Do Psions get Psicrystals for free?

[Nail]

Given the SRD, (not errata or the actual book, which I do not own), the answer to your question is: No.

The feat allows you to gain a psicrystal. The feat allows you to bring the crystal into physical form and a semblance of life.

The feat does NOT say the feat itself is required to communicate with or control the actions of the psicrystal.

 

[KarinsDad]

Given the SRD, (not errata or the actual book, which I do not own), the answer to your question is: No.

The feat allows you to gain a psicrystal. The feat allows you to bring the crystal into physical form and a semblance of life.

The feat does NOT say the feat itself is required to communicate with or control the actions of the psicrystal.

Tricky.


makes mental (pun intended) note

 

[Nail]

Shall I sneak in a comment about the over-powered-ness of psions?



IMC, IMO, I wouldn't follow the SRD on this point. YMMV.

 

[Deset Gled]

You could also ask the questions:

1) Does he have a psicrystal? No
2) Does the feat allow him to gain one? Yes

Hence, he can gain one.

If you choose to rule this way, I don't see what stops you to having more than one psicrystal (that is, I don't see a prerequisite in the feat that requires question 1 to be asked). As long as you only gain psicrystals one at a time, you could keep gaining them until you have yourself a nice collection.

 

[KarinsDad]

If you choose to rule this way, I don't see what stops you to having more than one psicrystal (that is, I don't see a prerequisite in the feat that requires question 1 to be asked). As long as you only gain psicrystals one at a time, you could keep gaining them until you have yourself a nice collection.

It depends on how you read the word "a", you could read it to mean "one":

You have created a psicrystal.
This feat allows you to gain a psicrystal.

You have created one psicrystal.
This feat allows you to gain one psicrystal.

Similar to other feats that give you one game element (e.g. one spell slot), you do not get to do it over and over again. The point is, it's ambiguous.

 

[Thanee]

You could also ask the questions:

1) Does he have a psicrystal? No
2) Does the feat allow him to gain one? Yes

Hence, he can gain one.

No, the first question is completely irrelevant.

The feat allows you to gain a psicrystal, the second question, so you can have an unlimited number of psicrystals, since you can use the feat to gain a psicrystal, whenever you like.

That first question really has nothing to do with the feat description.

However, it could quite reasonably be read as this:

1) Have you already gained a psicrystal? Yes.
2) Can you gain a psicrytal? No, you already did so.

There is no 'have' in the description, just a 'gain' and an 'a'.

There is no 'at a time' either, BTW.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Nail]

2) Can you gain a psicrytal? No, you already did so.

Although I appreciate the sentiment (and effort)....

.....the feat text does not support your "step #2", any more than it supports KD's "step #1". "Gaining a psicrystal" does not necessarily place a limit on the number of psicrystals gained.

 

[KarinsDad]

Although I appreciate the sentiment (and effort)....

.....the feat text does not support your "step #2", any more than it supports KD's "step #1". "Gaining a psicrystal" does not necessarily place a limit on the number of psicrystals gained.

It can if you take the word "a" to mean "one".

 

[IanB]

It seems unnecessarily punitive to me to not allow them to replace a lost psicrystal. Since we don't have real rules for it, the familiar rules would seem adequate.

I think some of this ambiguity may have been created in the transition from 3.0 psionics to 3.5 psionics. I don't have the 3.0 book in front of me, but I think psions did automatically gain psicrystals in that version.

Does the 3.0 version (if anyone has it handy) allow replacement? If so, I would suggest it is possible that that part of the rules could have been inadvertently left out as text was moved around to accomodate the psicrystal being changed to a feat.

 

[Thanee]

Although I appreciate the sentiment (and effort)....

Maybe you should read the whole post...

Bye
Thanee