Rules Used and Abused

[Carpe DM]

Dear folks:

I am writing to seek your collective wisdom on a number of rules moves in my current game. I'm perfectly capable of using similar moves to keep the game on par, but I do want to make sure that my players are doing legit stuff before I equip every evil cleric with knight's move and twinned Shivering Touches.

First, a Psion:

1. Synchronicity. If cast as a swift action, does this truly give you two actions in one round? Can you use those actions to manifest two abilities?

2. Metamorphosis. He's turning into a Cryohydra. And using the feat Metamorphic Transfer (I think that's the term). At ninth level, is he really breathing 27d6 worth of cold?

3. Damp Power. Is this truly as scary as it seems? Enemy casters cannot hurt my players.

Next, a Wizard / Ur-Priest / Mystic Theurge

1. Does he gain spells as a wizard with each level? Or have to buy / research them all?

2. Can he use Aberrate and Alter Self to turn into a Gibbering Mouther and gain 10 bite attacks? Do all of them to +str damage?

Many thanks.

Carpe

 

[irdeggman]

1. Synchronicity. If cast as a swift action, does this truly give you two actions in one round? Can you use those actions to manifest two abilities?

Yes - just like a quickened spell allows you to cast 2 spells in one round.

Note that the syncronicity power allows for a single standard action to be done prior to you next turn.

So since you did a swift action, you can still do a normal standard action.

But keep track of how many pps are used in doing this - also the psionic focus is expeneded by doing the quickened power - so can't apply another metapsionic feat to a power untl you regain your focus.

 

[Maleketh]

I'll try and cover the ones I know off-hand.

3. Damp Power. Is this truly as scary as it seems? Enemy casters cannot hurt my players.

Against single casters, it generally is. Characters only get one immediate action per round, though, so multiple casters can eventually break his defense. Also, repeated use will, of course, eventually run him out of power points.

Next, a Wizard / Ur-Priest / Mystic Theurge

1. Does he gain spells as a wizard with each level? Or have to buy / research them all?

A wizard's free spells at level up are a function of his spellcasting. Therefore, he does gain them when he levels in MT.

 

[Piratecat]

3. Damp Power. Is this truly as scary as it seems? Enemy casters cannot hurt my players.

I'm not seeing this in the SRD. Is it the correct name?

 

[Carpe DM]

It's in Complete Psion, IIRC. I'll also add a question:

The Psion is using Share Pain with his Psicrystal, to effectively halve all damage. And Vigor, to drive his HP through the roof. He's a full-progression caster with effectively over a hundred hitpoints (and a quite nice AC due to force screen and inertial armor).

All legit, from my reading, but the combination is truly amazing. Full progression caster who has twice the HP of the tank, an AC in the mid-20s, can dish out 27d6 fairly regularly, and isn't harmable by any spell effect that uses dice for damage.

Oof.

 

[Folly]

It sounds to me like you psion is burning a lot of his power points. A lower power method of dealing with this would be to throw more encounters at the party. Also don't forget that psion can only augment abilities to a maximum of their manifester level. That is to say they can not spend more than the ML in power points on any one manifest.

Also with that many buffs, any npc that has info on the party should bring the appropriate dispel capabilities to wipe clean the psion.

 

[Zelc]

1. Synchronicity. If cast as a swift action, does this truly give you two actions in one round? Can you use those actions to manifest two abilities?

I'll refer you to someone else's opinion here...

The wording of Synchronicity is actually the problem with this power. Does it grant an extra standard action? By the way it specifies move action + standard action, I'm inclined to say no, and that would be the way to keep it balanced. The overpowered view comes from those who feel that this grants them their normal allotment of moves in a round plus an extra standard action, which the power description does not state is gained.
Now, were this power Contingency-ed or Quickened, you would essentially have your first round of full actions (minus your swift) and your second round of actions where you can take the standard anytime you want. This sounds better than it is, since the power never states you get an extra standard action. While this does allow you to change your place on the initiative count based on need, it does not, nor should be thought to, grant you an extra standard action.
Even using Anticipatory Strike does not grant an extra standard action. The rules of readying an action, which this power does, clearly state that once you take your action, you have essentially used a new turn's standard action and your initiative count changes.

