Escaping the echo chamber...

[Dannyalcatraz]

...of just bouncing this around in my head ad infinitum.

I've been playing a Starlock multiclassed into Psion...aaaaand loving it! At this point, I'm envisioning this guy headed for the DreamWalker Paragon Path. The problem, as will surprise few, is feat selection.

The PC's 2nd level feat was Improved Fate of the Void to increase accuracy, 4th was Hidden Sniper. But I'm considering retraining FotV to emphasize/strengthen other mechanical or RP aspects of the PC concept.

Would you swap out FotV for one of these feats, and if so, which ones?

Disciple of Stone HotFL p313: spend healing surge and also gain 5 THP (7 at 11th, 10 at 21st);

Disciple of Lore HotFL p313: +1 bonus to all trained skills;

Melee Training PHB2 p187/HotFL p316: Choose ability other than Str- make MBAs w/proficient weapon using that stat's bonus for Att rolls & 1/2 bonus for damage

Battle Caster Defense : +4 AC vs OAs provoked when using ranged/area powers (PHB3 p177);

Durable PHB1 p194;

Toughness PHB p201;

Autohypnosis: +1HS, sub Arcana for Endurance checks (PP p130);

Rune-Scribed Soul: use SW, gain +1Att & +Con mod to Dam w/Arc powers until end of turn (AP p129);

Sacrifice to Caiphon (DMA p50): if you miss all targets of a Warlock Encounter power, take damage equal to the power's level to recover the power;

Before you answer, consider:

1) This guy winds up in or near the front line a LOT due to the nature of the party's tactics, his need to keep moving for his Shadow Walking derived bonuses and his powers are fairly short ranged- R5-10.

2) The last two are pretty good feats normally, but he is losing some of his arcane powers via power-swap feats AND some of his arcane powers affect multiple targets.

3) A lot of these feats are very situational.

EDIT: And of course, all suggestions are welcome!

 

[Saagael]

Disciple of Stone is entirely useless within this list thanks to the presence of Toughness. Getting 5/7/10 temp HP for the cost of a surge is entirely pointless when you could have an extra 5 hit points every combat for free.

Melee Training is also iffy, because if you use the Character Builder you can trade Eldritch Blast for Eldritch Strike, which is a Con/Cha-based MBA that slides the target 1 square.

What weapon/implement are you using. Since you've MCed Psion, you should have access to the staff as an implement. This is good, as its both a weapon and implement (for melee smacking if you need to), but mostly because you can take Staff Implement Expertise, which, along with being an expertise feat, makes it so you never provoke OAs for casting ranged/area powers in melee range.

Toughness and Durable are both good choices, but really depend on how you find yourself in combat. Do you run out of surges? If you're a Con-based warlock, you'll likely not need the extra surges, so toughness is better. Otherwise I'd recommend Durable.

Lastly, Sacrifice to Caiphon is awesome if you have single-target powers. If most of your stuff is blast/burst type powers, then I'd pass up since it'll come up less often than you like (but you'll really like it when it does).

Final Note: I'm not sure I suggest training out of FotV, as I've found it very helpful to have a stacking +2 on attacks or saves. However, if you really do find yourself in melee a lot and want to add more staying power, I'd suggest the Staff Expertise for two reasons:

A) You won't take OAs, leading to less damage and less need for durable/toughness.
B) You're not only hitting the target and getting damage/conditions applied, but doing so with a +1 from your Prime Shot feature, and possibly even combat advantage from flanking (making Hidden Sniper redundant slightly, but you won't be moving all the time since you still take OAs from that).

After that I'd recommend Toughness, the 10 extra hp at level 11 is pretty nice. Bringing up third in my recommendations is a tie between Sacrifice to Caiphon and Autohypnosis (Endurance is a fun skill to be good at and +1 Surge never hurt anyone).

