Focused Talent: Worth it or not?

[Dannyalcatraz]

Focused Talent gives the use of each of a psion's Discipline Focus to a multiclassed Psion, but as Daily powers.

Is this a flavor feat or are there sound mechanical reasons for taking it?

 

[MrMyth]

Well, one argument is that feats rarely give you powers at all, so gaining them can be more potent than expected. Even for what are essential cantrip level combat powers.

So, weighing the odds - do you consider it worth a feat to, once per day, have combat advantage for an attack, and once per day have a quick telepathic chat?

I can certainly see it for flavor reasons. For actual mechanical power? It isn't amazing, but it also isn't completely useless. Each Discipline essentially has one out of combat power, and those tend to be situational enough that they are perfectly fine as dailies. The combat abilities, even as daily powers, are still useful. I suppose it depends on what the rest of your character is like.

For some, the ability to extend the range of powers, or slide opponents back into a nasty zone, or gain combat advantage for a key attack, can be a big deal. For others, those may be minor enough that the feat isn't worth it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

The DM has just expanded our intro PHB 1 only to full 4ED, so we can rework our PCs.

As things stand now, I have a Dwarf Starlock multiclassed into Ranger, but that will become MCsion (better modeling the original concept from before the campaign strictures were announced), combining elements of Jeffrey Combs' Crawford Tillighast character in From Beyond, Mythos monster hunters, Ellcrys guardians from Shannara, and independent setting appropriate speculation about the Far Realms and nickel-iron/pallasite meteorites. Con & Cha are 16, Int is 14 (but may consider boosting that to 15).


Feats so far: Disciplined Talent (MCsion); Imp. Fate of the Void.

Probable remaining Heroic Tier Feats: Sacrifice to Caiphon; Awakened Potential; Dooming Action; Focused Talent (I was looking at all 3 of the Discipline sets).

In the running: Psionic Toughness; Psionic Dabbler; Skill Power; Deep Sage

While I'm fine with most of the Discipline Focus powers, taking the one which gives me a TK Daily roughly equivalent to a Wizard At-Will TK cantrip would invite a bit of mockery...so I'd probably go for Telepath or Shaper. At the very least, it would expand the party's bag of tricks. They also add to the "alien-ness" of the character.

OTOH, Psionic Toughness is going to be taken eventually (either Heroic or Paragon), along with Twofold Pact: Infernal, and some others. Coupled with Sacrifice to Caiphon (and maybe Reserve Maneuver), the PC will have a kind of "Black Deck" feel from M:tG- burn life to regain options; have reserves outside of the normal range.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

...combining elements of Jeffrey Combs' Crawford Tillighast character in From Beyond, Mythos monster hunters, Ellcrys guardians from Shannara, and independent setting appropriate speculation about the Far Realms and nickel-iron/pallasite meteorites.

And

I'd probably go for Telepath or Shaper. At the very least, it would expand the party's bag of tricks. They also add to the "alien-ness" of the character

To expand on this just a bit: the character is the latest if the Skyhammer Clan to pick up the self-imposed duty to act as guardians against intrusion from the Far Realms. As a family, they have fought against such incursions for generations...but at a cost. The efforts they have undertaken to safeguard their fellow Dwarves have left them tainted by the stuff of the Far Realms. Each is uniquely altered.

So, in Magnus' case, he's somewhat of a Psion. I'm trying to figure out which flavor of Psion has the most "Far Realms-y" feel. Seeing things from weird angles & minor creations seem appropriate, so right now I'm leaning towards Shaper.

The Skyhammer Clan Motto:
In deepest mine, on mountain's height
Our cunning foes can't thwart our might
No Far Realms scourge evades our sight
Skyhammer clan's eternal fight!

 

[Dragon Sin-Camealot]

There's a Psion now. Battlemind wasn't enough?

I guess I would like the one that hits Will over the one that marks from a distance. I'm not sure if Psion and Battlemind have chainmail like Invoker. Don't show me I'll look it up if I create one of those two characters mentioned first.

 

[MrMyth]

To expand on this just a bit: the character is the latest if the Skyhammer Clan to pick up the self-imposed duty to act as guardians against intrusion from the Far Realms. As a family, they have fought against such incursions for generations...but at a cost. The efforts they have undertaken to safeguard their fellow Dwarves have left them tainted by the stuff of the Far Realms. Each is uniquely altered.

So, in Magnus' case, he's somewhat of a Psion. I'm trying to figure out which flavor of Psion has the most "Far Realms-y" feel. Seeing things from weird angles & minor creations seem appropriate, so right now I'm leaning towards Shaper.

Yeah, based on your description, I'd say Shaper is probably a good choice. Both mechanically (since spot-item creation and attacking from another position are both the sort of situationally useful abilities that work well as dailies) and flavor-wise, since it combines both a creepy element with the standard dwarven tendency towards creation.