Anyone else annoyed by psionics?

[reiella]

That should be 3d6, unless the power somehow doubles falling damage. A spells effect cannot reach beyond it's range. The range is 30 feet. So if the dragon were 30 feet directly above you, it would fall 30 feet, take 3d6 damage and crush you. More likely it would be at an angle which would reduce the height some...I'd say to around 20 feet or 2d6 damage.

DC

Gah, silly area is trumped by range rule.

Oddly enough, it does make Widen Power rather worthless for use with Psionic Blast. And a few other spells/powers as well (unless you match it with Enlarge at least- which isn't too viable for a Psion).

You be right though.

 

[Henry]

I am a bit confused, a bit of clarification please?

DC's starting at 17 means 22 int. This part should be ok, although not likely for level 5 so it must be by the end of the carear (level 14).

Not necessarily; greater psionic endowment gives him a +2 on his powers, so with an 18 INT (not impossible at 1st level) that would give him those nasty save DCs.

 

[Scion]

Not necessarily; greater psionic endowment gives him a +2 on his powers, so with an 18 INT (not impossible at 1st level) that would give him those nasty save DCs.

I tend to ignore the existance of feats that are so horribly bad that they are a waste of ink

But, you are right. Still, the dc itself didnt bother me, it was the sheer number of things that had to go just right for this to ever happen. Happening twice meant that either I was missing something in the rules or there were some very odd things going on.

I would hope that people wouldnt say, 'oh my god! the psion killed a dragon? psions are overpowered!' Incredibly unlikely happenings can make any class look unbalanced at that point (like say, rolling maximum damage on a crit with full power attack and an x4 weapon. Sure, 1 in 400 times that guy looks like he is the uber bomb diggity, but it is so rare that it just doesnt matter)

 

[Nail]

...I've been trying to search for that "artillery" thread, but I can't seem to put my finger on it. Anyone?

 

[Nail]

Found it! Nevermind.


So....just to get me started: (And bumming off of Sorren's work.....)

Sor 10 (20 Chr) vs Psi 10 (20 Int)

after 11 rounds of combat (2 to 4 encounters), how much damage can each PC do? Area of effect fire damage, to be exact.

Sor 10 uses empowered fireballs (he's got 4 of those) and then normal fireballs (he's got 7 of those). Meanwhile Psi 10 uses empowered energy balls (he can do that 11 times, and then he's practically tapped-out). Maximum area damage capacity!

In 11 rounds, the Psi 10 does ([8d6+8]*1.5 each) 594 hp fire damage. Ref DC 19
The Sor 10 does (10d6 or 10d6*1.5) 455 hp fire damage. Ref DC 18

Huh.

 

[Nail]

Now let's say these same S.O.B.s find themselves faced with hordes of devils. ...What's that? Devils are immune to fire damage? No problem: the psion can freely chose the energy type......whereas the sorcerer had better hope he has the energy substitution feat. Just for giggles, we'll give it to him, and say he took "Sonic", as many creatures are not resistant to it.

after 11 rounds of combat:

Psi 10: empowered electricity balls, 11 times: 462 hp damage, Ref DC 21, effective caster level 12.
Sor 10: empowered sonic balls 4 times, sonic ball 7 times: 455 hp damage, Ref DC 18, effective caster level 10.

Huh.

 

[Scion]

Remember, the psion effectively 'cannot' use focus every round. With spending an extra feat then there is a chance of doing so, but as a full round action (which is equivalent but worse than the sorc position).

Also, since this is into the area where direct damage spells are getting pretty worthless in order to make the psion actually viable I am glad to see that they are doing a bit more damage in this unlikely set of circumstances

But then, the psion is done and the sorc is barely tapped (all 4th level left, maybe some third, all second, all first, all cantrips)

 

[Droid101]

In 11 rounds, the Psi 10 does ([8d6+8]*1.5 each) 594 hp fire damage. Ref DC 19
The Sor 10 does (10d6 or 10d6*1.5) 455 hp fire damage. Ref DC 18

Huh.

Well, for one, the Psion's damage is 541, not 594. Re-read Sorren's post.

Second, that combination is worse for the Sorcerer. Sorcerer will be using empowered Scorching rays before he goes to normal fireballs. (And if you say "But wait, I said big burst direct damages!" Yeah, well, I said "Most damage possible.") Sorcerer's damage jumps to 471. Gap isn't so big now.

Thirdly, the Psion has to make a concentration check every round to regain focus. This may be an easy check, but you might roll a 1. Then he only gets a normal Energy Burst. This will knock his damage down a bit.

Point is, after that, the sorcerer still has over 400 points of damage dealing left. Or he could charm the blacksmith.

 

[Nail]

..never forget the blacksmith......

 

[drothgery]

Thirdly, the Psion has to make a concentration check every round to regain focus. This may be an easy check, but you might roll a 1. Then he only gets a normal Energy Burst. This will knock his damage down a bit.

Err... rolling a 1 isn't an autofail on skill checks, and it's not that hard to have a +19 to concentration, especially for purposes of regaining focus.