Just picked up the Expanded Psionics Handbook

[ph0rk]

Two little rants:

Scarred Lands did NOT come up with the idea of heralds for deities, the bible did that.

No, the bible didn't introduce the concept of someone acting as a messenger for a diety - I'm quite certain wackos have been claiming to be the eyes/ears/mouth of god/gods/goddesses/ants ever since the first member of the genus homo learned how to talk.

Religious commentary removed. ~ Piratecat

Can anyone confirm that Psychic Warriors still get weapon specialization for free at 6th level?

 

[Mouseferatu]

Can anyone confirm that Psychic Warriors still get weapon specialization for free at 6th level?

Nope, they don't. In fact, they don't qualify for Weapon Specialization at all anymore, unless they have four levels of fighter. OTOH, they're a cooler class overall; I don't think the loss of Weapon Spec hurts them at all. (More importantly, it gives the fighters at least one thing nobody else can have, which, IMO, is a good thing.)

 

[Henry]

See, now, those are exactly the kind of powers/spells i like. I wish there were more spells and powers in D&D3E that were not useful in combat (or when preparing for combat)--especially more high-level spells and powers that are not combat-worthy.

I like them in theory, but they rarely see use in practice by most players I've run into. I was surprised to re-read 3.0 fatal attraction to find out just how useful they made it - usually, a power's too busy covering things in goo or making your eyes glow to be subtle. But there is still a fair number that are useful outside of combat - but so many, from hear and feel light, see sound, etc. were basically flavor text with a power point cost attached. I was glad to hear that some of those had been given reworkings.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Sweet tap-dancing roller skate bears.....I'm actually contemplating dropping the Sorc for these guys (maybe adding new discipline lists for dragonblood, feyblood, etc)....wow, I'm surprised at myself.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I don't think the loss of Weapon Spec hurts them {psychic warriors} at all.

So what can you tell me about psychic warriors? How are they different from before?

As you might guess, it seems like it will be a while before the books reach the UK...

 

[Spatula]

So what can you tell me about psychic warriors? How are they different from before?

No more Weapon Specialization. No more Tumble, Balance, or Use Psionic Device as class skills. All their powers work off of Wisdom. They now get bonus power points (based off of manifester level, not power level access, which is a pretty good deal - compare that to bards, for example). Their powers are generally a lot better than before and there's no problem learning any of them as long as your Wisdom is high enough (vs. 3.0 where the Int- and Cha-based powers weren't likely to get used). Psionic Weapon-type feats no longer cost power points to use - instead you have to expend you psionic focus. This makes those feats harder to use more than once per combat, but then Psionic Weapon now adds +2d6 damage instead of +1d4 (and there's an improved version that does +4d6).

 

[Greybar]

No more Weapon Specialization. No more Tumble, Balance, or Use Psionic Device as class skills. All their powers work off of Wisdom

Sounds like a great match for a Monk multiclass. Hmm... I see a certain set of NPCs in my game that will need redesigning...

 

[Shard O'Glase]

I got it now and I have to say overall it is way better than the previous books. Still I have some problems. The discipline powers are a good idea but I think poorly implimented. For telepathy there are too many of the things I'd conisder basic telepathy powers that all psions and wilders should have access to. I mean powers that are basically detect thoughts are the basic bread and buter powers of telepathy all should be able to master. Death urge seems more of a discipline power but its a general.

The kineticist is kinda cool especially with autohypnosis as a class skill but most of the blasting is covered by the basics. Sure the kineticist is better but the basics are covered, this is more like what it should be like.

Also while I think psioncs are liekly balanced I doubt the disciplines are. Shpaers get like 14 powers or so to the telepaths 20, and there are a decent number of really lame powers on the shapers list. Quintessense oh yeah I can preserve really small things.

Some powers seem a bit much, psionic chirgery I think its called allows you to teach others powers if they can manifest that level of powers and it can go beyondthere known power level limit and can include powers form other disciplines. Sure it costs XP, but who wouldn't run around hunting high elvel telepaths down for this kind of hookup almost no matter what the cost.

Overall I got small beefs so far so its a good buy.

 

[Greybar]

I'm not too worried if there are not enough powers - we'll see more added via the WebEnhancement process I bet, plus a splatbook, plus 3rd-party books....

 

[Driddle]

I may have missed it in this thread, but...

Are there any generally equivalent class abilities for a psi version of a ranger's or druid's empathy for animals? Which class would be most likely to train, communicate to, or otherwise deal with dumb wild critters?