Author Topic: Hatchet Job Port Thread  (Read 54271 times)

Offline Toptomcat

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Hatchet Job Port Thread
« on: April 10, 2013, 11:22:29 PM »
I have just now become aware that the Brilliant Gameologist forums are poised to Go Away, Permanently. I am alarmed by this prospect, since I still use a great many things that reside there- particularly items linked by the Handbook Index. Porting things over appears to have been slowed by the dual problems of fidelity- you can't view the underlying code of a post if you didn't make it yourself, it seems- and credit- a lot of people want handbooks to be ported over by their original authors.

A partial solution presents itself: caring about neither of these things. In this thread I will post rough copy-paste jobs of the most salient portions of some of the un-ported stuff pointed to by the Handbook Index, each with a quick acknowledgement of the author on top. Should I finish the (large!) task of doing this for everything unported in the HBI, I may polish things a bit, or start hunting for other stuff to salvage.

(I put this here because I don't appear to have the permissions to post in the Handbooks forum.)

EDIT: Well, that went pretty quickly. Amazing what you can accomplish when you don't give a rat's ass about quality. No formatting, no text colors, no links, no images, no smilies, no nothing: I tried to click on every 'spoiler' tag to get every bit of information hidden behind formatting, but I make no promises about completeness. A lot of information is lost in the transition, but it's a hell of a lot better than losing the whole damn thing.

As of now, this thread covers everything linked to by the Handbook Index thread that doesn't have an equivalent mirror linked right next to it, and is not obviously totally unusable- except everything in the Races and Templates, Spells and Other Magic Systems, and Items and Equipment sections of the Index. I will make a list of them when I finish adding those three things. This is not 'my thread': if you can think of something that ought to be here, feel free to add it yourself. Point me towards it and, yes, I'll do it for you, but frankly there's very little difference between the amount of effort it takes to identify a thread sufficiently well for me to find it and add it and the amount of effort it would take you to do what I've done with all these handbooks. Unless you find *another* great big centralized list of useful BG stuff. That could work.

Oh, and also feel free to discuss this endeavour, or any handbook within the thread, here as well. Or to cast aspersions on my mother's romantic partners, order me to perform anatomically impossible acts, and suggest that I engage in sexual congress with a yak, for that matter. It's not like this is some precious, exquisitely polished diamond of perfect organization you'll be ruining: it's ugly, that's the point.

Edit edit: REDACTED.

Edit edit edit: I believe everything on the Handbook Index thread that met my criteria has now been hatcheted. Also, I remembered that 'hatchet job' doesn't mean 'quick and dirty job' but 'character assassination'. Oh, well, just chalk up my command of idiom as one of the *other* things about this thread that are less than perfect.

At any rate, here is a list of everything here, in the order in which they appear. Many could benefit from dehatcheting, particularly those that are not only missing formatting, but missing formatting that itself conveys some important information, like guides that mark bad choices in red and good ones in blue, or those with useful image-based tables. Or lots of useful links.
So if you're looking over this list and see a handbook that you really like, I suggest you find it on the Handbook Index and port it over properly.
If you're looking for content from a specific handbook, rather than page through the whole thread looking for it I advise you to click the 'print' button at the top right/bottom right of the screen, with the other buttons. It gives you a stripped-version of the whole thread without all the formatting, which is normally less than ideal for this kind of thing, but all these lack formatting already. So just run a text search on that printable version of the thread (Ctrl+F for most browsers.)

Waazraaths paladin build compendium
The Best Dread Necromancer Advanced Learning Spells
How you make your wizard like a spontaneous caster.
Making the Magic Happen: A Practical Wizard's guide.
Handbook: Dipping Cleric 1
The Absolute Guide to Cleric Prestige Classes
Elemental wild shape mini guide
A Psion Handbook
3.5 Psion Build Guide and Compendium
Soulborn Handbook
Incarnum Feats for Soulborn
The Crusader's Field Manual
Consolidated Binder's Handbook (Repost with Formatting)
Consolidated List of "Bargain Bin" Spells for Artificers
Why Tier Ns are in Tier N
Tier system for templates
The War Compendium
The Dungeon Master's Handbook
Ability Damage Resource by Empirate
Pseudoclasses Handbook and the ghost levels theory
Handbook for Leadership and Army-Making
The Bloodlines Handbook: Balanced Interpretation & Implementation
Designing your own Custom Class in 3.5e DnD
The Equivalent Bonuses list
The "Rebuilding" Handbook
Naberius: sacking your stats for fun and profit
Is there a list of ways to gain actions?
JJ's Shtuff.
+1 BAB and +1 Caster Level at Level 1 (Repost and Update from pyro_cat on 339)
The 3.5 Caster Classes Index
The Fiendbinder Handbook
Shadowcraft Mage Handbook
The Guide to Sovereign Speakers and Other Domain Users
Sovereign Speaker 101: Domains, Benefits, Requirements, and Review
Thrallherd Handbook
Preliminary Persistent Chameleon Handbook (Please Suggest Improvements)
A quick guide to: The Ruby Knight Vindicator
Use this or That: A Quick Guide to Alternatives
alternative ways to get new class skills
Useful Dungeon Magazine Finds
Handbook: A Guide to Creating Optimized Builds at Low Levels
The Optimized Initiative Compilation
Init math and matchups OR helping you find the desired init advantage.
Making opponents flat-footed (Iaijutsu Strike resource)
How To Become Enormous (Meet Mr. Gigantic)
The Fail class guide to IP. Proofing For Classes below Tier 2
The Spartan Handbook; or how to rock the phalanx!
Sneak Attacking Spellcasters: God's Shifty-Eyed Cousins
KSB Snow Owl's Archer Build Thread
Caelic's Build Compendium
PhaedrusXY's build compilation
The Tsuyo RegionalDex: A Ported Selection of the CO Works of Tsuyoshikentsu
Getting the most out of your familiar
Little Red Raiding Hood: My Tale of & Guide to the 3.5 Dragoon
Breaking and Entering: a Thief's Guide
Optimization Resource: Trap-Finding
dragon PC races
Races Handbook
Race Handbook
Level Adjustment Theoretical Optimization Mini Handbook
Optimized Races Niche Compendium
Mohrg Handbook
Telthor Minihandbook
The Wish Handbook
Ways to Expand a Spell List (III)
Caster Level Loops and You
Tome of Battle for Dummies
How to shove it to beatsticks - A caster resource for not getting hit
List of Save-or-be-Screwed Spells [PHB, SpC, FrB, SnS, BoED, CM, PH2]
The beginnings of a complete list of good/Great/AWESOME spells from all sources.
Top 10 Arcane Persistable Spells by Level (For Future Handbook)
List of Persistable Divine Spells up to 6th Level
Top 10 Divine Persistent Spells by Level (For Future Handbook)
Divine Persistent Spell Categories by Function and Level (For Future Handbook)
Summoning Handbook
"Iconic" Summoning Handbook - Needs Your Input!
LOES: Spamming and Summoning Elementals From Level 1
Practical Demonkeeping (A Summoner's Guide to the Lower Planes)
Rising Above (A Summoner's Guide to the Upper Planes)
Affiliations and Magical Locations Handbook
The Utility Belt; or what you should be wearing around your waist
« Last Edit: April 13, 2013, 01:39:22 AM by Toptomcat »

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #1 on: April 10, 2013, 11:24:43 PM »
Waazraaths paladin build compendium

I made the post below for the Paladin Handbook on the wizards charop forums. Since there aren't that too many people posting there, I decided to share it here as well. Enjoy 

Joe Paladin, the average, standard paladin

Human paladin 20
Feats:
H mounted combat, 1 ride by attack, 3 spirited charge, 6 power attack, 9 battle blessing, 12 divine might, 15 animal devotion, 18 awesome smite

Very basic, knight in shining armour idea, focus is on one of the paladin's signature abilities: the horsy. Animal flavour is enforced with the devotion feat and spell selection (one mind)

Equipment: gloryborn valorous lance, pearls of power, sudden stunning weapon, rod of extend, riding boots
spells: rhino rush, one mind (lesser, greater), find the gap, righteous aura

At level 3, already triple damage on mounted charges. At level twelve, with find the gap and rhino rush, and quintuple damage (valorous weapon and rhino rush), smite and divine might, attacks should be able to get easily over 200 damage. Riding boots (MiC) make it a damage x6 multiplier, don't have clue how it's called anymore at this point.

Persistor, an ability enhancer paladin
Human cloistered cleric 1 / paladin 19
Feats:
H spell focus (transmutation), B knowledge devotion, D extend spell, 1 persist spell, 3 DMM persist, 6 ability enhancer, 9 extra turning, 12 battle blessing , 15 power attack, 18 sword of the arcane order

Domains: charm, planning

Definitely not the best way to optimize, but really straightforward. Won't mature till mid-level, since the feats chosen will do little until level 6. Will get really high strength and charisma scores, reasonable con modifier. This will save a lot of cash (for 3 +6 stat items and an amulet of natural armor) that can be spent on other stuff.

Spells: righteous aura, righteous fury, draconic might, strength of stone (situational)
Equipment: rod of extend, stunning weapon, nightsticks, reliquary holy symbol

righteous aura has a long enough duration, draconic might and rigtheous fury can be persisted for +12 str, +6 con, + 10 cha (maybe one higher, text of draconic might contradicts both table and previous edition on wether bonus is +4 or +5). Charm domain gives another +4 cha once/day


Half-fey of the green lady
Lesser aasimar half-fey binder 1 / paladin 19 (with LA buy-back)

Feats:
1) magic in the blood
3) improved binding
6) divine vigor
9) sacred healing
12) battle blessing
15) divine shield
18) law devotion

Note: bound will be mostly the green lady http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/olderProducts/dungeon/ageOfWorms/archives/theGreenLady&page=1#12 vestige, it's from pathfinder.

The first half-fey build. Focus is the very high charisma score (+6 racial, +2 from the green lady, +4 from righteous aura), turn undead abuse and magic in the blood abuse. In short:
- all half-fey spell-like abilities 3/day (up to level 8 spells)
- a recurring turn attempt every 5 rounds, usable to unlimited heal the party out of combat (sacred healing), get +2 temporary hp/level and +10 feet speed, contineously (divine vigor), unlimited divine shields.
- charisma synergy, with divine shield, the saves against the sla's, divine grace, smite, etc.
- any 1st level arcane spell, once every 5 rounds: continuous expidition retreat, maybe? Power word pain? Or nerveskitter? also very nice.

The build can be a great tank. Between law devotion, divine shield, a high cha score, and items for natural armor, deflection, a shield and a mithril breastplate, AC can get into the 60's, easily. Add to that defensive capabilities of  racial resistances and damage reduction, immunity to enchantment charm, great saves, and you have a character that's difficult to take down. Add to that a great mobility, standard 70 feet fly speed!

And for social interaction: the higher charisma helps a lot, as do unlimited charm persons.


Half-fey no.2
Lesser aasimar half-fey paladin 20 (with LA buy-back)

Feats: 1) magic in the blood 3) fly-by attack, 6) power attack 9) leadership 12) battle blessing 15) sword of the arcane order 18) martial study (shadow stride)

Alternative class feature: charging smite, substitution levels from the mystic fire knight.

This build basicly shopped in the most powerful feats for both half-fey (fly-by attack, magic in the blood) and paladin (battle blessing, leadership, Sword of the Arcane Order). Power attack adds more martial prowess (remember find the gap, or wraithstrike with SotAO), shadow stride gives the opportunity to get out of a difficult spot (RAW it's an extraordinary ability, and should even function in a anti-magic field, but it should be usable in a grapple in any case). This build will probably do less damage then a focussed charge build, but has much more options: the spell-like abilities from half-fey, more paladin spells, wizard spells as paladin spells, all paladin spells quickened, great mobility and, if neccisary, quite decent damage in melee. Additionally, the build can be a good face for the party, has lots of defensive options.

Paladin Ubercharger
Human lion spirit totem barbarian 1 / paladin of freedom 19

feats: H) power attack 1) improved bull rush 3) leap attack 6) shock trooper 9) divine might 12) battle blessing 15) travel devotion 18) sword of the arcane order

acf: lion spirit totem, smiting charge

Your basic ubercharger, Pally style. The good part is (again) that charging multipliers work for smite, divine might and power attack. With sword of the arcane order and a bludgeoning weapon (greatclub?), say hello to greater mighty wallop. The build still uses the shock trooper feat tree, and not wraithstrike or find the gap, because you need the swift action for rhino rush and find the gap only works for 1 attack.

On damage: at level 20, a charge attack would do about +60 damage with power/leap attack, +57 for charging smite,  +5 (weapon), +10 (divine might), +15 (str), 18 (4d8) weapon damage; with a valorous vaulting halberd and rhino rush (x4 damage), and four attacks (3 without the extra smiting damage), that could go easily over 2000 damage, if all attacks hit.

A non-basic version of this build could include a 1 level cloistered cleric dip (for strength devotion and animal devotion for 2 extra attacks) and 1 level binder, for 1 extra attack with Amon, but then again, more damage adds little to this build, tweaking it should focus on compensating weaknesses imho.

Mercyful Death – the paladin of Wee Jas
Binder 1 / Paladin 7 / warblade 1 / RKV 10 (adapted: iron heart for devoted spirit) / swordsage 1

H improved binding
1 death devotion
3 power attack
6 divine might
9 divine vigor
12 sword of the arcane order
15 battle blessing
18 extra turning
20 weapon focus (swordsage)

This is a thematic build ; the binding of the green lady (see 2 posts above), ruby knight vindicator, death devotion, all contribute to the theme of a knight of Wee Jas. The different classes have a lot of synergy and very little in the prereq department. The build works on charisma, turn attempts, spells & manouvers. Paladin spells are cast as a swift action and with ruby knight vindicator, the build can use 2 swift actions per turn. With the recurring turn attempt from the level binder, Mercyful Death can have continuous divine vigor active, as well as a continuous expeditous retreat, so the mobility is good, despite the heavy armor the knight wears.

Mercyful Death paladin casts as a level 15 paladin (up to lvl 4 spells) with acces to wizard spells, has a warblade initiator level 15 and a swordsage initiator level 15. Plenty of combinations are possible, for example wraithstrike + power attack + avalanche of blades + lightning recovery = almost always instant monster kill. Find the gap with several standard action high damage strikes is also viable.

Because the build only has 7 levels of paladin, charging smite will prolly work better then the horsy. I used the ‘adaption’ rules for ruby knight vindicator here, but with crusader/devoted spirit instead of warblade/iron heart that I used here, the build remains just as viable.

Items: nightsticks, reliquary holy symbol, pearls of power, manouver gaining items
Spells: wraithstrike
Manouvers: many options, but good options would be high level manouvers with little prereqs like inferno blade, shadow blink, crushing vice and diamond defense, or usual suspects like white raven tactics or iron heart surge.

Ravenknight
Human Paladin 5 Knight of the Raven 10 church inquisitor 5

ACF: charging smite, mystic fire knight substitution levels 4 and 5 (bonus spells), lightbringer detect undead instead detect evil (return with church inquisitor)

H dreadful wrath
1 power attack
3 animal devotion
6 awesome smite
8 (B) sun devotion
9 battle blessing
10 (B) enduring life
12 sword of the arcane order
13 (B) lasting life
15 divine might
16 (B) knowledge devotion
18 extra turning

Frightens the living and destroys the undead. It works well in an undead centered campaign, with detect undead, smite undead, sun devotion and feats that protect the pally from drains. The abilities given up for alternative class features (detect evil, turn undead) are regained with prestige classes, so detect undead and the extra spells are freebees. Church inquisitor adds some immunities to charms and illusions. Extra damage  from animal devotion, knowledge devotion and divine might. Spells from the wizard list, animal devotion and awesome smite add versitality.

Saint Crusader
Human Paladin 6 saint (2) paladin +2 fist of raziel 10
H power attack
1 nymphs kiss
3 ranged smite evil
6 servant of the heavens
9 divine might
12 battle blessing
15 sword of the arcane order
18 leadership
ACF: charging smite

This is the prototype exalted paladin: it uses the saint template and the Fist of Raziel prestige class from the book of exalted deeds. Unfortunately, Fist of Raziel requirers one of the most awful feats in existence, Servant of the Heavens. You might beg your DM to have dodge or toughness instead, but in this build I tried to make use of it, by qualifying for the all powerful saint. Same with the code of conduct: you’re tied to it anyways, so it’s not that big a step to playing exalted.

The FoR adds 5 smites and extra holy damage to your weapon, up to level 10 when every weapon you hold is considered holy, the saint gives immunities, damage reduction, fast healing, some SLA’s at will, wis to AC, ability bonusses and much more. For the rest, the usual: cast spells from the wizard list, cast spells as a swift action, use spells/items/divine might to get a good damage output, charge with rhino rush/find the gap/power attack/smite.

The mountless rider
Strongheart halfling paladin 20
H mounted combat
1 ride by attack
3 spirited charge
6 power attack
9 dragon cohort
12 divine might
15 battle blessing
18 Sword of the Arcane Order

alternative class feature: charging smite, optional: 1st and 3rd substitution levels of wary swordknight
This build combines the acf that a paladin gains instead of it’s mount, together with: mounted combat  Logic behind it is that charging smite greatly improves smite, smiting works great with mounted charges and it’s a bloody shame you have to choose between the mounty and the charging smite. Then again, you don’t, since you can have mount without having a special mount. Dragon cohort is a great option, since it gives a stronger cohort then leadership would. And it's cool, of course 

Also, this build takes strongheart halfling as race. Often, small races aren’t worth it for many melee classes, for this build, it is. Curse of the mounted warrior is that you’ll prolly see many a dungeon not meant to be tread by large creatures, like a horse. In those cases, it’s good to have a mount dragon no larger then medium. Also, no worries in the damage department… you might be small, but still do you charging damage x6 with the right equipment, feats and spells, so that won’t be a problem. Only difference is the damage of the smite will be trippled, and the smite won’t be wasted on the occasional 1.

Equipment: gloryborn valorous lance, riding boots, pearls of power
Spells: find the gap, rhino rush, protective spells for mount, like luminous armor, benediction

Some additional possibilities


Paladin 10 / master of many forms 10
Gain wildshape with initiate of Horus-re, be a dragon. Buff self with devotion and divine feats. You can start with MoMF a lot earlier (lvl 5, if retraining is allowed), but then you won’t be able to finish the build with 20HD wildshape possibilities, due to the paladin multi-class restrictions. But if you know beforehand you won't play past level 15, it's very good and flavourful.

Paladin 19 / warblade 1
Always a great way to end a melee build. Lose 1 smite/day and one 4th level spell, gain 3 manouvers up to 5th level and a stance (white raven tactics, leading the charge, dancing mongoose, iron heart surge; plenty of options!). Can be a great way to enhance charging builds, never a bad choice.

Some observations I made while building all this:
•   Paladin is often considered a weak class, but paladin 20 is perfectly playable without too much optimization (see Joe, for example)
•   Paladins benefit greatly from all ability scores. This has a downside (a bit MAD, though thats managable with a feat like serenity or acf that replace spell casting with feats), but also a upside: if you roll your abilities very well, or of you have a lot of points to spent, your paladin gets a lot better. A fighter gains very little from a high charisma, and a wizard little from a high strength, while a paladin that has by accident a high intelligence can pick 3 social skills a be a great party face, as a bonus.
•   There are a lot of great feats for paladins, I never use flaws myself (that's why they're not included), but if you do, a paladin gains a lot from them.
•   Paladins gain several good abilities, some of them scale, some don't. Turn undead and divine grace are great, but once you have, them, not much reasons to continue in paladin. Spells, smite and the horsy do make it worth to continue advancing in the class.
•   Smiting may seem weak, but since it's so easy to multiply damage, it adds up to a lot. +60 damage on 1 attack is a good ability at level 10 (also compared with ToB manouvers)
•   spells may seem few and weak, but 1) spells published after the phb, for example in spell compendium or complete champion, are really good 2) two great feats make spellcasting much stronger for a paladin: battle blessing and sword of the arcane order. They alone make advancing levels of paladin worth it. Gain extra spells from a high wisdom, pearls of power or convincing your DM you need a Shield of Prator.
•   A kind of special horse is recommended to keep it from dying all the time at higher levels.
•   Because of the above, I consider many prestige classes a trap. There are so many of them that seem nice for a paladin, but don't increase smiting damage, the horse or smiting, and end up with casting from a much weaker spell list, with even less spells, and without benefits of both above mentioned feats. Spellcasting from the evil pally variants in UA isn't supported by splatbooks either, which makes them much weaker.
•   if you trade the horse for charging smite, you only have 2 scaling abilities left and a prestige class like fist of raziel becomes worth it.
•   prestige classes are imho worth it only if the advance several of the paladin's key abilities (knight of the raven, fist of raziel), if they highly specialize in 1 of them (halfling outrider ubermount goodness) or if they add something new and great to the mix (manouvers with RKV, or MoMF).
•   Despite the multiclass restrictions, paladins are great with short dips, like cloistered cleric, warblade or barbarian. Special mention deserves the binder, which is simply amazing if the vestige Green Lady is allowed.

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #2 on: April 10, 2013, 11:27:02 PM »
Treantmonk's Guides to Whatever
Not explicitly linked to on the Index, but all of his stuff is available with the PFSRD.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2013, 11:29:11 PM by Toptomcat »

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2013, 11:30:48 PM »
The Best Dread Necromancer Advanced Learning Spells
By JaronK

So, as someone who's played Dread Necromancers quite a bit, this has come up a lot, and I find there are few places that give really good suggestions for what to take.  So, here are mine, for those who might want to see, and I'd love to compile more!

#1 (level 2-):

Ghoul Glyph.   A handy spell out of Spell Compendium that does something none of your other spells do.  This one leaves a permanent glyph that, if anyone but you gets to close to it, paralyzes a victem for a few rounds.  The glyph can't move though.  Combined with water filled pit traps you've got yourself a very lethal trap.  Also, nothing stops you from placing multiples of these on such traps... enemies might make one save, but they won't make 5.  This is also a great way to burn unused spellslots at the end of the day, creating rings around you for safety.  It's obviously handy in ambushes, and it's especially useful if you want to start casting Planar Binding (remember, you don't have Magic Circle spells, so anything you Bind must be killed and reanimated to be useful.  This is much easier if they get instantly paralyzed on the way in).   

Kelgor's Grave Mist.  Players Handbook 2 has this gem, which is a long range AoE that fatigues enemies and deals 1d6 cold damage per turn.  Remember that skeletons are immune to both fatigue and cold damage, making this a great one to throw into a fight.  No save, too.  Just create an area of the battlefield that keeps enemies from charging.  It's a wonderful way to slow down an enemy Frenzied Berserker. 

#2 (level 4-):

Black Sand.  This spell out of Sandstorm is absolutely incredible.  It's an AoE effect that deals 1d6 points of negative energy damage to everyone in the area per round for caster level rounds.  Also, it creates a darkness effect.  Thus, it heals your minions and hurts enemies.  More importantly, however, anyone killed by it permanently turns into Black Sand.  As such, you can now put this generated sand in the boots/body of any of your minions (and maybe in your boots if you have Tomb Tainted Soul) to gain fast healing 1d6, permanently.  Awesome.  Also, the spell itself can be made permanent if you lack bodies to turn into the stuff, and this is great for making fortifications.

Consumptive Field:  Get a huge caster level the fun way.  Combine this with Kelgor's Grave Mist or Black Sand to kill off a bag's worth of rats and go to town.  Libris Mortis has this one.

Shivering Touch:  An old favorite from Frostburn, this lovely spell deals 3d6 dex damage on a touch attack with no save.  Brilliant!  Teach those dragons a lesson.  Combine it with Black Sand (above) to take out the now helpless enemy and congratulations, you have permanent black sand.

Skull Watch:  Tired of DMs sending enemies to jump you when you're trying to covert your party into Necropolitans or researching new monstrosities to create?  Then this spell is for you.  It's permanent, and it'll warn you when enemies show up.  Just make a bunch of these and set them out when you need to establish a safe perimeter.  It's found in the Spell Compendium.

Undead Torch:  Originally from Ghostwalk, this spell is a one round per level buff of an undead critter that causes the critter to deal an extra 2d4 damage to with all melee attacks, and if the critter dies, people passing through the space take damage.  Generally, this is unimpressive, but on a hydra the extra 5 damage per hit adds up fast.  I'd have a tough time taking this over Black Sand for the purposes of buffing undead, though.

#3 (level 6-)

Animate Dread Warrior:  Endless source of intelligent undead that still have their abilities from life?  Yes please!  The Exp cost stinks though, so this is a good choice for Spell Stitching if you have that option.  Unapproachable East has this spell.

Haunt Shift:  This gem from Libris Mortis is wonderful for anyone with a good imagination.  Getting tired of enemies using Turn Undead?  Create a statue of a skeletal warrior out of adamantine, then use Haunt Shift to animate the thing and send it into battle.  It's a construct now with a Hardness of 20.  No one ever expects that.  Great for making ultra tough tanks... or traveling around in a haunted carriage for pure style points (note: a Porpoise skeleton has very few HD and a movement speed of 80, making it perfect for haunting your carriage).  Note, if you're creating battle minions with this spell through the use of statues, take note of the spells Shrink Item (Permanent!), Invisibility (which can be made Permanent on objects), Augment Object, and Hardness, as well as the psionic power Matter Manipulation.  You can't have these spells, but a friendly Wizard, Archivist or Psion might, and this can create all sorts of fun involving invisible size changing minions with a hardess in the hundreds. 

Touch of Vecna:  This one from Complete Mage is certainly fun.  A touch attack deals 1d8+10 damage and makes the target shaken for one round, and then if they fail a fort save they're paralyzed permenantly.  Okay, seriously?  Shaken with no save is awesome, and now if your fear aura hits them (at -2 saves) they're frightened for a good long time, so even passing their save on this spell leaves them pretty screwed.   Also, you did take Sickening Grasp as a feat, right?  So they're at -4 saves after this?  Yeah, good times.  Plus now your familiar can paralyze them if you have a Ghostly Visage.  This spell combined with your other Dread Necromancer abilities is just incredible as a nearly gaurenteed killer.  Throw in some armour with the Fearsome enchantment so you can intimidate as a move action and you can now get them even more afraid when you cast this.  Very fun.  Of course, if they do fail the fort save then yay, your castle has a brand new statue.  Or you can kill them with Black Sand to get more of the stuff.  Or sacrifice their soul for crafting exp, and then raise their body in service to your evil whims.  Or construct a catapult and chuck them back at their friends with an Explosive Runes parchment shoved in their mouth.  Whatever.  Point being, they're your toy and you're a necromancer.  Whee!  Note: this sort of behavior is not appreciated by the party Paladin.  You may have to use this spell on him next.

#4 (Level 8-)

Arrow of Bone:  This one from Spell Compendium is handy if you're in a party with an archer or assassin.  Just enchant a few arrows with this spell ahead of time (heck, do it the day before, by the time you have this spell it lasts a minimum of 16 hours!).  Now you can shoot down any one enemy from long range, and they're GOING to fail one fort save if you make them take four or five.  But really, this is a bit situational, so it's only appropriate if you need to drop BBEGs or otherwise assassinate targets.

Avascular Mass:  Another Spell Compendium bit of fun.  A ranged touch attack which, with no save, halves enemy hitpoints and leaves the target entangled.  Also, the target must fort save or be stunned for one round, and people nearby must reflex save or be entangled, plus even if you pass the save you have to make strength or escape artists checks to move.   REALLY nasty and a great way to take a lot of enemies out of the fight for a while... just blast the BBEG and he's screwed even if he makes his save, and you'll handle his melee mooks in the same shot.  And you just ripped the blood vessels out of the enemy and tangled up their mooks in the ripped out body bits.  Style, baby.  Oh, and don't forget to cast Cloudkill on the now entangled target.  One warning though: you can't see through the mass well, so the target will have total cover.  Then again, so will you... to the target.  That could help or hurt.

Avasculate:  A weaker version of Avasculate, this spell doesn't entangle or have AoE effects, but it's one level lower.  Personally, I prefer the mass version since the added debuff and AoE is awfully nice, but this way the total cover issue goes away.

Awaken Undead:  Spell Compendium brings us this lovely little thing.  Remember, the undead are still under your control, so this is a great way to have hordes of intelligent minions.  Very nice!

Blackfire:  Out of Spell Compendium, this spell is a medium range ray that deals con damage.  Not bad, and the damage can be quite high, up to 1d4 per caster level (though enemies will make some of the saves).  Note that the duration of the spell is limited by caster level only, so the damage is actually uncapped, making this a hilarious one to combine with Consumptive Field, making it a great potencial necromancer assassin tool.  Just pump your caster level with a CF loop to insane levels (50, let's say?), then snipe the target with Blackfire (at that caster level, your range is 600 feet).  The target now takes 1d4 con damage per round (fort save each round, on success they're sickened that round instead of taking damage), and it won't stop until they die or dispel, the latter of which just won't happen (though three saves in a row will put it out... but those are fort saves and you're doing con damage!).  Plus, when dead they need a True Resurrection or Wish to come back, with a high caster level check.  Yehaw.  Also, anyone adjacent has the Blackfire spread to them, which is nifty... you can take out large packs this way.  Very stylish,

Evil Glare:  Another Spell Compendium spell, this one gives you a standard action gaze attack for one round per level, will save or be paralyzed for 1d8 rounds (can't hit the same target twice).  This means for just one spell slot you can take out tons of enemies... and it works great with a Ghostly Visage and some undead that hits hard.  You both stare at the target, and it must make two will saves... if either is failed, it's Coup de Gras time, just order the minion to coup de gras any paralyzed target.  Also, with Fearsome armour you can intimidate as a move action if you like, so you can defeat your enemies by being REALLY creepy and staring at them and then if they get close you can leave them cowering (you DO have Imperious Command by now, right?).  The range is a bit poor though.

Horrid Wilting:  Out of the PHB, this spell offers something few Dread Necromancer spells have: very long range.  Plus, it hits a lot of targets (everyone within a 60ft area) without hitting friendly types.  So, if you wanted to be a blaster, this would be the spell for you.  That said, 75 damage (on average) rarely is worth while at this level, but it's great for clearing out low level enemies or enemies already weakened by other effects, and a Greater Wand of Maximize would get this thing up to 120 damage per target, which isn't too shabby.  A second blast would finish off the lot of them.

Kiss of the Vampyre:  Another Spell Compendium find, this guy has a lot of potencial for Dread Necromancers.  You're already nasty as all heck up close with your Fear Aura, Charnel Touch, and various other touch effects.  This one gives you Enervate on all your touch attacks... nifty when combined with your level draining touch attacks that you get anyway as a DN.  Also, Gaseous Form is nice for utility, and DR 10/Magic is cute (though pretty worthless at the level you get this).  Sadly, the duration is too short for the charm to be of much use.

Necrotic Curse:  This Complete Mage spell is hilarious.  For 1 hour/level, all positive energy spells within range of you instead deal damage equal to the caster level of the caster.  You'll need a high caster level for this to work (hi there, Consumptive Field!) but the results can be hilarious.  Cast this spell at the beginning of the day (after the CF power up, of course) so enemies don't see you casting it and don't know it's there.  When a big fight starts, launch a Maximized Horrid Wilting (see above).  What comes next?  The enemy healer fires off a Mass Heal.  Heh heh heh.  A second Maximized Horrid Wilting should end the encounter.  This is also nice in long drawn out fights when your forces are being regenerated by Necrosis Carnexes and Black Sand, while theirs slowly melt away without any ability to heal... but then again, how often does that happen?  Still, this spell may be worth it just for the confusion it causes. 


JaronK

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2013, 11:34:06 PM »
How you make your wizard like a spontaneous caster.

By SorO_Lost

How do you make your wizard a spontaneous caster?
Well I'm glad [you] asked. Within this very thread me and other contributing members of this board will try to present you with a list of choices to help you in your goal of mimicing spontaneous casting, or just plain expanding your daily list of spells. Just try not to upset the sorcerer any more than he already is.

Definition: Spell Storage

An item, ability, skill, or feat that allows one to cast a spell into it at the end of the day so tomorrow morning they need not prepared it since they can cast the spell from the item, ability, skill, or feat storing said spell instead.

Spell Storage may or may not require additional spell slots to recall a stored spell.

On to the lists.

***

Races


Hathrans (player's guide to faerun)¤
X/day Place Magic, which lets them trade any spell out they have prepared for any spell in their spellbooks. While inside of Rashemen, you can use Place Magic all day long.

***

Base Classes


Wizard (The only base class that matters)
The wizard's class alone give the benefit of out of combat spontaneous casting. By leaving slots open, the wizard can later take 15 minutes out of the day to fill an uncasted slot with another spell thus giving them the effect of spontaneous casting when ever they have 15 minutes free.

Which when you think about it. Only the higher level spells tend to be the ones you use in battle. Prepare half your upper slots as offensive weapons as backup in the morning, and fill the rest of your slots as you need them later on in the day.

Substitution Levels

Spontaneous Divination (complete champion)
Level: 5th, 10th, 15th, or 20th.
Gives up: Bonus feat.
Benefit: You can spontaneously cast any divination spell using a prepared spell of equal or greater level.

Planar Spell Casting (planar handbook, 10th level)
Level: 10th.
Gives up: Bonus feat, the spells added to your spellbook for free by level up.
Benefit: All spells you cast cast gain an alignment descriptor (such as [chaotic]).

When combined with Chaotic Spell Recall (see below) you can recall any spell and the slot used to cast it.

Spontaneous Summoning (unearthed arcane)
Level: All.
Gives up: Extra spells from being a school focused wizard.
Benefit: Conjurers using this variant can "lose" a prepared spell to cast any summon monster spell of a lower level.

Abyssal Specialist (DotU)
Lose one school of magic to become specialized in spells with the [chaotic], [compulsion], [darkness], [evil], and [fear] descriptors including all the normal benefits. Combo with Planar Spell Casting & Chaotic Spell Recall for an epic win.


***

Prestige Classes


Mage of the Arcane Order (complete arcane)
Full spell casting, some other stuff.

Spellpool works just like Spell Storage, only you cast into the pool within 24 hours of calling a spell from it. You can call up to (CL/2) spell levels per day from it.

*

Ultimate Magus (complete mage)
Full spell casting with a feat, freebie metamagic enhancement.

Nets 9 levels of a 'real' spontaneous casting class at the cost of two levels of wizard. for beguiler or sorcerer & one feat slot for Practiced Spellcaster for the mentioned class.

*

Magelord (lost empires of faerun)
Full spell casting, +3d6 sneak attack.
You can convert any prepared spell into any mastered (which may be metamagicly enhanced) spell via CORE's Spell Mastery feat.

Added bonus, an extra 4 spells are added to your Spell Mastery list.

*

Shadowcraft Mage (races of stone)
Full spell casting, 40% concealment 24/7.
While the class does not really grant spontaneous casting, it does allow you to turn the ___ Image spell chain into shadow conjuration/evocation-like spells. Spells mimiced are one level lower than the image spell used to create it, and are only 20%+(10%*level of image spell used) real.
The Earth Spell(RoS) bumps Empower Spell up a level, including beyond the cap, so you can use an empowered silent image spell to cast a 110% real 9th level divine evocation spell Miracle which in turn lets you cast any 8th level Divine Spell using one of your 9th spell level slots.

*

Dweomerkeeper (complete divine web enchantment Download it here)
Full spell casting, 5/day ignore components, AoOs, and spell resistance.

Allows you to pick up to any 5 spells, you may spontaneous cast them by using a spell slot of equal or higher level.

*

Primal Scholar (secrets of xendrik)¤
Ancient Secret lets you chose the Mystery of Magic class ability which allows the spontaneous casting of an assigned spell one level lower than your prepared slot.

***

Feats

Spell Mastery (core)
While the feat does not grant spontaneous casting, it is the prerequisite to many things that do.

Alacritous Cogitation (complete mage)
1/day cast any spell from any spell book you own with an open slot as a full round action.

Chaotic Spell Recall (fiendish codex I: hordes of the abyss)
Gain the ability to recall & recharge any spell with the chaotic descriptor of any level (abyssal Heritor feats / 2) + 1 times per day as a swift action.

Useful when combined with Planar Spell Casting (see above).

Signature Spell (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting & Player's Guide to Faerûn)
Pick any one spell mastered by the Spell Mastery Feat, you can convert any prepared spell of higher ot equal into it as a free action.

Uncanny Forethought (exemplars of evil)
Reserve (int bonus)/day spell slots to cast any spell you selected with Spell Mastery as a standard action, or as a full round action any spell to know at your caster level - 2.

Versatile Spellcaster (races of the dragon)
A well know feat that allows you to combine lower level spells to cast higher level ones. While this was meant to be off limits to a wizard, its prerequisite is "ability to spontaneously cast spells" which Spontaneous Divination meets.

***

Items

Weapon Enchantment: Spell Storing (core, +1 bonus)
Spell Storing (any one spell up to 3rd level)
You are required to hit your foe in order to cast as a free action from it.

50 +1 spell storing arrows only cost 4,302.5gp, and allow you to pretty much create a pool of every useful 3rd level or lower spell during adventure down time. This include self buffs seeing how you can attack (and auto hit) your self as an attack action treating the arrows as an improvised weapon that deals 1d4+1 - your likely low str in damage.

Spell Storing, Minor (core, 18,000gp)
Spell Storage (up to 3 levels of spells)

Spell Storing (core, 50,000gp)
Spell Storage (up to 5 levels of spells)

Spell Storing, Major (core, 200,000gp)
Spell Storage (up to 10 levels of spells)

Ring Of Therurgy (complete arcane, 20,000gp)
Spell Storage (any 3 spells)
Note - requires a slot to recall the spell.

Amulet of Spell Conversion (complete mage, 18,000gp)
1/day replace any prepared spell as a full-round action.

Circlet of Mages (magical item compedium, 5,000gp)
Has 3 charges per day that can be used to save a spell slot used to cast a spell. It also gives a +2 compentence bonus to concentration checks.

Pearl of Power (core, varies)
1/day recall a prepared spell & slot of X level, where X equals the level pearl you can afford to buy.

Runestaffs (magical item compedium, varies)
Limited form of spell conversion with any unprepared slot.

Since you can freely customize the spells stored, feel free to create one with all your choice battle spells, thus allowing you to skip preparing anything in the morning.

Staffs (core, varies)
Cast any spell from a 2~5 long spell list using 1~3 charges (of 50) each time.

Wands (core, varies)
Cast any one spell up to 50 times.

Scrolls (core, varies)
The wizard can craft them from a spell he knows one day, only to not know it tomarrow and depend on the scroll. Oh and wizards get the scribe scroll feat for free. At the 1st level.

Tome of Ancient Lore (CD, MiC)
It's a spell book that contains every arcane spell in the game.
CD's version gives a 90% chance of finding any certain spell and can be used multiple times.
MiC's only lets you use it once per day.
Both allow you to prepare directly from it so it is a spell book and there is no mentioning nor implication that you need to decipher it.
Given that Wizards "know" all spells in their spell book and the tome skips the learning phase this tome is an extremely important item.

The Raiment of the Four (MiC)
Allows you to spontaneously cast Magic Missile, Fireball (fixed DC for some reason though) Teleport (!) and Freedom of Movement (with extra effects), even if they aren't on your list (like a Focused Caster or if you banned the schools).

Memento Magicas (RotD)
Like a Pearl of Power, isn't explicitly noted to work only for spontaneous casters. Costs a bit more though.


***

Spells

Mage’s Lucubration (core)
Transmutation
Level: Wiz 6
Casting Time: 1 standard action

Reprepare (and regain the casting slot) any 5th level or lower spell you have cast within the last 24 hours.

Rary's Arcane Conversion (complete mage)
Universal
Level: Wizard 6
Casting Time: 1 full round

Exchange any prepared spell for another of the same or lower level.

Spell Engine (spell compendium)
Abjuration [force]
Level: Wizard 8
Cast: 10 minutes
Components: A silver wheel worth 500gp and 250XP.

Reprepare all your unused spell slots. When preparing them this way, it only takes half the usual time.

Shalantha's Delicate Disk (lost empires of faerun)
Conjuration (Creation)
Level: Sorcerer/wizard 6
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Components: A golden egg worth 200 gp.

Creates a 1hp disc that can store any spell up to the 5th level (Spell Storage).
You can then break it as a standerd action to 'cast' the stored spell.

Since the center of affect is on the breaker or where it is broken and it breaks under a DC 5 strength check it can create a cheap and effective trap on the fly.

***

3rd Party stuff


Metaphysical Spellshaper(BoEF)
Spontaneous Metamagic, allowing a wizard to cast any spell he knows spontaneously, provided it is modified by a metamagic feat. Invisible Spell anyone?

Unknown (Dragon 357)
Adds the [chaotic] descriptor to all your spells, much faster/better than the 10th level wizard sub but it's dragon material. Did you expect anything less?


***

Dirty Tricks

[COLOR="Red"]*Warning, using any of the following can be hazardous to your health as you may be beat over the head with the DMG.*[/COLOR]

Sanctum Spell, so good, wizards ask for it by name.
By using Sanctum Spell (complete arcane) you can cast a Repeated Sanctum Mage’s Lucubration spell which recalls a 5th level spell you already cast today, then next round the spell is repeated and you can regain Sanctum Mage’s Lucubration back since you treat it as a 5th level spell. Then on the following round, use Residual Magic (complete mage) to apply Repeat Spell at no cost to your next Sanctum Mage’s Lucubration spell.

Effectively, you use a 8th level slot to recharge two of your '6th' level or lower spells & slots.

This can be combo'ed with Rary's Arcane Conversion to swap around your higher level prepared spells as you see fit as well.

***

Did I miss anything? Tell me what, along with the hows & wheres and I'll get around to updating this post some time in the future.

If you wish to present builds, go ahead.

***

EXAMPLE BUILDS:
Batman
Has a lot of spells per day with lots of options in what to cast


Chaotic Neutral Changling (has at least 13 wisdom)
1: Abyssal Specialist Wizard 1 - 2 flaws, Cloak Of The Obyrith, Chaotic Spell Recall, Focused Specialist (DR 2/Law, CSR 2)
2: Abyssal Specialist Wizard 2
3: Abyssal Specialist Wizard 3 - Demonic Skin. (DR 3/Law, CSR 2, NA +2)
4: Abyssal Specialist Wizard 4
5: Abyssal Specialist Wizard 5 - Cooperative Spell.
6: Abyssal Specialist Wizard 6 - Precognitive Visions. (DR 4/Law, CSR 3, NA +3)
7: Abyssal Specialist Wizard 7
8: Abyssal Specialist Wizard 8
9: Abyssal Specialist Wizard 9 - Keeper Of Forbidden Lore (DR 5/Law, CSR 3, NA +3)
10: Planar Abyssal Specialist Wizard 10 - Planar Spell Casting(chaos)
11: Mage of the Arcane Order 1
12: Mage of the Arcane Order 2 - Eyes of the Abyss, any metamagic feat. (DR 6/Law, CSR 4, NA +4)
13: Mage of the Arcane Order 3
14: Mage of the Arcane Order 4
15: Mage of the Arcane Order 5 - Empower Spell, Enlarge Spell, Extend Spell, Maximize Spell, or Widen Spell (your choice).
16: Mage of the Arcane Order 6
17: Mage of the Arcane Order 7
18: Recaster 1 - Any Feat (suggest a metamagic drawn form the list above)
19: Recaster 2 (use the recaster's expanded knowledge to learn greater arcane fusion)
20: Recaster 3

Highlights
7-7/7/7/7/7/7/7/6/6+CSR spells per day with no banned spells. Yes, you have more than the sorcerer
DR 6/Law.
A base of +4 Natural Armor.
19/20 wizard casting.
Free Eschew Materials effect.
3/day Silent Spell or Still Spell at no cost or preparation.
3/day metamagic (see 15th level list above) at no cost or preparation.
3/day quicken at no cost or preparation.
You can cast Greater Arcane Fusion to cast any 7th & 4th level spell at once from any spellbook you own.
Spellpool 3/day which is spellstorage, only you pay within 24 hours after drawing a spell.
4/day Chaotic Spell Recall which is like an extra 4 spell slots of your highest spell known that you can spontaneously cast from with a swift action.

Named Batman due to this build's 'toolbelt' having everything you could ever need.

***

Darkwing
Less powerful than Batman but thanks to cartoon physics reality's rules doesn't apply.


Pre: Wisdom 13+, Con 13+, Gnome race.
 1: Wizard 1 - Earth Sense, Heighten Spell, Earth Spell
 2: Wizard 2
 3: Sorcerer 1 - Practiced Spellcaster(sorcerer)
 4: Wizard 3
 5: Wizard 4
 6: Ultimate Magus 1 - Spell Focus(illusion) (cls: wiz 5, sor 6. wiz advances)
 7: Ultimate Magus 2
 8: Ultimate Magus 3
 9: Ultimate Magus 4 - Any* (cls: wiz 9, sor 9. wiz advances)
10: Ultimate Magus 5
11: Ultimate Magus 6
12: Ultimate Magus 7 - Any* (cls: wiz 13, sor 12. sor advances)
13: Ultimate Magus 8
14: Ultimate Magus 9
15: Ultimate Magus 10 - Any*  (cls: wiz 16, sor 16. cast: wiz 13, sor 9)
16: Shadowcraft Mage 1
17: Shadowcraft Mage 2
18: Shadowcraft Mage 3 - Any*
19: Shadowcraft Mage 4
20: Shadowcraft Mage 5
*Learn Spell Mastery, followed by Uncanny Forethough at the desired levels. Suggest metamagic to be taken with the rest.

Highlights
17th level wizard casting, 9th level sorcerer casting thus 8th & 4th level spells.
Loads of "free" metamagic useage by burning the sorcerer spell slots.
(int mod)/day cast any spell from any spell book you own with an open slot or prepared spell slot.
Can cast any 8th level divine spell or any 7th level spell ever printed using a 90% real Miracle (ignores xp costs).

Named Darkwing due to the speech you'll want to say before each fight.
"I am the darkness. I am the night. I am <noun> in your <noun>. I am Darkwiiing Duck!"

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #5 on: April 10, 2013, 11:36:06 PM »
Making the Magic Happen: A Practical Wizard's guide.

By WarlockLord

So yes, here's another guide to being a wizard.  Hopefully, I can add to the wealth of information out there on being a wizard.  Probably?  Not really.  But I was bored.

I should also give credit where credit is due, to Treantmonk, Frank & K, and LogicNinja for their excellent insights into the world of wizarding.

So you've decided you want to be a wizard, a cool dude in a pointy hat who tells the laws of physics to go jump off a cliff and die.  As a prospective wizard, you've heard the hype about how wizards are "tier 1" and have about a zillion different ways to break the game.  In theory, this is true.  In practice...not so much.

Problem One: The power of any given wizard is limited by the DM
Sure, you may have heard the hype about how the wizard class is super awesome tier 1, who if they snap a finger can make campaign worlds explode.  Many dubious tricks have been quoted in support of this, such as the super-awesome of shapechange, the explosive runes book bomb, and the legions of terror created by planar binding.  Many of us can think of many more.  None of these really matter because you have a DM who probably won't allow them.  This is not to say that the rules for wizards are well-written or that the loopholes and exploits don't exist, but most DMs who don't eat paste or aren't new to DMing aren't going to allow you to mindrape a time dragon you gated in and have a permanent slave who destroys kingdoms.  Likewise, when you find some awe-inspiring loophole which allows you to raze the planet, get infinite moneys, or gate the BBEG into the Negative Energy Plane and roll taquitos while you and your friends beat him down.  This, incidentally, is why there is no real distinction between tier 1 and tier 2.

Problem Two: Many of the rules are poorly written
So does an invisible dude beat true seeing if he has a nondetection up?  Can you qualify for anima mage by taking those two feats in Tome of Magic?  Does the class feature spontaneous divination make you a spontaneous caster, and thus allow you to qualify for both sides of ultimate magus?  How exactly does ability focus interact with your spellcasting ability?   How the hell do those "if you lose the prereqs you lose the class" PrC rules interact with classes such as the ur-priest and why are they only printed in the Complete Arcane and Complete Warrior?  The fuck is a "fixed range" for persisting spells?  As you can see, many cool things for wizards will detract from the quality of the game as you and your gaming buddies scream at each other over persisting a time stop.  And no, the FAQ doesn't help, because that shit is known as "Skip smokes crack" for a reason, and they frequently pull crap out of their ass.  And please don't get me started on Custserv.

By now you are probably wondering why the hell you are going to play a wizard, when you could just play a dumbass with a stick, and get into less rules arguments.  Well, there are some metagame advantages.

The "fighters can't have nice things" attitude actually works in your favor
So lets say you wanted to play that fighter.  You, being an intelligent person undaunted by the prattle of the "real roleplayers", show up with a fighter/barbarian/warblade/frenzied berserker who charges dudes and kills them.  The DM bans you for being overpowered, ignoring Jim's gish in the corner using wraithstrike and miss chances to not die.  Wait, wtf?
A lot of DMs have the attitude that as long as it's a spell, it's ok, but if a mundane does it, it's overpowered anime shit.  Yeah, it's stupid, but it can work for you.  I recommend taking levels in incantatrix, because these people are usually the guys who use MMII shit and worship Gygaxian DMing.  They totally deserve it.


You haven't said a single thing about the damn class.

Ok, ok.  Well, let's get to it then.  As for color ratings, they will be added later.


Abilities of the Wizard
Str: you don't care.  You really don't.  This stat is useless for you, as you can compensate for anything this attribute does with spells and/or equipment.  Unless you're a grapplemancer.
Dex: important.  This affects initiative.  The wizard who goes first paralyzes/blinds/kills/whatevers enemies first, winning the fight.  You can compensate for this with spells, abilities, and what not, so I'd rate it as third.
Con: this is your second highest stat.  No exceptions.  You need that Con to survive with your d4 hit dice.
Int: This is your casting stat.  It affects the all-important spell DCs.  This will be maxed out unless you're going grapplemancer or ray build or somesuch.  Also, free skill points.
Wis: Not very useful to you.  Affects will saves, but you have good will saves anyway, and you're probably going to multiclass into a bunch of caster PrCs which boost will. 
Cha:The ultimate dump stat.  Anything this attribute would be used for can be compensated for by skill points and spells.  Seriously.


A Practical Guide to Races

A Practical Guide to Class Features

As a wizard, you have a bunch of alternative class features.  Some are useful.  Some are not.

Specialization and you
One of the first choices you must make as a wizard is to specialize or not to specialize.   Specialization is the designer's way of being too lazy to write classes for necromancer, illusionist, and so on, and pretending that a fireball cast by an evoker is somehow different than a fireball cast by a necromancer.  Except no one uses fireball, but that's a different story.  As you probably know, specialization gives you extra spell slots - one per level, in your school of specialization.  Something which is usually glossed over is that it locks half your spells known (from leveling anyway) into being spells of that school.  This can be good or bad based on which school you select.  You can also be a focused specialist, getting even more spell slots of that school for trading out a generalist spell slot of each level.

Of course, there's the widely known drawback of selecting two to three schools to ban to be a specialist.  So let's go over the schools.

Abyssal Specialist (Drow of the Underdark).  This is just weird.  It's not really a school, so you can't ban it.  You specialize in spells with the fear, compulsion, chaos, and evil descriptors, and only have to ban one school for vanilla specialization.  HOWEVER, this specialization wins at life if you have some way of making all your spells evil or chaotic (more on that later), as then you are effectively a generalist but with 1 or 2 banned schools and the option to take feats which boost the DCs of all your spells such as Malign Spell Focus and Spell Focus: Evil.  You can build an entire build around the Master of Evil, or the Master of Chaos (already done).

As for your DM not allowing evil, just explain you'll be on drugs and casting evil spells, but not actually backstabbing your party and/or slaughtering innocents, and that should be enough to maintain an evil alignment.

Abjuration: This school is all about protection (supposedly) and dispelling/redirecting/messing with magic.  At high levels, it rocks the house with things like energy immunity, superior resistance, mind blank, and disjunction.  Don't give this up unless you have another caster who can do it, or your campaign won't reach 5th level.

Conjuration: This school does everything, and I mean everything.  What it doesn't do with its spells you can use the planar binding or summon monster lines to replicate (usually).  Lots of low level save or sucks, lots of higher level callings.  Take it, specialize in it, don't give it up.  Also, teleports.

Divination: You can't give this up, but it only costs one school to specialize in.  It consists primarily of information gathering stuff, but information is power, so abuse away!
A small note on divination: Yes, you can try all kinds of cheesy tricks with contact other plane and the rest, but this school really comes down to "What is my DM going to give me?"  In an nutshell, this school is "ask the DM for a hint" and many DMs will simply take the "a higher power can block this spell" shortcut out.  So ask your DM.

Enchantment: On the plus side, you can get a large army of minions who live to serve you.  On the downside, this school is easy as hell to block, dominates and charms can be dispelled, and it attacks will.  There's good stuff here, but it's hard to make work on all enemies.  Charm powers are dependent on arguing with your DM over the rules.

Evocation:  The noob trap school.  Full of options that look cool but do nothing.  Look, by now everyone knows blaster spells are a waste of time and spell slots, because your spell damage is not keeping up with the monster's Con bonuses and monsters get free bullshit hit dice.  You can ban this school, no sweat, and get by with the shadow evocation spells from Illusion.

If you are dead set on writing "I'm an evoker" on your character sheet, then go right ahead.  If you feel like dumpster diving through splatbooks for awesome spells, you can make a decent evoker.  If you're in it for pure power however, you can do everything an evoker can as a conjurer.  I hate to say this, but as a conjurer your blasting is better and you can actually do other things.  If you want to raise walls of flame, ice, and force and screw up the battlefield that way, then you can make a boss evoker whom the bad guys go after first.

Illusion: This is one of my favorite schools.  However, the dreaded DM nerfbat hangs over your head like the sword of Damocles.  Namely, the "interacting with an illusion" rules.  If your DM is reasonable on the issue, go for it.  If the DM rules that looking at the illusion is considered "interacting", then that's bad.  However, this school is still full of solid things such as the invisibility line, the shadow line, and mirror image and friends.  Is almost completely shut down by true seeing if you do not invest to protect this.

Necromancy: Debuffs, save or dies, limited protections, and undead minions.  A solid school.  Cool flavor, and some very powerful effects (spirit possession, undead immunities, killing people you hate).

Transmutation: This is a hard one to rate, for several reasons.  It has the polymorph/draconic polymorph/polymorph any object/shapechange line of spells, which are fricking awesome when you dig through whatever version of the errata is the latest one.  This chain is also banned by many DMs because you can do overpowered stupid shit.  Aside from the shapechanging shenanigans, this school offers Fortitude save or dies (usually but not always resisted by the same things as necromancy), some no save screw yous, and buff spells.  None of the really good stuff in here is at low levels, and the flight can be duplicated somewhat by illusion, however, take a good long look at the self-buffs before discarding this school.

Domain Wizard: This is an idiotic version where you get to take a domain like a cleric and get bonus spell slots.  If it is available, take it.  As always, conjuration and transmutation are among the most useful domains.

Getting Familiar: or not
The familiar: the sole core wizard class feature (besides the bonus feats, and let's be honest, who uses those?)  The pros of the familiar are that it gives you bullshit bonuses (mention goes out to the hummingbird from some Dragon mag which gets you an initiative bonus, the rat which gives a +2 Fort save bonus, and the raven which can speak and thus use wands) and can be imbued with the ability to cast low level spells when you hit higher levels.  It can also scout.  The downside of the familiar is that it is easy to murderize, and you lose xp when it dies.  But hey, you can trade it for cool stuff!

Immediate Magic (PHBII): Abrupt Jaunt is made of win.  The others suck, mainly because they depend on wizard level, are outclassed by spells, are useless, or all of the above.

Aligned Spellcasting(Dragon 357):Crucial for the Master of Evil builds mentioned earlier.  Give all your spells an alignment subtype.  Stack on Spell Focus(Evil) and the gang for the win!

Eidetic Spellcasting (Dragon 357): No Scribe Scroll, but no spellbook.  Not bad if your DM is a Gygaxian dickbag, but the standard action to Gygaxian dickbags is not to play with said dickbags.

WIP

A Practical Guide to Skills, Feats, Spells, Equipment: Absent as of writing

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2013, 11:37:48 PM »
Handbook: Dipping Cleric 1
By ChristopherGroves
Overview
I recently finished a campaign as a melee-driven pseudo-leader.  We ran two years and though I had a smattering of classes mixed in I was really a melee dude.  For the most part, I was a leap-attacking charger with some additional capabilities to amp damage when I needed to on top of a pretty darn resilient base.  This was a no-ToB game yet I managed to maintain respectably NOT being a primary caster. 

Honestly, the most stellar piece of this combo was nothing other than my cleric 1 dip.  Lots of domains provide awesome capabilities that don't require loads of cleric levels to stay competitive.  Sometimes they are simply a good feat ... others they are awesome class features that are nearly impossible to duplicate in other ways.

