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Is the Psion class balanced?
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<blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 2725158" data-attributes="member: 2011"><p>Agreed on 3 out of 4.</p><p></p><p>I disagree on Polymorph Any Object because your PC Fighter turns into a Firbolg. That means he no longer thinks like your Fighter, he thinks like a Firbog and should immediately become an NPC. Since he is no longer the Fighter, he has no memories of his previous life. He is a totally different creature. Everything changes. He does not get to pick and choose which elements of his previous life he wants to keep. The only thing he gets to keep is his Wisdom and Charisma scores. Not his alignment. Not his Intelligence. Nothing. It is no longer just physical traits like Polymorph.</p><p></p><p>Polymorph is a willing creature. Polymorph Any Object is unwilling. Polymorph Any Object is pretty similar to save or die spells. Course, a given DM might rule that he keeps his knowledge, even though his Intelligence changes. I wouldn't. Problem solved.</p><p></p><p></p><p>However, let's compare True Strike to Greater Power Penetration.</p><p></p><p>1) True Strike uses up a spell. So, there are a limited number of True Strikes you can do per day. However, since True Strike is often used to augment touch spells or ray spells, you often have to cast two spells to get one effect here.</p><p></p><p>Greater Power Penetration augments a power. So, there are a limited number of Greater Power Penetrations you can do per day. One power for one effect.</p><p></p><p>Advantage: GPP</p><p></p><p>2) True Strike forces you to use a Standard Action in order to get an auto-hit (95% in most cases) the following round.</p><p></p><p>Greater Power Penetration forces you to use up your focus in order to get +8 in the current round. What does that really mean? Well, let's take an example. A 10th level character has Spell Resistance of 0. An 8th level Drow is considered to be the same CR as a 10th level character and the Drow has a Spell Resistance of 19. A 10th level Psion would normally need to roll a 9 to get past the Spell Resistance, but she can roll a 1 and get past it with GPP. That means she has a 100% chance of affecting an even CR Drow.</p><p></p><p>Advantage: GPP</p><p></p><p>3) True Strike uses up an extra standard action to gain it's advantage.</p><p></p><p>Greater Power Penetration uses up one or more extra full round action (possibly out of combat) in order to gain back the focus. This also tends to be an extra move action at later levels for many psions.</p><p></p><p>Advantage: True Strike</p><p></p><p>4) True Strike is not very cost effective for most Wizards/Sorcerers for melee or missile attacks due to the low damage most of their melee and missile attacks have. It is most effective for melee and ranged touch spells and rays. Out of core rules, it affects 7% of Wizard/Sorcerer spells (26 out of 375).</p><p></p><p>Greater Power Penetration affects 40% of psionic powers in the XPH (111 out of 277).</p><p></p><p>Note: I did not include beneficial touch spells like Bull's Strength since it would almost never be used with True Strike, but I did include spells that could be beneficial or harmful like Plane Shift. If you add Beneficial spells, it's about 60 more spells or close to 23%.</p><p></p><p>Advantage: GPP</p><p></p><p>5) True Strike requires two rounds to use unless it is Quickened. </p><p></p><p>Greater Power Penetration requires one round to use right away.</p><p></p><p>Advantage: GPP</p><p></p><p>6) True Strike does not limit any metamagic you want to put on a spell you are using with it.</p><p></p><p>Greater Power Penetration limits the metapsionics you want to put on a power you are using with it.</p><p></p><p>Advantage: True Strike</p><p></p><p>7) True Strike requires learning a spell.</p><p></p><p>Greater Power Penetration requires learning two feats.</p><p></p><p>Advantage: True Strike</p><p></p><p>8) True Strike is easy to counter (if not Quickened). The fact that it was cast can be detected with a Spellcraft roll and multiple opponents might be able to react to that in a large number of ways. If they hamper the spellcaster, he might not be able to use it next round and lose it.</p><p></p><p>Greater Power Penetration is hard to counter. The power it is augmenting can be countered, but then so can the spell (or attack) True Strike was augmenting.</p><p></p><p>Advantage: GPP</p><p></p><p>9) True strike can be done at 1st level.</p><p></p><p>Greater Power Penetration can be done at 1st level.</p><p></p><p>Advantage: Equal</p><p></p><p></p><p>Now, I tried to be totally impartial here. If I forgot anything important, it was not intentional.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Doesn't Greater Power Penetration sound surprising similar in power to True Strike (i.e. broken). Sure, you could have a higher Spell Resistant opponent, just like you could have a higher AC opponent.