IX. Powers(Also Known as the Good Stuff)
Hallucinating and seeing strange creatures is a common side effect of good stuff."Duh! This psychological warfare is good stuff."-- Magnumopus
Let's get to the "good stuff", now: Your mind powers. They are the foundation of psychological warfare and selecting them can be more difficult than selecting feats. But there are a few guidelines which help in this respect:
- The Coolness: DnD is a game and as such it is supposed to be fun and no competition about the size of special sexual organs. Pick powers which you think make you look cool, let you be and act cool. If you like it hot, nothing stops you from looking hot, and picking up hot powers either.
- No Overlappings: It's important to _not_ pick powers with overlapping or very similar (but not complementary) effects and powers which scale badly (powers with saving throws, for instance). Since you lack the possibility to replace powers later on, you will otherwise end up with a bunch of idle powers, eventually.
As an example: If you do not have any charging feats, do not take psionic lion's charge and hustle. Just take hustle.
- Cover Your Bases: Further, try to cover your bases. Unlike with spellcasters, your bases are not categorized in battlefield control, de-buffing and so on, but in various kinds of buffs. Save for some exceptions (like hostile empathic transfer), you won't use de-buffs or direct attack powers, because your saving throw DC will be low. Your buffs provide the needed effects:
- Attack Buffs (reach/size, AB,...)
- Damage Boni (type,...)
- Defense and Survivability (AC, saves, temporary hit points, healing,...)
- Movement (speed, flying, teleport,...)
- Utility Buffs (resistances, perception,...)
- On getting Powers from other Lists: There are four ways to get powers which do not appear on the psychic warrior list:
- Expanded Knowledge: You can either take this feat and select any power one level below your highest capability or use
- Independent Research: There is a paragraph dedicated to this in the SRD.
- Mantled Warrior: Finally, this ACF lets you select the powers associated with your chosen mantle. See Chapter VI. Alternate Class Features for further information.
- Psychic Chirurgery: If you find a high-level telepath willing to do this, it is a very nice option to expand your powers known list beyond its normal limit. It costs XP and/or gold, but some powers are definitely worth it. By the way, if the telepath has the feat Supernatural Transformation from Savage Species linked to this power, there are no costs involved.
- The Trap: There is a trap involved with buffing, which you should be aware of. Combat in DnD tends to be quite short and you won't have the time to buff up for several rounds. Use feats (linked power) and powers manifested as swift or immediate actions, or powers which give you more actions (schism, temporal acceleration) or let you act earlier (anticipatory strike), to do it faster and try to engage as early as possible. Moreover, that is why a power's duration really matters... a lot.
That said, pick powers which you like and fit your style, and perhaps most importantly:
Don't forget to pick powers which you will actually need and use.1st Level[spoiler]
Adrenalin Boost -- Horrible duration, but augmentable and manifested as a swift action. There are definitely worse powers, but level 1 is crowded.
Biofeedback -- Damage reduction 2/-- for one powerpoint. Very nice at the early stage of your career, but since augmenting the power costs 3 powerpoints for every additional point and only lasts for 1 minute per level, the power becomes negligible in mid to high levels. Compared to inertial barrier, which is a level 4 power and provides damage reduction 5/--, lasts 10 minutes per level and absorbs 50% of falling damage, biofeedback turns out to be simply inferior. At level ten inertial barrier provides the same damage reduction for the same cost but lasts ten times longer. If you want more survivability in the early levels just take vigor.
Bite of the Wolf -- Solid power which lets you make multiple attacks from your first level on. Scales nicely as well. Only downside is its duration.
Call ArmorCP -- Useful in some situations. Nor more, no less.
Call Itemonline -- The sky's the limit! The ultimate utility power. You cannot call material components for your caster buddy, but you can call a focus. Really, your imagination determines this power's worth.
Call Weaponry -- Mandatory for the soulbound weapon acf, useful even without. This can replace metaphysical weapon with the augment-option, but you should keep the duration in mind.
Chameleon -- Nice power for stealth builds. In most cases you won't be stealthy however.
Channel the Psychic DragonDM -- It scales, it's versatile, but it's also totally trumped by energy adaptation. If it fits your character concept, take it, but do not expect too much from this power. You should at least find some use for the competence boni to your skills.
Claws of the Beast -- Its duration makes this power great. As bite of the wolf, this power lets you make multiple attacks from early on. Augment it and use claws of the vampire to wreak havoc.