(for those wondering it was Cloistered Cleric w/ Knowledge Devotion, Travel Devotion and Liberation domain)

Now I'm not saying that every melee type should take a cleric 1 dip ... I am saying to consider it because it could provide some super-awesomeness you can't get easily otherwise.

The bad
BAB +0
XP penalties - if you're worried about the, fitting in another 1-level base class can be problematic

The good
Save bumps - One level dips often provide a save bump, this case to the two you want highest
Domain Granted Powers - Anything from a good feat to abilities you can't easily get otherwise are available
Devotion Feats (instead of domains)
Spells - I'm tracking these differently than the domain granted powers.  You can dip with a WIS of 4 and get the granted powers, but if you want to cast spells some domains have some nice ones (like Truth with detect thoughts as a 1st level spell ...)
Turn Undead - A cleric level can open the door to divine feats, many of which are pretty good and scale well with CHARACTER level
Magic item use - wands, schema, whatever are now open with no UMD check required

Key
Good items are marked in blue - these are pretty solid for the dip
Moderate items are marked in black - these are situationally good and useful more often than not
Poor items are marked in red - not generally a good choice but could be niche-useful


Domain Granted Powers
Caster level bonuses are rarely good as the dip is costing you a caster level to take.  Key are things that give you all the power up-front with no need to scale.
(click to show/hide)


Devotion Feats
There aren't really many stinker devotion feats as they all scale with character level and not cleric level, plus you can get more uses out of them by burning turn/rebuke undead attempts.  I tend to value offense more than defense and "options" more than either.  They also tend to activate as swift actions which means it doesn't typically detract from your normal operations ... and typically last a minute, plenty of time to be useful.

When I mark something red here, it doesn't mean it sucks.  It means it is has limited use compared to other devotion feats.  Some have constant usefulness.
(click to show/hide)


Divine Feats
Divine feats.  Yar.  Of special note is the Elemental Healing feat that states it is different from other divine feats in that it can ONLY be powered by elemental turn/rebuke and not undead or other turn/rebuke attempts.  This seems to indicate that, unless otherwise very specific you can use other turn/rebuke to power various feats even though that feat may require you to have turn-undead prior to taking it.  This would prevent a Favored Soul who grabs contemplative and snags the Plant domain from taking most divine feat, as it can turn plants but it can't turn undead which is typically the
pre-req.

So, feat may require turn/rebuke undead but if it says "spend a turn/rebuke attempt" you can use any kind of turning.  If it says "spend rebuke elementals", that's the only thing you can use to power it.
(click to show/hide)


Cleric Class Features / Substitutions
Even for a dip, there are some class features that have significant payoff.
(click to show/hide)


Spells
Since you've got that level as long as you've got a Wisdom of 11 or higher you can cast spells.  Some are very useful.
(click to show/hide)

Depending on the domain you choose, you might have other options too.  One a day isn't bad, but if you've taken one of the spontaneous-domain options (or UA spontaneous caster) you can get plenty of mileage out of 1st level utility spells.
(click to show/hide)

Note: Ironically, the Spoiler tags weren't working in the original, which is why they survived the transition.

Follow-up post by Akalsaris:
ChristopherGloves seems to have abandoned this list, so here's some more on spells and then the war domain! (My apologies if making everything bold makes it difficult to read...)

Domain Spells
Here's a list of the 1st level spells for each domain for those with a Wis of 11 or more.  I'll avoid rating any except the most exceptional spells here.  The main question in my mind is generally whether a domain power and 1-3 uses of a 1st level spell is worth as much as a devotion feat. 

SRD
Air- Obscuring Mist
Animal - Calm Animals
Chaos - Protection from Law
Death - Cause Fear
Destruction - Inflict Light Wounds
Earth - Magic Stone. 
Evil -  Protection from Good
Fire - Burning Hands
Good -  Protection from Evil
Healing - Cure Light Wounds
Knowledge - Detect Secret Doors
Law - Protection from Chaos
Luck - Entropic Shield
Magic - Magic Aura
Plant - Entangle.  Great crowd control here
Protection - Sanctuary
Strength - Enlarge Person.  Great for a tanking cleric or a buffer
Sun - Endure Elements
Travel - Longstrider.  Solid long duration buff for the low CL
Trickery - Disguise Self
War - Magic Weapon
Water - Obscuring Mist

Spell Compendium
Balance - Make Whole
Cavern - Detect Secret Doors
Celerity - Expeditious Retreat
Charm - Charm Person.  I'm a big fan of this spell, so you'll see it come up a few times
Cold - Chill Touch
Community - Bless
Competition - Remove Fear
Courage - Remove Fear
Craft - Animate Rope
Creation - Create Water.  WTF?
Darkness - Obscuring Mist
Deathbound - Chill of the Grave
Domination - Command
Dragon - Magic Fang
Dream - Sleep.  Very nice if your first level is in Cloistered Cleric!
Drow - Cloak of Dark Power.  Good if you're actually playing a drow.
Dwarf - Magic Weapon
Elf - True Strike.  +20 to an attack is good at all levels whenever you have a round to buff.
Envy - Disguise Self
Family - Bless
Fate - True Strike
Force - Mage Armor
Glory - Disrupt Undead.  WTF?
Gluttony - Goodberry
Gnome - Silent Image.  Very versatile spell if you're creative, duration of concentration.
Greed - Cheat
Halfling - Magic Stone
Hatred - Doom
Hunger - Ghoul Light
Illusion - Silent Image
Inquisition - Detect Chaos. 
Liberation - Omen of Peril.  Great low level divination
Lust - Charm Person
Madness - Confusion, Lesser
Mentalism - Confusion, Lesser
Metal - Magic Weapon
Mind - Comprehend Languages
Moon- Faerie Fire
Mysticism - Divine Favor
Nobility - Divine Favor
Ocean - Endure Elements
Oracle - Identify.  It's a divine spell, so no 100 gold pearl components.
Orc - Cause Fear
Pact - Command
Pestilence - Doom
Planning - Deathwatch
Portal - Summon Monster I
Pride - Hypnotism
Purification - Nimbus of Light
Renewal - Charm Person
Retribution - Shield of Faith
Rune - Erase
Scalykind - Magic Fang
Slime - Grease
Sloth - Touch of Fatigue.  WTF?
Spell - Mage Armor
Spider - Spider Climb.  Good mobility!
Storm - Entropic Shield
Suffering - Bane
Summoner - Summon Monster I.  Considering you'd only take this domain if you were summoning, it's pretty good.
Time - True Strike.  The second blue power with a blue spell so far (the other domain was Travel) - and the rest of the spell list kicks ass too.  Who the hell made this domain?
Trade - Message
Tyranny - Command
Undeath - Detect Undead
Wealth - Alarm
Windstorm - Obscuring Mist
Wrath - Rhino's Rush.  Could be good on a melee build
Abyss - Align Weapon, Cause Fear
Arborea - Endure Elements, Longstrider
Baator - Bane, Disguise Self
Celestia - Light of Lunia, Shield of Faith
Elysium - Charm Person, Protection from Evil.  Good combo.
Hades - Doom, Protection from Good
Limbo - Protection from Law, Confusion, Lesser
Mechanus - Command, Protection from Chaos

Fiendish Codex I
Corruption - Doom
Demonic - Demonflesh
Entropy - Cause Fea
Fury - True Strike.  Meshes well with the domain power
Ooze - Grease.
Tempation - Charm Person

Fiendish Codex II
Diabolic - Protection from Good

Book of Vile Darkness
Bestial - Magic Fang
Pain - Angry Ache

Book of Exalted Deeds
Celestial - Vision of Heaven (variant of Daze)
Endurance - Endure Elements
Fey - Faerie Fire
Herald - Comprehend Languages
Joy - Vision of Heaven (variant of Daze)
Pleasure - Remove Fear
Wrath - Doom

Eberron Campaign Setting
Artifice - Animate Rope
Commerce - Comprehend Languages
Deathless - Detect Undead
Decay - Doom
Dragon Below - Cause Fear
Exorcism - Prot Evil
Feast - Goodberry
Life - Hide from Undead
Meditation - Comprehend Languages
Necromancer - Ray of Enfeeblement
Passion - Cause Fear
Shadow - Obscuring Mist
Weather - Obscuring Mist

Faiths of Eberron
Revered Ancestor - ??  I'll put money on it being True Strike or Magic Weapon!
Warforged - ??  I'll bet it's Repair Light Wounds!

Races of Eberron
Transformation - Enlarge Person.  I took this domain once - it rocked!  Alter Self, the Polymorph line...
Truth - Detect Thoughts.  The only domain with a 2nd level spell at 1st level!

Races of Destiny
Destiny - Omen of Peril.  Great low level divination
City - Rooftop Strider (Buffs Jump and Balance, gives auto-success on short jumps)

Races of the Wild
Sky - Raptor's Sight (Buffs spot checks)

Sandstorm
Repose - Deathwatch
Sand - Waste Strider (easier movement in sands)
Summer - Ignore Sun's Brilliance
Thirst - Parching Tongue (Touch attack like chill touch)

Stormwrack
Ocean - Endure Elements
Seafolk - Quickswim (Longstrider for the seas)
Storm - Entropic Warding

Frostburn
Cold - Chill Touch
Winter - Snowsight (normal vision in winter conditions)


The War Domain

The war domain is a decent way to get a martial weapon and weapon focus in it for some PCs.  Here's the weapons you can get from it:

Alignment based weapons for clerics without a deity:
Chaos: Battleaxe
Evil: Flail
Good: Warhammer
Law: Longsword


Deities that grant the war domain and their books:


Simple Weapons

1-handed
Morningstar - Erynthul
Spiked Gauntlet - Beltar
Gauntlet - Bane
Club - Baphomet

2-handed
Spear - Gruumsh, Kaelthiere
Quarterstaff - Joramy, Panzuriel
 
Martial Weapons

1-handed
Longsword - Corellon, Law alignment, Heironeous, Kiri-Jolith, Dol Dorn, Sovereign Host, Garagos, Ilneval, Red Knight, Tyr
Warhammer - Good alignment, Laduguer, Stronmaus, Gaerdal Ironhand, Tharmekhul, Gelf
Flail - Evil alignment, Hextor
Battleaxe - Chaos alignment, Clangeddin Silverbeard, Deep Duerra, Gorm Gulthyn, Uthgar
Trident - Sekolah
Short Sword - Arvoreen
Heavy Mace - Selvetarm, Gilgeam

2-handed
Glaive - Wastri
Falchion - Xan Yae, Anhur
Greatsword - Surtr, Haela Brightaxe, Zarus
Greataxe - Thrym, Sargonnas, Hanseath
Greatclub - Kavaki
Halberd - Dol Arrah
Scythe - Iborighu

Ranged
Longbow - Shevarash, Solonor, Valmira (all Elven deities)

Exotic Weapons

1-handed
Nunchaku - Zuoken (C Div)
Kama - The Mockery, Tem-Et-Nu
Bastard Sword - Aengrist
Khopesh - Rammam

2-handed
Whip - Al-Ishtus


Original post:
It's been a week since this was posted, so I'll assume it's safe to post by now ^^;;

This is a good guide, no 2 ways about it. 

To add some stuff, Ordained Champion is a solid PrC that you can take at 5th level as a 1-level dip to synergize with the cleric dip before heading into your PrC of choice.  If you only took a domain for the spells (or have a bonus domain like Knowledge from Cloistered Cleric), you can trade up to 2 domain powers for fighter bonus feats, thus making a single level of cleric worth 4 levels of fighter class features on top of spell-casting and turn undead.  For example, a Cloistered Cleric 1/Crusader 3/Ordained Champion 1/Ruby Knight Vindicator 10/Crusader +5 (CL 8, IL 19) makes very effective use of a 1-level cleric dip (though it requires house-ruling the different deities for PrCs involved).

Another trick I've used is to get the Baator domain coupled with a warlock or dragonfire adept and the darkness feats from Drow of the Underdark. 

Cloistered Cleric as a 1-level dip also grants Identify as a divine spell, removing the 100g material component.  Not too shabby for games that keep track of that kind of thing!  Cloistered Cleric is also great as a 1st level pick because of the high skill points it grants.

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2013, 11:40:47 PM »
The Absolute Guide to Cleric Prestige Classes

By Ikeren

Note to self: To do:

Cityscape, Manual of the Planes, Five Nations, other eberron stuff.



This guide is the complete guide to cleric prestige classes; so complete you can't believe it didn't exist till now. I'll be listing prestige classes that have no value to clerics with a zero. Aside from that, I'll use a 1-5 scale.
0=A useuless prestige class. These will have their names bolded.
1= a very weak prestige class. These will have their names in red
2=slightly weaker than a normal cleric 20. These will have their names in orange
3=about as powerful as a normal cleric 20. These will have their names in italics
4=slightly more powerful than a normal cleric 20. These will have their names in green
5=substantially more powerful prestige class.. These will have their names in blue

I'm about to return to a place where I have more hard copies of books that I may not have checked here; if people could mention books that they know I've missed from 3.5E it'd be greatly appreciated.

Generally, this resource is compiled for me; but one of the other reasons is to laugh at all the prestige classes you never hear of someone using.

Also; I will only mention if something has changed.

If you see: Swap fort for ref, that means you've got bad fort, good ref.
If you see "drop fort" that means you've got bad fort with no upgrade.
If you see "drop BAB" that means you've got 0.5 BAB.
Hit dice will be mentioned if it's changed usually.
Skills will be mentioned if they're changed.


DMG:

Arcane Archer: You can do something like Arcane Caster 1/Cleric 17/Arcane Archer 2. That gets you imbue arrow and a reflex save boost in exchange for some top level spells, and will save.

Assassin: A 1 level dip will get you a death attack, sneak attack, and poison use...but you're probably better off with your spells.

Blackguard: A 2 level dip will get you charisma to saves...but you're probably better off with your spells.

Dragon Disciple: If you take 2 levels of it at level 18, and qualify with a feat rather than a class level, you trade a 6th and 7th level spell and 2 caster levels for 1 natural armor (2000gp), +2 stacking strength (4000gp) claws and bite attacks, and d12 hit die.

Heirophant: Losing the caster levels aren't worth the special abilities.

Loremaster: You're down hit dice, for save, and BAB. You gain 4 skills from a better list, and a bunch of minor abilities. Qualify at level 7

Mystic Theurge: You're down hit dice, BAB, fort save; but you're gaining versatilty. It's better if you can qualify Wizard 1/Cleric 3 with precocious apprentice (perhaps to equal or marginally better), or using some other way to qualify with only one level of Wizard or Cleric. Qualify at level 4 or 6.

Shadowdancer 1 or 2 levels for HIPS or Evasion, Darkvision, and Uncanny Dodge. Still very likely to be a mistake for a cleric.

Thaumaturgist: You're down hit dice, BAB, fort save. Free extend at level 3 is pretty good, extra contingent spell is okay. Still, summoning is generally non-optimal, though this becomes okay with a combination of Malconvoker. Qualify at level 7.

Arcane Trickster: This is not meant for a cleric.
Red Wizard: This is not meant for a cleric.
Archmage: This is not meant for a cleric.
Duelist:: This is not meant for a cleric.
Dwarven Defender: This is not meant for a cleric.
Eldritch Knight: This is not meant for a cleric.
Horizon Walker: This is not meant for a cleric.

Complete Adventurer

Daggerspell Shaper: Hit die goes down 1 step, skills go up to 6, and you trade fortitude save for ref. Need wildshape to qualify which would involve some wrangling (Divine Minion Template) and 2 bad feats. You get 9/10 casting, sneak attack progression, some wild-shape abilities, and a decent captstone. That being said, the wrangling means that you probably won't use it, and there are better ways to do the rogue-cleric thing.

Fochlucan Lyracist: Getting in with cleric requires quite a lot of wrangling, but in general, this prestige class is a step down in power for a straight cleric. With ur-priest and sublime chord this can become good late in the game. See the Tools for a Fochlucan Lyracist thread here:
http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872158/Tools_for_Fochlucan_Lyrist_Builds

Ollam: Dwarven Historian, 3/5ths casting, Lose fort and BAB, gain skills, and bardic-music style effects.

Shadowbane Inquisitor: Requires turn undead, but really makes more sense for a paladin/rogue than a cleric/rogue due to lack of spellcasting progression.

Shadowbane Stalker: Requires skills and 1d6 sneak attack. Gain 6+ int skills from a better list, and lost spell casting levels at 4 and 9, and trade fort save for ref save. 3 levels doesn't lose you any spell caster levels, and gains you some skill bonuses and another d6 of sneak attack. 8 levels gets you better skill boosts and a defensive ability, and the 10th level gets you arcane strike, except no attack bonus, and sneak attack dice instead of 1d4 untyped damage. Still, 3 or 8 levels is one of the better choices for a Sneak-Styled cleric. Qualify at level 5

Shadowmind: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Spymaster: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Street Fighter: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Tempest: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Thief-Acrobat: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Vigilante: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Virtuoso: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Wild Plains Outrider: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Ghost Faced Killer: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Highland Stalker:: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Maester: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Master of Many Forms: You might need to cheese your way in. It's a pretty good prestige class, but more for druids than clerics.
Dread Pirate: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Dungeon Delver: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Exemplar: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Animal Lord: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Beast Master: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Bloodhound: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Daggerspell Mage: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Nightsong Enforcer: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Nightsong Infiltrator: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.

Complete Arcane

Acolyte of the Skin: 5/10th casting makes this class worthless. 2 levels loses you only 1 caster level but gains you fire resistance 10; except that's still a crummy trade off. Qualify at level 5.

Alienist Full casting, requires augment summoning. Lose BAB, Hit dice, Fort save. Gain summoning style abilities focused around pseudonaturals. The prestige class further gives permenant wisdom loss. Qualify at level 5

Effigy Master: Lose BAB, Fort save, Hit die, 1 caster level, gets you effigy stuff. Sorta okay if you want effigies, and IIRC, you can do crazy things with them. Qualify at level 5

Elemental Savant: Lose BAB, Fort save, hit dice. Caster level losses at 5 and 10, making levels 1-4 good; except that the first level ability removes versatility massively. At 10th level you become an elemental, but it's probably not worth it. Qualify at level 5

Wayfarer Guide: 2/3rds, casting loss at 3; requires Teleport (try the Travel Domain). Hit die drops, fort save drops, BAB drops. Gets you better teleporting. Qualify at level 9

Wild Mage: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Enlightened Fist: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Argent Savant: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Blood Magus:: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Fatespinner: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric. (It progresses any casting class, but requires 4th level arcane spells.).
Geometer: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Green Star Adept: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Initiative of the Sevenfold Veil: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Mage of the Arcane Order: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Master Transmogrifist: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Mindbender: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Seeker of the Song: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Sublime Chord: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Suel Arcanamach: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.

Complete Champion

Fist of the Forest: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric. A 1 level dip for con to AC could be considered, except for the steep feat requirements.

Holt Warden: Hit dice down 1 step, skills up one step, requires plant domain basically, but otherwise easy requirements (level 5). You get skill bonuses, spontaneous plant domain, heal as early as Char level 8, and regaining a few spell levels. Pretty good stuff.

Mythic Exemplar: Easy requirements (level 4 or 5): You lose fort save, gain 4 skills rather than 2, and it's 8/10ths casting (the 5/10ths casting paths aren't worth looking at). You gain a bunch of minor abilities, including luck reroll, short wisdom boosts, short death ward. 10th level loses you your second caster level, but gains you an ability boost +2, and spontaneous casting from 3 domains. Still not great.

Ordained Champion: Easy requirements (level 4), war domain basically: 3/5ths casting (lost at 1 and 4). Gain an extra domain, bonus feats, smites, channel spells, defensive abilities, swift actions from war domain spells, etcetera. If you're looking to play a combat cleric, this is a substantial upgrade. If you're concern is casting, it might simply be a 3

Pragnostic Apostle: Easy requirements (level 5), lose hit die, bab, fort save; gain 4 skills and abilities. None of the abilities are any good.

Sanctified One: 2/5ths casting: gain reflex save, requires BAB5. Gain weak abilities.

Shadowspy: 1 feat, skills, qualify at level 3. ½ casting, d6, fort goes to ref, 6 skills, totally awful class.

Squire of Legend: Skills only, qualify by level 4. 2/3rd casting. 1 good save. 6+int skills, bad class abilities.

Shadowstriker: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Pragnostic Initiate: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.
Forest Reeve: This prestige class is not meant for a cleric.

Complete Divine

Black Flame Zealot 2 bad feats, sneak attack 1d6. 5/10ths casting. Hit dice goes to d6, fort save goes to ref, skills are 4+int. If you want to do the skilled cleric, used shadowbane stalker and holt warden.

Church Inquisitor: Qualify at level 3, no feat requirement. Lose good fortsave, gain 4 skills from a good list, +inquisition domain, and a bunch of minor abilities. No lost caster levels.

Contemplative: Qualify at level 10. d6, lose fort save, lose BAB. Gain bonus domains at 1 and 6, slippery mind, and a few other minor abilities. It's pretty good for caster clerics; a 1 level dip for the bonus domain at no cost should be in pretty much every build. General breakpoints are 1 and 6.

Divine Oracle: Down to d6, ½ BAB, no fort save; costs 1 feat, qualify at level 5. Get the orcale domain, evasion in heavy armor, then immunity to surprise.

Entropmancer: Half casting; gain minor entropy focused abilities. Travesty. Even a 2 level dip (lose 1 caster level) is awful compared to a 2 level divine orcale dip.

Geomancer: Requires 2nd level arcane/divine spells, but only progresses 1. There are weird things going on here. If you qualify Wiz1/Cle3 you're sorta okay. You gain a bunch of minor abilities, often natural attacks; but your hit dice is only d6. (skills is +4).

Hospitalor: 2 bad feats, level 7. Get LoH, some paladin style abilities, full BAB. 7/10ths casting. In general, if you want a melee-cleric, there are better options (ordained champion, for example).

Pious Templar: Not really meant for a cleric, but for a single bad feat, and a level dip, you can gain mettle.

Radiant Servant of Pelor: Sun Domain, extra turning. Level 6. You drop to a d6, but get martial weapons, extra turning, empowered and maximized healing, bonus domain. One of the few great cleric prestige classes.

Sacred Exorcist: Level 7: easy requisites. Lose your fort save, Gain minor abilities, including favoured enemy, dispel evil, holy aura. Not much useful.

Sacred Fist: Will save goes to Ref, Full BAB. Text versus table conflict; full casting or casting loss at 4 and 8. It's your monk/cleric prestige class; it's about equal power level if you don't lose the caster levels, or weaker if it does. Monk 1/Cleric 5 or Monk 2/Cleric 4. Blindsense is a pretty good ability.

Seeker of the Misty Isle: Level 5, easy prerequisites (except Elf). Will save goes to Ref, 6+int skills. Lose caster level at 5 and 10. Gets martial weapons. Gets Travel and Magic domains, two great domains.  A 4 level dip is a substantial improvement. After that, losing the caster levels is sketch. Plus you have to be elf, which is bad (except for Archer clerics, if you want that).
The text says that this is a full casting prestige class; if your DM allows that, it is a pretty good prestige class; especially the skills and weak requirements. The best abilities are the domains at 1 and 7.

Shining Blade of Heironius: d10, Full BAB: 5/10ths casting. Qualify at 10 for cleric. Crummy weapon enhancements as a standard action.

Stormlord: Level 5; 3 bad feats; don't lose anything over normal cleric aside from turn undead progression. Javelin boosting effects and electrical immunity and some other minor fly abilities. If you some reason want to waste the feats and go for this flavour; at least you aren't losing the caster levels.

Ur-Priest:: This prestige class is great for a lot of things, but not a pure cleric. Fast track casting is just wonderful. Straight up, everyone knows how great this is; but not for a normal cleric (it requires giving up cleric casting).

Void Disciple: D6, lose BAB, lose fort save. 8/13 casting; qualify at level 7.  Requires 2 okay feats, but you're wasting caster levels for meh abilities.

Warpriest: Requires level 7. Get full BAB, d10. Lose fort save. 5/10ths casting; loss at first. Gets martial weapons and tower shields, bonus domain, and a stack of spell like abilities. Still terrible.

Blighter: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Consecrated Harrier: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Divine Crusader: This prestige class is not meant for clerics. (though you could use it; cleric 10/divine Crusader 10 would get you 5th level cleric spells and 9th level spells from 1 domain, but that's pretty awful. There could be an amusing Paladin/Ordained Champion/Divine Crusader (War Domain) build out there.
Evangelist: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Holy Liberator: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Rainbow Servant: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Temple Raider of Olidammara: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Complete Divine Web Enhancement

Dweomerkeeper: 5th level; 2 feats; arcane casting; spell domain. D6, drop BAB, drop fort. Insane supernatural spell, mantle of spells, and metamagic cheapening. One of the few great prestige classes out there for clerics; too many dimish the core chasis (2 good saves, d8, 3/4ths BAB) without providing sufficient response. This does.

Master of Shrouds: This version is way weaker than the Libris Mortis version: 7th level entry and 5/10ths casting.

Moon Guardian: 2/5ths casting and you have to be a werewolf. Too bad.

Nightcloak: 5th level, 2 feats. Drop nothing. Gain some minor darkness abilities.  It's okay; except you have to pay; better off with Church Inqusitor.

Complete Mage

Eldritch Disciple: Warlock/Cleric. Qualify at level 5. Lose a caster level at first, gain a bunch of minor things. If you like the idea of a Warlock/Cleric, this is for you. If you don't, stay away from it.

Abjurant Champion:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics. (But we all wish it was).
Eldritch Theurge: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Enlightened Spirit:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Holy Scourge:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Lyric Thaumaturge:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Master Specialist:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Nightmare Spinner:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Ultimate Magus:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Unseen Seer:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Wild Soul:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Complete Psionic
If you use radical magic—psionic transparency, then clerics can qualify for these, and they deserve review.

Anarchic Initiate:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Ebon Saint:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Ectopic Adept:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Flayerspawn Psychic:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Illumine Soul:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Soulbow:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Storm Disciple:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Zerth Cenobite:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Complete Scoundrel

Fortune's Friend: Enter by level 5; 1 luck feat. Gets 2/5th casting and luck feat focused bonuses. D6, ½ bab, ref save, 6+int skills. Casting progress at 2 and 4.

Grey Guard: 5/10ths divine casting; need Lay on Hands somehow; enter by level 5. Get d10, full BAB. Another modified paladin style prestige class.

Malconvoker: 8/9ths casting;  d6, ½ bab, drop the fort save. I'd normally call it an even power trade off, but this guide here: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872758/Mastering_the_Malconvoker says otherwise. I'd say great if you want to go summons, but if you want to go Caster, Undead destroy, rogue cleric, or battle-priest there are better choices.

Master of Masks: Easy entries, 4/10ths casting, drop BAB, ref intstead of fort, d6, 4+int skills. If you take 2 levels, you lose a caster level; but can get all exotic weapons, +2 CL for divine spells up to level (so, half-practiced caster) and 1d6 sneak attack; good for qualifying for other prestige classes. It's comparable to taking rogue 1. (Or natural attacks if you prefer that). It's still weak, but it's okay in a few niche circumstances.

Spellwarp Sniper 1 feat, and a 1 level dip (or something messy); qualify level 6. 4 skills, lose fort save, d6. A bunch of ray stuff, including making spells rays. Better for a wizard, but a flavourful option.

Uncanny Trickster: 2/3rds casting, 5th level. Skill tricks. D6, drop fort/will gain ref, 8+int skills. Okay if you want skill tricks or want to mix it into a rogueish build.

Avenging Executioner:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Battle Trickster:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Cloaked Dancer:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Combat Trapsmith:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Magical Trickster:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
The Mountebanke: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Psibond Agent: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Complete Warrior

Natures Warrior: Need to wrangle in wildshape, 2/5ths casting, drop will save, d10, full BAB, and some minor abilities, some of which are good (DR3/-, fast healing 1)

Bear Warrior: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Blade Singer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Cavalier: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dark Hunter: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Darkwood Stalker: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dervish: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Drunken Master: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Exotic Weapon Master: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Eye of Gruumsh: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Frenzied Beserker: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Gnome Giant Slayer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Halfling Outrider: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Hulking Hurler: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Hunter of the Dead: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Invisible Blade: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Justicar: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Kensai: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Knight of the Chalice: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
The Knight Protector: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Master Thrower: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Master of the Unseen Hand: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Mindspy: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Occult Slayer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Order of the Bow Initiate: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Purple Dragon Knight: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Rage Mage: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Ravager: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Reaping Mauler: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Ronin: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Spellsword: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Stonelord: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Tattooed Monk: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Thayan Knight: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Warchanter: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Warshaper: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Races of Destiny
Scar Enforcer: Level 5 half-elf. Gain favoured enemy, smite, sneak attack, 6+int skills, lose fort save, 5/10ths casting.

Chameleon: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Loredelver: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Menacing Brute: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Outcast Champion: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Shadow Sentinel: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Urban Soul: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Races of Stone

Divine Prankster: Gnome, 5th level (with right domains, higher if cc skills), no feats. 6+int, full casting, drop BAB, fort turns to ref, d6. Gets bard style abilities, some other stuff, cool level 7 ability to  use bluff in the place of AC for 1 AoO per round.

Earth Dreamer: 7th level, 1 feat. D4 hit die, ½ bab; gain some random earth abilities, including partial tremoursense.

Shadowcraft Mage: Gnome, level 7 with right domains. D4, 4+int skills, drop fort, drop BAB. Legendary ultra-real illusions. If you want a gnome illusionist cleric; this is the best. Can enter earlier using various tricks; see Endarire's post her: http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=10556.msg358652#msg358652

Stonespeaker Guardian: need to wrangle in wildshape. 5th level, 2 bad feats. Gain 4+int skills, plus natural armor, slam, fortification, other abilities.

Battlesmith: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Blade Bravo: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Cragtop Archer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dawncaller: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Deepwarden: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Goliath Liberator: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Iron Mind: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Peregrine Runner: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Runesmith: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Stoneblessed: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Stonedeath Assassin: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Races of the Dragon

Dragonheart Mage: Need spontaneous arcane spells, 5th level; but can progress cleric. 1 bad feat. Lose bab, get d6, lose casting at 1 and 6. Gain breath weapon and more bad feats.

Singer of Concordance: Relatively easy to qualify for, 5th level. Trade fort for ref, d6, ½ bab but 4+ skills. Full casting. Bonus domain, minor benefits. "Singer of concordance can be qualified for at level 2 thanks to the "dragon exception clause" baked into RotD." (thanks The_Mad_Linguist). I still don't think this prestige class gets a lot better for entering at level 2. The abilities are: bonus to saves versus compulsions, extra domain from list of 7 (Travel, Magic, Knowledge on that list), area affect sanctuary, globe of invulnerability twice per day, positive energy effects gain 1d8, do pathetic damage to people trying to do planar travel around you, and teleport to spheres of concordance. Generally I'd say 2 levels for the domain is good, and the rest is meh.

Disciple of the Eye: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dracolexi: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dragon Devotee: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Races of the Wild

Arcane Heirophant: Need to wrangle to get in it, 7th level probably for the BAB component. You can start to do some slightly funny things; but it's best as an upgrade to a Cleric/Wizard mystic theurge build, or while hacking Fochlucan Lyracist. D6, 3/4ths bab, 4+ int skills.

Luckstealer: 6th level halfling. D4, drop bab, drop fort, Lose casting at 1/7/10, 4+ skills. 4th level reroll ability is pretty good, and 6 levels loses you 1 caster level, but still pretty meh.

Ruathar: 5th level; swap fort for ref, d6, 4+int skills. 3/3 casting. Gain minor benefits; an elven proficiency, a small gift, and other benefits.

Skypleged: Light requirements aside from Raptoran, 7th level, d6, fort swaps for ref, 4+int skills. 10/10 casting Weaker version of archmage spell-pool. A bunch of flying/air elemental abilities.

Champion of Corellon Larethian: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Stormtallon: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Whisperknife: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Wildrunner: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Players guide to Faerun

Divine Disciple: 7th level, easy prereqs. Drop nothing, gain saves bonus, domain, spell like abilities. Native Outsider in 5 levels for nothing.

Eye of Horus-Re: 6th level, 1 bad feat, 1 okay feat, sun domain. 9/10ths casting, lose fort save. Just a bad version of the RsoP.

Harper Agent: 5th level, 1 bad feat. D6, drop fort, 6+int casting, 4/5ths casting. Bonus to saves.

Hathran]: 7th level, 2 feats. D4, drop BAB. Become ridiculously uber; in your Hathran lands as the level 1 ability. Get some spells and abilities that might be really good or really bad; depending on your DM and campaign. Circle Magic is incredibly powerful if you can get your followers to participate (which you should be able to) and if you're allowed to abuse an acorn of far Travel to constantly be on your home lands, you get all cleric casting spontaneously, which is just plain silly.

Justiciar of Tyr: No feats, level 7. Drop nothing; gain martial weapons, full casting, and some okay paladin styled abilities.

Morning Lord of Lathander: 5th level, lawful good. 1 feat. Get some okay turning and light style abilities and some spell likes a couple times a day. Drop nothing

Runecaster: 5th level, drop nothing, 1 feat. Gain some minor benefits all focused around using runes for your spells (which stand in for other magic items).

Shadow Adept: 5th level, 2 feats. Drop fort, bab, d4. Level 1 gets you 3 bonus feats, which is pretty funny. Gain shadow style abilities that are all decent, but you're losing a fair bit of the core cleric chasis.

Arcane Devotee: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Divine Champion:: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Divine Seeker: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Evereskan Tomb Guardian: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Hammer of Moradin: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Incantatrix: You wish this prestige class required caster levels and progressed caster levels, rather than specifically arcane.
Monk of the Long Death: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Purple Dragon Knight: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Shaaryan Hunter: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Shadowthief of Amn: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Spellguard of Silverymoon: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Zhentarim Spy: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Book of Exalted Deeds

Apostle of Peace: Gets an ur-priest styled fast casting progression without progressing your own spells. Good in some places, but not for a pure cleric.

Celestial Mystic: 7th level, 3 feats. D4, drop BAB, drop fort, gain 4+ skills, 9/10ths casting. Some okay effects, but nothing worth the feats or costs.

Fist of Raziel: 8th level (earlier if get BAB from somewhere), 2 feats (1 is good). Get d10, full bab, drop will, 9/10ths casting, paladin style abilities. 10th level ability is quite good. If you want to do the melee cleric, this plus ordained champion is pretty golden.

Lion of Talisid: 6th level, need to wrangle in animal companion and summon natures ally 2. Gain 4+int skills, and a bunch of druid/ranger abilities, including wildshape. Depending on how hard it is for you to get an animal companion and summon natures ally 2, this can be quite good.

Prophet of Erathaol: 7th level, 4 bad feats. D6, drop BAB, gain ref, 9/10ths casting. 1 crummy class ability.

Sentinel of Bharri: 5th level, 2 bad feats. D4, drop BAB, drop Fort. 4+int skills. Polymorph into a bear, and get a class ability called "Cavalry of Dire Bears" which is pretty awesome in name, but not ability. The trade offs are more or less fair; you do gain some quickened spells, which is decent.

Skylord 10th level, 3 feats, lots of not-class skills. Get d10, full BAB, will turns to Ref, but still 5/10ths casting.

Swanmay: 5th level, 2 feats, need wild-empathy from somewhere. Full BAB, drop will, 4+int skills, 9/10ths casting. Gain fey type at 10th level, but otherwise, worse than Fist of Raziel for similar benefits and costs.

Wonderworker: 5th level, 2 feats; d6, 4+ skills, drop Fort, drop BAB. Gives you bonus spells. If you're level 17 and fill out last 3 levels with this; you trade 1 seventh level spell slot for two 8th level spell slots. If you've got practised caster, it's okay; the class returns the feats it wastes, sorta. So, mostly even trade offs.

Annointed Knight: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Beloved of Valarian: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Champion of Gwynharfyr: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Defender of Sealtiel: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Emissary of Barachiel: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Exalted Arcanist: This prestige class is not meant for clerics. (Progresses any, but requires 3rd level arcane spells)
Initiate of Pistis Sophia: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Risen Matyr: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Slayer of Domiel: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Stalker of Kharesh: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Sword of Righteousness: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Troubadour of the Stars: This prestige class is not meant for clerics. (Progresses any, but requires 4th level spontaneous arcane spells).
Vassal of Bahamut: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Book of Vile Darkness

Diabolist: 5th level, d4, 2 feats, drop fort, drop bab.  Do a bit of extra spell damage. No thanks.

Disciple of Asmodeus: 6th level, 3 feats. D6, drop fort, gain 4+ skills. Get a bunch of command style abilities, but nothing worth 6/10ths casting. The first level doesn't cost a caster level and gets you...a bonus to gather information. In terms of dips, there is far better. In terms of taking more levels, there is still far better.

Thrall of Demogorgon or about equal if you take a 4 level dip: 6th level, 2 feats. Drop will save, gain full BAB, 4+int. 4/10ths casting; but you get caster levels at 1 and 4. All 10 levels is awful, but taking 4 levels gets you the 4th level ability; +2 natural armor, and 2/day getting two full round actions in a single round. Basically like having two belts of battle, if your DM doesn't allow MIC and does allow BoVD. 4 levels is pretty good if you're not getting extra actions from elsewhere : (see this guide: http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7515.msg247178#msg247178)

Thrall of Gra'zzt: 5th level, 2 feats. D6, 4+skills. 6/10th casting, gain damage on spells. Not good.

Thrall of Orcus: 6th level, 2 feats. Gets full BAB, 4/10ths casting (same as Demogorgon), except the 4th level ability isn't anything special.

Ur-Priest: Just like the Complete Divine Reprint.

Vermin Lord: 7th level, easy prereqs, 1 feat. D6, 4+int skills, drop BAB, Drop Fort, 6/10ths casting. Bad class features.

Cancer Mage: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Demonologist: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Disciple of Baalzebub: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Disciple of Dispater: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Disciple of Mammon: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Disciple of Mephistopheles: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Lifedrinker: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Mortalhunter: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Soul Eater: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Thrall of Jubilex: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Warrior of Darkness: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Draconomicon:

Dracolyte: 2 feats, 5th level. Lose nothing, gain domain, feat, other minor benefits, and capstone is summoning an adult dragon. (CR 10-15).

Dragonslayer: 2 bad feats (one can be bought, one can be domained or class featured in). Level 7. Gets martial weapons, tower shields, d10, full BAB. 5/10ths casting lost at even levels; good 1 level dip if you already have feats.  1 level dip = green

Dragon Lyrist: 1 feat, 2/5ths casting, clearly meant for bard but can qualify and progress cleric. D6, ref rather than fort, 4+int skills. Get meh abilities.

Platinum Knight: 7th level, 1 feat. 5/10ths casting, loss at odd. Full BAB, paladin style abilities, but nothing worth caster loss.

Talon of Tiamat: 6th level, 1 feat, 5/10ths casting, loss at odd. Breath weapon style abilities, but nothing worth massive caster loss.

Dragonkith: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dragonrider: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dragonstalker: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Hoardstealer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Initiate of the Draconic Mysteries: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Dragon Magic:

Swift Wing: 5th level, no prereqs you wouldn't have. 8/10ths casting (lost at 1 and 5). Drop will, gain ref. 4+ skills. Dragon abilities, none of them worth anything.

Diamond Dragon: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dragon Descendent: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dragonlord: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Hand of the Winged Masters: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Pact Bound Adept: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Wyrm Wizard: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Drow of the Underdark:

Arachnomancer: Need a 2nd level arcane spell, but can progress cleric. Bad feat, gets you lowered hit dice, ref instead of will/fort, and 5/8ths casting. Nah. 1 level gets you a ref save bump, no caster level loss, and the spider domain, but there are better dips.

Demonbinder: Need invocations, 5th level. Text says progresses invocations; chart says any class. 9/10ths casting. Gain lots of small abilities and resistances. Might be used for filling out an Eldritch Disciple build. Still bad there.

Eye of Lolth: Cleric/Rogue prestige class; 5th level for skills, can be entered Rogue 2/Cleric 3. ½ casting, d6, 4+ skills makes this blatently worse than Church Inquisitor, Shadowbane Stalker, Seeker of the Misty Isle, etc.

Insiduous Corrupter: 6th level, 1 bad feat. 5/10ths casting. Gain bad mind control abilities.

Cavestalker: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dread Fang of Lloth: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Kinslayer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Dungeonscape:

Dungeonlord: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Expanded Psionics Handbook:

Cerebremancer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Elocater: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Fist of Zuoken: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Illithid Slayer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Metamind: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Psion Uncarnate: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Pyrokineticist: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Thrallherd: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Warmind:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Fiendish Codex 2:

Soulguard: 6th level, 1 bad feat. 9/10th casting, 4+int skills, no other losses. Gain a bunch of minor immunities and resistences, including a permenent dimensional anchor.

Hellbreaker:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Hellfire Warlock:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Hellreaver:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Magic of Faerun:

Harper Priest: 2 bad feats. Level 5. 4+int skills. Get 5 weak abilities; the best of which are 10 foot movement, 2 insight on saves versus spells, and Skill Focus: Knowledge (which can be used for Divine Orcale Qualification).

Mage killer: 3 bad feats, maybe 4. 7th level. D4, drop bab, drop fort. Gain spell focus things

Master Alchemist: 3 feats, 7th level. D4, drop BAB, drop fort. Brew massive potions (4 up to 9th level spells per day), but potions are still non-optimal.

Mystic Wanderer: 5th level, 1 bad feat that can be bought. Drop BAB, fort goes to ref. Cha to unarmoured AC at 1st level. Gains some potion making abilities and some other small abilities.

Spelldancer: 4 bad feats, 5th level. Gets d6. 4+int, drop BAB, fort to ref. Perform dance checks for free metamagic as the first level ability.

Gnome Artificer:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Guild Wizard of Waterdeep:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Harper Mage:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Incantatrix: Reprinted later.  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Spellfire Wielder:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
War Wizard of Cormyr:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Races of Faerun

Battlerager:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Bladesinger:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics. (Reprinted Later)
Breachgnome:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Elven High Mage:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics. Epic.
Great Rift Skyguard:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Orc Warlord: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Spellsinger: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Warrior Skald: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Warsling Sniper: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Shining South

Halruaan Magehound: Drop BAB, Drop Fort, D4, 3 bad feats. 8/10ths casting, loss at 4 and 8. Gain resistences, magic sensing, and an anti-magic field you really don't want. Even 3 levels is terrible; if you want a dip, you're way better off with Divine Orcale, Contemplative, Church Inquisitor, etcetera.

Hand of the Adama: 5th level. No tough requirements, drop fort save. Gaing some healing/piercing illusion abilities. This one is passable.

Scourge Maiden: 6th level, 2 bad feats. Full BAB, 3/6ths casting; but losses at even levels. First level gets you a BAB and weapon focus, but still not worth the feats invested. Going further is a hideous mistake.

Crinti Shadow Master: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Great Rift Deep Defender: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Halruaan Elder: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
The Jordain Vizier: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Luiren Marchwarden: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Maquar Crusader: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Underdark: Some material gets reprinted in Drow of the Underdark

Arachnomancer: Progresses any but requires arcane spells; 7/10ths casting; so better than the reprinted one.

Deep Diviner: Requires 2nd level arcane spells; precocious apprentice dip could do it; 1 feat, 5th level. 9/10ths casting (loss at 5th), d4, BAB, fort save dropped; waste of time.

Drow Judicator: 7th level, 2 feats. 3/10ths casting; at 3/6/9. Full BAB, but still a complete waste of time.

Sea Mother Whip: 5th level, no requirements aside from Kuo-Toa race, drop nothing. Gain: a domain, spell like abilities, etc.

Shadowcrafter: 5th level; d4, drop BAB, drop fort. Extra real shadow evocations etcetera.

Vermin Keeper: 5th level, 1 bad feat; need to shoe in wildshape. 4+ skills. Druid abilites based around vermin.

Cavelord:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Illithid Body Tamer:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Imaskari Vengeance Seeker:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Inquisitor of the Drowning Goddess:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Prime Underdark Guide:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Yathchol Webrider:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Forgotten Realm Campaign Setting

Divine Disciple: 7th level, no hard requirements. Drop BAB. Gain a domain, saves, imbue with spell like abilites, etc. Printed elsewhere.

Hathran: 4th level, but need 2nd level arcane and divine; then only progress one. D4, drop BAB.

Heirophant: Reprinted in core, still terrible.

Shadow Adept: 5th level, 2 feats. Drop fort, bab, d4. Level 1 gets you 3 bonus feats, which is pretty funny. Gain shadow style abilities that are all decent, but you're losing a fair bit of the core cleric chasis. Reprinted elsewhere.

Arcane Devotee:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Archmage: Gets reprinted.  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Divine Champion:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Divine Seeker:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Guild Thief:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Harper Scout:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Purple Dragon Knight:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Red Wizard:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics. Reprinted elsewhere.
Runecaster:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Frostburn

Frost Mage: 5th level; would need 1st level arcane. D4. Drop BAB, drop fort. Gain natural armor, resistences, metamagic, and cold subtype.

Rimefire Witch: 6th level, 2 feats. D6, drop BAB. Detect stuff, bad damage ability, spell like abilities. Fey type.

Stormsinger: 5th level, 2 feats; must have bardic music somehow. D6, 4 skills, get bardic music abilities, full casting, resistences, drop BAB, fort to ref save.

Winterhaunt of Iborighu: 5th level, 3 feats, 1 is good. Drop BAB. Natural armor, cold damages, cold subtype, etc.

Cloud Anchorite: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Cryokineticist: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Disciple of Thyrm: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Frostrager: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Knight of the Iron Glacier: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Primeval: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Ghostwalk:

Aboreal Guardian: swap fort/will for ref; 5th level; 4+skills, but 5/10ths casting and nothing good to make up for it.

Deathwarden Chanter: 6th level, dwarf, 2 bad feats. Drop fort. Gain some okay spell like abilities.

Bonecollector: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Ghost Slayer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Heroes of Horror

Dread Witch: 4/5ths casting, Enter level 3; no feats. D4, drop fort, drop BAB. Gain a bunch of fear styled abilities.

Fiend Blooded: 9/10ths casting, loss at 10 not 1. 2 feats, 2nd level arcane spells (Precocious apprentice dip). Drop fort, drop BAB, slowly gain Half-Fiend template.

Purifier of the Hallowed Doctrine: 5th level, 1 feat. 5/10ths casting; losses on even, but 1st level gets you nothing worth a dip.

Corrupt Avenger: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Death Delver: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Tainted Scholar: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Libris Mortis

Master of Radiance: 5th level, no feats. 4+ skills. 4/5ths casting. You're still losing a caster level for crummy abilities.

Master of Shrouds: 2 feats, as early as 3rd level. Drop fort saves, 9/10ths casting; but you get really badass summons.

Sacred Purifier: 5th level; requires extra turning get some RsoP styled abilities, but 4/5ths casting, and basically, the abilities are weaker.

True Necromancer: 5th level; cleric 3/wizard 1 will do it. Lose caster levels at 1 and 2, and 6 and 7 (they progress arcane/divine but not both at those levels). At the same time you get weak spell like abilities. If you need filler at the end of a mystic theurge build (Wiz 1/Cle3/MT10) and your DM doesn't let you just continue MT, I guess you can use this; but you'd be better off with a strong Wizard Prestige class like Incantatrix, or a strong cleric one (Contemplative, Divine orcale, etc).

Master Vampire: Have to be vampire, 2/3rds casting, d12, 4+int skills, drop BAB. Get more spawn, turn resistence, etc, but you have to be a vampire; which has bad LA.

Death's Chosen: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dirgesinger: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Pale Master: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Ethereal Exemplar: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Lurking Terror: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Tomb Warden: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Magic of Incarnum

Sapphire Heirarch: Drop BAB, drop Fort, d6. Get casting + meldshaping progression. Think entry can be done as early as 3, but I barely know this book. Gains DR and fortification as well. Not entirely sure about the value of this; so someone has to help me on this one.

See this post: http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=10556.msg360384#msg360384 that Sinfire Titan made; he clearly knows this material better than I.

Incandescent Champion: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Incarnum Blade: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Ironsoul Forgemaster: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Necrocarnate: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Soulcaster: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Spinemeld Warrior: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Totem Rager: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Umbral Disciple: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Witchborn Binder: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.


Miniatures Handbook

Bonded Summoner: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Dragon Samuri:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Havoc Mage:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Skullclan Hunter:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Tactical Soldier:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
War Hulk:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
War Chief:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Oriental Adventures

Shapeshifter: 7th level, 4+ skills. Gain ref save; 5/10ths casting. Gain wildshaping. Wildshaping is good; better to get it for cheaper.

Void Disciple: 7th level, 8/13ths casting. Drop fort, drop BAB, d6. Disapointing abilities.

Witch Hunter: 7th level, 5/10ths casting: Full BAB, 4+skills, Get feats and smites, but you're better with more casting (Fist of Raziel).

Battle Maiden:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Bear Warrior:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Blade Dancer:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Eunuch Warlock:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Henshin Mystic:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Iaijitsu Master:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Kishi Charger:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Ninja Spy:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Shadowscout: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Shintao Monk:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Singh Rager:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Tattooed Monk:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Weapons Master (Kensai):  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Yakuza:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Planar Handbook:

Doomguard: 10th level, 2 bad feats. 5/10ths casting, full BAB. D12, drop Will. All martial weapons, and terrible, terrible abilities; including only getting ½ healing.

The Mind's Eye: 5th level; RP requirements and skills; d6, 4+ skills, get ref not fort/will. 5/10ths casting; though the first level doesn't lose casting and is sorta okay, but still there are a wide array of better dips.

The Ardent Dilettante: Requirements tiered based on levels in prestige class (seriously?): Drop BAB, drop fort/will for ref; 6+ skills, all skills are class skills. 1st level requirements are easy, 4th are slightly harder (martial weapons) 7th are stupid (both arcane and divine casting), 10th are harder (Exotic weapon and a bunch of skills).  9/10ths casting. Gain skill bonuses, lore, spell like abilities, 3 bonus feats, ability to repeat cast others spells, and no level loss on death. It's a pretty okay prestige class, except terribly strange.

Defiant: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Fatemaker: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Cipher Adept: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Chaotician: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Astral Dancer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Elemental Warrior: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Sandstorm:

Lord of Tides: 5th level, need a domain for survival, 1 feat. 9/10ths casting, drop nothing; 4+ skills. Gain some okay spell like abilities, but nothing worth the caster level loss.

Scion of Tem-Et-Nu: 7th level, Get d10, full BAB, but 5/10ths casting. You gain a bunch of abilities, some are good, some are weak (Fast healing 5 in Rivers),

Walker of the Waste: Arguable as early as level 3 if you take Sand and Thirst domains; intended is level 5. 8/10ths casting, Drop BAB, drop fort, d6, turns you into a Dry Lich. Arguably passable. 

Ashworm Dragoon: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Sandshaper: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Scorpion Heritor: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Stormwrack:

Stormcaster: Might need to play for the spells; 5th level, d4, drop BAB, drop will gain Ref, 9/10ths casting. Gain a bunch of okay storm abilities; immediate action wind walls, +CL on some spells, resistences,

Wavekeeper: Need to shoe in animal companion; 6th level. 9/10ths casting gain 4+ skills. Gain domain, other water style powers, elemental style summoning.

Knight of the Pearl: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Legendary Captain: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Leviathan Hunter: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Scarlet Corsair: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Sea Witch: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Tome of Battle:

Ruby Knight Windicator: 5th level. 8/10ths casting (though you're likely to drop a level and end up with 17 CL to get into this); drop fort, full BAB, 4+ skills. Gets some weak manouver progression from Devoted Spirit, Shadow Hand, Stone Dragon, and White Raven, which is a decent enough set. 7th level ability is totally awesome, trade turn undead shots for swift actions. It's really a question of whether you're doing something else with your turning attempts or not (like DMM persist).

Bloodclaw Master: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Bloodstorm Blade: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Deepstone Sentinel: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Eternal Blade: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Jade Pheonix Mage: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Master of Nine: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Shadow Sun Ninja: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Tome of Magic:

Tenebrous Apostate: 5th level; not sure what the multiclassing looks like (I don't know Tome of Magic very well, I'm afraid). No feats. 4/5ths casting. Turning damage, Tenebrous progress, ac and skill bonuses, do more damage to undead, etc. Really can't comment on this one.
Child of Night 5th level, 9/10ths casting. No feat requirements. Get blur, cold resistence. D6, drop BAB, drop Fort.  I continue to admit my inability to judge this prestige class.

Master of Shadow: 5th level. 9/10ths casting, Drop BAB. Resist cold, empowering your familiar, etc.

Brimstone Speaker: 7th level, 6/10ths casting, skills only. Fire damage ability and summoning ability.

Fiendbinder: 7th level, skills only. 7/10th's casting. D6, drop BAB, drop Fort. Bind a fiend as companion; summon fiends, can gain yourself some abilities.

Anima Mage: "Anima mage from Tome of Magic has an adaption for clerics... it's really good, 3/day free metamagic (and as a cleric, you prolly have persist anyway), some vestiges give turn attempts (tenebrous and the green lady vestige from pathfinder), which can be used to fuel divine or devotion feats, full casting progression, full soulbinding progression, lose bab and fort. Could be blue imho." (Thanks Waazaraath)
Qualify level 4 or 5, 1 feat. D4, drop fort, drop BAB; full casting; gain free metamagic 1/day at 5/7/9, capstone gives you 1/day still, silent, immediate spell; extra spells instead of vestige abilities, and vestige progression. Pretty good.

Knight of the Sacred Seal: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Scion of Dantalion: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Witch Slayer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Noctumancer: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Shadowblade: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Shadowsmith: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Acolyte of the Ego: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Bereft: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Disciple of the Word: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.

Cityscape:

Ebonmar Infiltrator:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Crimson Scourge:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Urban Savant:  This prestige class is not meant for clerics. (progresses arcane only).

Manual of the Planes

Divine Agent: 6th level, no feat, okay requirements. 4 skills, drop fort. 5/10ths casting; bonus domain at 1 (casting loss at odds). Level 9 gets you DR 20/+1 (20/magic, I think), and 10 gets you gate; so that's almost okay except for the massive casting loss.

Gatecrasher: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Planar Champion: This prestige class is not meant for clerics.
Planeshifter: This prestige class is not meant for clerics. (Progresses any but requires 5th level arcane).


DMG 2: No prestige classes.
Fiend Folio: No prestige classes.
Elder Evils:  No prestige classes.
Exemplars of Evil: No prestige classes.
Fiendish Codex 1: This book has no prestige classes.
Magic Item Compendium: This book has no prestige classes.
Players Handbook This book has no prestige classes.
Players Handbook 2 This book has no prestige classes.
Rules Compendium This book has no prestige classes.
Spell Compendium: This book has no prestige classes. 








Skilled Cleric:
Elven: Rogue 1/Cloistered Cleric 3/Church Inquisitor5/Shadowbane Stalker 3/Seeker of the Misty Isle 4/ X4 (you can progress shadowbane stalker or Seeker of the Misty isle and lose a second caster level, or cleric or Church Inquisitor).
Get: (8+int*4) + 3*6 + 5*4 + 3*6 + 4*6 plus whatever you get your last 4 levels...so ~6+int skills/level.
You could also mix in spellwarp sniper (4 skills)

Or: Elven Cloistered Cleric 3/Church Inquisitor 5/Master of Masks 2/Shadowbane Stalker 3/Seeker of the Misty Isle 4/ X3


Melee cleric:

Simple: Cleric 5/Ordained Champion 5/Fist of Raziel 10: 18BAB, 17 casting.
Complex: Cleric 3/Church Inquisitor 1/Ordained Champion 3/Fist of Raziel 10/X3    17-19 BAB (depending on .5, .75, or 1), casting 18 as long as the last 3 levels have full casting.

Tome of Battle Melee Clerics:

Cleric 4/ToB class 1/RKV 10/X5 (you've got 13 or 14 BAB, so if X5 is 0.5, you get 15-16, 0.75, you get 17-18, and full BAB = 18-19, though you might have to lose caster levels to do that; and you don't want to lose more caster levels).
Decent ideas for X5: Contemplative 1 or 2, Divine Orcale 2: Evasion in Plate, RsoP 2 or 5: greater turning, empowered healing, etc. , Fist of Raziel 5 (If you can stand having 16 CL), Ordained Champion 5 (If you can stand having 15 CL), Church Inquisitor 1 or 2, Sacred Exorcis

Caster Cleric: You really want Dweomerkeeper if you can get it. Otherwise Contemplative, Divine Orcale, RsoP are all good enough.

L;DR version:
There are lots of bad cleric prestige classes that reduce BAB, Saves, hit dice, or casting without sufficiently paying for it.

