overwhelm buffer is overwhelming
I think I will ban the feat Overwhelm Buffer from my campaign. When PsiH first came out, the two main complaints were that psions were weak and that Psionic Combat was not that useful. In ITCK, Bruce fixed the weakness of the psions -- now they had more points, and a power progression similar to the sorceror spell progression, and a "scaling" system to add more dice of damage to their powers. In Mindscapes, Bruce fixed Psionic Combat so that now it is fun and useful. But I think it is overcompensating to also give psions a free shot at a non-psionic character (and as the psion gains levels, the chance of their getting a free shot increases to a dead certainty quite rapidly), especially since it is at absolutely no cost to themselves (they keep all their "normal attacks", they don't lose power points, and there are no consequences in the unlikely event that they lose the mode roll vs. the non-psionic character). Psions have not been weak since ITCK. I think this feat beefs up the psions a bit too much, particularly as they are now getting all those extra feat slots like a wizard does as well. Not to mention that the mode bonus apparantly continues increasing in the epic levels.
There are plenty of powers that let psions affect non-psionic characters (including the old modes-cum-powers, come to think of it). In addition, sorcerors and wizards do not get any equivalent to this "free shot" against non-arcane casters -- nor do divine casters get a "free shot" vs. non-divine casters. Finally, even suitably nerfed, I don't see any psionic character NOT taking Overwhelm Buffer. It is simply too good a feat. At suitably high levels, a psion gets to add 5 to the difficulty class of one power per round in addition to all the other stuff that can already add to the DC of a power! A 20th level Psion will cream a 20th level arcane caster.
And I can't think of a way to nerf it that really nerfs it. If one gives a flat bonus to a non-psionic, the psion's free shot is only delayed to higher levels, but is still going to happen. If one ties it to something like a wisdom bonus or a will save then we might have something, but then it is difficult to explain why psionic characters also do not get this will save bonus or wisdom bonus. At least the will save bonus has a chance of keeping up, if the victim's will save is the good save. No realistic chance otherwise. It still seems like THE feat for a psion to have, and if any feat is that desirable, regardless of what type of psion one has, there probably is something wrong with the feat.
I will also ban psychic specialization. It takes away too much from the fighter's ability to specialize if there is another class that can do it far better (A fighter does not get the equivalent until EPIC levels. This says something about how powerful this feat is, I think).
Still tweaking, still liking the mindscape idea...
