Author Topic: [3.5] The Psychic Warrior Handbook (Read 60613 times)

zugschef · « **on:** November 23, 2011, 08:25:24 AM »

The Psychic Warrior Handbook
(A Guide to Psychological Warfare)

Contents

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I. Introduction:
(Psychological Warfare, the Modern Art of War)

_{Beware of the sophisticated warrior with the mind powers and the big stick!}

"If you want to master the art of psychological warfare, your first lesson will be outsmarting the enemy with a surprise hit with a really big stick you just happen to shoulder. Nothing will destroy the enemy's morals more than a square hit in the face."
-- Excerpt from the Manuscripts of the late Magnumopus, a Grandchampion of Psychological Warfare

The psychic warrior is a very cool class in terms of flavor. Mechanically speaking, it's kind of boring however: Its only class feature beside its manifesting ability, are its bonus feats. Fortunately the psychic warrior really has a very good powerlist with powers other manifesters cry for. This class is able to do its job and it does it really well -- actually I doubt anyone does it better. You won't create your own demi-plane, but why bother when you can take on anybody face to face?

This guide shall help you with building your character (there are a lot of different fighting styles and options) and provide a quick reference for veterans. Especially the commented power selection should prove helpful. Essentially, this means that you'll find information useful for practical and theoretical optimization in this handbook, but it makes no claim to be exhaustive.

If you come across a term or an abbreviation you don't know, please check out this thread for an answer: Common Acronyms, Abbreviations, and Terms.

Acknowledgements: Special thanks to dobu, who has supported me with critical feedback and helpful ideas throughout the development of this handbook.

Rating: Perfect, Good, Okay, Bad.
(highly subjective, of course)

Sources

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zugschef · « **Reply #1 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:25:43 AM »

II. At the Crossroads: The Hard Facts about the Psychic Warrior
(Psychological Warfare in a Nutshell)

"Know that not all of you who seek this knowledge, were born with the cold mind of the psychological warrior."
-- Magnumopus (verbally transmitted)

No class in DnD is made for everybody, and what makes one player go wild, may leave others cold. Try to decide your take on the psychic warrior along the following guidelines and facts.

Why You should play a Psychic Warrior
Because you want to be a tough guy who has the mind power(s) to help her/him in combat.

A psychic warrior's powers make her/him flexible and to some extent useful in non-combat situations. Another side-effect of the manifesting ability is that the psychic warrior is extremely self-sufficient and does not rely on his spell-casting buddies to buff her/him up in order to be effective in his job.

You can create builds with very good defenses, and with the right selection of powers and feats, you are more than capable of being a real tank. If you don't want to be in melee, there are unique ranged options open for psychic warriors. And as a sidenote, with their powers, psychic warriors are pretty good for emulating super heroes.

=> You play this class, because you love self-buffing and hitting things.
Why You shouldn't play a Psychic Warrior
Because you want to be able to alter the world and use your powers directly on your foes.

You cannot accomplish these feats. You are always a (cumulative) step behind in highest power level and you won't be able to focus on your manifesting ability (wisdom) like a psion, wilder or ardent can. If you want to be viable in hand-to-hand combat but really hate the idea of losing so much manifesting power, play an ardent.

Besides, you cannot fill the role of the skillful, secondary martial character. You lack the skillpoints, class skills and class features for this job and will always fill the iconic role of the martial character.

A Quick Spotlight on the Frame

In order to finalize the exposure of the dirty truth about the psychic warrior, we are going to examine the class' core features:

The Good
Good Fortitude Save -- A high fortitude save is extremely important for warrior types.
Bonus Feats -- You get to select bonus feats from two great lists: Fighter bonus feats and psionic feats. It's a very boring "class feature", however.
Manifesting -- This is what makes you unique. Psychic warriors get powers from a surprisingly diversified and highly exclusive list. The problem is that you will be behind in power level and are very short on fuel (i.e. powerpoints). As a result, you cannot afford to lose manifester levels (there are of course exceptions). Thus remember: Manifesting is your most important ability!
The Bad
Medium Base Attack Bonus -- You are a class which will, no matter what, rely on attack rolls. Fortunately, your powers help you out in terms of total attack bonus, but it really hurts that you normally won't get a fourth attack.
D8 Hit Die -- This means that you should aim for a score of 14 in constitution to have enough hit points for the front line.
Skill List -- Your only real bright spot is autohypnosis. If possible, swap ride for tumble via skilled city dweller and you get another one, but even then you will be stuck with these two and concentration.
The Ugly
Bad Reflex and Will Saves -- Since you will typically ignore dexterity, your reflex save will be extremely low in most cases. At least your will save profits from your wisdom score which you will need for manifesting. But as a compensation, you can select powers to boost your saves.
2 Skillpoints/Level -- One of your skillpoints is locked up in concentration and typically you won't have a high intelligence score.
No Unique Class Features -- This is really disappointing and one of the reasons (base attack bonus being the other) why people sacrifice a level of manifesting and a feat slot for the slayer and/or the sanctified mind prestige classes.

zugschef · « **Reply #2 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:25:58 AM »

III. The Psychic Warrior's Party-Role
(Psychological Warfare has several subgroups, e.g. the vanguard, the rearguard)

"The vanguard went to help the rear, and i stayed at the front back here, because after all psychological warfare..."
-- Magnumopus (confirmed citation)

You have shown enough interest in this class to read on, thus the point has come to shape the mold for your character.

First off, you must know that psychic warriors can only fill a very specific field of roles in a party. This overview shall help you with finding your way through the countless options this game offers by now, and creating a character concept which fits your style and taste and also works.

What you should look for...

