Body Adjustment?

[Styracosaurus]

This is probably an easy question and I've just overlooked something. I can't find the answer and I have a PC who will ask me this question soon.

Lesser Body Adjustment costs 1 power point and heals 1d8 hit points.

Body Adjustment costs 3 power points and heals 3d6 hit points.

So, can you only use Body Adjustment once per day? Otherwise you are better off using Lesser Body Adjustment.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

AFAIK, you can use it as many times as you wish as long as you can pay the power point cost.

I looked in the errata and saw nothing, so this must be correct. You would indeed be better off using lesser body adjustment for curing hit points, if time did not matter. In a battle, you may not have the luxury of more than one round, so use the 3 point version. It looks like you would also be better off using the lesser version for curing temporary ability damage if time was not a factor.

The major difference between the two is how they affect disease and poison. In this case, body adjustment is always superior.

 

[Styracosaurus]

Okay. I was hoping that I had missed something.

Does it seem a bit heavy-handed on the healing?

Here is what could happen:

A psychic warrior takes a single level of Psion just to take 'Lesser Body Adjustment.'

One power point is very cheap for a psion or psychic warrior. If one point = 4.5 hit points on avg, then you've got a real beast of a melee machine.

At 10th level (PsyWar 9/ Psion1) my example character has at least 35 power points. That means that he has somewhere in the neighborhood of 155 extra hit points per day!

The only drawback is that the character can't heal very quickly because he can only heal 1d8 per round. On one hand this is a weakness, but on the other it is also a huge advantage. Example:

Compare this to an 11th level cleric, who can just now cast 'Heal.' The cleric can heal all your damage, but only once or twice. Most characters will not lose more than 100 hit points at a time before they recieve healing. This means that the cleric is very inefficient and wastes alot of his spell casting potential when compared to my example Psychic dude.

Is this unbalancing?

 

[KarinsDad]

Is this unbalancing?

Well, that depends.

When you talk straight Psion, then no. The reason is that Psions have such lousy armor, weapons, hit points and so few worthwhile powers.

In your PW/Psion case, it might be. If you think so, you could just say that the power points do not pool. Separate powers, separate power point pools.

That would solve the problem for you. But I do not think it necessary.


Personally, I do not find it that unbalancing. First off, the Pw/P can only heal himself, not others. Secondly, if he spends all of his points on healing, he effectively becomes a second rate Cleric with no spells (i.e. 3/4 BAB, etc.) and lousy Will saves.

Even if he only spends some of his points on healing, he can only really do this out of combat at mid to high level.

So yes, he can heal himself up a lot. But, doing so will limit his ability to use his other psionic powers, making him less effective both in and out of combat.

I think it's basically a wash.

Do you consider a 10th level Bard who can cast 4 Cure Light Wounds (38 points), 4 Cure Moderate Wounds (76 points), 3 Cure Serious Wounds (70.5 points) and 1 Cure Critical Wounds (28 points) for a average total cure capacity of 212.5 points to be unbalanced?

The Bard has 10 first through fourth level spells left over (i.e. known) compared to the PsiWars 8 left over first through third level powers.

Seems like the Bard has an edge here and I know nobody who consider Bards to be unbalanced.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

You know, my 13th level party always carry 2-3 wands of cure light wound. It's what they use to heal between the fights.

50D8+50 of healing for 750 GP is the best bargain you can find. Of course it is useless in combat. Spending one action to heal 1D8+1 HP is an utter waste of time when you are a level 13 PC facing appropriate challenge.

Lesser Body adjustment is the psionic equivalent to the wand of cure light wand.

 

[Demogorge]

Lesser Body Adjustment costs 1 power point and heals 1d8 hit points.

Body Adjustment costs 3 power points and heals 3d6 hit points.

Don't forget Vigor costs 1 PP and gives you a nice 18 temporary hit points. If you need healing during a fight and are planning on fighting some more, vigor is a much better idea than either body adjustment.

 

[Archer]

I thought vigor gave 1 hp not 18. I haven't looked at psionics recently though.

Even better than CLW wand is the wand of divine healing which heals 450 damage flat, as long as everyone worships the same diety.

Almost nothing a psion/warrior can do is abusive. Almost.

This example is a reasonable use if somewhat underpowered as other people have pointed out.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Vigor has been errata'd to give 3 hp/level, max 18 hp. Improved Vigor will soon be errata'd to give 3 hp/level, max 60 hp.

 

[RigaMortus]

I am pretty sure that when you multiclass a Psion with a Psychic Warrior, you do not combine power point pools. That means even though you are a level 9 Psychic Warrior, you can only use Power Points as a level 1 Psion for the Lesser Body Adjustment.

 

[Styracosaurus]

It makes sense that a power that is only on the psion list, can only be fueled from your psion levels. Thanks guys.