Character Name: The Chrono-Legionaire
System: Faerun
Polling: For Entry in both Restricted and Original Polls
http://pnmedia.gamespy.com/screensho...c/sketch03.jpg
"Run, Run, just as fast as you can! You can't catch me; I'm the ginger-bread man!"
Brief Description & Thematic Purpose: We didn't try to go for the ultimate stat monster with the most buffs, we went for the ultimate in mobility. The chrono-legionaire is capable of teleporting in (at medium range) and teleporting out at long range all while mixing in a full-round attack and regaining psionic focus in the same round. Psionics remain the king of long-term action novas.
Class/Levels: Nomad 3/Ranger 1/Nomad 1/Anarchic Initiate 3/Slayer 2/Fighter1/Slayer 8/Anarchic Initiate 1
Race: Human
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Ability Scores:
Str: 22 [14 + 6 enhancement + 2 Inherent] (6)
Dex: 20 [14 +6 enhancement] (6)
Con: 20 [14 +6 enhancement] (6)
Int: 32 [16 + 5 (Level Increases) +6 enhancement +5 inherent] (10)
Wis: 18 [12 + 6 enhancement] (4)
Cha: 14 [8 + 6 enhancement] (0)
**Note: if assimilate is successfully used, all stats gain a +4 unnamed bonus for one hour.
Belt of Magnificence +6 200,000 gp (MiniHB)
Cloak of Resistance +5, 25,000 gp (DMG)
Ring of Protection +5, 50,000 gp (DMG)
Spiked Mithril Breast Plate +5 with +3 weapon enhancement and Defending, 79,350 (DMG)
Skin of the Defender, 32000 gp (XPH)
Tome of Clear Thoughts +5, 137,500
Shirt of Natural Armor +5, 50,000 gp (DMG)
Cold-Iron Great Sword +5 Valorous Mage-bane Evil Outsider Bane, 145375 (XPH, DMG, CAdv, UE)
Potion of Bless Weapon x5 (CL 2) 500 (DMG)
Torc of Power Preservation 36,000 (DMG)
Ring of Force Shield 8500 (DMG)
Boots of Skating 7000 (XPH)
Bag of Tricks (grey) 900 (DMG)
Pale Green Ioun Stone 30000 (DMG)
Total: 755,925
Tactical Statistics
Hit points = 8 + 4d4+3d6+2d8+1d8+8d8+1d6 = 81 + 20xCON = 181
Initiative: +7 [Dex + 2 unnamed (psi-crystal)]
Move Speeds:
45 land
60 [Psionic Fly] Fly
AC: 44 [10 base + 5 enhancement to natural AC + 4 unnamed to natural AC + 5 AC + 5 enhancement to AC + 3 unnamed (defending armor spikes) + 5 deflection + 5 dex + 2 Shield AC]
TAC: 23 [10 base + 3 unnamed + 5 dex + 5 deflection]
FFAC: 39 [10 base + 5 enhancement to natural AC + 4 unnamed to natural AC + 5 AC + 5 enhancement to AC + 3 unnamed (defending armor spikes) + 5 deflection +2 Shield AC]
**Note on AC Buffs: The above AC figures are "unbuffed." If under the effects of control body (as is the routine after 15th level), all of the above ACs increase by 6. (+11 int -5 dex). This brings the typical total AC to 50 when buffed. Furthermore, if one overchannels a force screen to 17 pp the gish gains an additional +8 shield bonus (a net increase of +6). Thus the most buffed AC this character can achieve is 56. This is possible without resorting to any forms that grant a natural armor bonus.
Saves:
Fort: 20 [9 Base+ 5 resistance + 5 consitution+1 competance]
Conditional Modifiers: +2 insight vs. lawful effects
Ref: 18 [7 Base + 5 resistance + 5 dexterity+1 competance]
Conditional Modifiers: +2 insight vs. lawful effects
Will: 25 [15 Base + 5 resistance +4 wisdom +1 competance]
Conditional Modifiers: +4 competance vs. compulsions and mind-affecting effects (lucid buffer), +2 insight bonus vs. compulsions or lawful effects.
