Help with Psionic Warrior build

[Shellman]

Im gettimg ready to play in a desert campaign and looks like I will be playing the fighter. I am interested in playing a Half-Giant Psionic Warrior. I never played a psionic character, but love the idea.

We usually start out at 5th level and use a 36 point build. Half-Giant is a +1 LA so I will start out with 4 levels of Psionic Warrior. Any advice or tips for my charcter build.

Thanks for any help.

 

[moritheil]

If you really want power and your DM will allow it, consider a level in Cleric. It sounds counterintuitive, but two domain powers and a little healing ability can really help, especially at low levels. If your DM is very nice, take Cloistered Cleric 1/PsyWar 3. Cloistered Cleric gives you fewer hit points but a ton of skill points, and a third domain.

Now, obviously this isn't free - you'll lose 1 BAB and a considerable amount of pps (less of a big deal as you gain levels.) But I'd say it's worth it to get, say, Uncanny Dodge plus the ability to reroll once per day, plus a bunch of low-level spells that can be swapped out to heal yourself.

(Fate and Luck domains, naturally.)

 

[bestone]

Psionic warrior half giants are melee gods incarnate. I played a level 9 one once, and oh my

consider the fact they can use large weapons, take the appropriate feats to use oversized weapons, and you can use a HUGE! weapon

Huge greatsword = 4d6 damage

Then theres feats that let you expend your psionic focus to do extra damage with melee attacks, 2 feats and you can do +4d6, take the feat (i THINK its called psionic meditation) that lets you use a move action to try for your psionic focus, and your good

put max ranks in concentration, i had a wis bonus of 3, and took skill focus concentration, i couldnt fail

best of all? the psionic power hustle, so you can gain your psionic focus, AND full attack with your first attack being 8d6 + whatever your str is!

combined with the psionic warriors other abilities like vampiric blade! and your near unstoppable

 

[Nifft]

General Psychic Warrior advice: Don't take too many self-buff powers, or at least, don't plan on using more than a few buffs before any given fight. You won't have time to put up more than one or two of them. Take some powers that are Swift or Immediate actions, so you can use them when the situation comes up. A great example is grip of iron.

I assume you're going to wear heavy armor (and have a low-ish Dexterity). Here's a sample power and feat list by level:

1/ Power Attack, Psionic Weapon -- expansion
2/ Cleave -- vigor
3/ Weapon Focus (Greatsword) -- grip of iron
4/ -- dimension swap
- - -
5/ Psionic Meditation -- hustle
6/ Expanded Knowledge (entangling ectoplasm) -- animal affinity
7/ -- greater concealing amorpha
8/ Deep Impact -- ectoplasmic form

... and that will make you a decent battlefield controller. Expansion yourself to Large or Huge and lay in to the enemy. Starting at 8th level, your primo tactic will be Power Attack + Deep Impact. You'll only get one attack per round, but you'll make it as a Touch attack, and thus you can dump your full BAB into Power Attack. (Since your full attack is just two attacks anyway, this is a great trade off.)

The "one big hit" tactic starts at 5th level, when you get Psionic Meditation. At 5th level you'll hit with Psionic Weapon and then use your Move action to regain your Psionic focus.

Earlier than that (at, say, 4th level), you'll just hit yourself with expansion and lay in to the enemy. If you have a spare round to buff yourself right before a fight, vigor is great. It's really useful at high levels, too, when the power word spells start flying around.

Dimension swap is a fantastic utility power. Rogues trying to flank the Wizard? Suddenly, they have to deal with you instead.

Fully buffed, with expansion, animal affinity (str) and grip of iron, you could probably pin a Giant. If you have the feats to spare, consider Improved Unarmed Strike + Improved Grapple.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Bacris]

My question would be what do you want this character to do?

Battlefield control? Look at picking up Improved Trip or Improved Grapple. A reach weapon can make you truly impressive.

Maximum Damage? Definitely pick up Power Attack, Psionic Meditation, Psionic Weapon, and Deep Impact. Try to limit your power point expenditure, as you might need to Hustle regularly.

Mobility? Wrong race

 

[MatthewJHanson]

consider the fact they can use large weapons, take the appropriate feats to use oversized weapons, and you can use a HUGE! weapon

Note that Monkey Grip let's you use a weapon "one size category larger than you" not "one size category larger than you can wield." So a Medium half-giant doesn't get any benefit from Monkey Grip. (But he get's plenty from expansion)

In addition to the good point about swift/immediate actions, I'll add powers with long duration. Two I remember using were thicken skin and metaphysical weapon after I reached fifth level and could augment it to 1 hour/level.

 

[Nifft]

Monkey Grip is a waste. You can usually do the same (or more) damage by using Power Attack for two points, but Power Attack gives you the flexibility to NOT attack at a -2 penalty.

Cheers, -- N