</p><p></p><p>And you consider True Strike to be broken, but not Greater Power Penetration? Huh? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":confused:" title="Confused :confused:" data-smilie="5"data-shortname=":confused:" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KarinsDad, post: 2725158, member: 2011"] Agreed on 3 out of 4. I disagree on Polymorph Any Object because your PC Fighter turns into a Firbolg. That means he no longer thinks like your Fighter, he thinks like a Firbog and should immediately become an NPC. Since he is no longer the Fighter, he has no memories of his previous life. He is a totally different creature. Everything changes. He does not get to pick and choose which elements of his previous life he wants to keep. The only thing he gets to keep is his Wisdom and Charisma scores. Not his alignment. Not his Intelligence. Nothing. It is no longer just physical traits like Polymorph. Polymorph is a willing creature. Polymorph Any Object is unwilling. Polymorph Any Object is pretty similar to save or die spells. Course, a given DM might rule that he keeps his knowledge, even though his Intelligence changes. I wouldn't. Problem solved. However, let's compare True Strike to Greater Power Penetration. 1) True Strike uses up a spell. So, there are a limited number of True Strikes you can do per day. However, since True Strike is often used to augment touch spells or ray spells, you often have to cast two spells to get one effect here. Greater Power Penetration augments a power. So, there are a limited number of Greater Power Penetrations you can do per day. One power for one effect. Advantage: GPP 2) True Strike forces you to use a Standard Action in order to get an auto-hit (95% in most cases) the following round. Greater Power Penetration forces you to use up your focus in order to get +8 in the current round. What does that really mean? Well, let's take an example. A 10th level character has Spell Resistance of 0. An 8th level Drow is considered to be the same CR as a 10th level character and the Drow has a Spell Resistance of 19. A 10th level Psion would normally need to roll a 9 to get past the Spell Resistance, but she can roll a 1 and get past it with GPP. That means she has a 100% chance of affecting an even CR Drow. Advantage: GPP 3) True Strike uses up an extra standard action to gain it's advantage. Greater Power Penetration uses up one or more extra full round action (possibly out of combat) in order to gain back the focus. This also tends to be an extra move action at later levels for many psions. Advantage: True Strike 4) True Strike is not very cost effective for most Wizards/Sorcerers for melee or missile attacks due to the low damage most of their melee and missile attacks have. It is most effective for melee and ranged touch spells and rays. Out of core rules, it affects 7% of Wizard/Sorcerer spells (26 out of 375). Greater Power Penetration affects 40% of psionic powers in the XPH (111 out of 277). Note: I did not include beneficial touch spells like Bull's Strength since it would almost never be used with True Strike, but I did include spells that could be beneficial or harmful like Plane Shift. If you add Beneficial spells, it's about 60 more spells or close to 23%. Advantage: GPP 5) True Strike requires two rounds to use unless it is Quickened. Greater Power Penetration requires one round to use right away. Advantage: GPP 6) True Strike does not limit any metamagic you want to put on a spell you are using with it. Greater Power Penetration limits the metapsionics you want to put on a power you are using with it. Advantage: True Strike 7) True Strike requires learning a spell. Greater Power Penetration requires learning two feats. Advantage: True Strike 8) True Strike is easy to counter (if not Quickened). The fact that it was cast can be detected with a Spellcraft roll and multiple opponents might be able to react to that in a large number of ways. If they hamper the spellcaster, he might not be able to use it next round and lose it. Greater Power Penetration is hard to counter. The power it is augmenting can be countered, but then so can the spell (or attack) True Strike was augmenting. Advantage: GPP 9) True strike can be done at 1st level. Greater Power Penetration can be done at 1st level. Advantage: Equal Now, I tried to be totally impartial here. If I forgot anything important, it was not intentional. Doesn't Greater Power Penetration sound surprising similar in power to True Strike (i.e. broken). Sure, you could have a higher Spell Resistant opponent, just like you could have a higher AC opponent. And you consider True Strike to be broken, but not Greater Power Penetration? Huh? :confused: [/QUOTE]
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