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*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Adding a Psion to an group
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<blockquote data-quote="Solarious" data-source="post: 2890332" data-attributes="member: 27346"><p>This is only because a Psion must devote his powers towards this particular bent, and for their specialization, cannot get the best powers of another discipline without spending precious, precious feats, at which point you get the power about two to three levels later than the psion of that discipline would have. Metamorphosis, for example, is an Egotist power, which means an Expanded Knowledge was used to get it. The best blasting powers are discipline-specific (Kinetisist), as are the flying powers, teleportation powers (both Nomad), anything that has to do with scrying (Clairvoyant Sense, the Clairaudience psionic equivilant is Seer restricted), Psionic-Summoning-Equivilants, and Creation/Fabrication powers (both Shaper).</p><p></p><p>Think about it. Psions are basicly forced to specialize. Wizards wouldn't stand for it, but Psions must endure the slings and arrows without complaint.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Which makes up for a Psion's lack of autoscaling. A 10th level Wizard, when casting <em>Fireball</em>, gets 10d6. A 10th level Kinetisist (or another specialist Psion with Expanded Knowledge), when manifesting <em>Energy Ball</em>, must pay 10 power points for the same result, which is roughly the equivilant of a 5'th level spell/power. Granted, the DC also goes up to compensate, but the Wizard can now use those same resources and instead cast something like <em>Cone of Cold</em>, <em>Cloudkill</em>, or <em>Wall of Force</em>. No, wait, better yet: <em>Empowered Fireball</em>, which deals 10d6*1.5, or basicly 15d6.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>It's best not to compare the Psion to a Wizard, but rather a Sorceror. A Sorceror would be able to spam <em>Clairvoyance/Clairaudience</em> if they took it as a spell, so why should you limit the Psion in the same way? They both have limited selection of powers/spells. And Sorcerors can sacrifice higher level slots if things get particularly desperate. And again, <em>Clairvoyant Sense</em> is Seer discipline-restricted, another feat blown off there.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>So the only blasting powers our Telepath has are <em>Crystal Shard</em> and <em>Energy Ray</em>, hmn? The answer is less complicated than you make it out to be. First, larger groups of lower CR foes, which is less of a hassle than it is at lower levels, or more encounters spread out across the day. Second, give your group a mild sense of paranoia: there might be a sneak attack or an unexpected encounter comming in. Give your Telepath a reason to conserve PPs, and then justify that paranoia every now or then, or rather, punish the lack of conservation. A Psion's greatest weakness is their tendency to blow out their PPs at an alarming rate, and a Psion without PPs is more or less a Commoner with a Crossbow.</p><p></p><p><em>Vigor</em>, for the record, is an inferior method of extending your lifespan or soaking up Overchannel damage, and will cost significant amounts of PPs that could be better used to either ensure you don't get hit, or to eliminate the threats to the puny amount of hp 'arcanists' are blessed with.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Solarious, post: 2890332, member: 27346"] This is only because a Psion must devote his powers towards this particular bent, and for their specialization, cannot get the best powers of another discipline without spending precious, precious feats, at which point you get the power about two to three levels later than the psion of that discipline would have. Metamorphosis, for example, is an Egotist power, which means an Expanded Knowledge was used to get it. The best blasting powers are discipline-specific (Kinetisist), as are the flying powers, teleportation powers (both Nomad), anything that has to do with scrying (Clairvoyant Sense, the Clairaudience psionic equivilant is Seer restricted), Psionic-Summoning-Equivilants, and Creation/Fabrication powers (both Shaper). Think about it. Psions are basicly forced to specialize. Wizards wouldn't stand for it, but Psions must endure the slings and arrows without complaint. Which makes up for a Psion's lack of autoscaling. A 10th level Wizard, when casting [i]Fireball[/i], gets 10d6. A 10th level Kinetisist (or another specialist Psion with Expanded Knowledge), when manifesting [i]Energy Ball[/i], must pay 10 power points for the same result, which is roughly the equivilant of a 5'th level spell/power. Granted, the DC also goes up to compensate, but the Wizard can now use those same resources and instead cast something like [i]Cone of Cold[/i], [i]Cloudkill[/i], or [i]Wall of Force[/i]. No, wait, better yet: [i]Empowered Fireball[/i], which deals 10d6*1.5, or basicly 15d6. It's best not to compare the Psion to a Wizard, but rather a Sorceror. A Sorceror would be able to spam [i]Clairvoyance/Clairaudience[/i] if they took it as a spell, so why should you limit the Psion in the same way? They both have limited selection of powers/spells. And Sorcerors can sacrifice higher level slots if things get particularly desperate. And again, [i]Clairvoyant Sense[/i] is Seer discipline-restricted, another feat blown off there. So the only blasting powers our Telepath has are [i]Crystal Shard[/i] and [i]Energy Ray[/i], hmn? The answer is less complicated than you make it out to be. First, larger groups of lower CR foes, which is less of a hassle than it is at lower levels, or more encounters spread out across the day. Second, give your group a mild sense of paranoia: there might be a sneak attack or an unexpected encounter comming in. Give your Telepath a reason to conserve PPs, and then justify that paranoia every now or then, or rather, punish the lack of conservation. A Psion's greatest weakness is their tendency to blow out their PPs at an alarming rate, and a Psion without PPs is more or less a Commoner with a Crossbow. [i]Vigor[/i], for the record, is an inferior method of extending your lifespan or soaking up Overchannel damage, and will cost significant amounts of PPs that could be better used to either ensure you don't get hit, or to eliminate the threats to the puny amount of hp 'arcanists' are blessed with. [/QUOTE]
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