Specialize not Generalize: DnD is a team game and features various encounters, puzzles and situations. While there are classes who potentially can do it all, it is not wise to actually try to. First, you will never be as good in a specific task as if you had narrowed your field of competences, and second, you may interfere with your teammates. Your feats and powers (and eventually your teammates and you) will complement each other way better and lead to a more satisfying result this way.
Don't be a One Trick Pony: This may seem to stand in contradiction to the previous point, but while you should specialize in a certain field, you should not solely focus on a single solution to the obstacles it poses. The circumstances won't always be the same and you may find yourself out of position if you are not flexible in your ways of dealing with them. Additionally, it's extremely boring for you and your friends. Thus, find a style and a field of competences for your character and then build around that by selecting corresponding but still differentiated feats and powers.
Powers are your Tools for the Job: Use them! Use your powers to get the job done, since that is the whole point in being a psychic warrior and not a fighter. While you should not waste them, you really don't want to be too tight with your powerpoints. It will ruin your fun. It's better to once in a while get into a situation where you have run out of power points, than always ending the adventuring day with your tank half full, because this means that you either make your party's life harder than necessary or that you lose out on a lot of fun or both. And of course, along with this comes the need to select powers which you will need. Chapter IX. Powers has more information on this.

Combat Roles

Normally you will fill the role of the melee guy. This means you are responsible for dishing out damage and taking it. You can of course build a more skillful character but the best psychic warrior powers are made for a straight-forward approach. Psychic warriors make excellent archers, however.

You might be irritated by the medium base attack bonus and their rather weak hit die, but with all their powers, psychic warriors really don't care that much. They can get temporary hit points and are one of the few classes who really have a meaningful way of in-combat healing, and if you want a fourth attack, take the slayer or sanctified mind prestige classes.

Anyway, the following routes are the most common for a psychic warrior:

Melee
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The Basic Warrior -- You can make a viable build by selecting a lot of psionic feats and not specializing on a combat style. Very nice, if you want to get the best out of your powers.
The Charger -- Yes, this route is open to you as well: Psionic lion's charge gives you the pounce ability. What I really don't like about it is, that it's sometimes problematic for the DM.
The Gatling Smacker -- You have powers which let you grow natural weapons (2 claws, a bite and a tail). Combine this with two-weapon fighting, and maybe even with a tashalatora monk for greater flurry of blows and snap kick, for a load of attacks (you will be feat-starved with this route). The dark side of multiple attacks is (and people tend to keep this secret) that your attack bonus will suffer... a lot. After you have solved the trouble with your attack bonus, you must find a way to deal enough damage with every single attack to not be rendered useless by damage reduction.
The Grappler -- With the expansion power (and a monk dip), you can be a devastating grappling machine. Sadly, freedom of movement is your bane.
The Masochist -- You rely on combat reflexes, karmic strike and robilar's gambit to lure your enemy in a potentially devastating (if for your enemy or you, is yet to be decided) situation. You sacrifice defense for the possibility to get attacks of opportunity for melee attacks your foe makes, while your manifesting powers are keeping you alive. The stand still feat provides a much needed battlefield control option. This style is extremely feat intensive, however. Use claws of the vampire/vampiric weapon and the psicrystal+share pain+vigor-combo to ignore the incoming damage.
The Smacker -- The King of Smack started it all.
The Sword&Boarder -- Early on you can have an extremely high AC and thus survivability. At mid levels your lack of viable options kicks in and you will feel useless.
The Tripper -- This style provides a lot of battlefield control, while dishing out reasonable amounts of damage. Use expansion, a reach weapon and knock-down to trip anything in a 20 foot range. This works extremely well with a tashalatora build, too. This style's advantage over the others is that it is (almost) always applicable and does not require as many feats, which leaves you more room for customization.
Ranged
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The Archer -- Zen archery and the perfect archery power make strong arguments to consider this route for a psychic warrior. It allows you to keep your dexterity score low and still hit things, while keeping your strength score reasonably high for damage. All martial archers face a problem however: They are only supporting cast, as they don't fill any of the four iconic roles. So check with your teammates. Besides, archery demands a lot of feats, which makes multiclassing problematic.
The Thrower -- Telekinetic boomerang for the win. This power alone makes the throwing style a fun option for the psychic warrior. While other throwers will try to find ways to disarm themselves ever faster, you are happy with two weapons (or even shields, hehe). But martial throwing builds come with the same baggage as archers (see above), and are even more feat-intensive.

Check out the archery handbook by eldariel and the ultimate archer handbook by carnivore for detailled information.

Remember that these roles are not meant to be limiting but helpful. They shall support you to do your job. You still can customize your approach by thinking outside the box and a creative use of powers.

Comparisons

There are other classes which compete for the same niche as the psychic warrior. The following comparisons shall spotlight the differences:

Vs. the Duskblade
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The duskblade fills a role very similar to the psychic warrior. It's simply an arcane gish base class rather than a psionic one. There are some differences though.

The duskblade has an overwhelming amount of spells but a rather mediocre spelllist. These spells are extremely combat focused and this is mirrored by its base attack bonus (highest). With the use of the arcane strike feat and arcane channeling the duskblade can dish out great amounts of damage, a lot more than the typical psychic warrior ever will. Additionally, it doesn't hurt that the duskblade's casting is intelligence-based either, because this means more skillpoints. But since the skilllist only features the knowledge skills this leads to more combat combat power via knowledge devotion and not to more versatility out of combat.

The psychic warrior only gets one power per level and really starves for powerpoints, but some of the powers he can get are really unique in the game. And the list of powers he can pick from is far more versatile than the duskblade spell list which has lots of overlappings. Thus, concentrate on using the options exclusively available to you and take advantage of them. You can use your powers to manifest natural weapons to get multiple attacks far earlier than others can, enchant your own weapons to save a lot of gold and invest the saved amount in other equipment. Look for great defenses because this is the area in which you really have a great _power_-advantage. You may not have the best base attack bonus and may not have direct damage powers, but you can alter your attacks in such a way that this is compensated: Power claws/weapon is an unbelievable power, for instance. You get to ignore damage reduction which can make a difference of 10 points of damage per hit or more. And again, this saves you money.
Vs. the Hexblade
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The hexblade is another gish base class and fills a role similar to the psychic warrior. Everything that can be said about the comparison between the duskblade and the psychic warrior fits for this class, too; in some points even more so. The only big difference lies in its defensive capabilities and debuffing. A hexblade's dark companion acf and the curse ability are really strong in debuffing enemies. The psychic warrior unfortunately is not. His best powers are no debuffs and the ones who are, all allow saving throws which will have a low DC, since his wisdom score won't be that high and first and foremost because he is behind in psionic power level. Defensively a hexblade gets its charisma to saves against spells and has the powerful mettle ability (evasion for fortitude and will saves).

