3.5 Psionics

[foxtrotpenguin]

So my DM is starting a Psion heavy campain tomorrow. I've never really read any psion stuff but I have the EPH. Is there any more neat or useful psionic stuff I should have at the ready?

[Yuki Akuma]

You might want to narrow your request down there a little, sport. What sort of character are you intending to play?

[Flickerdart]

No. There is no more useful Psionic stuff anywhere aside from the XPH, and never will be.

[arguskos]

No. There is no more useful Psionic stuff anywhere aside from the XPH, and never will be.

Comp Psion has some alright-ish stuff, at least, I like some of it.

[Flickerdart]

Comp Psion has some alright-ish stuff, at least, I like some of it.

Yeah, but 90% of that book...

[Malacode]

If you want to get a feel of what a Psionic character is capable of, read through the Powers section of whatever Psionics book your DM has. Keep in mind that a power has limits on how you can augment it though. If you're going to play a psionic character, note which classes have access to the powers you think are cool, then check the class description out. Beyond that, it's pretty much the same as building a Wizard, Sorcerer or Duskblade for the most part.

[TheThan]

No. There is no more useful Psionic stuff anywhere aside from the XPH, and never will be.

He means the book that shall not be named (or is it though?)

He means the really lackluster Complete Psionics

[foxtrotpenguin]

You might want to narrow your request down there a little, sport. What sort of character are you intending to play?

Oh, I'm sorry...

I plan on going Psion (Either Telepath or Metacreativity, if those are the correct terms). My biggest worry is not being flexible with my powers so I was wondering if anyone knows of any useful Class Varients, powers, or Prestige Classes added through Dragon magazine or the like.

[foxtrotpenguin]

Comp Psion has some alright-ish stuff, at least, I like some of it.

Sorry if Double post

They made a complete Psion?

[Aneantir]

Sorry if Double post

They made a complete Psion?

Yes, and aside from a few nice things, it's terribad.

[Random NPC]

Sorry if Double post

They made a complete Psion?

Complete Psionic, a horrible book

you should not name it. It hurts us, the psionic lovers

[ZeroNumerous]

A Telepath with the right power selections(A few mind-affecting, a few blasting powers and a few mobility powers) won't have problems with versatility past level 5 or so.

[tyckspoon]

Oh, I'm sorry...

I plan on going Psion (Either Telepath or Metacreativity, if those are the correct terms). My biggest worry is not being flexible with my powers so I was wondering if anyone knows of any useful Class Varients, powers, or Prestige Classes added through Dragon magazine or the like.

Most of what you need is in the Expanded Psionics Handbook, although there are some neat powers and feats scattered around other places. Keep in mind that psionics offers several ways to increase your powers known if you feel your normal progression isn't enough. There's the Expanded Knowledge feat, which explicitly allows you to pick powers from other disciplines or even class lists; you can grab a couple of the nicer PsyWar powers that way. There's researching, which IIRC costs 100 xp/level of the power and takes one week. Again, this allows you to choose powers that would normally be restricted. One of the best ways you can spend your XP if you have a little downtime. And finally there's Psychic Reformation, which lets you re-pick your feats and powers known going all the way back to first level if you're willing to spend the XP.

Basically, for a Psion, there's no reason you shouldn't ever know whichever powers you feel like as long as you're not stuck on the concept of absolutely preserving your XP.

[TheThan]

Complete Psionic, a horrible book

you should not name it. It hurts us, the psionic lovers

yeah, what he said.

[woodenbandman]

Complete psionic is fine if you ignore the bad stuff like the Astral Construct nerf. I rather like Ardents, and it did introduce sweet powers like Synchronicity and... well... mostly Synchronicity.

[Lycanthromancer]

Hey now. Don't forget The Mind's Eye archives. It's 100% official, and as long as you stick with the 3.5 articles (Just Say No to 3.0!) you'll be fine.

If you're looking at the shaper (that's the psion class that focuses on metacreativity) and you want to focus on astral constructs, definitely look at the 3.5 constructor.

