Blacksmithking said:
Force screen: get a real shield instead. You should have a mithral shirt and a shield at your level.
Real shields require a feat to be proficient with or you take an attack penalty (including with ranged attacks). Psions do not get that feat.
Sure, you could get a mithral one, but you then have to carry it around. For a "mind character", that might not fit with the player's conception of the character.
This player appears to be very character concept oriented.
Blacksmithking said:
Psionic suggestion: why take this if you have charm and dominate already?
Again, a mind character.
Charm cannot be augmented to affect multiple opponents.
And Charm gets a +5 bonuses to the save if you are threatened or attacked, and the spell automatically fails if an ally continues to threaten or attack the charmed character.
Dominate gets a second save with a +2 bonus if ordered to do something against your nature (like attacking an ally or leaving the battle). Plus, Dominate is a concentration power for psions.
Hence, Charm and Dominate are not good combat powers.
Suggestion is a good combat power.
Blacksmithking said:
Cloud mind: it's weak. If you meet a monster you want to avoid, charm or dominate him instead.
Charm and Dominate do not force the target to forget he saw the opponent.
Cloud Mind is an infiltration type power. If you do not have those opportunities in a game, it has little utility.
Also, Cloud Mind is only weak compared to Invisibility (which is excessively low level and a sacred cow).
Blacksmithking said:
Psionic tongues: you don't need it if you have mindlink already.
These are two different effects. Mind link allows you to talk telepathically to others. Tongues allow the target to speak a different language. So, Mind Link will not allow allies to talk together if they do not share the same language. Only the Psion can talk telepathically with all of the other recipients.
Mind link will not allow a target to infiltrate an enemy installation while speaking their language. Granted, there might not be a lot of use for Tongues in some campaigns, but although there is some overlap here, there are unique advantages to each.
It really depends on how the player is using this.
Blacksmithking said:
Swarm of crystals: that's melee suicide. Take energy stun instead.
The player does not appear to want energy attacks since he never took one and does not want to add any damaging attacks.
Swarm of Crystals is nice because there are no defenses against it. No save. No spell resistance. No DR. A very useful little power for a mind attacking character who can run into Will Resistant opponents.
At level 9, you can Empower it to be 7D4 * 1.5 or 26 points (or straight up, 9D4 or 22.5). It's pretty good against Rogues (who are used to not taking damage from these types of spells/powers), Bards, Wizards, and Sorcerers. It is not impressive against combatant types, although it can be used as the put down power (i.e. party Sorcerer Fireballs enemies, party Psion moves up and takes down the ones who missed the first save).
Blacksmithking said:
Psionic blast: it's good and it augments well, but it's a 30' cone. Unless you have ACs tanking for you, you'll probably end up blasting your party's melee grunts. Enery bolt works quite well, and it can hit multiple monsters if you aim it right.
Again, he does not appear to want Energy powers.
Blacksmithking said:
Psionic darkvision: take touchsight instead, and get a torch or a continual flame item if you want to see in the dark.
And let opponents see you too?
Also, touchsight only works one minute per level. Great if you suspect there is an invisible opponent around, but not really as useful overall as Darkvision.
Blacksmithking said:
Schism: it'll burn through power points too fast at your level, and there's not much you can do that's significant at -6 manifester levels.
No it will not.
7 PP on round one
1 to 3 extra PP on rounds two through x
Force Screen. Deja Vu. Psionic Suggestion. All good powers to use "quickened", especially against Fighter type opponents.
And, Schism can boost his Crystal Swarm to 12D4 (a 9D4 one and a 3D4 one). For this, it is better than Overchannel (except for the fact that it takes an extra round to start up).
Schism is not needed for most fights, but for those fights where the party is thrown back on their heels, this is a great get some extra actions in power.
Schism works well with Vigor and Entangling Ectoplasm as well (if he ever decides to take these).
Blacksmithking said:
Death Urge: it's nice, but you may as well use dominate.
No. Again, Dominate is not a good combat power. Death Urge is. Especially near cliffs.
Blacksmithking said:
I'm not a fan of telepaths, since everything they have is a Will save-or-die (charm, brainlock, dominate, crisis of breath, etc.). You don't need more than one Will SoD, really. Worse, as you gain levels, many monsters you meet will be immune to mind-affecting powers, or they will have mad PR/SR or high Will saves. There isn't much for telepaths at high level, either: mind seed, crisis of life, mind switch, etc., have some uses but they are eclipsed by other powers.
It is hard for a higher level Telepath. That might be part of the challenge for some players.
Blacksmithking said:
For 5th level powers, I recommend power resistance, plane shift, adapt body, and true seeing. Power resistance has its obvious uses, unless you never plan to fight an enemy psion or psionic monsters. Plane shift and adapt body are great for planar campaigns, and they can save your life. Mind probe is thematic but worthless--just charm or dominate your target and have to tell you what you want to know. When you are done, hey, he's still charmed or dominated.
Mind Probe has the advantage of a Will Save every round. Against high will save opponents, it will often get you more information.
Plus, Dominate could backfire on you. You tell him to tell you something he is not inclined to and he gets a second saving throw at +2.
Charm also is not compelling enough. There are secrets that most of us would keep from our friends.
Blacksmithking said:
Here are some powers I would suggest:
Crystal shard, vigor, energy adaption (specified), ego whip, dispel psionics (unless you'll never meet an enemy psion), wall of ectoplasm, EK: astral construct, EK: energy missile, and ego whip. If you have hyperconsciousness, look at psionic sleep, alloyed hide (it's like stoneskin) and sensorineural cascade (it's like confusion).
Crystal Shard is slightly more potent and has better range than Crystal Swarm, but it requires a ranged touch attack (hence, not that good against Rogues) and it only affects one target. Three rounds of Crystal Swarm can take out most opponents and possibly several at a time. Three rounds of Crystal Shard might take out one opponent.
Blacksmithking said:
The metamind PrC is terrible. Just terrible. I wouldn't even roll up an NPC with it.
True, but this player does not appear to be a powergamer.
If the player enjoys it for character concept, it's refreshing to hear someone want a PrC who is not as potent as others.
In my campaign, I would show the player the math though (41 PP equivalence in 9 levels or dropping 100+ PP by 18th level). They should have made Metamind +1 existing level for PP every level, +1 existing level every other level for powers. You give up some extra powers, you gain some extra PP and the Font ability in exchange.
