Five Levels, make a FRPG Hard-Boiled Detective
Thanee
First Post
Expert would be the most fitting class, since Rogue is simply more than you are looking for, from what I can gather here.
Maybe Rogue 1 / Expert 5 (going by the +1 level for NPC classes at the same CR).
Of course, this character is not doing well in combat, so maybe 2 levels should be in a fighting class instead. Ranger seems the most useful.
That would be Rogue 1 / Ranger 2 / Expert 2-3 then.
Bye
Thanee
Maybe Rogue 1 / Expert 5 (going by the +1 level for NPC classes at the same CR).
Of course, this character is not doing well in combat, so maybe 2 levels should be in a fighting class instead. Ranger seems the most useful.
That would be Rogue 1 / Ranger 2 / Expert 2-3 then.
Bye
Thanee
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Dave Turner
First Post
I didn't mention any psionic feats for this character, but this one seems appropriate:
Inquisitor: gives a +10 bonus to Sense Motive checks to oppose Bluff.
Inquisitor: gives a +10 bonus to Sense Motive checks to oppose Bluff.
Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
Dave Turner said:No one every considers the poor psion.
There's no better detective/inquisitive in 3.5e than a clairsentient psion. If anyone on the Eberron design team had even a scrap of interest or familiarity with psionics, they wouldn't have wasted the space on the prestige class.
Take a level of rogue to give yourself some combat utility. A level of fighter could also be hand here, since manifesting psionic powers is not affected by wearing armor. Spend the other four levels on psion. Take the following powers as a start:
1st: Empathy, Telempathic Projection, Disable, Precognition, Inertial Armor (or Force Screen)
2nd: Object Reading, Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions, Cloud Mind, Psionic Tongues
The two key powers are Object Reading and Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions. It can speed up murder investigations, since any object used to attack someone will pick up the user's "impression". The second is also handy for murder investigations, but any emotionally charged events, like a heated argument, also leave their mark. Motives become easier to discern. Couple these two powers with the fact that many psionic powers can be manifested with no display with a Concentration check means that the psionic investigator can use his powers in situations that an arcane caster can't without attracting too much attention.
Now this, I find very interesting.
I had already gone with some levels in Psionic warrior, for the hard boiledness, and was looking to move over into a psion class with a potential leap into the Somnamancer prestige class from AU, adapted for psionics, or the Inquisitor.
But I hadn't considered clairsentience: the picks I was thinking of were telepath or egoist with some other necessary powers picked through feats.
Metacreativity seemed interesting to me just for the disguise skill.
Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
Sejs said:
Just as a general question: Is wisdom or charisma more important to this character type?
Or how would you rank the mental attributes in general?
I've been thinking a lot about the Jake character from Chinatown who seems to get most of his info from talking to people.
Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
double post
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Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
Anyone have any ideas for doing this with a sorceror, monk, or cleric?
Dave Turner
First Post
Taking one level in psychic warrior and the other four in psion is a great idea. You get to improve your psi-prowess and you can pick psionic feats that will be handy to your later development as a psion. Make the character a human to avoid multiclassing penalty ugliness (the kalashtar are a very weak psionic race choice IMO) and do a psychic warrior/psion. Maybe your DM will let you play an elan from the XPH, a vastly better choice to fill the kalashtar slot in Eberron.
Dr. Strangemonkey
First Post
Kalashtar have such a nice story hook though and the extra psionic points plus social skill bonuses certainly help out on the detective angle.
I was thinking two levels in psionic warrior. That way you pick up four psionic feats in the first three levels, which with psionic body is a huge boost in hit points for a low level spell caster.
Plus you also pick up the compression and expansion powers which I figure work real well as stealth and hth combat boosters respectively.
I was thinking two levels in psionic warrior. That way you pick up four psionic feats in the first three levels, which with psionic body is a huge boost in hit points for a low level spell caster.
Plus you also pick up the compression and expansion powers which I figure work real well as stealth and hth combat boosters respectively.
Dave Turner
First Post
That would work, Strangemonkey. You'd still have access to the two lynchpin 2nd-level seer powers if you were a 3rd level psion. I forgot about the kalashtar social bonuses, which would be a big help for this character.
If I were choosing two psychic warrior powers and was thinking about combat ability, I would give strong consideration to claws of the beast. It's the standard attack of the psychic warrior, with the following features:
- Manifest as a swift action, which is pretty close to a free action for our purposes
- Duration is 1 hour/level
- You can use your hands normally while claws are manifested.
- Damage scales as you pour more power points into it. It will "grow" with your character
- It gives you two natural claw attacks at no penalty. If your regular class attack routine eventually improves past two attacks a round, this power does limit you to two attacks (at your highest bonus), but that shouldn't be a concern if you spend the rest of your career as a psion.
Don't forget that inertial armor also scales as you grow, adding +1 armor per 2 PP spent. So, at fifth manifesterlevel, you'd have a +6 armor bonus that sticks around for five hours. I can appreciate the idea of choosing compression/expansion for general utility, but it's hard to beat claws of the beast/inertial armor as foundational combat powers. You'll have so many power choices as you progress as a psion that you should be able to pick up compression or expansion a bit later if you choose. You could buy some dorjes with the powers in them to test their utility out before committing a power to them as well.
If I were choosing two psychic warrior powers and was thinking about combat ability, I would give strong consideration to claws of the beast. It's the standard attack of the psychic warrior, with the following features:
- Manifest as a swift action, which is pretty close to a free action for our purposes
- Duration is 1 hour/level
- You can use your hands normally while claws are manifested.
- Damage scales as you pour more power points into it. It will "grow" with your character
- It gives you two natural claw attacks at no penalty. If your regular class attack routine eventually improves past two attacks a round, this power does limit you to two attacks (at your highest bonus), but that shouldn't be a concern if you spend the rest of your career as a psion.
Don't forget that inertial armor also scales as you grow, adding +1 armor per 2 PP spent. So, at fifth manifesterlevel, you'd have a +6 armor bonus that sticks around for five hours. I can appreciate the idea of choosing compression/expansion for general utility, but it's hard to beat claws of the beast/inertial armor as foundational combat powers. You'll have so many power choices as you progress as a psion that you should be able to pick up compression or expansion a bit later if you choose. You could buy some dorjes with the powers in them to test their utility out before committing a power to them as well.
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