Psicrystal vs Familiar

[R1C0F3TT]

I was wondering waht was better; a wizard's familiar, or a psion's psicrystal.

I would like to start the discusion by stating that a familiar costs 100gp, where as a psion costs one feat.

What do you think?

 

[Jack Simth]

I was wondering waht was better; a wizard's familiar, or a psion's psicrystal.

I would like to start the discusion by stating that a familiar costs 100gp, where as a psion costs one feat.

What do you think?

Overall?

Familiar. Because the famliar has better senses than does the Psicrystal, and a little animal makes a better scout that does a rock - a rat, bat, bird, or what-have-you scurrying away is less likely to be noted as out of the ordinary than does a rock scurrying away.

 

[R1C0F3TT]

Then is it worth it to get a psicrystal if your playing a psion?

 

[Thatwackyned]

If your char is going to go the psicrystal in combat/have 2 focus to blow, then no.

In one campaign, we used a psicrystal to scout a stronghold and find a secreat way in to avaid most combat. Made the battle so much easier.

Now a familier rat could do the same, but if a cat eats the rat, not too good results. A psion can just make one free, if it get destroyed.

I like the two foci in combat, i tended to blow it alot.

But think where your char is going first.

I like the psicrystal more than familiers. I refuse to get a familier.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Then is it worth it to get a psicrystal if your playing a psion?

Personally, always. Look at the side benefit that Psicrystals give: +2 Ref, Fort, Will, etc.

Sure familars give that too, but you have to get a certain familar. Psicrystals are psicrystals.

Plus, they have hardness so harder to kill.

 

[R1C0F3TT]

Personally, always. Look at the side benefit that Psicrystals give: +2 Ref, Fort, Will, etc.

Sure familars give that too, but you have to get a certain familar. Psicrystals are psicrystals.

Plus, they have hardness so harder to kill.

Is it worth the feat to get the psicrystal is what I was implying.

 

[Starbuck_II]

Is it worth the feat to get the psicrystal is what I was implying.

Sure, you get a scout that can be reformed when killed and you don't have Exp issue (Customer service says," yes you just get a new one" 100% of time which is rare that they are that consistent).

Plus, unlike Familars all psionic classes increases Psicrystal improvement: even Soulknife (but he needs a Psion, Wilder, or Psiwarrior level to qualify for Manifester 1 prereqeusite).

That is one issue with familairs: you take a level in a Prc and the Familiar stops increasing in power.

You have to take obtain Familar feat to counter that issue.

So a feat for a Psicrystal that is fine.

 

[Shin Okada]

Scouting familiar works best for non-single class spellcasters who can max-out ranks of skills like, hide, listen, move silently, search & spot. One of my PC had a Wiz1/Ranger X cohort and he had a bat familiar. It was really nice scout because it had incredibly high Hide modifier due to it's size, and had blindsense.

 

[Jhulae]

If you're going to have powers that require concentration, solicit psicrystal is great.

Also, psicrystals can communicate much earlier (like right away), so they could be used for impromptu messengers if the party had to split up for some reason.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I was wondering waht was better; a wizard's familiar, or a psion's psicrystal.

I would like to start the discusion by stating that a familiar costs 100gp, where as a psion costs one feat.

What do you think?

Psicrystals are equally effective in any given campaign.

The efficacy of familiars depends highly on the DM. Many DMs of my acquaintance don't care for "pets" of any kind, so they frequently wind up dead.