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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Najo" data-source="post: 4215191" data-attributes="member: 9959">ENTRY DObjective: create a 20th-level build for D&D 3.5 that consistently abuses Power Attack.Power Attack is typically used to deal massive amounts of damage in combat. However, there are many ways to thwart melee attacks, thus ruining any well planned Power Attack and preventing it from dealing any damage. Therefore, I shall exploit Power Attack in an entirely different way, one that enemies cannot stop by preventing melee attacks. Enter: the mind reaper build.The mind reaper build exploits Power Attack to gain large amounts of psionic power points between combats. The mind reaper uses the 3.5 Core rules, the Expanded Psionics Handbook (abbreviated EPH), and the larval flayers power from Complete Psionic. (Versions of the build can be created without referencing the Complete Psionic; see Adapting the Mind Reaper, below.)Unless noted otherwise, all psionic powers used in this build are described in EPH Chapter 5 (specific page references are not listed since the powers can be found there in alphabetical order). The bodyfeeder, mindfeeder, and psychic weapon properties are all found on pages 165-166 of that same sourcebook. All of this build’s other magic items are from the DMG.This build was created with a 28-point buy. Its starting scores were as follows:Str 13, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, and Cha 8.Strength was increased by a +6 enhancement bonus and a +3 inherent bonus, each from magic items included in the mind reaper’s possessions and counted against his total wealth; Dexterity was increased by matching bonuses from other such items; Constitution was increased by a +6 enhancement bonus and a +4 inherent bonus; Intelligence was increased by one per four levels of advancement, as well as by a +6 enhancement bonus, and a +3 inherent bonus. Mind ReaperHuman psion (kineticist) 10 /illithid slayer 10 (EPH pages 20 and 146)TN Medium humanoidInit +6; Senses illithid sense (60 ft. radius, EPH 147), elfsight power (low-light vision, detects secrets doors as does an elf), psionic darkvision power (60 ft.); Listen +23, Spot+25Languages Common, Dwarven, Elven, UndercommonAC 42, touch 21 (42 vs. incorporeal), flat-footed 36 (+6 Dex, +5 ring of protection, +14 Overchanneled inertial armor power, +7 Overchanneled thicken skin power); danger sense power (additional +4 AC vs. traps, improved uncanny dodge, uncanny dodge); Miss Chance 20% (minor cloak of displacement)hp 212 (20 HD); inertial barrier power (DR 5/–, half damage from falls); Overchanneled empathic feedback power (anyone striking the mind reaper with a melee attack takes 18 points of damage or the amount of damage dealt, whichever is less, no save)Fort +18, Ref +16, Will +21; lucid buffer class ability (+4 saves vs. compulsions and mind-influencing effects, EPH 147); danger sense power (additional +4 saves vs. traps)Immunity while psionically focused only: all devices, powers, and spells that influence the mind or that reveal location (see cerebral blind and cerebral immunity, EPH 147)Resistance energy conversion power (acid 30, cold 30, electricity 30, fire 30, sonic 30) Speed 30 ft. (6 squares), fly 40 ft. (average) with psionic overland flight powerMelee +1 mindfeeder psychic scythe +26/+21/+16 (2d4+14/x4) orMelee maul of the titans +24/+19/+14 (1d10+12, triple damage vs. inanimate objects) orMelee +1 bodyfeeder scythe +22/+17/+12 (2d4+10/x4)Base Atk +15; Grp +21, psionic freedom of movement powerAttack Options Deep Impact (EPH 45), Power Attack, Psionic Weapon (EPH 50), breach power resistance (EPH 147), favored enemy illithids +8Special Actions Psionic Meditation (regain psionic focus as a move action)Combat Gear cognizance crystal (3-power-point capacity, EPH 167)Psion Powers Known (406 unspent power points after manifesting active powers, ML 19th):9th (17 power points) – affinity field (DC 29), microcosm, psionic etherealness, tornado blast (ranged touch +21, DC 29)8th (15 power points) – bend reality, psionic greater teleport, psionic mind blank**7th (13 power points) – divert teleport*, energy conversion*, psionic moment of prescience6th (11 power points) – dispelling buffer*, psionic overland flight*, temporal acceleration5th (9 power points) – adapt body*, power resistance, psionic true seeing4th (7 power points) – empathic feedback*, energy ball (DC 24), inertial barrier*, psionic dimension door, psionic freedom of movement*, remote viewing (DC 24)3rd (5 power points) – body adjustment, body purification, danger sense*, psionic darkvision*2nd (3 power points) – elfsight*, energy missile (DC 22), larval flayers (Complete Psionic 91), sustenance1st (1 power point) – defensive precognition, inertial armor*, offensive precognition, offensive prescience, thicken skin*, vigor*kept continuously active (see Tactics, below); included in stat block where appropriate**kept continuously active on all allies (see