My psionics house rules for the XPH

[Zack2216]

Hmmm, I like Micheal's idea moreso than my own. I'll have to use it when I pick up the book later this week.

 

[Michael Tree]

I've been tinkering with some ideas for the psionic equivalents of spell focus and spell penetration, tailored to not require expending focus. Here's what I've come up with:

Discipline Endowment [Psionic]
You can use meditation to focus your powers in a discipline you choose.
Prerequisites: Psionic Endowment
Benefit: When you are psionically focused, add the +1 bonus from Psionic Endowment to the save DCs of all powers you manifest from your chosen discipline. You do not need to expend your psionic focus to use this feat, but if you do so when manifesting a power from your chosen discipline, increase the save DC by an additional +1. If you expend your focus for another reason while manifesting a power from your chosen discipline (such as by using a metapsionic feat), the power still benefits from this feat (but does not gain an additional +1).
Special: If you have the Greater Psionic Endowment feat, you gain the bonus from it instead. You can gain this feat multiple times. Its effects do not stack. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a new discipline.

Meditative Penetration [Psionic]
You can use meditation to help your powers break through power resistance more readily than normal.
Prerequisites: Power Penetration.
Benefit: While you are psionically focused, you get a +2 bonus on manifester level checks made to overcome a creature’s power resistance. You do not need to expend your psionic focus to use this feat. If you expend your focus for another reason while manifesting a power (such as by using a metapsionic feat), the power still benefits from this feat.
Special: If you have the Greater Power Penetration feat, increase the bonus for this feat to +4.

I don't know if I like these any better than the approach that Piratecat took. What does anyone else think?

 

[Nifft]

Those scale-by-type rules are mine originally, and I have a certain creator's pride for them, but the more I look at Psi Dominate (and its sister power, Control Body), the more I think it's balanced as-is.

I propose a new power:

Lesser Thrall
Telepathy (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Telepath 5
Display: Mental
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action -- better than Psi Dominate, which takes 1 round
Range: Long (400 ft. + 40 ft./level)
Target: One humanoid
Duration: 1 day
Saving Throw: Will negates
Power Resistance: Yes
Power Points: 9

As dominate person in the PHB (p. 224) except as noted here.

Augment: You can augment this power in one or more of the following ways:

• If you spend 2 additional power points, this power can affect an animal, fey, giant, magical beast or monstrous humanoid.
• If you spend 4 additional power points, this power can also affect an aberration, dragon, elemental, or outsider in addition to the creature types listed above.
• For every 2 additional power points you spend, you may prolong the duration by one additional day. You must make mental contact with your thralls at least once every 24 hours (using mindlink or the like) to maintain control.

In addition, for every 2 power points you spend on augmentations, this power's save DC increases by 1.




Then, we need to edit the Thrallherd to gain Lesser Thrall instead of Greater Dominate.

-- N

 

[Hardhead]

Those scale-by-type rules are mine originally, and I have a certain creator's pride for them, but the more I look at Psi Dominate (and its sister power, Control Body), the more I think it's balanced as-is.

If that's the case, then ipso facto, the arcane Dominate Person must be broken. I don't believe that to be the case, therefore, I beleive augmentations to allow 1 day/level durations would be OK.

 

[Nifft]

If that's the case, then ipso facto, the arcane Dominate Person must be broken. I don't believe that to be the case, therefore, I beleive augmentations to allow 1 day/level durations would be OK.

Wrong. The spell is not equivalent to the power. The spell has several drawbacks, which should be obvious, but I'll enumerate for those who may have jumped over them on the way to their conclusions.

Two words: multiple targets.

Two more words: opportunity cost.

An Example:
Scor the Sorcerer: "Hey look, it's a pretty girl! Let's go Dominate her! I have Dominate Person!"
Posi the Psion: "Okay, I guess you should cast the spell, since all I have is this rusty old Psionic Dominate... *sigh*"
Scor: "I'm casting! Watch me cast! *casts* Ha-hah! Now, girlie, you will do my bidding! Ha-hah!"
Girl: (sprouts demonic bat wings and a tail and moves in for a kiss)
Posi: "Oh look! How lucky! At our level, we encountered a hostile who was not a humanoid! What are the chances of that? Hey, Sucky-pus, eat this! *manifests*"
Scor: "Oh drat! I will not be able to dominate that kind of creature for many levels!"
Posi: "If you only had a spell that could act as a Dominate and a Hold Monster!"
Scor: "I have very few spells, and they are not very flexible!"
Posi: "Thank Raelor for Overchannel! Now we will return to town, and you will buy healing for me!"
Girl: "Drat! I'll get you next time, Scor! And your little toad, too!"

-- N

 

[Michael Tree]

Those scale-by-type rules are mine originally, and I have a certain creator's pride for them, but the more I look at Psi Dominate (and its sister power, Control Body), the more I think it's balanced as-is.