The Gingerbread Man: Nimble Psicrystal
Grants the Chrono-Legionnaire +2 to all initiative checks.
Important Abilities: Share powers
For style points, we recommend making this little guy small, humanoid, and brown.
BUILD PROGRESSION:
Nomad: Psionic Weapon, (Overchannel), (Practiced Manifester),
Nomad:
Nomad: Psi-Crystal Affinity
Ranger: (Track)
Nomad:
Anarchic Initiate: Psionic Meditiation, [Chaotic Surge]
Anarchic Initiate
Anarchic Initiate: [Wild Surge +1, Psychic Enervation]
Illithid Slayer: Deep Impact, [Favored Enemy (Illithid +2)], [Enemy Sense]
Illithid Slayer: [Lucid Buffer]
Fighter: (Power Attack)
Illithid Slayer: Leap Attack, [Favored Enemy (Illithid +4)]
Illithid Slayer:
Illithid Slayer:
Illithid Slayer: [Cerebral Blind], Expanded Knowledge (Control Body)
Illithid Slayer: [Favored Enemy (Illithid +6)
Illithid Slayer:
Illithid Slayer: Expanded Knowledge (Schism), [Cerebral Immunity]
Illithid Slayer: , [Favored Enemy (Illithid +8)]
Anarchic Initiate: [Clarity of Confusion]
BAB: 17
Manifester Level: 17
Effective Manifester Level: 20
Power Points: 360 [250 + 11*(EML/2)]
BUILD PROGRESSION:
Ranger: Improved Bull Rush, (Track), (Power Attack),
Nomad: (Overchannel)
Nomad: Psi-Crystal Affinity
Nomad:
Nomad:
Anarchic Initiate: Practiced Manifester, [Chaotic Surge]
Anarchic Initiate
Anarchic Initiate: [Wild Surge +1, Psychic Enervation]
Illithid Slayer: EK (Psionic Lion's Charge), [Favored Enemy (Illithid +2)], [Enemy Sense]
Illithid Slayer: [Lucid Buffer]
Fighter: (Shock Trooper)
Illithid Slayer: Leap Attack, [Favored Enemy (Illithid +4)]
Illithid Slayer:
Illithid Slayer:
Illithid Slayer: [Cerebral Blind], Expanded Knowledge (Control Body)
Illithid Slayer: [Favored Enemy (Illithid +6)
Illithid Slayer: [Breach Power Resistance]
Illithid Slayer: Expanded Knowledge (Schism), [Cerebral Immunity]
Illithid Slayer: [Blast Feedback], [Favored Enemy (Illithid +8)]
Anarchic Initiate: [Clarity of Confusion]
Personally, I prefer this build as it has better power attack support than the original. This build is not capable of reliably hiting a Heca. With a brilliant weapon the best bonus it can get is a +51 to attack, versus the Heca's 58 brilliant AC. Not bad, but not perfect.
Against less... rediculous foes... this build has incredible preformance. Power attack penalties are absorbed by the heedless charge from shock trooper, and psionic lion's charge allows for extremely deadly charges. Against weakly armored opponents one can easily deal a lot of damage, to wit:
Assuming all hits and same buffs as in the Heca busting trick (except schism & bless weapon). Drop the valorous enhancement, outsider bane, and mage bane enhancements in favor of speed. This is just to make the build even more acceptable in any campaign. Now, the build is non-setting specific. Removing the cold iron material type can reduce costs greatly.