Catfall -- Not worth it, especially not for a psychic warrior. Get a ring of featherfall or a war wizard's cloak.
Dissipating Touch -- Power resistance and no weapon damage make this power only usable for masochists in conjunction with opportunity power. The deep crystal material makes this power obsolete. It could be nice for your psicrystal.
Extend RangeCP -- Cool for ranged builds but remember that sniping is not a good group-tactic.
Expansion -- This is probably your most important power. Greater size gives you reach and more strength. Note however, that this power interferes with most dexterity-based builds, because you get a cumulative -2 size penalty for every size category larger than medium.
Force Screen -- Useful for buffing up before combat and augmentable, but the duration lets me skip on this. Get an animated shield instead.
Grip of Iron -- A must-have for every grapple build. Others will find better powers to pick.
Inertial Armor -- A must-have for tashalatora builds and psychic warriors who don't like armor, as well. The duration and augmenting are the key to greatness here.
Metaphysical Claw/Weapon -- Awesome power. Don't forget that a tashalatora monk can use it to enhance her unarmed strikes and a smacker can enhance his claws. Enhancing your weapons in this way, can save you a lot of money. But if you use multiple attack forms or the soulbound weapon ACF this power becomes not worth it or even obsolete.
Precognition, Defensive -- Insight boni to AC and saves? Get this!
Precognition, Offensive -- My take on this: Too short duration to manifest out of and too expensive to manifest during combat. But it makes a lot more sense if you use the soulbound weapon ACF, because your weapon is already enhanced, which takes metaphysical weapon out of the picture. The most important point is that it is truly great if you have a lot of different attack forms (e.g. a bite, a tail and claws), because the insight bonus counts on all your attacks.
Prescience, Offensive -- This is not worth it. Same problems as with offensive precognition and you actually can use power attack with the latter for a better result.
Psychic WhipSoS -- Some people love this power.... I don't get it. You are not proficient with it, which makes it unuseable for tripping in the early levels when a -4 penalty is harsh even on a touch attack, and it lasts only for round/level and neither damage nor save DC are augmentable which makes it useless in mid to high levels. If you like the style then go for it, but do not expect a powerhouse. In the hands of a DM it can be a very cool and nasty power, however.
Skate -- Useful power, but you probably have better things to do with your precious powers known.
Thicken Skin -- If you rely on inertial armor or bracers of armor this is the way to get an additional enhancement bonus to AC. Otherwise it's definitely more effective to spend the money on your armor. The +1 buff is cool, since this costs only 1 powerpoint, but if you want to augment it to +3 and use inertial armor, it's cheaper to just augment inertial armor. Of course the cap is a factor here. If you are of high enough level to manifest it as a swift action, this becomes very nice against hard hitting enemies.
Vigor -- This power's power really depends on a combo with a psicrystal and shared pain. With this combo the power is extremely strong, otherwise it's just good. This power's downside: It has a short duration and the combo requires at least level 7 because of expanded knowledge (share pain). At this level the combo will drain a great amount of your powerpoints though, so it's problematic to use and it really starts to kick in from about level 10. At higher levels, when you can augment it to about 20 hitpoints and have a solid duration the power itself becomes good. But you cannot swap powers which means you will run around with a seldom used power for several levels or have to take it instead of a higher level power or have to spend a feat on it.[/spoiler]
2nd Level[spoiler]
Animal Affinity -- Enhancement boni will be overridden by items. That said, it is very nice in the early levels or low magic campaigns when you are no christmas tree.
Body Adjustment -- It is solid healing for the cost, but you simply have better things to do.
Body Purification -- Very solid power. If ability damage is frequent in your campaign this becomes great.
Damp PowerCP -- Another reason why the psychic warrior is such a defensive powerhouse. You can even protect your whole party later on. This power is just plain good. If you don't get it, you will eventually regret it.
Darkvision, Psionic -- Not that it's bad, but it becomes pointless when you get goggles of night.
Detect Hostile Intent -- Potentially game-breaking power. Combine this with anticipatory strike from the time mantle for serious cheese (you can almost always go first). Don't say I haven't warned you.
Dimension Swap -- Useable for tanking and has utility uses out of combat as well.