As a psychic warrior, don't bother with debuffing your enemies, rather spend your actions on buffing up and hitting things, which most of the time also has some battlefield control effects, as well. You don't have mettle and don't get your wisdom to saves, but you have strong powers for these situations. Defensive precognition is a phenomenal level 1 power which will save your butt (and probably the ones of your buddies as well) more than once. Again, don't try to optimize to the point where you can even use a suboptimal tactic meaningfully, but to the point where your strengths make you outstanding. DnD is all about teamplay and this favors specialists.
Vs. the Tome of Battle Classes
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Every melee character has to put up with the comparison to the three martial classes. Crusader, swordsage and warblade have the unique advantage of never running out of maneuvers. In contrast, running out of power points happens rather easily to a psychic warrior. But (save for some exceptions like the shadow jaunt line) martial maneuvers do not have any out of combat use, long lasting buffs or utility character. Use powers which provide long lasting buffs and can be manifested as swift actions, or combine them with linked power or schism. Just don't try to be as die hard as the crusader or as hard hitting as the warblade or as skillful as the swordsage. Try to utilize your powers in the best way possible and try to accomplish unique feats.

zugschef · « **Reply #3 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:26:10 AM »

IV. Abilities
(The Required Basic Qualities for Psychological Warfare)

_{The Joker: The greatest master in the Art to ever walk the realms of imagination.}

"I've chosen you for this mission, Magnumopus, because you have all the necessary qualities for participating in psychological warfare..."
-- Convolvulus, Mentor of the young Magnumopus

Strength -- Most builds need this. It's your main source for attack bonus and damage. Typically, your highest priority.
Dexterity -- If you rely on the expansion power, you can live with a 10 in dexterity since you get a -2 dex-penalty for every size increase anyway. If you rely on two-weapon fighting or combat reflexes, you need it, however. But be aware that this really doesn't mesh well with expansion, one of the best powers in the game.
Constitution -- Every character needs this and melees need it even more. You already have a rather small hit die for a combat class, therefore put at least a 12 in there, better aim for 14 or higher. And don't forget: It pushes your fortitude save, too.
Intelligence -- Unless you really need the skillpoints, you can leave intelligence at a score of 10. Remember that combat expertise and its follow-ups (improved trip) demand a score of 13 here, however.
Wisdom -- You need at least a score of 11 to manifest powers at all and a score of 16 to manifest your highest level powers. It gives you more power points, too -- something psychic warriors are starving for. And don't neglect your will save. Put at least a 12 in there.
Charisma -- You don't even have a single class skill keyed off charisma. Dump this.

=> STR>WIS>=CON>DEX=INT>CHA

Elite Array: 15 STR, 10 DEX, 14 CON, 12 INT, 13 WIS, 8 CHA
28-Point-Buy: 16 STR, 10 DEX, 14 CON, 12 INT, 14 WIS, 8 CHA
32-Point-Buy: 16 STR, 10 DEX, 14 CON, 12 INT, 16 WIS, 8 CHA

This is for the standard melee route. Dexterity based characters suffer more mad. Generally you would interchange strength and dexterity, but remember that your strength score is needed for damage. If you are ranged, you either rely on dexterity or wisdom (zen archery) for hitting. This distribution does not include any prerequisites from feats, such as combat expertise or combat reflexes.

zugschef · « **Reply #4 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:26:22 AM »

V. Races
(The Naturally Gifted in the Art of Psychological Warfare)

_{The half-giant lady posing here, is not only bad-ass on a figurative level...}

When it comes to races, it's similar to all other aspects of the process of building a DnD character: Coolness trumps it all. All the while you should keep a few clues in mind, when you make your choice.

Ability Score Adjustments: Try to avoid races with a penalty to constitution or wisdom, but look for boosts in these two and your main combat ability (strength or dexterity).
Level Adjustment and Racial Hit Dice: If you can buy your level adjustment off, nothing stops you from using a race with a level adjustment (just don't get higher than +2), if you can't the race must compare to a whole level of manifesting and more. Racial hit dice are generally horrible (unless they are dragon or outsider HD) and should be avoided like the plague.
Powerpoints: Races with bonus powerpoints help a lot in the early levels. Otherwise look for a decent wisdom score.

Psionic

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Dromites^SRD -- They suck as a psychic warrior race.
Duergar^SRD -- A powerful race for psychic warriors. They get immunities, 3 bonus power points and 2 very useful 1/d spell-like abilities. If you cannot buy off the level adjustment, it's still good.
Elans^SRD -- Maybe the best race in sheer terms of power. Repletion is like an additional power (sustenance) and resilience SU comes in handy. The 2 bonus powerpoints and the fact that they are immortal don't hurt either. What makes them perfect is the resistance SU, which is an unmatched power/spell, and that they are aberrations and may take the rapidstrike and improved rapidstrike feats. There are two racial feats to improve the resilience and resistance SUs.
Githyanki^EPH -- The hit on the wisdom score and their +2 level adjustment, make these fellas a no-go.
Githzerai^EPH -- They have good racial abilities and a bonus to wisdom and dexterity. The +2 level adjustment hurts though, so try to buy it off. Otherwise this race is not worth it.
Half-Giants^SRD -- Powerful build, 2 bonus powerpoints, favored class psychic warrior and great ability score adjustments make this a great race for most psychic warriors. The level adjustment of +1 hurts, so make sure you can buy it off using the rules presented in Unearthed Arcana. If you can't, it's still a viable option.
Kalashtars^ECS -- One additional powerpoint per character level (better than a +2 in wis in this respect) makes this race a very good choice for a psychic warrior. Their once per day mindlink ability is the icing on the cake. If you like this ability, you can take a feat to improve the manifester level and get 3 uses per day. Additionally, as a kalashtar you qualify for quori shards, which lets you implant an ectoplasmic fist shard for an effective size increase of one category when determining unarmed strike damage, or power link shards which can be used to overchannel powers.
Maenads^SRD -- Not the worst choice since they provide 2 bonus powerpoints. But the outburst ability and energy ray are forgettable. Humans are better: Simply take psionic talent (and this would be a bad choice in most cases).
Synads^CP -- Wow! You get 3 bonus powerpoints, darkvision, a +2 bonus on will saves, a once per day +2 bonus on several rolls and finally a once per day schism-like ability (you can actually use it while affected by schism). There is a feat which lets you use this ability twice per day. They are of the aberration type and not humanoids, which makes them immune to some spells and effects. This also qualifies them for the rapidstrike and improved rapidstrike feats. A true powerhouse.
Thri-Kreen^EPH -- Two racial hit dice and a level adjustment of +2 make this race unplayable: Useful for theoretical optimization only.
Xephs^SRD -- Serviceable race if you want to focus on dexterity, this is not recommended however. But they do get darkvision.