Final Final Note: Just realized that by combining Staff Expertise with Opportunistic Withdrawal, you could make attacks in melee range with CA via flanking, then move away safely to get your concealment. Something else to consider if you getting stuck in melee really messing with you, in my (slightly not so) humble opinion.

EDIT: Haven't actually looked at the Disciple of Stone feat and misread it in your post. Just looked it up, and its moderately better than I thought, but I still stand by my statement that at level 11, 7 temp HP is iffy when you can have 10 free hit points with Toughness.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Thanks for the reply!

To give more context, this is what the plan for the rest of Heroic Tier looks like:

Lvl 6 Feat: Awakened Potential (PSP p141): gain PsiAug class feature & +1PP for augmenting powers, feats or items. Once expended, it is regained after an extended rest. Gain another +1PP at 21st LVL.

Lvl 8 Feat: Psionic Toughness (PSP p134): gain +3HP per tier. In addition, you can spend 1PP to regain 5HP. This increases to 10HP and 15HP at 11th & 21st LVLs.

Lvl 10 Feat: Adept Power, <Lvl 9 power <Malicious Lightning PSP p90 or Summon Phantasmal Killer PSP p91>.

To answer your questions:

1) his weapon is a Warhammer- he's a Dwarf, so that's a no brainer- but it is not magical.

2) his implement is a Rod of Corruption, which is a good part of why this question has been pinballing in my head: the ability to transfer my Curse to all foes within 5sq of the triggering foe is nothing to sneeze at!

Still, Staff Expertise seems mighty tempting, and is definitely worth considering- I'd only drop from a d10 to a d8, and even with losing the RoC's power, I'd probably get a nice bennie in it's place...

3) I'd rather keep Eldritch Blast since even though he's frequently at the front, he really does use that power quite a bit. (I should probably use Dire Radiance a bit more...but it's base damage die is soooo tiny!) Swapping out IFotV for Melee Training (Con) would mean a huge boost to short range hitting power without sacrificing ranged potency.

4) your instincts are right- as a Dwarf with a high Con, I rarely run out of HSes. Heck, I think the only PC in the party with more HP is the Dwarf Fighter. Aaand I'm planning on taking Dwarven Durability at 12th level...because I can...and maybe Gritty Determination. With Psionic Toughness already on the prospective Heroic tier Feat list, he'll be a hard target. Toughness (and some of those others) are thus simultaneously attractive and also seemingly redundant. Despite my love of them, I don't intend for this guy to be a turtle! OTOH, Toughness gets you flat-out more HP than Psionic Toughness- though the latter is boostable- which would free up those few PP I get for actual powers as opposed to boosting feats.

 

[Saagael]

1) his weapon is a Warhammer- he's a Dwarf, so that's a no brainer- but it is not magical.

2) his implement is a Rod of Corruption, which is a good part of why this question has been pinballing in my head: the ability to transfer my Curse to all foes within 5sq of the triggering foe is nothing to sneeze at!

Still, Staff Expertise seems mighty tempting, and is definitely worth considering- I'd only drop from a d10 to a d8, and even with losing the RoC's power, I'd probably get a nice bennie in it's place...

You can wield a staff and a rod at the same time. So if you want the Staff Expertise, you can have both that AND the Rod of Corruption's ability. The only issue is that you can't make a melee attack with the staff 1-handed, meaning to make an MBA you'd have to put away or drop the rod to do the MBA, but that brings me to my next point...

3) I'd rather keep Eldritch Blast since even though he's frequently at the front, he really does use that power quite a bit. (I should probably use Dire Radiance a bit more...but it's base damage die is soooo tiny!) Swapping out IFotV for Melee Training (Con) would mean a huge boost to short range hitting power without sacrificing ranged potency.

With Staff Expertise, you'd not need Melee Training, since you can use Eldritch Blast in melee range without fear of being hit. Staff Expertise makes you not need a good melee attack, as your ranged attacks BECOME melee attacks (except for charging/OAing).

