Psychic Warrior... Easy to make super powerful?

[Zadam]

If the batter is swinging for the fence, savvy players will throw a changeup.

The other side of the coin is that a lot of players only know how to throw fastballs. If the DM wants to get some fun out of the players' misery, this is how to earn it fair and square (provided you do not metagame, of course).

Perhaps its because I don't follow Baseball at all, but I have no idea what you mean!

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

But I didn't think Psionic Weapon could be used on unarmed/natural weapons? (Ie I figured thats what Psionic Fist was for)?

The specific wording doesn't disallow it; I've house-ruled to disallow it, as I think that's clearly how the feats were intended. I strongly recommend for others to do the same.

 

[Staffan]

The specific wording doesn't disallow it; I've house-ruled to disallow it, as I think that's clearly how the feats were intended. I strongly recommend for others to do the same.

Hmm. I'm too lazy to check what the XPH says about it, but at least the SRD says "Your attack with a melee weapon deals an extra 2d6 points of damage." An unarmed attack is not an attack with a melee weapon.

And even if that's not the case, you couldn't use Psionic Fist + Psionic Weapon + Deep Impact (should be Unavoidable Strike for claw attacks) in the way suggested. Both Psionic Fist and Unavoidable Strike are used as part of the attack, and you can't take a break in the middle of the attack in order to refocus and power up some more.

 

[Yeoman]

Perhaps its because I don't follow Baseball at all, but I have no idea what you mean!

Short Answer, he means vary your tactics. If you always do X, eventually someone will have a counter tactic, and then you'll be SOL, but if you have a range of tactics, you're less likely to be stymied by any one counter tactic.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Perhaps its because I don't follow Baseball at all, but I have no idea what you mean!

"Swinging for the fences" means, basically, in D&D terms, "All Power Attack, All the Time!"

You are trying, with every swing, to hit a home run - massive damage.

Relatively speaking, batters have a pretty easy time knocking straight-down-the-middle-of-the-plate fastballs out of the park. Thus, if someone is swinging for the fences, you don't pitch fast and easy. If someone is full power attacking all the time, you don't send low-AC melee mooks at him (unless you want him to slaughter them easily).

Instead, you throw in a slider, or a change-up - pitches that may *look*, initially, like fastballs down the middle, but which end up either going low and outside or being slow - making the batter's "Power Attack" miss. To continue the D&D analogy, send ranged attackers, flying creatures, high-AC-low-mobility types, etc.

 

[moritheil]

Perhaps its because I don't follow Baseball at all, but I have no idea what you mean!

He means a dumb player group will go: Okay, the villan knows we're here? He's spelled up? Charge him anyway!

A smart player group will go: Hmm, okay, the villan just buffed himself, so why don't we wait and come back in an hour so he wastes his buffs? (Assuming they aren't worried about him fleeing.)

Re: Psionic feats, either you go the Psi Fist tree, or you take the Psi Weapon tree, or you take the Deep Impact stuff and Power Attack. I don't see the point of combining them. And don't forget you need a 20 on a Concentration check to gain focus. If you build to take advantage of the psionic feats, you really will be giving up other skills and feats. This makes it a little more palatable (although Psionic Weapon is, imho, still far, far better than some class features like Smite, because if you have time to take 20 between engagements you can always regain focus and thus use it multiple times per day.)

 

[RigaMortus2]

Hmm. I'm too lazy to check what the XPH says about it, but at least the SRD says "Your attack with a melee weapon deals an extra 2d6 points of damage." An unarmed attack is not an attack with a melee weapon.

Sure it is. Otherwise you'd never be able to take Weapon Focus (Unarmed) or Weapon Specialization (Unarmed).

And even if that's not the case, you couldn't use Psionic Fist + Psionic Weapon + Deep Impact (should be Unavoidable Strike for claw attacks) in the way suggested. Both Psionic Fist and Unavoidable Strike are used as part of the attack, and you can't take a break in the middle of the attack in order to refocus and power up some more.

Sure you can. The only requirement is that you expend your psionic focus prior to making your attack. So when your turn begins, you can start expending your focus, use your move action to get it back, expend it again, all prior to making your attack. Oh, and there is no reason Deep Impact can't work with unarmed strike as an unarmed strike is considered a melee weapon.

 

[silentspace]

Unarmed strikes deal unarmed strike damage. You can't deal claws of the beast damage as an unarmed strike - that would be a natural attack.

 

[silentspace]

I think what Ridley's Cohort was saying is that there are always countermeasures. Such as dispel magic

 

[Staffan]

Sure it is. Otherwise you'd never be able to take Weapon Focus (Unarmed) or Weapon Specialization (Unarmed).

Weapon Focus specifies "You can also choose unarmed strike or grapple (or ray, if you are a spellcaster) as your weapon for purposes of this feat." So does Weapon Specialization. Notably, Improved Critical does not.

But there are plenty of places where the game separates weapons from natural weapons. Such as the Magic Weapon vs Magic Fang spells.

Sure you can. The only requirement is that you expend your psionic focus prior to making your attack. So when your turn begins, you can start expending your focus, use your move action to get it back, expend it again, all prior to making your attack. Oh, and there is no reason Deep Impact can't work with unarmed strike as an unarmed strike is considered a melee weapon.

What Psionic Fist says is: "To use this feat, you must expend your psionic focus. Your unarmed strike or attack with a natural weapon deals an extra 2d6 points of damage.

You must decide whether or not to use this feat prior to making an attack. If your attack misses, you still expend your psionic focus."
If you want to be rules-legalistic, you decide to use the feat before making the attack, but the focus isn't expended until the attack is made. Otherwise it would have said "You must decide whether or not to use this feat and expend psionic focus prior to making an attack." And I've already covered the "natural weapon does not equal weapon" thing above.