New PH3 Class....The Psion!

[JesterOC]

Here's probably the worst example I picked up on:
Mind Thrust (lvl 1 at-will) vs. Psychic Brand (lvl 17 at-will).

I think the key to Pychic Brand is the huge damage boost given to the party for each hit. This power is like turning the target into a pinata. They can't hide, and every hit against them gets a fairly large boost to damage. Skillful party members will use this opportunity to use their multi-hit attacks to crank the damage even higher.

Also just because it costs half as much as the other augmented power, does not mean you can use it twice as often. It may turn out that the creature dies before you can use it again.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

A quick history of psionics in D&D:

An excellent history. I just want to make one addition.

The psionicist class was introduced in an excellent issue of Dragon magazine before 2nd Edition. I wish I could remember the issue, but I can provide the following details: faerie dragons on the cover; a really neat orc related dungeon (an award winner) inside; an ecology of the mind flayer; an article on Deryni (the Katherine Kurtz created fantasy race), that, in retrospect, was failed by the existing AD&D rules. The psionicist was a class introduced through an article supplementing the Deryni article. I don't have my copy of the magazine handy (obviously), but as far as I rememebr the class introduced the standard AD&D psionic attack and defense modes over time, along with choices for psionic powers from the existing list along with few new powers developed for the article. If one took the class, one could not have psionics through the standard method of character generation.

 

[coyote6]

The psionicist class was introduced in an excellent issue of Dragon magazine before 2nd Edition. I wish I could remember the issue,

#78, FWIW. Amusingly, Google led back to ENWorld (to the "read the entire run of Dragon" thread).

 

[Mouseferatu]

As a side note, hippos are actually the deadliest animal in Africa.

The 6 Cutest Animals That Can Still Destroy You | Cracked.com

You know, I actually knew that. But they're also not known for their lightning-like reflexes.

(And as a side-side note, I love the fact that Cracked has become viable reference material online. )

 

[Atlatl Jones]

I think the key to Pychic Brand is the huge damage boost given to the party for each hit. This power is like turning the target into a pinata. They can't hide, and every hit against them gets a fairly large boost to damage. Skillful party members will use this opportunity to use their multi-hit attacks to crank the damage even higher.

Mind Thrust has that effect too, and may be even better at it than psychic brand. While +Cha bonus to damage is nice, mind thrust gives an effective +Cha bonus to all attack rolls, which arguably is even more powerful.

Also just because it costs half as much as the other augmented power, does not mean you can use it twice as often. It may turn out that the creature dies before you can use it again.

If the creature dies, the psion can use the power on another creature.

 

[gribble]

While +Cha bonus to damage is nice, mind thrust gives an effective +Cha bonus to all attack rolls, which arguably is even more powerful.

Exactly my point. Unless the target has some sort of concealment (which Psychic Brand would negate) the +Cha to hit bonus (actually better, because it stacks with other power bonuses to hit) given by Mind Thrust > +Cha to damage bonus given by Psychic Brand, even for multi-attack powers. The fact that you get this better benefit twice as often is just the icing on the cake.

 

[JesterOC]

I can see your guys point about the powers mentioned. The main issue I have with the Psion is the forced loosing of powers to gain new powers. I would feel much better if they just are able to add new at-wills for each encounter. The unaugmented new power should have a power level of a 1st level at-will, that way the Psion gains flexibility but not any more power unless they augment the power.

Oh well, I hope the powers that be read these boards and address these issues. My favorite Psi powered class is still the monk.

 

[Hawke]

I think I'm going to have to give this a whirl to really know how I'll feel about it. There's just so much speculation. I do like they're trying some various mechanics, but I do feel this would've been a great playtest to ensure good balance since it's so different. I do feel because of the style, it definitely wont lend to be a class for everyone the way I feel a good majority of the classes are. This is the first class that mechanics I feel get in the potential way of someone wanting to play it rather than just not wanting to play that role.

Do we get the impression from the article then that a Psychic Warrior and Soul Knife and Ardent (speculative classes) will all ditch encounter powers and use the augmenting system? If so, that sort of bums me out. While I feel that it can work for the Psion, I'd be sort of bummed if that were the case - and its looking so. Yeah, I love the Monk's Full Discipline setup, but id' hate to see 4 other classes use it.

 

[Caliber]

Anyone have an idea on how multiclassing or hybrid classing could work with a Psion (or anyone using power points?) Would they just trade out an At-Will, or maybe lose a number of power points? Both? What about multiclassing in?

 

[Wolfwood2]

Exactly my point. Unless the target has some sort of concealment (which Psychic Brand would negate) the +Cha to hit bonus (actually better, because it stacks with other power bonuses to hit) given by Mind Thrust > +Cha to damage bonus given by Psychic Brand, even for multi-attack powers. The fact that you get this better benefit twice as often is just the icing on the cake.

Is this a playtest version of the class, or is it set in stone? If it's a playtest version, maybe you can e-mail them and then can correct it by crippling Mind Thrust.