Core

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Other

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Templates

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zugschef · « **Reply #5 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:26:34 AM »

VI. Alternate Class Features
(Improving Your Chances of Succeding in the Art)

_{This cat is the Pai Mei of Psychological Warfare.}

The fact that the psychic warrior has no real class features, obviously leaves this die hard fella unimpressed. In case you wonder why: the mantled warrior and soulbound weapon substitution levels are so special, they actually give you class features.

Mantled Warrior^online -- Great ACF! Typically you'd choose the freedom mantle for 10 feet movement speed and access to dimension hop and psionic fly, but the time and natural world mantles are very good as well, you'll probably feel dirty abusing their powers (anticipatory strike, metamorphosis) though. The magic mantle, by the way, says "In addition, you always treat magic and psionics as identical", which at least RAW means that you can qualify for prestige classes like arcane archer, which require the ability to cast spells of a certain level. You might also argue that a prestige class' increase in caster level should now also work for your manifester level, which makes eldritch knight a viable prestige class option.
Skilled City Dweller^online -- Lets you change ride for tumble. For the great majority of builds, this is a no-brainer.
Soulbound Weapon^online -- Solid ACF which potentially saves you a lot of gold. The ability to enchant your weapon on the fly can be extremely helpful because it means that you'll always have the right tool, or in this case weapon, for the job at hand. The only cost involved is that you have to select the call weaponry power and gain weapon focus as your second level bonus feat and cannot choose it freely. As written, you cannot take this _and_ the mantled warrior ACF, but a reasonable DM should allow you to change the substitution to the first level or some similar work-around.

A Class Feature Disguised as a Feat: The Psicrystal

The psicrystal is not something reserved only for psions, every psionic class can get the psicrystal affinity feat. It is very similar to a familiar which basically was changed to a feat with the release of the complete arcane splatbook. I have listed it under alternate class features, because it scales with your level and really looks more like a class feature than a traditional feat. (To see why it's double-colored read the entry about feats.)

Psicrystal Creation and Destruction
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Unfortunately, the rules about psicrystals are very incomplete and sloppily written. It is a construct but has no material costs which is weird in the first place. The benefit of the psicrystal affinity feat says that you can gain a psicrystal (the entry above is flufftext), but neither the rules under psion nor in its monster-entry say how this procedes. If you simply assume that it's created as soon as you take the feat, as the feat's flufftext indicates, there is still one issue left: The rules say nowhere what happens when your psicrystal is destroyed.

New 3.5 Psionics FAQ Excerpt:
Q: What happens when my psicrystal dies?
A: The official response from Customer Service is "You can get another one." That is all that is written on the subject, as it wasn't addressed in Complete Psionics. Come up with a suitable houserule -- personally, I've tried a few different ones, but from now on will be using the simplest, inspired by the Tome of Magic: It reforms on its own after 24 hours. I must stress, though, this is a house rule -- no official method of getting a psicrystal back exists (though it's clear you do get another one), and no penalty exists when it dies (beyond not having your crystal around).

I personally dislike both of these rulings. A psicrystal is a construct and not living matter after all (otherwise it would be a living construct). As such it shouldn't be able to spawn out of nowhere and/or reform itself, it actually needs to be constructed, which requires raw materials. My advice: Treat it like a familiar. The raw material for a psicrystal costs 100 gp, it takes 24 hours to craft one, and since the rules specifically state that a psicrystal is "an extension of its creator’s personality, [which is why] a character’s psicrystal is in some ways a part of him", the XP-penalty makes a lot of sense (a lot more than with the familiar).
Psicrystal BAB
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Since there is no special entry about a psicrystal's base attack bonus, it's safe to assume that it depends on it's construct hit dice, which means it has a medium BAB.

New 3.5 Psionics FAQ Excerpt:
Q: What is a psicrystal's base attack bonus?
A: As a direct result of the way the rules work, it'll be 3/4 the psicrystal's hit dice -- in other words, the base attack bonus of a cleric/rogue/psychic warrior of a level equal to the sum of your psionic class levels.
(Note that if the psicrystal did not gain hit dice, no rules exist for the replacement of base attack bonus (familiars have such rules), and thus a psicrystal would be permanantly stuck with a +0 base attack bonus.)
Psicrystal Feats
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A psicrystal gets construct hit dice, thus it actually gets feats! But your DM may have a say in this and if they don't get any feats, they become orange.

New 3.5 Psionics FAQ Excerpt:
Q: What's this I hear about psicrystals gaining feats? Familiars dont'!
A: A psicrystal isn't a familiar, though. A familiar says that it is treated as if it were a creature of its master's HD for effects relating to HD, such as Sleep. A psicrystal's HD entry is "as master" -- meaning it actually gains HD. Every intelligent creature that gains hit dice gains feats. Conclusion: Psicrystals gain feats.
Note that a psicrystal doesn't gain hit points from these construct hit dice (its hit point entry is "half master's"), and its saving throws are unaffected (saving throw text "as master"), and that it does not gain skill points from them either (skill entry rules give it at least 4 ranks in certain skills, and otherwise identical skills to it's master's)... but in other regards, it gains Construct hit dice.