Good cleric prestige classes (some of which get mentioned constantly, some of which get mentioned rarely):

CC: Holt Warden, Ordained Champion
CDiv: Church Inquisitor, Divine Orcale, Radiant Servant of Pelor, Dweomerkeeper (web).
CS: Malconvoker
RoS: Shadowcraft Mage
PGtF: Divine Disciple, Justiciar of Tyr, Morning Lord of Lathander, Runecaster. These ones rarely get mentioned.
BoED: Fist of Raziel
Draconomicon: Dracolyte
MoF: Spelldancer (if your DM doesn't allow DMM persist, this is a way to get some persisting in).
SS: Hand of the Adama
Underdark: Sea Mother Whip, Shadowcrafter.
FRCS: Divine Disciple
Libris Mortis: Master of Shrouds
Tome of Battle: Ruby Knight Windicator

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #8 on: April 10, 2013, 11:44:39 PM »
Elemental wild shape mini guide
By cru

Wild shaping into elementals is not too popular. And that's a shame. Historically, when druids gained the type of the form they wild shaped into, animals were recommended, because of all druid animal buffs. After all the errata, only a bunch of people noticed that this makes elementals comparable, and sometimes better.

Also, especially on a druid, elemental wild shape comes a bit too late, with shapechange just around the corner. Still, it has uses.

Note: This guide assumes that druids can wild shape into any elemental with the subtype, not just the vanilla elementals. I could not find anything in the rules that would explicitly confirm or negate this. If your DM says something else, masters of many forms and planar shepherds don't have the limitation.

Why do I think all elementals should be available?
- druid's elemental wild shape grants access to spell like abilities. vanilla elementals have no SLA at all
- elemental wild shape is druid's capstone ability and should not suck

What abilities do you get?

As usually with this kind of spells/effects, it is not quite clear what abilities you get. In particular, do you get elemental traits? PHB explicitly mentions that you retain your creature type, i.e., you don't get the elemental type. However, you do get all the Exes, Sus and SLAs. A creature type is simply a collection of various abilities typical for that creature type. These abilities are often Ex or Su. I.e., you should get e.g., elemental darkvision (ex). Some abilities don't have a type listed, such as the immunity to flanking and critical hits. These abilities are sometimes called natural abilities. Do you get them? Unclear!

Relevant rules and stuff:
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#alternateForm
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/typesSubtypes.htm#elementalType
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/rg/20040525a

Classes that can wild shape into elementals:

Druid (PHB), ECL16
- limited to air, earth, fire, water
- separate wild shape pool, up to 3/day
- get all Ex, Su, SLA, and feats
- small to large, huge at ECL20

Master of Many Forms (Complete Adventurer), ECL14
- up to 11/day or more
- gets all Ex (nothing else)
- diminutive to huge, gargantuan at ECL15
The only gargantuan form with less than 20 HD is the spawn of juiblex, elder (MM5).

Planar Shepherd (Faiths of Eberron), ECL14
- limited to those native to the chosen plane (ECS: Fernia has fire; Lamannia has air, earth, water)
- costs two wild shape uses, up to 3/day
- get all Ex, Su, SLA (not feats)
- tiny to large, huge at ECL15

Wavekeeper (Stormwrack), ECL12
- limited to water elemental
- 1/day
- get all Ex, Su, SLA, and feats
- small to large, huge at ECL14 (but note: huge water elemental has 16 HD)

Summary:
Druid gets access to elemental forms rather late, but she gets Ex, Su, SLA, and all the feats (better than Planar Shepherd!)
Master of many forms only gets all Ex, but she has access to diminutive to gargantuan forms (HD limit still applies)
Planar shepherd's forms are limited to those native to the chosen plane and has to pay 2 wild shape uses. Otherwise solid.
Wavekeeper can access only water forms, but earlier, and she gets feats, just like druids.

Elemental forms (in progress):
MM1
belker: air, large, 7 HD, gaseous form
air/earth/fire/water: 8 HD, large, various melee feats
air/earth/fire/water: 16 HD, huge, various melee feats
invisible stalker: air, large, 8 HD, natural invisibility, improved tracking using spot
magmin: fire, small, 2 HD, melt metal weapons
thoqqua: medium earth 3 HD, tremorsense, can burrow/burn through solid rock, leaves a tunnel

MM2:
air/earth/fire/water weird: large, 15 HD, command elementals, powerful divinations at will. metamagic feats
breathdrinker: air, medium; 8 HD; paralyzing gaze (fear)
fire bat: small, 6 HD, blindsight 120 ft, regeneration 5
galeb duhr: earth, medium; 8 HD, DR10/magic, +15 NA, SR21, earth SLA, tremorsense 300 ft.
immoth: air, cold, water; large, 10 HD, melee feats

MM3:
chraal: large, COLD (MoMF, PS of Risia), 9 HD, breath weapon (Su), +4 deflection to AC (Su)
storm elemental: air, small to huge (16 HD) (PS of Kythri), great melee/blasting form

MM4
inferno spider: large fire; 14 HD (Fernia); flaming web, fire shield, tremorsense, spring attack

MM5
ruin elemental: large earth; 14 HD: rock throwing, shock wave, good feats, e.g. brutal throw
spawn of juiblex, lesser: large water, 8 HD: slime
spawn of juiblex, greater: huge water, 11 HD: more slime, horrific presence
spawn of juiblex, elder: gargantuan water, 16 HD: even more slime

Complete Arcane
elemental grue: medium air/earth/fire/water, 3 HD; spell disruption, various minor abilities

Dragon Magic
Blazewyrm: large fire 9 HD, tumbling flame 6d6

Fiend Folio
Living Holocaust: small air fire, 15 HD; gaseous, various fiery attacks, DR10/-

Frostburn
Elemental Weird: large, air/water, 15 HD; command elementals, powerful divinations at will. metamagic feats

Heroes of Horror
Taint Elemental: small to huge, EVIL; taint damage, dimension door 3/day

Miniature's Handbook
Magma Hurler: medium earth fire, 4 HD, hurls magma
Walking Wall: medium earth, 6 HD, can act as a wall...

Monsters of Faerun
Ice serpent: large air, 6 HD, constrict

Races of Stone
earth whisper: medium earth, 4 HD: incorporeal: not sure how that works

Sandstorm
dust twister: medium air 4 HD, finesse, flyby, can carry stuff

Stormwrack
Caller from the Deeps: huge water 9 HD, grappler, some SLAs

Tome of Magic
Shadow Elemental: small to huge, SHADOW, incorporeal...

Expanded Psionic Handbook
Crysmal: small earth 6 HD, PLA

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #9 on: April 10, 2013, 11:49:19 PM »
A Psion Handbook

By Sugglir the Illithid

Sugglir the Illithid Presents:
Being Nightwing
or
Psionics and the Psion

[sexy image]


Class Features
Attributes/Races
Skills/Skill Tricks
Feats
Equipment
Powers
Multiclassing
Builds

Introduction:
     Welcome, humans, to the realm of the intellect and will; the wild world of Psionics; the original red-headed stepchild of the D&D universe. My name is Sugglir; a creature you've come to know as a Mind Flayer. It's come to my attention that many among your race are yet unaware of the potential of the mind. Rest easy; even minds as feeble as that of the human species have a wealth of power just beyond your awareness.

This not quite core system suffers from a resemblance to that foul human crutch (read 'arcane magic') so strong as to invite constant comparison thereto and yet not so strong as to garner the degree of interest and research among your race as arcane magic enjoys. The overwhelming degree of neglect of this source of power has finally wrenched me from my dark lair to bring your poor backwards species the psionic gospel.

Why Psionics:
     As any human caster will surely tell you, there are obvious parallels between magic and psionics. At a casual glance, your species may mistake psionics for just some sort of unsupported alternate spell casting. Many power descriptions will simply direct a reader to the description of a spell in the Player's Handbook, for the love of the Elder Brain. However, arcane casters carry titles like God or Batman or the Mailman. Arcane magic has been expanded in the form of prestige classes, expanded spell lists, and feats in nearly every splat book printed for the 3.5 edition of Dungeons and Dragons. By approaching psionics intent on building around tactics popular in arcane magic, with a few notable exceptions, you'll discover that arcane magic outperforms psionics. So why might you choice psionics over arcane magic?

It's a lazy mindset to approach a new system with preconceived rubric in mind and stacks the comparison in favor of the convention. A psion is not a wizard or a sorcerer or a cleric. If you went to have supreme flexibility beyond the wildest dreams of any caster, the psion is your class. Prepare yourself Human; the Batman is dead.

Roles of the Party:
Nightwing may wear many hats in a day. A strength of the psion class is the ability to quickly shift between the party roles without compromising competence. Before delving into the tools available to a psion, it is worthwhile to consider what roles he or she might be required to fill. To this end, I often reflect on the advice of a wise Treant of the ascetic variety, and, if only for traditions sake, I will maintain his nomenclature. In combat you might be expected to fill any of the following roles:

The Big Stupid Fighter:
[Astral Construct image]

    The role of the Big Stupid Fighter in combat is to divert as much of the enemy attention as possible away from softer party members (often simply by means of a deliberate presence among enemies and providing a reasonable threat to softer targets of the enemy party), and as a consequent, benefits from above average armor class and hit points. There are several ways of approaching this role as psion, as you'll soon see.

The Glass Cannon:
[Blaster-appropriate image]

     The task the Glass Cannon is expected to fulfill is to reliably deliver high amounts of damage to bring down the most dangerous portion of the opposition as quickly as possible. This role is distinct from the BSF in the sense that, while a BSF may do considerable damage, often times important targets may be defended or difficult to approach. That said, this role demands a degree of mobility, range, and precision beyond what is expected of a BSF. The title of the role originates from the fact that doing so often involves considerable neglect of defensive ability.


The God:
[Appropriate image]
     The favorite role of our dear elder Treant is the God, and its effects on the course and flow of combat crucial for difficult encounters. God's role is to provide support to other party members by buffing allies, debuffing enemies, and manipulating the battlefield. The damage contribution of a character filling this role may often be very low, but don't be fooled; the God can be the difference between a total party kill and fight easily won.

While combat is central to Dungeons and Dragons, in most games, time outside of combat is important and rewarding as well. Outside of combat, there are several roles which you might be required to fill:
the Social: Intrigue and deception are the realms of the social character. The social is tasked with serving as the party 'face' when meeting with important Npcs and is necessary to diffuse conflicts before the party comes to blows. A carefully worded bluff or diplomacy check is not to be underestimated.
the Sneak: The role of the Sneak is to provide the intelligence necessary for a party to make informed (and hopefully wise) decisions. Where are enemy forces located? In what numbers and sort do they appear? Is the loot they carry worth the effort to get? In addition, anticipation, detection, and removal of traps fall onto the Sneaks shoulders.
the Healbot: The after-combat role; the Healbot maintains the party at peak performance. Healing damage, removing debuffs, and keeping the party generally poised for battle is the Healbots responsibility.
Utility Caster: Any other task that proves necessary, such as interplanar travel or environmental adaptions, is left to the able hands of the utility caster

For more on these roles, see Treantmonk's Being a God

Class Features:
d4 hitdice
Poor Base Attack Bonus
Poor Fortitude
Poor Reflex
Good Will
2+Intelligence modifier Skill
Bonus Feats at levels 1, 5, 10, 15, 20
Best Power Point Progression
Most Powers Known of any Psionic Class

Discipline: At 1st level, a psion chooses a discipline that affects the powers he or she may learn in each level and his or her class skills. Many players place excessive weight on the discipline powers in this choice but the addition of class skills really shouldn't be neglected in your considerations. 

Seer (Clairsentience): Gather Information, Listen, and Spot.

Shaper (Metacreativity): Bluff, Disguise, and Use Psionic Device.

Kineticist (Psychokinesis): Autohypnosis, Disable Device, and Intimidate.

Egoist (Psychometabolism): Autohypnosis, Balance, and Heal.

Nomad (Psychoportation): Climb, Jump, Ride, Survival, and Swim.

Telepath (Telepathy): Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, and Sense Motive.

Attributes:

Strength: Dump it.
Dexterity: This is the psion's tertiary attribute. Initiative is important regardless of which role you happen to be fulfilling in combat (doubly so if enemy forces include a 'god'). Dexterity also improves the psion's poor reflex save and supplements armor class.
Constitution: A constitution score of at least 14 is vital for supplementing the psion's unimpressive hitpoint and fortitude values. Concentration, which allows you to manifest powers in difficult circumstances and without power displays, is also keyed to constitution. Don't ignore constitution.
Intelligence: You're intelligence governs your skill points, power points, and power DC's. It's central to any psion, and especially Nightwing. You're highest score should be Intelligence.
Wisdom: The psion has little to gain from a high wisdom score. The psion has no class features based upon the score and already has a good will save. If you're interested in the autohypnosis skill, note the highest check you'll likely make using the skill is a twenty. The unfortunate casualty is the perception skills: spot and listen. An investment in wisdom simply isn't worth the opportunity cost.
Charisma: Charisma improves social skills and Use Psionic Device. It's also used when calculating the difficulty class of abilities granted via the metamorphic transfer feat. UPD can be very useful and can be acquired a couple of ways; that said, don't go overboard.

[ExPsi female race lineup image]

Races:

Before continuing human, note that in writing this handbook, I have only considered creatures of level adjustment +0 and their kin with few exceptions. In a game following the rules for level adjustment printed in The Dungeon Master's Guide these races are indeed the races who fulfill the role best. However, my advice regarding races does not consider the possibility of an optional rule introduced in The Unearthed Arcana called Level Adjustment buy-off. If these rules are available to you, the range of suitable races to play Nightwing expands considerably. Even with buy-off available, I would be very hesitant to use any race with a level adjustment greater than two and would only very rarely consider a race with racial hit dice. When a race I've otherwise considered might prove to be a very good Nightwing under the Unearthed Arcana rules, I've made note.

Humans:

Human:
The ever-popular human. Sporting a bonus feat, 30 foot movement speed, extra skill, and particularly tasty brains, there's a lot to love about the human.
Azurin:
The azurin is a human that boasts an extra point of essentia but lacks the bonus skill most humans enjoy. This essentia becomes a great advantage when a psion possesses the midnight augmentation feat and the 'bestow power' psion/wilder power.
Empty Vessel: +1 LA
It's a trap, human! This race is a kalashtar and human rolled up into one neat package. Cool right? Wrong 
These critters have a bonus feat, bonus skill, bonus power points, and some racial skill bonuses to social skills. However, the bonus power point will never make for the power points a psion a level higher would have gotten and are certainly not sufficient to warrant reducing your manifester level. Under level adjustment buy off however, the Empty Vessels aren't bad.
Illumian:
The illumian benefits from racial sigils that provide bonuses to skills keyed to one, two, or three chosen attributes in addition to an ability based on the combination of sigils chosen. The krau sigil improves caster level up to the illumian's hit dice making the race an attractive choice for those considering the Cerebremancer prestige class.
Underfolk:
Underfolk are a group of humans who have survived sequestered in the Underdark for generations. The underfolk retain the racial bonus skill bonus skill but lose the bonus feat for darkvision, an irrelevant racial weapon proficiency, a racial skill bonus to listen, and massive racial skill bonus to hide while in rocky terrain.

Elves:

High Elf: +2 dex, -2 con
The elf of The Player's Handbook. The elf has the standard 30 foot move speed, low light vision, and some pleasant skill bonuses that are a boon while serving as a sneak in addition to some minor immunities and resistances. The attribute modifiers are a drawback. Constitution is more important than dexterity, and the elvish attribute modifiers can be costly to compensate for in point buy.
Half-Elf:
The Half-elf boasts minor bonuses to the perception skills and fair bonuses to interaction skills. It shares the elves minor resistances and immunities. There's no real turn off to the race, but then again, nothing very attractive either.
Drow: +2 dex, +2 int, +2 cha, -2 con, +2 LA
Never say drow. While it sports some appealing attribute bonuses and a respectable spell resistance, there isn't enough to compensate for the levels lost for the perks. Even with a level adjustment buy off, the Drow still suck rocks.
Grey Elf +2 dex, +2 int, -2 str, -2 con
This elf shares all the traits of the high elf mentioned earlier with better racial attribute bonuses. In low cost point buy, the penalty to constitution can be very painful. The grey elf is an excellent candidate for the dragonborn template.
Snow Elf +2 dex, -2 cha
This elf also shares the racial traits of the high elf but with better racial attribute bonuses. The penalty to charisma isn't great but it's much better than a penalty to constitution.

Dwarves:

Hill Dwarf: +2 con, -2 cha
The Dwarf of The Player's Handbook. While the dwarf isn't by any means the most powerful player race around, I feel these tasty little morsels perhaps receive less love than they ought to. The dwarf is built for carrying a heavy load; a dwarf maintains its 20 foot move speed even while fully armored and heavily encumbered and boasts a respectable racial resistance to bullrush and trip attempts. Darkvision is great. The racial bonus on saving throws against magic are often overlooked but are really quite relevant. The racial skill bonuses are either very restrictive or irrelevant.
Deep Dwarf: +2 con, -2 cha
The racial bonus against spells and spell-like abilities and racial darkvision improves at the cost of light sensitivity. A pair of darkshade goggles from races of the dragon offset this problem for tens of gold pieces.
Dream Dwarf: +2 con, -2 dex
The attribute adjustments are less favorable for a psion than the hill or deep dwarf. However the racial spell power ability is relevant for builds considering the cerebremancer prestige class.
Duergar: +2 con, -4 cha, +1 LA
Racial invisibility and expansion are spell like abilities available to the Duergar. In addition, these dwarfs enjoy a racial skill bonus while moving silently. None the less, the racial abilities do not justify the loss of a manifester level in addition to 2 more charisma. The Duergar are probably pink rather than red if buy off is available.
Psionic Duergar: +2 con, -4 cha, +1 LA
Identical to the standard duergar with exception to a handful of bonus power points. This race still isn't worthwhile.

Gnomes:

Rock Gnome: +2 con, -2 str, small
The rock gnome is a slower prey race than many of the other races available but has good racial attribute adjustments. Rock gnomes have several very conditional racial bonuses such as a racial saving throw bonus against illusions and a racial ac bonus against giants. Take note of the racial bonus to difficulty class of illusions cast by gnomes if you're considering the cerebremancer prestige class. The racial bonus to craft alchemy checks is also very helpful if your psion has access to the minor creation power.
Forest Gnome: +2 con, -2 str, small
The forest gnome is basically the rock gnome which extra racial features and different automatic languages. In addition to the rock gnome features, the forest gnome enjoys a +4 racial skill bonus to hide which doubles when in a wooded area. The forest gnome also has pass without a trace at will as cast by a druid of the forest gnome's class level. I'm at a loss as to why you would ever choose a rock gnome over a forest gnome.
Svirfneblin Gnome: +2 dex, +2 wis, -2 str, -4 cha, small, +3 LA
A level adjustment of +3? Next...
Whisper Gnome: +2 dex, +2 con, -2 str, -2 cha, small
The whisper gnome is a fantastic race. Despite their small size, the whisper gnome has a 30 foot movement speed. It's lowlight vision and darkvision are helpful while fulfilling the sneak role. The whisper gnome also has great racial skill bonus to the stealth skills and good racial bonuses to the perception skills. It retains the gnomish racial dodge bonus against giants and has several helpful spell-like abilities. A solid choice.

Halflings:

Lightfoot Halfling: +2 dex, -2 str, small
Nice racial attribute bonuses and a racial bonus to all saving throws. The racial bonuses to move silently and listen are nice as well. It's a shame those little legs can only provide a 20 foot movement speed.
Tallfellow Halfling: +2 dex, -2 str, small
The halfling that wanted to be an elf when it grew up. It trades the halfling athletic bonuses for the elven perception bonuses and ability to detect secret doors.
Deep Halfling: +2 dex, -2 str, small
The halfling that wanted to be a dwarf when it grew up. It trades the halfling athletic bonuses for the dwarven artisan skill bonuses and darkvision.
Strongheart Halfling: +2 dex, -2 str, small
The halfling that wanted to be a human when it grew up. It trades the halfling bonus to saves for a bonus feat.

Miscellaneous:

Aasimar: +2 wis, +2 cha, +1 LA
The aasimar are one of the planetouched races of the monster manual. The racial attribute adjustments are not incredibly relevant unfortunately. Like most outsiders, these creatures have darkvision. They also have a handful of resistances and a racial bonus to perception skills. Most of the bang for your level adjustment buck comes from the fact the aasimar is an outsider. Even with buy off, the aasimar are likely pink.
Changling:
The silver tongued changling is armed with the ability to change it's appearance at will as the disguise self spell. It also enjoys a racial bonus to bluff, intimidate and sense motive. It's a race suited for the role of the party 'face'.
Dragonborn of Bahamut: +2 con, -2 dex
The dragonborn isn't a race so much as it a template. Applying the dragonborn template removes all racial traits with the exception of the racial attribute adjustments, and in exchange, a dragonborn can choose between wings, a breath weapon, or perception abilities.
Elan: -2 cha
This was the flagship psionic race of the expanded psionics. It's resilience and resistance abilities allow the elan to expend power points to prevent damage or improve save respectively. It's also the aberration type rendering it immune to many low level enchantments.
Goblin: +2 dex, -2 str, -2 cha, small
Goblins are one of the rare small races that have a full 30 foot move speed. I guess generations of genocide at the hands of the humans was not without its perks. The Goblin also has a great racial bonus to move silently and (less importantly) ride.
Blue Goblin: +2 int, -2 str, -2 cha, small, +1 LA
Blue are the psionic goblins. They are identical to a standard goblin except the +2 bonus to dexterity is replaced by a +2 bonus to intelligence and for that reason, the also bear a +1 level adjustment (and are no longer worthwhile). In the monster entry, these critters are actually listed as a +0 level adjustment; if your DM allows you to play a blue at +0 LA, they move from red to a very appropriate blue. In level adjustment buy off, these guys are just okay.
Half-Giant:+2 str, +2 con, -2 dex, +1 LA
Strength was a dump stat. Powerful build isn't as relevant to a psion as it might be to other classes. The handful of power points and constitution are not worthwhile. The half-giant is likely about pink if level adjustment buy-off is available.
Primordial Half-Giant: -2 str, -2 dex, +4 int, +4 cha, +1 LA
The primordial giant template shifts around a giant's racial attributes and provides a racial bonus to spellcraft and use magic device checks. In Level adjustment buy-off, these giants are fantastic.
Hadozee: +2 dex, -2 cha
An ape with arm flaps! Not fantastic, but not horrible. It's something different to play.
Kalashtar:
The kalashtar were the psionic race introduced for the Eberron campaign setting. The were also the first race to receive a dynamic power point bonus. In addition to the extra power point per level, these critters have a bonus to social skills. A major factor in the kalashtar's high rating is the fact that they are able to use the Quori mind crystal without making a use psionic device check.
Necropolitan:
Again, this is not a race of its own but rather a template (applicable to humanoids and monstrous humanoids), but something to consider none the less. While the Dragnborn of Bahamut may help a race by improving constitution at the cost of dexterity, the necropolitan does away with constitution entirely and changes hit dice to d12's (equivalent to a d4+4) by changing your creature type to undead. This comes all the standard immunities and weaknesses of the undead. However, the template allows you to heal damage normally and grants you a little turn resistance.
Kobold: +2 dex, -4 str, -2 con
explanation to come...
Neraphim:
These creatures are vaguely frog-like. Darkvision and a racial skill bonus to spot and search are nice when playing the 'sneak'. A neraphim's hide is tough enough to provide 2 natural armor. Did I mention they are OUTSIDERS! The outsider type makes the metamorphosis power much more powerful.
Synad: -2 cha
The synad has several abilities that stem from its multiple personality disorder threefold mind. By spending power points, these creatures may improve an attack or initiative score once a day, improved knowledge or psicraft checks, or take an extra purely mental action once a day. The last ability can be used as a quicken power if you haven't otherwise manifested in a turn which is handy when a withdraw action is necessary or if you can cast spells.
Tiefling: +2 dex, +2 int, -2 cha, +1 LA
The tiefling sports a racial skill bonuses to hide and bluff, elemental resistances, and darkvision. The racial attribute bonuses of the tiefling are more relevant to a psion than those of an aasimar. Again, the value of the tiefling is largely due to being an outsider. If level adjustment buy-off is available, the tiefling may be a blue race.
Warforged: +2 con, -2 wis, -2 cha
The warforged benefit from a strange type: construct. While the warforged have the living construct subtype, robbing them of many of the construct immunities in exchange for a constitution score and other goodies, they still stand to gain much from the type. On the up side, a warforged can be revived by raise dead and similar spells as any other living creature could. The racial 'body' feats apply while using the metamorphosis power and (after magical enhancement) likely provide a higher armor bonus than the inertial armor power. Oh free light fortification as well.
Warforged Scout: +2 dex, -2 str, -2 wis, -2 cha, small
These micro-machines are the small warforged and stand to benefit from the same racial feats. The small size is nice but warforged scouts suffer from the typical 20 foot movement speed associated with the size. In low point buy games, I suggest the standard warforged.
Xeph: +2 dex, -2 str
Once you get past the image of the Xeph soulknife in The Expanded Psionics Handbook to look at the racial statistics, the xeph aren't bad. A bonus to a class attribute and a penalty to an utter dump attribute in addition to darkvision and a racial bonus to saving throw against magic and psionics makes the xeph a decent choice. The bonus power point is kinda trivial but the racial burst ability is good.

[Sexy image]
Skills:
Most skills are used outside of combat. Keep in mind which out-of-combat roles are most important in your party when allocating skills. The psion has 2 + intelligence modifier skill per level. However a psion's intelligence should never be lower than 15 and is often much higher. Consequently, while you're still no skill monkey, you do have a reasonable amount of skill.

Class skills:

Concentration (con)
Craft (int)
Knowledge (all skills)(int)
Profession (wis)
Psicraft (int)

Seer (Clairsentience):

Gather Information (cha)
Listen (wis)
Spot (wis).

Shaper (Metacreativity):

Bluff (cha)
Disguise (cha)
Use Psionic Device (cha)

Kineticist (Psychokinesis):

Autohypnosis (wis)
Disable Device (int)
Intimidate (cha)

Egoist (Psychometabolism):

Autohypnosis (wis)
Balance (wis)
Heal (wis).

Nomad (Psychoportation):

Climb (str)
Jump (str)
Ride (dex)
Survival (wis)
Swim (str)

Telepath (Telepathy):

Bluff (cha)
Diplomacy (cha)
Gather Information (cha)
Sense Motive (wis)
Autohypnosis:
A neat skill that doesn't require a large investment to function. Autohypnosis allows you to stabilize while bleeding, memorize large tracts of information in seconds, or suppress poison. This is a class skill for the egoist and kineticist.
Balance:
5 ranks in Balance prevents you from being flatfooted while balancing and is a class skill if you are an egoist.
Bluff:
Bluff keeps you (and your party members) out of trouble. If you are a Telepath or Shaper, this is a class skill and worth investment of at least 5 skill points. Note that in Magic of Ebberon, glibness became a third level psion power. This skill is also a class skill for the ectopic adept and thrallhard prestige classes.
Concentration:
Concentration allows a psion to manifest while suffering damage, while grappled or pinned, while distracted, without power displays, or without provoking an attack opportunity. This skill can be very helpful in a pinch. All psions have this skill.
Craft:
Crafting alchemical items can be a good way to earn money during early levels. If you decide crafting interests you, consider the creation
power line in the shaper discipline.
Diplomacy:
If you'll be expected to fulfill the 'face' role, it's very helpful to have few ranks in diplomacy. This is a class skill for telepaths and for the thrallherd prestige class.
Hide/Move Silently:
These are the bread and butter skills of the 'sneak'. If you anticipate filling this role on occasion during your early levels, be sure to invest a few skill points here. Later on, there are a few ways to avoid additional investment.
Knowledge:
Knowledge skills are intelligence based and a class skill. It's worthwhile to put at least 1 rank in each knowledge skill in order to be considered trained.
Arcana: It's important to know a little bit about the forces that permeate the world you live in. This skill is used when identifying dragons, constructs, and magical beasts.
Dungeoneering: You can use knowledge: dungeoneering to learn a little bit about spelunking, caverns, oozes and aberrations. You'll normally only occasionally come across aberrations and rarely across oozes.
Local: Wanna know where the best ale in the city is served? Wanna know which brothels to avoid? Knowledge: local is the knowledge for you then. It's also used to identify humanoids. Neat.
Nature: Is this flower used to brew a rare tea or is it the deadly black lotus? Do those clouds warn of bad weather on the way? Knowledge: nature is used to identify plants, animals, giants, vermin, fey, and monsterous humanoids.
Planes:Outsiders are among the most diverse and dangerous enemies you can expect to encounter. Knowledge: planes is one step in preparing for the demons, devils, yugoloths, archons, and who knows what else coming to kill you. Oh it also is used to identify elementals. Nifty.
Psionics: Psionics is sorta a psion's a thing. Don't totally dump it. In reality however, this skill rarely come up. This skill has a synergy with psicraft.
Religion: Ever wonder why that fruitcake on corner screaming, "The end is nigh"? With knowledge: religion, you can find out while avoiding talking to him! Great right? Also, this skill is used for identifying the most common threat throughout your early and mid levels; the undead.
Listen/Spot:
Psicraft:
Use Psionic Device:
Skill Tricks:

Feats:
Equipment:

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
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3.5 Psion Build Guide and Compendium

Originally by carnivore, ported over from gleemax by Archmage Joda

[sexy image]

Guide Index:


    1: Introduction and basic overview of Psionics and Psion Disciplines
    2: Strengths and Weaknesses
    3: Role in a Party
    4: Races
    5: Important Points and Feats
    6: Full Manifesting
    7: Multiclassing
    8: Primary Manifester
    9: Secondary Manifester
    10: Psi-Gish
    11: Equipment
    12: Powers
    13: EPIC

1:Introduction and basic overview of Psionics and Psion Disciplines

What's this?
This is a guide for psion afficionados with in-depth strategic and tactical discussions of some of the most powerful and versatile options available to psion players. It also discusses powergaming in so far as it relates to psionics and psions. The purpose of this guide is to serve as a resource for those interested in playing Psions. An effort to give suggestions to aid in the creation and Play has been given so that all who choose to play as a Psion will enjoy the experience.

Anyone wishing to explore psionic powers to their fullest extent possible should consider a psion. The psion is the psychic equivalent of the Sorceror. The class boasts a tremendous range of mental powers, placing psions among the most potent and versatile characters in the game.

This guide also will try to keep examples of Psion Builds to illustrate different points and aid in choosing PrCs,feats,equipment,etc.

Considered Sources
Since this is a practical guide that takes into consideration what most DMs would actually allow, it primarily builds on what's available in the SRD. Where it would be of interest to discuss outside alternatives these will be noted in passing, in case they would be allowed at your gaming table. For more details, check out Index: 3.5 Psionics Sources Outside the XPH.

A Word on Powergaming
If you believe that making the most of your character's power, versatility and game mechanics is a threat to role playing, consider the Stormwind Fallacy. If you think psionics are too powerful as compared to other aspects of the game, read Myth: The XPH is overpowered

Having said that, this guide does not attempt to abuse rules or exploit the RAW at all costs. Infact, it considers that even the RAI may be vetoed at certain gaming tables, and adopts a common sense approach.

Powergaming means expending your resources (actions, PP, items, gold etc.) to amass value (XP, gold, information etc.) in an as efficient manner as possible, by carefully optimizing your choices (attributes, skills, feats, powers, race, class, purchases etc.). This means that you're engaging your DM in a battle of wits where you solve problems in an increasingly clever and efficient manner, forcing your DM to come up with increasingly challenging problems. This should not be a problem for your DM, but it may be a problem for your party if they are not up for the increase in challenge. A wise DM will try to balance such differences between players, but the game experience is also partly your responsibility.

Thus, ensure that you're in a like-minded group, or tread carefully. The in-combat strategies in this guide take this fact into account. You have the possibility to go all out offense and "just win" before most other party members will have done anything significant, or you can play a more behind the scenes support role - all depending on how much you can, should or want to stand out.

Psionics and Faerun

Quote from: Player's Guide to Faerun, Page 172
     Psionics and the Weave

Unlike Spells, which derive thier power from Faeruns Weave(or the Shadow Weave), Psionic ability taps only the Inner resevoirs of the manifester. In a sense, each psionic creature is its own Weave, using the magic of its own Lifeforce and Mind to create Psionic effects. Mystra and Shar have no ability to deny Psionic creatures access to powers, and they do not control the promulgation of Psionic Lore and ability throughout the populace of Faerun.

While Psionic does not require the Weave to function, Psionic Power are magical in nature. Spells such as Detect Magic can also detect Psionic abilities at work, and spells such as Dispel Magic or Antimagic Shell can Negate, suppress, or completely cancel Psionic Manifestations.

Basic Mechanics

Quote from: Tempest Stormwind
The psionics rules for D&D 3.5 are remarkably easy to learn, if you have a handle on how magic works.

The psion, fundamentally, works like a spontaneous spellcaster (sorceror, bard, etc) that does not suffer from arcane spell failure, nor has any need for components. They recover their power points (which are similar to spells per day) after 8 hours of rest, just like an arcane spellcaster, although it only takes a single full-round action to recover them all instead of an hour's concentration (like a sorceror or a bard).

Manifesting a power is fundamentally like casting a spell for a spontaneous caster, in that it functions under exactly the same rules (spend power points/spell slot, provokes attack of opportunity, may require concentration, etc), except where metapsionic feats are used (see below for details). If you are comfortable running sorcerors, then you shouldn't have any problem with this aspect of psionics.

The differences, however, are the two key rules to the Expanded Psionics Handbook, and without them, the system seems terribly broken.

1 -- AUGMENTATION
Psionic powers can often 'augment' -- manifest themselves at a stronger power level by expending more power points. This is similar to spell scaling (i.e. Fireball: 1d6 per caster level) except that, unlike magic, it is not free. Psionic manifesters must spend power points to accomplish this feat, and they are subject to a special limit. This limit is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT RULE IN THE EXPANDED PSIONICS HANDBOOK:
You may not spend more power points than your manifester level on a single manifestation.
That is, a 4th level psion can only spend 4 power points on any given psionic manifestation. He could spend fewer, if he wishes, but not more than 4 -- augmentation and metapsionic feats included. (The Overchannel feat and the Wild Surge class feature can allow a manifester to temporarily treat his manifester level as higher than normal for a single manifestation, at the cost of damage or a risk of dazing and loss of a LOT of PP. He still has to pay for the extra boost if he uses Overchannel, though.) This brings us nicely into the second key rule:

2 -- PSIONIC FOCUS
Psionic Focus is, essentially, a state that you can be in that serves as a balancing factor. It's described under the Concentration skill in the XPH, although any book that uses psionic material includes its rules in a sidebar. Basically, you can take a full-round action (provoking attacks of opportunity) to make a DC20 Concentration check to become 'psionically focused' -- a state that indicates you are ready to use certain feats. Psionic focus has NOTHING to do with manifesting powers, nor does it do anything by itself. In fact, without special class features or psionic/metapsionic feats, you can only use it on one thing -- you can expend it (lose your 'focused' state) to 'take 15' on a single Concentration check.
Things get more interesting, however, when you have psionic feats. Many psionic feats (i.e. 90%+) relate to focus in some way or another. Some require you to be psionically focused -- for instance, Speed of Thought adds a +10 Insight bonus to your speed when you are psionically focused. If you lose your focus in any way (expending it or being forced to lose it), you also lose this speed bonus, although it returns when you restore your focus. Other feats require you to expend your focus, essentially trading your 'focused' state for a special, powerful, one-time effect that's like a minor spell or power -- for instance, Psionic Weapon adds +2d6 damage to a melee attack, but requires you to expend your psionic focus to trigger it.
Most notable of the 'expend-focus' feats are every last Metapsionic feat. That's right, in order to use any metapsionic feat, you must expend your psionic focus. This prevents, normally, the use of more than one metapsi feat on any one manifestation. Since it takes a full-round to recover, it's similar to (but inferior to) the Sorceror's use of metamagic, although you can use that prep round in advance. Unlike sorcerors, though, use of metapsionics does not alter the time to manifest the power itself, so Quicken Power can be used. Psionic Focus is a powerful balance tool, and many metapsi feats cost slightly less than their metamagic equivalents.
You automatically lose your psionic focus if you fall unconcious or hit zero power points. You can be forced to lose it via the Psionic Hole feat or a creature like a gray glutton. The feats Psicrystal Affinity and Psicrystal Containment allow your psicrystal to become psionically focused, which is similar to your own focus (although being unfocused, with a focused psicrystal, is not enough to count as 'being psionically focused' for things like your feats), and you can even expend both to power two expend feats at once (like Greater Psionic Weapon and Deep Impact). Finally, the feat Psionic Meditation can speed up the focus process, to a move action. Considering how focus is used to power other feats, relying of focus stunts like this can be very, very feat-intensive.

Psions and their Disciplnes : LEARNING POWERS AS A PSION
Discipline: A psion must choose a particular area of psychic study. The psion class includes six disciplines -- clairsentience (information gathering powers), metacreativity (powers that shape items or creatures from ectoplasm), psychokinesis (powers that transform matter and energy), psychometabolism (powers that alter creatures' mental or biological states), psychoportation (powers that move items or creatures in space or time), and telepathy (powers that allow mental contact between creatures or provide mental control over others).

Choosing a discipline gives the psion access to a short list of exclusive powers (and a few class skills other psions don't have). The psion cannot choose powers from other discipline's lists, but this still leaves a broad array of powers available.The next task is to decide on which discipline to pick. If your DM allows all the above power acquisition alternatives, the choice is not a very defining one for your psionic career. You will likely use powers from all disciplines, but generally an Egoist will save you the most research XP. The most significant class skills are obtained as a Seer (Listen and Spot), Telepath (Diplomacy) and Egoist/Kineticist (Autohypnosis).

A discipline also can serve as an underlying theme for the character's approach to life, adventuring, and psionic study.

Discipline

Quote from: Tempest Stormwind
Quote:
A fair bit of confusion has arisen here, mostly due to the overuse of the word "discipline."
"Discipline" is the rough equivalent of "school of magic." It is also the subtype of psion (Egoist, nomad, kineticist, shaper, seer, telepath), and the special list of powers only available to those characters (the 'discipline powers' -- a special addition similar to, but not quite like, a domain. If you are familiar with the Arcane Disciple feat, it is somewhat like that.).
So, in an effort to dispel confusion, I'll try to clarify what, exactly, a psion's discipline (subtype) means for your power selection.

* Egoists can take any power off the Psion/Wilder list, plus any power off of the Egoist (Psychometabolism) list.
* Nomads can take any power off the Psion/Wilder list, plus any power off of the Nomad (Psychoportation) list.
* Kineticists can take any power off the Psion/Wilder list, plus any power off of the Kineticist (Psychokinesis) list.
* Shapers can take any power off the Psion/Wilder list, plus any power off of the Shaper (Metacreativity) list.
* Seers can take any power off the Psion/Wilder list, plus any power off of the Seer (Clairsentience) list.
* Telepaths can take any power off the Psion/Wilder list, plus any power off of the Telepath (Telepathy) list.

They do not automatically learn their discipline powers, nor can they learn any power that is not on the lists mentioned above (without the use of the Expanded Knowledge feat).

Disciplines and thier Roles

Disciplines and thier Roles
Quote from: FabulousRex
Since you are forced to choose a Disciplne as a Psion, the choice you make -must- match the charecter you want to play. A sneaky, devious type is better used as a Telepath or Seer than a Kineticist. So I've made some basic guidlines on all the Disciplnes concerning their flavor, play style, and suggested Optimization routes.

SEER

Seer-
Quote from: FabulousRex
Seer-
With Powers and Skills focused on information, a Seer is a great choice for a 'know it all' type of PC (for good or ill). Information can mean alot of different things, though. Out of combat, knowing your enemies, allies, and partners is invaluable. Inside combat, precognitive powers let you cheat the odds, influence your saves, and give you insight bonuses on combat checks.
Suggested Optimization- Psycrystal Affinity is immensely useful to gather information, in addition to it's other benefits. Psion Uncarnate could make you into the ultimate spy, if you wish to lose your connection to the Material Plane.

Skills:
Gather Information (Cha)
Listen (Wis)
Spot (Wis).

Seer Discipline powers:

SEER (CLAIRSENTIENCE) DISCIPLINE POWERS
1 Destiny Dissonance: Your dissonant touch sickens a foe.
Precognition: Gain +2 insight bonus to one roll.

2 Clairvoyant Sense: See and hear a distant location.
Object Reading: Learn details about an object’s previous owner.
Sensitivity to Psychic Impressions: You can find out about an area’s past.

3 Escape Detection: You become difficult to detect with clairsentience powers.
Fate Link: You link the fates of two targets.

4 Anchored Navigation: Establish a mishap-free teleport beacon.
Remote Viewing: See, hear, and potentially interact with subjects at a distance.

5 Clairtangent Hand: Emulate far hand at a distance.
Second Chance: Gain a reroll.

6 Precognition, Greater: Gain +4 insight bonus to one roll.

7 Fate of One: Reroll any roll you just failed.

8 Hypercognition: You can deduce almost anything.

9 Metafaculty: You learn details about any one creature.

SHAPER

Shaper-
Quote from: FabulousRex
Shaper-
The Shaper's Skills are almost Rogue-Like, and ideally suited to modifying their signature Power, Astral Construct. They also have a few nifty creation and modification powers (as well as some good save-or-dies), and make ideal Psionic Crafters. If you want a well-rounded Psion with alot of gear, the Shaper is for you. In and out of combat, it's likely you will solve most problems with expendable ectoplasmic Constructs that you create on the spot.
Suggested Optimization- Boost Construct was literally -made- for Shapers, don't pass it up! The online Constructer PrC is also Ideal to maximize your use of the Astral Construct power.

Skills:
Bluff (Cha)
Disguise (Cha)
Use Psionic Device* (Cha).

Shaper Discipline powers:

SHAPER (METACREATIVITY) DISCIPLINE POWERS
1 Astral Construct: Creates astral construct to fight for you.
Minor Creation, Psionic: Creates one cloth or wood object.

2 Psionic Repair Damage: Repairs construct of 3d8 hit points +1 hp/level.

3 Concealing Amorpha, Greater: Quasi-real membrane grants you total concealment.
Ectoplasmic Cocoon: You encapsulate a foe so it can’t move.

4 Fabricate, Psionic: Transforms raw goods to finished items.
Quintessence: You collapse a bit of time into a physical substance.

5 Hail of Crystals: A crystal explodes in an area, dealing 9d4 slashing damage.

6 Crystallize: Turn subject permanently to crystal.
Fabricate, Greater Psionic: Transforms a lot of raw goods to finished items.

7 Ectoplasmic Cocoon, Mass: You encapsulate all foes in a 20-ft. radius.

8 Astral Seed: You plant the seed of your rebirth from the Astral Plane.

9 Genesis: You instigate a new demiplane on the Astral Plane.
True Creation: As psionic major creation, except items are completely real.

KINETICIST

[color=3]Kineticist-[/color]
Quote from: FabulousRex
Kineticist-
Kineticists are notorius 'blasters', with some of the best Energy powers on their Disciplne list. They are, however, matter manipulators. Their other skills and powers focus on the mind over the enviroment around them. If that means siezing control of an enemy's body, shifting and manipulating matter, or forming terrific blasts of energy is up to the individual Kineticist!
Suggested Optimization- Meta-Psionic feats to boost your energy-power output are a good idea, along with Psionic Mediation and Psycrystal Containment to truly use those MetaPsi feats to their fullest.

Skills:
Autohypnosis* (Wis)
Disable Device (Dex)
Intimidate (Cha).

Kineticist Discipline powers:

KINETICIST (PSYCHOKINESIS) DISCIPLINE POWERS
1 Control Object: Telekinetically animate a small object.

2 Control Air: You have control over wind speed and direction.
Energy Missile: Deal 3d6 energy damage to up to five subjects.

3 Energy Cone: Deal 5d6 energy damage in 60-ft. cone.

4 Control Body: Take rudimentary control of your foe’s limbs.
Energy Ball: Deal 7d6 energy damage in 20-ft. radius.
Inertial Barrier: Gain DR 5/–.

5 Energy Current: Deal 9d6 damage to one foe and half to another foe as long as you concentrate.
Fiery Discorporation: Cheat death by discorporating into nearby fire for one day.

6 Dispelling Buffer: Subject is buffered from one dispel psionics effect.
Null Psionics Field: Create a field where psionic power does not function.

7 Reddopsi: Powers targeting you rebound on manifester.

8 Telekinetic Sphere, Psionic: Mobile force globe encapsulates creature and moves it.

9 Tornado Blast: Vortex of air subjects your foes to 17d6 damage and moves them.

EGOIST

Egoist-
Quote from: FabulousRex
Egoist-
Egoists focus on the changes and manipulation of their own bodies, both with their Skills and Powers. Famous for shape-shifting via Metamorphasis, Egoists also pack some impressive self-buff and self-heal powers, making them the most likely to enter melee combat and survive (if not thrive!).
Suggested Optimization- Metamorphic Transfer is fantastic with the Metamorphasis power, allowing you to use some of the target creature's unusual abilites a few times a day. The online Sangehirn is fantastic for applying your powers to your party (especially healing), and the Slayer makes you a formidable melee combatant.

Skills:
Autohypnosis* (Wis)
Balance (Dex)
Heal (Wis).

Egoist discipline powers

EGOIST (PSYCHOMETABOLISM) DISCIPLINE POWERS
1 Thicken Skin: Gain +1 enhancement bonus to your AC for 10 min./level.

2 Animal Affinity: Gain +4 enhancement to one ability.
Chameleon: Gain +10 enhancement bonus on Hide checks.
Empathic Transfer: Transfer another’s wounds to yourself.

3 Ectoplasmic Form: You gain benefits of being insubstantial and can fly slowly.
Hustle: Instantly gain a move action.

4 Metamorphosis: Assume shape of creature or object.
Psychic Vampire: Touch attack drains 2 power points/level from foe.

5 Psionic Revivify. Return the dead to life before the psyche leaves the corpse.
Psychofeedback: Boost Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution at the expense of one or more other scores.
Restore Extremity: Return a lost digit, limb, or other appendage to subject.

6 Restoration, Psionic: Restores level and ability score drains.

7 Fission: You briefly duplicate yourself.

8 Fusion: You combine your abilities and form with another.

9 Metamorphosis, Greater: Assume shape of any nonunique creature or object each round.

NOMAD

Nomad-
Quote from: FabulousRex
Nomad-
The Nomad is not thought of as the most powerful Disciplne, but it has it's place, and can be especially good at battlefield control, time manipulation, and transportation. It's skills make it a very self-sufficient Disciplne, ideal for low-PC games and outdoors campaigns, while it's powers make the Nomad the king of battlefield mobility.
Suggested Optimization- The Elocator is a fantastic PrC for Nomads, both in flavor and usage. Really crank up that mobility and time control!

Skills:
Climb (Str)
Jump (Str)
Ride (Dex)
Survival (Wis)
Swim (Str).

Nomad Discipline powers:

NOMAD (PSYCHOPORTATION) DISCIPLINE POWERS
1 Burst: Gain +10 ft. to speed this round.
Detect Teleportation: Know when teleportation powers are used in close range.

2 Dimension Swap: You and ally or two allies switch positions.
Levitate, Psionic: Subject moves up and down, forward and back, at your direction.

3 Astral Caravan: You lead astral traveler-enabled group to a planar destination.
4 Dimensional Anchor, Psionic: Bars extra dimensional movement.
Dismissal, Psionic: Forces a creature to return to its native plane.
Fly, Psionic: You fly at a speed of 60 ft.

5 Baleful Teleport: Destructive teleport deals 9d6 damage.
Teleport, Psionic: Instantly transports you as far as 100 miles/level.
Teleport Trigger: Predetermined event triggers teleport.

6 Banishment, Psionic: Banishes extraplanar creatures.

7 Dream Travel: Travel to other places through dreams.
Ethereal Jaunt, Psionic: Become ethereal for 1 round/level.

8 Time Hop, Mass: Willing subjects hop forward in time.

9 Teleportation Circle, Psionic: Circle teleports any creatures inside to designated spot.
Time Regression: Relive the last round.

TELEPATH

Telepath-
Quote from: FabulousRex
Telepath-
Perhaps the most popular Disciplne, the Telepath focuses on what Psionics has a special affinity for, mind manipulation. Wether it's charming your way through social encounters, or forcing your enemy to kill itself, the Telepath views the human mind a clay to be molded however they see fit. This of course means that mind-effecting-immune creatures like Undead can cause a Telepath fits if he's unprepared!
Suggested Optimization- Psionic Endowment can really kick up the DC's to beguile their foes' minds, while the Thrallherd PrC simply attracts followers to you without you having to lift a finger!

Skills:
Bluff (Cha)
Diplomacy (Cha)
Gather Information (Cha)
Sense Motive (Wis)

Telepath Discipline powers:

TELEPATH (TELEPATHY) DISCIPLINE POWERS
1 Charm, Psionic: Makes one person your friend.
Mindlink: You forge a limited mental bond with another creature.

2 Aversion: Subject has aversion you specify.
Brain Lock: Subject cannot move or take any mental actions.
Read Thoughts: Detect surface thoughts of creatures in range.
Suggestion, Psionic: Compels subject to follow stated course of action.

3 Crisis of Breath: Disrupt subject’s breathing.
Empathic Transfer, Hostile: Your touch transfers your hurt to another.
False Sensory Input: Subject sees what isn’t there.

4 Dominate, Psionic: Control target telepathically.
Mindlink, Thieving: Borrow knowledge of a subject’s power.
Modify Memory, Psionic: Changes 5 minutes of subject’s memories.
Schism: Your partitioned mind can manifest lower level powers.

5 Metaconcert: Mental concert of two or more increases the total power of the participants.
Mind Probe: You discover the subject’s secret thoughts.

6 Mind Switch: You switch minds with another.

7 Crisis of Life: Stop subject’s heart.

8 Mind Seed: Subject slowly becomes you.

9 Mind Switch, True: A permanent brain swap.
Psychic Chirurgery: You repair psychic damage or impart knowledge of new powers.

2: Strengths and Weaknesses
WEAKNESSES

Weakness:
1: Poor Attack Bonus: A psion's base attack bonus is +1 per two psion levels, which is as bad as any in the game. Psions can dish out lots of damage with their powers, but they don't do well with weapons.

2: Poor Reflex and Fortitude Saves: Psions have the worst progression for Reflex and Will saves (see Table 3-1 in the Player's Handbook). Psions aren't good at avoiding attacks on their bodies.

3:Low Hit Points: The psion gains only 4-sided hit dice which inevitably leads to a low hit point total.

4:Limited Power selection/powers known: The psion has a fixed number of Powers known, but can increase this thru Class abilities(from PrCs), Feats(Expanded Knowledge), Psychic Chirgury,.

5:Poor Armor Class: The psion has no proficiency with any kind of armor or shield. As a consequence, the character has a low Armor Class. The combination of low hit points and low Armor Class leaves most psions vulnerable in physical combat, especially melee. Many psionic powers, especially those from the psychometabolism discipline, can improve a psion's defenses. Employing such powers, however, expends time and psionic potential that the psion could use for other things.

6:Poor Weapon Selection: The psion has proficiency with the club, dagger, heavy crossbow, light crossbow, quarterstaff, and shortspear -- not a world-beating collection of weaponry.

STRENGTHS

Strengths:
1:Good Will Saves: A psion uses the best progression for Will saves (see Table 3-1 in the Player's Handbook). This helps the psion resist most effects that attack or fool her mind or assault her spirit, such as charms, compulsions, illusions, fear, and even inflict wounds spells.

2:5 Bonus Feats: A psion gains bonus feats at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th level. These feats must be psionic feats, metapsionic feats, or psionic item creation feats. A psion's selection of bonus feats can greatly expand her power.

3:Flexible Manifesting: Manifest an Unknown Power from Another’s Powers Known
A psionic character can attempt to manifest a power from a source other than his own knowledge (usually a power stone or another willing psionic character). To do so, the character must first make contact (a process similar to addressing a power stone, requiring a Psicraft check against a DC of 15+ the highest level power in the power stone or repertorie). A psionic character can make contact with only a willing psionic character or creature (unconscious creatures are considered willing, but not psionic characters under the effects of other immobilizing conditions). Characters who can’t use power stones for any reason are also banned from attempting to manifest powers from the knowledge of other psionic characters. Mental contact requires 1 full round of physical contact, which can provoke attacks of opportunity. Once contact is achieved, the character becomes aware of all the powers stored in the power stone or all the powers the other character knows up to the highest level of power the contactor knows himself.
Next, the psionic character must choose one of the powers and make a second Psicraft check (DC 15 + the power’s level) to see if he understands it. If the power is not on his class list, he automatically fails this check.
Upon successfully making contact with another willing psionic character or creature and learning what he can of one power in particular, the character can immediately attempt to manifest that power even if he doesn’t know it (and assuming he has power points left for the day). He can attempt to manifest the power normally on his next turn, and he succeeds if he makes one additional Psicraft check (DC 15 + the power’s level). He retains the ability to manifest the selected power for only 1 round. If he doesn’t manifest the power, fails the Psicraft check, or manifests a different power, he loses his chance to manifest that power for the day.

4:Manifesting from other sources: see above

5:Armor does not interfere with Manifesting powers

6:Self Sufficient:No need for anything outside himself

7:Good Power Selection: The psion power list is unmatched for flexibility and sheer size. With the right power, you can damage or slay foes, whisk yourself (and your friends) to safety, discern hidden truths, throw up impassible barriers, create useful things out of thin air, or work profound transformations on yourself or the creatures and objects around you.


8:High Skill Points: Psions receive a mere two skill points per level, but don't let that fool you. Psions have high Intelligence scores (because Intelligence governs their psychic abilities), and a high Intelligence score boosts the number of skill points they have available.


3: Role in a Party

Think for the Long Term

Among the most critical decisions you'll make as a psion is choosing your personal repertoire of psionic powers. Once you choose a power, you cannot unlearn it and choose a new one, so choose powers that you think you'll want to keep using throughout your career (the psychic reformation power allows you to change known powers if you give up some experience points). Choose powers that will help you deal with as many different situations as possible. It's hard to go wrong with powers that deal damage, but choose powers that deal different kinds of damage or that use different kinds of energy. Don't forget the power list for your discipline -- these lists are short, but they contain powers that other characters usually can't learn. If you choose the Expanded Knowledge feat, you can learn just about any power you like, subject to the limits noted in the feat description.

No matter what your discipline is, it pays to include in your personal repertoire a few powers for travel, defense, and miscellaneous tasks. Always consider powers that you can use in several different ways. The far hand power, for example, is good for performing all sorts of tasks at a distance.

Powers aren't the only tool you have at your disposal. A few weapons, alchemical items, and other equipment can greatly expand your options.

Remember that you are one of your party's most vulnerable members. Make sure you have a proper place in the marching order -- preferably in the middle with at least one ally between you and your foes.

Manifest Early, Manifest Often, but stay in Budget

Your chief asset is your ability to manifest any power you know, provided you have the power points to do so. Unspent power points at the end of the day represent wasted potential. Of course, you should not waste your power points on frivolous or ineffective power manifestations, and it pays to keep a reserve of points available just in case you get in a bind where only a certain power will do (or if you have an encounter after you and your group have retired for the night). As a rule of thumb, keep enough power points on hand to manifest your highest level power once or twice. If you know or strongly suspect trouble ahead, keep more power in reserve. Otherwise, put your powers into play as often as you can.

Another useful Rule-of-thumb... divide your total PP per day by 4, then use 1/4 to do your daily Buffing if any, and you will have 1/4 per encounter for the rest of the day. This assumes an average of 3 encounters per day, you may have to adjust this if you find you are running out of PP too quickly.

Remember Your Friends

The sheer power you command as a psion can make you cocky. Don't forget that physical attacks can defeat you pretty quickly. You need the rest of your party for protection.

In addition, you must be careful not to become your party's worst enemy.

The Party's Front Line: The rogue, ranger, bard, or monk in your group often serve as a scout for the rest of the party and often will locate your foes for you. These characters, along with the party's more heavily armored types (particularly fighters and paladins) form a fighting line that keeps enemies away from you. Be ready to support those characters with your powers in case they get into trouble. When manifesting your powers, be careful to aim them so your friends aren't caught in their destructive effects. Nothing wears out your welcome faster than poorly aimed powers that hurt friend as well as -- or more than -- foes.

Spellcasters and Other Manifesters: You probably aren't the only character in your party who wields psychic powers or spells, so don't act as though you are. Arcane spellcasters can produce many effects that are similar to what you can produce.

Divine spellcasters have potent spells, too. Other psionic classes, such as psychic warriors, have power lists that are slightly more limited but probably more focused than yours.

