Power build [psionic] feat, ((Retired))

Edit: I've retired the proposal.

Power build [psionic]

Most psions claim that their power comes from within, and that it’s completely different from the energy mages handle. Those few who don’t agree counter this claim with the fact that magic spells can negate psionic powers –and there are similar psionic powers that can negate magic spells-, so there must be clearly a connection that make both arts differents aspects of a unified whole, and psionics is just a different discipline of magic.

Perhaps, as others point, the truth lies in between. Perhaps bodies and minds can act like very small elemental towers on their own, generating tiny amounts of energy shaped and manifested by the creature's will. This theory maintains that all magical and psionic energy has an identical essence, but ultimately manifests shaped by their origin. It should be possible, they say, to transform the energy generated by one source to be identical to the power produced by another.

Some psions that believe in this theory, have associated with mages or sometimes just by accident or dumb luck have developed a way to add some of the energy flowing from the elemental towers to his own. This gathers small amounts of magic, mental power of their own and physical energy to take small mounts of magical energy with which to reinforce the psion's mental reserves. This technique is fatiguing, and is inevitable that minute quantities of energy flow uncontrolled from the psion much like when he's manifesting a power, but nonetheless it can be invaluable to the practitioner of the mental arts if he’s allowed the time necessary to use the technique to the fullest.

Requisites, : Manifester level 2

Benefits version 1A : You must spend your psionic focus as a full round action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity to use this feat. If you do so, you gain 1 temporary power point (tpp from now) that lasts until the end of your next round.

You cannot manifest a power using only tpps: if you use them you must spend at least as many non-temporary power points as tpps.

You can’t use the temporary power point for any purpose other than manifesting a power; thus, you can't use it to fill a cognizance crystal, power a deep crystal weapon, and so forth. You can't also use these temporary power points to manifest the Bestow power power.

Using this feat again within a period of 10 minutes since the last time you used it makes you become fatigued. You cannot use the feat if you're exhausted

When you use this feat you also cause a Display of your choice, as if you were manifesting a power. You can try to dispense with it with a DC 15 Concentration check, as if it were a power.

Benefits version 1B : You must spend your psionic focus as a full round action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity to use this feat. If you do so, until the end of your next round the next power you manifest has it's cost reduced in 1 power point, to a minimum of 1 power point

The Bestow power psionic power can’t benefit from this feat.

Using this feat again within a period of 10 minutes since the last time you used it makes you become fatigued. You cannot use the feat if you're exhausted

When you use this feat you also cause a Display of your choice, as if you were manifesting a power. You can try to dispense with it with a DC 15 Concentration check, as if it were a power.

You can't use this feat to augment powers further than you otherwise could; in other words, the power points spent plus the reduced cost can't be higher than your manifester level.

Benefits, version 2A: You must spend your psionic focus as a full round action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity to use this feat. If you do so, you gain 1 temporary power point (tpp from now) that lasts up to a number of rounds equal to your manifesting stat bonus (Intelligence for psions, Wisdom for psychic warriors, Charisma for Wilders, etc) For every 8 manifesting levels over 1st (at 9th and again at 17th level), you gain 1 extra power point.

These power points can’t be used to manifest the Bestow power psionic power or for any purpose other than manifesting a power; thus, you can't use it to fill a cognizance crystal, power a deep crystal weapon, and so forth.

You can use Power build a number of times per day equal to 1 + your relevant manifesting stat bonus (minimum once per day).

Using this feat again within a period of 10 minutes since the last time you used it makes you become fatigued. You cannot use the feat if you're exhausted

When you use this feat you also cause a Display of your choice, as if you were manifesting a power. You can try to dispense with it with a DC 15 Concentration check, as if it were a power.

Benefits, version 2B: You must spend your psionic focus as a full round action that doesn't provoke attacks of opportunity to use this feat. If you do so, for up to a number of rounds equal to your manifesting stat bonus (Intelligence for psions, Wisdom for psychic warriors, Charisma for Wilders, etc) the next power you manifest has it's cost reduced in 1 power point, to a minimum of 1 power point. For every 8 manifesting levels over 1st (at 9th and again at 17th level), the cost of manifesting a power is reduced by 1 extra power point.

The Bestow power psionic power can’t benefit from this feat.

