Level Up (A5E) New Esper Archetype WIP "Essentialist" (comments welcome)

[Selganor]

I'm trying to make an even more fitting archetype for my "adventurous cook/eater" and I came up with the name "Essentialist" (which not only is an indicator to the "essence" contained in the original but also a play on words with the german word "Essen/essen" which means food/eating).
(as the next game I intend to play in is on saturday at level 5, I'll finish it later, but please feel free to give me suggestions)

My first ideas would be:

Essentialist
Essentialists notice the "essence" of beings and try to improve themselves by copying these parts. While most just use their psionic powers to shape their body some try to consume parts of the body. Some eat the flesh (cooked or raw), some use small parts in potions or other drinks, or use powdered parts in other medicinals.

1st: Imperfect Body
Trying to emulate other bodies, you learn to change your own body.
At 1st level, you gain access to the Body Manipulation power, which does not count against your number of powers known.
In addition you gain access to a special Augment (1 psi die) for this power:
Burst: You can use a bonus action to use Body Manipulation, which also reduces the duration to 1 round (and removes potential Concentration use)

3rd level: Better Body
Experiencing constant change in your body you learn to increase your self healing.
At 3rd level, you can use Chirurgery on yourself even if you don't have the prerequisites to get the power normally. While this power doesn't count against the number of powers known it doesn't provide any prerequisites for other powers.

Comments?

 

[Steampunkette]

Well... my first thoughts are:

1) Borrow Essence.
You gain the Body Manipulation Power, and the 'Burst' augment which allows you to make use of this power into a bonus action.

You don't need the '1 round' function for it, at all, since it is an augment. Alternatively call it the "Lingering Augment" where the changes remain for 1 minute (or listed duration), without concentration.

2) Shape Wound.
You may use the 'Heal' augment with Body Manipulation.

This gets past a lot of the weirdness of trying to adapt Chirurgery as a freebie power pick without gaining power benefits from Chirurgery.

 

[Selganor]

Well... my first thoughts are:

1) Borrow Essence.
You gain the Body Manipulation Power, and the 'Burst' augment which allows you to make use of this power into a bonus action.

You don't need the '1 round' function for it, at all, since it is an augment. Alternatively call it the "Lingering Augment" where the changes remain for 1 minute (or listed duration), without concentration.

I wanted to provide a duration that doesn't hinder you. 1 minute might require you to use it again if things change and you need to be "not large" for example.

2) Shape Wound.
You may use the 'Heal' augment with Body Manipulation.

This gets past a lot of the weirdness of trying to adapt Chirurgery as a freebie power pick without gaining power benefits from Chirurgery.

Body alteration already has the Restoration augment (which is still "hidden" in the Endure Elements paragraph), so this could be the base for further healing.

But it might be enough to just allow the "Repaired Systems" and "Rest and Rejunvenation" augments from Chirurgery (as the others affect other creatures)

I wanted to have a way to get rid of things that hinder your body (like poisoned) without going the simple way of giving resistance or advantage to saves.

 

[Steampunkette]

Yeah, pulling the augments from Chirurgery does seem like a very simple and useful structure.

As far as not hindering you: You're trading Concentration for a Bonus Action on every turn with augments being rolled -every- turn. Also that bonus action is meant for your Mind-Strike to offset some of the damage-differential between the Esper and caster characters.

I feel like that's way more expensive than a 1 minute duration without concentration.

 

[Selganor]

For the 6th level feature I was thinking of "borrowing" things from creatures you studied for a while (during/after a short rest?) or maybe even faster with use of Empathic/Telepathic effects.

Maybe taking a hint from wildshape in regards to the CR of creatures.
Since taking the appearance of someone would be one of the easiest things, maybe use Prestige as a minimum CR. (Or even add things).

For another inspiration how about recording those imprints on some medium because someone could keep track of only a certain number of them. The mechanics could be asking the lines of the Artificer's schematic book (which could also limit certain tiers of effects/creatures to tiers of character level).
The way these imprints are coded would probably be depending on the specific way they are recorded (into crystals, food/drink recipes, alchemical formulas, intricate weapons/armor patters, ...) but each would need a check (probably a tool you're proficient with) and some money/material.

As for the specific things to be kept ready I was thinking of Int-Bonus forms that could be chosen per long rest (Which the player would then prepare stat blocks for easy access) and maybe PB uses per long rest (maybe refreshable by expending psionic focus?)

I'm not sure if this should/need be a complete transformation of if you could just get parts (like: strength of the strongman to gain an expertise die on str-checks)

Yes, I know this feature would probably take as much space as the rest of the class, but this seems like a great scaleable feature for somewhat experienced characters.

Ideas, comments, ...?