Dissolving Touch/WeaponSRD -- If you have no psicrystal who shall deliver touch powers for you, this is just plain better than dissipating touch in my book, because it ignores power resistance and includes weapon damage, and is again good in conjunction with opportunity power. But the really nice part of this is its duration, which is instant. You can manifest this ahead of time, because it will last until the next attack made with the weapon. You can manifest it on ammunition. Buff all of your party's weapons, then go to bed.
Empathic TransferSRD -- The basic idea of this power is nice for tanking, but range touch makes it worthless.
Energy Adaptation, SpecifiedSRD -- Either get this or its big brother energy adaptation. Automatic scaling and the augment-option of manifesting it as an immediate action make this an excellent power which will serve you well for all levels.
Energy EmanationCP -- Nice for grappling builds, but pretty useless for all others.
Ethereal VolleyCP -- Very good when needed, but most enemies are not incorporeal. Get a lesser truedeath crystal instead.
Extend ReachCP -- Nice effect, but the duration is a joke.
Hustle -- Arguably the best level 2 power. Use it to full-attack every round, regain your psionic focus with psionic meditation, or manifest psionic dimension door as a
move swift action.
Levitate, Psionic -- If you take the freedom mantle via the mantled warrior acf, always skip this since you will pick up fly later on. Otherwise it has its uses.
Moment of InsightCP -- If your DM really loves the use of fogs and the likes, this power is great, otherwise it's too situational.
Perfect Archery -- Makes the order of the bow initiate pointless. A must-have for archer builds.
Power Claws/WeaponCP -- This is a must-have in my book. Unless you play an archer, take this. It is an expensive power, but the effect is really worth it.
Prowess -- Nice power for an extra attack. Really good for masochists.
Psionic Lion's Charge -- The key power for charging builds, otherwise use hustle instead.
Psionic Scent -- If you're aiming for the slayer prestige class, you have to take track. With scent this actually becomes a useful feat.
Strength of my Enemy -- You leech your opponent's strength. This allows you to get an epic enhancement bonus on strength, as soon as level 4. Also, there is no save against the debuff your foe has to take. Archers can use strength adjusting bows to make sure they always make use of their current strength. Great power.
Stygian ErasurCP -- See body purification.
Sustenance -- Useful but the ring of sustenance is cheap enough to keep for emergency situations.
Tail of the DragonSoS -- If you use claws of the beast, you might as well use this. Great duration and augmentable. Nice power.
Wall Walker -- Cool power but you probably do not have a place for it.[/spoiler]
3rd Level[spoiler]
Claws of the Vampire/Vampiric Blade -- Only take this if your base damage is very high, that's why the claws version is blue and the weapon version is not (tashalatora monks can use vampiric blade on their unarmed attacks, however). This power is essential for the karmic strike/robilar's gambit route.
Concealing Amorpha, Greater -- The duration makes me sad, but total concealment is the best defense you can have in dnd.
Dimension Slide -- Lets you teleport in line of sight and not lose your actions afterwards as dimension door does. Augmentable to use it as a move action, too, hence you can use it with hustle as a swift action to full attack from close range.
Empathic Transfer, HostileSRD/CP -- Very good power if you use the SRD-version. When enemies make the save more and more, just augment it so it affects all creatures in a 20-foot-radius spread. It's mind-affecting though, so be aware of undead. As vampiric blade, this power makes the masochistic fighting style much better. If you use the complete psionic version, this power becomes too expensive.
Evade Burst -- Evasion as an immediate action and agumentable to improved evasion. Evasion itself will do nothing for you, since your reflex save will typically be very low (unless you are really dex-heavy), that's why the ring of evasion does not come into equation here. This power becomes interesting once you can use it for improved evasion.
Graft Weapon -- Fun power.
Incarnum FusionMoI -- If you use psychic warrior as a dip in order to get claws of the beast, you probably lack the levels to get access to level 3 powers. If you are dipping into a soulmeld shaping class you will lack the essentia to frequently use this power.
Keen Edge, Psionic -- It is a solid power but better save your powerpoints and get a scabbard of keen edges instead.
Mental Barrier -- Has the potential to save you a ring slot and a lot of money (ring of deflection). If you do not lack these two however, this power becomes much less attractive.
Telekinetic BoomerangCP -- Now this makes throwing builds great.
Ubiquitous Vision -- Too situational and the enhancement boni to spot and search overlap with steadfast perception.[/spoiler]
4th Level[spoiler]
Claw/Weapon of Energy -- If you haven't got anything better to do... May be useful for a crit-build.