I should stress the point that this follows from game design principles. No WotC source has yet printed the statistics block for an advanced character's psicrystal, and it isn't explicitly called out in the rules that they do (it's clear implicitly).

You may have noticed that I have rated this as blue and orange, that's because there are typically two ways of using this feat: As part of the share pain+vigor-combo or without this combo.

Used as Part of the Combo: The combo builds upon the use of vigor via a psycrystal's share powers ability and the share pain power (from expanded knowledge which means that you will get it at level 7 at the earliest) which you manifest on your psicrystal. You take only half damage (your psicrystal takes the other) and this half is absorbed by your temporary hit points. As you can see, the benefit of vigor is effectively doubled. Share pain costs 3 powerpoints and vigor costs at least 1 powerpoint, and you need to remanifest vigor every time your temporary hit points are threatened to run out, because your psicrystal cannot be healed, only repaired (and the chances are very high that no one in your party can). Thus, you can only rely on this combo and still use other powers with a certain amount of powerpoints which you will reach with about level 10.
Used without the Combo: You can, of course, use a psicrystal without this combo and just see it as a neat gimmick. You get alertness and a benefit derived from the psicrystal's personality (nimble, observant and resolved are very good), after all. And to a certain extent, as soon as it has the ability to fly, you can use it as a scout (with all its construct immunities and flight it is protected from traps well enough). Another handy approach is to use it as a mindlink if your party has to split up. You can give the crystal to the party-scout and share the information instantly. If you also take the psicrystal containment feat, you can use two feats or powers which expend your focus in one round, deep impact and greater psionic weapon for instance.
Remember that your psicrystal gains feats from its hit dice (look above). If your DM disagrees with this the psicrystal becomes much less useful. That's why it's colored blue _and_ orange.

For more information about psicrystals (which feats to select for your psicrystal, for example) check out the Mount Handbook by Prime32.

zugschef · « **Reply #6 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:26:46 AM »

VII. Skills
(Mastery in the Art of Psychological Warfare requires a lot of Skill, but Not Necessarily a lot of Skills)

_{True, this crazy look intimidates nobody, but when you've seen what he did to the fat guy you sure as hell are intimidated!}

"Sure I jack a few fools, I bring 'em the pain, but sometimes it's about intimidation, you know. It's mind games."
-- Terry Tate, Office Linebacker and Disciple of the Art of Psychological Warfare

Strangely enough, you don't have intimidate as a class skill, but the art of psychological warfare is not about appearance, it's about the evidence of your actions. You are not meant to be a skillmonkey, rather the opposite. And while it makes sense to get at least 3 skillpoints per level for your best skills, don't make your life harder, by making sacrifices in other areas, and try to forcefully change that.

To continue with the example, in effect, don't try to intimidate someone with verbal threats, you are much smarter than that: Use your mindpowers for a bigger stick!

Autohypnosis -- Great skill with many uses.
Climb -- You've got teleport powers and so on, don't waste points here.
Concentration -- Put at least 5 ranks in there for autohypnosis synergy, better put as many in there as you need to beat a DC 20 concentration check regularly for regaining your psionic focus. And don't forget that you need this to manifest your powers defensively. Maybe it's best to try to max it.
Craft -- Maybe a few ranks in poisonmaking (or basket weaving). But this skill is keyed off intelligence, so might be better off with profession.
Jump -- Only for charging builds, all others should skip this.
Knowledge (psionics) -- Put one rank in there in order to make trained checks.
Profession -- Since it's keyed off wisdom, it makes a lot more sense than craft; just use professions like poisoner.
Ride -- Swap this for tumble, unless you really want to play a mounted warrior.
Search -- If you plan on taking levels in the slayer prestige class and make use of the track feat, you can put 5 ranks in there for a synergy bonus on survival checks, otherwise ignore it.
Swim -- Too situational for most campaigns, skip this too. If you need it, there are powers and spells which help you out.
Tumble -- Get this by swapping out ride via skilled city dweller. Great skill. Combine this with hustle for great effect, as you can change your position without provoking attacks of opportunity and still full attack afterwards.

zugschef · « **Reply #7 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:26:58 AM »

VIII. Feats
(Or the Old School Martial Arts)

_{Sometimes you just have to return to old school martial arts.}

"Idiot! Owing to the failure of the back, to back us up, the order of march has been turned back to front! Now get back to the front!!"
-- Platypus, a traditionally minded Warlord

Psychological warfare is pointless without the necessary training in traditional combat. Feats will define your combat style. As mentioned in chapter III under combat roles, you must make the choice on which style you want to focus. To make it easier to distinguish which style demands which ability scores and feats, I have categorized them. Before I go into detail, there are some aspects to watch out for:

Don't get MAD: Yes, you can (nearly) end up like a paladin if you don't plan your feat-selection. Combat expertise needs 13 intelligence, combat reflexes and two-weapon fighting demand a high dexterity score, and without a clever solution you will always need strength for damage (and for some feats, of course).
Make Clever Use of Prerequisites: Some feats, as well as some prestige classes, demand the selection of rather sub-par feats as prerequisites. If somehow possible, try to build upon that and select feats with the same lame prerequisites, this will lower the overall price. Feats that fit this description are dodge, iron will and weapon focus.
Remember Your Powers: With all the feat-trees and combat options, you can very easily end up with no feat slots open to enhance your manifesting ability. You should really think twice about, if that's worth it for you.

Dexterity-Based Route

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Combat Reflexes^SRD -- Needed for karmic strike and robilar's gambit. Great effect, but without these two feats too situational in my book and it meshes very badly with expansion because of the dexterity penalty.

