Which is better, Enchanter or a Telepath?

[Ialdabode]

Naturally I'm biased in favor of Telepaths, but it really depends on what you're looking for.

Enchanters against Telepaths with no other discipline thrown into the mix are hands-down better, as Enchantment is a bit broader than Telepathy. However, the Telepath has the advantage of more secondary power customization.

Honestly, Telepaths take a lot more work to create effective characters out of, but a well-planned Telepath is a force indeed.

 

[Xalmo]

Though I love psionics, I have to admit the Enchanter will likely be better off in most situations.

We have a telepath in our party who mostly ends up using Concussion or Empathic Transfer/Lesser Body Adjustment to be a field medic.

 

[Roland Delacroix]

Mike: Maybe you missed it but he isnt allowed to use ITCK. I agree, with ITCK and a decent backup discipline any psion becomes at least as good as a sorcerer, maybe a wizard too. I played about 7 levels of a pre-ITCK telepath though and his ability was extemely volitile, depending on the adventure. Luckily we were playing like 34 point buy so i could get the stats to have power from other disciplines, but still it was the worst roleplaying experience i've ever had.

Except for that I agree. Hell yea, gimmie a Telepath with a high Con and lots of scaling Concussions, etc. Your melee machine is pretty cool too.

Telepaths, more than any other psion subtype or core class, need a secondary discipline to fall back on. Otherwise they become almost useless against undead, constructs, plants, oozes, and vermind.

I've played a higher level telepath (ITCK variant) who was far from useless against those creatures. Thanks to the the metabolic powers of Metamorphosis, Haste, Intertial Barrier, and Tenser's Transformation (which doesn't cost psions any XP or money), and the fact that psions can wear armor, my telepath just manifested Haste and Tenser's (renamed 'Unleash Aggression) and waded into battle in the form of a hag or stone giant.

 

[Quickbeam]

I voted for Telepath, even though we never use psionics in our group. I did this primarily to offset the vote of my buddy, who plays an Enchanter in our current campaign and has proven mostly useless thus far .

Sorry if my reply wasn't overly useful...

 

[Psyduck]

This is still pretty close. We still have no one way on either class!

I finally decided to add my own vote and go with Telepath, although it's a pretty tough choice. I think that being able to divert all of your PPs to any level power helps with the amount of manifestations over casting amount. I also think that the Random DCs can make things more interesting as well as push their DCs higher than an Enchanter's every now and then.

 

[gamecat]

Enchanter.

Two words: RED WIZARD.

(my new fave PrC!)

 

[Tzarevitch]

The Telepath usually has better actual enchantment powers. An enchanter is a wizard however, and even after he dumps an opposition school or two, he will still have better supplementary non-enchantment abilities than the telepath will.

Tzarevitch

 

[Henry]

I Think the problem you run into here is that there are SO FEW supplements for Psions, while WotC and d20 publishers are flooding the market with pro-Magic material instead of Pro-psionic supplements.

In fact, the most useful psionic supplement for the Class wasn't even a Supplement, but the back-half of an adventure! It wasn't even a full book, just half of one! Contrast that to Magic of Faerun, Tome & Blood, Defenders of the Faith, and Masters of the Wild, which each introduce new Arcane Spells, as well as Book of Eldritch Might I and II.

Even despite this force, Telepaths are neck and neck in this poll.

I strongly urge everyone who uses Psionics in their games AT ALL pick up If Thoughts Could Kill from Malhavoc Press - they make a psion much more able to compete with the likes of Wizards that have been supplemented through the nose!

 

[Benben]

Odd this is similar to the Ranger debates.

Everybody seems to be ignoring the fantastic skill selection for a a high charisma character, and twice the base skill points. Telepaths don't have to use their powers to be charming.

 

[Michael Tree]

Mike: Maybe you missed it but he isnt allowed to use ITCK. I agree, with ITCK and a decent backup discipline any psion becomes at least as good as a sorcerer, maybe a wizard too.

Oops. Yes, I did completely miss that.

The problem with that, aside from the simple fact that ITCK fixed a number of chronic problems that the PsiH psion has, is that the more sourcebooks you use, the more flexible wizards potentially become.

If you play a telepath, try to convince your DM to use the Psionics content on the Wizards website. The Upgrade Power and Chain Link feats are especially useful for telepaths. The great advantage that power points have over spell slots is that you can use as many higher level powers as you have points for. When you consider that Mass Suggestion costs only slightly more than double the cost of Suggestion (11 vs. 5), yet has a higher save DC, double the range, and affects 1 creature/level, upgrading the power when you gain 6th level powers is extremely worthwhile. Mass domination is even better, costing less than double the cost of Domination (13 vs. 7), while having a higher save DC, affecting 1 creature/level, and working regardless of whether you share a common language.

If you play a telepath, I seriously avise that you have at least a 12 strength (or use the secondary discipline variant from ITCK with Psychometabolism). You're going to want one of the Body Adjustment powers, and Animal Affinty is an absolute must-have for every psion.