Dimension Door, PsionicCP/SRD -- Better than normal dimension door and that's really saying something (the CP version provides more augment-options). Use it with hustle to teleport yourself and your companions in a flash. But watch out, after you've used dimension door, you cannot perform any more actions in this round, so always use it last.
Energy Adaptation -- Either get this or its smaller brother energy adaption, specified. Automatic scaling and the augment-option of manifesting it as an immediate action make this an excellent power which will serve you well for all levels. This power protects you from _all_ energy types.
Freedom of Movement, Psionic -- As with mental barrier, this has to stand up to the ridiculously cheap ring of freedom of movement.
Inertial Barrier -- Damage reduction is always nice, since it cannot be avoided. The duration is serviceable, too. The only problem is, that it doesn't scale and level 4 is really crowded with great powers. But for a defensive powerhouse and with the right party constellation this power can make a lot of sense.
Open Chakra, PsionicMoI -- Useless if you are dipping into psychic warrior since it's level 4, otherwise this power is very versatile and can be a nice asset in your bag of tricks. Range touch, and the 24 hour duration make this power really strong. The only reason why it's still green and not blue is its cost.
Planar ApotheosisCP -- The horrible duration and the fact that other powers do simply better jobs, make this one negligible.
Psychokinetic WeaponCP -- Skip this.
Steadfast Perception -- A must-have in my book. Better than any level 5 psychic warrior power. Mind blank makes you immune to the enchantment school and this makes you immune to the greater part of illusions.
Stygian DisruptionCP -- In an undead campaign this power is king.
Truevenom /Weapon -- Very good for the level, but it will become a waste when opponents start to make the save frequently.[/spoiler]
5th Level[spoiler]
Adapt Body -- Very useful utility power, but since your powers known list is awfully short, it's simply too situational. In a campaign with a lot of plane shifting this power probably becomes a must-have.
Catapsi -- Only for psionic-heavy campaigns and the will negates part really make this power forgettable.
Change Fateonline -- Great power. The only problem is that powers which cost 500 XP are very situational, which makes them suboptimal for manifesters with a short list of powers known. But you can just get it as a powerstone. If your campaign uses action points, the power becomes less strong.
Empower Weapon -- Very useful but a little underwhelming for your second highest level of powers you can manifest.
Living ArrowCP -- I don't think this power is worth it. It's simply too expensive and has a too short duration. Most of the time you won't need it if you've got steadfast perception up.
Oak Body -- You get a lot of cool immunities but suffer a reduced speed. The duration makes this power not worth it though.
Perfect RiposteCP -- Very solid power. Must-have for tashalatora-decisive-strike-builds. For me it's the best level 5 power.
Psychofeedback -- This can be a nice buff, but the ability burn part makes this power unreliable and only viable for boss fights. As a sidenote, you obviously won't use your wisdom score as fuel, your int score has the heavy drawback of making you a dumbass, leaving only your charisma score which will in most cases be around 8.
Stomp, GreaterCP -- Fun power for tripping big foes with four or more legs and a low reflex save. You can augment the damage and the save along with it. Expensive though.[/spoiler]
6th Level[spoiler]
Blackstone HammerCP -- Powers with saves are generally not that great for a psychic warrior and this one makes no exception. Especially at this level your powers have fallen behind so much, that your save DC cannot keep up.
Breath of the Black Dragon -- Nice damage and very cool. Since it's acid damage it may have utility uses, too. But you are a psychic warrior and thus, nearly everybody will make the save.
Combat Transformationonline -- You lose your manifesting abilities and cannot use use-activated or trigger psionic and magic items. Normally you'd skip this, but if you've got a psicrystal you can manifest it on the construct. Remember that your psicrystal still won't be able to attack without further buffs (like metamorphosis).
Dispelling Buffer -- Great power to protect your buffs. You will eventually need this.
Inconstant LocationCP -- Very cool and very useful in combat. The manifesting time requires that you use linked power (or schism if you have access to it).
Form of Doom -- If you like the flavor, this is a very strong power.
Mind Blank, Personal -- Unless you take 9 levels of the slayer prestige class, there is no excuse for not picking this, unless you buy a pearl of power VIII and let your party arcane caster buff you.
Mind over EnergyCP -- You become immune to one energy type, but ultimately inferior to energy adaption in terms of versatility and duration. You don't have room for this. On a powerstone it could come in handy.