1. Swift action psionic lion's charge (augmented to 20 pp)
2. Headless Leap Attack.
Attack Bonus: [b]+44/+44/+39/+34 [17 base + 13 int + 5 enhancement + 2 charging + 7 insight]
Damage: 590 [5*(17 unnamed (psionic lion's charge) + 68 power attack + 13 int + 5 enhancement + 8 insight + 2d6 base)]
Even in an AMF the damage & attack is considerable:
Attack Bonus in AMF: +21 [17 base + 2 strength + 2 charging]
Damage: 78 [68 power attack + 3 strength + 2d6 base]
Class Requirements:
Anarchic Initiate (CPsi): Knowledge (Planes) 8, Knowledge (psionics) 8, Overchannel feat;
Illithid Slayer (XPH): Knowledge (Dungeoneering) 4, Track feat;
--------Tactical Stats-------------Saves------------
1.--BAB: 0,---ML 1, EML--1,--Fort: 0, Ref: 0, Will: 2
2.--BAB: 1,---ML 2, EML--2,--Fort: 0, Ref: 0, Will: 3
3.--BAB: 1,---ML 3, EML--3,--Fort: 1, Ref: 1, Will: 3
4.--BAB: 2,---ML 3, EML--4,--Fort: 3, Ref: 3, Will: 3
5.--BAB: 3,---ML 4, EML--5,--Fort: 3, Ref: 3, Will: 5
6.--BAB: 3,---ML 5, EML--6,--Fort: 3, Ref: 3, Will: 6
7.--BAB: 4,---ML 6, EML--7,--Fort: 3, Ref: 3, Will: 8
8.--BAB: 5,---ML 7, EML--8,--Fort: 4, Ref: 4, Will: 8
9.--BAB: 6,---ML 7, EML--9,--Fort: 4, Ref: 4, Will: 9
10. BAB: 7,---ML 8, EML-10,--Fort: 4, Ref: 4, Will: 10
11.-BAB: 8,---ML 8, EML-11,--Fort: 6, Ref: 4, Will: 10
12.-BAB: 9,---ML 9, EML-12,--Fort: 7, Ref: 5, Will: 10
13.-BAB: 10,-ML 10, EML-13,--Fort: 7, Ref: 5, Will: 11
14.-BAB: 11,-ML 11, EML-14,--Fort: 7, Ref: 5, Will: 11
15.-BAB: 12,-ML 12, EML-15,--Fort: 8, Ref: 6, Will: 13
16.-BAB: 13,-ML 13, EML-16,--Fort: 8, Ref: 6, Will: 13
17.-BAB: 14,-ML 14, EML-17,--Fort: 8, Ref: 6, Will: 14
18.-BAB: 15,-ML 15, EML-18,--Fort: 9, Ref: 7, Will: 14
19.-BAB: 16,-ML 16, EML-19,--Fort: 9, Ref: 7, Will: 14
20.-BAB: 17,-ML 17, EML-20,--Fort: 9, Ref: 7, Will: 15
Notable Class/Feat Abilities:
Wild Surge +1: By paying a 5% probability of dazing myself I gain +1 ML for all purposes and 1 free point of augmentation.
Chaotic Surge: By using either wild surge or overchannel I can opt to roll a d% dice to gain the following effects:
25% probability that my wild surge/overchannel is unnaffected and functions normally
25% probability that my wild surge/overchannel produces a power with its numeric effects reduced by 50%
25% probability that my wild surge/overchannel produces a power with its numeric effects increased by 50%
25% probability that my wild surge/overchannel produces a power with its numeric effects maximized
Breach Power Resistance: Works against spell resistance as well when magic-psionic clarity is in effect. Every time the character succeeds in a hit in melee combat against an enemy he reduces their SR/PR by 1. These SR/PR reductions are cumulative and last 12 hours. The character must be psionically focused for this ability to function.
Cerebral Immunity: Basically I get a supernatural mind-blank effect that cannot be dispelled while I am psionically focused. Immunity to mind-affecting abilities is pretty handy. Note that the character can selectively allow certain mind-affecting powers to affect him, making this more versatile than mind-blank.
Leap Attack + Power Attack + Deep Impact: Nothing like a 4:1 return on a power attack with a two-handed weapon, especially when you resolve the attack as a touch attack.