Learn what spells and psionic powers are available in your group, and be ready to fill in the gaps in each character's capabilities. When your capabilities overlap another character's, try to divide tasks between you in some equitable manner. For example, if you are a kineticist (psychokinesis discipline) with a roster of attack powers good for blasting foes, ask the spellcasters and other manifesters in your group to handle tasks such as transportation, information gathering, and defense. Blasting foes can be fun, however, so don't hog all the action. You might divide up the battlefield into sections that different characters can cover, or develop a sequence of attacks that can really hurt a foe. For example, perhaps you might use energy push to knock a foe back and an allied wizard or sorcerer can hit the same foe with a magic missile spell.

to show the ability for a Psion to fill these roles:


    1: Melee Damage
    2: Direct Damage
    3: Battlefield control
    4: Save or Die
    5: Information Gathering
    6: Transportation
    7: Healing
    8: Buffing
    9: NPC interaction(FACE)


Other Psionic BuildGuides:


    Wilder Build guide
    Ardent Build guide
    Soulknife Build guide
    Psychic Warrior buid guide
    Lurk
    Psychic Rogue


Special Thanks to hovnarr, as Co-Author of some sizeable sections of this guide.

4. Races

[CPsi female race lineup]

Races with Bonus Feats:


    Strongheart Halflings are great, Strongheart Halflings are a forgotten realms specific sub-race of halflings found in the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting. With Strongheart Halflings, you get +1 AC, +1 to hit, nice stealth bonuses, but most importantly, you get an extra feat.

    Humans are nice, too, although I don’t know what you’ll do with that extra skill point. The feat rocks.

Races with a Bonus to Intelligence:


    Gray Elf: -2 Str +2 Dex -2 Con +2 Int, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), monster manual pg.104

    Sun Elf: +2 Int -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), forgotten realms pg.15

    Silvanesti: +2 Dex +2 Int -2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., humanoid (elf), dragonlance campaign setting pg.20

    Fire Elf: +2 Dex +2 Int -2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), unearthed arcana pg.17

    Deep Imaskari: +2 Int -2 Dex, medium, 30 ft., spell clutch (su), wizard, humanoid (human), underdark pg.9

    Tinker Gnome: +2 Dex +2 Int -2 Str -2 Wis, small, 20 ft., special, dragonlance campaign setting pg.27

    Lesser Air Genasi: +2 Dex +2 Int -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., levitate (sp), fighter, humanoid (planetouched), player’s guide to faerun pg.191

    Lesser Fire Genasi: +2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., control flames (sp), fighter, humanoid (planetouched), player’s guide to faerun pg.191

    Lesser Tiefling: +2 Int +2 Dex -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., darkness (sp), rogue, humanoid (planetouched), player’s guide to faerun pg.191

    Vanara: -2 Str +2 Int +2 Wis, medium, 30 ft. climb 20 ft., spirit shaman, humanoid (vanara), oriental adventures pg.15 – Note: in a 3.5 oriental adventures update found in Dragon magazine, vanara were updated to no longer have any ability score adjustments.

    Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold: -4 Str +2 Dex -2 Con +3 Int +3 Wis +3 Cha, small, 30 ft., sorcerer, dragon (kobold, reptilian, dragonblood), monter manual pg.161 and races of the dragon pg. 39

Other Nice choices:

    Illumians make great Psions mainly because of two reasons. 1) By taking Sigil Focus (krau), you can gain early access to some prestiege classes.

    Whisper Gnomes also make good Psions. Bonuses to dex and con, penalties to only str and cha, smalls size, 30 move speed, and a ton of other goodies make this LA +0 race worth it.

Race
There are three interesting core choices: human, grey elf and elan.


    • Human: You have no weaknesses, an extra feat, and extra skill points. As we will be taking Psionic Body at level 1, that extra feat will also grant you 2 more hp, and Psychic Reformation will help insure that you get the most out of the extra slot throughout your career. All builds below are based on a human, as it’s a good alround choice for a long term psionic career. It’s also a choice of race that any DM will allow.
    • Grey Elf: You get +2 to Int but suffer a -2 Con penalty (and get +2 Dex, -2 Str as well, which helps a bit early on). The Int bonus isn’t very significant at low levels, but translates to 10 more pp at level 20. As neither of the below builds depend on int-based saving throws to produce an adequate offense, the boost to save DCs is nice but not decisive. This is probably your strongest option if you’re starting at or post level 7. At that point, your frail health is less of an issue as you have more hp and access to metamorphosis, you can use all day buffs (extended), and the extra boost to Int begins to matter more and more. The elven “alertness” traits are also quite nice.
    • Elan: This is probably the best choice if you know that you will be playing a shorter campaign, starting at level 1. The extra 2 pp is huge in the early levels, and elan resistance/resilience will save you before you get more adequate defenses in your power repertoire. Being an abberation rather than a “person” can also be significant at low-mid level, and the repletion ability solves the problem of lugging around provisions, that can be troubesome for a low level adventurer. All in all, a powerful and versatile choice for the early levels, but a human will prove the better choice in the long run.

Eberron players should also consider the Kalashtar and the early level cheese that is the Warforged Shaper. You can have neigh unbeatable AC at level 1 at the cost of one feat, and you can heal yourself better than a Cleric starting level 3 with Psionic Repair Damage. An interesting OGL alternative is the +0 LA Aasimar*. You get a freebee +2 Cha, some minor special abilities and most importantly the Outsider type. This means even more flexibility for you at level 7, as outsiders have access to healing and transportation abilities that the other core creatures lack.

List of races and thier suitablity to making a playable Psion
Human(PHB) .....excellent choice,the extra feat give Humans great flexability and a jump start for selecting other feats or PrC(especially Feat intensive ones). The extra skill points also help offset the low skill points that psion gives.
Elf(PHB)+2 Dex,-2 Con
Gray Elf(SRD)+2 Int, -2 Str......these make great Psions, because Str is a Dump Stat......basically: No downside
Star Elf(Races of Faerun)+2 Cha,-2 Con
Sun Elf(Forgotten Realms Campaign)+2 Int,-2 Con
Snow Elf(Frostburn)+2 Dex,-2 Cha

Dwarf(PHB)
Gnome(PHB)
Halfling(PHB)
1/2 Elf(PHB)
1/2 Orc(PHB)
Dromites(+1 LA) (XPH)
Duergar(+1 LA)(XPH)
Elans(XPH)
Half-giants(+1 LA)(XPH)
Maenads(XPH)
Xeph(XPH)
Changeling(Eberron)
Kalashtar(Eberron)...This is one of the best Races for a Psion. It has few drawbacks and many bonuses, including the ability to choose some powerful Race Specific feats, and use Race Specific Psionic items. The Icing on the top would be the Bonus Power points Per Character level.

Shifter(Eberron)

Warforged(average)(Eberron)......this is a good race (+2Con,-2 Wis,-2 Cha),Living Construct Type,many immunities.
Warforged(Scout)(Eberron).........This is also good(+2 Dex,-2 Str,-2 Wis,-2 Cha),as Warforged above, and Small size,Fav Class: Rogue.

quick note: All Warforged are refered to as Psiforged if you take the Psiforged Body feat

Templates
Phrenic Template +2LA
Phrenic Template

Quote from: SRD
Phrenic Template from SRD:“Phrenic” is an inherited template that can be added to any nonmindless creature that does not already have the psionic subtype (referred to hereafter as the “base creature”). A phrenic creature uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Size and Type: The creature’s type does not change, unless it is an animal (in which case it becomes a magical beast [augmented animal]). It gains the psionic subtype.
Psi-Like Abilities (Sp): A phrenic creature possesses the psi-like abilities indicated below, depending on its Hit Dice. The abilities are cumulative. Unless otherwise noted, an ability is usable once per day. Manifester level is equal to the creature’s HD. The save DCs for a phrenic creature’s psi-like abilities are Charisma-based.
HD Abilities

    1–2 3/day—defensive precognition; 1/day—force screen
    3–4 3/day—empty mind, mind thrust
    5–6 1/day—body adjustment, brain lock
    7–8 1/day—aversion, blast
    9–10 3/day—intellect fortress; 1/day—psychic crush
    11–12 1/day—psionic dominate
    13–14 1/day—energy current, tower of iron will
    15–16 3/day—psionic teleport
    17–18 1/day—fission
    19–20 1/day—ultrablast

Special Qualities: A phrenic creature has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special qualities.
Naturally Psionic: A phrenic creature gains 1 bonus power point.
Power Resistance (Ex): A phrenic creature has power resistance equal to its Hit Dice +10.
Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Int +2 (if Int is 3 or greater), Wis +2, Cha +4.
Feats: A phrenic creature can take psionic feats, if it meets the prerequisites for such feats.
Challenge Rating: Up to 5 HD, same as base creature +1; 6–10 HD, same as base creature +2; 11+ HD, same as base creature +3.
Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +2.

The 1/2 Fey Template,+2LA
1/2 Fey Template

The Half-Fey

Half-fey are the spawn of powerful fey creatures and the mortals they find so intriguing. Often confused by the ignorant with half-fiends, some half-fey grow up tormented by their peers, but a few use their gifts to win over others and become quite popular.

"Half-fey" is usually an inherited template, but it could be acquired through other means as well. Certain mortals who are obsessed with the fey study fey magic and dwell in sylvan places in hopes of gaining power, and a few actually do manage to acquire the half-fey template.

Attribute bonuses Dex +2, Con -2, Wis +2, Cha +4



Fey Type: She becomes vulnerable to spells and effects that work on creatures of the fey type but is immune to effects that target her original type. For example, a half-fey/half-human would be subject to the extra damage from a fey bane sword, but she is immune to hold person because that spell affects only humanoids.

Low-Light Vision (Ex): the half-fey gains low-light vision.

Saving Throw Bonuses (Ex): a half-fey gains a +4 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the Enchantment school.

Spell-Like Abilities: Starting at 1st level, a half-fey with an Intelligence or Wisdom score of 8 or better gains spell-like abilities. The exact abilities gained depend on the half-fey's character level and level in the template class, according to the following table. In each case, the caster level equals the half-fey's character level. Save DCs, where applicable, are Charisma-based (10 + spell level + half-fey's Cha modifier).

    Level Spell-Like Abilities Gained
    1st Charm person at will, hypnotism 1/day
    1st Faerie fire or glitterdust 1/day
    3rd Detect law 3/day
    3rd Enthrall or sleep 1/day
    5th Protection from law 3/day
    7th Confusion or emotion 1/day
    9th Eyebite or lesser geas 1/day
    11th Dominate person or hold monster 1/day
    13th Mass invisibility 1/day
    15th Geas/quest or mass suggestion 1/day
    17th Insanity or mass charm 1/day
    19th Otto's irresistible dance 1/day

The character gains each spell-like ability as soon as she meets both qualifications for it. Spell-like abilities are cumulative, so a half-fey whose character level is 3rd has charm person at will, detect law 3/day, enthrall or sleep 1/day, faerie fire or glitterdust 1/day, hypnotism 1/day.

Immunity to Enchantments (Ex): a half-fey becomes immune to all spells and effects from the Enchantment school. This ability replaces the saving throw bonus against these effects included in the half-fey's base racial features.

Wings (Ex): a half-fey grows insectlike wings (usually similar to those of a butterfly) and may use them to fly at up to twice her base land speed with good maneuverability.

Master Player Race List Version 2.0
Master Player Race List Version 2.0

Quote from: AZNsupermarket
Master Player Race List Version 2.0
ALL RACES
Originally composed by Wolfen Fenrison
Updated by AZNsupermarket
This is a master list of races available to player for first level characters as described in Chapter 2 in the Players Handbook. As such all the races presented here have a level adjustment of +0 and hit die based on character level.

The races will be presented by Name, Ability score adjustments, size, base land speed, and notes on what extraordinary, supernatural, or spell-like abilities they may have, favored class(es), type and subtype if any, and lastly book and page number for reference. This was made to make referencing character races easier and now includes races that were omitted from the earlier editions. Enjoy!

NOTE: Races in Red, most suitable for Psions

Anthropomorphic Animals
Anthropomorphic Bat: -4 Str +6 Wis -2 Cha, small, 5 ft. (fly 20 ft. average), blindsense (ex), druid, monstrous humanoid, savage species pg.215
Anthropomorphic Lizard: -4 Str +2 Dex +4 Wis -4 Cha, small, 20 ft., druid, monstrous humanoid, savage species pg.215
Anthropomorphic Monkey: -4 Str +2 Dex +4Wis -2 Cha, small, 30 ft., druid, monstrous humanoid, savage species pg.215
Anthropomorphic Rat: -4 Str +2 Dex +4 Wis -4 Cha, small, 15 ft., rogue, monstrous humanoid, savage species pg.215
Anthropomorphic Raven: -6 Str +2 Dex +4 Wis -4 Cha, small, 10 ft. (fly 30ft. poor), rogue, monstrous humanoid, savage species pg.215
Anthropomorphic Toad: -4 Str -2 Dex +6 Wis -2 Cha, small, 5 ft., cleric, monstrous humanoid, savage species pg.215
Anthropomorphic Weasel: -4 Str +2 Dex +4 Wis -4 Cha, small, 20 ft., attach (ex), druid, monstrous humanoid, savage species pg.215

Asherati: none, medium, 30 ft., sandswim (su) body lamp (su), rogue, humanoid (asherati), sanstorm pg.37

Buomman: +2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., monk, humanoid (buomman, extraplanar), planar handbook pg.08

Changeling: none, medium, 30 ft., minor change shape (su), rogue, humanoid (changling, shapechanger), races of eberron pg.40

Daelkyr Half-Blood: none, medium, 30 ft., rogue, aberration, magic of eberron pg.37

Darfellan: +2 Str -2 Dex, medium, 20 ft. (swim 40 ft.), barbarian, humanoid (darfellan), stormwrack pg.37

Dragonborn: +2 Con -2 Dex, same as base creature, same as base creature, fighter and the base creatures, same as base creature (dragonblood, same as base creature), races of the dragon pg.5

Duskling: +2 Con -2 Int, medium, 30 ft., totemist, fey (incarnum), magic of incarnum pg.10

Dwarves
Hill Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., fighter, humanoid (dwarf), players handbook pg.14
Aquatic Dwarf: +2 Con +2 Str -4 Dex -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft. (swim 20 ft)., fighter, humanoid (dwarf, aquatic), unearthed arcana pg.7
Artic Dwarf: +2 Con +2 Str -4 Dex-2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., fighter, humanoid (dwarf), unearthed arcana pg.9
Badlands Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft. fighter, humanoid (dwarf), sandstrom pg.42
Dark Dwarf: +2 Con -4 Cha, medium, 20 ft., rogue, humanoid (dwarf), dragonlance campaign setting pg.14
Deep Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., Fighter, humanoid (dwarf), monster manual pg.92
Desert Dwarf: -2 Dex +2 Con, medium, 20 ft., fighter, humanoid (dwarf), unearthed arcana pg.11
Dream Dwarf: -2 Dex +2 Con, medium, 20 ft., Dream sight (su), druid, humanoid (dwarf), races of stone pg.88
Earth Dwarf: +2 Str +2 Con -2 Dex -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., fighter, humanoid (dwarf, earth), unearthed arcana pg.16
Fireblood Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., fighter, humanoid (dwarf, dragonblood), dragon magic pg.7
Glacier Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., fighter, humanoid (dwarf), frostburn pg.34
Gold Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Dex, medium, 20 ft., fighter, humanoid (dwarf), dungeon master's guide pg.171
Gully Dwarf: +2 Dex +2 Con -4 Int -4 Cha, small, 20 ft., rogue, humanoid (dwarf), dragonlance campaign setting pg.15
Jungle Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., ranger, humanoid (dwarf), unearthed arcana pg.14
Korobokuru: +2 Con -2 Int, small, 20 ft., barbarian, humanoid (dwarf), oriental adventures pg.12
Lesser Duergar: +2 Con -4 Cha, medium, 20 ft., enlarge person/1 day (only works on Lesser Duergars), fighter, humanoid (dwarf), player’s guide to faerun pg.190
Mountain Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., fighter, humanoid (dwarf), monster manual pg.93
Shield Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., fighter, humanoid (dwarf), forgotten realms pg.13
Seacliff Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., fighter, humanoid (dwarf), stormwrack pg.44
Stonfire Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 20 ft., wilder, humanoid (dwarf), expanded psionic handbook pg.6
Wild Dwarf: +2 Con -2 Cha, small, 20 ft., barbarian, humanoid (dwarf), races of faerun pg.23

Elan: -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., resistance (su) resilience (su) replation (su), psion, aberration (psionic), expanded psionics handbook pg.09

Elves
High Elf: +2 Dex -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), players handbook pg.15
Aquatic Elf: +2 Dex -2 Int, medium, 30 ft. (swim 40 ft)., fighter, humanoid (elf, aquatic), monster manual pg.103
Artic Elf: +2 Dex -2 Str, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), unearthed arcana pg.9
Desert Elf: +2 Dex -2 Str, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), unearthed arcana pg.12
Fire Elf: +2 Dex +2 Int -2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), unearthed arcana pg.17
Forestlord Elf: +2 Dex -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., Treewalk (su), sorcerer, humanoid (elf), dragon magic pg.8
Gray Elf: -2 Str +2 Dex -2 Con +2 Int, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), monster manual pg.104
Illaeli Elf: +2 Dex -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., psion, humanoid (elf), expanded psionic handbook pg.6
Jungle Elf: +2 Dex -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), unearthed arcana pg.14
Kagonesti: +2 Dex -2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., humanoid (elf), dragonlance campaign setting pg.18
Lesser Drow: +2 Dex -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., (Cha 10 or better dancing lights, daze, touch of fatigue 1/day), wizard (male) and cleric (female), humanoid (elf), player’s guide to faerun pg.191
Moon Elf: +2 Dex -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), forgotten realms pg.13
Qualinesti: +2 Dex -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., humanoid (elf), dragonlance campaign setting pg.19
Painted Elf: +2 Dex -2 Int, medium, 30 ft., druid, humanoid (elf), sandstorm pg.42
Silvanesti: +2 Dex +2 Int -2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., humanoid (elf), dragonlance campaign setting pg.20
Snow Elf: +2 Dex -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), frostburn pg.34
Star Elf: +2 Cha -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., otherworldly touch (su), extraplanar (su), bard, humanoid (elf), unapproachable east pg.10
Sun Elf: +2 Int -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf), forgotten realms pg.15
Wild Elf: +2 Dex -2 Int, medium, 30 ft., sorcerer, humanoid (elf), monster manual pg.104
Wood Elf: +2 Str +2 Dex -2 Con -2 Int, meduim, 30 ft., ranger, humanoid (elf), monster manual pg.104

Faun: +2 Dex -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., bard, fey, deities and demigods pg.133

Gnomes
Rock Gnome: -2 Str +2 Con, small, 20 ft., speak with animals 1/day (Cha 10 or better dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation 1/day), bard, humanoid (gnome), players handbook pg.16
Air Gnome: +2 Dex -2 Str, small, 20 ft., speak with animals 1/day (Cha 10 or better dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation 1/day), bard, humanoid (gnome), unearthed arcana pg.16
Aquatic Gnome: -2 Str +2 Con, medium, 20 ft. (swim 20 ft)., speak with animals 1/day (Cha 10 or better dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation 1/day), bard, humanoid (gnome, aquatic), unearthed arcana pg.7
Artic Gnome: -2 Str +2 Con, small, 20 ft., speak with animals 1/day (Cha 10 or better dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation 1/day), bard, humanoid (gnome), unearthed arcana pg.9
Desert Gnome: -2 Str +2 Con, small, 20 ft., speak with animals 1/day (Cha 10 or better dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation 1/day), bard, humanoid (gnome), unearthed arcana pg.12
Forest Gnome: -2 Str +2 Con, Small, 20 ft., pass without trace (su) speak with animals 1/day (Cha 10 or better dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation 1/day), bard, humanoid (gnome), monster manual pg.132
Ice Gnome: -2 Str +2 Con, small, 20 ft., speak with animals 1/day (Cha 10 or better dancing lights, prestidigitation, ray of frost 1/day), bard, humanoid (gnome), frostburn pg.35
Jungle Gnome: -2 Str +2 Con, small, 20 ft., speak with animals 1/day (Cha 10 or better dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation 1/day), bard, humanoid (gnome), unearthed arcana pg.14
Lesser Deep Gnome: +2 Dex -2 Str, small, 20 ft., resistance, daze, lullaby 1/day, rogue, humanoid (gnome), player’s guide to faerun pg.191
Mad Gnome: +2 Dex -2 Str , small, 20 ft., special, dragonlance campaign setting pg.27
Stonehunter Gnome: -2 Str +2 Con, small, 20 ft., speak with animals 1/day (Cha 10 or better dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation 1/day), ranger, humanoid (gnome, dragonblood), dragon magic pg.9
Tinker Gnome: +2 Dex +2 Int -2 Str -2 Wis, small, 20 ft., special, dragonlance campaign setting pg.27
Wavecrest Gnome: -2 Str +2 Con, small, 20 ft, speak w/animals 1/day (Cha 10 or better, dancing lights, know direction, prestidigitation), bard, humanoid(gnome), stormwrack pg.44
Whisper Gnome: -2 Str +2 Dex +2 Con -2 Cha, small, 30 ft., silence 1/day (Cha 10 or better ghost sound, mage hand, message 1/day), rogue, humanoid (gnome), races of stone pg.96

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continued

Goblins
Goblin: -2 Str +2 Dex -2 Cha, small, 30 ft., rogue, humanoid (goblinoid), monster manual pg.133
Air Goblin: +4 Dex -2 Str -2 Con, small, 30 ft., rogue, humanoid (goblinoid), unearthed arcana pg.16
Aquatic Goblin: -2 Str +2 Con -2 Cha, small, 30 ft. (swim 30 ft.), rogue, humanoid (goblinoid, aquatic), unearthed arcana pg.7
Artic Goblin: -2 Str +2 Con -2 Cha, small, 30 ft., rogue, humanoid (goblinoid), unearthed arcana pg.9
Bhuka: -2 Str +2 Dex, medium, 30 ft., druid, humanoid (goblinoid), sandstrom pg.39
Desert Goblin: -2 Str +2 Dex -2 Cha, small, 30 ft ., rogue, humanoid (goblinoid), unearthed arcana pg.12
Jungle Goblin: -2 Str +2 Dex -2 Cha, small, 30 ft. (climb 20 ft.), rogue, humanoid (goblinoid), unearthed arcana pg.12

Hadozee: +2 Dex -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft, rogue, humanoid (hadozee), stromwrack pg.41

Half-Elves
Half-Elf: none, medium, 30 ft., any, humanoid (elf, human), players handbook pg.18
Aquatic Half-Elf: none, medium, 30 ft. (swim 15 ft.), any, humanoid (elf, human), stormwrack pg.45
Artic Half-Elf: none, medium, 30 ft., any, humanoid (elf, human), unearthed arcane pg.10
Desert Half-Elf: none, medium, 30 ft., any, humanoid (elf, human), unearthed arcana pg.12
Deepwyrm Half-Drow: none, medium, detect magic 3/day, disguise self 1/day, 30 ft., any, humanoid (elf, human, dragonblood), dragon magic pg.6
Fire Half-Elf: none, medium, 30 ft., any, humanoid (elf, human), unearthed arcana pg.18
Forestlord Half-Elf: none, medium, 30 ft., Treewalk (su), sorcerer, humanoid (elf, human), dragon magic pg.8
Half-Drow: none, medium, 30 ft., any, humanoid (elf, human), races of faerun pg.62
Half-Human Elf: none, medium, 30 ft., wizard, humanoid (elf, human), dungeon master’s guide pg.171
Jungle Half-Elf: none, medium, 30 ft., any, humanoid (elf, human), unearthed arcana pg.14

Half-Orcs
Half-Orc: +2 Str -2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (human, orc), players handbook pg.18
Aquatic Half-Orc: +2 Str -2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft. (swim 30 ft.), barbarian, humanoid (human, orc, aquatic), unearthed arcana pg.8
Artic Half-Orc: +2 Str -2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (human, orc), unearthed arcana pg.8
Desert Half-Orc: +2 Con -2 Int, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (human, orc), unearthed arcana pg.12
Frostblood Half-Orc: +2 Str -2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (human, orc, dragonblood), dragon magic pg.10
Jungle Half-Orc: +2 Str -2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (human, orc), unearthed arcana pg.15
Scablands Half-Orc: +2 Str -2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (human, orc), sanstorm pg.43
Water Half-Orc: +2 Str -2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft. (swim 30 ft.), barbarian, humanoid (human, orc), unearthed arcana pg.18

Halflings
Lightfoot Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft., rogue, humanoid (halfling), players handbook pg.20
Aquatic Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft. (swim 20 ft.), rogue, humanoid (halfling, aquatic), unearthed arcana pg.8
Artic Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft., ranger, humanoid (halfling), unearthed arcana pg.10
Deep Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft., rogue, humanoid, (halfling), monster manual pg.150
Desert Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft., rogue, humanoid (halfling), unearthed arcana pg.12
Ghostwise Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft., speak without sounds (su), barbarian, humanoid (halfling), forgotten realms pg.17
Glimmerskin Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft., rogue, humanoid (halfling, dragonblood), dragon magic pg.9
Jerren: +2 Dex -2 Str, small, 20 ft., rogue, humanoid (halfling) book of vile darkness pg.13
Jungle Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft., barbarian, humanoid (halfling), unearthed arcana pg.15
Shoal Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft. (swim 20 ft.), rogue, humanoid (halfling, aquatic),stormwrack pg.45
Strongheart Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft., rogue, humanoid (halfling), forgotten realms pg.18
Tallfellow Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, small, 20 ft., rogue, humanoid (halfling), monster manual pg.149
Tundra Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex, Small, 20 ft., ranger, humanoid (halfling), frostburn pg.36
Water Halfling: -2 Str +2 Dex +2 Con, small, 20 ft. (swim 20 ft.), rogue, humanoid (halfling), unearthed arcana pg.18

Hellbred
Hellbred (Body): +2 Con -2 Int, medium, 30 ft, hellbound (su), paladin, humanoid (hellbred), Fiendish Codex II pg.78
Hellbred (Spirit): +2 Cha -2 Con, medium, 30 ft, hellbound (su), spirit (su), paladin, humanoid (hellbred), Fiendish Codex II pg.78

Hengeyokai: -2 Wis, medium, 30 ft., alternate form (su), wu jen, humanoid (hengeyokai, shapechanger), oriental adventures pg.10

Humans
Human: none, medium, 30 ft., any, humanoid (human), players handbook pg.12
Aventi: none, medium, 30 ft. (swim 30 ft.), any, humanoid (human, aquatic), stormwrack pg.34
Azurin: none, medium, 30 ft., soulborn, humanoid (human, incarnum), magic of incarnum pg.7
Deep Imaskari: +2 Int -2 Dex, medium, 30 ft., spell clutch (su), wizard, humanoid (human), underdark pg.9
Extaminar: -2 Str +2 Dex, medium, 30 ft., speak with animals (snakes only) at will, charm animal (snakes only) 3/day, rogue, humanoid (human), champions of ruin pg.14
Illumian: none, medium, 30 ft., luminous sigils (su) power sigils (su) illumian words (su), any, humnaoid (human), races of destiny pg.53
Mongrelfolk: +4 Con -2 Int -4 Cha, medium, 30 ft., rogue, humanoid (human), races of destiny pg.98
Neanderthal: +2 Str -2 Dex +2 Con -2 Int, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (human), frostburn pg.36
Sea Kin: none, medium, 30 ft. (swim 30 ft.), druid, humanoid (human), races of destiny pg.100
Silverbrow Human: none, medium, 30 ft., any, humanoid (human, dragonblood), dragon magic pg.6
Underfolk: none, medium, 30 ft., any, humanoid (human), races of destiny pg.108
Varsharan: none, medium, 30 ft., any, humanoid (human), book of vile darkness pg.12

Jermlaine: -6 Str +6 Dex -2 Con -2 Int +6 Wis -6 Cha, tiny, 40 ft., rogue, fey, monster manual 2 pg.131

Kalashtar: none, medium, 30 ft., mindlink 1/day, psion, humanoid (kalashtar, psionic), races of erberron pg.55

Kender: +2 Dex -2 Str -2 Wis, small, 20 ft., rogue, humanoid (kender), dragonlance campaign setting pg.28

Kenku: -2 Str +2 Dex, medium, 30 ft., rogue, humanoid (kenku), monster manual 3 pg.86

Killoren: none, medium, 30 ft., manifest nature's might (su), druid, fey, races of the wild pg.102

Kobolds
Kobold: -4 Str +2 Dex -2 Con, small, 30 ft., sorcerer, humanoid (kobold, reptilian, dragonblood), monter manual pg.161 and Races of the Dragon pg. 39
Aquatic Kobold: -4 Str +2 Dex -2 Con, small, 30 ft. (swim 30 ft.), sorcerer, humanoid (kobold, reptilian, dragonblood, aquatic), unearthed arcana pg.8
Artic Kobold: -2 Str +2 Dex -2 Con -2 Wis, small, 30 ft., sorcerer, humanoid (kobold, reptilian, dragonblood), unearthed arcana pg.8
Desert Kobold: -4 Str +2 Dex -2 Wis, small, 30 ft., rogue, humanoid (kobold, reptilian, dragonblood), unearthed arcana pg.13
Earth Kobold: -2 Str -2 Con, small, 30 ft., sorcerer, humanoid (kobold, reptilian, dragonblood), unearthed arcana pg.17
Jungle Kobold: -4 Str +2 Dex -2 Int, small, 30 ft., sorcerer, humanoid (kobold, reptilian, dragonblood), unearthed arcana pg.13

Krinth: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., fighter, humanoid (krinth), champions of ruin pg.36

Krynn Minotaur: +4 Str -2 Dex -2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., humanoid (minotaur), dragonlance campaign setting pg.42

Lupin: none, medium, 30 ft., ranger, monstrous humanoid (lupin), dragon compendium volume one pg.21

Maenad: none, medium, 30 ft., outburst (ex), energy ray 1/day, wilder, humanoid (maenad, psion), expanded psionics handbook pg.13

Muckdweller : -6 Str +6 Dex -2 Cha, tiny, 20 ft. (swim 20 ft.), squirt (ex), monstrous humanoid, serpent kingdoms pg.71

Neraphim: none, medium, 30 ft., ranger, outsider, planar handbook pg.12

Nezumi: +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 40 ft., rogue, humanoid (nezumi), oriental adventures pg.13

Orcs
Orc: +4 Str -2 Int -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (orc), monster manual pg.203
Aquatic Orc: +4 Str -2 Int -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft. (swim 30 ft.), barbarian, humanoid (orc, aquatic), unearthed arcana pg.10
Artic Orc: +4 Str -2 Int -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (orc), unearthed arcana pg.10
Desert Orc: +4 Str -2 Int -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (orc), unearthed arcana pg.13
Frostblood Orc: +4 Str -2 Int -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (orc, dragonblood), dragon magic pg.10
Jungle Orc: +4 Str -2 Int -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., barbarian, humanoid (orc), unearthed arcana pg.15
Water Orc: +4 Str +2 Con -2 Int -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft. (swim 30 ft.), barbarian, humanoid (orc), unearthed arcana pg.18

Planetouched
Lesser Aasimar +2 Wis +2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., light (sp), paladin, humanoid (planetouched), player’s guide to faerun pg.191
Lesser Air Genasi +2 Dex +2 Int -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., levitate (sp), fighter, humanoid (planetouched), player’s guide to faerun pg.191
Lesser Earth Genasi +2 Str +2 Con -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., pass without trace (sp), fighter, humanoid (planetouched), player’s guide to faerun pg.191
Lesser Fire Genasi +2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., control flames (sp), fighter, humanoid (planetouched), player’s guide to faerun pg.191
Lesser Water Genasi +2 Con -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., create water (sp), fighter, humanoid (planetouched), player’s guide to faerun pg.191
Lesser Tiefling +2 Int +2 Dex -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., darkness (sp), rogue, humanoid (planetouched), player’s guide to faerun pg.191

Raptoran: none, medium, 30 ft. (fly 40 ft. average), cleric, humanoid (raptoran), races of the wild pg.66

Rilkan: +2 Dex -2 Str, medium, 30 ft., incarnate, humanoid (reptilian), magic of incarnum pg.12

Shifter: +2 Dex -2 Int -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft., shifting (su), ranger, humanoid (shifter, shapechanger), races of eberrron pg.25

Skarns: +2 Str -2 Dex, medium, 30 ft., incarnate, humanoid (reptilian), magic of incarnum pg.15

Spellscale: +2 Cha -2 Con, medium, 30 ft., sorcerer and same as base creature, humanoid (dragonblood), races of the dragon pg.21

Spiker: none, medium, 30ft., fighter, humanoid (spiker), planar handbook pg.14

Spirit Folk
Spirit Folk: none, medium, 30 ft. (river/sea swim 30 ft.), (bamboo/river) speak with animals 1/day, any, humanoid (spirit), oriental adventures pg.14
Mountain Spirit Folk: none, medium, 30 ft. (climb 30 ft.), speak with animals 1/day (bird), any, humanoid (spirit), unapproachable east pg.13
River Spirit Folk: none, medium, 30 ft. (swim 30 ft.), speak with animals 1/day (fish), any, humanoid (spirit), unapproachable east pg.14

Synad: none, medium, 30 ft., Threefold Mind (su), Oracle (su), Collective (su), Multitask (Su), any, aberration (synad, psionic), Complete Psionic pg. 140

Tibbit: +2 Dex -2 Str, small, 20 ft., Feline Transformation (su), rogue, monstrous humanoid (lupin), dragon compendium volume one pg.25

Vanara: none, medium, 30 ft. (climb 20 ft. average), spirit shaman, humanoid (vanara), oriental adventures pg.15

Warforged
Warforged: +2 Con -2 Wis -2 Cha, medium, 30 ft. fighter, construct (living construct), races of eberron pg.07
Warforged Scout: -2 Str +2 Dex -2 Wis -2 Cha, small, 20 ft., rogue, construct (living construct), monster manual 3 pg.193

Xeph: -2 Str +2 Dex, medium, 30 ft., burst (su), soulknife, humanoid (xeph, psionic), expanded psionic handbook pg.15

5: Important Points and Feats

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important points:
1)Attribute Distribution and Impact on Character playablity
Intelligence,Intelligence,Intelligence.. .........

There are two more or less fixed requirements to playing a psion adequately: you need a starting intelligence of 15 to be able to increase it to 19 in time for you to be able to manifest 9th level powers, and you need a wisdom of 13 to qualify for Metamorphic Transfer and Psionic Meditation. Let’s look at the attributes in more detail and consider the elite array, 25-point buy and 32-point buy.

• Strength: The least important attribute. You will probably never be making melee attacks without being metamorphed, unless you somehow get a freebee attack of opportunity in your early career.
• Dexterity: This attribute also changes when changing shape. It’s significant for initiative, armor class and ranged attacks – all of which are important to you – but it’s still quite far down on the list since the Pixie form is available at level 7.
• Constitution: With the recent Polymorph rulings, many DMs may very well rule that your hp does not change even if your Con does when metamorphing. Even if it does, you still need to get there alive, and a solid Con helps a lot in the early levels.
• Intelligence: The most important attribute naturally, as it governs saves and power points, and grants you an impressive amount of skill points to boot. Should be as high as you can afford (within reason), and the primary choice for your level up ability increases and item enhancers.
• Wisdom: Needed for feat requirements, but not particularly important otherwise. The extra boost to the will save is nice though.
• Charisma: Your supernatural attacks from the Metamorphic Transfer feat are Cha based, which means that this attribute is far from unimportant. Especially significant for your class skills if you play a Telepath.

Elite Array: Str 8, Dex 10, Con 14, Int 15, Wis 13, Cha 12. (Con 12, Cha 14)*
25-point buy: Str 8, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 14, Cha 11. (Con 12, Cha 13)*
32-point buy: Str 8, Dex 8, Con 14, Int 18, Wis 14, Cha 12. (Con 12, Cha 14)*
*Numbers in paranthesis should be used if your DM allows hp to change upon metamorphosis.



2)MANIFESTER LEVEL
"Thou shall not lose Manifester levels", and Why.
Manifester levels effect on Powers

    MANIFESTER LEVEL
    The variables of a power’s effect often depend on its manifester level, which is equal to your psionic class level. A power that can be augmented for additional effect is also limited by your manifester level (you can’t spend more power points on a power than your manifester level). See Augment under Descriptive Text, below.
    You can manifest a power at a lower manifester level than normal, but the manifester level must be high enough for you to manifest the power in question, and all level-dependent features must be based on the same manifester level.
    In the event that a class feature or other special ability provides an adjustment to your manifester level, this adjustment applies not only to all effects based on manifester level (such as range, duration, and augmentation potential) but also to your manifester level check to overcome your target’s power resistance and to the manifester level used in dispel checks (both the dispel check and the DC of the check).

Manifester Level on Power Points
Manifester Level on Powers Known


3)Power points and Bugeting your spending of them
Economic use of Power Points to get you thru the day.

    In general..a good rule of thumb, is to divide the total Daily number of power points you have by 4, use 1/4 for long term buffs , and limit the number of PP you expend for each encounter to around 1/4 also. This assumes an average of 3 encounters per day, you may have only 1 or maybe up to 6+;but as an average you will have 3 encounters per day. Note, each encounter does not mean Combat, some will be Social. With combat encounters try to determine the most effective way to eliminate an opponent while conserving PPs. Sometimes its best to simply use Battlefield Control powers and funnel the combat to your fighters and allow them to be effective. Other times it may be better to avoid haveing the enemy reach your fighters and destroy them at range, especially if they have special attacks that severly weaken your party members. A special caution should be considered...... if combats come in waves with reiforcements comming in a few rounds with more on the way...plan to use some long term buffs to power up with and long term Battlefield control and avoid a lot of direct damage(Direct damage is great vs single opponents) as it can use up your PP quickly. A final note.....ALWAYS keep enough PP to escape Quickly(Teleport or Planeshift)...you will not be able to defeat all opponents the first time, so its better to run away and return with a better plan and Prepared to face the enemy.

"PP Generation Tactics

    Power points are always an issue with any psionic build. Psionic characters always have to ration power points in one point or another. For Psychic warriors, this is even more of a problem with their reduced power point pools. However turning to sources such as magic of incarnum it is possible to circumvent and amplify the power point pools of any psionic character.
    This is accomplished through the use of Azure Talent {Incarnum, Psionic}, Azure talent allows you to invest in the feat essentia once per day, the bonus pp is equal to the total amount of invested essentia times two. Further more the feat itself has a built in limit on the number of points invested based on character level.
    The second part of the set is the feat Psycarnum Infusion {Psionic}. Thus feat allows you to expend your psionic focus which allows one of the characters essentia receptacles to be treated as if it had been invested with the maximum possible essentia
    If you use this tactic its wise to keep Cognizence Crystals on hand, using that you can boost your pp reserve by filling up the crystals with the pp before they expire, another use is to recharge psionic tatoos using the temp pp while preserving your main pool ...quote by Lokiyn "

4)Focus
What it is and how it affects you.

5)Skill choices
Concentration,Knowledge(psionics),Psicra ft....first,then get as much Synergy as you can.
Concentration is a skill that generally Psions need to max out and this is because many effects linked to Powers require concentration checks. Should you fail to concentrate on your Power, you are most likely going to lose it, and the PP. The player's handbook provides detailed information on page 170 on concentration checks, that will cover almost all cases.
Most notably:

    * Injury while Manifesting a Power: In case of continuous damage, you should be able to succeed. The problem here is if damaged by attacks or, even worse, enemy spells/Powers. Since opponents can ready an action to "when the enemy starts Manifesting a Power", they will be able to affect even those Powers that require a standard or move action to Manifest. Miss chance, invisibility and damage reduction can help lessen the inflicted damage, thus making your concentration check easier.
    * Distraction by spell: Mundane attacks only get 1/2 of the inflicted damage dealt to the concentration check's DC. Note that this is not the case with spells that deal damage. They actually add all the inflicted damage to the check. Thus, even a lowly magic missile PHB spell (which if of 9th and higher caster level has a damage of 10-25, resulting in an average damage of 17,5) will boost your concentration check to 27,5 + level of the Power you are Manifesting, nothing to scoff at.

This graph shows how the damage of a spell, which deals 1d6 points of damage per caster level, scales compared to your concentration check with no modifiers.



6)Powers Known and getting more powers known
Making yourself versatile and effective in any situation
discussion on Research

Quote from: hovnarr
I usually never bother with the research option for gaining access to powers of other disciplines, going Expanded Knowledge instead. It seems that Expanded Knowledge is widely accepted and used on the boards, but since research just seems so much stronger, I was wondering why there's so little talk about it. I'm generally thinking that EK > research at lower levels, while the opposite is true at higher levels. The reasons:

The most attractive low level powers to get are Astral Construct and Energy Missiles. However, AC is not very good at level 1, but is very playable at level 3 when you can EK it. Energy Missile is good from the start (lvl 3) but you can put it off for 2 levels without problem considering other available options (the astral construct for one!). At low levels, the fact that you get both an increase in quality AND quantity from the feat is also quite significant, since you know so few powers. The XP penalty from researching also hurts more at lower levels.

At higher levels, power slots aren't as scarce, and the XP cost is pretty insignificant. Getting "free" feats for a few hundred XP is huge, especially when you consider things like qualifying for PrCs. Most importantly, you can get them 2-3 levels earlier than you could with the EK feat, which could allow you to regain your XP investment pretty quickly if it's a powerful addition to your arsenal.

The missing link between the two options seems to be Psychic Reformation, making level 7 the ideal level to withdraw for a few months of solitude after an adventure that left you with a fair bit of extra XP to spend before you reach 8th. Out goes outdated powers good for low level characters (Matter Agitation, Mind Thrust and friends), out goes the EK feats, in goes the very same powers researched, some qualifying feats to set you up for your PrC of choice, some metapsionics perhaps and anything else that strikes your fancy. With a couple of thousand XP less, you now have a perfect level 7 psion, capable of manifesting any power of your choice (why not a researched Evade Burst as a 3rd level power?) with the most powerful combination of feats imaginable to go with it (go full monty on double foci, meditation, overchannel/talented, metapsionics, metamorphic transfer etc.).

Is this a good idea? I'm worried that it robs the disciplines of their uniqueness. Looking at it this way, choice of discipline seems to come down to what class skills you prefer, as well as how to save the most XP by choosing the one with most combined quantity+quality of powers.

7) Manifesting Powers
"Power Manifesting Time Reduction

    Obviously getting powers manifested as fast as possible is important, however certain powers have an inconveniently log manifestation time. For example Psionic Minor Creation has a manifesting Time of One Minute. As well as Call to Mind, Powers like Major creation have manifestation time in things like 10 min, with some powers needing a full week to manifest.
    For most cases this isn’t an issue, however, we can speed up manifesting of long powers with the following process.
    Linked Power {metapsionic} Allows the manifester to manifest one power and link a second power to it as an additional metapsionic cost. The process is simple. Choose a starting power, In this case the power call item {minds Eye}. Then select a second power, in this case minor creation. One of the conditions of linked power is that the second power shares the same target as the primary power, in the event that the first power does not have a target or area (as is the case in call item) the second powers area or target is chosen by the manifester. The next round the second power goes off without any additional cost in actions or power points.
    Depending on your reading of the Linked power feat the second power does not cost the manifester anything other than the pp cost, which proves interesting when powers that cost exp are involved" quote by Lokiyn

7)Feats:
listing of useful feats
New Feats & Powers........WotC Website
Chance Favors the Prepared Mind........WotC Website

Treatise on Metapsionic Feats..........interesting discussion
Karmic Power Optimization ....discusses Opportunity Power feat


I will try to focus only on feats that are Directly useful to Psions.

NoN-Psionic Feats:

Alertness................you can get this for free if you have a Psycrystal
Combat Expertise.....for Psi-Gish type builds
Combat Reflexes.....for Psi-Gish type builds
Improved Initiative.....good for many types
Leadership
Power Attack.....for Psi-Gish type builds
Rapid Shot.....for Psi-Gish type builds
Skill Focus(Concentration).............very useful for any Psionic character
Track................................... .....neccessary to gain entry into the Slayer PrC
Weapon Focus..............Weapon focus(ray) is very nice to have
Shielded Manifesting(Races of Stone)
Steady Concentration(Races of Stone)

Psionic Feats:


Boost Construct...........giving and extra Menu selection is always good
Burrowing Power..........a very useful power especially at high levels
Chain Power..............can be strong...but limited to Single target energy powers
Delay Power..............absolutely necessary if you use Temporal Acceleration and Direct Damage powers
Empower Power.........great boost to all Direct Damage Powers
Enlarge Power............nice
Expanded Knowledge.....a Must for learning extra Powers(unles your DM allows other means:Research,Psychic Chirgury)
Extend Power..............a must for all Psions
Greater Power Penetration
Greater Power Specialization
Greater Psionic Endowment
Improved Psicrystal
Maximize Power
Metamorphic Transfer
Narrow Mind
Opportunity Power
Overchannel
Power Penetration
Power Specialization
Psicrystal Affinity
Psicrystal Containment
Psionic Body
Psionic Endowment
Psionic Meditation
Psionic Talent
Quicken Power
Split Psionic Ray
Talented
Twin Power
Unconditional Power
Widen Power

Deep Vision(Races of Stone)........................darkvision increases while focused.....

Deflective Armor(Races of Stone and CPsi).....Armor bonus vs Touch attks, while focused

Earth Power(Races of Stone).......................-1 PP to cost of manifesting any power when you are on stone or earth,....requires you to Expend focus....this is a very nice power to have, for all day buffs

Focused Shield(Races of Stone)...................+1AC when focused

Invest Armor(Races of Stone)......................+3 Armor bonus when expend focus

Energize Armor(Races of Stone)....................expend focus(immediate action)...gain energy resist 10 vs next energy attack

Ectopic Form.................................... .........
Practiced Manifester(Complete Psionics).........+4 to effective ML when manifesting powers.....will not raise ML above HD, or give extra PP

Elan Resiliance(Complete Psionics)..................
Instictive Consumator(Complete Psionics)........
Mental Juggernaut(Complete Psionics)............
Psybiot(Complete Psionics)..........................
Stygian Archon(Complete Psionics)...............
Dorje Mastery(Complete Psionics).................
Psionic Mastery(Complete Psionics)..............
Knockdown Power(Complete Psionics)...........
Linked Power(Complete Psionics).................
Metapsionic Power(Complete Psionics)..........
Transdimentional Power(Complete Psionics)....
Skin of the Construct
Skin of the Construct

"Skin of the construct" is actually a rather mediocre choice...for this reason...the 1d8 Temporary hit points last 1 hour...the rest of the benifits are gone when the Astral Construct Duration is over(1 round/ML), but it does give you access to this:
Quote from: AntiDjinn
skin of the Construct isn't all that bad; it is a feat with no other requisite feats anyway. It only costs you 1 power point and 1 round to activate (manifesting Astral Construct, there is never any reason to throw a construct power higher than AC1, because the benefit is capped at 1 A pick). So look at what you can have temporary access to:

Buff: Same as spending 1 point on Vigor, except they are not treated as temporary hit points.

Celerity: Superior to Burst at second level or higher because for 1 point the movement boost lasts 1 round/level instead of just one round.

Cleave: It gives you the Cleave feat, without needing Str 13 or Power Attack.

Deflection: +1 deflection bonus to AC, superior to Dodge or Psionic Dodge because you don't have to designate an opponent against whom it applies.

Fly: How many other first level characters are flying? Some DM disallow this one, or require you spend enough points to create a construct with enough Str to carry you and your gear as a light load.

Improved Bull Rush: As the feat, normally has the same prereqs as Cleave.

Improved Slam Attack: Gives you Improved Natural Attack, a feat not normally available to PCs.

Mobility: As the feat, you don't need Dex 13 or Dodge.

Power Attack: As the feat.

Resistance: Half the effect of Energy Adaptation, Specified, at 1/3 the cost.

Swim: Superior to Float, except you can't use it on others.

Trip: Free trip attempt for hitting with a hand to hand attack.

It does not amount to powered combat armor (see Ectoskeleton and others for that). Instead it is a feat that lets you spend 1 point and a round to morph it into one of a set of other feats.

Spiritual Force(Complete Psionics)...............expend focus.....add Cha bonus to damage w/ mindblade for all attacks..this round

Illithid Heritage(Complete Psionics).............Intimidate is class skill, bonus to saves vs(spells,spell-like,power,psi-like) = # illithid feats / 2 (min +1)

Illithid Compulsion(Complete Psionics)
Illithid Enthusiast(Complete Psionics)
Illithid Grapple(Complete Psionics)
Illithid Legacy(Complete Psionics)
Greater Illithid Legacy(Complete Psionics)


Tactics:

Quote from: hovnarr
Here's the challenge:

Find the minimum, most efficient and reliable set of powers for a mid level psion to handle anything a DM can throw at the party within their challenge level!

The purpose of the challenge is to free up slots for defense and utility, and good practice in keeping power redundancy to a minimum. Consider all the possible threats you and your party could be facing around levels 7-15 and try to find as efficient multi-purpose answers as possible. Here's what I have so far:

Astral Construct
Works against almost everything but has trouble against:
*Very high AC/damage reduction
*Swarm and incorporeal type
*Caster anti-measures (anti-magic/psionics, dispel, globe of invulnerability)

Metamorphosis + Metamorphic Transfer
Forms like Annis Hag and Roper are tanks unto themselves, but (Su) blast on a hydra solves the Astral Construct problems of high AC, damage reduction, swarm, incorporeal (unsure if (Su) bypasses the 50% no effect chance) and globe of invulnerability (since hydra blast doesn't have a spell/power level).

Crystal Shard
I have found no other ways around anti magic/psionics than an instantaneous creation effect. Nothing to sulk about though, as this can deal tremendous amounts of damage with Split Psionic Ray + Overchannel.

I'm down to three powers, none of which allows save (except hydra blasting) or power/spell resistance. Things I've considered but don't consider necessary at this point include:

Energy Conversion + Energy Wall: Very PP efficient but allows SR/PR and consumes 2 power slots for little added benefit. Would also bypass Globe of Invulnerability.

Telekinetic Maneuver: Unsure if this is useful against incorporeal creatures - it is a [force] effect, but the type discription specifically states incorporeal creatures can't be grappled... Wouldn't (Su) hydra blast work too?

Ego Whip: Having an alternative strategy to HP beating is both good and bad. It's sometimes more efficient for you, but it's often less efficient for the party if you're splitting up efforts on HP and Cha on the same target. Also [mind-affecting], allows PR/SR and a save (though only partial, which still makes it somewhat interesting).

Psionic Dominate: Perhaps the best offensive effect in the game (converting enemies to allies), but difficult to use at higher levels since it's a save-or-die that allows SR/PR and is [mind-affecting].

Ectoplasmic Cocoon, Mass: No SR/PR "save-or-die" that can be bypassed using purely mental actions. Sometimes very useful as a battlefield control effect, but isn't actually a save-or-die since you still have the problem of killing them, and (contrary to hold monster, for instance), you have to cut through the cocoon first and can expect opposition while doing so.

Fortitude save-or-dies: Crystallize or Decerebrate. I think dealing massive amounts of damage against big brutes go better with the party strategy, and saves + PR/SR is always a problem at higher levels when they are available. Useful as mage killers, but so is a simple Crystal Shard or hydra blast.

Ok, the challenge is on. Good look with coming up with powerful and synergistic packages! All suggestion welcome.
Quote from: hovnarr
Re: Entangling Ectoplasm. A debuff, as like Bacris notes. Making room to add potent and PP efficient effects like that (man, there are so many good level 1 powers) is part of the reason I offer this challenge. It's not an effect that can allow you to win a battle in itself, but it can turn the tides in battle much like an ectoplasmic wall etc. As such, it wouldn't be part of such a "minimalist set" that I'm looking for, but still an excellent pick for the slots you save from having a minimum of efficient damaging powers.

Re: Telekinetic Thrust. Hm, this could be used similarly to Astral Construct (though less powerful/versatile). If we assume that "instantaneous" means that it's not a sustained thrust, this could also be an alternative to Crystal Shard against null/anti psionics. Theoretically, we could cut both Astral Construct and Crystal Shard and replace them with Telekinetic Thrust, but I feel we'd loose a lot of power in doing so (though we save a slot). There's also the practical problem: how do we present the projectiles in a timely fashion to manifest the power?

Re: Incorporeal subtype. I read it exactly like munin actually. The argument that it should only apply to damage (and also (Su) damage) is definetely not in line with the SRD. Is the MM3 like official errata for previous monstrous info? If so, can someone provide the updated text for the incorporeal subtype as of MM3?

Grease is also a wonderful Battlefield control power


Chained Energy Retort is great fun vs large groups......especially if manifested several times(you may not even have to attack them.........they might kill themselves by attacking you,or at least injure themselves severely)


Ectoplasmic Shambler(or even several:overlaping themselves) .....and Wall of Ectoplasm........battlefield control and continuous damage.......Shambler is controled as a free action, has No save, No SR/PR and is Long ranged, large area(10 cubes 10'x10'x10'), realitvely long duration.......and to damage the Wall they must get thru the Shambler(s)

Minor creation: Set up burn spots with flammable, sticky, and plant based oils (take your pick, there are a number of them, especially if you are lax on just what plant based entails). Make poisons and coat your weapons with it. Create stop gaps, dangerous areas to walk through, useful items, and whatever else you happen to think of. It takes time and careful planning, but it is cheap, easy, and lasting.

Claws of the beast: Pop this on yourself and your psicrystal (if allowed that is). Sure, it isnt a huge amount of damage, but your psicrystals claws are easily coated in poison and you can save more poison for later. It also gives you 4 claw attacks each round. You will also want overchannel and possibly talented. This works even better if you can arrange for yourself to be immune to poison as well.

Time hop: This can help you move obsticles, enemies, and the occasional ally out of or into harms way. Mid levels the save isnt that great however but it still has so many incredible uses anyway it is just plain a great plan. Undead typically have low will saves and are immune to poison so this works great for popping them out and then either getting away or making something with minor creation to take care of them.

Edit: As an aside I was in a party once where we were ambushed by an air elemental that was way beyond our power to normally deal with. I popped off a time hop, just in case, and it somehow failed its save. Over the course of the next several rounds the party buffed and summoned creatures like crazy. When it came back in the fight was over after its next action. The dm was a bit frustrated and nearly banned time hop from the game right then and there..lol

6. Full Manifesting

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The most powerful Manifester....full 20 manifester levels and how you can be effective.

1) Psion 20[/size
level by level breakdown of a 20 level Psion
Telepath Build

for the sake of this Example, we are using a 25 point buy:
Quote
"General Purpose Build"
Since this is a general purpose build, the feats and power selection will be such that this character can survive and contribute in a meaningful way to any party he is with.

Human Telepath

8 Str
10 Dex
10 Con
16 Int
13 Wis
14 Cha
Quote
Psion 1......Power points = (2+ 1 bonus)= 3 PP
New Powers Known: Empathy, Entangling Ectoplasm, Telempathic Projection
Feats: Psycrystal Affinity,Illithid Heratige, Illithid Compulsion
Skills:
4 ranks Concentration
4 ranks Knowledge (Psionics)
4 ranks Psicraft
4 ranks Bluff
4 ranks Diplomacy
4 ranks Sense Motive


Equipment= Ave 75 GP
10gp....5x daggers
35gp...light crossbow
2gp.....20 bolts
10gp ...leather armor

misc equipment and supplies

Tactics:At this level....his main tactic is Diplomacy.....followed by running away as fast as he can. He can help his party with Entangling ecto...then use missile fire(crossbow). Not very much to do but try to survive.

Quote
Psion 2......Power points = (6 + 3 Bonus)= 9 PP
New Powers Known:Crystal Shard, Vigor
Feats:
Skills:
5 ranks Concentration
5 ranks Knowledge (Psionics)
5 ranks Psicraft
5 ranks Bluff
5 ranks Diplomacy
5 ranks Sense Motive

total Diplomacy = 5 ranks + 2 Cha + 4 Synergy = +11 minimum + 1d20 + Psionic Bonuses


Equipment= Ave 900 GP
as first level...but add the following:
200gp..2x War Ponies(trained)...one to be riden, one for carrying supplies...both are combat ready and can fight
150gp...6x Guard Dogs(trained).....trained for various things
100gp .10x Acid Flasks
200gp..10x Alchemists Fire
100gp...4x Holy Water

Remainder for misc. items and supplies.

Tactics:Now he can use his powers a little more....but his Skills have jumped, due to the Synergy bonuses for Diplomacy. His actions are mostly the same(Diplomacy focus)....but he is able to help a little more for combat(due mainly to his animals).

Quote
Psion 3 ......Power points = ( 11 + 4 Bonus)= 15 PP
New Powers Known:Ego Whip, Share pain
Feats:Illithid Legacy(bonus Powers:Psi Charm,Read Thoughts)
Skills:
6 ranks Concentration
6 ranks Knowledge (Psionics
1 rank Knowledge (Nobility & royalty
6 ranks Psicraft
5 ranks Bluff
6 ranks Diplomacy
6 ranks Sense Motive

Equipment=Ave 2700 GP
As 2nd level....add more mundane Alchemical items

Tactics: Here he gets a big boost to powers Known and he can make even more use of his Skills(Psi Charm....makes a NPC Friendly....much easier to work with using Diplomacy)....also he can be much less afraid of combat(Share pain+Vigor+ Share Powers with Psicrystal). His combat options now are to Throw a lot of Splash weapons(easy to use, very effective).

