Augmenting psionic revivify & power stones

[Jhaelen]

Last session we were a bit puzzled about the augmentation section of the Psionic Revivify power:

Psionic revivify lets a manifester reconnect a corpse’s psyche with its body, restoring life to a recently deceased creature. The power must be manifested within 1 round of the victim’s death. Before the psyche of the deceased has completely left the body, this power halts its journey while repairing somewhat the damage to the body.

This power functions like the raise dead spell, except that the affected creature receives no level loss, no Constitution loss, and no loss of powers.

The creature has -1 hit points (but is stable) after being restored to life.

XP Cost
200 XP.

Augment
For every 100 additional experience points that both you and the subject pay, the manifestation of this power can be delayed by 1 additional round.

The funny thing is, that the augment doesn't mention you need to pay additional power points to augment it. Does this mean, there is no limit to the number of rounds it can be delayed (assuming manifester and recipient are willing to pay the xp cost)?

It doesn't help that the example given in the XPH seems to be wrong:
It states it would cost 500 XP to restore someone to life who has been dead for five rounds. Shouldn't that be 4 rounds because of the base cost of 200 XP? Also, it seems the recipient only has to pay XP if the power has to be augmented.

Things were further complicated since the power was used from a power stone by a non-psionic character. I assumed the 200xp for the base cost had already been provided by the creator of the power stone. Is that correct? If so, would it even be possible to create a power stone with an augmented version of psionic revivify? Who would pay the xp normally payed by the recipient (and when?)?
Note, that we use a house rule that use magic device can be used with psionic items and vice versa.

On page 105, Complete Psionic contains an update that replaces the section on using power stones. It mentions that powers manifested from power stones can be augmented after succeeding on two Psicraft checks (Psicraft is also house-ruled to be identical to Spellcraft).

Would this also be possible for someone using the Use Psionic Device skill?
How many successful skill checks would this require?

This is really a very odd power and I'm apparently a bit rusty regarding the Use Magic Device skill. So far it's only ever been used to activate wands and scrolls...

Any insights would be appreciated!

 

[NewJeffCT]

It doesn't help that the example given in the XPH seems to be wrong:
It states it would cost 500 XP to restore someone to life who has been dead for five rounds. Shouldn't that be 4 rounds because of the base cost of 200 XP? Also, it seems the recipient only has to pay XP if the power has to be augmented.

The XPH I have says that if you paid an additional 500 XP each, you can revivify a subject that has been 6 rounds, not 4.

So, 200 for the initial manifestation (100 xp each) and then another 1000 for 5 more rounds, which is split between the manifester and the dead.

I believe there is a rule somewhere that you cannot pay so much XP that the manifester or caster loses a level from manifesting a power or casting a spell. However, I don't know if that is 100% accurate or not.

 

[Jhaelen]

The XPH I have says that if you paid an additional 500 XP each, you can revivify a subject that has been 6 rounds, not 4.

Hmm, I'd have to check that again, looks like I missed the 'additional' in the example.

I believe there is a rule somewhere that you cannot pay so much XP that the manifester or caster loses a level from manifesting a power or casting a spell. However, I don't know if that is 100% accurate or not.

Yep, I remember that there is such a rule. Still, it potentially allows for a lot of rounds (though it's costly).

I'm baffled that the augment clause doesn't mention that every additional round also costs one additional PP, thus naturally limiting the augmentation in the same way as every other power.

Anyway, thanks & XP for your response!

Anyone else? Especially about the power stone issues?

 

[NewJeffCT]

Hmm, I'd have to check that again, looks like I missed the 'additional' in the example.
Yep, I remember that there is such a rule. Still, it potentially allows for a lot of rounds (though it's costly).

I'm baffled that the augment clause doesn't mention that every additional round also costs one additional PP, thus naturally limiting the augmentation in the same way as every other power.

Anyway, thanks & XP for your response!

Anyone else? Especially about the power stone issues?

It does seem odd that there is no power point cost for augmentation to limit it. I might add 1/pp round as a cost to limit it level-wise and cap it that way. The spell Revivify is limited to one round, no matter what. So, i think a manifester level cap is reasonable.

And, I don't use Complete Psionic, so can't speak on power stones.