(The following list is in the order in which the powers are acquired. The level of the power and which level it was obtained at is noted)
Vigor [1st level power, obtained at Character Level 1]
Prescience Offensive [1st level power, obtained at Character Level 1]
Precognition Offensive [1st level power, obtained at Character Level 1]
Force Screen [1st level power, obtained at Character Level 2]
Mind Thrust [1st level power, obtained at Character Level 2]
Evade Attack [2nd level power, obtained at Character Level 3]
Dimension Swap [2nd level power, obtained at Character Level 3]
Energy Stun [2nd level power, obtained at Character Level 5]
Damp Power [2nd level power, obtained at Character Level 5]
Dimension Twister [3rd level power, obtained at Character Level 6]
Dispel Psionics [3rd level power, obtained at Character Level 6]
Touch Sight [3rd level power, obtained at Character Level 7]
Energy Burst [3rd level power, obtained at Character Level 7]
Psionic Fly [4th level power, obtained at Character Level 8]
Detect Hostile Intent [4th level power, obtained at Character Level 8]
Psionic Dimension Door [4th level power, obtained at Character Level 10]
Telekenetic Maneuver [4th level power, obtained at Character Level 10]
Anticipatory Strike [5th level power, obtained at Character Level 12]
Celestial Conduit [5th level power, obtained at Character Level 12]
Psionic Teleport [5th level power, obtained at Character Level 13]
Teleport Trigger [5th level power, obtained at Character Level 13]
Inconsistant Location [6th level power, obtained at Character Level 14]
Solicit Psi-Crystal [3rd level power, obtained at Character Level 15]
Control Body [4th level power, obtained at Character Level 15]
Retrieve [6th level power, obtained at Character Level 15]
Divert Teleport [7th level power, obtained at Character Level 16]
Temporal Reiteration [5th level power, obtained at Character Level 17]
Energy Conversion [7th level power, obtained at Character Level 17]
True Metabolism [8th level power, obtained at Character Level 18]
Schism [4th level power, obtained at Character Level 18]
Mind over Energy [6th level power, obtained at Character Level 19]
Recall Death [8th level power, obtained at Character Level 19]
Assimilate[9th level power, obtained at Character Level 20]
Total Skill Points: 186
Just the skill ranks are provided below. Notable skills will include bonuses (at 20th level).
Jump: 32 [23 ranks +4 speed + 5 STR]
Knowledge [Psionics]: 8
Knowledge [Planes]: 8
Concentration: 23
Psicraft: 16
Survival: 23
Listen: 21
Spot: 21
Diplomacy: 25 [23 ranks +2 Cha]
Essentially, psionics have a little advantage over arcane, despite the deluge of broken spells, feats, and PrCs available to arcanists: action novas and power versatility.
Action gaining tricks:
Temporal Acceleration: (Available 14th level) It's just better than time stop for so many reasons, let me count the ways:
It's takes a swift action to manifest, so after you gain all those rounds for buffing, you can still take a full round attack
it's available at 11 ML, unlike time stop which is availabe at 17th CL at the earliest
Augmentable (read adjustable) number of rounds gained. Only need one round? Why spend too many pp? The base cost is only 11 pp.
Control Body + Solicit Psicrystal (Available 15th level): Basically this trick gives the psion one full round of mental actions each round (which he uses to regain focus and manifest powers) and one full round of physical actions each round (which he uses to attack with). It's like a two-for-one deal.
Schism (Available 18th level): It's really quite simple; you manifest this power and get a free standard action each round at a -6 ML penalty. Great for on the fly buffing. It lasts rounds per level making it vastly superior to the arcane celerity, which grants only one standard action. Plus it's only a fourth level power.
Power Versatility
If you are unfamiliar with psionics, I will inform you of the wonders that are available to psions here. Powers can be augmented. This means that your first level powers can be as good as your higher level powers. A first level mind thrust can deal 20d10 at 20th level (if you spend 20 pp). This means that the number of powers a psion knows is not at all comparable to a wizard. A wizard's magic missile just doesn't deliver at 20th level, but a psion's mind thrust can. Bear in mind that to spend 20 pp on a given power one must have 20 Manifester Levels to do so.
