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<blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 3119716" data-attributes="member: 2011"><p>The issue there is that it is not "much of the time" at low level.</p><p></p><p>The problem with Psionic Shot is that at low level, it tends to be one shot per battle.</p><p></p><p>+8 at point blank against most foes who have a touch AC of 10 yields 95% * 7 extra points of damage on average or 6.65 extra points (6.3 points if not point blank).</p><p></p><p>+8 at point blank against most foes who have a touch AC of 14 (no precise shot) in melee yields 20% * 7 points of less damage on average or 1.4 less points * 1.05 (critical) = 1.47 less points.</p><p></p><p>And, as touch ACs go up, the increased damage for Psionic Shot goes down. The decreased damage for not having Precise Shot stays the same.</p><p></p><p>Since it is a full round action to get back Psionic Focus (which wastes time where the Warlock could be shooting), it would take about 4 in combat shots to make up for the extra damage.</p><p></p><p>This also assumes that the extra damage from Psionic Focus just barely takes out an opponent or damages an opponent without taking him down. In the cases where it is overkill (i.e. the opponent is taken to high negatives or more negative than the PF added in points), not having Psionic Focus and having Precise Shot works out much better.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Now, this is not necessarily the case at high level. At high level and Psionic Meditation, it is just a move action to regain focus and focus can more easily be regained. Plus, Precise Shot is not always needed any more since the PC often has a 95% chance to hit against a lot of foes a lot of the time, with or without precise shot.</p><p></p><p></p><p>But at low level, this can be a suspect strategy for a class than can do damage with touch attacks. It is less of a suspect strategy for a class that does damage with normal attacks because taking the round of combat out to regain the focus is not as much a waste of an action (i.e. if you have a 50% chance to hit, you would have missed half the time anyway). With ranged touch attacks, it's often just better to blast away every round.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KarinsDad, post: 3119716, member: 2011"] The issue there is that it is not "much of the time" at low level. The problem with Psionic Shot is that at low level, it tends to be one shot per battle. +8 at point blank against most foes who have a touch AC of 10 yields 95% * 7 extra points of damage on average or 6.65 extra points (6.3 points if not point blank). +8 at point blank against most foes who have a touch AC of 14 (no precise shot) in melee yields 20% * 7 points of less damage on average or 1.4 less points * 1.05 (critical) = 1.47 less points. And, as touch ACs go up, the increased damage for Psionic Shot goes down. The decreased damage for not having Precise Shot stays the same. Since it is a full round action to get back Psionic Focus (which wastes time where the Warlock could be shooting), it would take about 4 in combat shots to make up for the extra damage. This also assumes that the extra damage from Psionic Focus just barely takes out an opponent or damages an opponent without taking him down. In the cases where it is overkill (i.e. the opponent is taken to high negatives or more negative than the PF added in points), not having Psionic Focus and having Precise Shot works out much better. Now, this is not necessarily the case at high level. At high level and Psionic Meditation, it is just a move action to regain focus and focus can more easily be regained. Plus, Precise Shot is not always needed any more since the PC often has a 95% chance to hit against a lot of foes a lot of the time, with or without precise shot. But at low level, this can be a suspect strategy for a class than can do damage with touch attacks. It is less of a suspect strategy for a class that does damage with normal attacks because taking the round of combat out to regain the focus is not as much a waste of an action (i.e. if you have a 50% chance to hit, you would have missed half the time anyway). With ranged touch attacks, it's often just better to blast away every round. [/QUOTE]
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