Wilder

[Jack Simth]

That reminds me of a question I've had since thoroughly looking through the XPH. Why is it not ok for psions, wilders, etc... to swap out powers known like sorcerers and bards can?

Becuause the XPH powers scale better, perhaps?

 

[Nifft]

That reminds me of a question I've had since thoroughly looking through the XPH. Why is it not ok for psions, wilders, etc... to swap out powers known like sorcerers and bards can?

It's not a terribly bad house rule, but neither is it necessary.

The swapping that Sorcerers & Bards get to do is a kludge. It's a patch on a bad system. It's only there because the designers decided to change how spell acquisition worked instead of changing vancian spellcasting to suck less.

Basically, spells have planned obsolescence. For example, sleep. It works on up to 4 HD of targets. At 1st level, that may be 4 targets! At 2nd level, that may be 2 targets. At 4th level, you'll be lucky to get it to work on 1 target. By 10th level, it's useless.

Cheers, -- N

 

[blargney the second]

PHB2 to the rescue! The retraining rules rule.
-blarg

 

[moritheil]

Others have mentioned Astral Construct. Let me mention metamorphosis and vigor.

 

[Stalker0]

I say dump the wilder, play a psion.

Yes, the wilder can boost his powers a bit better than the psion. In return, the psion gets a lot more powers, and more bonus feats. Its just a no brainer.

 

[blargney the second]

I disagree that it's a no-brainer, Stalker0. You're right that the psion is good at what it does, and is generally more versatile.

However, the wilder can break the level limits that everybody else must abide by. Because of the way powers augment, an 8th level wilder can pop off the equivalent of a 6th level power when everybody else is still tootling around with their measly level 4 spells.

That's like getting harm compared to inflict serious wounds. It's certainly worth considering.
-blarg

 

[Jhaelen]

One of my players is playing a wilder, another is playing a psion. Both are currently 10th level. I think they are more effective as a team than two psions or two wilders would be. The big pro for the wilder is the higher BAB (for ray-like powers) and the more cost-effective damage output especially against single targets. She's also extremely good at dispelling enemy spells.

The psion is more versatile but easily runs out of PSP and is a bit more susceptible to surprise attacks due to his lower hit points.

We're using two rules that makes playing a wilder easier:
1. The retraining rules from PHB2.
2. The educated wilder variant from the Mind's Eye article series.

 

[Darklone]

I do agree that wilders aren´t always worse than psions.

Played a wilder in an arena some time... can´t say how much I enjoyed to blast these superhighpowered druids into the ether

 

[blargney the second]

That educated wilder variant rawks. I want to play one! The mantled option is kind of interesting as well - there are some killer mantles out there.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I've never actually played a Wilder, so let me ask this question about Wild Surge:

Can a 5th level Wilder use Wild Surge (2) to manifest an augmented power that would normally cost 7 to manifest?

I ask because I was thinking about running a lightly armed Greek/Spartan type Spear & Shield psionic PC- think "The 300"- and it would seem that a Wilder could use Wild Surge to boost Expansion to full power sooner than a PsyWar, making for an interesting twist on an otherwise straightforward design. (Yes, I know he'd have to burn a feat for Extra Power Expanded Knowledge- but that's still faster than a PsyWar with Overchannel.)