Rage of the RemorhazCP -- A must-have for grapplers, effective in combination with robilar's gambit and karmic strike against opponents relying on natural weapons and generally very cool.
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Powers from other Lists[spoiler]
1st Level- Dimension Hop (freedom mantle) -- Very nice power because of its swift action manifesting time and it's augmentable. Very cheap in terms of powerpoints, too. Can be a substitute for dimension door.
- Mindlink -- Great power if your party has to split up, or must keep quiet. Kalashtar get this as a racial ability. If you have a psicrystal, the construct is permanently mindlinked to you, which can be a substitute for the power.
- Minor Creation, Psionic (creation mantle) -- Good for all the reasons why the minor creation spell is so great. If you need some advice on how to (ab)use this, check out its own thread: Minor Creation and You. Remember, the call item power is on your list and covers a lot of the same uses.
2nd Level- Share Pain -- Get the psicrystal affinity feat, use this power on your psicrystal and share the vigor power. You take only half damage (your psicrystal takes the other half) and most of it is absorbed by your temporary hitpoints. This is an extremely effective combo which really kicks in from about level 10 when you have enough powerpoints to rely on this combo and still have powerpoints for other powers left.
3rd Level- Dispel Psionics (magic mantle) -- Since it scales with your manifester level, this power does make sense to get. You can use it to surpress magic items, such as the ring of freedom of movement, for grappling, but remember that a D4 duration is nothing to get excited about. You normally have better things to do with your feat slots.
- Psionic Repair Damage -- Nice to repair your psicrystal, great if you are a warforged and use it to heal you _and_ your psicrystal simultaneously via share power.
4th Level- Fly, Psionic (freedom mantle) -- The power to fly changes combat as teleport changes everything else. If you're a tashalatora monk, your speedbonus also counts for your flyspeed. Get this.
- Metamorphosis (natural world mantle) -- Cheese alert! Only here for the sake of completeness. This power is only recommended for the most high-powered campaigns with DMs who really know what they're dealing with. For Example, turn into a firbolg (MM2) and squish the crap out of your oppenents when grappling. For more information about metamorphosis please check out the following two threads: Polymorph, Wild Shape and Shapechange, oh my! (comparison charts) and The Complete Polymorph Thread 3.5.
- Psychic Reformation -- Use this if you like to rely on powers with saves. As soon as the DC of a power becomes too low, just use psychic reformation to select a different power. Btw, your teammates will worship the ground beneath you. Use psychic reformation with linked power for the ultimate cheese: Instead of a 10 minutes manifesting time, it is manifested in 1 round and as such easily (ab)useable in a fight which demands odd powers (the stygian line is a good example). No ordinary DM will allow this use without relying on combos of the same sort.
- Schism -- It's similar to arcane spellsurge, only that it's fourth level. You get an additional standard action every round which you can only use for mental actions such as manifesting. But keep in mind, everything that messes up action economy is problematic.
5th Level- Anticipatory StrikeCP (time mantle) -- It's a lot like celerity but better and without the drawbacks. You can make your turn as an immediate action (with detect hostile intent this can really let you automatically go first, regardless of initiative or surprise). Yes, turn. Not one action. Your whole turn. And you are not dazed next round. Use this with extreme caution. This power can ruin encounters and cause a very upset DM.
- Crystal BodyDM (creation mantle) -- If you've already got access to the creation mantle i wouldn't think twice about whether or not to select this power. This can be a really nice tool in your arsenal and level 5 psychic warrior powers are generally a little underwhelming. The immunities are great (just don't use it against a tashalatora monk (crystalline creatures and ki strike)).
- Teleport, Psionic (freedom mantle) -- Since level 5 powers are pretty weak, you might as well get the most game-changing utility power in the game. But beware, you don't want to wake up and realize that you have become the party's taxi cab over night and have to waste your precious power points.
- True Seeing, Psionic (justice mantle) -- Much better than the arcane version, because it doesn't cost you 250 gp every time you manifest it. But the duration is still horrible and it doesn't do much more for you than steadfast perception, which is one level lower.
6th Level- Null Psionics Field (magic mantle) -- It's just like an antimagic field. This means great power, but you also gimp yourself. Very situational.
- Temporal Acceleration (time mantle) -- Time stop as a level 6 power and manifested with a swift action. Thus, after you have acted accelerated you can act as normal and attack and so on. The only drawback is that you become shaken -- ridiculous drawback in my opinion.
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