Help Me Build a Wilder

[maggot]

I'm taking the psionics plunge, but it's been a long time since I read the book and I need this soon.

Rolls: 17 14 12 10 10 8
Start at first level.

Human Wilder 1
Str 8
Dex 14
Con 10
Int 10
Wis 12
Cha 17
Feats: (need help here)
Powers: Mind Thrust

I want the feat that lets you get back the psionic focus as a move action, and that requires a 13 Wis. Thus the 12 Wis instead of putting it into Con. To make up for the 10 Con, I'm planning on taking Vigor at 2nd level (and praying my way through first level). I also want to take the Expanded Knowledge feat and get Energy Missile. That pretty much uses up my future feats, but for 1st level, I'm at a loss.

Class is non-negotiable, but I would appreciate ideas for eventual prestige classes. I'm less settled on the race. I considered Xeph and Maenad.

 

[pawsplay]

Well, with those abilities, you probably won't be doing what a wilder does best, which is to say, mixing up power use with melee, much like a cleric. If you want to play a wilder focused on heavy duty power use, you'll want to take Expanded Knowledge a couple of times. With that Constitution, you'll want Psionic Body, too.

Take Psionic Body for your 1st level feat. That's +2 hit points, and 2 more when you take Expanded Knowledge at 3rd level. 6th level could be Psionic Meditation, assuming you boost your Wisdom at 4th level, but frankly, what are you planning on using it for? Your 6th level feat should be something that actually uses your psionic focus, then your 9th level feat can be Psionic Meditation. For 12th level, take an upgrade of your 6th level feat. For 15th and 18th, take Expanded Knowledge.

Psion Uncarnate is a possibility, if you want to go that route. But I see no problem with sticking with Wilder; it's a solid class.

 

[Piratecat]

yup, wilders are definitely a melee class. I'd make strength 14 and con 12, keeping the 17 in cha. Pawsplay gives good advice for feats.

I made a wilder bad guy, and she was a blast. It's a fun class.

 

[Drowbane]

And they say Wilders are "borken!"

Actually, what a Wilder does best is Blast or Summon. They also make suitable light tanks if you must go that route. No matter what sort of build you go for, Expanded knowledge is your friend.

Blaster
Feats~
1st: psy crystal affinity, empower power(if human)
3rd: elemental envoy
6th: expanded knowledge: energy missile
9th: privileged energy

Powers~
1st: Mind thrust, vigor.
2nd: Energy Missile, share pain (see light tank)
3rd: Energy bolt or Energy burst?

Summary: That 9th level Wilder can dish out a 7d6 Empowered and Wild Surged (going off the guess that WS is still at +3) Energy bolt (or whatever) for 15d6 + 30 damage.... that comes out to the rough equivelent of a 24d6 Lightning Bolt. Also, the Vigor + Share pain + PsiCrystal combo: Share pain with crystal, then share power Vigor with Crystal. With share pain you're taking 1/2 damage (crystal takes other half). Once you start taking real damage... reVigor. Rinse and repeat as needed.

Summoner
Feats~
1st: Hidden talent: Astral construct (variant version of Wild surge, be sure to get your DM's ok), Boost construct (additional menu choice)
3rd: Durable construct (astral constructs persist for 10 minutes - Complete psi)
6th: expanded knowledge: find a cool 2nd lvl power. or whatever else you like.
By 13th level, a wilder can easily summon the 9th level Astral Construct and then kick back and unleash some firepower.

Powers:
1st: Astral Construct (with Hidden talent, if that variant isn't allowed... it is still worth taking later on), Mind Thrust (great for slaying Will-weak Tanks)
2nd: Damp power: best 2nd lvl power I can think of at this time...
3rd: Time Hop: what else could fit the "Summoner" concept better than a power that Unsummons your foes?

Summary: Even if your DM agrees with Complete Psi's nerfage of Astral Construct (only one construct at a time), the Wilder Summoner is ahead of the game. By (I believe) 13th level the Wilder is capable of summoning the 9th level Astral Construct. Thats huge!! (pun intended).

Light Tank
Feats
1st: Psy-crystal
3rd: Psi-weapon
6th: Psionic meditation (refocus as move action)
9th: deep impact (almost always hitting is a good thing)

Powers
1st: Vigor, something else
2nd: Share pain
3rd: whatever is cool... (can they get dissolving touch/weapon at this point?)