Tactics, below) Abilities Str 22, Dex 22, Con 24, Int 30, Wis 10, Cha 8SQ blast feedback (EPH 147), brain nausea (EPH 147)Feats (feats not in the PHB are in EPH Chapter 3) Deep Impact, Delay Power, Expanded Knowledge (remote viewing) B, Expanded Knowledge (thicken skin) B, Extend Power, Overchannel, Power Attack, Psionic Meditation B, Psionic Weapon, Talented, TrackSkills Autohypnosis +23, Concentration +30, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +33, Listen +23, Psicraft +33, Sense Motive +23, Spot +25, Survival +23Possessions combat gear plus minor cloak of displacement, +5 ring of protection, +5 vest of resistance, +6 amulet of health, +6 belt of giant strength, +6 gloves of dexterity, +6 headband of intellect, +4 manual of bodily health (expended), +3 manual of gainful exercise (expended), +3 manual of quickness of action (expended), +3 tome of clear thought (expended), Heward’s handy haversack, plus mundane goods worth 28,559 gp. When the mind reaper’s defensive prescience, offensive precognition, and offensive prescience powers are active, the mind reaper’s stats change as follows for two minutes:AC 50, touch 29 (50 vs. incorporeal), flat-footed 36 (+8 insight when not flat-footed)Melee +1 mindfeeder psychic scythe +34/+29/+24 (2d4+23/x4) orMelee maul of the titans +32/+27/+22 (1d10+21, triple damage vs. inanimate objects) orMelee +1 bodyfeeder scythe +30/+25/+20 (2d4+19/x4) When using psionic moment of prescience and the Deep Impact feat in conjunction with a single attack, the mind reaper’s stats change as follows for that attack, not counting modifiers for charging or Power Attack, if any:Melee +1 mindfeeder psychic scythe +48 melee touch attack (damage unchanged) orMelee maul of the titans +44 melee touch attack (damage unchanged) orMelee +1 bodyfeeder scythe +42 melee touch attack (damage unchanged) TacticsThe mind reaper fills the role of a sorcerer in a party. His ideal adventuring companions would be a cleric, a fighter, and a rogue. If possible, he stands behind these companions, providing them with artillery support and battlefield control. He avoids melee whenever possible.Primary Use of Power Attack (“Reaping”): A mind reaper rarely, if ever, uses Power Attack in combat. In fact, a mind reaper rarely, if ever, makes melee attack in combat. As the party’s sorcerer, he should avoid melee combat whenever possible.He instead exploits Power Attack in non-combat situations by “reaping” summoned creatures to gain psionic power points. This between-encounter process goes as follows:First, the mind reaper manifests the larval flayers power (Complete Psionic 91) to summon 1d3 larval flayers. As no enemies are present, the larval flayers do nothing, awaiting the arrival of opponents.Second, the mind reaper makes non-lethal attacks to render one or more larval flayers unconscious. A larval flayer has AC 18 and 11 hit points, so the mind reaper’s full attack should easily render a larval flayer unconscious in a single round.Third, the mind reaper activates Power Attack for his full base attack bonus and performs a coup de grace on the unconscious larval flayer with his +1 mindfeeder psychic scythe. Because a coup de grace automatically hits, the penalties of Power Attack do not apply. The coup de grace is an automatic critical hit that deals 8d4+172 damage (2d4+14 damage for an ordinary +1 mindfeeder psychic scythe attack +30 damage for Power Attack, all multiplied 4).Because the scythe has the mindfeeder property (EPH 165), it grants an amount of temporary power points equal to the damage dealt on any critical hit. The mind reaper’s coup de grace thus grants him 8d4+172 temporary power points (120 of those the result of Power Attack).At the beginning of the day, the mind reaper uses these temporary power points to manifest powers with durations measured in hours, extending them using the Extend Power feat if necessary and using the Overchannel feat to increase their effective level.As needed throughout the day, the mind reaper repeats the above process to gain additional temporary power points to reactivated dispelled or expired powers. Essentially, “reaping” provides him with a large number of free, renewable, active powers.The mind reaper also repeats the “reaping” process whenever he has advance warning that combat is about to begin (when fighting in an arena, when using scry-buff-teleport tactics, when entering a lair known to be inhabited by a monster, etc.). This affords the mind reaper 8d4+172 free power points to use during the anticipated encounter.