You can use Power build a number of times per day equal to 1 + your relevant manifesting stat bonus (minimum once per day).

Using this feat again within a period of 10 minutes since the last time you used it makes you become fatigued. You cannot use the feat if you're exhausted

When you use this feat you also cause a Display of your choice, as if you were manifesting a power. You can try to dispense with it with a DC 15 Concentration check, as if it were a power.

You can't use this feat to augment powers further than you otherwise could; in other words, the power points spent plus the reduced cost can't be higher than your manifester level.

I'm sorry, but I feel like this feat is pretty overpowered. It can give you a third again as many significant spells per day when you first get it, and that scales up to 50% with later levels. This, compared with the iconic wizard feat "Spell Mastery", which doesn't allow you to cast any extra spells, you can just prepare 3 of them without a book. My math may be off, but this strikes me as excessive. If you want the "ominous humm", there are plenty of feats in the SRD already that allow you to "charge up", like metapsionic feats.

Rae ArdGaoth said:

I'm sorry, but I feel like this feat is pretty overpowered. It can give you a third again as many significant spells per day when you first get it, and that scales up to 50% with later levels.

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Actually, it can effectively double your power points per day from the very start, provided you never manifest a 2nd level power, always augment your 1st level powers to 2 power points, and you don't worry about manifesting one power every three rounds at the very least. If you are a 3rd level psion, have around 15 power points and manifest only 2nd level powers then, then your math is correct: you can manifest up to 7 powers instead of 5 and still have 1 to spare, provided again you don't mind manifesting one power every 3 rounds if you're lucky (this includes sacrificing the first round of combat powering up). It belongs to the same king of overpoweredness than, say, the warlock's eldritch blast.

I don't deny the feat is good: it can save you a valuable handful of power points if you need to manifest a whole lot of low level powers (read: rarely). But it's nearly useless in combat, where most of the psion's juice is spent.

This, compared with the iconic wizard feat "Spell Mastery", which doesn't allow you to cast any extra spells, you can just prepare 3 of them without a book. My math may be off, but this strikes me as excessive.

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Sorry, but I totally fail to see the comparison between this feat and spell mastery (which by the way it's so lame that I've never seen anyone taking). Similar feats would be perhaps Overchannel or Body fuel, which build into the psion's strenght: spending a lot of power points very quickly. Power build partially negates some of the psion's weaknesses: it allows you to save power points at the expense of time.

(I'll clarify the "ominous sound" comment too. The purpose of the feat isn't the special effect: if I wanted just the sound, I'd manifest Create sound. The feat's idea came from wondering what kind of effect could create it: I designed the feat as a result and believed it had merits on it's own)

I didn't have really any experience with psionics befoe LEW, but after playing only a part of an adventure with El Jefe's Boog so far, hit biggest help to the party has been the ability to manifest powers like Read Thoughts and Mindlink without being noticed. I would like the standard action to cause a notable reaction so it is more difficult to manifest Mindlink so the party can immediately talk privately for free, though maybe that is the feat's purpose.

I'm not sure how to assess its power so I'm looking through first level long duration powers that would be active all the time - for free - with this feat. Keep in mind that having these also costs a power known - a feat in itself. The ones that are 1 min / level might not be very useful at 1st and it would be some time before more than one could be permanently active without really disrupting your ability to walk around.

Psion / Wilder:
Mindlink - 10 min / level
Force Screen - 1 min / level
Inertial Armor - 1 hour / level
Precognition, Defensive - 1 min / level
Precognition, Offensive - 1 min / level
Prescience, Offensive - 1 min / level
Vigor - 1 min / level

Psychic Warrior:
Biofeedback - 1 min / level
Bite of the wolf - 1 min / level
Chameleon - +10 to hide checks, 10 min / level
Claws of the beast - 1 hour / level
Force Screen - 1 min / level
Inertial Armor - 1 hour / level
Metaphysical Claw - 1 min / level
Metaphysical Weapon - 1 min / level
Precognition, Defensive - 1 min / level
Precognition, Offensive - 1 min / level
Prescience, Offensive - 1 min / level
Thicken Skin - 10 min / level - and the only source of an "enhancement bonus" to armor class that I know of.
Vigor - 1 min / level

It seems to me to be worth it at say 3rd level, just by being able to keep Inertial Armor and Force Screen and Mindlink up all day.