In short, Staff Expertise gives you a bonus to all attacks, lets you use all ranged/area powers in Melee range, and you still get to have your rod, while never needing a strong melee basic attack. The only thing you miss out on is having a decent charge or OA. If those two things are really worth it to you, then Melee Training would be better, otherwise I have to say Staff Expertise wins out, thanks to all the different things that feat covers.

Even better, you can ask your DM to let you reflavor a quarterstaff as a hammer so you still have the image you're going for.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

<snip>Mucho Logic<snip>

Well put and thoughtfully laid out. I'm nearly persuaded!

Even better, you can ask your DM to let you reflavor a quarterstaff as a hammer so you still have the image you're going for.

I don't know- that seems like asking a lot. Especially since that would mean that I'd get the advantage of getting the warhammer in hand...IOW, adding the possibility of having a good OA on top of all else.

 

[Saagael]

I don't know- that seems like asking a lot. Especially since that would mean that I'd get the advantage of getting the warhammer in hand...IOW, adding the possibility of having a good OA on top of all else.

That's the beauty of reflavoring. You have all the crunch of a quarterstaff, but just say it looks like a hammer. You can't make OAs with it, or use any hammer specific stuff, it just looks like one. The same way a bastard sword can be reflavored into a katana.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If that's what you mean, I could just say tha staff has a hammer-shaped topper.

However, I was just reading the staff rules in the PHB, and it pointed out that "If your class can't normally use staffs as implements...a staff is simply a magic quarterstaff."

Now, warlocks "can't normally use staffs as implements"- would my Psion-derived staff implement proficiency actually count for my warlock powers (I wouldn't think so, given Disciplined Talent's "when using Psion powers and Psion paragon path powers" wording), or would I actually need to take Arcane Implement Proficiency?

 

[Riastlin]

If that's what you mean, I could just say tha staff has a hammer-shaped topper.

However, I was just reading the staff rules in the PHB, and it pointed out that "If your class can't normally use staffs as implements...a staff is simply a magic quarterstaff."

Now, warlocks "can't normally use staffs as implements"- would my Psion-derived staff implement proficiency actually count for my warlock powers (I wouldn't think so, given Disciplined Talent's "when using Psion powers and Psion paragon path powers" wording), or would I actually need to take Arcane Implement Proficiency?

I believe in a recent "update" (i.e. errata) they changed implements such that if any of your classes can use a given implement, you can use that implement for any implement power, not just the implement powers of the class. So in other words, MC'ing into psion essentially gave you Arcane Implement Proficiency (Staff). I may be wrong on this (can't access the update doc from work) but I'm pretty sure that's how it works now. It saves you from a) having to take an extra feat and/or b) constantly swapping out implements as you switch between powers.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

If/when you get the chance, a link would be nice- it helps to have something to show the DM.

Not that I doubt you: I did try building this PC in the OCB, but an error occurred- it felt that my MC Psion feat made my Warlock side have Augmentable At-Wills. Before that, though, I could clearly see the Rod's benefits being added to my Psion powers.

 

[Saagael]

If/when you get the chance, a link would be nice- it helps to have something to show the DM.

Not that I doubt you: I did try building this PC in the OCB, but an error occurred- it felt that my MC Psion feat made my Warlock side have Augmentable At-Wills. Before that, though, I could clearly see the Rod's benefits being added to my Psion powers.

In the "Changes Coming To Essentials" pdf Wizards released prior to Essentials, they put in:

You now require only proficiency with an implement in order to use it with an implement power. You are considered proficient with the implements listed in your class’s Class Traits section. Similarly, if a multiclass feat allows you to use an implement with a certain class’s powers, you are considered proficient with that implement. For example, the following feats would let you use their respective implements with any powers, rather than just those powers related to a given class.

You can find the article here

Also, just to clarify my earlier statement. You can use a staff as your main implement, and still receive benefits for having your Rod of Corruption in your other hand. The rod's property has nothing to do with attacking, so even if you're using your staff to attack, you can still activate the property on Rod of Corruption.