(During unexpected combats, the mind reaper simply uses his normal daily allotment of power points, being no more or less effective than any psion not using the “reaping” process.)Note that using this tactic to gain massive amounts of power points before an anticipated fight relies heavily upon Power Attack; temporary power points granted by a mindfeeder weapon do not stack, so without Power Attack, “reaping” can only provide the mind reaper with 8d4+52 temporary power points at any one time. Thus, the mind reaper uses Power Attack to gain a conditional bonus of 120 power points, renewable at will with three rounds notice.Secondary Uses of Power Attack: In addition to the above tactics for gaining psionic power points, the mind reaper can also use Power Attack outside of combat in other ways.Using the “reaping” process described above, but substituting a bodyfeeder weapon for a mindfeeder weapon, the mind reaper gains temporary hit points in the same manner as he gains temporary power points. (Because his +1 bodyfeeder scythe does not have the psychic property to increase its effective enhancement bonus, he gains ‘only’ 8d4+156 temporary hit points for each use of this tactic.)In addition, the mind reaper can use Power Attack in conjunction with his maul of the titans to smash through objects, doors, and walls. When making a full attack with a maul of the titans and using a 15-point Power Attack, the mind reaper only misses on a natural ‘1’ and deals 3d10+126 damage per attack. That’s an average of just less than 396 points of damage per round.Though the mind feeder is not optimized for this use of the maul of the titans, he can still use it to hammer a 10-ft. corridor through solid stone at a rate of roughly 20 feet per minute. The mind reaper frequently uses this tactic to breach the walls of illithid fortresses in the hunt for his favored enemy.Tactics During Combat: All of the above uses of Power Attack take place out of combat. In combat, the mind reaper instead relies upon psionic powers to defeat his foes.When unable to prepare in advance, a mind reaper tries to conserve his 406 daily power points by manifesting only as many powers as necessary, making only limited use of temporal acceleration to manifest multiple powers per round. He typically avoids spending more than 20-30 power points per round.When able to reap 8d4+172 temporary power points in the moments before a fight, the mind reaper instead lets loose with his deadliest powers at full maximum effect for as long as he has temporary power points remaining. Typically, he spends upwards of 100+ power points per round manifesting a 19-point temporal acceleration and any four other psionic powers at maximum effect. He uses the Delay Power feat to delay any offensive powers until his temporal acceleration expires, allowing them to affect targets as normal.Because the mind reaper can replenish temporary power points as needed outside of combat, he can spend the first two rounds of each fight for which he has prepared in advance using this last tactic at little or no power point cost to himself. Needless to say, this is his preferred combat tactic.A typical combo of powers to unleash in one round using temporary power points might include any of the following:Psionic greater teleport (15 power points) to enter a creature’s lair, followed by a 19-point temporal acceleration and three 17-point tornado blasts (delayed 3 rounds, 2 rounds, and 1 round at a cost of 2 power points each) for up to 75d6 wind damage, no spell resistance;19-point temporal acceleration, followed by three 17-point tornado blasts (delayed 3 rounds, 2 rounds, and 1 round at a cost of 2 power points each) and one non-delayed 19-point tornado blast for up to 102d6 wind damage, no spell resistance;19-point temporal acceleration, Overchanneled 21-point body adjustment, Overchanneled 21-point body adjustment, Overchanneled 22-point vigor, 19-point tornado blast to have the mind reaper heal 16d12 points of damage, gain 110 temporary hit points, and still deal 19d6 or more points of wind damage, no save;19-point temporal acceleration, Overchanneled 22-point defensive precognition, Overchanneled 22-point offensive precognition, Overchanneled 22-point offensive prescience, followed by a move action and a full attack action (mildly useful against creatures invulnerable to the mind reaper’s normal psionic attacks, but otherwise avoided.)All of the above combos require only one round to activate in full. The mind reaper uses temporary power points reaped using Power Attack prior to the start of the fight when possible, preventing these combos from depleting his daily power point allotment.Also note that the mind reaper has both remote viewing and greater psionic teleport, allowing his party to use scry-buff-teleport tactics, as needed. In addition, he has divert teleport always active, preventing others from using scry-buff-teleport tactics against him. Adapting the Mind ReaperIn campaigns that use only the 3.5 Core rules and the Expanded Psionics Handbook, the mind reaper must be created without the use of the larval flayers power from Complete Psionic. This can be accomplished by spending skill points to maximize Use Magic Device and equipping the mind reaper with wands of summon monster (caster level 3rd or higher); by having the mind reaper carry several small animals for use as sacrifices; or by having the mind reaper work with allies who are able to cast low-level summon spells.</blockquote>

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