Quote
Psion 4......Power points = ( 17 + 6 Bonus)= 23 PP,
New Powers Known:Concussion Blast,Psi Suggestion
Feats:
Skills:
7 ranks Concentration
7 ranks Knowledge (Psionics
Knowledge (Nobility & royalty)..2 ranks
7 ranks Psicraft
Bluff...........................5 ranks
7 ranks Diplomacy
7 ranks Sense Motive

Equipment=Ave 5400 GP
same as 3rd lvl but add
2000gp.......Handy Haversack....very useful for his entire career

Tactics: Much the same as 3rd lvl.......Psi Suggestion has many uses. Also Concussion Blast can target multiple targets & incorporeal targets...handy power to have. At this level he adds +1 point to Int, so Int = 17.

Quote
Psion 5......Power points = (25 + 10 Bonus)= 35 PP
New Powers Known:Hostile Empathic Transfer,Touchsight
Feats: Psi Meditation
Skills:
8 ranks Concentration
8 ranks Knowledge (Psionics
Knowledge (Nob & roy)..3 ranks
8 ranks Psicraft
Bluff........................5 ranks
8 ranks Diplomacy
8 ranks Sense Motive

Equipment=Ave 9000 GP
same as 4th lvl..but add:
4000gp .......+2 Headband of Intellect

Tactics:much the same as 4th.....but has an added detection ability(touchsight) usefull to keep from being suprised. Also has a major Offensive/Defensive power..Hostile Empathic Transfer...heals him and hurt them.Also he adds 1 point to intelligence ...combined with the headband (total Int 19)...he gets a major jump in PP and the DC of his powers goes up.

Quote
Psion 6..Power points = (35 + 12 Bonus)= 47 PP
New Powers Known:Time Hop,Energy Wall
Feats:Linked Power
Skills:
Concentration ..9 ranks
Knowledge (Psionics)...9 ranks
Knowledge (Nob & roy)..4 ranks
Psicraft.......9 ranks
Bluff......5 ranks
Diplomacy.....9 ranks
Sense Motive....9 ranks

Equipment=Ave 13000 GP
same as 5th lvl..but add:
2500gp .........ring of sustenance
2500gp .........Boots of the Winterlands

Tactics:This level he gets 2 versatile powers....these greatly aid his party in both Combat and Non-Combat situations.

Quote
Psion 7......Power points = (46 + 14 Bonus)= 60 PP
New Powers Known:Schism,Psi Divination
Feats:
Skills:
Concentration .10 ranks
Knowledge (Psionics)....10 ranks
Knowledge (Nob & roy)..5 ranks
Psicraft....10 ranks
Bluff...5 ranks
Diplomacy...10 ranks
Sense Motive..10 ranks

Equipment= Ave 19000 GP
same as 6th, but add:
4000gp ......+2 Cloak of Charisma

Tactics: With the boost to Diplomacy from additional Synergy and Cha boost, now his Diplomacy Score = 10 ranks + 6 synergy + 3 Cha = +19 + 1d20!!!! Although its not a world record, it is still very nice at this time. Also he can do a lot more in a tight situation, schism will give him more actions(but drain PP quickly). Psi Divination is very useful.....Knowledge=Power...this can give just the edge he and his party needs.

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Psion 8......Power points = (58 + 20 Bonus)= 78 PP
New Powers Known:Correspond,Modify Memory
Feats:
Skills:
Concentration ..11 ranks
Knowledge (Psionics)....11 ranks
Knowledge (Nob & roy)..5 ranks
Knowledge (Arcana).....1 rank
Knowledge (Religion)....1 rank
Psicraft.....11 ranks
Bluff...5 ranks
Diplomacy.11 ranks
Sense Motive.11 ranks

Ave 27000 GP,Equipment=
same as 7th lvl

Tactics:Here he gets a useful communication power and a helpful power to use in case of a mistake or to provide some player controled memories in some NPC(make them remember you just saving thier lives or something).

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Psion 9......Power points = (72 + 18 Bonus)= ,
New Powers Known:Mind Probe,Plane Shift
Feats:Illithid Legacy ,Greater(bonus powers:Dispel Psionics, Psi Dominate)
Skills:
Concentration ..12 ranks
Knowledge (Psionics)...12 ranks
Knowledge (Nob & roy)..5 ranks
Knowledge (Arcana)......1 rank
Knowledge (Religion).....1 rank
Knowledge (Nature)......1 rank
Knowledge (The Planes).1 rank
Psicraft..12 ranks
Bluff..5 ranks
Diplomacy.12 ranks
Sense Motive12 ranks

Ave 36000 GP,Equipment=
same as 8th lvl ...but add

Tactics:Here he gets a Major Boost in Powers known:
Mind Probe:incredible tool for gathering info.
Plane Shift:very useful transport.....even for healing in an emergency(ie.Positive Material Plane)
Dispel Psionic:a power that usually should be taken earlier....but should always be taken.
Psi Dominate:now he can really control his enemies.

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Psion 10......Power points = (88 + 30 Bonus)= 118 PP
New Powers Known:Ecto Shambler,True Seeing
Feats:Expanded Knowledge(Metamorphosis)
Skills:
Concentration ..13 ranks
Knowledge (Psionics)......13 ranks
Knowledge (Nob & roy)...5 ranks
Knowledge (Arcana).......1 rank
Knowledge (Religion)......1 rank
Knowledge (Nature).......1 rank
Knowledge (The Planes)....1 rank
Knowledge (Arch & eng)....1 rank
Knowledge (Dungeoneering)..1 rank
Psicraft..13 ranks
Bluff.5 ranks
Diplomacy..13 ranks
Sense Motive..13 ranks

Equipment=Ave 49000 GP
total equipment now:
16000gp...+4 Headband of Intellect
4000gp....+2 Cloak of Charisma
8000gp....Third eye Penetrate: While worn, a third eye penetrate grants the wearer a +2 bonus on manifester level checks to overcome a creature’s power resistance.
2500gp....Ring of Sustenance
2500gp....Boots of the Winterlands
2000gp...Handy Haversack....very useful for his entire career
900gp ...Hand of the Mage..gives Mage Hand At Will
10gp...5x daggers
35gp..light crossbow
2gp...20 bolts
3000gp Skin of Ectoplasmic Armor(Complete Psionics)
...+8 Armor,+2 Max dex,-6 Armor chk,25% ASF, no speed penalty
2007gp +1 Heartning Darkwood Medium Shield
200gp......2x War Ponies(trained)...one to be riden, one for carrying supplies...both are combat ready and can fight
150gp......6x Guard Dogs(trained).....trained for various things
800gp Acid flasks(80)
800gp Alchemists fire(40)
150gp Antitoxin(3)
110gp Everburning torch
200gp Holywater(8)
100gp Smoke sticks(5)
600gp Thunderstones(20)
250gp Tanglefoot Bags(5)

Remainder for misc. items and supplies.

Tactics:here is another milestone in his power growth. In addition to 3 new Powers, he has upgraded his headband to +4 and gets additional boost to PP and DC of his powers. He has great flexiblity in the use of his powers and can freely use many skills. He has little to be afraid of in combat...due to his Metamorphosis power and the ability to share this with his Psicrystal. Here he is easily the equal of any other character and the Superior of many.

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Psion 11......Power points = (106 + 33 Bonus)= 139 PP
New Powers Known:Disintegrate,Retrieve
Feats:
Skills:
Concentration ................14 ranks
Knowledge (Psionics)........14 ranks
Knowledge (Nob & roy)......5 ranks
Knowledge (Arcana)........1 rank
Knowledge (Religion).......1 rank
Knowledge (Nature)........1 rank
Knowledge (The Planes)..1 rank
Knowledge (Arch & eng)..1 rank
Knowledge (Dung)..........1 rank
Knowledge (History).......1 rank
Knowledge (Geography)..1 rank
Psicraft......................14 ranks
Bluff..........................5 ranks
Diplomacy................14 ranks
Sense Motive...........14 ranks

Equipment=Ave 66000 GP
as 10th lvl but add:

Tactics:Here he get a MAJOR boost to offense with the addition of Disintegrate......it is also a versatile non-combat tool. Retrieve also can be very powerful....if you use your imagination as to how to use it.

Quote
Psion 12......Power points = (126 + 24 Bonus)= ,
New Powers Known:Temporal Acceleration
Feats:Metamorphic transfer
Skills:
Tactics:

Ave 88000 GP,Equipment=

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Psion 13......Power points = (147 + 26 Bonus)= ,
New Powers Known:Energy Conversion,Mind Blank(Personal)
Feats:
Skills:
Tactics:

Ave 110000 GP,Equipment=

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Psion 14......Power points = (170 + 28 Bonus)= ,
New Powers Known:Energy Wave
Feats:
Skills:
Tactics:

Ave 150000 GP,Equipment=

Quote
Psion 15......Power points = (195 + 30 Bonus)= ,
New Powers Known:Bend Reality,Teleport Greater
Feats: Psicrystal Containment, Twin Power
Skills:
Tactics:

Ave 200000 GP,Equipment=

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Psion 16......Power points = (221 + 40 Bonus)= ,
New Powers Known:True Metabolism
Feats:
Skills:
Tactics:

Ave 260000 GP,Equipment=

Quote
Psion 17......Power points = (250 + 42 Bonus)= ,
New Powers Known:Psychic Chirgury,Affinity Field
Feats:
Skills:
Tactics:

Ave 340000 GP,Equipment=

Quote
Psion 18......Power points = (280 + 45 Bonus)= ,
New Powers Known:Assimilate
Feats:Extend Power
Skills:
Tactics:

Ave 440000 GP,Equipment=

Quote
Psion 19......Power points = (311 + 47 Bonus)= ,
New Powers Known:Reality Revision,Timeless Body
Feats:
Skills:
Tactics:

Ave 580000 GP,Equipment=

Quote
Psion 20......Power points = (343 + 50 Bonus)= ,
New Powers Known:Microcosm
Feats:Empower Power
Skills:
Tactics:

Ave 760000 GP,Equipment=


Egoist Build

Sample Character Builds :LEVEL 1-6


Note: The builds below assume assume that you're an Egoist, to save as much research XP as possible throughout your career. Choice of other disciplines may require slight modifications, but are very feasible, especially if you have ample opportunity to research powers. It's also assumed that you progress from level 1, which means that a higher level build (up to and including level 6) is not necessarily optimal for starting at that level (since you don't need to account for actually getting there). Beyond level 7, this is not an issue since you have access to Psychic Reformation then, meaning any level is (theoretically) your optimal level for that build. In practice though, you won’t be reforming at every level if the advantage for doing so is small.

Egoist
Level 1
Feats: Psionic Body, Psicrystal Affinity (Single-minded), Psionic Talent
Powers: Attraction, Matter Agitation, Vigor
Skills: Concentration, Craft, Knowledge, Psicraft and other [trained only] int-based skills.
Equipment: Studded leather, light wooden shield, light crossbow, bolts.

At level 1, you have 10 hp and 4 pp, + con mod and half your int mod, respectively. Comparing with other classes, you have the hp of a fighter, can cast more, and more varied, spells than a sorceror, and you have the ac of a typical druid. That should almost guarantee surviving to level 2. Instead of fighting with weapons, you use Matter Agitation, which deals about as much as most weapons, but does so consistently every round instead of only when you hit. As an area effect, it's also effective against swarms, and out of combat it can burn down structures/objects, cook food or boil water etc.

Begin more challenging fights with a 5 hp Vigor buff. Use Attraction to lure away guards, negotiate or to avoid fighting all together. The crossbow is useful against weaker enemies when you want to save pp. Use the craft skill to make cheaper items so you can buy better armor and afford more alchemical items sooner. Take advantage of your high int mod by "unlocking" trained only skills with single skill points (a cross class rank in decipher script is not a bad idea), and max out useful class skills depending on discipline (spot, listen, diplomacy, autohypnosis etc.).

Be sure to make use of your psicrystal. It is really three feats in one since you get Alertness, SF: Concentration (single-minded trait), and a construct companion – all in one feat. It's very useful for reconaissance since it's small, climbs very well, has good stealth and perception and communicates telepathically with you. Always share Vigor with it whenever possible, just in case. If you’re wondering about psicrystal gaining feats, this guide will not address the issue. By the RAW, they do get them as their hit dice increase, but the author of the XPH (Bruce Cordell) has clarified that this was not the intention. Either way, you can learn more about maxing your psicrystal’s potential in the Psicrystal FAQ and Building Guide.



Level 2
New Powers: Grease, [any].
Skills: This is the level of skill synergies! Max out what matters.
Equipment: Masterwork chain shirt, large darkwood shield, riding dog (combat trained, light barding), +2 masterwork concentration item for 50 gp (subject to DM approval), everburning item for 110 gp (continual light effect enchanted on a copper piece, for instance), alchemical items.

Grease is an excellent tactical power (disarm, field control, escape grapple), and prefered over Entangling Ectoplasm at this level since your ranged attack is so poor. It is already good for disarming or to get out of a grapple, and its battlefield control use will continue to grow as the duration increases.

For your last level 1 slot, you can pretty much take what suits you best. There are many useful utility powers here such as Synesthete, Control Light, or Missive. Pick what you think will be most useful to you and your party up to level 7 (at which point you will be reforming anyway).

With your new equipment, you now have ac 16 + dex mod, with only -1 ACP. Add 10 hp vigors, riding dog (compares to a level 1 construct, and it can be ridden/controled by your psicrystal) and grease, and you have recipe that will take you to level 3 in one piece. You can craft most of your equipment yourself for 1/3 the cost. Pick up an eternal light source (that can be attached to your psicrystal, for instance) and make/comission a masterwork concentration item as per the PHB. Also consider that your psicrystal can use the aid another action to help you concentrate (it must pass a DC 10 check, but it has the same ranks as you do). Since it's also single-minded, you can potentially have a +12 concentration modifier by level 2 (not counting constitution modifier or the possibility to take skill focus etc.) Also remember that you can expend your focus to take 15 on a concentration check (you have no other uses for focus at this point), which means you can pass DCs nearing the 30 range.

Level 3
New Powers: Levitate, Ego Whip.
New Feat: EK: Minor Creation.
New Equipment: See below.

Minor Creation will solve many, many low level problems and can be used with your craft skills to create poison or alchemical items, food, prepare an ambush (traps, soaking in oil, wooden obstacles), get utility items (such as a ladder, wall or bridge), make incendiary bombs (wooden spheres with oil, great with matter agitation) etc. For a much more in-depth view on this power, see Minor Creation and You, a Small Guide.

Ego Whip is a potent new weapon that incapacitates rather than kills (which means it also has a utility use). Consider a typical CR 3 foe such as an Ogre. It has 29 hp and 7 cha (will save +1). Blasting it continously with Ego Whip will consume much more pp than concentrating with matter agitation, but you can disable it in only 2-4 rounds, single-handedly! Best of all, it can't act during those rounds if it fails the save. And even on a save, the power still deals cha damage.

Levitate means avoiding all ground-based enemies. Just manifest and move 20' into the air - problem solved. From this position, you can use ego whip or matter agitation as you please. If you can't use this defense to any effect, buff with vigor instead. Levitate also allows you to get to hard to reach places, get an overview of the landscape, recover from pit traps, long falls etc.

The level 7 build has a more definitive item list based on available gold at that point, but until then you can pick and choose from the list above whenever you have gold to spend.For a better idea of Cheap useful items...see Bunko's Bargain Basement: Magic Items That Are a Steal!

Level 4-6
By level 3, you have covered most of your fundamental bases. You have varied forms of attack (matter agitation, ego whip, grease, animal minions, alchemical and/or psionically created items, crossbow), strong defense (vigor, levitate, good ac and hp), and lots of utility (minor creation, attraction, psicrystal, grease). This leaves a lot of flexibility before attaining level 7, allowing you to tailor your build to your specific needs and opportunities. A few of the powers and feat slots are fixed, while recommendations are provided for others.

Level 4:
Don’t miss out on Empathic Transfer at this level, since it’s probably the most efficient means of healing (using Vigor to buffer the damage) available to the party until Heal is available. The last level 2 slot can be anything depending on needs and sources allowed. Share Pain is a good core alternative if you often find that you have more than one round to buff before important fights (combine with shared Vigor on your psicrystal). Mass Missive is a very good alternative for the tactically savvy. Crystal Storm and Psychoportive Shelter are wonderful if you can take them.

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #12 on: April 10, 2013, 11:59:27 PM »
Level 5: There are no alternatives here, take Time Hop and Dispel Psionics. Time hop solves so many problems it’s scary. Bypass any object without a trace, use it like a Maze spell on an enemy, remove a dying ally from combat and deal with it later (no time will have passed for the ally) etc. Dispel Psionics is fantastic on a manifester since you can use it spontaneously and without components. Being able to take purely mental actions is all you need to get out of binds with this, and you can cast it repeatedly if it didn’t work the first time. A good feat choice here is EK: Energy Missile to really round out your offensive repertoire at this point. You’ll reform it out later, but it will make getting to level 7 easy peasy.

Level 6: It’s recommended that you use this level for some item creation, since you will soon reform to a more powerful build anyway. Take Craft Dorje for your feat and select two powers (levels 1-3) for your level 6 slots that you’d like to put in your dorjes. For example, Identify is a good power to put in a dorje.

[sexy image]

LEVEL 7
Congratulations, you’ve made it to level 7! Now we turn to the true meaning of power and versatility, and create our character from scratch using Psychic Reformation. Level 7 is probably the most significant level in a Psion’s career, since you can basically recreate your character at this level for the first time, and you get access to Metamorphosis , which is in itself offense, defense and utility in a single power. Metamorphosis has an even more profound impact on mid level game play than minor creation had in the lower levels. Before we examine the powers and feats in the reformed level 7 build, let’s take a closer look at what Metamorphosis and the feat Metamorphic Transfer offer at this level.

Metamorphosis
Let’s make Overchannel our second feat pick after Metamorphic Transfer to get access to up to 8 HD forms at this level. There are many useful combat forms and a few (Ex) utility abilities that come in handy too. Here’s a selection of some of the best forms for a core human.

Ground combat: Annis Hag. This form comes with 25 strength, +10 to natural armor and the full attack routine claw/claw (1d6+7) bite (1d6+3). Even more impressive are the (Ex) attacks improved grab, rake and rend. This form beats face while offering adequate melee protection.
Aerial combat: Wyvern. You don’t get the flyby attack feat, which means you loose out on 2 of the attacks. You still get 4 solid attacks on a decent body, but the most important feature is the (Ex) poison attack that deals 2d6 con damage (DC 17, fort).
Aquatic combat: Aboleth. 4 tentacle attacks and 26 strength! Also good combat abilities overall and great swim capabilities.
Multi-purpose: Cloaker. This is fantastic. High str, dex, con and natural armor, flying 40’ (average), decent attacks (10’ threat range, and engulf to boot) and a very inconspicious appearance. Stupor is what really makes this shine though. As an extraordinary ability (bypassing an anti magic field, for instance), you can launch a hold monster-type attack with a DC 15 fort save, lasting 5 rounds, with a range of 30’. Infinite freebee (Ex) hold monster at range, that are sonic rather than mind-affecting! This will be your default method of attack, so let’s take Ability Focus (Stupor) as our third feat, making that a DC 17 fort save.

Metamorphic Transfer
This feat is a toolbox in itself when you consider all the supernatural abilities that are available to you. You can make no more than three transfers per day, which often means once per encounter. This allows you to cherry pick the most useful ability from your repertoire of available monsters. If the transferred ability is use activated, you may only use it up to three times (even if it was at will for the real monster). That should still be quite enough for the encounter though. Here are some of the most useful abilities available to you at ML 8.

Body Thief (Intellect Devourer): This is almost like mind switch, only more disgusting. Can be used to animate a powerful fallen enemy to continue the fight, or to gain basic information from foes that die in combat before you can get any answers from them.
Destructive Harmonics (Destrachan): The material version of this is particularly interesting for various uses (blast down a door, destroy weapons, or create a hole in the ground where an enemy is standing).
Detect Thoughts (Doppelganger): Reconnaisance and information gathering.
Dimension Door (Blink Dog): You can do this as a free action and act afterwards, which offers superb mobility in combat. Move and manifest as you please, and get out of any bind. Also offers blink (though there are better defensive options) and the track feat.
Enslave (Aboleth): The aboleth comes with a (Su) dominate person effect up to three times per transfer. While useful, dominating someone as a huge, fishlike amphibian has its social issues.
Ethereal Jaunt (Phase Spider): This should probably be treated as a use activated ability for play balance. Still very useful for defense and reconnaisance.
Freedom of Movement (Spider Eater): Not the most useful form normally, but if you really need freedom of movement, you can get it here.
Greater Invisibility (Pixie): This is very good defensive option. Small size, dex 18, flying 60’ (good), and complete stealth. Manifest powers and move about in three dimensions as you see fit, while avoiding most spells and physical attacks. Very good with ranged touch attacks.
Jet (Pyrohydra, Cryohydra): Why bother with energy damage powers when you can do 8x3d6=24d6 supernatural (no SR/PR) fire or cold damage every 1d4 rounds up to three times per transfer? As if that wasn’t enough, you have a 10’ reach and can take 8 attacks of opportunity per round. Between jets, you can also attack with all 8 heads, even if you move or charge. A good form for aquatic combat to boot.
Magic Circle Against Evil (Lammasu): Useful when you need to hedge out evil outsiders or stop mental control.
Quickness (Choker): It’s probably best to treat quickness as a use activated ability for play balance. You can manifest an extra power every round which is fantastic, though the form is quite fragile in itself.
Silent Image (Cloaker): This goes a long way with a little imagination, and makes up for the lack of illusions in psionics. Yet another reason to morph into a cloaker!

Melee Damage: We have powerful fighting forms for all environments.
Direct Damage: Hydra jet for 24d6 fire or cold damage should be enough.
Battlefield control: Few abilities are relevant here, unfortunately.
Save or Die: We have (Su) dominate person and infinite (Ex) hold monster. Sufficient.
Information Gathering: Excellent reconnaisance forms (cloaker, pixie and phase spider - or simply morph into an object such as a coin), body thief, detect thoughts, dominate etc.
Transportation: A much improved dimension door effect (blink dog), but self only.
Healing: Unfortunately, no (Su) healing is available to humans in core. If you play an outsider or have access to other monsters, it's a different story.
Buffing: Metamorphosis is a prime example of a buff, but also self only.
NPC interaction: Even though you have powers like detect thoughts and dominate, they are inconvenient to use in a non-offensive environment (since you need to turn into a doppelganger or aboleth!). Using Metamorphosis to assume a disguise can be very useful though. But to be honest, this area also needs work.

So it seems we have yet to cover battlefield control and healing, and should also consider improving buffing, transportation and NPC interactions some more. We also want an alternative offensive strategy for when Metamorphosis will not work very well. Overall, we’re looking for powers that work well with our primary metamorphosis concept.

Alternative Offensive Strategy
Undead are perhaps the biggest threat to a Metamorphosis strategy. You may want to avoid melee combat due to nasty drain or other close range effects, and your hold monster and dominate options will not work here. Against spell casters, you may also prefer a defensive form such as an invisible pixie, and must be able to produce a relevant threat in that position. Astral Construct answers both these needs as it is immune to most problem undead attacks, and is an expendable threat that can be produced on demand. This also settles our fourth feat pick to Boost Construct.

Yet another back-up alternative is Crystal Shard. Wonderful with the Pixie form and bypasses antimagic field even when the target is immune to your (Ex) hold monster. With Metamorphosis, Metamorphic Transfer, astral construct and crystal shard, you have an offensive repertoire that will last and be fully sufficient up to the epic levels.

Battlefield Control
We have two excellent options here: Entangling Ectoplasm and Time Hop. For only 1 pp, you have a guaranteed 5 round entangle as a ranged touch attack (great with your high dex forms!) that will stop a charger, lower ac and attacks, and force casters to make concentration checks. For a 5 pp time hop, you can displace a friend, foe or object up to 8 rounds - much like a low level maze spell. Also has many utility uses (getting past obstacles without a trace, setting up ambushes etc).

Healing
As mentioned previously Vigor and Empathic Transfer is one of the most efficient means of healing in the mid levels. Vigor is also a very good power in itself, though you may not want to use it too liberally. With all the defensive options available to you, it is unlikely that you will suffer much damage yourself. Check with your DM if he or she would allow you to heal yourself with this combo too, or simply rely on the cleric or potions for that. Body Adjustment is hardly worth picking up, but you’ll get an excellent healing power in True Metabolism later on.

Buffing
Vigor has already been mentioned, but it’s important to understand why it’s suboptimal to use a buff like Vigor liberally with a Metamorphosis concept. Metamorphosis already takes a standard action, and considering the immense versatility available to you, that should really be enough to handle most problems. If you fear a large amount of direct damage headed towards you, morph to an invisible pixie and move away – or use an immediate action response (see below). You don’t want to waste more actions on defense when you could be doing something useful to help your party instead. Vigor is really mostly for healing allies, or buffing up for the BBEG if you have time to prepare.

Primarily, we’re looking for buffs that do not interfere with the Metamorphosis concept and buffs that do something useful for the entire party. Inertial Armor can be cast ahead of time since it lasts so long, and has great synergy with your various morphs since most of them couldn’t otherwise wear armor. To make use of our immediate actions, let’s pick up Mental Barrier and Intellect Fortress as powerful defenses against physical and magical attacks. Both can be augmented to last longer and intellect fortress protects your entire party! While on the topic of buffs, let’s also add Dispel Psionics in this category. Removing debuffs can be viewed as buffing even though you’re merely bringing the target back to his original effectiveness. It has many other uses too of course, such as stripping caster defenses. Speaking of which, Touchsight is also a very important buff to offset invisibility, concealment, blindness, darkness etc. This gives us a powerful buff package that can help ourselves as well as our allies.

Transportation
At the present level, there’s only one power worth the bother: Dimension Swap. The kind of tricks you can pull with this considering your other abilities are truly amazing though. Let’s say the party is scattered and many are in great need of healing. Rather than simply walking up to each one and healing them (which would take too long), you engage in a round-robin heal fest! Assume the form of a choker and transfer quickness, manifest a big vigor and move to the nearest ally. On your next turn, you heal him with empathic transfer and swap him for the most seriously wounded party member, which you heal and swap on your next turn!

The synergy with astral construct is also wonderful. If some fool tries to grapple you, they may soon find that they are grappling with an astral construct instead. Get the party fighter out of melee with some nasty undead energy draining monster and replace him with an immune astral construct. Or use it with Metamorphosis and replace a more frail party member with yourself in a combat form. In fact, you can go completely defensive and accomplish a lot behind the scenes with this and your other powers: Go invisible pixie and get to a good vantage point. Start bringing the enemy down to size for your melee characters with entangling ectoplasm and summon an astral construct mid combat. Maneuver allies into favorable positions with dimension swap for the win!

There are also utility uses. Say a specific party member needs to get to a hard to reach location (for instance, the mechanism to disarm a trap may be placed on a narrow ledge 20 feet up, and the walls are too smoothe for the rogue to climb). Then you assume the form of a blink dog, dimension door up there and swap positions with the rogue. A very versatile power that will last your entire career, very much worth the 400 xp investment to acquire (if you’re not a Nomad).

NPC Interactions
Our first pick here is Tongues to enhance our Metamorphosis disguise concept. You can now assume any form and speak any language, which makes you a master of impromptu impersonation. For our last slot, we’ll pick Attraction, which served you well in the low levels. It augments and affects everything that’s not immune to [mind-affecting], so it’s still very useful.

There it is. Six level 1 powers, two level 2 powers, four level 3 powers and two level 4 powers. You’ve covered all your bases very well, and have built in pp economy in your powers and feats. Assuming an Egoist, it will cost you 950 xp to acquire these powers at level 7 (including manifesting psychic reformation down to level 1). It will take 3 weeks of secluded research all in all, during which time other party members could tend to their personal matters (perhaps there are also other casters in the party that also want to do some research, craft items etc.). The xp and time can be spread out over levels 4-6 however, to fit the needs of the campaign.

Feats
You have already picked four out of six feats to make the most of your powers. Our fifth pick will be Psicrystal Affinity. At this point, you don’t really need the bonus to concentration anymore, so pick the nimble personality trait for a very useful +2 initiative improvement. Besides the various uses of a psicrystal at your ML, the share powers ability is incredible with Metamorphosis and your other buffs. Consider an Annis Hag psicrystal wrapped in you as a Cloaker. You’re also both buffed with Inertial Armor and can use Mental Barrier against challenging opponents. You Hold Monster anything nearby? and the hag tears it to pieces. You can heal or do various combat tricks meanwhile, and get AoO in a 10’ threat range. You could also use your psicrystal as a flying mount, or to create an additional individual for a disguise (playing the part of your butler or fiancé, for instance).

Finally, Psionic Body is really too good to pass up when you have 5 psionic feats already. Twelve extra hp at level 7? Sure! That’s 6 extra hp for your psicrystal too.

Summary of Level 7
Here are the feats and powers compiled, along with skill advice and 19000 gp worth of suitable equipment.

Feats: Metamorphic transfer, boost construct, ability focus (stupor), overchannel, psicrystal affinity (nimble), psionic body.

Powers: Astral construct, attraction, crystal shard, entangling ectoplasm, vigor, inertial armor, tongues, dimension swap, empathic transfer, time hop, dispel psionics, touchsight, mental barrier, Metamorphosis, intellect fortress.

Skills: You can change these with Psychic Reformation too, so drop skills that were useful at lower levels (craft skills, healing etc.) for something more useful. Knowledge skills can be very important depending on house rules for shape changing abilities like Metamorphosis (check with your DM). Maxing Psicraft is a good idea, since you’ll be picking up Burrowing Power later on and need it for the epic levels. If you still have points to spend, put them in Listen and Spot.


LEVEL 8-20
The mid-high levels reinforce the strong foundation from the level 7 build. You gain access to a few more useful Metamorphosis forms as your manifester rises, and add new tricks to your psionic repertoire as you acquire more advanced powers.

New Metamorphosis Forms
· Roper: A new fantastic form, especially for your psicrystal, this 10 hd darling becomes available at level 8 with overchannel. Six ranged touch attacks (50’ range) per round that deal 2d8 strength damage each on a failed fort save (DC 18), and a +14 natural armor bonus.
· Behir: This form is good for straight combat against opponents immune to paralysis (Cloaker) or ability damage (Roper). 26 str, constrict, improved grab, rake and swallow whole! It slices, it dices...
· Will-o’-wisp: Remember this form for the future with Greater Metamorphosis and Fusion. Using only Fusion (and normal Metamorphosis), this can slap a +9 dex and +9 deflection bonus on any other (preferably low dex) form. With Greater Metamorphosis, you also get spell immunity and (Ex) invisibility here.
· Dragon Turtle: This form is available at level 10 and allows you to capsize ships. +17 natural armor bonus!

Power and Feat Progression

Level 8: You can now emulate ML 10 with overchannel, and get access to the roper, behir and will-o’-wisp forms. Wall of Ectoplasm adds a useful ability to your repertoire here, and can trap a foe in a hemisphere for quite some time, or divide the battlefield in more managable portions. Psionic Divination also brings something new and useful to the table. Having the DM give you clues on how to best proceed is a sure way to increase your success. Use it liberally.

Level 9: At this level you get Psionic Revivify, which is perhaps the best revive effect in the game, and Plane Shift to round out your transportation portfolio. Revivify also has nice synergy with Time Hop, as you can hop a fallen ally forward in time, clean up the mess, and revive him when he hops back – for no extra xp cost. Plane shifting also offers emergency healing for the entire party if you pay a visit to the positive energy plane. For your feat, take Extend Power here (see level 10).

Level 10: Level 10 means ML12 with Overchannel, which in turn means full day duration for your 1 hour/level powers! For your bonus feat here, take Psionic Meditation, since Extend Power also has a combat use in Entangling Ectoplasm. You will also gather quite a few metapsionic powers in the levels to come, so it will come in handy. At this level you pick up Power Resistance, which is a decent catch all defense power before you get better options at higher levels. There are few good level 5 powers to take at this point (Adapt Body has uses if you plane travel extensively), so it’s recommended that you take Energy Wall in your last slot. Energy Wall has many utility uses, and protects your Wall of Ectoplasm from damage too. Its usefulness will continue to grow as you progress in levels.

Level 11: You only get one power at this level, but what a power it is: Temporal Acceleration. It changes everything. Overchannel and extend it so it lasts 2 rounds immediately when you get it, and handle all your buffing in a swift action! You can now use multiple buffs and go nova if the situation so requires. Choker quickness is a boon here, especially when you can increase the duration further. This also applies to Fission.

Level 12: Yet another multi-purpose power lies in Psionic Disintegrate, especially when combined with Split Psionic Ray (your feat at this level). Disintegrate is good for offense, for battlefield control (walls, ceilings, floors), and as an answer to specific effects (such as Wall of Force). Split Ray also enables you to deal 24d6 damage (no save) with an overchanneled crystal shard at this level. For your final level 6 power, take Psionic Contingency. This is a very cheap life insurance, and can store Temporal Acceleration, Plane Shift or Psionic Revivify, for instance. See the epic build below for more inspiration.

Level 13: Here you simply get a new all day buff: Personal Mindblank. It would be a shame if you were dominated, since you’re so powerful. Use Dispel Psionics if someone else would suffer this fate, and don’t waste a level 8 slot on psionic mindblank.

Level 14: Now you can make even more out of your energy walls with a split Energy Conversion, which is perhaps the most efficient damage dealer in the XPH. Even interpreted as strictly as possible, the pp-for-damage ratio of energy conversion charged with energy wall is unmatched, and you get elemental protection to boot. There’s nothing in the rules that prevent you from charging ahead of time, but you can also set the combo up in the comfort of a temporal acceleration. This level also offers Fission, which is the key to go nova like you have never gone nova before. Manifest temporal acceleration, and metamorph to a choker transferring quickness. For the extra action, manifest fission, and have your fissioned self turn into a choker too, transferring quickness, and using the extra action to do something useful (such as buffing with vigor to prevent overchannel damage). You now have 4 actions each round the TA lasts to play with.

Level 15: Finally, you get Greater Teleport and can travel to any place that’s been described to you, and the entire party can come along for the ride. As you now have, access to level 8 spells, invest in your first power granted through Psychic Chirurgery: Telekinetic Sphere. This is a catch-all defense for the entire party (see the epic section), and you can amazingly continue to be effective within it by taking Burrowing Power as one of your two feats here (Fusion and Choker quickness makes the kill even quicker). For you other feat, take Psicrystal Containment, in case you want to add more metapsionics to your burrowing powers. It also allows extended, split Energy Conversion for even more pp economy, letting you blast for a very long time.

Levels 16-20: You have all the power and versatility you need, so use these levels to prepare for the epic levels. Read through the epic section and adopt the strategies that best suit the needs of your campaign. You’ll probably want to use Psychic Reformation once you reach epic anyway, or you can split it up and do part of the reformation now and the rest later. Powers that you’ll probably want to pick up here include Fusion, Bend Reality, Assimilate (+4 unnamed bonus to all ability scores!) and Greater Metamorphosis. The possibilities with Greater Metamorphosis (and as a result, Fusion) are too vast for this guide, but do visit this thread for a full review of its use. (Complete List of Supernatural Abilities:)

2) Psion 19/ Elocator 1
3) Psion 10/ Anarchic Initiate 10 ...full manifesting
4) Psion 9/ Anarchic Initiate 10/Elocator 1


Quote from: ck2001wendt
Green Lantern:

Elan Telepath 20

1 Psionic Body, PsiCrystal
3 Power Penetration
5 E Knowledge (Energy Missile or Ego Whip)
6 Psychic Meditation
9 Practiced Manifester
10 PsiCrystal Containment
12 Twin Power
15 E. Knowledge (Reddopsi), Power Pen: Greater
18 Overchannel
20 Talented

"Power Ring": Base Ring of Counterspells

5 Det. Magic at Will
6 Feather Fall at Will
7 Lesser Extend Power, 3/day
8 Lesser Split Ray, 3/day
9 Comp. Languages at Will
10 Lesser Enlarge, 3/day
11 Lesser Empower, 3/day
12 Extend, 3/day
13 Split Ray, 3/day
15 Lesser Maximize, 3/day
16 [Free Slot]
17 Empower, 3/day
18 Lesser Quicken, 3/day
20 Maximize, 3/day

Why is this a good combo?

The cost for a 15 level Psionic Item of Legacy is -2 ML Penalty (does NOT affect PP or Powers Known, just effect of power and ML checks), 18 PP, 56,000 GP and 3,300 XP.

Here is how you offset the costs:
-Practiced Manifester erases the ML penalty.
-The 30 uses each day of FREE Meta-Psionic augmentation, which do NOT count towards your ML Cap for manifesting or augmenting a power, which equal 78 free power points.
-The GP and XP penalties are offset by the items you don't have to buy.

Excellent use of an Item of legacy...the build is also very nice without it

7. Multiclassing

[sexy image]

1)effect of multiClassing
2)base class suitabilty for Multiclassing and PrC choices
3)Templates

Base Classes:

Barbarian
Bard
Cleric
Druid
Favored Soul
Fighter
Healer
Marshal
Monk
Ninja
Paladin
Psychic Rogue
Psychic Warrior
Ranger
Rogue
Shugenka
Spirit Shaman
Spellthief
Sorcerer
Soulknife
Samuarii
Swashbuckler
Wizard
Warlock
Warmage
Wilder
Wujen










Prestige Classes:


Cerebremancer
Elocater
Psionic Fist
Slayer
Metamind
Psion Uncarnate
Pyrokineticist
Thrallherd
War Mind

Shadow Mind(CAdv)3/4 BAB,d6 HD,7/10 Manifesting,Good Will and Ref,Poor Fort saves
Cognition Thief(PGtF)
Iron Mind(RoS)3/4 BAB,d10 HD,8/10 Manifesting, Good Will/Poor Ref,Fort saves,Skills 2+ Int lvl
Quori Nightmare(RoE)
Quori Mindhunter(MoE)
Sanctified Mind(LoM)



Constructor
Crystal Master
Meditant
.......a nice thread Meditant. Anyone look at this?
Psychic Weapon Master
This PrC is one way I am aware of to gain more than 2 Foci at a time.....the Bonded Weapon can also hold a Psionic Focus thus you can have 3 Psionic foci at one time(neat trick).
Sangehirn
....a nice thread Good Sangehirn Build?
The Body Leech
The Psychic Assassin
Soul Manifester
Subverted Psion

Legacy Champion......(Weapons of Legacy)3/4 BAB,d8 HD, Good Will, Poor Fort and Ref saves,4 + Int Skills per lvl....interesting abilities

An interesting note....this is an incredible PrC...at each levels (except 1st and 7th) it gives an effective level of any class of your choice that you previously had with ALL the abilities and specials that it had. Thus it can give you effective levels of psion or PrC.

The things that are not included:
HD....you get the d8 that it provides
Attack progression.....you get the 3/4 BAB
Skill points.....you get 4+ int bonus, but the class skills are:
Concentration,Decipher Script,Gather Info,Knowledge(History),UMD, and ALL Existing skills from any class you already have!!!

Mind Mage from the dragon magazine:

Mind Mage
Mind Mage Requirements
Feats: Any two psi-spell feats
Spells: Ability to cast 3rd level or higher arcane
spells.
Powers: Ability to manifest 2nd level or higher
powers.
Special: Must have received training in the art of
mind magic, or acquired comprehensive texts from which
to learn its secrets.

Mind Mage Class Information
HD: d4

Skills: 2 + Int modifier per level; Autohypnosis,
Concentration, Craft, Knowledge (all, taken
individually), Psicraft, Spellcraft, Any two skills
not noted above from the class skill list for a
psionic class in which he has taken levels.

PSI-SPELL FEATS - REQ

All of these in some way enhance the performance of
energy spells. Twin Wells Same Source will enhance
the DCs (mostly double the Int modifier is
Psion/Wizard, for example).

Agitated Causticity - any two spells with the acid
descriptor, the matter agitation power.
Astral Fire - any two spells with fire descriptor, any
two powers with fire descriptor
Bioelectrical Surge - any two spells with electricity
descriptor, control body power
Bull Blast - Harden Energy
Concussive Blast - Harden Energy
Dual Plane Summons - any summon monster spell, astral
construct power
Energy Flare - Agitated Causticity, Astral Fire,
Bioelectrical Surge, or Solid Freeze
Harden Energy - ability to manifest any force power,
cast any spell with energy descriptor
Solid Freeze - any two spells with the cold
descriptor, the control flames power

Saves: Will Good, Fort & Refl poor.

BAB: As Wizard

Arcane progression: 8/10 progression, missing at
2nd/4th levels.
Manifester progression: 8/10 progression, missing at
1st/3rd levels.

Psionic Components (lvl 1): may substitute pps for V,
S, and 1gp or less M components. 2pp per spell level.

Compensation (lvl 2): May reduce cost of metamagic
feat; for each 3 pp spent, may offset spell level
increase by one. May reduce cost of metapsionic feat;
for every spell level spent, may reduce the additional
pp cost by 2pps. May not be used in conjunction with
psi-spell feats. May not reduce below normal cost of
spell or power.

Psionic Reinforcement (lvl 3): As long as MM has pp
reserve of 5 or greater, +1 on Spell DCs. At 9th
level this increases to +2 if the reserve is 10 pps or
higher.

Force Touch (lvl 4): May deliver any spell that
requires a touch attack with the following powers:
concussion, detonation, greater concussion, lesser
concussion, mass concussion, true concussion. The
force power has its normal effect in addition to
delivering the spell. The Force power will affect
only a single target, and must have line of sight. SR
applies individually to the power and the spell.

Twin Wells (lvl 5): 1/day, as a full round action that
provokes AoO, he may add his MM levels to either his
psionic or arcane class to determine spellcasting or
manifesting levels. This lasts for 24 hours. Does
not affect number of spells per day or power points.

Magical Reinforcement (lvl 6): 1/day per MM level he
may increase the effective level of one of his powers
by one level, as the Heighten Power feat, at no cost.
Choose to use this at the time the power is activated.

Focus of Disciline (lvl 7): May reduce to lower the
effective spell level by spending 8 power points per
level of reduction. May reduce pp cost of a power by
2 per level of spell spent. Arcane spellcasters who
prepare spells must make this decision when preparing
spells. The reduced level of the spell or power
affects the DC, identification for counterspelling,
and ease of dispelling, and acts in all ways as a
spell or power of the new, lower level.

Painful Premonition (lvl 8) The MM may chose to
augment a damaging spell or power a number of times
per day equal to the ability modifier that controls
his manifester class. The target must make a Will
save against a 6th level telepathic power. Success
negates all effects of the premonition. Failur impses
a -2 penalty on the target's saving throw (if any)
against the incoming effect and deals nonlethal damage
equal to the damage of the incoming spell or power.
If the target somehow reduces or escapes the incoming
effect, then an equivalent portion of the nonlethal
damage is averted. Mindless creatures, creatures
immune to mind-affecting effects, and thos with no
discernable anatomy are immune to painful premonition.

Twin Wells Same Source (lvl 10) This ability replaces
Twin Wells, but functions in a similar manner.
Instead, the MM may increase both his spellcasting
levels and manifester levels by an amount equal to
this MM levels. Further, when using any psi-spell
ability (ie. with psi-spell feats), he adds both the
key ability modifier for his psionic powers and arcane
spells togetehr for all effects based off the key
ability modifier (such as Save DC, etc.).

8: Primary Manifester:85% and above(17th lvl+manifesting)
builds with 17+ manifester levels, Must be able to manifest 9th level powers.....strengths and weaknesses

Manifester Level 19

Usually builds with 19 manifester levels have a Single Dip into another class or PrC , full levels in a PrC that only lose 1 Manifester level, or have a Race or Template that has +1 Level Adjustment. There are other situations that also may arise, but those will be covered individually.

Here are some examples:
carnivore]Monk 1/ Psion 19

Manifester level 19
This build has better saves than Psion 20.
Intelligence bonus to AC with the feat "Carmondine Monk" from "Heros of Valor"



carnivore]Rogue 1/ Psion 19

Gives lots of skill points and with the feat "Able Learner", you can make the most of a High Intelligence.
Also this allows your Psion to be the Trapfinder/Semi-Skillmonkey for your Party.



carnivore]Psion 10/ Slayer 10

Gives a +15 BAB and good Hit points,also great skill selection.



carnivore]Psion 10/ Meditant 10
Very Powerful choice...+12 BAB, and good bonuses to many abilities



+1 LA Template or Race/ Psion 19
not bad depending on the Benifits the race provides.

Manifester Level 18
Usually builds with 18 manifester levels have Dips into another class or PrC , full levels in a PrC that only lose 2 Manifester levels, or have a Race or Template that has +2 Level Adjustment.There are other situations that also may arise, but those will be covered individually.


+1 LA Template or Race/ Psion 19
not bad depending on the Benifits the race provides.
Manifester Level 18
Usually builds with 18 manifester levels have Dips into another class or PrC , full levels in a PrC that only lose 2 Manifester levels, or have a Race or Template that has +2 Level Adjustment.There are other situations that also may arise, but those will be covered individually.



Istarion]Psion (Seer) Build 1

This build starts playing as a "Information manager", with the help of your powers, and your psicrystal as a scout. Then, he takes a level of ranger, and from then on, the build becomes more of a gish, but with the help of the anarchic initiate and his low requirements/medium BAB/full manifesting, you can get 16 BAB and powers known as a 18th level psion, with 20th manifester level.

Seer 5/ Ranger 1/ Anarchic Initiate 2/ Illithid Slayer 10/ Anarchic Initiate 2

Total BAB: 2+1+3+10=16
Manifester level= 20
Learns up to 3 9th level powers. (powers known=33+EK)

Race: Human
Skills: Prioritise Listen and Spot for your scouting crystal, knowledge (psi and dungeoneering) and concentration.

Feats:
Hu: Psicrystal Affinity
1:Overchannel
Psi1:Talented
3: EK(astral construct) (if you are using the nerf, take able learner at first level, and get your psicrystal now)
Psi5: Psionic Meditation
6: Practised Manifester
9: Linked Power
12: EK(metamorphosis)
15: ??
18: ??

Powers known:
On construction

Nice build that shows the importance of Skills......another way to go might be to take Ranger first(for the Skill boost)....and take a feat that will help later, but that is Non-Psionic(Imp Initiative,Able Learner,Earth Sense(later taking Earth Power,etc..)


Other Builds wrote:

Psion (Seer) Build 1

This build starts playing as a "Information manager", with the help of your powers, and your psicrystal as a scout. Then, he takes a level of ranger, and from then on, the build becomes more of a gish, but with the help of the anarchic initiate and his low requirements/medium BAB/full manifesting, you can get 16 BAB and powers known as a 18th level psion, with 20th manifester level.

Seer 5/ Ranger 1/ Anarchic Initiate 2/ Illithid Slayer 10/ Anarchic Initiate 2

Total BAB: 2+1+3+10=16
Manifester level= 20
Learns up to 3 9th level powers. (powers known=33+EK)

Race: Human
Skills: Prioritise Listen and Spot for your scouting crystal, knowledge (psi and dungeoneering) and concentration.

Feats:
Hu: Psicrystal Affinity
1:Overchannel
Psi1:Talented
3: EK(astral construct) (if you are using the nerf, take able learner at first level, and get your psicrystal now)
Psi5: Psionic Meditation
6: Practised Manifester
9: Linked Power
12: EK(metamorphosis)
15: ??
18: ??

Powers known:
On construction
Nice build that shows the importance of Skills......another way to go might be to take Ranger first(for the Skill boost)....and take a feat that will help later, but that is Non-Psionic(Imp Initiative,Able Learner,Earth Sense(later taking Earth Power,etc..)


Other Builds:

carnivore]Psion 6/ Quori nightmare 4/ Slayer 10

great for touch attack specialist.....+16 BAB
Psion 6/ Quori nightmare 4/ Slayer 10

great for touch attack specialist.....+16 BAB



Istarion wrote:
Incarnum Build:
Psion Build 2: Mind and Soul

Human Psion(discipline of your choice, but telepath works wonders)8/Incarnate 2/Soul Manifester 10

ML 18 (for powers known), 20 (with Practised Manifester)
Meldshaper level 12.

Class Progression:

Psion 1-3
Psion 3/Incarnate 1-2
Psion 3/Incarnate2/Soul Manifester 1-10
Psion 3/Incarnate2/Soul Manifester 10/Psion 4-8


Feats:
hu: Psicrystal affinity
1: Midnight Augmentation
Psion1: Azure Talent
3: Practised Manifester (Psion)
6: Psionic Meditation
9: Linked Power
12: Psicarnum Crystal
15: Psicrystal containment
Psion5: EK(Mend Wounds)/Split Chakra (Brow)
18: Psicarnum Infusion/Split Chakra (Brow)

Essentia: 15 Soulmeds/day: 6 Chakra binds: 3

Powers known (I'll mark the essential ones):
1: Vigor, Crystal Shard
2: Damp Power
3: Bestow Power, Share Pain
4: Open Chakra
5:
6:
7:
8:
9:

Essential Equipment:
Torc of Power Preservation

Combos for this build:

Torc of power preservation+Midnight augmentation+Bestow power: If you invest 2 essentia to MA, then you have that when manifesting Bestow Power, you can spend 6-2-1: 3 pp to gain 4pp-->Unlimited PP.

the Share Pain , Psicrystal, Vigor combo.

Recommended Soulmelds:

If telepath: Charming Veil: to heighten your compulsion and charm DC's is extra useful.
Astral Vambraces



carnivore]Incarnum Build:

Human

Psion(shaper) 9/ Incarnate 1/ Soul Manifester 10 (...... not in this order)

feats:

Azure talent
Shape Soulmeld
then your choice for the rest

powers:
Open Chakra(Psion 4)...allows you to bind a Soulmeld to a Chakra....which will qualify for Soul Manifester(you need to be able to shape 3 soulmelds and bind one.......Incarnate 1 gives you the ability to shape 2,and the feat gives you the third....the power allows you to bind it)

look to your Incarnum based powers for most of your LONG term Buffs.....the Psion side should give the rest[/quote wrote:
Incarnum Build:

Human

Psion(shaper) 9/ Incarnate 1/ Soul Manifester 10 (...... not in this order)

feats:

Azure talent
Shape Soulmeld
then your choice for the rest

powers:
Open Chakra(Psion 4)...allows you to bind a Soulmeld to a Chakra....which will qualify for Soul Manifester(you need to be able to shape 3 soulmelds and bind one.......Incarnate 1 gives you the ability to shape 2,and the feat gives you the third....the power allows you to bind it)

look to your Incarnum based powers for most of your LONG term Buffs.....the Psion side should give the rest



jameswilliamogle,08-25-05, 01:16 AM]here's a Gish-like build:
assumptions: you can research cross-disciplinarian powers, you can afford a +5 book at level 17, dragon is allowed, and monk abilities and regular damage stacks when you use Control Body on yourself (fuzzy RAW). Everything here is XPH + BoED + 1 dragon feat (wanted to maximize abilities/minimize books, thus no flaws since they don't add enough).

start as: Venerable Sun Elf, start w/ 23 INT, the rest (who cares? make the wis and con good, the rest crap)

1. Monk-IUS, SF, Kung Fu Genius (dragon 319, p68)
2. Psion (until 9th) Psicrystal Affinity
3. Psicrystal Containment
6. Quicken Power, Psionic Meditation
9. Track
10. Slayer (until 19th)
12. Sacred Vow
15. free feat (might need exp. knowledge: schism, but Insightful Reflexes...)
18. VoP, bonus exalted feat: Touch of Golden Ice
20. Psion, exalted feat: sanctify ki strike

Powers (not all worked out): scism, control body, metamorphosis, fission

So, the whole build revolves around using Control Body on yourself to get Int to damage, Int to AC (twice), and Int + BAB to hit. To this end, Quicken Schism and Quicken Control Body are both doable, even multiple times per day.

Use metamorphosis, sharing it w/ your psicrystal, and fission, sharing it w/ your psicrystal, for 4 beings to control.

At level 16, the character buys a dorje for True Mind Switch to switch into a normal (or insanely powerful) body, then at 17 sells everything he owns to get a book +5 Int.

In the end, this gets a 23 + 5 book + 5 levels + 8 VoP = 41 Int, or +15 to most combat stats, on top of having +14 BAB already + 5 exalted, for +34 to hit when under the influence of control body. Your stunning fist DC is a measly 25. I haven't my BoED w/ me, but the AC bonus from VoP is around 10 + 3 deflection + 2 Natural = +15, I think, for 40 AC under Control Body pre-monk, and AC = 55 b/c Monk AC stacks w/ Control Body.

IF you can flurry while under control body, you really start to see insanity (4 attacks at 32/32/27/22).

You also have Int + exalted damage = +20 damage, with no str modifier.

Plus you can't be affected by mind-affecting abilities (if you're focused), and are proficient with all weapons and armor, have all sorts of damage and energy reduction, true seeing, and +3 to all saves.

There's 2 epic feats which allow you to use reflex saves instead of the others... combine with Insightful Reflexes and you get +14 to each save. saves: F 11 R 11 W 18 before stats wrote:
here's a Gish-like build:
assumptions: you can research cross-disciplinarian powers, you can afford a +5 book at level 17, dragon is allowed, and monk abilities and regular damage stacks when you use Control Body on yourself (fuzzy RAW). Everything here is XPH + BoED + 1 dragon feat (wanted to maximize abilities/minimize books, thus no flaws since they don't add enough).

start as: Venerable Sun Elf, start w/ 23 INT, the rest (who cares? make the wis and con good, the rest crap)

1. Monk-IUS, SF, Kung Fu Genius (dragon 319, p68)
2. Psion (until 9th) Psicrystal Affinity
3. Psicrystal Containment
6. Quicken Power, Psionic Meditation
9. Track
10. Slayer (until 19th)
12. Sacred Vow
15. free feat (might need exp. knowledge: schism, but Insightful Reflexes...)
18. VoP, bonus exalted feat: Touch of Golden Ice
20. Psion, exalted feat: sanctify ki strike

Powers (not all worked out): scism, control body, metamorphosis, fission

So, the whole build revolves around using Control Body on yourself to get Int to damage, Int to AC (twice), and Int + BAB to hit. To this end, Quicken Schism and Quicken Control Body are both doable, even multiple times per day.

Use metamorphosis, sharing it w/ your psicrystal, and fission, sharing it w/ your psicrystal, for 4 beings to control.

At level 16, the character buys a dorje for True Mind Switch to switch into a normal (or insanely powerful) body, then at 17 sells everything he owns to get a book +5 Int.

In the end, this gets a 23 + 5 book + 5 levels + 8 VoP = 41 Int, or +15 to most combat stats, on top of having +14 BAB already + 5 exalted, for +34 to hit when under the influence of control body. Your stunning fist DC is a measly 25. I haven't my BoED w/ me, but the AC bonus from VoP is around 10 + 3 deflection + 2 Natural = +15, I think, for 40 AC under Control Body pre-monk, and AC = 55 b/c Monk AC stacks w/ Control Body.

IF you can flurry while under control body, you really start to see insanity (4 attacks at 32/32/27/22).

You also have Int + exalted damage = +20 damage, with no str modifier.

Plus you can't be affected by mind-affecting abilities (if you're focused), and are proficient with all weapons and armor, have all sorts of damage and energy reduction, true seeing, and +3 to all saves.

There's 2 epic feats which allow you to use reflex saves instead of the others... combine with Insightful Reflexes and you get +14 to each save. saves: F 11 R 11 W 18 before stats; w/ insightful reflexes R = 23.

18 manifester levels, which nets 33 powers, including 9th level, and 415 pp's per day. pretty good, i guess... you can pick up all the neat powers like greater teleport, synchronicity, telekinetic maneuver and stuff (plus, if you have 440000 gp pre-book, that leaves 302500 left, or ~ 50 levels of psychic chirurgery gained powers if you pay someone to give them to you). i still think a straight psion that can just research cross-discipline powers is more interesting and you have less role-playing restrictions, and is more fun, but whatever, this is the next build to beat for a VoP psionic character.



carnivore]Phrenic Human

Psion(Telepath) 18

benifits from Phrenic template wrote:
Phrenic Human

Psion(Telepath) 18

benifits from Phrenic template:

SRD]PHRENIC CREATURE


CREATING A PHRENIC CREATURE
“ wrote:
PHRENIC CREATURE


CREATING A PHRENIC CREATURE
“Phrenic” is an inherited template that can be added to any nonmindless creature that does not already have the psionic subtype (referred to hereafter as the “base creature”. A phrenic creature uses all the base creature’s statistics and special abilities except as noted here.
Size and Type: The creature’s type does not change, unless it is an animal (in which case it becomes a Magical Beast [augmented animal]). It gains the psionic subtype.