Summary: This build is relevant no sooner than 4th level when you get the almighty Share Pain. Its easy to play though, simply cast Share Pain on your Psi Crystal and use Vigor for max at the first round of every combat and reuse it when once you start taking "real" damage again. Everything else is gravy...

~~~

Anecdote, as I remember it.

Some months back I was playing a Wilder who was a hybrid of the Summoner and Blaster (we didn't have complete psi... I'd almost venture that it wasn't yet out). The character concept was a "Witch" (Witches, as it turns out, in that campaign are the "Sith" to the Druid's "Jedi") that mechanically played much like a Diablo II necromancer. So we're 7th level, fighting a Large Green Dragon. I had summoned my largest Astral Construct (which appears as the corporeal souls of the damned... often those my Witch had previously "mind thrusted") and attempted to blast it with Mind thrust twice... dragon saved the first two times and then...

DM: after taking a bite out of (insert party's Dervish here) the Dragon lands right by you...
Me: I take a 5ft step back and attempt to blast it...
DM: Dragon makes its Will Save...
Other PCs: spend a round doing stuff.
DM: The dragon attacks you... claw / claw / bite tearing away at your "Shroud of Souls" for X amoung of damage (I think he crit... it was high enough to have killed Maklu if it wasn't for Vigor. If I remember correctly, Maklu normally had 36hp. With a full Vigor it was Maklu 86 / Crystal 68).
Me (totally freaked that my "caster" had a Dragon "basing" with me: I (roll concentration to manifest defensively) thrust my hand out and spectrally grab its heart and... twist (making Vader-choke motion)... again attempting to slay the Dragon with "mind thrust".

I rolled well above average on my Wild Surged Mind thrust (yes, thats 10d10 folks!) and the Dragon rolled a 1 or 2 on its Will save (anything higher and it would've made the save) and killed it outright. The DM wasn't amused. :/

It never came up, as I ended up moving away one or two session later (which sucks, cause Forceuser is probably the best DM I've gamed with) but my next Large Astral Construct was going to manifest as a spectral (yet corporeal) Green Dragon.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

I don't have CPsi - didn't like its flavor. I tell you that up front simply because that is why I won't have any CPsi stuff in this post.

If you are going wilder, I would likewise say go the combat route. A wilder gets the same BAB as the PsiWarrior with a bunch more powerpoints. Their powers don't come as cheaply, though, and they know almost half as many. But a wilder should not ignore combat unless they really want to. If they do, then they're likely better off being a psion for the bonus feats. But you said class was non-negotiable. I add this only to help you distinguish since you say that you are new to psionic design yourself.

Here's another option.

One cool thing about Astral construct is that you can always have a flanker when you absolutely need one. A +2 when you need it is a good thing, well worth the feat you'll give up from taking expanded knowledge to get it.

On the other hand, nothing is cooler than making the enemy do your work for you through various charm powers. This is my favorite route and with a decent enough CHA you can be pretty sure that you can Psionically Charm your foes - especially if you can get them before combat begins and their not threatened!

Here's another way to go, although I mean no disrespect to the other fine suggestions above:

Human Wilder:
STR: 14 [You'll want something decent here, I debated about putting the 12 here.]
DEX: 12 [You'll want a decent score here, too. You could switch this for the 14.]
CON: 10 [The extra HP could be nice, but Psionic Body can make up the difference]
WIS: 8 [Your Will saves are your good ones, so yu can absorb a -1]
INT: 10 [Not going to be a skill monkey, but that's okay!]
CHA: 17 [Gotta have the power!]

Feats:
1H: Psionic Body
1: Psionic Endowment (In preparation for 3rd level)
3: Expanded Knowledge: Charm, Psionic
6: Greater Psionic Endowment or Psionic Weapon
9: Greater Psionic Endowment or Greater PSionic Weapon or Expanded Knowledge: Astral Construct

From there you'll have a good idea of where you want to go. Of course, the feat selection in levels 6 and 9 depend on what choices you make earlier. Once you take Psionic Body, try to stick with as many Psionic Feats that you can get. It may not seem like much, but +2 HP really add up after a few feats.

With this build, obviously a charming person wants to have a decent CHA and the ability to use it. Bluff is useful as is Sense Motive. Intimidate can be fun, especially since Wilders don't get Diplomacy. A skill like Profession: Bodyguard can add flavor and possible plot hooks to the character, although you don't get many skills so it'd be up to you.

Anyway, have fun.

 

[Venator]

I agree with basically everything Drowbane said.

Wilders are the unprecedented champions of nuke'ing (blasting).

Energy Missle, Energy Stun, Dispell, Intelect Fortress (or Damp Power if you're into to the totaly broken stuff) and that power that ignores SR and deals slashing damage (i forget its name atm) are the ways to go.

Empower Power is "the nutz" as my group likes to say.
Expanded Knowlegde is key as well.

Definetly 100% go with the blaster though. You will not be disapointed. The damage i've seen these guys put out is insane, and with the whole "wilder doesnt pay more points to surge up his powers," he blasts hard... pretty much all day long... Hes basically a warmage or wildemage on crack.

Like the other guy said... 10d10 isnt out of the ordinary for a lvl 7 Wilder at ALL.

Also, if you are playing with a DM that likes to pay attention to encumbrance i do not suggest an 8 str. It really hoses you being able to carry so little and manage a light load.

I disagree that wilders make good melee characters.

 

[pawsplay]

I disagree that wilders make good melee characters.

Why? Medium BAB, 9th level powers, euphoria bonuses, good Will save.. what's not to like? To say nothing of the self-buffing.

 

[Drowbane]

They make good Melee characters... but that is thier 3rd best build-type.

 

[maggot]

Hey, thanks for all the help. I finally got Complete Psionic, and found a prestige class that I like: Anarchic Initiate. But the class requires 8 ranks in Knowledge (the Planes) which is not a class skill for Wilders, so even though the class requires a Wilder Class ability (wild surge), you can't take it until 14th level. And the example character has only Wilder 7 before gong to Anarchic Initiate. Anyone know of any errata?

 

[pawsplay]

I don't see any official errata for the Complete Psionic yet, but typically, they say, "oops! cut that skill requirement in half." I can't think of any reasonable multiclass options that would give you Knowledge (the planes).