Deft Opportunist^CA -- This is the only feat in the game, that i know of, which gives an attack-form a permanent +4 bonus on attack rolls. This makes a spiked chain combined with weapon finesse and power attack a very appealing choice for the masochist.
Double Hit^MH -- Allows you to make off-hand attacks on attacks of opportunity. Has improved two-weapon fighting as a prerequisite.
Karmic Strike^CW -- Has dodge (urks) and combat expertise (13 intelligence) as a prerequisite. Take a -4 penalty to AC and get an attack of opportunity for every hit you take. A lot of people rave about this in combination with robilar's gambit, but prepare to die because of it. The vampiric claw power helps a lot in this respect.
Robilar's Gambit^PH2 -- See karmic strike. The problem with this feat is that you might as well be dead before your opponent.

Dodge^SRD -- Maybe the worst feat in the game. Unless you need it as a prerequisite, never ever take this feat.

Mobility^SRD -- It's a lot better than dodge, but that's not saying anything.
- Spring Attack^SRD -- This is a nice feat, but the prerequisites are just too horrible.
  - Whirlwind Attack^SRD -- This feat has so many feats as a prerequisite, it must be awesome, right? Far from it. 13 intelligence and dexterity and 4 feats as prerequisites simply kill this feat. It's kind of nice against hordes of critters and mirror images, though. Nevertheless, the only really good way to use this feat is with the psychic weapon master's 9th level ability, which lets you make it as a standard action. By then you will have already forsaken the chance to get 6th level powers. Why this is a 9th level class feature of a weak class, rather than the standard, is beyond me.

Shadow Blade^ToB -- Without a dip in swordsage this is very feat intensive, but very good for reducing mad.
Stand Still^SRD -- Now this helps you to overcome the lack of battlefield control this fighting style has compared to tripping. By all means, if you've already picked up combat reflexes, get this feat too, it's just great. Why this feat is no fighter bonus feat and has 13 strength as a requirement instead of combat reflexes, is beyond me, btw.
Two-Weapon Fighting^SRD -- There are some builds that use this fighting style, but remember that two-weapon fighting without bonus damage is suboptimal and expansion becomes problematic to use since you get a dexterity penalty.

Lightning Mace -- You gain an additional attack on every threat, which is great. Needs weapon focus and combat reflexes however.

Weapon Finesse^SRD -- For combat reflexes and two-weapon fighting builds.

Strength-Based Route

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Combat Expertise^SRD -- Take this if you want to go the improved trip route. But beware, it will make you more mad, since you won't get by with an intelligence score of just 10 anymore.

Improved Trip^SRD -- Great feat. Combine this with expansion and a reach weapon for great battlefield control.
Knock-Down^SRD -- If you've already taken improved trip, you should take this as well. If you deal 10 or more points of damage with an attack, you can make a free trip attempt and immediately get another attack if you were successful.

Reckless Charge^MH -- Gives you a +4 instead of a +2 bonus on a charge. Rivals weapon focus, I'd skip this.
Leap of the Heavens^PH2 -- Only use this after you've taken leap attack. In this case however, the feat becomes strong, since you won't have to double your jump DC when you only charge for 10 feet.
Power Attack^SRD -- Every melee character with a two-handed weapon takes this. Period.

Brutal Strike^PH2 -- Make your enemy sickened via power attack damage. -2 to all saves will make your caster buddies love you.
Cleave -- With expansion and a reach weapon, this feat can actually see some use.
- Great Cleave -- Now how are the odds that you kill an opponent with a single attack? And if you do, you probably won't need this feat to win, anyway.
Improved Bullrush^SRD -- Needed for shock trooper. But useful in its own right.
- Shock Trooper^CW -- Great for charging builds. Use this in conjunction with psionic lion's charge and combat brute for devastating results.
Improved Overrun^SRD -- This can be fun with the use of expansion, whirlwind attack or mithral tornado (lvl4 iron heart maneuver) and vampiric blade/claws. Move into a pack of opponents and thrash away. If you use metamorphosis, for example, use a form with trample and squish the shit out of the creeps.
Improved Sunder^SRD -- If you want to destroy your loot, go for it. It's really here because it's the prerequisite of...
- Combat Brute^CW -- This feat makes chargers useful after charging. If you took shock trooper, I'd say this feat is obligatory.
Leap Attack^CAdv -- See shock trooper.

Ranged Route

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Shields

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Natural and Unarmed Attacks

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Psionic

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Miscellaneous

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zugschef · « **Reply #8 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:27:10 AM »

IX. Powers
(Also Known as the Good Stuff)

_{Hallucinating and seeing strange creatures is a common side effect of good stuff.}

"Duh! This psychological warfare is good stuff."
-- Magnumopus

Let's get to the "good stuff", now: Your mind powers. They are the foundation of psychological warfare and selecting them can be more difficult than selecting feats. But there are a few guidelines which help in this respect:

The Coolness: DnD is a game and as such it is supposed to be fun and no competition about the size of special sexual organs. Pick powers which you think make you look cool, let you be and act cool. If you like it hot, nothing stops you from looking hot, and picking up hot powers either.
No Overlappings: It's important to _not_ pick powers with overlapping or very similar (but not complementary) effects and powers which scale badly (powers with saving throws, for instance). Since you lack the possibility to replace powers later on, you will otherwise end up with a bunch of idle powers, eventually.
As an example: If you do not have any charging feats, do not take psionic lion's charge and hustle. Just take hustle.
Cover Your Bases: Further, try to cover your bases. Unlike with spellcasters, your bases are not categorized in battlefield control, de-buffing and so on, but in various kinds of buffs. Save for some exceptions (like hostile empathic transfer), you won't use de-buffs or direct attack powers, because your saving throw DC will be low. Your buffs provide the needed effects:
- Attack Buffs (reach/size, AB,...)
- Damage Boni (type,...)
- Defense and Survivability (AC, saves, temporary hit points, healing,...)
- Movement (speed, flying, teleport,...)
- Utility Buffs (resistances, perception,...)
On getting Powers from other Lists: There are four ways to get powers which do not appear on the psychic warrior list:
- Expanded Knowledge: You can either take this feat and select any power one level below your highest capability or use
- Independent Research: There is a paragraph dedicated to this in the SRD.
- Mantled Warrior: Finally, this ACF lets you select the powers associated with your chosen mantle. See Chapter VI. Alternate Class Features for further information.
- Psychic Chirurgery: If you find a high-level telepath willing to do this, it is a very nice option to expand your powers known list beyond its normal limit. It costs XP and/or gold, but some powers are definitely worth it. By the way, if the telepath has the feat Supernatural Transformation from Savage Species linked to this power, there are no costs involved.
The Trap: There is a trap involved with buffing, which you should be aware of. Combat in DnD tends to be quite short and you won't have the time to buff up for several rounds. Use feats (linked power) and powers manifested as swift or immediate actions, or powers which give you more actions (schism, temporal acceleration) or let you act earlier (anticipatory strike), to do it faster and try to engage as early as possible. Moreover, that is why a power's duration really matters... a lot.