Also, a psion can use his power points on any power he knows. So, like a sorcerer he is spontaneous. But it's better than a sorcerer, because his powers aren't locked by level. If he likes a psion can spend all his pp on really high level (or highly augmented) powers several times a day, or can conserve his power points and manifest at a diminished level. So his pp expendature can be matched to whatever the DM throws at you. Unlike the sorcerer a psion has no difficulty of spending all his pp in a day, and so he attains a higher efficiency of his resources. Waste not want not is the essential motto of a psion. Why end the day with a lot of 1st or 2nd level spell slots?
[b]Tactical Advantage: Teleportation
Divert Teleport + Dimensional Twister: Requires a single target make two will saves or take damage (augmentable, minimum 5d6) and be teleported to some location within sight and medium range. Consumes a standard and immediate action.
Divert Teleport + Psicrystal Share Powers: The Gingerbread Man provides the Chrono-Legionnaire with another immediate action to redirect teleportations with.
Retrieve: If I see it, it's mine. Any object that weighs 10 lbs/level within sight (even attended objects) can be teleported to my hand with a failed will save on the part of the object.
Dimension Swap + Divert Teleport: Swap your allies places and then divert the teleportation effect to anywhere within sight and medium range. Essentially you can get your friends (or yourself and a friend) anywhere on the battle field with a standard and an immediate action or two.
Teleport Trigger + Divert Teleport: Want to get a way, but not that far away? Teleport trigger is an XP-free teleport contingency that lasts hours per level & divert teleport is a very useful power that lasts 10 mins/ level. Mix the two and you can avoid one really sticky situation per encounter without having to leave the encounter entirely.
Inconstant Location + Divert Teleport: Inconstant Location, once set up (standard action to manifest) gives the Legionnaire access to a swift action teleport. The normal range of this teleport is limited to the length of his movement speed, but with the Gingerbread Man using Divert Teleport as an immediate action, this range increased to well over 100 feet. Best of all, this doesn't use up any of their standard or move actions.
Now for a little stunt. We posit that the following trick is legal and within a high possibility of success; I give you:
How to kill a CR 57 Hecatoncheires
(AKA: Night-Crawler style Uber Teleportation Spring-Attacking)
The Chrono-Legionaire has several attack options, which I will present below:
The Boss-killing attack Routine
Works well against opponents with high AC and extremely dangerous offensive capabilities. For this technique to function to its maximal effect, a large combat area is needed. All power point costs are reduced by 1 because of the Torc of Power Preservation worn.
Assume the following already active buffs:
>> Assimilate (used bag of tricks to summon a small animal and toasted it) less than an hour in advance. (lasts 1 hour) [16 pp]
>>Teleport trigger (lasts 20 hours) [12 pp]
1.
-- Swift Action Temporal Acceleration (15 pp)
>Precognition Offensive (19 pp), gain psionic focus, swift action manifest another Temporal Acceleration (19 pp)
>Divert Teleport
>>Apply oil of bless weapon, move towards charging distance (10 feet away)
>>Schism, move towards charging distance (10 feet away)
>>Control Body, solicit psi-crystal, move towards charging distance (10 feet away)
--STD action: Prescience Offensive (19 pp),
--Full Attack Charge the foe: Leap Attack, Power attack all 17 BAB, Expend Focus for deep impact
--Schismed STD action: dimension door away [6 pp]
2.
--Mental Schismed STD action: Dimension Swap
--Mental Immediate action: Divert Teleport to within 10 feet of Hecatoncheires
--Ready Mental Regular STD action dimension door away (upon completion of charge or upon receiving a successful attack)
--Mental Move action: regain focus
--Mental Free Action Expend Focus (for deep impact)
--Physical Charge (power attacking, leap attacking, jumping the whole way (10 feet) with no running start).
>>Readied action triggered, d-door away.
Rinse and Repeat #2 until the foe is dead. (You have 20 rounds before schism runs out).