SlagMortar said:

I'm not sure how to assess its power so I'm looking through first level long duration powers that would be active all the time - for free - with this feat.

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It's not for free, that would be too good. Notice that

You cannot manifest a power using only temporal power point, if you use it you must spend at least as many non-temporal power points as temporal power points

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So if you use Mindlink you have to spend at least 1 power point "of your own" or coming from a cognizance crystal. It helps a lot, since the temporal power point can be used to augment it and add a second target to the mindlink.

Ah, I hadn't read closely enough. Thanks for pointing that out. That certainly eliminates my concern. I'll leave it up to others with more psionics experience to assess the rest.

I find that a bit too strong. Combine with overchanneling, it make all precombat spell more powerfull. There is a feat that gives 2PP already (3 the second time take it, ect...) with that feat, you make the one I speak of obsolete, as you most likely cast many spell out of combat and you will surely use it to gain more than 2 PP.

The extra round of cast time, and the fact it won't work on a power that requires longer than a full round action to manifest balances it out a bit. It's still a power that makes you go Hrm...

Other problems with it. If I have Psycrystal Focus, I can do this twice to get double the extra PPs. If I can focus in a move action, it's only 2 round to use it every manifest instead of 3.

Velmont said:

I find that a bit too strong. Combine with overchanneling, it make all precombat spell more powerfull.

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It's possible to do that if you don't mind taking damage (you can't use Talented since you spent your focus getting the temporal power point). It's possible with Psionic meditation or Psicristal focus: then it'd be very feat intensive, but many of those are no brainers for many builds anyway. Notice anyway that making precombat powers more useful is Overchannel's (and Talented's) fault: this feat will save you one power point, but it does save the point no matter what, Overchanneled or not. In fact, the more expensive the power, the less useful Power Build is. If you still feel the combo is too powerful I'm reday to change the feat's wording, though I'm not sure how to do it.

There is a feat that gives 2PP already (3 the second time take it, ect...) with that feat, you make the one I speak of obsolete, as you most likely cast many spell out of combat and you will surely use it to gain more than 2 PP.

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I agree, at levels other than the lowest ones. Psionic talent is seldom taken since it's very much like Toughness: it's useful at levels 1 or two, then becomes a wasted feat. Suppose you are a Psychic warrior. Unless you have Wis 18 you'll have 0 or 1 power points (if your wis is 14,15,16 or 17) You can't have a psionic focus if you have 0 power points, or if you have 1, at the moment you manifest your power you'll lose it. You can take Psionic talent and solve that problem; if you're playing a one shot module, you can even take it twice and have 5 extra power points to cast your Force shield as many times as needed. Notice that Power build won't help in that situation, since you must spend your own power points anyway.

The other possible use of Psionic talent is to have more power points for abilities that require you to spend them, like the Elan's resilience, the pyrokineticist's firewalk, powering a deep psicrystal weapon or owning a weapn with the Psychich ability and you don't have many power points (you are a psionic race and do not have a psionic class, or your character build has only one or two levels of a psionic class). Power build doesn't help with those, since it specifies that the temporal power point must be spent on powers.

So IMO Psionic talent, underpowered as it is won't be obsolete.

Other problems with it. If I have Psycrystal Focus, I can do this twice to get double the extra PPs.

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No, you can't, unless you manifest a Swift power. In round 1 you spend a standard action and one focus and get the PPs. Next round you spend a standard action again and your second focus and get more PPs, but now your first PPs will dissapear at the end of this round. Unless you manifest a power with less manifesting time than a standard action, you'll now lose half of them, and those are useful precisely because the can be manifested quickly. Spending two rounds to power them defeats their purpose, nomatter how cheap they become.

If I can focus in a move action, it's only 2 round to use it every manifest instead of 3.

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This is true, and in fact you have two move actions to try to get your Focus back, if you manifest powers with a manifesting time of 1 standard action when using Psionic Meditation. Making the feat use a full round action instead of a standard would partially solve that. Should I edit the power?

I've edited the power to mke it a full round action and discovered the possibility of a potentially broken combo of infinite power points involving two 15 level manifesters with Bestow power, so I got rid of the possibility of getting 3 power points.