't official errata, frankly. The book itself is in dire need of some errata...
But, okay, say that we are using that crappy errata. Ectopic Adept is +0. It's really not good enough to be considered an upgrade.
Comparing it to the Constructor? Umm... No, that class beats the pants off the Ectopic Adept even with errata.
Let's break it down:
Entry - Advantage: Constructor. No useless feats.
Skills - Advantage: Constructor. Two extra skill points/level helps with all those little crafting skills that Shapers love to have. Oh, yeah, and you have to have almost full ranks in Craft: Sculpting at all times to get any benefit out of the Ectopic Adept, while the Constructor can pick and choose which skills it wants to boost.
Manifester Level - Advantage: Ectopic Adept. However, both classes do get 9th level powers.
Construct Enhancement - Advantage: Constructor. More menu options and two extra menu selections per day beat the pants off the restrictive Ectopic Form feats. Resilient Construct is underwhelming compared to extra menu selections.
Construct Manifesting Speed - Advantage: Constructor. Permanent quickened (swift action) construction is the capstone. The Ectopic Adept can only do that five times a day, and that's as a standard action.
Construct Numbers - Advantage: Constructor. Okay, for the sake of argument, let's use that nerfed AC. The Constructor has a good old laugh and manifests extra ACs for 2 extra pp each. Silly errata, it can't stop him! The Ectopic Adept manifests an entire second instance of AC once a day, and then goes into the fetal position and weeps.
Construct Utility - Advantage: Constructor. Utility Construct is amazing.
Construct Persistence - Advantage: Constructor. 1 min/level ACs by default. Thank you very much!
Extras - Advantage: Constructor. The situational stuff like Combat Construction and Ecto Protection.
So... Uh. Yeah. The Ectopic Adept is a 5 level PrC, yes, so of course it's going to have less. But it doesn't do ANYTHING better than the Constructor, with the exception of losing one less ML.
Opportunity cost comes into the equation, perhaps? Naw. Okay, say that the Ectopic Adept takes her remaining levels in AI. The Constructor does the same.
Psion 5/Ectopic Adept 5/AI 10
vs.
Psion 5/AI 1/Constructor 10/AI + 2/X 2 (AI +2? Levels 4 and 5 don't do much, and would technically increase the chance of enervation if you're going by RAI and not RAW.)
Nah, AI doesn't do enough to salvage it. It's a frontloaded class anyway, as the best ability is at Level 1 and Levels 2 and 3 are pretty damn respectable. The Constructor is still WAY better at Astral Constructs than the Ectopic Adept could ever hope to be. End of story.
Zerth Cenobite vs. Psionic Fist - "Only" better powers? I dunno, mate. They get more powers, more PP/day, and higher level powers to boot. A couple psionic feats, too. The Zerth Cenobite is a bit crippled by the fact that they can do really cool stuff, but only once a day each. Extra full action 1/day, Backslip 2/day, Timeless Step 1/day, Precognition 2/day, Temporal Strike 1/day, Precognitive Surge 1/day, Timeless Body 1/day. These abilities are powerful, yes, but they suffer from being usable so rarely. It's a Psionic Fist with no bonus feats and less powers that gets a bunch of cool time abilities instead. I'd say they're fairly balanced against each other, with the edge depending on how well you use your powers and what feats you pick. Both are solid +1 tier, but not +2.
Master of Masks - Spellthief entry, eh? What do you do to get around the fact that you can't... well, steal spells? It doesn't advance spell stealing, which is the whole shtick of a Spellthief.