Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nibelung" data-source="post: 6703898" data-attributes="member: 74499">Originally posted by Dedekine:RacesRaces from the Monster Manual are not included in this guide; if a race from Dragon is not mentioned, it should be assumed it is not a good choice.Boost to Primary and Secondary Stats[sblock]Deva (+2 Wis, +2 Int/Cha: PHB2/Dragon 386): Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes is great stuff. Deva have far more feat support than Kalashtar, but the downside is that little of it is directly aimed at psionics. The fact that Wis/Cha was retro-fitted, and the lack of a corresponding NAD boost, is less than ideal.Dragonborn (+2 Cha, +2 Con/Str: PHB/HoFK): Con ardents will benefit from Draconic Heritage, and anything that helps boost accuracy (in this case, Dragonborn Fury) is a big boon for a leader. Dragon Breath isn't a really that great, and keys off your secondary. A much better option is Dragonfear as of Dragon 388, which provides a big debuff to enemies in a massive close burst, and combines very well with Stygian Adept.Half-elf(+2 Cha/Wis, +2 Con; PHB/HoFK): Never a bad choice for any class, half-elves make fantastic ardents. Dilettante will be your preferred choice, since it helps with a psionic class' reduced power list and the ardent's lack of a decent MBA, but Knack for Success is a solid option for any leader.Hamadryad (+2 Wis, +2 Cha/Int; HotFW): Tree Mind is great, Hamadryad Aspects, and the few racial feats are actually useful. Kalashtar (+2 Cha, +2 Wis; EPG): Bastion of Mental Clarity is a nice leader-ish power, and Dual Soul is great defensively. They might not have the best feat support of any race, but the feats they do get tend to be very well suited to psionic classes (and will likely only improve).Satyr (+2 Cha, +2 Con/Dex: HoFW): The sliding control from Lure of Enchantment is a nice bonus. Really, the biggest problem that satyrs face is that they're not tieflings or half-elves.Tiefling (+2 Cha, +2 Con/Int: PHB/HoFK): You get resistance to fire and an accuracy boost against bloodied foes, and infernal wrath encourages monster to leave you be. The feat support for tieflings is excellent, much of it geared towards improving your accuracy or debuffing enemies. [/sblock]Boost to Primary Stat[sblock]Changeling (+2 Cha, +2 Dex/Int; EPG): The worst feat support of any player race in the game. The secondary stats aren't of much use, other than a boost to Reflex. You can always do better.Drow (+2 Cha/Wis, +2 Dex: FRPG/HoFK): Darkfire is a nice addition to a leader's arsenal. Unfortunately, the race doesn't have much going for it otherwise.Eladrin (+2 Cha/Dex, +2 Int: PHB/HoFL): Fey step is a nice mobility boost, and Eladrin Soldier is objectively better than taking Weapon Proficiency (Greatspear). However, the feat support beyond that is really poor, and the boost to your dump stat is a waste. Both Shardminds and Tieflings make better +Cha/Int choices.Halfling (+2 Cha, +2 Dex/Con: PHB/HoFL): Small size is a nuisance for a weapon-based class, but dealing damage is a lower priority for ardents. What halflings offer is good mobility and defence, both of which are great assets.Humans (+2 to any, PHB/HoFL): Sadly, the extra at-will loses the augmentable keyword, but this is still a huge boon for a class with a reduced number of powers; you will probably prefer to take this over Heroic Effort, though it is also a respectable choice. The extra feat is also nice, and human feat support is great.Gnome (+2 Cha/Dex, +2 Int: PHB2/Dragon 387): Fade Away and Reactive Stealth both want Stealth, which you don't get as a trained skill, and Small size hurts your weapon choices. Nothing very good in the way of feats, with the possible exception of Fade Ally. For insult to injury, you get to boost your dump stat.Pixie (+2 Cha, +2 Dex/Int: HoFW): Problem: Ardent need to be adjacent to allies a lot of the time to make things work. Solution: Fly over them, or heck, be in their space. Revenant (+2 Cha/Con, +2 Dex; Dragon 376)/Dragon 397: Dark Reaping is a reasonable damage boost, but Unnatural Vitality is the key feature here, with the ability to take a standard action before your first death saving throw to get you back on your feet. What really makes this race appealing is the Unnatural Mantle feat. The choice of past life is a hard one, but I'd suggest either Human or Githzerai as having the best feat support. Half-elf with Half-Elf Soul might seem tempting, but frankly you'd probably be better off just with a half-elf. Pity you can't get the Con boost.Shade (+2 Cha, +2 Dex/Int; HoS): Con ardents might not wince too much at losing a