Psi-Like Abilities (Sp): A phrenic creature possesses the psi-like abilities indicated below, depending on its Hit Dice. The abilities are cumulative. Unless otherwise noted, an ability is usable once per day. Manifester level is equal to the creature’s HD. The save DCs for a phrenic creature’s psi-like abilities are Charisma-based.


HD Abilities
1-2 3/day - defensive precognition; 1/day - force screen
3-4 3/day - empty mind, mind thrust
5-6 1/day - body adjustment, brain lock
7-8 1/day - aversion, blast
9-10 3/day - intellect fortress; 1/day - psychic crush
11-12 1/day - psionic dominate
13-14 1/day - energy current, tower of iron will
15-16 3/day - psionic teleport
17-18 1/day - fission


Special Qualities: A phrenic creature has all the special qualities of the base creature, plus the following special qualities.

Naturally Psionic: A phrenic creature gains 1 bonus power point.

Power Resistance (Ex): A phrenic creature has power resistance equal to its Hit Dice +10.

Abilities: Increase from the base creature as follows: Int +2 (if Int is 3 or greater), Wis +2, Cha +4.

Feats: A phrenic creature can take psionic feats, if it meets the prerequisites for such feats.

Challenge Rating: Up to 5 HD, same as base creature +1; 6-10 HD, same as base creature +2; 11+ HD, same as base creature +3.

Level Adjustment: Same as base creature +2.


basically you get a Major Boost to Social abilities...and since Telepath has some of the best Cha based Skills...there is a lot of synergy there


Manifester Level 17
Usually builds with 17 manifester levels have Dips into another class or PrC , full levels in a PrC that only lose 3 Manifester levels,or have a Race or Template that has +3 Level Adjustment,(or some combination of these).There are other situations that also may arise, but those will be covered individually.



carnivore]heres an interesting idea: The False Nomad

Human
Psion(Egoist or Telepath) 5/ Quori Mindhunter 8/ Elocator 7

+13 BAB
17th lvl manifester

bonus free powers:
Teleport as 3rd lvl power
Planeshift as 3rd lvl power
Dimensional Anchor
Psi Dissmissal
Psi Etherial Jaunt

many of the Nomad special abilities and powers without being a Nomad[/quote wrote:
heres an interesting idea: The False Nomad

Human
Psion(Egoist or Telepath) 5/ Quori Mindhunter 8/ Elocator 7

+13 BAB
17th lvl manifester

bonus free powers:
Teleport as 3rd lvl power
Planeshift as 3rd lvl power
Dimensional Anchor
Psi Dissmissal
Psi Etherial Jaunt

many of the Nomad special abilities and powers without being a Nomad



carnivore wrote:
heres a fun Build:

Fire Starter

Human

Psion(Kineticist) 17/ Pyrokineticist 3

BAB +11
ML 17th(20th with Practiced Manifester)
9th lvl powers



Pyrokineticist gives the following:
Fire Lash (Ps): A pyrokineticist gains the ability to fashion a 15-foot-long whip of fire from unstable ectoplasm as a move-equivalent action. She takes no damage from a fire lash she creates, and if she releases her hold, it immediately dissipates. The lash deals 1d8 points of fire damage to a target within 15 feet on a successful ranged touch attack. A pyro can take Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization (if she otherwise meets the prerequisites) in conjunction with the fire lash, as well as any feats that apply to the use of a standard whip. The whip remains in existence as long as the pyrokineticist holds it.

Fire Adaptation (Ex): At 2nd level, a pyrokineticist becomes resistant to fire, gaining a +4 bonus on all saving throws against fire and heat spells and effects. In addition, she gains resistance to fire 10.

Hand Afire (Ps): A pyrokineticist of 2nd level or higher can activate this ability as a move-equivalent action. Flames engulf one of the pyrokineticist’s hands (but do her no harm). Her unarmed attacks with that hand are treated as armed. Such attacks deal an extra 2d6 points of fire damage.

Bolt of Fire (Ps): Starting at 3rd level, as a standard action, a pyrokineticist can launch a bolt of psionically manifested fire at any target in line of sight within 60 feet. This effect is treated as a ranged touch attack and deals 1d6 points of fire damage for each class level the pyro has.


Feats:
Practiced Manifester

Powers of Note:

1st lvl:
Control Fire......for 1 PP he can animate a Fire the size of an INN that does 7d6 damage/round  for 17 minutes
he can also put out fires
3rd lvl
Energy Retort
4th
5th lvl
Fiery Discorporation....fun power ...works with the Fire Theme...keeps him from being killed
7th lvl
Energy Claw...fun way to keep casters busy
Rage of the Remorahaze....damages any who want to melee
9th lvl
Tornado Blast

Skills:
Skill trick: Swift Concentration.....Maintain Concentration on power as a swift action

Benifits:
Always have combat power without PP cost(Hand Afire,Fire Bolt), resistance to fire constant effect. Better BAB than Psion 20. Not limited to Fire only...has a variety of options for combat and non-combat situtations.





carnivore]Mr. Face

Kalashtar

1/2 Fey Marshal 1/ Psion(telepath) 17

Attributes: assume 25 point buy
8 Str
13 Dex
10 Con
16 Int
12 Wis
18 Cha




1/2 Fey gives this wrote:
Mr. Face

Kalashtar

1/2 Fey Marshal 1/ Psion(telepath) 17

Attributes: assume 25 point buy
8 Str
13 Dex
10 Con
16 Int
12 Wis
18 Cha




1/2 Fey gives this:

The Half-Fey

Half-fey are the spawn of powerful fey creatures and the mortals they find so intriguing. Often confused by the ignorant with half-fiends, some half-fey grow up tormented by their peers, but a few use their gifts to win over others and become quite popular.

"Half-fey" is usually an inherited template, but it could be acquired through other means as well. Certain mortals who are obsessed with the fey study fey magic and dwell in sylvan places in hopes of gaining power, and a few actually do manage to acquire the half-fey template.

Attribute bonuses     Dex +2, Con -2, Wis +2, Cha +4



Fey Type:  She becomes vulnerable to spells and effects that work on creatures of the fey type but is immune to effects that target her original type. For example, a half-fey/half-human would be subject to the extra damage from a fey bane sword, but she is immune to hold person because that spell affects only humanoids.

Low-Light Vision (Ex):  the half-fey gains low-light vision.

Saving Throw Bonuses (Ex):  a half-fey gains a +4 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the Enchantment school.

Spell-Like Abilities: Starting at 1st level, a half-fey with an Intelligence or Wisdom score of 8 or better gains spell-like abilities. The exact abilities gained depend on the half-fey's character level and level in the template class, according to the following table. In each case, the caster level equals the half-fey's character level. Save DCs, where applicable, are Charisma-based (10 + spell level + half-fey's Cha modifier).

Level     Spell-Like Abilities Gained
    1st     Charm person at will, hypnotism 1/day
    1st     Faerie fire or glitterdust 1/day
        3rd      Detect law 3/day
    3rd     Enthrall or sleep 1/day
        5th     Protection from law 3/day
    7th     Confusion or emotion 1/day
    9th     Eyebite or lesser geas 1/day
    11th     Dominate person or hold monster 1/day
    13th     Mass invisibility 1/day
    15th     Geas/quest or mass suggestion 1/day
    17th     Insanity or mass charm 1/day
    19th     Otto's irresistible dance 1/day

The character gains each spell-like ability as soon as she meets both qualifications for it. Spell-like abilities are cumulative, so a  half-fey whose character level is 3rd has charm person at will, detect law 3/day, enthrall or sleep 1/day, faerie fire or glitterdust 1/day, hypnotism 1/day.

Immunity to Enchantments (Ex):  a half-fey becomes immune to all spells and effects from the Enchantment school. This ability replaces the saving throw bonus against these effects included in the half-fey's base racial features.

Wings (Ex):  a half-fey grows insectlike wings (usually similar to those of a butterfly) and may use them to fly at up to twice her base land speed with good maneuverability.


Marshal gives this:

Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills

The marshal's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Int), Listen (Wis), Perform (Cha), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Speak Language (n/a), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis), and Swim (Str).

Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier)x4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features

All of the following are class features of the marshal.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Marshals are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Skill Focus (Diplomacy): Because a marshal has a way with people, he gains this feat as a bonus feat. If the marshal already has the feat, he can choose a different one.

Minor Aura: A minor aura lets allies add the marshal's Charisma bonus (if any) to certain rolls.


    * Motivate Charisma: Bonus on Charisma checks and Charisma-based skill checks.


feats of note:

Psicrystal Affinity(Friendly    +3 bonus on Diplomacy checks)
Inquisitor
Prtacticed Manifester
Negotiator
Extend Power
Psionic Meditation
Psicrystal Containment

Powers of note:

1st
Telempathic Projection
Empathy
Conceal Thoughts ............. long term buff
2nd
Suggestion
Detect Hostile Intent ................ long term buff
3rd
4th
Dominate
Modify Memory
5th
Mind Probe

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #13 on: April 10, 2013, 11:59:40 PM »
continued




Skills of note

Telepath (Telepathy): Bluff (Cha), Diplomacy (Cha), Gather Information (Cha), and Sense Motive (Wis).
all class skills maxed out

Skill trick: Swift Concentration.....Maintain Concentration on power as a swift action

Benefit:
at 3rd lvl(ECL 5) he has a constant Diplomacy roll of:

+3 Skill focus
+3 Psicrystal
+2 Negotiator
+2 Racial
+8 Cha(includes Marshal Aura)
5 ranks Diplomacy
+6 Synergy(Bluff, Sense Motive, Knowledge(Nobility & royalty) all 6 ranks
.....
total 29 +1d20.......and he has an at Will spell-like ability: Charm...and he can boost this far higher with some Psionics.......this Skill(Diplomacy) does not allow saves or SR/PR

not only this...but he can serve as awalking Lie Detector....with Free Sense motive checks each round(Detect Hostile Intent) and +20 bonus(Conceal Thoughts and Inquisitor)

9: Secondary Manifester:65% and above(13th-16th lvl manifesting)
builds with 13-16 manifester levels.....strengths and weaknesses

tacoronte]Psi/arcane Mind trickster by tacoronte

Beguiler 4/Telepath 3/Cerebremancer 10/Mindbender 1/Wild Mage 2[/b]
CL 17 (14+1d6): 8th level spells, spell slots: 6/6/6/6/6/6/6/6/4
ML 13: 7th level powers, 25 powers, 147pp (+ Int bonus)
9 BAB
Key Abilities: Huge mind-affecting repertoire of powers/spells, telepathy, trapfinding, No ASF in light armor.
Detailed build:
Code:
Race: Any
HitPoints: 4d6+16d4 (54 avg)
Base Saves: F:7 R:8 W:16

Levels Class Feats Class Abilities
1-4 Beguiler 1-4 Magical Apt. No ASF in Light Armor, Trapfinding, Surprise Casting,
1 open +1 DC vs no Dex target, 1 extra spell
5-7 Telepath 1-3 2 open
8 Cerebremancer 1
9 Mindbender 1 1 metamagic Telepathy
10-11 Wild Mage 1-2 CL=(CL-3)+1d6, Random Deflector
12-20 Cereb. 2-10
[/quote wrote:
Psi/arcane Mind trickster by tacoronte

Beguiler 4/Telepath 3/Cerebremancer 10/Mindbender 1/Wild Mage 2[/b]
CL 17 (14+1d6): 8th level spells, spell slots: 6/6/6/6/6/6/6/6/4
ML 13: 7th level powers, 25 powers, 147pp (+ Int bonus)
9 BAB
Key Abilities: Huge mind-affecting repertoire of powers/spells, telepathy, trapfinding, No ASF in light armor.
Detailed build:
Code:
Race: Any
HitPoints: 4d6+16d4 (54 avg)
Base Saves: F:7 R:8 W:16

Levels Class Feats Class Abilities
1-4 Beguiler 1-4 Magical Apt. No ASF in Light Armor, Trapfinding, Surprise Casting,
1 open +1 DC vs no Dex target, 1 extra spell
5-7 Telepath 1-3 2 open
8 Cerebremancer 1
9 Mindbender 1 1 metamagic Telepathy
10-11 Wild Mage 1-2 CL=(CL-3)+1d6, Random Deflector
12-20 Cereb. 2-10



carnivore]BoB the Trap Master Extrordinaire

Dragon Born Gray Elf( +2 Int,-2 Str ...... the other attribute bonuses cancel each other out)
Dragonborn template Show

Rogue(Feat Variant) 2/ Psion 3/ TrapSmith 4/ Spellsinger 1/ Sublime Chord 1/ Cerebremancer 9

32 point buy:
Attributes@ 1st lvl:
10 Str
14 Dex
12 Con
18 Int
10 Wis
14 Cha

Attributes@ 20th, with items:

20 Str(base+ 4 Inherrent(Paralyzing arm graft) +6 Belt)
24 Dex(base+ 4 Inherent(tome) +6 Belt)
18 Con(Base + 6 Belt)
32 Int(base+ 4 Inherent(tome)+ 4 Lvls + 6 Belt)
16 Wis(base + 6 belt)
26 Cha(base + 1 lvl + 5 Inherent +6 belt)


Feats:
1st lvl:Areni Focus(perform)..... gives perform Always as a class skill, and +3 to perform checks(functions as Skill Focus(Perform)
1st lvl :bonus: Blind Fight
2nd lvl :bonus: Weapon Finnesse
3rd lvl: Trap Engineer
3rd lvl :bonus: Psicrystal Affinity(meticulous(+3 search) or Single Minded(+3 Concentration)
6th lvl: Combat Tinker
9th lvl: Improved Counterspell
12th lvl: Trap Master
15th lvl: Trap Sensitivity
18th lvl: Practiced Caster(Sublime Chord)

the Main problem with Trapsmith, is Low Caster Level. This takes care of that and focuses on being a well rounded versatile Trapfinding Character.

Main Points:

Caster Level:
Sublime Chord = 2(1/2 trapsmith lvls) + 10 Sublime Chord + 4 Practiced Caster = 16th lvl Caster
Trapsmith = 5 Trapsmith + 16 Sublime Chord = 21st lvl Trapsmith Caster .....very important with Greater Dispel as 3rd lvl Spell

Manifester Level: 12th Psion
PP= 126 + 66 bonus = 192 PP
6th lvl powers

Powers Known(Kineticist):
Powers Known Show

Items:

200000gp +6 Belt of Magnificense
40000gp Paralyzing Arm (Undead Graft)
xxxxxxxxxgp 13 Wishes cast by 17th lvl Wizard(inherent Bonuses)
21000gp Crystal Mask of Insightful Detection( +9 Insight to Search and Spot)
55000gp Dragons Eye amulet( +10 enhancement to Search and Spot, and 30' Blindsight)
3500gp Lense of Detection(+5 Search)

this should be playable at ALL Levels

under const wrote:

BoB the Trap Master Extrordinaire

Dragon Born Gray Elf( +2 Int,-2 Str ...... the other attribute bonuses cancel each other out)
Dragonborn template Show


Rogue(Feat Variant) 2/ Psion 3/ TrapSmith 4/ Spellsinger 1/ Sublime Chord 1/ Cerebremancer 9

32 point buy:
Attributes@ 1st lvl:
10 Str
14 Dex
12 Con
18 Int
10 Wis
14 Cha

Attributes@ 20th, with items:

20 Str(base+ 4 Inherrent(Paralyzing arm graft) +6 Belt)
24 Dex(base+ 4 Inherent(tome) +6 Belt)
18 Con(Base + 6 Belt)
32 Int(base+ 4 Inherent(tome)+ 4 Lvls + 6 Belt)
16 Wis(base + 6 belt)
26 Cha(base + 1 lvl + 5 Inherent +6 belt)


Feats:
1st lvl:Areni Focus(perform)..... gives perform Always as a class skill, and +3 to perform checks(functions as Skill Focus(Perform)
1st lvl :bonus: Blind Fight
2nd lvl :bonus: Weapon Finnesse
3rd lvl: Trap Engineer
3rd lvl :bonus: Psicrystal Affinity(meticulous(+3 search) or Single Minded(+3 Concentration)
6th lvl: Combat Tinker
9th lvl: Improved Counterspell
12th lvl: Trap Master
15th lvl: Trap Sensitivity
18th lvl: Practiced Caster(Sublime Chord)

the Main problem with Trapsmith, is Low Caster Level. This takes care of that and focuses on being a well rounded versatile Trapfinding Character.

Main Points:

Caster Level:
Sublime Chord = 2(1/2 trapsmith lvls) + 10 Sublime Chord + 4 Practiced Caster = 16th lvl Caster
Trapsmith = 5 Trapsmith + 16 Sublime Chord = 21st lvl Trapsmith Caster .....very important with Greater Dispel as 3rd lvl Spell

Manifester Level: 12th Psion
PP= 126 + 66 bonus = 192 PP
6th lvl powers

Powers Known(Kineticist):
Powers Known Show

Items:

200000gp +6 Belt of Magnificense
40000gp Paralyzing Arm (Undead Graft)
xxxxxxxxxgp 13 Wishes cast by 17th lvl Wizard(inherent Bonuses)
21000gp Crystal Mask of Insightful Detection( +9 Insight to Search and Spot)
55000gp Dragons Eye amulet( +10 enhancement to Search and Spot, and 30' Blindsight)
3500gp Lense of Detection(+5 Search)

this should be playable at ALL Levels[/quote]
under construction

10: Psi-Gish:45% and above(9th lvl and up)
builds with 9+ manifester levels.....strengths and weaknesses

If you do not know what a Gish type build is...try looking at these links:

Optimization Series: Psi-Gish Tank .....by Tleilaxu_Ghola .....a very useful thread

Character Build Spotlight: Gish.....by shadow mage ......a very well made look into Gish builds.



Generally these will focus on Combat, stressing keeping the BAB at +16 or better. Thus even without Power points, they make reliable Combatants with Melee or ranged weapons.

These types of builds can generally be built around a theme orfocus(exa:Melee(attack and damage),Melee(battlefield control),ranged,stealth,etc....).

Generally you will try to get to a Full BAB PrC as soon as Possible.....but 3/4 BAB also works.


Bacris]The Default Psionic Gish
Ranger 2 / Psion 8 / Slayer 10
ML 17
BAB 16

Excellent starting location, very simple, only one required Feat(Track) and can be played by any 0 LA race.



The Default Psionic Gish
Ranger 2 / Psion 8 / Slayer 10
ML 17
BAB 16[/quote]
Excellent starting location, very simple, only one required Feat(Track) and can be played by any 0 LA race.




SKB]Ranger 1/Psion 6[Egoist]/Slayer 9/Sanctified Mind 4

BAB:17
ML:17
ST:11/8/16

Feats:
1. Track, Power Attack, Iron Will
2. PsiCrystal Affinity
3. Imp. Bullrush
6. Leap Attack
9. Shock Trooper
12. Dodge
15. Mobility
18. Elusive Target

Good use of a second Full BAB PrC that has 4/5 Manifesting.....Good example of a Tactical Manifester and Battlefield control (charging and PA focus).


Ranger 1/Psion 6[Egoist]/Slayer 9/Sanctified Mind 4

BAB:17
ML:17
ST:11/8/16

Feats:
1. Track, Power Attack, Iron Will
2. PsiCrystal Affinity
3. Imp. Bullrush
6. Leap Attack
9. Shock Trooper
12. Dodge
15. Mobility
18. Elusive Target[/quote]
Good use of a second Full BAB PrC that has 4/5 Manifesting.....Good example of a Tactical Manifester and Battlefield control (charging and PA focus).



Bacris]the Egoist Gish - SRD-only - Tripping Variety

Human
Ranger 2 / Psion 8 / Slayer 10

Psion ML 17
BAB 16

Feats:
1H: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Kusari-Gama
1: Combat Expertise
1R: Track
2R: Two-Weapon Fighting
3: Improved Trip
3P: Expanded Knowledge (Expansion)
6: Combat Reflexes
7P: Psionic body
9: Metamorphic Transfer
12: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
15: Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
18: Free

Tactics:

Use Metamorphosis to get into a large or larger size creature with hands (such as a girallon - 7HD, Large size) - 20' reach. Use Expansion to get Huge or Gargantuan - 30'-40' reach.

7 attacks with 30' reach. In Huge form, +12 to trip attacks, plus your STR bonus. Kind of MAD-dependent, as you'll need high Wis for the feats, high Int for powers, and high Dex for TWF'ing feats + combat reflexes. STR and CON aren't as important once you hit 9th level (metamorphosis).

excellent Battlefield control Psi-Gish.... 

heres an excellent job by Tleilaxu_Ghola

Ranger 1/ Fighter 1/ Psion 4/ Anarchic Initiate 4/ Slayer 10

Look here for the complete thread on it!

heres some more ideas wrote:

the Egoist Gish - SRD-only - Tripping Variety

Human
Ranger 2 / Psion 8 / Slayer 10

Psion ML 17
BAB 16

Feats:
1H: Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Kusari-Gama
1: Combat Expertise
1R: Track
2R: Two-Weapon Fighting
3: Improved Trip
3P: Expanded Knowledge (Expansion)
6: Combat Reflexes
7P: Psionic body
9: Metamorphic Transfer
12: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
15: Greater Two-Weapon Fighting
18: Free

Tactics:

Use Metamorphosis to get into a large or larger size creature with hands (such as a girallon - 7HD, Large size) - 20' reach. Use Expansion to get Huge or Gargantuan - 30'-40' reach.

7 attacks with 30' reach. In Huge form, +12 to trip attacks, plus your STR bonus. Kind of MAD-dependent, as you'll need high Wis for the feats, high Int for powers, and high Dex for TWF'ing feats + combat reflexes. STR and CON aren't as important once you hit 9th level (metamorphosis).[/quote]
excellent Battlefield control Psi-Gish.... 

heres an excellent job by Tleilaxu_Ghola

Ranger 1/ Fighter 1/ Psion 4/ Anarchic Initiate 4/ Slayer 10

Look here for the complete thread on it!

heres some more ideas:

carnivore]Kalashtar

Psion 6/ Quori Nightmare 4/ Slayer 10

BAB +16
Manifester level 18

this build has many special features:
uses melee touch attacks as a focus for combat

Psi/arcane Gish By tacoronte

Duskblade 5/Egoist 1/Slayer 9/Cerebremancer 5
16 BAB
ML 14: 7th level powers, 27 powers, 170pp (+ Int bonus)
CL 10: 2nd level spells, spell slots: 6/6/5 , 13 spells known (+ Int bonus)
Key Abilities: Weapon-channeled touch spells, Immune to mind effects, Melee hits lower Power Resistance, No ASF in medium armor.
Detailed build:Spoiler: Show

Kalashtar

Psion 6/ Quori Nightmare 4/ Slayer 10

BAB +16
Manifester level 18

this build has many special features:
uses melee touch attacks as a focus for combat[/quote]
Psi/arcane Gish By tacoronte

Duskblade 5/Egoist 1/Slayer 9/Cerebremancer 5
16 BAB
ML 14: 7th level powers, 27 powers, 170pp (+ Int bonus)
CL 10: 2nd level spells, spell slots: 6/6/5 , 13 spells known (+ Int bonus)
Key Abilities: Weapon-channeled touch spells, Immune to mind effects, Melee hits lower Power Resistance, No ASF in medium armor.
Detailed build:Spoiler: Show

if you plan to combine soulknife and Pyrokineticist try this:

Soulknife 5/ Pyrokineticist 4/ Psion 1/ Slayer 10

BAB +16
5th lvl powers
10th lvl manifester(14th with Practiced Manifester)
4d6 at will ranged touch attack(fire)
2d6 Weapon Afire[/quote]
Psion/Pyrokineticist builds

carnivore]Human or Kalashtar
Monk 2/ Psion(kineticist) 4/ Pyrokineticist 4/ Slayer 10

Monastic Training(Slayer) Monk bonus feat
Combat Reflexes Monk Bonus Feat
Tashalatora(slayer) psion bonus Feat
Track
Robilars Gambit.... @15th or 18th lvl
Imp natural Attack
Superior Unarmed Strike
sacred Vow
Carmondine Monk...can also boost AC,Unarmed Damage or Speed by 2 monk lvls...but must choose which each day
VOP ........... preferably @ 18th lvl......spend all your money on Inherent Bonuses(Tomes and Wishes, to boost ability scores)
feat...if human

now you have the Monk abilities @
15th lvl Monk Unarmed Damage
12th lvl Monk Flurry:...Greater Flurry
12th lvl monk AC


13th lvl Psionic powers(7th lvl Powers)

and everything is Based on Int...... and you get some nice Pyro powers also[/quote wrote:
Human or Kalashtar
Monk 2/ Psion(kineticist) 4/ Pyrokineticist 4/ Slayer 10

Monastic Training(Slayer) Monk bonus feat
Combat Reflexes Monk Bonus Feat
Tashalatora(slayer) psion bonus Feat
Track
Robilars Gambit.... @15th or 18th lvl
Imp natural Attack
Superior Unarmed Strike
sacred Vow
Carmondine Monk...can also boost AC,Unarmed Damage or Speed by 2 monk lvls...but must choose which each day
VOP ........... preferably @ 18th lvl......spend all your money on Inherent Bonuses(Tomes and Wishes, to boost ability scores)
feat...if human

now you have the Monk abilities @
15th lvl Monk Unarmed Damage
12th lvl Monk Flurry:...Greater Flurry
12th lvl monk AC


13th lvl Psionic powers(7th lvl Powers)

and everything is Based on Int...... and you get some nice Pyro powers also



PhaedrusXY]Re: Core Melee Build


Here is a "psychic rogue gish" build that I just made that I would love to play. Since there are already a couple of psionicists in your group, and you seem to be lacking a rogue, you might consider something like this. It uses material only from the core 3 books + XPH. I think it should be quite fun and reasonably strong.

Edit: Oops. I included Practiced Manifester, which is actually from Complete Psionics. I think that's the only one I missed, though. If you replace that with Overchannel and take Talented instead of something else, you'll still be pretty close to the original. I have a mix of some ranged and some melee things in there, so the build could actually be a bit more focused if you'd rather.

"The Hunter"
Elan Rogue2/Ranger1/Ftr1/Psion(Egoist)2/Elocater7/Slayer7

Manifester Level 13 (17 w/PrM)
BAB +16
Base Saves: Fort +8, Reflex +12, Will +13 (can also add: +2 Fort. psicrystal, +4 Elan Resistance)

Code:
1 Rogue1 Dodge (1), [+1d6 SA]
2 Ftr1 Mobility (b)
3 Psion1 Point Blank Shot (Psicrystal Containment), Psionic Shot (Psicrystal Affinity) (b)
4 Psion2
5 Rogue2 [Evasion]
6 Ranger1 Track(b), Spring Attack
7 Elocater1 Sidestep Charge (b), [Scorn Earth]
9 El3 Practiced Manifester
12 El6 Craft Power Stone (Empower), [Transporter]
13 El7 [Capricious Step]
14 Slayer1 [Favored Enemy, Enemy Sense]
15 Slayer2 Metamorphic Transfer, [Brain Nausea]
16 [Lucid Buffer]
17 [Favored Enemy +4]
18 Slayer5 Split Psionic Ray (or Overchannel)
19 [Cerebral Blind]
20 Slayer7
(Feats in parenthesis are to be picked up later using Psychic Reformation.)
[Class abilities are in brackets]

Powers:
1st: Crystal Shard, Entangling Ectoplasm, Vigor, Energy Ray, Body Adjustment
2nd: Share Pain, Animal Affinity, Ego Whip, Energy Adaptation: Specified
3rd: Dispel Psionics, Touchsight, Time Hop, Body Adjustment, Plane Shift, Teleport
4th: Metamorphosis, Correspond, Divination, Wall of Ectoplasm (Psychic Reformation originally), Trace Teleport (or Intellect Fortress)
5th: Psionic Revivify, Power Resistance, Psychofeedback, (took 4th)
6th: Disintegrate, Temporal Acceleration, Contingency
7th: Fission

Items:
Gloves of Object Reading, Third Eye of Remote Viewing

Tactics: The psicrystal is there to use Share Pain on, to use Aid Another, and to make separate skill checks. If you start at low levels you're better off taking Psionic Shot instead, and then Psychic Reforming it away at 7th level, if you think you can get access to the power.

In the low levels, you're basically just the party "trapmonkey"/scout. You won't be doing alot of damage, and you'll be kind of vulnerable. With Psionic Shot + Sneak Attack on a Crystal Shard, you'll at least be able to do a bit of damage.

At level 7, you get access to 2nd level powers. If you can get your hands on it, use Psychic Reformation to exchange Point Blank Shot and Psionic Shot for Psicrystal Affinity and something else (Mage Slayer?). Use Share Pain on your Psicrystal, and you will become much more durable, and can start risking melee. Conveniently, you just got two feats to help you there, proficiency with all Martial Weapons, and the ability to "fly".

At level 12+, turn into a Hydra and use Capricious Step to move up, bite with all your heads, and move back again. Do this while hovering over your enemies head, and use your reach to stay out of theirs, if possible. You should be able to dish out quite alot of damage.

You can also share Metamorphosis with your Psicrystal, if you want. You'll be able to dish out even more damage, but will be more vulnerable defensively because your Psicrystal could easily die (and not be sharing your pain anymore).

At level 13, get Psychic Reformation and use it as discussed earlier, if you haven't already. Make yourself a Power Stone of it, then get rid of the feat and the power. Your feats should look like the ones in parenthesis at this point. This option is really only here for campaigns in which you couldn't do this at level 7.

At level 15+, you'll have alot more tools thanks to Metamorphic Transfer.

At level 20, you can use Fission to double all of this, if you want.

under const wrote:

Re: Core Melee Build


Here is a "psychic rogue gish" build that I just made that I would love to play. Since there are already a couple of psionicists in your group, and you seem to be lacking a rogue, you might consider something like this. It uses material only from the core 3 books + XPH. I think it should be quite fun and reasonably strong.

Edit: Oops. I included Practiced Manifester, which is actually from Complete Psionics. I think that's the only one I missed, though. If you replace that with Overchannel and take Talented instead of something else, you'll still be pretty close to the original. I have a mix of some ranged and some melee things in there, so the build could actually be a bit more focused if you'd rather.

"The Hunter"
Elan Rogue2/Ranger1/Ftr1/Psion(Egoist)2/Elocater7/Slayer7

Manifester Level 13 (17 w/PrM)
BAB +16
Base Saves: Fort +8, Reflex +12, Will +13 (can also add: +2 Fort. psicrystal, +4 Elan Resistance)

Code:
1 Rogue1 Dodge (1), [+1d6 SA]
2 Ftr1 Mobility (b)
3 Psion1 Point Blank Shot (Psicrystal Containment), Psionic Shot (Psicrystal Affinity) (b)
4 Psion2
5 Rogue2 [Evasion]
6 Ranger1 Track(b), Spring Attack
7 Elocater1 Sidestep Charge (b), [Scorn Earth]
9 El3 Practiced Manifester
12 El6 Craft Power Stone (Empower), [Transporter]
13 El7 [Capricious Step]
14 Slayer1 [Favored Enemy, Enemy Sense]
15 Slayer2 Metamorphic Transfer, [Brain Nausea]
16 [Lucid Buffer]
17 [Favored Enemy +4]
18 Slayer5 Split Psionic Ray (or Overchannel)
19 [Cerebral Blind]
20 Slayer7
(Feats in parenthesis are to be picked up later using Psychic Reformation.)
[Class abilities are in brackets]

Powers:
1st: Crystal Shard, Entangling Ectoplasm, Vigor, Energy Ray, Body Adjustment
2nd: Share Pain, Animal Affinity, Ego Whip, Energy Adaptation: Specified
3rd: Dispel Psionics, Touchsight, Time Hop, Body Adjustment, Plane Shift, Teleport
4th: Metamorphosis, Correspond, Divination, Wall of Ectoplasm (Psychic Reformation originally), Trace Teleport (or Intellect Fortress)
5th: Psionic Revivify, Power Resistance, Psychofeedback, (took 4th)
6th: Disintegrate, Temporal Acceleration, Contingency
7th: Fission

Items:
Gloves of Object Reading, Third Eye of Remote Viewing

Tactics: The psicrystal is there to use Share Pain on, to use Aid Another, and to make separate skill checks. If you start at low levels you're better off taking Psionic Shot instead, and then Psychic Reforming it away at 7th level, if you think you can get access to the power.

In the low levels, you're basically just the party "trapmonkey"/scout. You won't be doing alot of damage, and you'll be kind of vulnerable. With Psionic Shot + Sneak Attack on a Crystal Shard, you'll at least be able to do a bit of damage.

At level 7, you get access to 2nd level powers. If you can get your hands on it, use Psychic Reformation to exchange Point Blank Shot and Psionic Shot for Psicrystal Affinity and something else (Mage Slayer?). Use Share Pain on your Psicrystal, and you will become much more durable, and can start risking melee. Conveniently, you just got two feats to help you there, proficiency with all Martial Weapons, and the ability to "fly".

At level 12+, turn into a Hydra and use Capricious Step to move up, bite with all your heads, and move back again. Do this while hovering over your enemies head, and use your reach to stay out of theirs, if possible. You should be able to dish out quite alot of damage.

You can also share Metamorphosis with your Psicrystal, if you want. You'll be able to dish out even more damage, but will be more vulnerable defensively because your Psicrystal could easily die (and not be sharing your pain anymore).

At level 13, get Psychic Reformation and use it as discussed earlier, if you haven't already. Make yourself a Power Stone of it, then get rid of the feat and the power. Your feats should look like the ones in parenthesis at this point. This option is really only here for campaigns in which you couldn't do this at level 7.

At level 15+, you'll have alot more tools thanks to Metamorphic Transfer.

At level 20, you can use Fission to double all of this, if you want.[/quote]
under construction

11: Equipment
equipment selection...goals and recomendations

try to always fill all available body slots

many small cheap items can do more than a few big expensive ones.

combat is only a small part of the game(unless you are playing an Arena fight type game)...weapons and armor are not the most important things....

Some Key Equipment

Your powers are more important to you than your gear, but a few pieces of the right gear can make your career longer and happier:

Melee Weapon: You're not much good in combat, but you never know when you'll need to resort to hand-to-hand combat. The club, quarterstaff, and the shortspear have the best damage potential of the few melee weapons available to you. Among the three, the shortspear is arguably the most flexible, because you can throw it a fair distance if you need to, ready it against a charge, or use it as a probe.


Ranged Weapon: A light crossbow can prove as effective as a low-level attack power against some opponents. Use it when necessary to conserve your power points, such as when the opposition isn't threatening enough to merit power use. A heavy crossbow deals more damage with a single hit but has a slower rate of fire than a light crossbow. In many cases, you will find using a power to be more useful than taking multiple shots.


Backup Powers: You never know when you'll run out of power points, and you never know when you'll need a particular power and need it very badly. It's hard to beat a cognizance crystal for keeping a few power points in reserve.

A dorje is useful for manifesting powers that you use often, such as energy ray, body adjustment, or detect hostile intent. Best of all, you can use a dorje to manifest any power on the psion class list or your discipline's list, even if you don't know the power.
from the SRD:


Helm of telepathy.......... Substitute power for spell
Pearl of power.............. Treat in all ways as a cognizance crystal with power point capacity appropriate to the equivalent power level
Crystal ball .................Substitute power for spell
Ioun stones ........

Vibrant purple................... Stores three levels of psionic powers

Pale lavender ...................Absorbs powers up to 4th level (burns out as normal)

Rainbow....................... Provides 5 power points per day (regenerates) New item: Treat as a cognizance crystal in ioun stone form, except that it regenerates its stored power points each day; Price 16,000 gp

Dull gray..................... Provides 1 power point to a psionic character, then disintegrates. Dull gray stones are useless for magic but still harbor just enough resonance that a psionic character can eke out 1 power point before the stone is gone forever.



3000gp Skin of Ectoplasmic Armor(Complete Psionics)
...+8 Armor,+2 Max dex,-6 Armor chk,25% ASF, no speed penalty

12. Powers

[sexy image]

Dictum Mortuum wrote:
This section isn't dedicated only on listing the best Powers out there for Psions, but also to present information that will make you able to identify if a certain power is good or bad.

Save-Based Powers:
Unless you are a fairly experienced player you will probably have a problem selecting the right Powers at each level. There are Powers that deal with specific creature types, but what if someone wants to be prepared no matter what? What Powers should he Know for the day when he reaches a certain level? Even worse what saving throws should his Powers allow?
A way to cover this problem is to consult the graph below:

[sexy image]

This actually presents the creatures' (of a certain challenge rating) average scores (in saves and SR). Data come from CubeKnight's creature filter and as you can see there are records from lots of different source books.

Fortitude saves are almost always the best saving throws. Even though after mid levels they sometimes are equal to will saves, they never fall below that limit.
On the other hand, will saves are the worst saves at early levels, but they get significantly boosted at mid and late levels.
Reflex saves are probably the worst saves there are. At low levels they are better than fortitude saves, but at mid and higher levels will saves are superior. Reflex saves are significantly lesser at high levels, not the difference between fortitude (23 on average) and reflex (16 on average).

So to wrap it up:

Low to Mid Levels (1-10 CR):

Fortitude > Will
Fortitude >= Reflex
Reflex >= Will

Mid to High Levels (11-20 CR):

Fortitude >= Will
Fortitude >> Reflex
Reflex <= Will

So now selecting your Powers should be relatively easier. If you study the graph, from low to mid levels your will-based Powers are less likely to be resisted. The same goes for reflex-based powers and high levels. Mind you, i am not suggesting that fortitude-based Powers are bad, just that they are less likely to be effective (that is actually correct, since most save or die Powers fall into this category).

Difficulty Class:
Simply put, for your Power to be effective you want your opponent to score on his d20 saving throw check a number less than your DC minus his save bonus:

1d20 check < Your DC - His Save
(click to show/hide)
Give Me Your Most Useful Power/Feat Combinations! .......nice resource

Metamorphosis-Your best killer forms! .......nice ideas

Learning Powers
A psion will eventually learn 36 powers throughout his career. Many powers have such broad applicability that 36 slots is more than enough to handle most high level challenges. It's not necessary to be able to handle everything in the low levels however, but it is important to select powers based on problems that may come up at your specific level.

The easiest way to learn powers is simply to pick them as you level up. This applies to all powers on the psion/wilder list and your discipline list. You can also learn powers in the following ways:
•    Expanded Knowledge: Taking this feat increases the number of powers you know, and let's you choose any power on any list, as long as it is one level lower than the highest level power you can manifest. Very useful at low levels when both power quality and quantity is an issue.
•    Research: You can research any power and learn it instead of picking a power already available to you. The price you pay is one week of study per level of the power, and 200 XP per week of study. A good option for powers not on your list that are useful throughout the remainder of your adventuring career.
•    Psychic Surgery: You can pay for having any power implanted in your mind for a substantial amount of gold, if your DM allows you to pay for psionic services. Another party member could also impart the knowledge, for an XP cost that may be split between you.
•    Prestige Class: Some prestige classes automatically teaches your character powers, for example the Elocater and Thrallherd.

The important thing to remember is that you can learn more or different powers than normal by spending feats, XP, gold or taking PrC levels. The builds in this guide make heavy use of the research option. If your DM or campaign makes this alternative unavailable to you, it is recommended that you play an Egoist to make the most of this guide, and that you use expanded knowledge to cover your bases (details are given below).

Power Selection Skeleton:
This is designed to assist in choosing powers for your Psion. The following is a collection of powers that all General Purpose Psions should have:


1st level powers:
Vigor :....this can be helpful to most any psion, for the entire length of his career.

the next 2 powers are very useful....depending on how much combat you prefer to be involved in:

Pick One:
Precognition(Offensive) or Precognition(Defensive)

Precognition(Offensive) :.......this is very good to have as it affects ALL of your attacks, and it stacks with most other attack bonus boosting sources. If you plan on attacking something...MAKE SURE you can HIT it!!!!

Precognition(Defensive) :........this is very helpful as it affects AC and Saves at the same time......very nice for a defense oriented character.(personally i would rather live by the saying "the best defense is a good offense" and take Precog(off))

2nd level powers:
Ego Whip:
Crystal Storm:
Share Pain:


3rd level powers:

Dispel Psionics :.....absolute must for ALL Psions

4th level powers:

Divination,Psi:

5th level powers:

Plane Shift :


6th level powers:

Disintegrate,Psi :
Temporal Acceleration :

7th level powers:

Energy Conversion :

8th level powers:

Teleport,Greater :
True Metabolism :

9th level powers:

Assimilate :


When choosing powers , remember to consider how you can contribute to the Party in the following aresa:

1: Melee Damage
2: Direct Damage
3: Battlefield control
4: Save or Die powers
5: Information Gathering
6: Transportation
7: Healing
8: Buffing
9: NPC interaction(FACE)

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #14 on: April 11, 2013, 12:01:40 AM »
Soulborn Handbook

by Mudkipz

Soulborn Handbook

[sexy image]

Table of Contents
Introduction and Overview
Races
Feats and Skills
Soulmelds
Equipment
Alternate Rules

The Soulborn And You: The Basics

The Soulborn is a Base Class in Magic of Incarnum that is quite similar to a Paladin with Incarnum abilities instead of spellcasting. That said, the Soulborn is pretty bad. It has a paladin chassis, only slightly less restrictive alignments, and very little defense. From here on out, I will stop bashing on this poor, poor, class, and actually help people play one. Hopefully.

Now, let's look at ability scores.

Strength: Hello, melee class anyone? Unlike many melee classes, the Soulborn is less dependent on strength at later levels, as many of your soulmelds can serve to augment your melee capabilities. If you are playing a combat maneuver-focused character, this is very important at low levels, but tapers off sharply in usefulness at later levels with a certain soulmeld that would do you much good to shape.

Dexterity: Eh, it's mostly useless for you, as, like the paladin, you benefit from heavy armor much more than you do from light armor. If you really want to, you can use a ranged weapon, but I would advise against it.

Constitution: You are a meldshaper, primary melee combatant, and fairly competent tank. This is your most important stat.

Intelligence: You are not a skill monkey. It is fairly safe to dump this.

Wisdom: Dump it unless you need it for a PrC of feat. Find some other way to get your will save up.

Charisma: This is a very good ability for you. Your smites are an important part of the class, so any added benifit to your smites are welcome.


Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #15 on: April 11, 2013, 12:02:28 AM »
Incarnum Feats for Soulborn
By Arz

Incarnum Feats
   The primary purpose is to break these down so that a Soulborn can choose his three bonus feats. The Soulborn should look at them like soulmelds. Most of the feats provide an insight bonus to tasks requiring a roll. I’ll break them down by primary roll, secondary rolls, and mention if the bonus type changes from insight.

Improves attack roll
Cobalt Charge: Attack and damage on charge.
Cobalt Critical: Attack rolls to confirm crits and damage on crits.
Cobalt Expertise: Disarm, feint, or trip attacks. All skill and ability checks w/ same. AC when defensive.
Cobalt Power: Bull rush, overun, or sunder attacks. Damage rolls when power attacking.
Cobalt Precision: Ranged attack rolls to confirm crits and damage on crits.

Lucky Dice: Flat luck to attack, damage, saves, and/or checks.
Necrocarnum Shroud: Flat profane to attack rolls
Necrocarnum Weapon: Profane to damage rolls and confirming crits.

Improves damage roll
Azure Enmity: Damage rolls against favored enemies. Skill checks involving same.
Azure Turning: Add damage to turning result.
Azure Wild Shape: Natural weapon damage rolls.
Cobalt Charge: Attack and damage on charge.
Cobalt Critical: Attack rolls to confirm crits and damage on crits.
Cobalt Power: Bull rush, overun, or sunder attacks. Damage rolls when power attacking.
Cobalt Precision: Ranged attack rolls to confirm crits and damage on crits.
Cobalt Rage: Melee damage rolls when raging. Will saves during rage.
Indigo Strike: Damage rolls using skirmish, sneak attack, or sudden strike.
Psycarnum Blade: Damage rolls using mind blade.
Sapphire Fist: Damage rolls using stunning fist. DC of stunning fist.
Sapphire Smite: Untyped damage rolls using smite. More smites per day.

Bluesteel Gauntlets: Damage rolls and flat initiative boost.
Lucky Dice: Flat luck to attack, damage, saves, and/or checks.
Mauling Gauntlets: Morale to unarmed damage rolls and strength checks.
Necrocarnum Shroud: Flat profane to damage rolls
Necrocarnum Weapon: Profane to damage rolls and confirming crits.
Riding Bracers: Flat bonus to damage rolls and AC when mounted.
Sighting Gauntlets: Damage rolls with ranged weapons.
Thunderstep Boots: Sonic damage on a charge.

Counters attack roll (AC)
Cobalt Expertise: Disarm, feint, or trip attacks. All skill and ability checks w/ same. AC when defensive.
Incarnum Shroud(invocation): AC and fortitude saves.
Midnight Dodge: Dodge bonus to AC.
Sapphire Sprint: AC while running. Running speed and checks to keep running.

Armguards of Disruption: AC and all saves vs Undead
Astral Vambraces: Astral construct deflection bonus
Crystal Helm: Deflection bonus
Riding Bracers: Flat bonus to damage rolls and dodge when mounted.

Counters damage roll (HP/PP)
Azure Talent: Bonus power points.
Azure Touch: Increase class level for lay on hands and wholeness of body.
Azure Toughness: Temporary hit points.
Cerulean Fortitude: Fortitude saves.
Cerulean Reflexes: Reflex saves.
Cerulean Will: Will saves.
Cobalt Rage: Melee damage rolls when raging. Will saves during rage.
Healing Soul: Heal hp damage.
Heart of Incarnum: Bonus hit points based on total incarnum pool. Essentia trapped in feats counts too.
Incarnum Fortified Body: Bonus hit points. Flat untyped bonus to saves to avoid death from massive damage.
Incarnum Shroud(invocation): AC and fortitude saves.
Midnight Augmentation: Reduce augmentation costs for one power.

Armguards of Disruption: AC and all saves vs Undead
Astral Vambraces: Astral construct bonus hit points
Dragon Mantle: Flat enhancement to fortitude saves.
Enigma Helm: Enhancement to will saves
Impulse Boots: Enhancement to reflex saves.
Lucky Dice: Flat luck to attack, damage, saves, and/or checks.
Necrocarnum Mantle: Profane vs mind-affecting.
Necrocarnum Vestments: Bonus hit points.
Pauldrons of Health: Enhancement to fortitude saves.

Other ability
Incarnum Spellshaping: Add spells to list.
Midnight Metamagic: Use your metamagic for free.
Soulsight: Blindsense.
Soultouched Spellcasting: Dispel and caster level checks.

Essentia Capactiy
Divine Soultouch: All essentia ability capacities raised by one.
Essentia Helm(head slot): Expend charges to fill up to essentia capacity.
Improved Essentia Capacity: Essentia capacity for feats raised by one.
Psycarnum Infusion: Fill up to essentia capacity.

To make these feats even remotely useful you need to find a way to fully power feats without using any of your free essentia. Free essentia is best used for items, melds, and spells that don’t tie it up all day. Psycarnum Infusion is the classic way but an essentia helm is the disposable battery of choice in filling your feats.

Soulborn should take Saphire Smite first then look to a feat that improves attack rolls. If none of the feats fill this need you’ll want to look at acquiring a totemist or incarnate soulmeld via Shape Soulmeld that fill this void if necessary.

Insight damage improvement can be covered by Bluesteel Bracers or Sighting Gloves. Azure Enmity, Indigo Strike, and Psycarnum Blade all require some multiclassing to be effective but offer a significant return on investment in damage boosts. Cobalt Power is likely to be your second bonus feat as it offers improvements to good combat maneuvers and an average damage boost.

Your defensive options are poor. Look to improving saves or Midnight Dodge as your hp boosters are poor options for a Soulborn. Evil soulborn have an advantage in Necrocarnum Vestments but have so many offensive melds that are hurt by meldshaping level that I like to take Soultouched Spellcasting to ameliorate.

Make sure to take  Improved Essentia Capacity and/or Divine Soultouch! You can spare one feat to improve three abilities at the least. Travel to magical locations or use magic items that grant you more incarnum feats to make this even more efficient. Avoid wasting four levels for Incarnum Overload which is best used by specialist builds.

Azure Enmity and Cobalt Expertise are the only two incarnum feats that improve skill checks. Neither are especially good at improving skills but I just thought I should point that out.

Gold star to anyone that can find a way to get a dark invocation on a straight soulborn build.

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #16 on: April 11, 2013, 12:04:05 AM »
The Crusader's Field Manual
by Littha

The Crusader's Field Manual by Littha

[very sexy image]

Crusader's are one of my favourite classes, and definitely my favourite ToB class. Everyone else seems to love the warblade but for me the crusader is best. As all the crusader handbooks I can find are incomplete or lack a manuvers section I thought I would give it a go myself.

Table of Contents


Crusaders:
Pros:
Full Selection of Martial Weapons to choose from
Heavy Armor proficiency, along with shields
d10 HD
Full BaB
Good Fort save
Free Action manuver recovery
Devoted Spirit rocks!
Cha to Will Saves
Reroll 1 save a day
Mettle

Cons:
Bad Will and Ref Saves
Lots of people don't like the random recovery
Cant change weapon specialisation like a warblade.
Don't have spells (Unless you go RKV)

Class Feature's Summary:

Devoted Spirit

[extremely dull image]

The Devoted Spirit style is the crusader's unique school. It has a lot of awesome in it but many people assume that it only does healing.... they are wrong.


Devoted Spirit Manuvers and Stances:
Aura of Chaos (** usually ***** if used with a gimick)
  Its a nice ability but the problem is that it becomes less effective as you use larger weapons, if you want most use out of it you need to use a gauntlet or a dagger. And that sucks unless you go for a specific combination of feats.

Aura of Perfect Order (***)
  The ability to  take 11 on attack rolls is nice but not that good, the ability to take 11 on skill checks while you are out of combat is nicer, the ability to take 11 on saves is awesome goodness as if you have decent saves you will likley never be affected by anything that requires a save. Sucks that it is 1/round though.

Aura of Triumph (**)
  4hp of healing to you and an ally every time you attack is nice, having to hit an evil enemy for it is not

Aura of Tyranny (*)
  Deal 2 damage to an ally within 10 foot to gain 1hp, possibly nice if you managed to come up with a decent tanking build as it might save you for a round but in a normal party you can get a max of about 5hp out of this...

Castigating Strike (****) 
  +8d6 damage is nice, Fort save or take a penalty on attack is also nice (though the DC might be a bit low) 5d6 damage to every enemy within 30ft (who fails their fort save) and debuff them is unprecedented with melee characters. Only reason this isn't 5 stars is that the fort save is generally going to be too low and as an 8th level manuver 5d6 damage is pretty underwhelming. -2 to attack rolls for anyone who fails their fort save is ok...

Crusader's Strike (***)
  Pretty nice, in combat healing usually sucks but this (and its bigger brothers) are the reason crusaders are considered the only viable choice for it.

Daunting Stike (***)
  Will save based on the damage you inflict could be awesome or really bad depending, shaken is a nice enough status though but i would have to heavily consider my options for a level 5 manuver. Combines sort of well with intimidate to push people into frightened.

Defensive Rebuke (**)
  It would be an Ok tanking skill exept that you have to hit the enemy before hand to "mark" them, which means that unless you are cleaving its not likley to be more than 1. Thicket of Blades is strictly better if you want to do this sort of thing and dosent take your swift action and a manuver slot.

Divine Surge (*****)
  My favorite manuver, period. +8d8 damage. If you are a crusader you take this at level 7.

Divine Surge, Greater (* with no way to remove ability damage, ***** with. )
  A souped up version of the original, or at least that is the idea. Does less (!) damage normally but you can take Con damage to increase your attack and add an extra 2d8 to the damage. Technically the most damaging maneuver in the game at level 20... but then you take 20 points of Con Damage for +20 to the attack roll and +46d6 damage. Good if you have some way of healing all the Con Damage you take while doing it (Such as Strike of Rightious Vitality).

Doom Charge (***)
  +6d6 damage Dr 10/- if you hit a good enemy, would be good if good aligned enemies were all that common.

Entangling Blade (****)
  -20ft move speed, works well with Thicket of Blades if you hit a gnome or halfling with it or in conjunction with your wizards BFC spells (Especially with Mettle and Aura of Perfect Order).

Foehammer (***)
  Ignore DR and deal 2d6 extra damage, not spectacular but what do you expect from a level 2 manuver.

Immortal Fortitude (****)
  You cant die. Seriously, no dying from HP damage if you can pass a fort save. Nice but it only lasts for 3 attacks after you hit 0hp, if you find some way of healing all the damage (Strike of Rightious Vitality?) you could just reinitiate the stance as a swift action (Dont do this when you are at 0hp though).

Iron Guard's Glare (****)
  For a level 1 character -4 to attack rolls is enormous, it means that you are going to recieve a beating though as it dosent affect you.

Law bearer (***)
  Only works against chaotic enemies, nice to have if you know you are going to the abyss or something... Anyway large bonus to attack rolls and a little extra damage is nice enough. The real gem here is the +5 to AC(meh) and Saves(!).

Martial Spirit (*** to ***** depending on DM)
  Some in combat healing, not bad but not all that awesome either. At level 1 2hp an attack is epic though. If your DM lets you randomly attack the furnature in a room you can fully heal your party after a fight with this.

Radient Charge (****)
  Like Doom Charge, only it works against evil enemies. This is strictly better as you will be fighting a lot more of these.

Rallying Strike (****)
  More in combat healing, this time for the whole party. Heals at least 3d6+11 damage from every party member within 30'. Solid but it is a level 6 manuver.

Revitalizing Strike (****)
  In combat healing again. 3d6+level healing to one party member within 10ft. At level 5 this is pretty potent though it does get worse as you go along.

Shield Block (***)
  Add your Shields bonus +4 to an allies AC if they are adjacent to you... maxes about +8 unless you invest in a heavily enchanted shield. The upside is that sword and board isnt actually all that bad for a crusader so you might actually have a shield.

Shield Counter (* to ****)
  If you are heavily built to shield bash this is pretty good, immediate action attacks are always going to be solid. Makes your opponents attack miss too. One thing should be noted is that this can be done against any enemy you threaten (not necesarity threaten with your shield) so if you have a shuriken and the ranged threat feat (Dragon 350) or have some one handed weapon with reach you can do this at a range (Don't expect your DM to buy into this, unless they are a captain america fan and you have a returning shield or something).

Strike of Rightious Vitality (*****)
  As a level 9 strike it had better be good, and it is. This is the King of in combat healing and works as a Heal Spell. Combines well with some other divine spirit stances and anything that deals you ability damage to use.

Thicket of Blades (*****)
  This is the stance you want if you are going to tank. Enemies provoke AoOs from you with 5ft steps and cant use the withdraw action. This is a core component of a crusader's lockdown build. Plus as a 3rd level stance you can have it at level 8 (or 10 if you fix the crusader's stance progression) or level 6 if you take a feat for it.

Tide of Chaos (****)
  Like Law Bearer, nice if you are going to hell. Big attack boost and a decent damage boost. However this completely beats Law Bearer in its bonus aspect. You gain Total Concealment! against all attacks. This is not negated by true seeing!

Vanguard Strike (****)
  Nice at level 1, +4 bonus for all allies attacks is rediculous at that point. Still nice later on but not quite so much.

Unfinished

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #17 on: April 11, 2013, 12:09:43 AM »
Consolidated Binder's Handbook (Repost with Formatting)
by Sobolev

I can't take it anymore.  The formatting in the Consolidated Binder Handbook is so terrible, and was never fixed. This is now completely a repost, any new information and my person guide can now be found on the new Min/Max website.  All credit here goes to jameswilliamogle

Consolidated Binder Handbook
Table of Contents
Credits and Information
The Binder
Introduction to Pact Magic
Lists of Vestiges and Abilities *
List by Level *
List by Type of Ability *
Pact Augmentations and Immunities
Low-level Binder Advancement *
Feat Progression Suggestions for Generic Binders *
Magic Items of Note *
Strategies vs. Specific Creatures*
Combos *
Offensive Combos *
Defensive Combos *
Caster-like Combos *
Miscellaneous Combos *
Tips and Tricks *
Maximizing Save DC’s
Customer Service Quotes for Convenience *
Reports from the Trenches: Binder in Action*
* NEW INFORMATION NOT IN PREVIOUS HANDBOOKS (but possibly buried in the thread)


Credits and Information


The purpose of this thread is to have one source for all a Binder’s needs, be they basic information, builds, combos, or anything else.  This is a copy for these boards from the CharOp boards basically because I don't think I'll be around the CharOp boards much longer, what with the fairly ridiculous changes occurring over there.

T_G and Gerdreg, being the original authors of the two main Binder sourcebooks, both approve of the compilation here, and both have been really busy lately.  This is likely to happen to me, too, so I’ve created a new profile and password that is completely public, so that users may edit the information as they see fit.  Here it is:

If you think something is in error, or you’d like to add some combos, please post it first, just so the community has a chance to digest it and to verify its legality.

