Fixing the Psibond Agent

[Rauthiss]

The Psibond Agent, Complete Scoundrel pg. 60. It's an idea and a concept I've loved for a long time, but the class is pretty underpowered. I want to fix this.

The main problems with the class, in my opinion, are these:

1.) Psibond itself is weak. By itself, it does nothing, but requires concentration to maintain. In addition, some abilities are very weak - Nudge, for example. This, and it is not entirely clear if the subject is aware of the psibond.

2.) Class progression is odd. The Psibond agent seems as if it focuses more on psionics, but it progresses sneak attack.

3.) The class is too long. Essentially, 10 levels are spent to get a 2 save Dominate Monster which doesn't last nearly as long.

Here is my proposed fix - The whole class is not posted for copyright reasons:

Prerequisite Changes:
Skills: Gather Information 8 ranks, Sense Motive 4 ranks.
Languages: Any three.
Psionics: Manifester level 3.
Special: Sneak attack +1d6.

{table=head]Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|Class Features|Manifesting
1|+0|+0|+2|+2|Psibond (Forced Sense Link)
2|+1|+0|+3|+3|Psibond (Empathy)|+1 Existing Manifester Level
3|+2|+1|+3|+3|Psibond (Suggestion, False Sensory Input)
4|+3|+1|+4|+4|Double Psibond|+1 Existing Manifester Level
5|+3|+1|+4|+4|Psibond (Dominate)[/table]

Rewrites:
Psibond Rules:
"Establishing a psibond requires a standard action full-round, and an unwilling subject is allowed a Will save (DC 10 + your psibond agent level 1/2 your highest manifester level + your Cha modifier) to resist. Once established, a psibond lasts as long as you concentrate, up to a maximum of 1 minute per class level. Any creature you have a psibond established with is unaware of the psibond until they succeed on a save against an ability used through the psibond. In addition, the target of the psibond takes a -1 penalty to will saves vs. the Psibond Agent's Powers."

Suggestion:
"The subject is allowed a Will save (DC 13 10 + 1/2 your highest manifester level + your Cha modifier) to resist the effect."

Dominate:
"The subject is allowed a Will save (DC 19 10 + 1/2 your highest manifester level + your Cha modifier) to resist the effect."



Thoughts and/or input?

[Rauthiss]

Bumping for comments, as I plan to look into using this for an upcoming game. :D

[JoshuaZ]

Part of the appeal of the psibond agent is that it is a class that allows easy entry by only slightly psionic beings. Requiring third level manifester sort of undermines that. Maybe only require 1 level manifesting?

Also, as a power issue I don't think there'd be an issue if it still got sneak attack (maybe at 3rd and 5th level).

[Rauthiss]

The manifester level requirement came about as a result of a chain of events:

A shortened class means that the set DCs of suggestion and dominate need to be changed. To make them relevant at later levels, I made the above changes to the DCs. This added a manifester level requirement, which along with the increased manifesting level meant a more psionically powered Agent. This, in turn, suggested a higher psionic ability needed to enter the class, resulting in the prerequisite change.

The loss of sneak attack progression was a similar thing. While the original Psibond Agent is clearly more rogue-style-class-centric, I feel a class with a psionic "gimmick" should be a more psionically focused class.

[JoshuaZ]

The manifester level requirement came about as a result of a chain of events:

A shortened class means that the set DCs of suggestion and dominate need to be changed. To make them relevant at later levels, I made the above changes to the DCs. This added a manifester level requirement, which along with the increased manifesting level meant a more psionically powered Agent. This, in turn, suggested a higher psionic ability needed to enter the class, resulting in the prerequisite change.

The intended entry is something like psion 3/ rogue 2 yes? If that's the case, the additional psionic ability won't matter that much. Either way, you'll be qualifying for it at 5th level.

[Rauthiss]

My thoughts are that if the person is taking this version, they'll want a decent DC for the Suggestion and Dominate abilities. As such, they will likely have a good manifester level already, and the manifester level 3rd requirement is largely redundant. I think it could be easily changed to 1st without hurting it much.

What are your thoughts on the other changes? I'm begging for feedback since I have a game I'd like to use this in.

[JoshuaZ]

What are your thoughts on the other changes? I'm begging for feedback since I have a game I'd like to use this in.

The other changes seem fine. My initial concern was that the power level was too high for too low a level but considering that a straight telepath can get dominate at level 7 this should be ok.

[Treblain]

I liked the idea of the Psibond Agent and spent a while trying to find a way to make it work before giving up.

I actually really liked the ability Nudge. It lets you be very creative and do some unique things. Once you've established the psibond, you can do some effective battlefield control simply by nudging the enemy to attack the heavily-armored paladin instead of the weak wizard. It's perfectly legitimate; you're not asking him to do something against his will since he's already attacking your party. It's not even written as mind-affecting.

My idea to to fix the class was to keep the original requirements and give it it's own psionic manifesting, maybe related to the psychic rogue's list. Your five-level class makes sense too, since it doesn't give that much anyway.

If you're going to make it a more psionics-based class, it should be able to do some cooler things with the psibond. For example, it would be neat if you could use the psibond's target as the point of origin for your powers. Also, the psibond should give some bonus to using powers against the target.

[Rauthiss]

@Josh: That was my biggest worry, but Telepath getting it at level 7 makes me feel a lot better.

@Treblain: My main issue with nudge is how much of it is left up to interpretation. I've had bad DMs in the past, so I try to avoid abilities like that. The example they give also points to it being rather weak - I think giving the Agent Suggestion at third rather than nudge at second is a good tradeoff, but I see where you're coming from. I'd probably add nudge back at level 2 and move empathy to level 1 if I did that.

As for giving them their own casting, As I mentioned before, this is a more psionic-based version. Most psionic characters would likely prefer a higher manifester level rather than a separate progression. I can see it working for a more rogue-centric build, though.

I like the idea of the target taking a penalty to saves vs. the Agent's powers, but I think that would be pretty hard to balance. Would a -1 penalty per level be too strong? I haven't played 3.5 in quite a while.

[JoshuaZ]

I like the idea of the target taking a penalty to saves vs. the Agent's powers, but I think that would be pretty hard to balance. Would a -1 penalty per level be too strong? I haven't played 3.5 in quite a while.

-1 or even -2 would probably be fine. Also if it is more directly psionicly based it might be interesting to add an ability that allows them to drain power points from psionic beings they have a psibond with.

[Treblain]

Another idea: an ability that lets you expend your psionic focus to "force" a psibond, for times when you don't want to risk the target making a Will save.