Why does this sequence work? With assimilate our initiative modifier goes up to +9, which is just 1 under the Heca's initiative bonus. I think it's fair to say that whomever wins is initiative is primarily determined by a die roll. If all else fails, we have a teleport trigger in place that will whisk us to safety at the first sign of danger. We'll just try again in a few rounds. After everything starts rolling we begin the TP in TP out attack sequence. We'll always be able to TP outside the Heca's charging range (which is 200 feet). Every round we have a readied dimension door prepared against his possible readied action that he might have to attack us. So, as long as we have a clear area (of 200+ feet), we'll never get touched by the beast. As you can see below, we deal enough damage (with a high enough probability of success) to take him out in under 10 rounds.
Attack bonuses:
Great Sword: +32 [17 BAB + 2 charging + 13 INT + 9* Enhancement + 7 insight -17 power attack + 1 competance] (We need to roll a 2 or better to hit him -- a one automatically fails anyways) [Since we have 5% failure rate, we assume that one fails. So we assume 9 successful attacks in 10 rounds]
*Because of outsider & mage bane the enhancement is +9, making this an effective epic weapon. Given that it is already cold-iron and bless weapon makes it good, we now bypass his DR.
Damage Calculations:
Sword: 2x[2d6 Base + 9 enhancement 17*4 Power Attack + 8 insight + 13 INT] + 4d6 (mage and outsider bane)
Total Average (assuming all hits): 224 on one attack per round. With the Heca's 50 Fast Healing, that's only 174 net damage per round. Given that the Heca has 1048 hitpoints, we can take him out in 6 successful attacks. (With one assumed failure this takes 7 rounds).
Each round (after the initial buffing round) we must spend 8 (6 for d-door + 2 for swap) power points per round. So over 7 rounds we spend 56 power points (plus the initial 108 pp counting the assimilate and divert teleport). So, all in all, we spend 164 pp (under half our total pp for the day) to kill a monster which is nearly three times our CR. Given the right environment I feel confident that we have at least a 75 to 90% chance of success the first time around, with almost a 0% chance of death.
The What Ifs:
That's a lot of buffs. What if they somehow get hosed?
Although it's expensive, we can maintain a temporal acceleration for as many rounds as we need to rebuff with temporal iteration. This increases buffing costs by 8 pp per round, but it can be done. This is really only economical for extending temporal acceleration 1 round, however. If one wants to extend the acceleration for more than one round nested accelerations become more economical (15 pp for a nested 2 round acceleration as opposed to 16 pp for two temporal iterations, 19 pp for a nested 3 round acceleration as opposed to 24 for 3 temporal iterations.) Bottom-line: the Chrono-Legionaire can re-buff at the drop of a hat.
What if the Hecatoncheires summons his buddy?
More XP for us. The Hecatoncheires is Huge, meaning there's a decent space we can move around in where he grants us full cover against his brother's attacks. We kill the first, 'port away to safety, reset the necessary buffs (the bless weapon oil, most importantly) and 'port back to restart the routine and kill Heca number 2. Failing that, just port away and come back when Heca 2's summon ends.
What if the Hecatoncheires uses his Fly spell-like ability?
Psionic Fly is on the Legionnaire's powers known list. In fact, moving to three dimensions makes the summoning ability of the hecatoncheires less useful, as now there is that much more space in which to manuver where we are covered. There's no restriction on teleporting to a point in open space.
What if both Heca's ready actions?
It remains that careful teleportation placement means only one can target us at a time.
Divert Teleport says you must have studied the area carefully.
You didn't read all of the power description. It also says that being very familiar will suffice. When one reads the teleport spell description one can readily see that merely seeing the target location qualifies us to be "very familiar."
Massive Area Effects - and by massive I mean stuff like Apocalypse from the Sky (BoVD, thankfully banned) or Eruption (Serpent Kingdoms). When we've got an area of square miles, you might be lucky enough to catch the Legionnaire by surprise.
Karmic Strike - this annoying feat can give foes reactive attacks against the Legionnaire beyond what readied defenses can provide. Still, the Legionnaire does a lot more damage in a single hit than the Karmic Strike likely will, and they still have to hit the AC of 44 (or 56 if properly buffed).