Just remember that the strongest manifester is a single-classed psion; prestige classes (except for a single PrC, the anarchic initiate, from CPsi - not well-balanced at all) all lose manifester levels, but most are fairly balanced.

Except for the metamind. Avoid it like the spellplague.

If you can use 3rd party material, there's Hyperconscious (written by Bruce Cordell, primary author of the Expanded Psionics Handbook), the prestigious (and very well-balanced) books from Dreamscarred Press, and my revamped psionic powers revision (which is an attempt to rebalanced the entire core psionic manifesting paradigm - show it to your DM to see if he wants to use it in lieu of the XPH).

Just make sure your DM is okay with whatever you choose to use.

[Aneantir]

Complete psionic is fine if you ignore the bad stuff like the Astral Construct nerf. I rather like Ardents, and it did introduce sweet powers like Synchronicity and... well... mostly Synchronicity.

And it has Soulbow!.... And thats all the high points. Congratulations, if you can find the descriptions for Arednts, Syncrhonicity, and the Soulbow prestige class, you no longer need to buy the book.

[Aneantir]

Just remember that the strongest manifester is a single-classed psion; prestige classes (except for a single PrC, the anarchic initiate, from CPsi - not well-balanced at all) all lose manifester levels, but most are fairly balanced.

Actually, it's more likely that they ARE the balanced prestige classes, while the arcane casters prestige classes are imbalanced because they gain more abilities and power while not losing anything themselves.

[Goatman_Ted]

And it has Soulbow!.... And thats all the high points. Congratulations, if you can find the descriptions for Arednts, Syncrhonicity, and the Soulbow prestige class, you no longer need to buy the book.

There's also the Anarchic Initiate, Erudite, some dry but useful spells reprinted as powers and the wonderful Link Power feat.

Enough of it is useful that the book's certainly worth a look if your group has it. There's just so much **** in there -- so little innovation in its material, so much fluff that doesn't make any sense at all, so much that's almost offensively dry -- that it's hard to recommend. (But I have to admit to using it in almost every psionic character I play.)

Also I remember a handful of powers that made a Psychic Warrior thrower work (mostly reprinted from RotW, I believe). So if you want one of those, for some reason...

[Sstoopidtallkid]

There's also the Anarchic Initiate, Erudite, some dry but useful spells reprinted as powers and the wonderful Link Power feat.

Enough of it is useful that the book's certainly worth a look if your group has it. There's just so much **** in there -- so little innovation in its material, so much fluff that doesn't make any sense at all, so much that's almost offensively dry -- that it's hard to recommend. (But I have to admit to using it in almost every psionic character I play.)

Also I remember a handful of powers that made a Psychic Warrior thrower work (mostly reprinted from RotW, I believe). So if you want one of those, for some reason...

Everyone forgets that Practiced Mnifester isn't XPH, too. It's CompPsi, though it's so poorly written I don't know why people are can't remember...

[deuxhero]

The web preview for the soulbow should be around somewhere, anyone got the link?

Most people agree that the Soulbow is one of the few good things in Comp Psionic IIRC.

[Lamech]

CPsi: There is ardent, erudite, synchronicity, anticipatory strike (RoD version is better IIRC, anyway Celerity for psions IIRC). Psycoportive shelter (rope trick) useful for obvious reasons. Psionic death knell is good if and only if your DM lets it give manifester levels. (Although its one of those mantels.) We also have archaic initiate, mandatory for all chaotic psionics. Some more metapower feats (linked power); the feat metapower. (Bestow power abuse FTW)

Also earth power is in races of stone, kinda useful. (And its one of those things that allows for bestow power abuse.)

Just remember that the strongest manifester is a single-classed psion; prestige classes (except for a single PrC, the anarchic initiate, from CPsi - not well-balanced at all) all lose manifester levels, but most are fairly balanced.

Not well balanced? Compared too... what? Are you saying its too good?: IotSFV is broken to all hell, and thats simply an extreme example; casters get much better toys to play with for prestige classes. Yes the requierments don't match the fluff, but that isn't balance.
Or are you saying it isn't good enough: I think its better than being a straight psion (those 2 free points are nice), and they get some other fun toys. So... whats the problem its still the best thing out there.

