Need to negate Force-type damage & Disintegrate.

[drnuncheon]

Maybe I'm just not greedy. If my original manages to become Emperor of the world, I could be perfectly satisfied with being Evil Overloard of some large country.

Why? Your original obviously wasn't satisfied with being the Evil overlord of a large country (otherwise he'd have stopped there). So there's no reason you should be either, since you are him.

Or most likely of all, I might simply be a pragmatist. I realize that many duplicates working together have a good chance of accomplishing [insert goal here]. Once we reach that goal and eliminate the pesky do-gooders, then we fight amongst ourselves to see who gets to be the sole remaining BBEG.

That situation lasts until one of you starts thinking like this: The original is twice as powerful as me. If I wait until there's no opposition to challenge him, I'm going to lose, no question about it. As a matter of fact, as he grows in power, so do his seeds - so they'll have a head start on me. From there it's a short step to desertion or betrayal.

All of your projected scenarios arise from the assumption that each of the seeds is going to naturally regard themseves as subordinate to the original - which I don't see as being a valid one.

J

 

[AuraSeer]

Why? Your original obviously wasn't satisfied with being the Evil overlord of a large country (otherwise he'd have stopped there). So there's no reason you should be either, since you are him.

If the original has any brains at all, he won't stop after only satisfying himself. He'll conquer extra land just to give away to the duplicates. After all, angry dupes would try to stab him in the back, so it's in his own best interest to keep them happy.

All of your projected scenarios arise from the assumption that each of the seeds is going to naturally regard themseves as subordinate to the original - which I don't see as being a valid one.

That's not one of my assumptions. It makes sense for the original to lead because he's stronger than the others, but if strength isn't an issue, the group can rule itself by vote or by rotating leadership among all the members. Lawful characters will be especially likely to fall into some kind of hierarchy, but there are lots of ways to distribute power that don't put anyone at the top.

Understand, I do not claim that every army-O-clones will always work together as a unit. I am simply pointing out that there are situations in which that's the most reasonable result. Blithely assuming that personality conflicts will occur in 100% of cases, is not a way to balance the ability.

 

[Hardhead]

As a good PC, the idea of going into an orc camp and blasting a bunch is a Bad Idea, IMO. Mainly because of this line in Mind Seed:

As soon as the subject becomes your mental duplicate, the two personalities begin to diverge. Although the subject starts off with your experiences, he possess his original soul and physical body and is free to develop his own personality based on its own experiences.

It's not really Agent-Smith syndrome, as your Mini-Yous are going to eventually develop their own personality, in part based on their soul, in part based on their physical bodies. A whole bunch of psions that were evil (Is the evil tendancy of the "evil" races part of their soul? It's not really addressed anywhere, but a DM could rule so easily) and are now in orc bodies are going to develop personalities quite a bit different from your own, methinks.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

You don't control your clones, so you're not increasing your power at all.

 

[FrankTrollman]

Frank, you think that psionic combat as written in the Psi Handbook is powerful?

No. It is very weak. However, since it costs Psi Points to the victim whether the attack is successful or not - a Psionic Attack that is very weak, but which comes in tremendously large numbers, is going to completely deplete a defending Psion of any level.

A 20th level Fighter can wade through 100 1st level fighters. A 20th level Wizard can blow up 100 1st level Wizards.

But a 20th level Psion won't have any Psi Points left by the time his action comes around against 100 1st level Psions.

So large numbers of weak cohorts have a practical utility in Psi-combat which large numbers of weak characters in any other class simply do not have.

-Frank

 

[Piratecat]

Good reasoning. One more reason to use the alternate psi combat system in Cordell's Malhavoc book, affectionately known around our gaming table as "the first psionic combat that doesn't suck."

 

[drnuncheon]

Good reasoning. One more reason to use the alternate psi combat system in Cordell's Malhavoc book, affectionately known around our gaming table as "the first psionic combat that doesn't suck."

Plus, it's got way more style. The whole 'combat in the mental landscape' has it all over id fortress and ego whip.

Although I'd disagree about the 20th level wizard blowing up the first level ones. If each of those first level wizards fired off a magic missile, well, you'd have a crispy 20th level wizard.

J

 

[Rackhir]

Doesn't "Death Ward" protect against disintigration? I can't find the relevant description in the SRD.

 

[FrankTrollman]

Although I'd disagree about the 20th level wizard blowing up the first level ones. If each of those first level wizards fired off a magic missile, well, you'd have a crispy 20th level wizard.

J

How many 20th level Wizards have you met who were not immune to Magic Missile?

-Frank

 

[Scion]

How many 20th level Wizards have you met who were not immune to Magic Missile?

-Frank

I know! 0!!

but then..umm.. I've met zero 20th level wizards as well

I love psionics!! someone tell the people who are remaking it for 3.5 to do a good job