That said, pick powers which you like and fit your style, and perhaps most importantly:
Don't forget to pick powers which you will actually need and use.

1st Level

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2nd Level

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3rd Level

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Claws of the Vampire/Vampiric Blade -- Only take this if your base damage is very high, that's why the claws version is blue and the weapon version is not (tashalatora monks can use vampiric blade on their unarmed attacks, however). This power is essential for the karmic strike/robilar's gambit route.
Concealing Amorpha, Greater -- The duration makes me sad, but total concealment is the best defense you can have in dnd.
Dimension Slide -- Lets you teleport in line of sight and not lose your actions afterwards as dimension door does. Augmentable to use it as a move action, too, hence you can use it with hustle as a swift action to full attack from close range.
Empathic Transfer, Hostile^SRD^/^CP -- Very good power if you use the SRD-version. When enemies make the save more and more, just augment it so it affects all creatures in a 20-foot-radius spread. It's mind-affecting though, so be aware of undead. As vampiric blade, this power makes the masochistic fighting style much better. If you use the complete psionic version, this power becomes too expensive.
Evade Burst -- Evasion as an immediate action and agumentable to improved evasion. Evasion itself will do nothing for you, since your reflex save will typically be very low (unless you are really dex-heavy), that's why the ring of evasion does not come into equation here. This power becomes interesting once you can use it for improved evasion.
Graft Weapon -- Fun power.
Incarnum Fusion^MoI -- If you use psychic warrior as a dip in order to get claws of the beast, you probably lack the levels to get access to level 3 powers. If you are dipping into a soulmeld shaping class you will lack the essentia to frequently use this power.
Keen Edge, Psionic -- It is a solid power but better save your powerpoints and get a scabbard of keen edges instead.
Mental Barrier -- Has the potential to save you a ring slot and a lot of money (ring of deflection). If you do not lack these two however, this power becomes much less attractive.
Telekinetic Boomerang^CP -- Now this makes throwing builds great.
Ubiquitous Vision -- Too situational and the enhancement boni to spot and search overlap with steadfast perception.

4th Level

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Claw/Weapon of Energy -- If you haven't got anything better to do... May be useful for a crit-build.
Dimension Door, Psionic^CP/SRD -- Better than normal dimension door and that's really saying something (the CP version provides more augment-options). Use it with hustle to teleport yourself and your companions in a flash. But watch out, after you've used dimension door, you cannot perform any more actions in this round, so always use it last.
Energy Adaptation -- Either get this or its smaller brother energy adaption, specified. Automatic scaling and the augment-option of manifesting it as an immediate action make this an excellent power which will serve you well for all levels. This power protects you from _all_ energy types.
Freedom of Movement, Psionic -- As with mental barrier, this has to stand up to the ridiculously cheap ring of freedom of movement.
Inertial Barrier -- Damage reduction is always nice, since it cannot be avoided. The duration is serviceable, too. The only problem is, that it doesn't scale and level 4 is really crowded with great powers. But for a defensive powerhouse and with the right party constellation this power can make a lot of sense.
Open Chakra, Psionic^MoI -- Useless if you are dipping into psychic warrior since it's level 4, otherwise this power is very versatile and can be a nice asset in your bag of tricks. Range touch, and the 24 hour duration make this power really strong. The only reason why it's still green and not blue is its cost.
Planar Apotheosis^CP -- The horrible duration and the fact that other powers do simply better jobs, make this one negligible.
Psychokinetic Weapon^CP -- Skip this.
Steadfast Perception -- A must-have in my book. Better than any level 5 psychic warrior power. Mind blank makes you immune to the enchantment school and this makes you immune to the greater part of illusions.
Stygian Disruption^CP -- In an undead campaign this power is king.
Truevenom /Weapon -- Very good for the level, but it will become a waste when opponents start to make the save frequently.

5th Level

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6th Level

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Powers from other Lists

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1st Level

Dimension Hop (freedom mantle) -- Very nice power because of its swift action manifesting time and it's augmentable. Very cheap in terms of powerpoints, too. Can be a substitute for dimension door.
Mindlink -- Great power if your party has to split up, or must keep quiet. Kalashtar get this as a racial ability. If you have a psicrystal, the construct is permanently mindlinked to you, which can be a substitute for the power.
Minor Creation, Psionic (creation mantle) -- Good for all the reasons why the minor creation spell is so great. If you need some advice on how to (ab)use this, check out its own thread: Minor Creation and You. Remember, the call item power is on your list and covers a lot of the same uses.

2nd Level

Share Pain -- Get the psicrystal affinity feat, use this power on your psicrystal and share the vigor power. You take only half damage (your psicrystal takes the other half) and most of it is absorbed by your temporary hitpoints. This is an extremely effective combo which really kicks in from about level 10 when you have enough powerpoints to rely on this combo and still have powerpoints for other powers left.

3rd Level

Dispel Psionics (magic mantle) -- Since it scales with your manifester level, this power does make sense to get. You can use it to surpress magic items, such as the ring of freedom of movement, for grappling, but remember that a D4 duration is nothing to get excited about. You normally have better things to do with your feat slots.
Psionic Repair Damage -- Nice to repair your psicrystal, great if you are a warforged and use it to heal you _and_ your psicrystal simultaneously via share power.