[foxtrotpenguin]

The web preview for the soulbow should be around somewhere, anyone got the link?

Most people agree that the Soulbow is one of the few good things in Comp Psionic IIRC.

Soulbow? This sounds Awesome but Impractical.

[Random NPC]

Soulbow? This sounds Awesome but Impractical.

It's awesome and practical. It makes playing a soulblade easier. And it's free

[Lappy9000]

It's awesome and practical. It makes playing a soulblade easier. And it's free

Wow. Re-flavor the "arrows" into "energy waves" and you've got a Dragon Ball Z-style warrior

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

This is the Soulbow, you can use TWF with Mind Arrows and with Monk or Ninja 1 or Swordsage 2 and Zen Archery from CW it's SAD for Wis. A Thri-Kreen with Multiweapon Fighting can fire a Mind Arrow with each of its four hands. If you put the Lucky property on your Mind Arrows each individual arrow will get a 1/day reroll if it misses, which means every missed attack will get a second chance to hit. Throw in the Woodland Archer tactical feat from Races of the Wild and you'll almost certainly hit on most of your attacks, if not all of them.

Apart from that, Practiced Manifester works just like a Psionic version of Practiced Spellcaster, and I kind of like Ectopic Form: Emerald Gyre. There's also Anarchic Initiate, the only Psionic prestige class that doesn't lose any manifester levels. Synchronicity is also in Races of Destiny. Apart from those, you don't really need Complete Psionic for anything. Most of the decent psionic prestige classes only lose one level of manifesting, plus you could consider taking Legacy Champion from Weapons of Legacy which would grant 9/10 manifesting plus it will still advance your other class features, or even advance a current prestige class which in turn advances your manifesting.

If you're going Shaper, I'd strongly recommend taking Astral Construct, Ectopic Form: Emerald Gyre, and Boost Construct, along with the Personal Construct class feature substitution at Psion 5. An Emerald Gyre automatically gets Improved Grab even at level 1, a Menu B ability. Boost Construct gives it one additional ability from a list it already has one from, i.e. a 1st level construct gets an additional Menu B ability, or two Menu A abilities. Personal Construct allows you to Quicken it for no additional powerpoint cost, without even needing a metapsionic feat, as long as you always get a construct of the same level with the same abilities and spend your psionic focus. Significantly better than the normal 1 round manifesting time, especially fully augmented. The Constructor prestige class is also a decent choice, the first nine levels give 8/9 manifesting, and the 10th level isn't even necessary with Personal Construct.


I've found that Psionic characters can be extremely interesting. One of my favorite grappler builds goes Human (or another race with a bonus feat) Monk 6/ Psionic Fist (of Zuoken) 10/ anything 4, maybe getting Slayer before the 10th level of Psionic Fist for more BAB. Get the following feats from Lords of Madness: Aberration Blood: Flexible Limbs (1), Inhuman Reach (1), Deepspawn (3), Warped Mind (in place of Wild Talent) (6), and Starspawn (9), along with Improved Grapple, Combat Reflexes, and Improved Trip from Monk, and probably get Practiced Manifester as your first bonus Psionic feat at Psionic Fist 5. If you can use flaws, just get your Aberrant feats a bit sooner and maybe get Up the Walls or even use a race with Powerful Build. Your powers should include Expansion, Grip of Iron, and Inertial Armor. This character is extremely good at grappling, and decent as a battlefield controller with long reach and Improved Trip. He could be twisted by his dark lineage, or maybe the result of some sort of experimentation.


Edit: I almost forgot, one of the best tricks for a Psion is to get Psicrystal Affinity and the powers Vigor and Share Pain. Use Share Pain on your Psicrystal every day, you'll each share your damage received by half. Use Vigor with Share Powers, you and the Psicrystal will each gain 5 temporary HP per powerpoint spent. That means you have a cushion of 10 HP per powerpoint before you take any actual damage. Just keep the psicrystal in your pocket or backpack and out of LoS/LoE for any sort of attacks, and the only damage it will take would be half of whatever you would otherwise take.