surge, but basically this is a race geared towards stealth, which is really not your strength. The racial utilities don't hold much appeal, as ardent utilities are generally solid, but there might be something here that turns out to be vital to a build concept.Shardmind (+2 Cha/Wis, +2 Int: PHB3): Living construct is a nice boost, and resistance to psychic is great. Shard Swarm gives you mobility and accuracy and there are is good feat support for it. Sadly, many feats for Shardminds depend on either Int (which you don't need) or Wis (which you don't get a boost for), but feat support for shardminds and psionic classes is only likely to improve.Vryloka (+2 Cha, +2 Str/Dex: HoS): The penalty to your surge value when bloodied might be inconvenient, as there are reasons for you to hold off on using your second wind. Lifeblood is good in theory, but in practice a leader is going to find it tricky to trigger it. Still, necrotic resistance is nice, and the level 16 utility Vryloka Bloodbond is definitely worth looking at.[/sblock]Boost to Secondary Stat Only[sblock]Dwarf (+2 Con, +2 Str/Wis: PHB/HoFL): Whether you choose Wis or Con as your secondary, the other stat boost will help you with feat prerequisites, so a big win. With Wind of Sympathy, minor action second winds have also become much more appealing. Combined with good feats, and we can chalk up the ardent as yet another class in which the dwarf excels.Goliath (+2 Con/Wis, +2 Str: PHB2/Dragon 397): Your choice of secondary, the bonus to Str helps with armour feat prerequisites, and Stone's Endurance further improves defences. Unfortunately, this is pretty much all it has to offer.Elf (+2 Wis, +2 Dex/Int; PHB): Elven accuracy is very nice, and Wild Step will improve your mobility, but the weapon proficiency is a waste.Genasi (+2 Str/Con, +2 Int: FRPG/Dragon 397): While the new Con option is nice, Genasi have better things to do than be ardents.Githzerai (+2 Wis, +2 Dex/Int ; PHB3): Defended Mind and Iron Mind are solid defensive abilities, and Shifting Fortunes is a nice mobility boost. The +2 bonus to Initiative will also help a class with no real reason to boost Dex. There are some great feats for githzerai. If you're going to build a Wis ardent, a githzerai is one of your best alternatives.Half-Orc(+2 Con/Str, +2 Dex; PHB2/HoFK): Furious Assault will help with the low [W] damage of ardent powers, and Swift Charge will help you close to melee range. The feat support is pretty much useless, though.Longtooth Shifter (+2 Wis, +2 Str; PHB2): Regeneration is nice, but this is a race meant for defenders or strikers, not for a leader. The boost to Str helps with armour proficiencies, but that's not really enough to rescue this race.Minotaur (+2 Con/Wis, +2 Str; PHB3): The good news is that you get to boost your choice of secondary stat. The bad news is that you will almost never be charging except with very particular builds.Mul (+2 Con, +2 Str/Wis; DSCS): Your choice of a boost to both secondaries, or a boost to the best secondary plus help meeting minimum Str prerequisites for feats. You get to choose between access to human or dwarf feats, so great feat support out of the box, plus some good feats of their own. An extra healing surge and the ability to end effects on you once per encounter is just icing. Razorclaw Shifter (+2 Wis, +2 Dex; PHB2): An extra light shield when you get bloodied, plus more mobility makes for a solid power. The feat support won't do anything for ardents. Elves are the superior choice.Shadar-Kai (+2 Int/Wis, +2 Dex; Dragon 372/Dragon 397): Shadar-kai just don't bring anything to the table. Teleporting is nice, but a Wis boost only just isn't that nice, especially since you could just go Eladrin. The bonus to death saving throws and saving throws against unconciousness is nice, though.Thri-kreen (+2 Wis/Str, +2 Dex; DSCS): Dex isn't a big help, Thri-kreen Claws can't use your primary stat, not much feat support, and none of it very useful.Warforged (+2 Con, +2 Str/Int; PHB3/Dragon 397): Extremely sturdy, and that bonus to Str will only improve that. You will be able to make nonstop use of Warforged Tactics. The only thing keeping warforged from a blue rating is the suspicion that they will never have any good support for psionic classes.Wilden (+2 Wis, +2 Con/Dex; PHB3): You'll appreciate the chance to boost Reflex, and either Wrath of the Destroyer or Pursuit of the Hunter can be of use to you. There are quite a few feats which are of good use to any leader, and there's hints that the wilden might become one of the designated psionic races, meaning better feat support in the future.[/sblock]</blockquote>

Verification