I propose a new power:Lesser Thrall

My own house rule is a modification of yours, but I also like the approach you've taken here, with a few changes.

- Call it Thrall. There is no "greater thrall" power, and when it's augmented it's not very lesser at all.

- I don't see why Thrall would be quicker to manifest than Dominate. Doesn't the other way around make more sense? Make Dominate a standard action, and Thrall a full-round action.

- Change Dominate so that it doesn't allow an additional saving throw at +2 for acts against the target's nature. For a concentration duration that's not overly powerful, and allows for some interesting roleplaying. "It made me do what?!?" Keep that restriction for Thrall though, and keep the "no obviously self-destructive orders" restriction for both.

- Give Thrall a duration of 1 day/level, like the magical version. Also don't require the every-24-hour maintenence. Keep the "+2 power points for an additional day" augmentation, and better yet, make "+6 power points to make the duration 1 week/level" and "+10 power points to make the duration 1 month per level" augmentaions. If those feel like too much, require a 200 XP and 400 XP expenditure for those augmentations, respectively.

 

[Nifft]

My own house rule is a modification of yours, but I also like the approach you've taken here, with a few changes.

- Call it Thrall. There is no "greater thrall" power, and when it's augmented it's not very lesser at all.

- I don't see why Thrall would be quicker to manifest than Dominate. Doesn't the other way around make more sense? Make Dominate a standard action, and Thrall a full-round action.

Look, I'm trying to change the XPH rules less rather than more. That's why I'm suggesting a new power instead of hacking up an existant power, which seems reasonably balanced as-is.

Thrall is taken. It's a 9th level PsiHB-3.0 power that has a permanent duration.

The name is also somewhat taken by the Thrallherd PrC. Lesser Thrall is just fine, and leaves room for an Epic Thrall power that works like the overpowered PsiHB-3.0 version. (It's better to NOT tread on taken names -- it confuses people.)

Durations of many offensive powers are fixed, but Augmentable -- Temporal Acceleration is what's on my mind right now. Give me a better case for 1 day/level duration if you can, but don't compare it to spells that affect only Humanoids.

-- N

 

[Michael Tree]

Look, I'm trying to change the XPH rules less rather than more. That's why I'm suggesting a new power instead of hacking up an existant power, which seems reasonably balanced as-is.

I would argue that it's not very well balanced, but point taken. You want to add on, not tinker. Me, I like tinkering.

Thrall is taken. It's a 9th level PsiHB-3.0 power that has a permanent duration.
The name is also somewhat taken by the Thrallherd PrC. Lesser Thrall is just fine, and leaves room for an Epic Thrall power that works like the overpowered PsiHB-3.0 version. (It's better to NOT tread on taken names -- it confuses people.)

I see your point. I was thinking mostly about what's in the XPH and PH, not the 3.0 PsiHB. For what it's worth, a lot of powers in the XPH have the same names as PsiHB powers and work much differently than they used to. Here, it's the same basic effect - long term domination - so I don't there would be much confusion.

Durations of many offensive powers are fixed, but Augmentable -- Temporal Acceleration is what's on my mind right now. Give me a better case for 1 day/level duration if you can, but don't compare it to spells that affect only Humanoids.

Okay. Dominate monster has a duration of 1 day/level and affects anything with a mind. It's 9th level, but lesser thrall augmented to affect the same non-humanoids would be 7th level, a reasonable tradeoff considering it's the telepath's forte. If you want a psionic example, Psionic Charm has a default duration of 1 hour/level and is augmentable to 1 day/level for only 4 more power points. For 9 pps a telepath can charm a dragon for 1 day/level. That's not as powerful as dominate, but that's why charm's a lower level power.

 

[alaric]

I really wouldn't mind psionic domination as is (well maybe still a little bit) if there was anything better than that. That's the final mental domination power on the telepath list, no greater domination, no arcane-like duration domination, no thrall, psionic domination is the last power and it's Concentration in length. One of my favorite things about old domination is that you could dominate someone and tell them "go to the city of Urlspur, and book passage on the first boat bound for Illos", and not have to worry about seeing them for the next month while they take a short ocean voyage. What level telepath do i need to be to be able to do that? hmm...20? nope, can't do it at 20, 30? maybe i can make some kind of epic psionic seed power so my telepath can approach the mental powers of a 9th level mage.

 

[Piratecat]

I would argue that it's not very well balanced, but point taken. You want to add on, not tinker. Me, I like tinkering.

I tend to like house rules that are as simple and easy to remember as possible. As a result, I'm tempted to add the additional psionic power instead of changing existing powers; it's easier to keep track of from my perspective, and less confusing for all concerned.

Good ideas in this thread.