[Zaq]

Complete Psionic gets an unnecessarily bad rap. Yeah, there's more crap in there than there really needs to be (did we seriously need a feat to turn a mind blade into an orc double axe? Seriously?), but honestly there's enough good stuff to make it worthwhile. Just, you know, avoid the Divine Mind like the plague. It wants to be a paladin, a marshal, and a bard all at the same time, and it fails miserably at being any of them. (The Lurk is mechanically inferior to the Psion or Psiwar, but it's not BAD. I'd rank it above the CAdv ninja and below the Incarnate.) Oh, and be really careful reading the prestige classes before you actually take them, because a lot of them have hidden drawbacks. There are a lot of useful powers in there, though, the coolness of the Ardent really can't be understated (one of the most flavorful and, in my experience, most well balanced full caster-types around). Oh, and while 60%+ of the feats are crap, the feats that AREN'T crap are actually quite cool (Practiced Manifester, Linked Power, Metapower, Enervation Endurance, that sort of thing).

As for the psionic system in general, at the risk of insulting your intelligence by telling you what you already know, there are two major things to keep in mind when playing a psionic character/campaign for the first time that aren't really found elsewhere in D&D.

1) The PP=ML spending cap. This, as you probably already know, is THE most important rule in psionics. Never forget it! I don't know why they didn't take up an entire splash page with just this rule, in giant red letters. It's that important.

2) Dealing with psionic focus. One of the big reasons that psionics tends to be far less broken than traditional magic is the fact that you basically can't stack metapsionics the way you can metamagic, primarily due to the mechanic of the psionic focus. If expending your focus is important to you, make sure you have some good ways of regaining it. It's very easy to end up frustrated if you simply don't have enough ways of getting your focus back in an expedient manner.

Having a good way of keeping track of your power points, other than simply scratching out a number and scribbling in a new one on a piece of scratch paper (do NOT use your character sheet for this. Trust me.), makes life a lot easier. Depending on what level you are (keeping track of a level 5 psion's PP reserve is VERY DIFFERENT from keeping track of a level 15 psion's reserve), good options include a pool of tokens that you can physically move around (which you can, if you desire, pre-sort into groups based on how expensive your favorite or most often used powers are... handy, trust me) or a set of d10s used as counting dice.

Once you grasp the basic mechanics, psionics is a pretty easy system to work with, really.

[Devils_Advocate]

No. There is no more useful Psionic stuff anywhere aside from the XPH, and never will be.

I dunno; I think the Psychic Rogue is pretty neat.

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[Eldariel]

No. There is no more useful Psionic stuff anywhere aside from the XPH, and never will be.

The Mind's Eye article series on WoTC site is pretty good. It has a lot of ACFs, classes and material for psionic characters to use, and it's pretty well-balanced and well written. Definitely the best of WoTC since XPH.

There's also Untapped Potential: New Horizons in Psionics and hell, even Hyperconscious: Explorations in Psionics. Hyperconscious is an adventure, but also contains a bunch of crunch. Neither is officially WoTC-published, but the makers of 3.5 Psionics had their hand in those books, so they're semi-official and perfectly compatible.


The biggest problem about Complete Psionics is that it unnecessarily nerfs a bunch of interesting Powers. Most importantly, it completely wrecks Astral Construct-focused Shapers. The Constructor PrC on Mind's Eye is all that Power needed. The best plan is just to ignore the nerfs to Powers and just take the interesting new powers, PrCs and Ardent and profit (oh, and Linked Power, best metapsionics evar).

The other big problem is that the fluff is from hell; tons of planar influence and stuff that belongs to Clerics rather than to Psions (which is entirely about the power of your own mind rather than channeling X, Y or Z).

[Yora]

For first steps into psionics, I would really go just with plain vanilla XPH and nothing else. There's enough new stuff in it as it is.