I’ve formatted the text such that “fluff” would all be in sblocks, which I hope doesn’t insult anybody, and the “meat” such as vestige power lists and combos, which the CO community thrives on, would be readily viewable on the second post.

Much of the work here was done by T_G and Gerdreg, I’ve just been the organizer of some of the more recent developments, and their works (and that's a mountain of data to process, in and of itself).  With that, I hope you enjoy, and that it isn’t a wasted effort!

Links to the original threads / handbooks:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=605415
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=607826

-jameswilliamogle


The Binder’s Role


Quote from: Gerdreg
Though there are only a limited number of vestiges currently available, and the binder may only bind a small number of them at once (up to four at a time by level 20), the Binder is one of the most versatile classes to date. Based on what vestiges the Binder chooses to make pacts with that day, the Binder can fill many different roles within a group. By combining different vestiges and their granted abilities, the Binder can choose to either further specialize in his chosen role in the party, or create a unique combinations of abilities not possessed by any standard class.

One of the great strengths of Pact Magic is that, unlike spells, the special abilities granted by vestiges are not limited to a certain number of uses per day. Though each vestige does not grant a large number of abilities, a Binder who can make pacts with multiple vestiges can obtain a wide variety of abilities. Many of the more powerful abilities are only available once every five rounds, so a wise binder will make sure he has other abilities or items at his disposal between uses. The highest level vestiges allow access to some very strange and powerful combinations of abilities.

Though not naturally as formidable in combat as the warrior classes, the Binder has medium BAB, d8 HD, and Good Fort and Will Saves. In addition to their vestige granted abilities and pact augmentations, a Binder can be a potent combatant if he or she chooses to be. Despite having a low number of skills points (2+Int per level), the Binder's bonus feats in addition to skill bonuses grants by many of the vestiges will allow the Binder to be very potent in the skills he chooses to pursue.
In addition to this, I'd say, right from the start, Binders are RIDICULOUSLY complicated: if you haven't read the entire class, all the vestiges, and at least the first 3 posts to this thread, you will probably not play one to its entire potential.  Even then, if you are an inexperienced player, STAY AWAY FROM THIS CLASS!  Play a Rogue, instead, and max out Use-Magic Device for when you want to get tricky.

Play a Binder when:
The healing, the arcane, and the trapfinding roles are covered (Binders aren't very efficient at these roles, though they can be decent secondary healers or arcanists.  Trapfinding works well with Able Learner and moderate Int);
You want to cover the party face role (Binders are GREAT at this!);
You are playing gestalt rules, and want something cool on one side;
You are going to be dealing with a campaign full of outsiders (all Binder abilities are Su: SR doesn't apply).

Introduction to Pact Magic
If you're at all familiar with magic of incarnum this system should be very intuitive. The flavor is almost the same even. Basically, you gain the ability to make "pacts" with vestiges (invulnerable souls that are neither dead nor alive) and gain special abilities via these pacts. Here's the general procedure:

Draw the vestige's seal: takes 1 minute and a "markable" surface. No checks are required to make this seal. Provokes an AoO. The drawn seal needs to be used w/in 1 minute of making, or doesn’t work.
Call out the vestige's name, must be able to speak for this to work. Binding requires 1 minute more, or 1 full-round action at -10 to your check. 

Make the binding check: (1d20 + effective binder level + cha modifier)

You get the benefits regardless of whether you made a bad pact or a good pact, but if you made a bad pact you have a certain role-playing restriction that you must obey, or else suffe a cumulative -1 on all your d20 rolls until you can remove the vestige.

There are two methods of speeding the process up: Vestige Phylactery (item) and Rapid Pact Making (feat).  Rapid Pact Making doesn't work if you don't use Expel Vestige (feat), but the Phylactery performs the functions of both items in 1 round.  Also, RAW, Rapid Pact Making doesn't remove the necessity to draw the seal (this was surely an oversight: this section of the book is full of inconsistencies; talk with your DM).  The Vestige Phylactery is the way to go, but it costs 15k gp, so its a mid-to-high level item (Asteroth gives you the ability to make it, though, which is nice).  You bind a vestige ahead of time to use it in combat, or leave it empty, and bind a vestige into it as needed.  In other words, its not very practical to switch vestiges in the middle of the day, which decreases the Binders flexibility a little when compared to the Incarnate or Factotum.

Vestiges and Granted Abilities


Below is a list of Vestige and their granted abilities.  I've updated the old lists with every vestige thats been published so far.  There are four sources of official WotC vestiges aside from Tome of Magic:
Design and Development article (Vanus)
Mind’s Eye article (Abysm, Arete, and The Triad)
Cityscape Web Enhancement (Astaroth, Deshartis)
Class Chronicles: Binders (Zceryll)
Dragon Magic (Ashardolon)
Dungeon Mag #148 (Ahazu)
Dragon #341 (Primus and Kas)
Dragon Mag #357 (Astaroth, again, Ansitif, Cabiri)
This makes for a total of 41 vestiges, which means a TON of combinations (I'll let a statistician do the math on that one).  Summarized here.

Figuring out great combinations is kind of tough: some synergies are obvious, but many are not.  When in doubt about what to do, determine randomly what you'll bind (use a deck of cards), then look to see what their abilities are and how well they synergize; just about any combination will turn out ok: these aren't weak abilities, after all.  On top of that, check out this post for making custom vestiges and its index:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=606718
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php%3Fp%3D10791757%26postcount%3D452
Thats ANOTHER 30+ vestiges, if you are looking for homebrew content... Pretty crazy.

There is a new Vestige and Prestige Class posted with full stats here.  Its from the editor of Pathfinder, James Jacobs, and is about as official as non-WotC material gets.  Its also very balanced w.r.t. most vestiges (unlike a lot of homebrew content).  Its all related to the Age of Worms adventure path.


1st Level
Amon - Darkvision, Fire Breath*, Ram Attack
Aym - Dwarven Step, Halo of Fire, Improved Sunder, Medium Armor Proficiency, Resistance to Fire, Ruinous Attack
Leraje - Hide Bonus, Low-Light Vision, Precise Shot, Ricochet, Weapon Proficiency
Naberius - Disguise Self, Faster Ability Healing, Naberius’s Skills, Persuasive Words*, Silver Tongue
Ronove - Cold Iron and Magic Attacks, Far Hand*, Feather Fall, Ronove’s Fists, Sprint
2nd Level
Dahlver-Nar - Mad Soul, Maddening Moan*, Natural Armor, Shield Self
Haagenti - Confusing Touch*, Immunity to Transformation, Shield Proficiency, Weapon Proficiency
Malphas - Bird’s Eye Viewing, Invisibility*, Poison Use, Sudden Strike
Savnok - Call Armor, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Move Ally*, Savnok’s Armor
3rd Level
Andromalius - Jester’s Mirth*, Locate Item, See the Unseen, Sense Trickery, Sneak Attack
Focalor - Aura of Sadness, Focalor’s Breath*, Lightning Strike, Water Breathing
Karsus - Heavy Magic, Karsus’s Senses, Karsus’s Touch*, Karsus’s Will
Paimon - Dance of Death*, Paimon’s Blade, Paimon’s Dexterity, Paimon’s Skills, Uncanny Dodge, Whirlwind Attack
Primus (Dragon 341) - Divine Structure, Lawful Attacks, Primus's Order*
Ahazu (Dungeon 148) - Ahazu’s Abduction, Ahazu’s Touch, Blindsight, Void Mind
4th Level
Agares - Earth and Air Mastery, Earthshaking Step*, Elemental Companion, Fear Immunity, True Speech
Andras - Weapon Proficiency, Mount, Saddle Sure, Smite Good or Evil*, Sow Discord*, Sure Blows
Buer - Buer’s Knowledge, Buer’s Purity, Delay Diseases and Poisons, Fast Healing, Healing Gift*, Track
Eurynome - Animal Friend, Damage Reduction, Eurynome’s Maul, Poison Blood, Water Dancing
Tenebrous - Deeper Darkness, See in Darkness, Touch of the Void*, Turn/ Rebuke Undead*, Vessel of Emptiness
Arete (Mind’s Eye WotC article) – Psionic Boon, Resistance, Damage Reduction, Repletion
Kas (Dragon 341) - Blinding Strike, Bluff Bonus, Undead Reaper, Kas's Protection, and longsword, bastard sword, and short sword proficiency
Astaroth (Cityscape Web Enhancement) - Angelic Lore, Asaroth's Breath, Honeyed Toungue, Master Craftsman, Word of Astaroth
Astaroth (Dragon 357) - Blackflame, Divination, Serpentine Toung, Silvered Touch
Cabiri (Dragon 357) - Arcane Eye, Far-seeing Gaze, Seer in Darkness, Visons of Terror
5th Level
Acererak - Detect Undead, Hide from Undead, Lich’s Energy Immunities, Paralyzing Touch*, Speak with Dead, Undead Healing
Balam - Balam’s Cunning*, Icy Glare, Prescience, Weapon Finesse
Dantalion - Awe of Dantalion*, Dantalion Knows, Read Thoughts, Thought Travel*
Geryon - Acidic Gaze, All-Around Vision, See in Darkness, Swift Flight*
Otiax - Air Blast, Combat Reflexes, Concealing Mist, Open Portal, Unlock*
6th Level
Chupoclops - Aura of Despair, Ethereal Watcher*, Ghost Touch, Poison Bite, Pounce, Soul Sense
Haures - Inaccessible Mind, Incorporeal Movement, Major Image*, Phantasmal Killer*
Ipos - Cold Iron Claws, Flash of Insight*, Ipos’s Influence, Planar Attenuation, Rend
Shax - Freedom of Movement*, Immunity to Electricity, Storm Strike, Swim Speed
Zagan - Aversion*, Improved Grapple, Scent, Constrict, Snake Bane
Vanus (Design and Development WotC article) - Fear Aura, Free Ally*, Noble Disdain, Vanus’s Ears
The Triad (Mind’s Eye WotC article) – Psionic Boon, Call to Mind, Psicraft Bonus, Bardic Knowledge, Empathy, Diplomacy Bonus, Smite Evil, Detect Hostile Intent, Sense Motive Bonus, Weapon Proficiency
Desharis (Cityscape Web Enhancement) - City Dweller, Infinite Doors, Language of the City, Smite Natural Soul, Spirits of the City
Zceryll (Class Chronicles web article) - Alien Form, Alien Mind, Bolts of Madness, Summon Alien, Telepathy
7th Level
Eligor - Chromatic Strike, Eligor’s Skill in the Saddle, Eligor’s Strength, Eligor’s Resilience, Heavy Armor Proficiency
Marchosias - Death Attack, Fiery Retribution, Smoke Form*, Silent and Sure
Ansitif (Dragon 357) - Blaspheme, Divine Resistance, Fire Immunity, Thrall to Demon
8th Level
Ashardalon (Dragon Magic) - Ashardalon's Greed, Ashardalon's Presence*, Ashardalon's Vigor, Fiend's Heart
Halphax - Damage Reduction, Halphax’s Knowledge, Imprison, Iron Wall*, Secure Shelter*
Orthos - Blindsight, Displacement, Whirlwind Breath*, Whispering Wind
Abysm (Mind’s Eye WotC article) - Psionic Boon, Overpower
* useable once every 5 rounds

Lists by Type of Ability


Most of these were already written by T_G; just cut and pasted.  The newest Vestiges have been added, however.

Offensive Abilities

Easiest way to survive is to kill them before they kill you.

Extra Damage
Smite Good or Evil: [Andaras] cha to attack, +1 damage/level, 1/5 rnds
Smite Natural Creatures: [Desharis] as above, 1/5 rounds, animal, elemental, fey, or plant, 1/5 rnds
Ruinous Attack: [Aym] double damage vs. objects
Sneak Attack: [Andromalius] +2d6 sneak +1/5 levels beyond 5.
Strength Bonus: [Eligor] +4 unnamed to strength
Noble’s Disdain: [Vanus] +d6 damage when fighting creatures of lower HD than you
Chromatic Strike [Eligor] Add 1d6 energy damage to a single attack as a free action. May not add more than
once to a given attack.
Sudden Strike: [Malphas] 1d6 + 1d6/4 BL. Stacks with sneak attack.
Ricochet: [Laraje]: Attack two adjacent targets with a ranged weapon with one attack roll. Extra damage applies only to one.
Fiery Retribution: [Marchosias] An extra 3d6 fire damage when you attack an opponent who has the CAPABILITY of delivering sneak/skirmish/or sudden strike damage.
Storm strike: [Shax] Swift action, charge your next melee attack with 1d6 electricity and 1d6 sonic. At will.
Snake Bane: [Zagan] +2 attack bonus vs. snake-like creatures (nagas or yuan-ti), and +2d6 bonus damage added to melee attacks.
Lawful Attacks: [Primus] all your melee and ranged attacks are lawful, and melee attacks (including touch attacks) do +d6 damage against chaotic opponents.
Animal Affinity: [Abysm] +4 Enhancement bonus to Str, Dex, or Con, but temporary as the psionic power
Earth and Air Mastery: [Agares] +1 to attacks and damage vs those on ground, -1 penalty to those attacking or damaging you from air.
Void Strike: [Tenebrous] charge the next melee attack with 1d8 cold + 1/4 BL beyond 7. Once you reach 11th BL you can charge the attack for the full round. 1/5 rnds.
Debuffs
Tasha's Hideous Laughter: [Andromalius] 1/5rnds
Phantasmal Killer: [Haures] range 10 ft per BL, 1/5 rnds
Death Attack: [Marchosias] As an assassin, save is equal to standard binding save. You need a source of Sneak Attack or Sudden Strike to use it.
Maddening Moan: [Dahlver-nar] daze all in 30' radius, will negates, 1/5 rnds.
Imprison: [Halphax] Std action touch attack, fort save, otherwise as the spell. Can only be attempted every 1d4 rounds and cannot have more than one person imprisoned at a time.
Blinding Strike: [Kas] on a critical hit, opponent must make a Will save or be permanently blinded; you can crit undead, and this effects them.
Paralyzing Touch: [Acererak] 1/5 rnds
Earth Shaking Step: [Agares] knock all prone in 10'. Ref-save.
Direct Damage
Gaze Attack: [Balam] 2d6 cold, will negates , [Geryon] 2d6 acid, will negates.
Lightning Strike: [Focalor] 3d6 + 1d6/3 BL beyond 5 to a single target. At will.
Air Blast: [Otiax] Melee touch attack up to 10' away (like a reach weapon). 2d6 damage (no strength) can make multiple attacks if BAB warrents it.
Breath Weapon: [Amon] line of fire, 1d6/level, 10ft/level 1/5 rnds ; [Orthos] Whirlwind breath 1d6/BL 60' cone. Ref for half + wind effects. 1/5 rnds
Buffs
Ghost Touch: [Chupoclops] applies to all attacks.
Pounce: [Chupoclops] Can be used with any weapon or natural weapon.
Eurynome's Maul: [Eurynome] Summon a large magical warhammer that you can use w/o penalty and have proficiency with and can wield in 1 hand. Has abilities based on level.
Dance of Death: [Paimon] Make a single attack against any creature you pass during a single move action. 1/5 rnds.
Cold Iron and Magic: [Ronove] Your attacks have these qualities once you attack BL 7 (otherwise it's just magic before that).
Undead Reaper: [Kas] can ignore all undead DR.
Divine Structure: [Primus] gain +1 competence bonus on all d20 rolls for a round, if you performed the same actions in the same order previously.
Others
Far Hand: [Ronove] Similar to mage hand except that you can lift an amount based on your BL, useable as a swift action at will. Also allows a telekenetic push attack that deals 1d6 pts of damage and initiates a bull rush useable as a standard action 1/5 rnds.
Turn/Rebuke Undead: [Tenebrous] As a cleric of your BL. 1/5 rnds.

Defensive Abilities

Tank like a champ w/ this group of abilities.  Also consider tactical movement below.

Debuff
Aura of Despair: [Chupoclops]: 10' -2 to attacks, saves, damage, skill checks.
Aura of Sadness: [Focalor] -2 to attacks, saves, skill checks for those adjacent to you.
Damage Reduction
Shield Self: [Dahlver-nar] Another creature within 10/BL shares damage with you. Will negates for unwilling creatures.
Damage Reduction: [Eurynome] 2/Lawful; [Savnok] 1 +1/4 BL /piercing (and magic if BL >= 13); [Ashardolon] 10 / cold iron; [Halphax] 10 / adamantine; [Arete] DR 5/-
Concealment, Crit reduction, and related
Light Fortification: [Kas] And Heavy fortification against undead, but it stacks w/ fortification, too, making 2 rolls for each crit or sneak attack.
Displacement: [Orthos] At will and continual effect, as the spell.
Concealing Mist: As obscuring mist, but you cannot hide in it and it only affects you (not an area). Grants concealment.
Awe of Dantalion: [Dantalion] No one who sees you may attack you for 1 round, but you may not attack them either. 1/5rnds.
AC Bonuses
Dexterity Bonus: [Paimon] +4 unnamed to dexterity.
Prescience: [Balam] +1/4 BL insight bonus to AC, Ref, and initiative.
Natural AC: [Dahlver-nar] Enhancement equal to 1/2 Con bonus; [Eligor] +3 enhancement (+4 at lvl 16, +5 at lvl 20).
Call armor: [Savnok] Full round action, summon a suit of full plate about you. Has magical qualities based on BL (rather good ones I might add).
Uncanny Dodge: [Paimon] if you already have this ability it improves to Improved Uncany dodge.
HP Bonuses
Fast healing: [Buer] Based on level, maxes out at Fast healing 5 at 19th level.
Repletion: [Arete] body adjustment , body purification, and sustenance while bound.
Temporary Hit Points: [Ashardolon] HP = 2 X Binder level
Other
Delay Disease and Poison: [Buer] To all in 30,' once they leave the area the effect ends though.
Poison Blood: [Eurynome] Those who bite or swallow you whole take poison damage.
Freedom of Movement:[Shax] Swift action to use, lasts 1 round. 1/5 rnds.
Save boost [Arete] +4 resistance bonus to any saving throw; [Balam] Ref save based on level.

Natural Weapons

Wanna fight like a totemist?  Here you go.

Horns: [Amon] 1d6 + 1.5 STR
Bite: [Chupoclops] based on size.
Claws: [Ipos] Cold Iron Claws w/ damage based on size.
Rend: [Ipos] Must hit with all claws to gain extra damage. Extra damage = twice normal claw damage (including strength).
Constrict: [Zagan] 1d8 + 1.5xSTR in addition to normal unnarmed damage.

Feat-like

So what if you only have light armor prof?  You can have heavy any time you like!

Weapons
[Andaras] Greatsword, lance, longsword, and rapier
[Haagenti] Battle Axe, Greataxe, handaxe, and throwing axe.
[Lareje] Composite Long bow, composite shortbow, longbow, and shortbow
[Paimon] Rapier and Short Sword
[Kas] Longsword, Bastard Sword, Short Sword
[The Triad] All simple, martial, and exotic weapons
[Ronove] Improved Unnarmed Strike (and damage as a monk of your BL)
Armor, Shields
[Aym] Medium Armor
[Eligor, Savnok] Heavy Armor
[Haagenti]Shields including tower shields
Melee Combat Related
[Paimon] Pseudo-Spring Attack
[Balam, Paimon] Weapon Finnesse (only with rapier and short sword for Paimon)
[Laraje] Precise Shot
[Otiax] Combat Reflexes
[Paimon] Whirlwind attack
[Zagan] Improved Grapple, considered large in size for grapple purposes and damage deal is lethal.
[Aym] Improved Sunder
Mounted Combat
[Eligor]Ride-by-attack
[Eligor]Spirited Charge
Other
[Buer] Track
[Astaroth] Every item creation feat that doesn't have a feat prereq, and CL = EBL for picking them
[Ansitif] Trall to Demon

Buff-like or Magic-Related Augments

Things that directly emulate spells or things that only casters can do.

Offensive (Save or Suck)
Fear: [Ashardolon] as spell, CL= BL, 1/5 rnds, immunity to frightful presence works against it.
Command: [Primus] Command w/in 100’, no need to share language, is not [Mind], they can’t see or hear you for d4 rounds.  1/5 rnds
Command or Suggestion: [Naberius] Command within 30 ft or suggestion (if BL >= 14) . 1/ 5 rnds
Suggestion: Astaroth 1/5 rounds, max # = cha mod.
Read Thoughts, Energy Missile, Psionic Levitate, Astral Construct: [Abysm] as a psion.
Dispel Magic: [Karsus] Dispel Magic in a touch, but only vs. creatures and objects.
Animate Objects: [Desharis] CL = EBL, as the spell
Pure Defensive Self Buffs
Undead Healing: [Acererak] Heal from BOTH negative and positive energy
Invisibility: [Malphas] Full round to use, but lasts rounds per BL. As your BL increases the time required to use it
goes down, eventually to a swift action at 15th BL. 1/5 rnds.
Gaseous Form: [Marchosias] Lose all Su abilities except this one (binds are not lost, but are not functional). Otherwise treated as the spell with unlimited duration. 1/5rnds.
Freedom of Movement: [Vanus] as the spell, others only, gives them an immediate move action to move only.
Displacement: [Orthos] At will and continual effect, as the spell.
Scouting
See the Unseen: [Andromalius]
Soul Sense: [Chupoclops] Blind sense + Deathwatch ability.
True Seeing: [Ipos] swift action, duration 1 rnd. 1/ 5 rnds.
Detect Magic: [Karsus] Detect magic at will.
Disguise Self: [Naberius] At will, as the spell.
Toungues (Humanoid only): [Desharis]
Mobility
Swift Flight: 1 round of flight 60' move, perfect maneuverability. 1/5 rnds.
Open Portal: [Otiax] as open-close, but only to open. Swift action to use. at will.
Feather Fall: [Ronove] Continual effect
Others
Heavy Magic: [Karsus] +2 DC to all effects produced by magic items.
Karsus's Touch: Use any magic device as a wizard of your BL.
Empathy, Call to Mind, Detect Hostile Intent: [The Triad] as a psion.
Item Creation: [Astaroth]: Make any item w/ a single feat prereq, but need to produce spell still

Miscellaneous


Lots of caster-like abilities in here.

Save or Suck and Debuffs
Fear Aura: [Vanus] 10’ radius, shaken or frightened, your choice! Duration = ½ BL.
Sickening Breath [Desharis] 60' cone, nauseated 1 round then sickened for d4, or just sickened for 1 round (1/5 rnds)
Ipos's Influence: [Ipos] increase effective BL and DC of vestige abilities by 1.
Major Image: [Haures] CL = BL. 1/ 5rnds.
Poison Use: [Malphas] As an assassin.
Read Thoughts: [Dantalion] Full-round action, detect surface thoughts, duration = unlimited over concentration. Will negates.
Tactical
Secure Shelter: [Halphax] As the spell, except that only 1 may be up at a time. 1/5 rnds.
Iron Wall: [Halphax] As the spell, except only for a minute.
Deeper Darkness: [Tenebrous] As spell, except as an emanation centered on you with a range that you can
vary throughout the duration. Unlimited duration, std action to activate or suppress.
Scouting
Scent: [Zagan] as the special quality MM 314.
Low-light Vision: [Leraje]
Blind Sight: [Orthos] 30' blind sight.
Animal Friend: [Eurynome] All animals automatically friendly with you
Unlock: [Otiax] Full round action, open any lock w/ DC <= 2*BL. 1/5 rnds.
Self Buffs and Enhancements
Power Points: [Arete, Abysm, The Triad] various amounts.
Fast ability heal: [Naberius] Heal 1 pt of ability damage per round and 1 pt of drain per hour.
Re-roll: [Balam] "Balam's cunning": re-roll attack, save, or skill 1/5 rnds.
Planar Attenuation: Ignore harmful affects of planes.
Other
Summon Mount: [Andaras] 1/day summon a heavy war-horse for hours per level.

Skills

Bonuses for skills

Scout Role
Listen: [Vanus] : +5 unnamed, or +10 if source is evil
Search: [Ashardolon] = Binder level unnamed
Hide: [Leraje] +4 competance; [Marchosias] +16 competance
Move Silently: [Marchosias] +16 competance
Tumble: [Paimon] +4 unnamed
Spot: [Geryon] +4 unnamed
Search: [Geryon] +4 unnamed
Spot (to oppose disguise): [Andromalius: +4 unnamed.
Survival: [Buer] +4 unnamed
Social
Diplomacy [Naberius]: Take 10, allows a rushed check as a std action at no penalty!
Diplomacy [The Triad]: +5 unnamed
Diplomacy [Astaroth]: +4 competance
Bluff [Naberius]: Take 10, allows a rushed check as a std action at no penalty!
Bluff [Kas], [Astaroth]: +4 competence
Intimidate [Astaroth]: +4 competence
Gather Information [Desharis]: +6 competance
Sense Motive: [Andromalius] +4 unnamed; [The Triad]: +5 unnamed
Knowledge or Sage-like
Knowledge (All): [Dantalion] +8 unnamed
Knowledge (Architecture and Engineering): [Halphax] can make untrained with a +16 competance bonus.
Knowledge (Local): [Desharis] +6 competance
Knowledge (Nature): [Buer] +4 unnamed
Psicraft [The Triad]: +5 unnamed, can use untrained
Appraise: [Ashardolon] = Binder level unnamed
Bardic Knowledge: [The Triad], [Astaroth] as a Bard = Binder level
Appraise: [Andromalius] +4 unnamed
Profession (Seige engineer): [Halphax] +16 competance
Craft: [Astaroth] +4 competence
Other
Trained-only skills: [Naberius] You gain the ability to use trained-only skills a number of them equal to your con bonus. You cannot have ranks in these skills.
Perform (dance): [Paimon] +4 unnamed
Ride: [Andras] +8 unnamed.
Heal: [Buer] +4 unnamed

Tactical

This one is all about covering the Scout role.

Movement
Swim Speed: [Shax] speed equal to land speed.
Move Ally: [Savnok] Change places with an ally within 5 ft/2 BL. Action length is dependant on BL (at first standard and finally a swift action at 13th BL). 1/5 rnds.
Ethereal Watcher: [Chupoclops] Move action to ethereal plane. But you cannot take a move, full round, or standard while on the plane else you return to the material plane immediately.
+10 to move speed: [Ronove] enhancement bonus to move.
Thought Travel: [Dantalion] Teleportation 5 ft/BL to location seen. 1/5 rnds.
Incorporeal Movement: [Haures] 50% miss chance against AoOs, you can pass through a creature's square w/o trouble.
Flicker [Tenebrous] As the mystery, except a certain number of times per day based on BL. (as a supernatural ability of course). (3/day at 19th level).
Swift Flight [Geryon] Perfect, 60’.
Infinite Doors [Desharis] teleport between EXTERIOR doors.
City Dweller [Desharis] walk through crowds w/o impediment
Vision
Scout Bird: [Malphas] A bird helper with many abilities.
All Around Vision: [Geryon] +4 to spot and search, no flanking bonus vs. you
See in Darkness: [Geryon, Tenebrous] As a devil.

Small List Items, Feat Suggestions, Multi-class Suggestions, and Other Miscellanea

Pact Augmentations and Immunities

Soul Guardian and other Immunities
Soul Guardian Level 6 - Immunity to Fear
Soul Guardian Level 9 - Slippery Mind
Soul Guardian Level 13 - Immunity to Energy Drain and Negative Levels
Soul Guardian Level 19 - Immunity to Mind-affecting Spells and Abilities
Acererak - Immunity to Cold and Electricity
Agares - Immunity to Fear
Buer - Immunity to Poisons and Disease
Dahlver-Nar - Immunity to Wisdom damage, Wisdom drain, Madness, Insanity, and Confusion
Haagenti - Immunity to Transformation
Haures - Immunity to Mind-affecting Spells and Abilities
Paimon - Uncanny Dodge
Shax - Immunity to Electricity
Kas – Immune to criticals from undead
Low-Level Binder Advancement, Racial Suggestions, Skills, low-level equipment

Low-level strategies
[/SIZE]

You have to decide what party role you’ll need to help out.  Below L3, the arcanist role won’t be available to you, nor healing below 5.  At 8th and above, you can check out the Combo section above and decide what will be most useful for you, and focus on that strategy.  Here’s some non-combo strategies that I’ve found to work:

Level 1

Basics:
In a 28 point buy, you’d want a 14 Cha, 14 Dex, 14 Con, 12 Int, 12 Str, and 8 Wis.  You Wis modifier doesn’t really help except in the case of Buer’s tracking ability and if you are sporting a non-Malphus scouting vestige, trying to cover that role.  You get immunity to Fear at 6th, Mindblank if you bind Haures, and Will is your best save.  If you had more points to spend (maybe because you are human and don’t need a 14 Int), put them into Str and/or Dex.  All your leveling points should go into Cha, though, as your special abilities become more and more keyed off of them and you end up depending on them more.

If you have to start at L1, take Improved Binding.  Its too good to not invest in.  Your bonus feat, if you have one, depends entirely on your party role, but you can never go wrong with Improved Initiative on any character, really.  Unless your DM disallows it, play a neutral or evil, non-chaotic Binder: neutral or evil will allow you to Rebuke Undead with Tenebrous, and Knights of the Sacred Seal can't be chaotic.



Races:
Racial preferences are highly dependent on what role you expect to do the most of.  Its written in the PHB that Humans always are decent at everything they do, and it seems particularly true with Binders.  Racial choices are really tricky with this class.

Humans are always a good choice with the extra feat, and with the extra skill points you can afford to roll with a lower Int.  My favorite choice.

Strongheart Halflings, likewise, add another feat, and the +2 to hit w/ thrown weapons and +1 AC make for some unusual combinations, like Haagenti, for example.

Dwarves are great low-level Binders, despite the Cha hit, simply b/c they can tank with Savnok and keep their full movement.  Desert Dwarves from UA are a slightly better choice, since you can keep your Cha high.  Auto-search becomes useful when you can bind Ashardolon at high level, or if you get +Search magic items.

Elves get longsword and shortsword proficiency, and the weapon focus with a shortsword is great at 3rd level when you can bind Paimon.  The Con penalty hurts.  Star  Elves are better than normal elves.  Auto-search becomes useful when you can bind Ashardolon at high level, or if you get +Search magic items.

Half-elves receive special mention, because they can get ridiculously high diplomacy checks if they dip Marshall.

Spellscale make decent Binders, but the “ritual” benefits won’t help at all.

Dragonborn Spellscale Binders get +2 Cha for -2 Dex, and can get flying, which a Binder can only do through one vestige or magic items.  You could also take the breath weapon, which, although weak, does allow you to qualify for breath weapon feats that you can apply to Amon’s fire breath.

Whisper Gnomes[/i] are just awesome stealth-based creatures.  Whisper Gnomes do take a penalty to Cha, which sucks.

Karsites[/i] are a +2 LA race from Tome of Magic.  They receive all Martial Weapon proficiencies, SR, Spell Healing, can’t cast spells, and receive all the Human bonuses as well.  It is a no-brainer to use one in a LA buyoff game.

Anthrompomorphic Ape (Savage Species) have no LA, and only 2 HD.  Get +6 DEX, +4 WIS, +2 STR, +3 Natutal Armor, Climb speed 30, 3 naturals attacks.  They're great for a Paimon focused build, or in a Swordsage multiclassed concept.  Add in Shadow Blade for more craziness.

Bloodlines Are CRAZY Good!



Skills:
You should max Diplomacy and Intimidate, but you also need 5 ranks in 3 other skills for synergy bonuses (Bluff, Sense Motive, Kn:Religion), and Gather Information is a really useful skill as well to expedite play.  The skills you should ignore completely are Decipher Script, Concentration, Profession, and Craft.  A rank in the other knowledge skills would be great, but only after many levels have passed (you can use Naberius for any trained only 0 rank skills, if you need it).  Put 4 ranks in Bluff so you can bind Naberius: he's too useful.  Make sure to learn the language Giant, for Haagenti. 

Cross-class skill selections of use are Ride if you need it for combat riding, which is nice but you get a huge bonus to the ability with Andras, and your Dex should be decent.  Use Magic Device is great if you are higher level and just burning through skills to use (if you have all your synergy bonuses, for example).  UMD is particularly useful if you want to play the healing role beyond 8th: Wands of Shield Other + Dahlver-Nar's Shield Self + Buer's Fast Healing is pretty damn powerful, but that's a known combo, and not really low-level.


Equipment:
Your initial equipment should be a Morningstar, a standard adventurers kit, studded leather armor, a light crossbow or sling, a longspear, and a dagger or sickle (just for zombies), and a Cure Light Wounds scroll for someone to cast on you, or even a potion if you can afford it. 

You have a few options here, but your first item you will look for is a masterwork buckler, as you’ll get an extra AC for no penalty, really, and enchanting it won’t take too long later when you can afford it.  After that, masterwork chain shirt or breastplate, depending on your role. 


Tank: 3 options:
Savnok grants you normal full-plate and DR 1/ piercing, which is pretty darn good.  Go ahead and equip any shield you can afford, if you do this (except tower): shields are like auto-combat expertise, w/o proficiency, as they give +X to AC for –X to hit.  You easily could have 21 AC and DR 1/piercing during your first dungeoneering experience (heavy shield, 12+ dex, savnok’s armor).

Aym grants medium armor prof and some other nice abilities.  I recommend him after you can afford Breastplate, if you still anticipate the tank role being used a lot, as the only other Savnok ability isn’t useful yet.  Sundering items at this level is great, if you fight lots of weak humanoids, and at double damage you are bound to do it, as well.  The touch fire damage is nice, if you want to be ultra tank (equip a masterwork heavy shield, and touch attacks aren’t so bad, even with non-proficiency).  The aura of flame helps out pretty well at this level.  Aym’s fire aura start to lose power after about 3rd level, which is convenient b/c there’s better options then.

Haagenti allows you to use a Tower Shield, and between that and a chain shirt and a mildly decent Dex you’ll have the same AC as a Savnok user.  Confusing Touch isn’t really powerful enough to justify using, until 3rd or so, but then really helps with crowd control.  You equip yourself with a few Throwing Axes and a Battleaxe, and work the crowd while speaking Giant.  IMO, Aym is still better than Haagenti, though, unless you find a +1 Tower Shield or something like that.

Scout:
Malphus’s Bird’s-Eye-Viewing is broken good: its in between clairvoyance/clairaudience and srying for utility.  Your bird goes ahead of the party and takes 20 on all spot checks, for a base check of 23.  It also has low-light vision and a Str 1, which allows 3 lbs of weight, ie, a Sunstick.  There's no range on the bird.  Let me repeat that: THERE'S NO RANGE ON THE BIRD.  Don’t worry so much about Sudden Strike damage or Invisibility (if you get some, great, but don’t count on it).  You still will be doing melee a lot: don’t worry about hiding unless you have time for it (ie, don’t slow down the party by doing it).  Getting some custom+Spot items for the bird is well worth it at higher levels, if your DM allows it.

Interaction and non-scouting Chicanery:
Naberius’ Disguise Self + take 10 on Diplomacy and Bluff, plus having decent bonuses in each, should mean you can befriend just about anyone in town.  Disguising yourself as the mayor or captain of the guard could get you lots of resources for your party (take 10 on the Disguise check, getting another +10 for the Disguise self ability, and +2 if you can afford a Disguise kit, for a base of 24 w/ a 14 Cha).  My favorite tactic is to get forgery and Knowledge: Local as Naberius's Skill, and then disguise yourself as a local shopkeeper, buy something on credit, then dump it for cash, before switching to another identity; another option for Naberius's Skills: SPEAK LANGUAGE, which will allow you to diplomacy just about anybody.  If you find yourself thrown into combat, Jedi the first round with Command to fall down, and either run to the back, using your crossbow, or just melee it out: remember, you can still be wearing all your armor.  Ability healing doesn’t do much at this level, really. 

Vestiges to stay the heck away from:
Ronove: no AC advantage, you have to be in combat to get use out of Improved Unarmed Strike, and your Morningstar deals more damage means don’t do it at this level.  Far Hand's Bull Rush is a freaking joke.  It has to be a typo: a Binder 10 can use it to do a Bull Rush with a +0 mod?  Bologna: I think the ability should give a bonus equal to the Binder Level (ie, talk to your DM).  Even if it gets modified, don't bind it yet.  The Bull Rush can trigger the Shocktrooper and Combat Brute Bull Rush options.
Leraje: the Ricochet ability just doesn’t cut it, and the superior Bird’s Eye Viewing makes Malphus the king of scouting at this level.  The ability to tank pretty easily makes ranged combat subpar early on.  Keep Leraje in mind when you want to Snipe at higher level, in conjunction with Malphus.  Don't bind Leraje by himself.
Amon: too low level to be highly effective, and the high DC combined with horns on your head make interaction with NPCs too difficult.
Dahlver-Nar: Its debatable about how good he is at 1st, but imo, you don’t have enough HP to make him really effective… just yet.



Level 2
You are looking to buy a masterwork Morningstar, and if you get lucky, get a +1 bonus on your buckler.  At second level, your options only increase, but access remains the same.  There is one big difference in the Vestige choices.

Tank: 1 new option
Dahlver-Nar’s Shield Self ability, as has been mentioned, is brutal.  With a moderate Con (14), a Masterwork Buckler, a chain shirt, and a moderate-to-good Dex (14-16), you could have an AC of 18-19, which is still good for this level.  Your Pact Augmentation goes to extra temporary HP.  Now, you walk into battle or just stand in the front after an opponent fails his will save, and if they hit you, its not a terrible idea.  With a 14 Con, and the ½+1 HP rule, you’ll have 22 HP at 2nd level, which is awesome.  Your Shield Self ability keeps you from worrying too much, as well, as it is DR / 50%, essentially.  One tactic, if your allies don't want to accept Shield Self, is to target a mount or riding dog.



Level3
New access to lots of vestiges with lots of neat abilities, and you have to pick a feat!  Feat choice has more to do with your party than with you, but basically every Binder wants to get into Knight of the Sacred Seal at sometime, and Weapon Focus will make a bigger difference earlier rather than later, so take it now (Morningstar is my favorite choice, but if you are an elf pick Short Sword or Rapier, if you have proficiency somehow). 

Equipment-wise, you are starting to go down the same path as every other adventurer: +X weapons, +X shield, and +X armor, extradimensional storage spaces, and low-level wands. 

You’ll have 24 HP standard, and if you are doing Dahlver-Nar, 29, but otherwise should be putting Pact Augmentation to your attack or initiative bonus. 

Get 4 ranks in Kn:Arcana either immediately or over the next few levels, if you want to bind Karsus, and don't have Ignore Special Requirements, nor plan on taking it at 4th.  Ipos also requires 5 ranks in Kn:Arcana and Religion or The Planes, but you'll want that much in Kn:Religion for the boost on Tenebrous's Rebuking, anyways.

Tank: Pseudo-Light Skirmisher:
Paimon can take your moderate Dex and push it really, really high.  A starting Dex of 14, a Chain Shirt, and a Masterwork +1 buckler gets you a 20 AC.  You have Weapon Finesse with Shortswords or Rapiers, and proficiency, for a bonus of +7 to hit.  You also have Whirlwind attack, should you get agro, and Dance of Death is devastating:  You attack everyone you move past once; no limit on the number of attacks.  Get a warhorse, and you get an extra 4 squares of movement, and end up at +8 to hit if the opponent is med or smaller, for being on higher ground.  This is really the best melee vestige for quite a while unless you are the only tank in the party, in which case you can squeeze out a little more AC by binding Focolor and forgetting about non-proficiency of your full-plate and tower shield, since you don’t have to attack with him.  Paimon’s ability still works against “any creature you move past”, so a reach weapon works great as long as you can afford the hit to your attack bonus.  You should always have Pact Augmentation in initiative when you use Paimon, as flat-footed opponents almost always means no AoO’s on you, and the bonus to initiative is as good as improved initiative.  I can't emphasize how powerful this vestige is for the next few levels.

Scout:
Malphus’ Invisbility has become a 3 round thing, and you can actually start to afford poisons at this point.  Birds Eye Viewing is still superior to Andromalius’ Locate Object, but Andy’s other abilities are nice, too.  Use your discretion: if it’s a “find this” job, then use Andy, but if it’s a random dungeon crawl then use Mal.

Arcanist: 2 options:
Focalor’s Lightening blast will guarantee that you are doing something useful every round, and 3d6 damage ain’t nothing to mess with at this level.  The penalties on the saves is useful, too.  If you bind this guy, your goal is to have a Tower Shield and the Heaviest armor you can find (up to full-plate), and block the enemies’ way to the squishies as you blast from behind your 23 AC hide.  Armor check penalties to swimming aren't as bad since you have water breathing, too.

Karsus is tricky: the use of wands, and at +2 DC, too, is really nice, but its still a little expensive for this level.  I think Focalor is much better at this level for the arcanist role, but when you can start to afford Staffs, Karsus rocks much harder, since you get to use your Binder level for the staff’s effects.  If you come across some heightened or higher level wands, keep them and bind Karsus for some kick-arse DC's.



Level 4 
Nothing much has changed here, except you might start buying +stat items.  Cha > Con > Dex >> Str > Int > Wis, for most party roles.  You also should start to consider Implements of Binding.

You get a nice bonus feat: I recommend taking Expel Vestige and/or Rapid Pact Making, as you can’t afford a Vestige Phylactery, and Rapid Pact Making may, on DM interpretation, supercede the need to draw a sign, making it very fast to get vestiges you need.  Don’t take Martial Weapon Proficiency, as you’ll get all for free when you take 1 level of Knight of the Sacred Seal.



Level 5
New Vestiges, New roles!  You definitely want to start picking up +stat items, better armor, and even protection/resistance items. 

Its time to start investing in Use Magic Device, as all your synergy bonuses should be met by now.  You should have 5 ranks in Kn:Religion for Tenebrous's Rebuking bonus and 5 ranks in Kn:Arcana (assuming you didn't take Ignore Special Requirement) by now.

Cavalry
Andras, as I discovered recently, is absolutely awesome for dealing with BBEG's: your smite gets doubled when riding your warhorse, and w/ a decent Dex, your ride bonus lets you use the horse as cover for no action cost; you easily could be doing 20-30 HP a round IF you don't crit, which would get you into the 60 and above damage range.  So you charge w/ the lance, getting +2 to hit, +1 on higher ground (probably), +3 BAB, +Str, +Cha, for about +10, and then use the cover action (usually > 5 on a d20, assuming 14 Dex) to get an additional +2 AC (+4 cover, -2 charge).  If you hit, you do 2d8 + 2 X level + 2 X Str damage (2d8 + 14 for 14 Str); that's if you don't crit.  The confound ability shouldn't really be used in combat: its more if you sneak up on people.  Improved Critical is also nice if you upgraded your Rapier for Paimon (Andras also gives Rapier proficiency).  Obviously, you don't use Andras in a dungeon, as the main abilities won't matter.

Healing
Buer adds the main healing support that a Binder gets, and its pretty good.  You get fast healing and the ability to heal others.  You also can track decently, assuming you didn’t dump Wis, or can at least assist the ranger.  Do not use the 1 HP per round ability unless you need to stabilize multiple creatures: d8+5 every 5 rounds is greater than 1 point per round.  You act as a melee cleric with Buer: you wear the heaviest armor you are proficient in, and the heaviest shield as well, swinging away with the best one-handed weapon you can afford.  Pact Augmentation should probably go to your attack bonus.

Other / Special Mention:
Tenebrous adds turning or rebuking, which is a big deal if you are encountering undead a lot, still.  The important thing about rebuking is that it checks ownership only when you rebuke initially, ie, you control any rebuked creature WHETHER OR NOT you are bound to Tenebrous after getting initial control.  And given the choice, always choose Rebuking over Turning: this is the main reason to play a non-good Binder, actually.  Tenebrous also adds a little cold damage, and concealment, which might be useful in some circumstances.  The Dimension Door ability is pretty good: the effect will last 1 round / level; its essentially a 1/day Displacement, except you get to move too.  Using it to teleport next to ranged enemies is absolutely awesome.

Vestiges to avoid (unless you were going for them already):
Eurynome and Agares are of limited use.  They are great for high-wooded or druid encounter type campaigns, and spiked chain builds (after causing everyone w/in 10' to fall prone), respectively.  Agares does get more interesting at higher level, though, once the Elemental gets larger, and speaking any language can be useful, but Fear Immunity is worthless in a level (this may not have been realized during development: Poison Immunity would be fitting – talk w/ your DM).  Eurynome’s Maul is cute if you are facing lots of Lawful creatures for some reason, and water walking could be useful (campaign specific), but the minor DR is too minor to be significant; Andras does way more damage at this level.



Level 6
Your 6th level feat is to make you better doing whatever party role you are doing the most of. 

Tenebrous can now allow you to get control of Shadows and Ghouls: time for a special quest to find some o' them shades!  They absolutely rock at this level.  You can have a spellcaster use Summon Undead 5 to create a Shadow, which then kills a squirrel, that rises as a Shadow, that you can then attempt to Rebuke to control, too.  You also are immune to fear, which is nice, but not particularly abusable in and of itself. 



Level 7
Items are about the same, really. 

You probably want to consider +UMD items, and boosting UMD about now.  Buy a normal Heavy Pick if binding Acerak, as the Paralyzing Touch makes you able to coup-de-grace, and the X4 crit range is wicked.

Tank: 2 new options, which don't add much
Otiax becomes available, and if you don’t have a decent to hit, he’s the vestige for melee types.  20% concealment and Combat Reflexes is pretty tight, too.  The other abilities are flavorful

Acerak is my second choice for melee.  The Paralyzing Touch ability lasts 3 rounds at this level, which sets up Coup pretty well (heavy pick, equipped for the purpose): it basically kills when it works.  Detect Undead, always activated, is nice, and the immunities are nice as well.  Being Healed by negative energy helps you out a lot as well.  Speak w/ the Undead is ok, but you’ll be surprised how little every single corpse you encounter will know, after you get this ability.

Arcanist or Scout:
Dantalion is another good vestige for a scout: Read Thoughts is a “No surprise round for us” kind of ability, if you keep it on all the time.  The +8 bonus on knowledge checks is a big part of what a Wizard can do, too, and the minor teleportation is nice as well.  It also gives you some great options for general interaction abilities (using Read Thoughts, mainly), but I still feel Naberius is more useful in that regard.

Vestiges to avoid... for now:
Geryon and Balam are bad vestiges to bind by themselves.  Balam’s reroll is astounding, though, if you find yourself against impossible odds, or if you are pulling some shenanigans like stealing the crown jewels or some-such, and Geryon’s flight is very useful.   Both gaze attacks are good in conjunction with either each other or any melee vestige, but Geryon's is better b/c it specifies opponents.
=Feat Choices

Feat Selections
Binders can go in any possible direction for party role, which makes planning your career ahead of time difficult.  WotC has ruled against Vestige-granted feats qualifying as prereq’s for other feats, recently (and mildly). 
« Last Edit: March 03, 2011, 04:39:42 PM by Sobolev »    Logged
Required Feats
There are a few feats every Binder needs:

Improved Binding: While its true that you won’t get any use out of it after 16th level, a Binder starting any level below 12th this will find in invaluable.
Weapon Focus: All full Binders must take all 5 levels of the Knight of the Sacred Seal prestige class.  It’s a mandate.

That’s it for required feats, leaving you 9 feats to pick (or 10 if you were human or strongheart Halfling).


Bonus Feats
You’ll get a few bonus feats, but these won’t define your main characteristics.  For the two Binder bonus feats, I think the following are good choices:

Expel Vestige (if you start below L4)
Rapid Pact Making (only if the feat bypasses the need for the drawing)
Sudden Ability Focus (if Rapid Pact Making is nerfed)
Improved Binding (if you start after L4, make this a bonus feat)
Ignore Special Requirements (you can afford to take this later, as the main benefit is to bind opposing vestiges)


Other Feat Choices, and Binder Roles
The other feat choices are all dependent on what party role you want to spend the most time doing.  The * means the feat isn't really the most important for that particular role.

Melee – Charging (Chupoclops based, add Ipos, Haures, Savnok)
Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Shocktrooper, Leap Attack, Improved Sunder*, Combat Brute*, 1 free
Pretty standard: you use Headless Charge to take off your full PA from your AC, using a spear and Chupoclops' bite for X3 and X2 PA damage and lots of Str damage.  See the builds section for an example.

Offline Toptomcat

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #18 on: April 11, 2013, 12:10:01 AM »
continued


Melee – Mobile (Paimon based, add Chupoclops, Ipos, Ronove)
Improved Initiative, Dodge*, Mobility*, Martial Study*, Martial Stance*, Shadowblade*, Combat Expertise*, Deadly Defense*
Dance of Death will provoke lots of AoO's, but adding Dex to damage and getting and extra 2d6 when you win Initiative is all very synergistic.  Since Tumble isn't on your skill list, Mobility is actually very useful here.  Deadly Defense adds d6 damage to all light and finnessable weapons when fighting defensively or taking 2 off for Combat Expertise, which is useful, as finessable weapons don't do much damage in general.

Melee – Tank (Savnok or Aym based, add Dahlver-Nar, Halphax or Abysm, and Buer)
Dodge, Combat Expertise, Improved Buckler Defense, Shield Specialization*, Shield Ward*, Melee Evasion*, Combat Focus*, Combat Defense*
This is one more than you have unless you went with a bonus feat race.  Its an AC combination, obviously, and the most important feat here is Improved Buckler Defense, if you had to pick just one, but Dodge and Combat Expertise both add a lot.  The PHB2 feats really add to the sword and board style of combat.

Melee – Tactical Tripper (can have any melee vestige as the basis; Agares, Otiax, Paimon, Balam, etc)
Combat Expertise, Improved Trip, EWP: Spiked Chain, Combat Reflexes, Knockdown*, Hold the Line*, 1 free
The most basic Spiked Chain combination I could think of.  Only the first 3 are absolutely necessary (Combat Reflexes through Otiax, for example, or even EWP through The Triad).  Agares gives a nice 10' ability to knock people prone, that gets full use of Combat Reflexes, if you decide.

Arcanist – Tactical Nuke (Amon or Haures based, add Zagan, Chupoclops, Focolor)
Ability Focus, Sudden Ability Focus, Favored Vestige, Rapid Recovery, Sudden Empower Supernatural Ability, 2 free.
Nothing in the rules says you have to bind different vestiges, so you could bind 4 Amons and use a 20d6 Fire Breath every round this way.  Still, talk to your DM.  This combination is too focused on one vestige, imo, but if you do it you definitely want all the above feats.  Gerdreg developed this combination for high (ridiculous) DC Phantasmal Killers (I believe 43 once per day was the final DC).

Arcanist – Constant Damage (Focalor and Karsus based, add Halphax and Zagan)
Ability Focus: Lightening, Sudden Ability Focus*, Favored Vestige: Karsus*, Rapid Recovery*, Sudden Empower Supernatural Ability*, 2 free
Ability Focus for something you do every round is nice, and Rapid Recovery on Karsus lets you debuff more often.  Still too focused on too few vestiges, imo.  Realize that you can only use the dispelling ability of Karus once per day per Binder level.

Scout – The Seeker (Malphus, add Andromalus, Karsus, and Tenebrous)
Improved Initiative, Quick Recoinoiter*, Martial Study*, Martial Stance*, Shadow Blade*, Telling Blow, 1 free
Improved Initiative works well on everyone.  Quick Reconoiter is nice, assuming you didn't dump Wis too much, but even then you use the Bird's mods.  I think these 2 feats are well worth the investment.  Telling Blow gets more precision damage on a crit; make sure to get Keen weapons, somehow.  Shadow Blade boosts damage, and Martial Stance: Assasin's Stance gets you and extra 2d6 Sneak Attack, which is nice.

Scout – The Sniper (Leraje early, later Malphus, add The Triad, Andromalus, and Marchosias)
Point Blank Shot*, Rapid Shot*, Precise Shot*, Improved Rapid Shot*, Many Shot*, Ranged Pin*, 1 free
Ranged Pin is just funny.  Precise Shot is a redundant prereq.  You can pick the right vestiges and just emulate a Sniper easily; not really worth the feat investment.

Trapfinding (Karsus based, add Ashardolon later)
Shape Soulmeld: Theft Gloves*, Open Least Chakra: Hands*, Able Learner
This is a tough, tough role to fill for Binders.  They have low skll points per level, and need to invest heavily in Disable and Search cross-class.  First level should be Scout, preferably, or anything w/ Trapfinding, and Able Learner as a feat, to ease the pain (renders the Incarnum feats unnecessary).  My suggestion is to NOT do this: just bind Karsus, keep Karsus's Sence active, and use Karsus's Touch when you see a magic trap.  Mechanical traps mainly just do damage, and poison, and disease, which you should be able to avoid.

My suggestion is to pick a handful of great feats from 2-3 roles that you want to do, and you won’t go wrong!  For example, Power Attack, Improved Bull Rush, Shocktrooper, Leap Attack, Improved Initiative, Combat Expertise, Quick Reconoiter, Improved Initiative could do the Mobile, Seeker, and Charging roles, and would be ok as the Tank. 

One other note: Fey Heritage, Fey Presence, and Fey Legacy.  The save DCs on this scale so freakin' well on a save based Binder, that enchanters basically have to wait until L6 spells (with all feats going to their saves) before they can top it.  Its three feats for five awesome 1/day abilities: Confusion, Charm Monster, Dimension Door, Summon Nature's Ally 5 (summon 1d3 Unicorns for healing, etc, the possibilities are pretty wild).  I took them on my recent Binder, only starting with a 16 Cha, and at L12 the save DC is already up to a 23.  I may retrain them later, but the Confusion and Charm Monster have been taking out at least 1 monster per encounter right away.  They aren't considered powerhouses by any means, but they aren't worthless feats for some flavor.

Other Classes for a 1-4 level Dip



With Improved Binding, you won't get new access to any vestiges past 15th level.  That said, you can maintain a +16 BAB by 20th just by going Binder 11 / KoSS 5 / any medium BAB 4 or medium 2 / full 2 and still get 3 vestiges and 3 Pact Augmentations and 2 bonus feats.  Your main sacrifice is that you need 4 levels of Binder in epic to get access to 4 vestiges simultaneously, but that's not bad, plus it gives you something to shoot for, since there's no official epic Binder progression, yet.  Here's some suggestions (more are welcome):

Totemist: You'll get more natural weapons, greatly enhancing any charging or melee build.

Paladin: Stacks w/ KoSS, but the main thing is the synergy with Cha to saves.  See the Heterodoxy variant in ToM for the full implications of adding Paladin to your build.

Rogue: You'd want to start out as Rogue, if you did this, of course, and add Able Learner to your feat choices.  Ashardolon + maxed Search gives you a search check of +33, without items.

Fighter: A few bonus feats ain't bad.

Warblade: A few maneuvers ain't bad, either.

Cleric: For the Tenebrous Apostate PrC, which is ok.

Scout: Same as the Rogue, plus it adds to charging builds nicely.

Warlock: Doesn't add much that you don't already have, really, but 4th level taking 10 on a UMD is really nice.

Hexblade: Cha synergy to the curse, and further debuffs when combined w/ Chupoclops and Focolor.

Dragon Shaman: The 4th level would allow you to qualify for the breath weapon feats, which you could apply to Amon's Fire Breath, and a few of the auras would stack nicely (Vigor aura + Buer, for example).

Marshall: Better earlier, but the Motivate Charisma aura can turn your diplomacy based Binder from a diplo-monster into a diplo-god with no feats required.  I still think its cheesey, though.

Swordsage, Warblade, Crusader: All add some nice options to melee focused Binders.  If you go with Swordsage, don't dump your Wis.

Warlock / Hellfire Warlock : You splash a single level of Binder with the Warlock / Hellfire Warlock builds.  Naberius makes you regenerate ability damage really quickly, which is a side effect of the Hellfire Warlock.  Its a gimick for boosting your Eldritch Blast damage.

Prestige Classes

The Anima Mage: This is the Pact Magic version of the Mystic Theurge, combining Soul Binding and Arcane Magic. Its special abilities allow a spellcaster to temporarily suppress or sever part of its connection to its vestiges to augment the casting of spells. Like other combination classes, you trade access to the most powerful abilities of either class for the versatility of advancement in both. As it is possible to enter this class with only one level of Binder (using the Improved Binding feat) and either 3 levels of a wizard progression class or 4 levels of sorcerer progression class, access to 9th level spells is possible by level 20.
Tip: The Vestige Metamagic ability can be used with any metamagic feat you possess and does not raise the spell’s level. This could eventually allow you to make a 9th level spell persistent, for example.

The Knight of the Scared Seal: With full BAB and a d10 HD, this class is designed for a more melee oriented Binder. It is a five level class that grants Proficiency with Heavy Armor, Martial Weapons, and Shields. These proficiencies will allow a binder to spend their bonus feats on skill enhancing feats. A level 20 Binder 15/ KotSS 5 will have a BAB of +16. In exchange for the above and some melee buffs, the KotSS will lose 2 pact augmentations, a bonus feat, and the Mind Blank Soul Guardian ability, when compared to a straight level 20 binder.
Tip: Depending on your patron, the Vestige’s Surge ability in conjunction with the Empower feat (can be taken twice), can boost a knight's damage by a decent amount.
This depends a large amount on what role you are emulating the most.  You want to pick both a vestige that you won't be bothered binding regularly, and a vestige that has a powerful ability that is normally only usable once every 5 rounds.