Mobs with tons of readied actions - since Synchronicity is banned, this is the only way to get enough readied actions to possibly target the Legionnaire. It may be difficult for more than a few to notice and attack the Legionnaire while he guerilla bombs them with Energy Burst, and they still have to hit that AC.
Dimensional Anchor and Dimensional Lock - these teleportation-negating spells are the Legionnaire's Achilles heel. Fortunately, you can't 'port into a D-Locked area by accident. Dimensional Anchor is more dangerous, offering no saving throw and requiring the Legionnaire to dispel his own buffs in order to remove it. The Legionnaire can supply his own dispels and pump them off in rapid order if need be. The best defense would be using the Legionnaire's Psionic Fly and a good impacting magebane charge to kill any threatening caster in one good smack.
Simply put, the reason this guy is the ultimate gish is because of his adaptability in any campaign setting. If one removes the valorous weapon (which isn't even necessary to kill the Heca, but speeds up the process greatly), then this build is non-setting specific. Furthermore, this build does not need persistant magic to be a viable gish. At twelfth level he gains the ability to make deep impact leap attacks, which means he's quite a capable in melee early on. This is a build that is themed on teleportive mobility and the Chrono-Legionnaire delivers on this promise. Not only is the Chrono-legionnaire capable of teleporting himself, but he can teleport his enemies, his enemies equipment, or his allies.
Aberrations/Magical Beasts etc: Against mind-flayers the Chrono-Legionnaire is incredible, due to his levels in Illithid Slayer. Beyond that, the chrono-legionnaire's leap attack routine and breach power resistance enables him to bypass many of the defenses which are common among Abberations & magical beasts (namely natural armor and SR). Furthermore, the Chrono-Legionnaire is immune to mind-affecting effects (while focused), which renders him invulnerable to many of the more insidious offensive capabilities of Abberations. The magebane weapon enhancement is quite helpful here.
Constructs: The difficulty of constructs is their immunity to most magical forms of attack and their high physical prowess. Enter leap attack & deep impact once again. Due to the typically low touch AC of constructs, our intrepid hero can make quick mince-meat of his automaton foes.
Dragons: Dragon claim a high mobility and great physical prowess. They lack good touch AC, however, which makes them vulnerable to the Chrono-Legionnaire's deep impact trick. The chrono-legionnaire claims a higher mobility than even the fastest dragons, enabling him to keep outside of their range. Make no mistake, dragons are potent foes. The magebane weapon enhancement is quite helpful here. The Legionnaire has flight as well, in case the dragon tries to go aerial, and breach power resistance to finish things if necessary.
Elementals/Outsiders: Elementals are not a real problem, but outsiders are reknown for their deadly SLAs, energy resistances, and physical prowess. Here celestial conduit is a nice power, as it offers D6 per pp damage and the damage type is "positive energy." Deep impact + leap attack is still effective against most of these foes, as is evidenced by the Chrono-Legionnaire's ability to take out the grand-daddy of all outsiders: the Hecatoncheires. The magebane & evil outsider bane weapon enhancements are quite helpful here.
Undead: The Chrono-Legionnaire does not rely on critical hits or necromantic effects, so undead have little defense against the majority of the Chrono-Legionnaire's tactics. Furthermore celestial conduit deals 1d6+2 damage per pp against undead, making it an attractive means to their destruction. The magebane weapon enhancement is quite helpful here.
Traps: If a trap is suspected, the chrono-legionnaire typically teleports past it. This is admittedly a weak point in this build. However, readied dimensions swaps and immediate action diverts mean that the Gingerbread Man can scout ahead yet be immediately pulled back to safety in case of emergency
Political Intrigue & Diplomatic Maneuvers: Despite his mediocre charisma, the Chrono-Legionnaire has maxed out his ranks in diplomacy and can deal with moderately sticky diplomatic situations. He also has the Detect Hostile Intent power on his list, which helps ... well... detect hostiles. This can be ever so invaluable for quick diplomatic decision making. He's no diplomancer & knows when to make way for the party bard. That said, he can escape awkward situations incredibly fast.