If you don't rule this way, Synchronicity becomes a solid "don't abuse it or you lose it" power for me. And I'm not someone inclined to ban things...

2. Metamorphosis. He's turning into a Cryohydra. And using the feat Metamorphic Transfer (I think that's the term). At ninth level, is he really breathing 27d6 worth of cold?

Polymorph effects are broken in general, and the Metamorphic Transfer feat makes it a ton worse. Yes, Metamorphic Transfer is a fantastically broken feat, and it does allow players to do some scary stuff. I'd personally ban the non-specific polymorph effects in general, but that's me.

3. Damp Power. Is this truly as scary as it seems? Enemy casters cannot hurt my players.

It takes PPs and an immediate action. It's pretty nice, but it won't stop everything, especially a nasty battlefield control spell.

 

[Aidan Milvus]

ok, a couple of answers to your questions...

1. Synchronicity. If cast as a swift action, does this truly give you two actions in one round? Can you use those actions to manifest two abilities?

Ok, assuming he's using quicken power or a similar ability, then yes he can.

2. Metamorphosis. He's turning into a Cryohydra. And using the feat Metamorphic Transfer (I think that's the term). At ninth level, is he really breathing 27d6 worth of cold?

I think you might really want to check out the metamorphic transfer feat... They only get to use a supernatural ability 3 times in a day. So, that equates to a cryohydra's breath 3 times, not 9 heads three times, but one head three times. And, should he leave the form, and turn back in, thinking to get three more... he's out of luck. the feat specifies 3 uses of a specific supernatural ability per day, not per metamorphosis.

3. Damp Power. Is this truly as scary as it seems? Enemy casters cannot hurt my players.

Damp power doesn't mean they aren't hurt. It just minimizes the power. Basically the opposite of the Maximize metamagic feat. All random values count as 1. So, you just have to maximize everthing... Also remember, it lasts until the end of his next turn, so make sure those beneficial spells/powers are being damped too.


A couple of things to remember...
Vigor doesn't stack with itself. I'm sure you know this, but just wanted to make sure. At ninth level the most hps he can get with it is 45.

"Sharing power/spells" does not allow one to say vigor self for 45 and also give psicrystal 45 temp hp's too. the Official FAQ has said that the effect is split between the two, so 22 hps each. (if he's doing that)

Remember that the Psicrystal has its own personality. That sharing pain could get old quick, depending on its personality, and remember it has to be "willing". Also, shared pain is very similar to empathic transfer, and though it doesn't specify, I'd consider making the "shared damage" magical/untyped/empathic which would get over the psicrystal's hardness (if you haven't already) Just remember that, psicrystals can't heal, they can only be repaired, and they have 1/2 the psion's hps, so if it gets close, he might accidentally destroy his psicrystal.

I play a psion in one of my games. I found its quite easy to forget to mark down my pp's. So, what I did is got some of those decorative stones that can be found in any craft store, dollar store, or walmart, and use those to keep track of my pp's. Not only can I easily see generally how many I have, but so can my dm.

It sounds like a lot of his abilities are being used at highest level available to him, so like others have said, keep an eye on his pp's. they can go quite fast if you keep using them as strongly as possible.


Hope some of this helped.

 

[moritheil]

There's a common theme to the answers you're seeking: overall, psionic classes excel at crushing enemies in one great battle.

The solution is to not give away free metagame knowledge. Do not make it clear which battle of the day is the most difficult. Sometimes it will be the entry fight into a lair; sometimes it will be the final fight, sometimes a fight in between.

Also remember that psionicists who blast everything they see often wind up killing potential allies or wasting their points on attacking illusions.