Selecting a Vestige

For a generalist, there's a few poor choices:
Any vestige without the powerful 1 use per 5 rounds abilities
Ronove, Naberius, Haagenti, Dahlver-Nar, Focalor, Geryon, Otiax, Shax, Vanus, and Marchosias: they all have 1/5 round abilities that are either underpowered or there would be little need to use them more than 1/5 rounds.
Any of the new psionic vestiges: limited power points per day makes these not really generally useful.
There are a few that are particularly good:
Chupoclops: Serves 3 of the 4 party roles - Scouting, Wizard, Melee.  Have to wait until 11th for KoSS.  My favorite to use with KoSS.  Two rounds of Etherealness gets you anywhere you want.
Amon or Orthos: Breath weapon damage twice in a row rocks!  Wait for Orthos for this
Paimon, Andras, Acerak: Dance of Death, Smite, and Paralyzing touch for the win.  Also, no wait for KoSS!
Halphax or Ashardolon: Frequent Iron Walls and Fear spells make a funky battlefield control mage.  Either's DR with Apotheosis means you have DR 10/everything.  You have to wait until 16th for this.
Balam has a specialized usage: if you want to do the impossible, this is your choice.  Two uses of the reroll immediately once per day is wicked.

The Scion of Dantalion: This class is also a five level class. It gives some cool upgrades to Dantalion’s granted abilities in exchange for the loss of one BAB and the level 16-20 binder special abilities (same as the KotSS above). As the KotSS allows you to pick your Patron Vestige, Binder 10/ KotSS 5/ SoD 5 is possible for a more combat oriented Scion (regaining a BAB of +15 at level 20). If you take Dantalion as your patron, your Vestige’s Surge ability will further augment your improved Dantalion granted powers.
Tip: The Improved Thought Travel ability in conjunction with the Spring Attack feat can allow a SoD to use Spring Attack in relative safety.

The Tenebrous Apostate: This is a very strange class. It does not require Divine Casting to enter, but advances Divine Casting and Soul Binding, four out five of levels.  A level of cleric, druid, or even better Archivist, to have some spellcasting to advance, would be highly recommended.
Tip: The L4 ability is crazy good: incorporealness for BL rounds.  Combine with Chupoclops, and you can freely hit your enemies while they have a 50% miss chance IF they have magic weapons.  L4 also only loses 1 BAB, and with 1 level of Cleric, Druid, or Archivist gets you L3 divine spells.  Crazier still is the fact that you could combine the Anima Mage free metamagics on those spells...

The Witch Slayer: This class does not progress Soul Binding and is in fact designed to kill Soul Binders and other creatures with possession-like abilities.
Buer all day long. Its ridiculously effective, and is a great strategy if you are also binding Karsus and/or Fogalar in the "backup arcanist" role.

Others: There are some possible flavorful and fun PrCs possible with a few simple house rules.  If you let any class that advances spellcasting advance soulbinding instead, and let Su abilities count as specific spell prerequisites, some interesting and fun results could be generated!  For example, a Malconvoker / Binder (Zecyryl focused), a Master of the Unseen Hand / Binder (Ronove based), etc.

That's all for now, I'll consider more later.  I highly recomend two levels of Totemist, and 2 levels of something like Fighter or Warblade to finish it out, if you don't want 4 vestiges simultaneously.

Magic Items of Note

Equipment Every Binder Wants (in the rough order that you'd get it)

Chain Shirt, Morningstar, Longspear, Dagger, Standard Adventurer's Gear, some potions

Healing Belt (MIC), Vest of Resistance +X (CA), Chain Shirt +X

Morningstar +X, Mithril Buckler +X, Longspear +X, Rapier +X (if Paimon and Andras focused exclusively), Sudden Stunning enchantment for weapon (DMG 2)
The Longspear is probably the best weapon you can use as a Binder...  Reach and the AoOs makes it very worthwhile.  It doesn't mesh well if you are trying to make a natural attack-based combination (Ronove, Ipos, Chupoclops), but otherwise is one of the better weapons (I prefer Morningstar for Greater Mighty Wollop abuse, myself, though).
The Sudden Stunning enchantment is only 2k gp to your weapon, and has a Ref save or the opponent gets stunned d4+1 rounds, usable Cha mod per day, DC 10+1/2 level + Cha mod; this is crazy good on a Binder, even if it is a swift action to activate.
Implements of Binding +X (only for Expel Vestige use)

Cloak of Charisma +X, + strength items

Necklace of Health +X (for melee), Circlet of Persuasion (for social), Teeth of Dahlver-Nar

ToB "learn a maneuver" items (ToB)

Valorous weapons (for Chupoclops abuse)

Veil of Allure (Sandstorm), Soul Lens (ToM) (invaluable for boosting DCs on all Binders)

Vestige Philactery (invaluable before you get 3 vestiges at a time; ToM); remember that you can leave it unbound, then use it as a combination expel vestige / rapid pact making item later.  I recommend retraining Expel Vestige when you can afford these.

Assasin's Dagger (exclusively for Marchosias usage); the item is so cheap that I think its worth the investment at high level

Tome of Leadership and Understanding +5 (not before you can afford +5)

Vestige Combination Synergies


I've decided to add a descriptor in front of each combo depending on what level it can be achieved, so the bolded numbers are the numbers that the particular combo can be achieved at.  An entry with more than one number indicates that the main combo can go off early, but fully blossoms at the later level(s).  Since there's no 2 vestige combos before 8th, there's very few before that: for low-levels, please check out "Low-level Binder Advancement" in the 2nd post.  Also, I've started adding descriptors for what each combo is, essentially, so you could search for battlefield control, for example, and get all those combos, etc.  I've moved a few combos around: assasination is under miscellaneous; several combos looked like non-combat caster related.


Combat

Old Combos (from previous handbooks)

Movement
2 [Savnok]+Summon Creature/Elemental/Undead: You summon a monster in a hard to get place and then use Savnok's move ally ability to switch with the summoned monster. It's possible to accomplish this feat at 2nd level, making it possibly the lowest level teleportation combo ever. (You need one level of binder, improved binder feat, and a level in druid/cleric/sor/wiz.)  You can switch places with Malphus's bird, past 8th.

Pouncers
10 Anima Mage + [Chupoclops] + [Ipos] + Shape Soulmeld [Girillon's Arms] + Open Chakra (arcane version) + Wraithstrike: Pounce, rend when all claw attacks hit for double damage and if 2 or more claws hit you deal an extra double damage. Polymorph you can metamorph into a cave troll to pick up a third rend attack and rake attacks. High level trick, as Ipos is a 6th level vestige. Wraithstrike ameliorates your low base attack. This is one of those OMG PWNZoRZ!!!1!! kinda things... parental guidance is suggested.

Skirmisher:duel:
10 Scout + [Paimon] + Dervish and Champion of CL: Between dervish dances, Paimon's death dance, +4 unnamed bonuses to dexterity, tumble and dance bonuses, and uncanny dodge this is just a solid choice all around.

Touch Attacks (Otiax based):monk:
10, 15 [Otiax] + [Malphas] + [Andromelius]: Use air blasts to deliver your sneak/sudden-strikes with greater accuracy as they require only melee TOUCH attacks. You also have reach. The air blast is really only functional for those characters who can add non-strength based damage. Three levels of swashbuckler might add to this combo nicely.  RAW, I think you can get Power Attack on, too: talk w/ your DM.

10, 15, 20 Neraph Charge (Planar Handbook) + Power Attack + [Otiax] + [Malphus] + [Chupoclops] + [Andromalius]: Charging activates Neraph Charge which renders opponents flat-footed at the end of a charge, deliver touch attacks with Sudden Strike, Sneak Attack, and Power Attack damage, and get a full attack thanks to Pounce. Malphus' Invisibility and Chupoclops' Ethereal Watcher ability set up pouncing the following rounds.


New Combos (not in the old Handbooks, but maybe are in the threads)

Skirmisher:duel:
3 [Paimon] + any horse mount: Again, Dance of Death just requires movement around the opponent, so for a great low-level option, just ride a horse around your opponent. You'll probably get +1 for attacking on higher ground, and the horse will have a higher movement rate.

8, 10, 15 [Paimon] + [Malphus] + [Haures] + [Geryon]: Use Bird's Eye Viewing to scout ahead of the party, and before you get into the encounter, go Invisible. You use Haures to move right through opponents, as they're flatfooted as you attack all of them, getting all the sudden strike in the world: even if they get AoO's, they have 50% miss chance (against AoO's only). Geryon allows you to use Swift Flight, getting an additional +2 to hit from being on higher ground (on top of +2 from weapon finesse and the dex bonus from Paimon), and adds 2d6 acid gaze damage to all those opponents. Obviously, the main combo is just Paimon + Malphus, but the others are nice.

Sniper:elf:
8, 10, 15, 20 [triad] + [Paimon] + [Leraje] + [Haures]: Become a ranged weapon deity. Get a Greatbow w/ Ricochet shot, Precise Shot, +4 Hide, +4 Dex, and Low-light Vision makes for a pretty neat Sniper. Any of the sneak attack/death attack/sudden strike vestiges make it that much better, too.  Haures makes a Major Image, which you DONT need to concentrate on, that you can fire from behind.

Sunder
9 [Aym] + Combat Brute: Not so great for PC's, but awesome for NPC's. Its simple: use Sundering Cleave w/ Aym's double damage on a Sunder. So freaking effective, it makes me guilty to mention it.

10 [triad] + [Aym] + Goliath Warhammer = some serious Sundering damage.

Disarm
10 [triad] + [Andras] + Flindbar = free disarm when you roll a natural 17 or higher, which is nice.

Anti-lawful / chaotic
11 [Eurynome] + [Primus] after 11th: Deal an extra 2d6 damage to lawful enemies, and extra d6 against chaotic enemies.

Ability Buffs
15 [Andras] or [Paimon] + [Abysm]:  Up to +8 to Str or Dex (4 unnamed, 4 enhancement), for BL rounds, usble a few times daily.

Anti-Undead
15, 20 Kas + Tenebrous + Acererak and/or Andras and/or Andromalius: The Undead Killer combo.  You can crit undead (and have a chance to blind them when you do), can't be critted by undead, bypass all undead damage reduction, can turn undead, detect undead, hide from undead and can speak with dead ...and beyond that you're healed by negative energy, immune to cold & electricity and can toss some added cold damage on your melee attacks ...and more.  Toss in Andras and you can Smite Evil and crit more often (you can crit undead with Kas, so why not crit them more often... and possibly blind them in the process).  Toss in Andromalius and remind those undead what a sneak attack feels like (again: thanks to Kas).

Heavy Cavalry:fight!:
10, 15, 20 [Andras] + [Chupoclops] + [Eligor] + [Balam] + Shocktrooper + Imp. Buckler Defense: The ultimate in damage dealing potential.  Pounce = full attack after charging; Lance = double damage after charging while mounted; Andras = free horsie, smite attack (which will be doubled on a charge w/ a lance), and Imp. Crit.; Eligor = +4 Str, natural armor, and a couple of great mounted feats, AND heavy armor prof; Balam = reroll 1 / 5 rounds, more AC, and 2d6 cold damage once per round; Shocktrooper = full 2 handed Power Attack damage to all the lance attacks, doubled, w/ no penalty to hit.  Consider a BAB 16 character (KoSS 5 / Binder 15): 4 attacks per round, attack bonus of +20 w/o further Str or magic weapon mods, and 2d8 + 40 (smite) + 4 (str), + 64 (power attack, 2H, doubled due to lance) per smite hit (2d8 + 108 damage), -40 for the follow-up attacks, if the weapon has the valorous enchantment, thats 4d8 + 216 damage, (triple that on a crit), plus another 2d6 cold damage every round; AC could be a 45, w/o ring of deflection (+8 armor, +5 enhancement, +5 natural, +4 cover using the horse, +2 Dex, +1 shield, +5 enhancement, +5 insight), or 29 on a full-on Shocktrooper run.  THAT'S what I think of when I think Fighter.

Pouncer (variant of above)
10, 15, 20 [Chupoclops] + [Ipos] + [Amon] + [Ronove] + Ignore Special Requirements + Shocktrooper + Leap Attack + (Binder 15 / KoSS 5): You use Jump to get a full doubling of your PA damage from Leap Attack and Shocktrooper w/o losing your BAB, as normal.  The main advantage is that on top of 4 natural attacks (2 claws, 1 headbutt, 1 bite), you also get to add iterative attacks from unarmed strikes using a monk's damage.  At 20th, this combo gives 8 attacks at +18 / +13 / +13 / +13 / +13 / +13 / +8 / +3, at 2d10 / d4 / d6 + d8 / d6 / d6 / 2d10 / 2d10 / 2d10, and all these attacks get an additional +32 damage each (plus Str, some at 1.5 some at 1).  Plus rend, plus soulsense, pluse ethereal watcher, plus darkvision, plus a swift action mage hand (carry Cure Serious Potions w/ it, to save time).  Wicked damage

Caster-Related Combos

Old Combos (from previous handbooks)

These are both splashes of binders w/ other classes; not true binders, necessarily.

Truespeach
8 EBL 8 + Improved Binding + [Balam] + any Truespeaking class: Re-roll a Truespeak skill check every 5 rounds (or every 4 if you include Favored Vestige and Rapid Recovery).

Metamagic Specialist:
9 Anima Mage + Vestige Metamagic + Extend + Persistant + Improved Binder: You don't even need to try to abuse this one. Persistant magic available at 9th level, with minimal effort. Use the build: Binder 1/Wizard 3/Anima Mage 5 for a quick and fully legal entry. By 10th level you can persist draconic polymorph. YEAH BABY!

Direct Damage:mage:
8, 15, 20 [Geryon] + [Balam] + [Fogolar] + [Amon]: It's almost guaranteed damage, one way or another - you've got 2 X 2d6 area effect gaze attacks which need not be activated, lightning strike every round for 3d6 + [(BL - 5) / 3] X d6, and a fiery blast for BL X d6 every 5 rounds. Balam's Cunning is useful in any build and Fogalor's Sadness is neat too, particularly since you'll want to be in the center of the enemy when you bind the gaze attack vestiges.  Switching out Cabiri w/ Geryon or Balam gives you a 3/day Fireball, and Divination as the spell every round, making for some nice caster-emulating ability, and the 1/2 Vile damage (although better on NPCs) combined with the Divination abilities lets you know if you are going to face an enemy Cleric anytime soon.

10 [Geryon] and/or [Balam's] + Shape Soulmeld (Necrocarnum Shroud): Necro Shroud gives +1 profane to hit and damage if anything gets damaged while adjacent to you for 1 round, and both gaze attacks give continuous damage. Great if you have essentia to increase the radius of the Necro Shroud. And guess what: the profane bonus to attack and damage applies to any attack, and you can focus your gaze (which does not deactivate the area effect damage RAW) to immediately get that bonus off without additional vestiges or attacks.


New Combos (not in the old Handbooks, but maybe are in the threads)

Item Creation:$$:
5+ [Astaroth] + [Karsus]: Now, you are capable of not only making almost every magic item in the game, but you also can use them as well.  Karsus not only grants you +2 to the save DC's, but also allows you to use items as a Wizard of your level.  Thus, if you make staffs when you get to 12th level, you start using your Binder level and your Int for the saves.  Sure, you still have to pay for someone to cast the spell, but its so worth it for most items.  Astaroth's +4 to all craft skills could be useful (make a Fabricate staff, then use Karsus to make poisons, etc).

Healing Battery
8, 15 [Ashardalon] + [Buer] + [Arete] + Expel Vestige or Vestige Phylactery: Ash gives an extra 2 temporary HP / level, which is a minimum of 30 when you get access. When you expel him, or force him out b/c of the phylactery, they go away, but rebinding will get you the extra HP again, reset to maximum. In the meantime, you have fast healing 3, DR 5/-, DR 10/cold iron, and other abilities relating to healing as well, making you a veritable troll. Combine w/ UMD and a wand of Shield Other and you just became a HP battery. (Arete is probably unessecary if you went KoSS 5 by this point.)

Knowledge / Divination-like:
7, 10, 15, 20 [The Triad] + [Dantalion] + [Naberius] + [Desharis] + [Cabiri]: Bardic Knowledge equal to binder level, +8 on Knowledge checks (RAW, should stack, but talk to your DM), and +5 from Call to Mind, for a minimum of +23 on all Knowledge checks (you can't take 10 or 20, though).  Use Naberius's Skills to get Knowledge:Local for any place in existence, and Knowledge:Nobility&Royalty, to learn everything about that location (even planar cities! :lop:): Desharis gets you another +6 on Kn:Local, for a +29 modifier.  "Yes, I know the answer, even though I know not the question, nor have I ever been there."  Cabiri is a one-vestige Divination MACHINE: Divination, as the spell, every round.  Borderline Broken.

Battlefield Control
10, 15, 20 [Desharis] + [Zagan] + [Haures] + [Halphax]: Another battlefield control combo: grapple a "softie", use aversion on a "meatie", make walls and summon buildings to block pathways, make a major image every once and a while, and animate a ton of small, adamantine objects, just to trip and attack creatures, never letting your initially grappled guy go (unless you decide to use imprisonment on him, and decide to grapple someone else).  You also have DR 10 / adamantine, Mindblank, Incorporeal Movement, and the Infinite Doors ability for non-aversion defense, and a smite attack against most natural creatures, a limited Toungues ability, and Bardic Knowledge.   This combo pwns in a big fight. 

13, 15, 20 Zagan + Haures + Halphax + Ashardalon: First, lay down a field of illusory snakes all around your opponent, then use the Aversion power to make the opponent move as far away from the snakes as possible. Make giant circles of dead snakes around the opponent, and confine them to a 5' square! Add on Halphax and Ashardalon, and you are an awesome battlefield controller (use the Fear effect of Ash, the walls, Imprison, and Secure Shelter abilities of Halphax to block off whichever areas you want). You could also, instead of using Haures, just have the Wizard cast low-level summon monster spells for snakes (or, using Karsus, you use wands instead), or even just have snake corpses or zombie snakes (courtesy of Tenebrous's Rebuke undead). Don't forget you have Improved Grapple plus, to deal with any of the high-will squishy opponents.

15 [Halphax] + [Haures] + [Ashardalon]: A Binder's version of battlefield control. You have Fear as the spell every 5 rounds, Major Image every 5 rounds to screw w/ the opponents, a summonable Iron Wall, Imprisonment, and a summonable 20' square stone building to block holes in your defense. Tenebrous adds Deeper Darkness that you can make really, really big before even starting combat, and that doesn't affect you.

Maximizing Fear Effects / Battlefield Control :f:
15, 20 [Ashardalon] + [Chupoclops] + [Fogalar] + [Eligor]. You start out charging w/ a full attack, and the following round use the Fear effect. They'll be at -4 to their save already, but even if they make they'll be at -6 to most of their stuff as long as they're around you. The other abilities from these vestiges are really good, as well, for combat and as a general debuff as well.  Stacking Fear's Shaken effect on a successful save w/ a maxed out Intimidate is a good idea.

Tactical Nuke
1 [Amon] + Dragonborn (Heart aspect) + metabreath feats: Many DMs don't allow players to select feats based on temporarily gained prerequisites. Being a Dragonborn allows you to pick up a natural breath weapon and qualify for the metabreath feats. My picks would be Shape Breath, Clinging Breath, Quicken Breath, and Maximize Breath (Heighten Breath, while good, is overkill, imo). Entangling Exhalation is nice to use on your Dragonborn Breath Weapon. A single level of Dragonfire Adept can grant your party immunity to your breath weapon (and give ANOTHER breath weapon). Combining with Anima Mage can get you some very nice breath weapon requiring spells. Also, RAW, the metabreath feats say that you add rounds until your next breath weapon attack, but it doesn't say WHICH breath weapon (add the rounds to your weakest breath weapon ).
Miscellaneous Combos

Old Combos (from previous handbooks)

Diplomonster:bravo:
1 [Naberius] + Exemplar + Marshal: You are able to preform diplomacy checks without penalty as as STANDARD ACTION and you can TAKE TEN!!! Diplomancers just got way more powerful. Add in other PrC dips as you desire, but as a full-binder you really only need to dip outside the binder class for two levels (one for exemplar and one for marshal). Only go for exemplar if your DM does not allow custom items to boost skills.

Assasination:f: :incog: :f:
8, 15 [Malphas] + [Andromelius] + [Marchosias]: Sneak attack + sudden strike both progressing off the same thing: your binder level. Never shalt thou see a more beautiful and simple combination. Many other binds also exist which add even more extra dice to your attacks.  edit: Marchosias adds a TON of stealth ability, and death attack.

10, 15 [Marchosias] + [Chupoclops] + [Focalor]: Another rogue-like combination with at twist: death attack. Use Chupoclops's ethereal watcher to gain your three rounds of observance and then strike with Marchosias's death attack for nasty effect. You'll also have aura of despair and sadness active giving your target a -4 on the death effect save! I also recommend taking ability focus (death attack). edit: accorrding to CustServ, you still need a source of Sneak Attack.

10, 15, 20 [Focalor or Ipos] + [Chupoclops] + [Haures] + Ability Focus (Phantasmal Killer) + Favored Vestige (Haures) + Favored Vestige Focus (Haures) + Rapid Recovery (Haures) + Improved Binding: Use incorporeal movement + tumble to avoid any enemies in your way and then deliver the death attack to end all death attacks to your enemy. Due to aura of sadness and despair he takes a -4 to his saves and your DC is increased by 3 from feats. Throw on a decent charisma (say 30) and 20 BL and we're looking at a death attack with a save of 33 (don't forget that the enemy must make his saves at a -4 penalty). If Ipos is used the DC increases by 2, but you lose aura of sadness. The net effect is the same, but Ipos also gives you rending and claws.


New Combos (not in the old Handbooks, but maybe are in the threads)

Diplomonster, Part 2:bravo:
10 [The Triad] + [Naberius] + maxed Diplomacy:  Will make for an auto-check of 28 at 10th, plus your Cha. Thats a nice number to work from when you don't have to invest any levels or feats into it. You also get +5 Sense Motive, Empathy, and Detect Hostile Intent, making it a decent high level social/interaction Vestige.  Add Naberius, and Naberius's Skills for Knowledge: Local, and you can become a kingpin, even during planar travel, buying and selling secrets for favors, money, or anything else you desire.

Trapfinding:detect:
15 [Ashardalon] + Able Learner + search as a class skill + Trapfinding (either through a Rogue level, Theft Gloves, or anything else): Become the Searching GOD. With a 1st level dip in Rogue, and the investment of 1 rank per level, when you get to bind Ashardalon, you'll have a +33 to search, w/ no magic items (which could boost it up to 70 or higher: +30 item, +2 MW item, +5 Magnifying Glass, +Int items). With magic items, you auto-find magical auras, too, hitting the Epic Search skill DC. edit: With such a ridiculous search modifier, you should consider adding the new Dungeonscape feat that allows an auto-search for many traps when you get w/in 5' of it.

Assasination:incog::f:
13, 15 [Andras] + [Marchosias] + [Malphus]: Sneak up on your enemies, staying hidden, then use the confound ability on them, whittling down their HP.  After 3 rounds, go ahead and attack one of the "softies" using the death attack, then use Malphus's Invisibility to sneak away, setting it up again.

8, 15, 20 [Acerak] + [Malphus] + [Chupoclops] + [Focolor]: Sneak up on your enemies, invisible, then hit the opponent with Paralyzing Touch, while they have the -4 to their saves.  They'll be paralyzed and helpless, allowing a Coup-de-Grace the following round.  This combo is much more friendly to random combat than the Marchosias combos, as you need not wait 3 rounds to activate the ability, and have pounce, bite attacks, and lightening strikes that all can be used while waiting to "recharge".

Scouting
10 [Chupoclops] + [Malphus]: Basically, you activate invisibility, then scout around. One round before invisibility becomes deactivated, you activate Ethereal Watcher and do nothing. After 5 rounds, you go invisible again (and return to the Material). Voila, you are invisible as long as you want!

Tips and Tricks

Old Advice (from previous handbooks)

- Buer's small granted heal is useable an unlimited number of times per day. This means that a binder can heal the party back to full during dowtime without wasting any of the primary healer's valuable resources.

- If you suffer a large amount of ability damage or drain and cannot rest, you can use Expel Vestige and then bind Naberius to heal.

- Combined with the Negotiator bonus feat and a Binder's natural emphasis on Charisma, Naberius can make a character an formidable diplomat.

- Savnok's Move Ally ability can be used to bypass some terrain obstacles (which may be even harder to overcome in full plate) by trading places with a more mobile ally such as a summoned raven or earth elemental (as long as they are visible). This could also be used to break a grapple or other confine.

- Balam's Cunning can be used to re-roll a Truespeak skill check every 5 rounds (or every 4 if you include Favored Vestige and Rapid Recovery).

- Paimon's Death of Death ability can be used to trigger Skirmish damage.

- Balam's and Geryon's gaze attacks can be combined for 4d6 continuous damage every round, and leave you free to perform other actions.

- Amon's and Orthos's Breath Weapons can be used to qualify for Metabreath feats (Maximized Breath Weapon plus Empowered Supernatural Ability anyone?).  This is debatable, RAW: see the first CustServ quote below.

- Naberius can be used to offset the ability damage caused by the Festering Anger (Book of Vile Darkness) disease.

- Naberius is also the main way the Hellfire Warlock overcomes the Con damage they take.

- A Deathshead can be created using the Create Undead spell and a Murder of Crows may be summoned using the Summon Swarm spell. Though this is not useful to a pure soul binder, an Anima Mage (or any other caster with those spells) can take advantage of this.


New Advice (not in the handbooks, but maybe in the threads)

- The Veil of Allure (Sandstorm) grants a +2 save DC to all charisma-based supernatural abilities.

- Ashardalon's Greed, along with a few ranks in Appraise and some magic items, could easily get you up to the Epic DC 50 needed to detect magic items.

- Ashardalon'g Fear effect actually lasts so long that by the time it no longer effects the enemy, you could've already used it two more times (15th level, the earliest you can bind him).

- The Triad gives +5 Diplomacy and +5 Sense Motive, as well as Bardic Knowledge, making it a great social / interaction vestige.

-  If you can get some ranks in UMD, or if you are using the Heterodoxy variant and started as a Cleric, you should bind Buer and use a Wand of Shield Other when available. You get fast healing, and can heal yourself in the back of the party w/

- Otiax's Air Blast ability works as a melee touch attack even up to 10' away; there's nothing in the rules that says you can't use Power Attack with this (it's like the Wraithstrike + Power Attack combo). 2d6+BAB is pretty good damage, imo. Go into it fully equiped w/ a shield.  Tenebrous can add 4d8 cold damage to the attack, and specifies you can use it for a full round (at least when it gets to 4d8).  Combine w/ Leap Attack + Shocktrooper, Chupoclops for pounce, and Andras for imp. crit in a 16 BAB build and you get 2d6+4d8+32 damage per hit (4d6+4d8+64 on a crit), and can still be 10' away from them. Shax's Sea Strike can add another 2d6 damage to one hit. Not bad if you just got MDJ'd in the World's Largest Dungeon.  Air Blast may or may not work w/ Power Attack: its a strict DM call (not even RAW or CustServ can answer the question, apprently).

- Arete some nice defense beyond having Buer bound: being able to heal oneself of 2d12 HP once per day (or more, w/ a crystal), having DR 5/-, and +4 to any save is really nice.

- Dahlver-Nar can be a great way to keep dead things dead at low level.  Gaseous Form is a particularly nasty way to keep recurring villains in a fight, for repeated encounters.  In fact, any creature with any kind of incorporealness or any kind of heavy DR should be targeted with the Shield Self ability.  Don't forget that you can deny yourself your Dex bonus anytime you want, and that a Sneak Attacking Rogue will do a ton of damage to you, if you so desire.

- Knights of the Sacred Seal become Outsiders at 5th level as a Su ability.  This goes away if you unbind your patron vestige.  If you have Karsus bound, its time to start using a wand of Alter Self, as you get access to a ton of really useful abilities in outsider form (how would you like +18 natural armor, for example?).

-  I was rereading Zagan's abilities, and I just got to say, wow. It is THE vestige to be facing high level humanoid parties. Grapple the wizard, then use Aversion against the melee types. Just hope they don't have an active Freedom of Movement going!

-  How about charming a monster you don't like and making it your ally with your half-elf bard diplomancer cohort (or some other way..) and send the monster to the Ethereal plane forever? This could be accomplished with "Animal Friend: [Eurynome] All animals automatically friendly with you" so you can dispose of animal monsters chasing you down (that dinosaur causing you trouble? ). Just found this, but it seems like you can use this "Command or Suggestion: [Naberius] Command within 30 ft or suggestion (if BL >= 14) . 1/ 5 rnds." to make a enemy your friend, command him to get naked (don't want to lose his loot after all) and then teleport to the Ethereal plane and switch places with him.

-  Speaking of Eurynome, the always friendly animals are a great way to increase your fighting power.  If you party w/ a Druid or Ranger, convince them to have a high Handle Animal, and you can train every animal you encounter.  How about a bunch of ally fleshrakers?

-  Army building can start at 6th: Tenebrous's Rebuke ability can get you undead.  6th level is important, as you can control Shadows.  Build your shadow army, just as all the necromancer-types.  Combine with Leadership, and you easily can have tons of minions.  How do you get a Shadow?  Pay a spellcaster to cast Summon Monster 5, have it kill a squirrel, and wait d4 rounds (have the summoned Shadow command the created one not to attack).  Then Rebuke.

-  A big problem of being a Binder is not knowing what you are going to face the next day.  Since knowing is half the battle, The Triad is winning it before it begins.  Use Call to Mind plus Bardic Knowledge plus Dantalion to get huge bonuses on knowledge checks.  Combining it with Naberius, and using the Con skills to get Knowledge: Local will turn you into a local kingpin immediately.  Oh, and let you find out what is happening the next day, who's planning what, etc.

- Binders can do the trapfinding role, but it isn't easy.  Karsus grants Detect Magic at will, which can reveal magical traps, and then can use the dispelling touch ability to try to dispel it.  Mechanical traps are still a problem, though: Able Learner, a starting level of Rogue / Scout / Ninja, and planning on maxing Search and Disable will work, and late levels Ashardolon adds your Binder level to Search checks (alternatively, Shape Soulmeld and Open Chakra: Theft Gloves will get you trapfinding too, but it won't add the relevant skills).  Just stick with Karsus, and take the mechanical trap damage like a champ.

- Haures's Major Image does NOT require concentration to maintain: the effect is as the spell, but it automatically lasts Binder level rounds.  Make the Image of a house, or wall, in the middle of your battlefield, and control it as normal.  Nothing like a Tarasque jumping out of the ground to really scare the bejeezus out of your enemies, but what also works is to have the opposing party start dropping like flies... they won't know what the heck is going on.

- Tenebrous's Deeper Darkness effect, unlike every other form of concealment, doesn't have the critical words: "you cannot hide in it".  Thus, it allows you to get precision damage off much, much easier: its about the equivalent of Hide in Plain Sight.

Maximizing Save DCs
Straight from Gerdreg:
Quote from: Gerdreg
(Save DC = 10 + EBL/2 + Cha Bonus)

Generic
Cha bonus = +12 (18 base Cha + 5 level bonus + 6 enhancement bonus item + 5 inherent bonus tome)
EBL = +10 (level 20/2)
Soul Lens (+1), 12k gp
Veil of Allure (+2), 14k gp

Vestige/ Ability Specific
Ipos's Influence + Favored Vestige (+2 EBL/2)
Ability Focus (+2 to one ability)
Sudden Ability Focus (+2 once per day)
Favored Vestige Focus (+1 for one vestige's abilities)
Ipos's Influence (+1 when Ipos is bound)
Chupoclops's Aura of Despair (-2 to other's saves when Chupoclops is bound)
Focalor's Aura of Sadness (-2 to other's saves when Focalor is bound)
Assassin's Dagger (+1 with Death Attack)



Handy CustServ quotes
Vestige granted feats and abilities weren’t intended to qualify one for prestige classes or other feats: LINK BROKEN
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=11326619&postcount=181

The save DC for the psionic Vestiges is ½ BL + Cha: LINK BROKEN
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=11231204&postcount=162

Marchosias’s Death Attack requires Sneak Attack or Sudden Strike from some other source, and this was as intended: LINK BROKEN
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=11278319&postcount=172

Binders can't bind multiple copies of the same vestige,
Ipos's Planar Attunement clarified, and,
Binders can revert back and forth between the Outsider type and their original type (hello, Alter Shape abuse... bring on Karsus!):
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=11427332&postcount=16

It is ENTIRELY up to your DM on whether Power Attack can be used with Otiax's Air Blast ability: LINK BROKEN
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=10606961&postcount=133

Nobody knows how the Item Creation ability of Astaroth is supposed to work; talk w/ your DM:
http://boards1.wizards.com/showpost.php?p=11769670&postcount=65

Paimon's Dance of Death, although intended to work only on melee, works equally well w/ ranged RAW:
Answer

Zceryll's Summon Alien ability was supposed to mimic the Summon Monster spell in all ways except for the ability to get multiple lower-level creatures (not a Cust-Serv answer, but from the designer himself):
http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=13128772&postcount=121

Reports from the Trenches: Binder in Action

Real Game Experiences from a Binder Player
by jameswilliamogle

Here’s the rundown of how my Binder is working out in the Savage Tides adventure Path, modified for Eberron (I believe its normally LG).  For those who don’t know, this is a heavily-aquatic themed series with a diverse array of opportunities and adventure (though there is also a strong central theme as well).  I’m enjoying the campaign quite a bit.  There probably will be some spoiling, but I will try to focus on the mechanical aspects of how things are working out.  So far, I’m following my own advice above, Low-Level Binder Advancement, pretty closely.

The DM was encouraging non-standard classes, and hasn’t really restricted anything yet.  The other players are: a Beguiler, a Spellthief, a Psion, a Cleric/Psion (more Psion, now), a Warforged Fighter, and an Elven Blaster Wizard (taking UA options, he’s focusing on fire).  The DM has given “Rule 0” power to the players as well as keeping it himself: if a clear majority think a feat, spell, power, etc. is too strong, then its restricted (Shock Trooper and Leap Attack have both been restricted already, for example).

I went with Human.  I rolled ridiculously high for stats (4d6, drop the lowest):
Str 15, Dex 16, Con 15, Int 14, Wis 8, Cha 17
Since we started at 1st, I took Improved Binding and Expel Vestige (I wasn’t sure if Expel Vestige was really necessary, but I’m very glad I took it).  The DM allowed swapping of 2 class skills: I swapped Gather Info and Kn: Planes for Hide and Move Silently (UMD would've been better, but oh well).  For my bonus languages, I took Giant (for Haagenti) and Aquan (since I knew it was an aquatic themed campaign).

1st level:  I started bound to Naberius, but quickly switched to Malphus as we were sent on a search-and-rescue type mission.  Malphus’s Bird’s-Eye-Viewing, coupled with a sunstick that the bird carried, ensured that the party wasn’t surprised at all.  Sudden Strike only came into play when I attacked a grappling enemy (mostly undead).  With Studded Leather and a Heavy Shield, I had an 18 AC, which was enough to keep most attacks off of me.  I downed quite a few enemies w/ my Morningstar, which was quite rewarding.  I tried to expel Malphus, but failed.  After resting, I felt that we could use some more melee-oriented characters, and I bound Aym.  Unbeknownst to us, we cleared all the enemies away already, and Aym actually was a bad choice: I made a bad pact, and since we had a ton of coinage, and also had to swim to get it ashore, I chose to role-play it out, and refused to leave any coins behind.  We got a bunch of coinage, a few wands, and an Earth Elemental Gem that saved are butts.

2nd level:  In between sessions, I used Naberius a lot, and disguised myself as a local nobleman.  I bought a bunch of stuff on credit, and then dumped it on a fence, making some money that way.  Once the session started, I bound Dahlver-Nar, and bought a MW Buckler, but didn’t have enough cash for a MW Chain Shirt (almost all our loot is tied up in magic items, which really sucks, as the Wizard is holding it all, and we’re overdue for some upgrades).  I was putting Pact Augmentation to HP.  Binding DN, I found, makes your first 1-2 rounds of combat almost completely defensive: you have Shield Self on one of your allies (preferably the Cleric), then target an enemy as you stand near the front, and hope they don’t kill you.  Although this reduces your damage output, it really, really helps your HP totals (DR / 50% is awesome).  The damage the enemy takes isn’t anything that you really can rely on: its almost strictly a defensive vestige.  At AC 19, DN allowed a lot of tanking.  I went below 0 once, and only for a few rounds (remember: Shield Self only goes away when the target dies, so I still had it active on the unconscious BBEG’s, which saved me from certain death).  After working over some more bad guys, we fought a poorly defended humanoid.  It almost assuredly is a recurring villain, as it drank a Gaseous Form potion after HP’s ran really low.  Only the unconscious WF Fighter actually had magical weapons (from feats), and it was getting away.  It took me a round to realize it, but then I targeted her with Shield Self, and following it, had the Spellthief and the Cleric follow me, backstabbing and healing me as we whittled down her HP until it stopped moving.  This was a LOT of fun, and we got some fat loot from defeating it at this time (a 5 charge wand of animate dead, for example, and a +1 Rapier that came in VERY handy).  The next day in the city, we had several random encounters, including some raptors (eating people).  I (stupidly) forgot how strong Raptors were, and charged one that I could flank.  Full attacks suck…  Anyways, I was still conscious, but very hurt (<5 HP).  I used the Maddening Moan ability of DN to make all the enemies Dazed (dinosaurs are known for lots of things: Will save isn’t one of them); all 3 Dinos that were on me failed the Will save, as well as the Spellthief and Fighter, who happened to be in range, and I moved 30’ without taking any AoO’s (the MM ability seems to be strictly for getting out of melee when things go bad).  The cleric healed me a bit w/ a happy stick, and I targeted a Dino attacking our flank w/ Shield Self, and went in after the Spellthief engaged it.  The Wizard busted open the Earth Elemental, and that finished combat rapidly.  He also animated the raptors w/ the wand, right afterwards (much to the annoyance of the DM ).

3rd level:  I took Improved Initiative, still not knowing where to focus my Binder (as I have to leave the campaign in May, I’m not sure how many levels I’ll reach, and trying to take immediate benefit feats instead).  I also started binding Paimon, and put Pact Augmentation into Initiative, for a +11 Initiative modifier.  That +1 Magic Rapier put my attack bonus at +8, and damage at a paultry d6+3.  AC became a 20, thanks to MW Chain Shirt and Dex bump from Paimon.  Combat against mobs was very smooth for the most part: winning initiative means you get to Dance of Death round 1 before the enemy attacks, almost every time, and +8 to hit gives you some pretty good odds (better than the straight fighter, in this campaign).  After that, they tend to surround you, but your good AC keeps things from hitting you most of the time, and giving you a great opportunity to use Whirlwind Attack on the following round.  Against tough opponents, I found that using Dance of Death like Spring Attack (using the tumbling bonus from Paimon) kept me from taking too much damage, and the skeleton raptors were wicked-good at this level.  I got taken down by a Raptor-thing, and actually hit -9 HP before my party killed him.  We had almost spent our Happy Stick, and was only at 13 HP, so I used Expel Vestige (successfully) and then bound Focolor, suppressing the Aura of Sadness, and putting Pact Aug into HP.  We had a few more encounters, but they were pretty easy: I stayed behind whoever was tanking, and zapped the badguys like a bug.  Net result: Paimon is great for mobs of weaklings, but don’t expect to have a huge impact against the tougher BBEG’s, but you can make a difference in every combat with Focolor.  Along the way, I took some ability damage, so bound Naberius while we returned home.  We got a fight starting next session, and haven't had a chance to level yet (since we haven't rested).

The next session we encountered a couple of thugs, that tried to pick a fight.  We beat them easily, and I used Naberius (taking 10 on diplomacy) to convince the city guards that it was their fault with a 22 check ("These aren't the droids you're looking for").  We then encountered 6 low-level Rogues and a BBEG leading them in the city; they surprised us getting sneak attack on the warforged with alchemist fire, dropping him immediately.  Then the BBEG went around the side of a building out of sight, and the Beguiler cast Obscurring Mist, to prevent more SA.  I went around the opposite side of the building (had only 17 HP at this point, about 70%), and used Disguise Self as a standard action to make myself look like the BBEG (they were familiar w/ her, granting them +6 to spot it, but I had a +13 mod: +10 for Disguise Self, +3 Cha, +2 Bluff, -2 different sex); I then went around and told them that the person they were with was a Changeling, and they needed to attack it now (they believed me, but instead of attacking the other one, just were confused).  This gave the Wizard enough time to repair the Warforged, and the Beguiler managed to charm the BBEG, and the others got into position.  We then wiped out the group, but not until the Wizard got into negative HP territory. 

We then got immediately into ANOTHER battle, but started in it by trying to use Diplomacy.  By this time, I was at 1 HP, so I disguised myself as a peasant.  The tank, beguiler, and spellthief went up a few floors into a building, trying to talk someone into letting someone else go [trying not to spoil the adventure].  When we went into initiative, I went around the building, disguising myself as one of the minor bad guys.  I then went into the building, without anyone taking AoO's against me, until I got to the top floor where half the party was (the other half fighting on the first floor).  I bluffed and said the badguys needed to go downstairs to rescue one of the evil-coworkers (on the second floor, the Wizard had commanded two raptor skeletons to guard the stairs, after I had gone up).  Half of them went down (all the minor bad guys) got flayed alive.  The tougher badguys dropped a Tank, Cleric, Beguiler, and Gnome w/in a round (I drank a CLW potion then).  I walked down the stairs, disguised myself as the same badguy that I had pretended was downstairs, and walked into the room where the evil do-ers were tieing up my party.  I told them that I had escaped, and needed help defeating the rest of the ones downstairs, again taking 10 and getting a 20 bluff check.  They went downstairs, as I said "I need to heal myself", drank another potion of CLW, then went into the room.  I poured the last CLW on the beguiler, as the evil do-ers were working on the raptors.  The beguiler in turn repaired the warforged.  I jumped out of the window with the Gnome Spellthief, and landed prone, but only took 8 damage or so.  The party downstairs were all < 0 HP.  The party upstairs was running low.  Anyways, it was a VERY harrowing fight, but I was dropped at that point w/ non-lethal damage.  We won, but one of the bad guys was convinced to leave (Charm Person from the Beguiler, natural 1 on the save), and every party member, all the undead we had made, all of the consumable healing resources all got used up, only the Beguiler surviving at 4 HP.

If I hadn't had Naberius bound, we all would've died (or at least been captured), but the extra time that I was able to grant the party really, really helped out a lot.  The DM may have even been nerfing the NPC reactions, but just slowing them down was good enough for me.  Having Naberius bound you don't even need to try to optimize for a diplomonster build, and still be ridiculously good at it; what's really, really nice is the take 10 on the bluff check (in this campaign, you can even action point it after taking 10, for some ridiculous numbers, since its Eberron).

Level 4: We decided that retraining for non-power plays would be ok, so I retrained my Improved Binding feat to be in the 4th level bonus feat, and retrained the 1st level feat as Combat Expertise (planning on taking Deadly Defense at 6th).  I put the stat bump into Cha, for a 16 DC save vs. my vestige abilities that allow saves.  This is (more or less) where we ended on Sunday.  More to follow as the campaign continues.  Not much outside of standard skill checks occured through the rest of this level... I used Naberius a lot.  Don't really remember much else (and the bit I did remember would spoil some of the adventure, too).

Level 5: I started by binding Andras, but as we were going to do some more dungeon crawling, quickly switched back to Paimon.  Using Deadly Defense and fighting defensively, I had a +7 to hit w/ a +1 Rapier.  Using Dance of Death I managed to crit against 3 opponents... I ended up doing 79 damage in one round, getting initiative, and walked back to behind the (other) main tank (my AC was a 23 throughout this whole delve).  I nicknamed this "turning on the blender", and there were many jokes about my recharge meter filling up between uses, me charging up like dragonball, etc.  Afterwards, I  found out I was diseased, and I managed to expel vestige and bind Buer... ending that.

Levels 6 and 7: Just sucked; the Binder starts to fall behind straight casters and melee types at this point.  The Medium BAB really hurt the whole concept of a finesse fighter.  Our melee characters started failing Will saves, which really strained the Binder.  It became obvious that it wasn't strong enough in melee to continue melee'ing.  I was binding lots of different types of vestiges, too, most of which were mediocre.  Eurynome sucks, as does Agares (as I thought it would).  Buer proved ridiculously useful, but it still isn't a prime choice.  Paimon and Andras were still the strongest choices at this level.  7th level, having no new access at all, really felt dead: I almost delayed leveling to get more XP from the remaining encounters.

Level 8: Looking forward to combining Otiax's Air Blast w/ Combat Expertise and Sneak Attack .

Theory matches Play: The Binder can melee with the best of them, but then has tons of other options to fall back on.  I would NOT recomend this class for an inexperienced player, as the options can be a bit overwhelming, even with only one vestige to bind at a time.

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Re: Hatchet Job Port Thread
« Reply #19 on: April 11, 2013, 12:11:49 AM »
Consolidated List of "Bargain Bin" Spells for Artificers
by Iskajir

As an artificer, you get spells/gp, rather than spells/day. Here are a few ways to stretch your gp and craft reserve. The most obvious way to get a spell at the least cost is by choosing the lowest class level available, which often lowers the minimum caster level of your scroll or wand. This also adds more possibilities for wands, and eternal wands.

Further down, you will find spells that are much improved by using the fast spell progression of Ur-Priest, Divine Crusader, and Beholder Mage. If you need a scroll fairly early in your career, or if CL doesn't matter much, it may be worthwhile to compare costs. Ur-Priest uses the Cleric list. Beholder Mage uses the Sor/Wiz list. Divine Crusader uses domain lists. I am going to, slowly, consolidate a list of high level scrolls useful to 5-7th level casters. Excluded are spells with costly material components, focuses, or large XP expenditures; spells that are very CL dependent; spells that still aren't worthwhile. Be aware that these are not balanced at all in lower-optimization games.

Finally, there is a section of links to sources to further stretch your budget in very high optimization games, and for TO exercises.


~I still consider this Work-In-Progress, and would like to know if I missed anything, misspelled anything, or need to adjust formatting for easy use, let me know.




Books Explored- I won't promise that I didn't miss something good.

PHB, DMG, UA, PHB2, DMG2
Complete Adventurer/ Arcane/Divine/Warrior/Champion/Scoundrel
Races of Stone/the Wild/Destiny/the Dragon
Frostburn/Stormwrack/Sandstorm/ Cityscape/ Dungeonscape/  Drow otU/ OA
BoED/BoVD, Savage Species, Mini's HB,
Elder Evils, Manual of Planes, Planar HB, Tome of Magic, FC1, FC2, Tome of Battle, Draconomicon, Magic of Incarnum, XPH, Dragon Magic, Drag Mag Comp,
Heroes of Battle/Horror
Lords of Madness, Libris Mortis
Eberron: CS, Faiths, Magic, Sharn, 5 Nations, explorers
FR:CS, UE, Magic, Monsters, Faiths, Waterdeep, PG, Power, Dragons, Races, S. South, Spider Queen, Lords of Darkness, champs of Valor/Ruin, Silver Marches,
DL: CS, Towers of High Sorcery, War of the Lance


Level 0 Spell

Deathwatch (Healer, MH)
Silent Image (Gnome Ill, RoS)
Ventriloquism (Gnome Ill, RoS)

Level 1 Spells

Animal Messenger (Rgr)
Arcane Lock (Thayan Slaver, FR-UE)
Arcane Sight (Trapsmith, DS)
Barkskin (Nentyar Hunter, FR-UE)
Bear's Endurance (Sand Shaper, SaSt)
Blindness/Deafness (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Bull's Strength (Sand Shaper, SaSt)
Calm emotions (Consecrated Harrier, CD)
Cat's Grace (Sand Shaper, SaSt/  Trapsmith, DS)
Clairvoyance/Clairaudience  (Trapsmith, DS)
Cure Light Wounds (Clr)
Cure Moderate Wounds (Runescarred Beserker, FR-UE)
Darkness  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Darkvision (Darkness Domain, BoVD)
Delay Poison (rgr)
Detect Thoughts (Truth Domain, RoE)
Dispel Magic  (Trapsmith, DS)
Fox's Cunning  (Trapsmith, DS)
Frostburn, Lesser (Disciple of Thrym, FB)
Gaseous Form  (Trapsmith, DS)
Haste  (Trapsmith, DS)
Identify (Cloi Clr, UA)
Invisibility  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Knock  (Trapsmith, DS / Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Lay of the Land, SpC (Rgr)
Levitate  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Leomund's Trap (Gnome Ill, RoS)
Magic Mouth (Brd)
Magic Vestment (Artificer, ECS)
Make Whole (Balance Domain, SpC)
Minor Image(Gnome Ill, RoS)
Obscure Object (Brd)
Produce Flame (Drd)
Protection From Energy (Trapsmith, DS)
Remove Paralysis (Healer, MH)
Resist Energy (Rgr)
Restoration, Lesser (paladin)
See Invisibility (Runescarred Beserker, FR-UE)
Silence (Court Herald, FR-PoF)
Shadow Mask -SpC  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Shadow Spray- SpC  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Speak with Animals (drd)
Spider Climb (Prime Underdark guide, FR-UD/ Spider Domain DotU/Slayer of Domiel, BoED)
Tasha's Hideous Laughter (brd)
Undetectable Alignment (Brd)

Level 2 Spells

Air Walk  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Animate Dead (Death Master, Dragon Magazine Compendium)
Arcane Eye (Trapsmith, DS)
Bestow Curse (Demonologist, BoVD)
Blacklight- SpC  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Continual Flame (S/W)
Cure Serious Wounds (Runescarred Beserker, FR-UE)
Daylight (Consecrated Harrier, CD)
Dimension Door (Trapsmith, DS)
Displacement  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Fire Trap (Drd)
Gentle Repose (Clr)
Globe of Invulnerability, Lesser (Trapsmith, DS)
Heroism (Brd)
Hold Person (Clr)
Illusory Script (Gnome Ill, RoS/ Assassin)
Improved Invisibility  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Keen Edge (Runescarred Beserker, FR-UE)
Locate Object (S/W)
Magic Circle vs Evil (Demonologist, BoVD/Exorcism Domain ECS)
Magic Circle vs Good (Demonologist, BoVD)
Major Image (Gnome Ill, RoS)
Nondetection  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Otiluke's Resilient Sphere (Trapsmith, DS)
Rage (Brd)
Reduce Animal (Drd)
Remove Blindness/Deafness (Healer, MH)
Remove Disease (Healer, MH)
See Invisibility (S/W)
Snare (rgr)
Speak with Plants (Rgr)
Spike Growth (Rgr)
Stone Shape (Trapsmith, DS)
Stoneskin (Trapsmith, DS)
Suggestion (Brd)
Tongues (Brd)
Tree Shape (Drd)
Vampiric Touch (Corrupt Avenger, HoH / Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Wind Wall (Air Domain)


Level 3 Spells

Bigby's Interposing Hand (Trapsmith, DS)
Break Enchantment (Trapsmith, DS)
Charm Monster (Brd)
Command, Greater  (Thayan Slaver, FR-UE)
Command Plants (Rgr)
Confusion (Brd)
Contagion (Clr)
Control water (Watery Death domain, FR-UD)
Crushing despair (Brd)
Cure Critical Wounds (Runescarred Beserker, FR-UE)
Darkbolt- SpC  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Deathward (Dread Necromancer, HoH)
Detect Scrying  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Discern Lies (Pal)
Dispel Magic, Greater (Trapsmith, DS)
Divination (Oracle Domain, SpC)
Divine Power (Runescarred Beserker, FR-UE)
Dominate Person  (Thayan Slaver, FR-UE)
Evard's black Tentacles (Blackwater Domain, StWr)
Fabricate (Trapsmith, DS)
Fear (brd)
Fire Shield (Warmage, Comp Arc)
Freedom of Movement (Nentyar Hunter, FR-UE/Runescarred Beserker, FR-UE)
Geas, Lesser (brd)
Glibness (Brd/ Initiate of Vecna, RoD)
Hold Monster  (Thayan Slaver, FR-UE)
Ice Storm (Warmage, Comp Arc)
Illusory Wall (Gnome Ill, RoS)
Invisibility, Mass  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Magic Weapon, Greater (S/W)
Mislead  (Telflammar Shadowlord, FR-UE)
Neutralize Poison (Drd)
Planar Binding, Lesser (Demonologist, BoVD)
Poison (Drd)
Remove Curse (Clr)
Repel Vermin (Rgr)
Restoration (Healer, MH)
Scrying (Brd)
Shout (Knight of the Chalice, CW)
Wall of Stone (Trapsmith, DS)

Level 4 Spells

Analyze Dweomer (Bardic Sage, UA)
Animal Growth (Rgr)
Atonement (Emissary of Barachiel, BoED)
Baleful Polymorph (Hexblade, CW)
Bestow Curse, Greater (Demonologist, BoVD)
Blight (Drd)
Commune with Nature (Rgr)
Contact Other Plane (Hexblade, CW)
Cure Light Wounds, Mass (Healer, MH)
Dismissal (Clr)
Dispel Chaos/Evil/Law/Good (Pal and UA variants)
Dream (Emissary of Barachiel, BoED)
Flame Strike (Drd)
Insect Plague (Savage Bard, UA)
Legend Lore (brd)
Mark of Justice (Pal)
Mind Fog  (Thayan Slaver, FR-UE)
Persistent Image (Gnome Ill, RoS)
Planar Binding (Demonologist, BoVD)
Righteous Might (Runescarred Beserker, FR-UE)
Sending (Clr)
Sequester  (Thayan Slaver, FR-UE)
Summon Giants (Disciple of Thrym, FB)
Transmute Mud to Rock/Rock to Mud (Blighter, CD)
Tree Stride (rgr)
True Seeing (Urban Ranger, UA)
Unhallow (Blighter, CD)
Veil  (Thayan Slaver, FR-UE)
Wall of Fire (s/W)


Level 5 Spells

Antimagic Field (Runescarred Beserker, FR-UE)
Antilife Shell (Blighter, CD)
Bigby's Clenched Fist (Duskblade, PHB2)
Chain Lightning (Duskblade, PHB2)
Create Undead (Blighter, CD)
Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass (Healer, MH)
Disintergrate (Duskblade, PHB2)
Forbiddance (Blighter, CD)
Harm (Blighter CD)
Heal (Adept)
Heroism, Greater (Brd)
Plane Shift (Clr)
Polar Ray (Duskblade, PHB2)
Programmed Image (Gnome Ill, RoS)
Scrying, Greater (Bardic Sage, UA)
Shadow Walk (Brd)
Stone to Flesh (Healer, MH)
Suggestion, Mass (Brd)
Undeath to Death (Dread Necromancer, HoH)
Wall of Iron (Shugenja, CD)


Level 6 Spells

Antipathy (Blighter, CD)
Banishment (Clr)
Charm Monster, Mass (brd)
Control Weather (WuJen, Comp Arc)
Creeping Doom (Savage Bard, UA)
Cure Serious Wounds, Mass (Healer, MH)
Finger of Death (Blighter, CD)
Otto's Irristible Dance (Brd)
Project Image (Brd)
Regenerate (Healer, MH)
Repulsion (S/W)
Restoration, Greater (Healer, MH)
Shout, Greater (Brd)
Sunbeam (Summer Domain, SaSt)
Vision (Bardic Sage, UA)
Waves of Exhaustion (Dread Necromancer, HoH)
Wind Walk (Clr)
Word of Recall (Clr)

Level 7 Spells

Animal Shapes (Animal Domain)
Cure Critical Wounds, Mass (Healer, MH)
Earthquake (Earth Domain)
Fire Storm (Drd)
Phase Door (S/W)
Refuge (Clr)
Reverse Gravity (S/W)
Screen (Trickery Domain)

Level 8 Spells

Heal, Mass (Healer, MH)
Shambler (Blighter, CD)
Symathy (S/W)

Beholder Mage List Bargains

9th level Spells (available at 7th level)
Foresight, Bigby's Crushing Hand, Meteor Swarm, Shades, Weird, Wail of the Banshee, Time Stop, Magic Miasma, Summon Elemental Monolith (+100gp), Transmute Rock to Lava

8th level Spells (available at 6th level)
Mind Blank, Superior Invisibility

Ur-Priest/Divine Crusader List Bargains

9th level Spells (available at 7th level)

8th level Spells (available at 6th level)
Veil of Undeath

4th level Spells (available at 2nd level)
Glibness (Commerce Domain)

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