A BBEG/ Mastermind/ Warlord: I believe the anti-Heca trick shown above is an adequate display of the Chrono-Legionnaire's prowess against single opponents.
Mobs: Energy burst offers a 40' radius burst centered on the manifester and deals d6 energy damage of any type of energy (specified upon manifestation) against any foes in that area. Can't ask for much better area damage than that. The saving throw can be made to be a fort or ref save, and can be enhanced by chaotic surge (described above in class abilities of note).
Overwhelming Odds: No one can get out of dodge like the Chrono-Legionnaire. An XP-free contingent teleport (teleport trigger) is key here. Dimension door and divert teleport are also good means of getting out fast. Anticipatory Strike also means an immediate action "I take next round's turn NOW" when he really needs to leave.
Meeting Constraints:
The Optimization Constraints:
Melee Damage or Non-Magical Ranged Damage Capability:
The leap attack + deep impact routine is a good way to meet this constraint. With 17 BAB, the chrono-legionnaire is quite capable in normal comabat as well.
Defensive Capability: Immunity to mind-affecting effects is nice, his AC is over 40 without applying any buffs and can go into the high 50s with buffs.
Magical Offensive Capability: 9th level powers, 360 pp. He's not as good as a straight psion, but he's pretty darn good.
Tactical Advantage: Telekentic maneuvers (via the power), diverted dimensional twisters, and retrieve make this guy quite capable of befuddling and disabling his foes at a range. Nothing says ownage quite like being damaged and teleported over 300' feet in the same round.
Party Benefit: Psionics is not reknown for buffing others, but dimension swap and some of the tactical maneuvers above make the Chrono-Legionnaire a good guy to have around in combat. He's also able to serve as the party tracker with maxed out ranks in survival and the track feat. In a party with the Legionnaire, a party member is wherever he needs to be when he needs to be. Forcecage the fighter? No problem, he's out on the Legionnaire's turn without skipping a beat. The casters in the party will love how the Legionnaire reduces the PR of enemies too.
High Initiative: 2 + dex. Not astounding, but not bad.
Skillz: 186 skills is pretty decent. He's able to cover all the necessary bases and have some left over for things like maxed out tracking and diplomacy.
Endurance: Not the strongest ability our character has, but I feel confident that he can handle 3-4 encounters per day and still kick butt -- provided these encounters aren't CR 57 Hecas...
Playable: The only combat weak area is the first six levels, however, during this time he is a quite functional psion. 12th level and beyond is where this build really excels.
Minimal Buffs: AMF is not good for this guy as he can't use deep impact in an AMF, but he's still got 17 BAB and decent physical stats. He wouldn't fight a barbarian in an AMF if he could help it.
Additional Restrictions:
Powerful Magic: Able to manifest 9th level powers.
High Base Attack: 17 BAB by 20th level.
No ASF: Powers are not subject to ASF.
High Armor Class: Without buffs he has 44 AC, which meets the greater than or equal to 40 constraint.
High Damage: He can deal over 200 damage reliably against anything with a touch AC below 34 for at least 40 rounds per day while also teleporting in and out each round (with a TP range of 300+ feet).
No Form Altering: Just say no. He doesn't even have access to such abilities.
Conclusion:
Psi-Gish are fairly limited in their abilities when compared to Arcane-based gish, but I hope this entry has demonstrated some of the unique capabilities that are available to psionics. First and foremost is the incredibly powerful and versatile control body + schism + solicit psi-crystal trick, which is employed here. Nothing is better than taking a full round attack, 2 standard actions, and a mental move-action every round when the going gets tough.
Books Used:
XPH: Slayer, Nomad, & most powers & feats
PHB
DMG: Most magic items
MiniHB: Belt of Magnificence
UE: Valorous weapon enhancement
CPsi: Anarchic Initiate, various powers