4th Level

Fly, Psionic (freedom mantle) -- The power to fly changes combat as teleport changes everything else. If you're a tashalatora monk, your speedbonus also counts for your flyspeed. Get this.
Metamorphosis (natural world mantle) -- Cheese alert! Only here for the sake of completeness. This power is only recommended for the most high-powered campaigns with DMs who really know what they're dealing with. For Example, turn into a firbolg (MM2) and squish the crap out of your oppenents when grappling. For more information about metamorphosis please check out the following two threads: Polymorph, Wild Shape and Shapechange, oh my! (comparison charts) and The Complete Polymorph Thread 3.5.
Psychic Reformation -- Use this if you like to rely on powers with saves. As soon as the DC of a power becomes too low, just use psychic reformation to select a different power. Btw, your teammates will worship the ground beneath you. Use psychic reformation with linked power for the ultimate cheese: Instead of a 10 minutes manifesting time, it is manifested in 1 round and as such easily (ab)useable in a fight which demands odd powers (the stygian line is a good example). No ordinary DM will allow this use without relying on combos of the same sort.
Schism -- It's similar to arcane spellsurge, only that it's fourth level. You get an additional standard action every round which you can only use for mental actions such as manifesting. But keep in mind, everything that messes up action economy is problematic.

5th Level

Anticipatory Strike^CP (time mantle) -- It's a lot like celerity but better and without the drawbacks. You can make your turn as an immediate action (with detect hostile intent this can really let you automatically go first, regardless of initiative or surprise). Yes, turn. Not one action. Your whole turn. And you are not dazed next round. Use this with extreme caution. This power can ruin encounters and cause a very upset DM.
Crystal Body^DM (creation mantle) -- If you've already got access to the creation mantle i wouldn't think twice about whether or not to select this power. This can be a really nice tool in your arsenal and level 5 psychic warrior powers are generally a little underwhelming. The immunities are great (just don't use it against a tashalatora monk (crystalline creatures and ki strike)).
Teleport, Psionic (freedom mantle) -- Since level 5 powers are pretty weak, you might as well get the most game-changing utility power in the game. But beware, you don't want to wake up and realize that you have become the party's taxi cab over night and have to waste your precious power points.
True Seeing, Psionic (justice mantle) -- Much better than the arcane version, because it doesn't cost you 250 gp every time you manifest it. But the duration is still horrible and it doesn't do much more for you than steadfast perception, which is one level lower.

6th Level

Null Psionics Field (magic mantle) -- It's just like an antimagic field. This means great power, but you also gimp yourself. Very situational.
Temporal Acceleration (time mantle) -- Time stop as a level 6 power and manifested with a swift action. Thus, after you have acted accelerated you can act as normal and attack and so on. The only drawback is that you become shaken -- ridiculous drawback in my opinion.

zugschef · « **Reply #9 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:27:24 AM »

X. Multiclassing
(Variation is Key to Mastery in the Art)

_{Using a big _pointy_ stick instead, can lead to unexpected results.}

"I see that mixing with us has made you a cunning strategist."
-- Platypus to Convolvulus on his newly gained warmongering skills

Multiclassing can be great to gain some class features, more BAB and better saves, but there are a few issues you have to consider when doing it:

Watch Your Manifester Level: First and foremost, you should never lose manifester levels without a very good reason. Unfortunately, there are no multiclassing options available which do not cost manifester levels. The practiced manifester feat is great for compensating a loss of manifester levels and is obligatory if you lose more than one. In any case, it has to be really worth it to lose manifester levels: Gaining a fourth attack or great class features, for example. But no matter what, no class is worth it to lose access to 6th level powers.
XP-Penalty: Another issue with multiclassing is the wretched favored class rule which results in an XP-penalty. Any race which doesn't have any or psychic warrior as a favored class, will cause this problem with other base classes. Of course, this is no problem if you stick to prestige classes.
Feats: Do not invest too many feats in prerequisites, or you may have trouble to complete your concept. The psychic warrior has all these bonus feats for a reason.
Skills: Typically you won't have more than 2-4 skillpoints per level. This may make it difficult to qualify for prestige classes. It is a good idea to pick up more skillpoints and nice class skills via multiclassing, however.

Base Classes

Monk
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Pro
- Class Skills
- Monk Abilities
- Saves
- Bonus Feats which ignore Prerequisites
Contra
- 2 lost Manifester Levels
- Loss of BAB
- Requires 2 Feats
By taking the monastic training and tashalatora feats you can stack your monk abilities (AC-bonus, fast movement, flurry of blows, slow fall, unarmed damage) with your psychic warrior levels. This is the road to the best monk builds out there.

The monk class gives you a good skilllist, 4 skillpoints per level, 3 good saves, evasion, bonus feats and monk abilities. In my book this is a very strong dip (usually there is no reason to take more than 2 levels of monk and you surely never take more than 6).

With expansion, the improved natural attack feat and your unarmed damage progression, you should be able to deal lots of damage. The best way to utilize this, is probably via the passive way monk variant which gives you improved trip as a bonus feat at second level. Your advantage as a monk in this respect: You do not need to have an intelligence score of 13. You can then get knock-down and trip everything you hit for 10 points of damage or more and profit from the free attack provided by improved trip, too.

The tashalatora monk is also the best grappler out there, because they get improved grapple for free and don't care about the required 13 points in dexterity. Thus, you can use expansion (remember: -2 dex per size category larger) and not worry about losing the benefits of the improved grapple feat.

Another option is using flurry of blows, the claws of the beast and tail of the dragon powers and two-weapon fighting for a whole lot of attacks. This is however far more complicated to pull off. Since you do not deal any bonus damage the stormguard warrior feat becomes very interesting, and a single level dip into warblade can work wonders.

Since the standard monk gets combat reflexes as a bonus feat at second level, karmic strike and robilar's gambit can be taken into consideration, too. Vampiric weapon is a power which lets you heal your half base weapon damage, which will be very high if you fight with your unarmed strikes. This allows you to reduce the drawbacks of this fighting style, since you can heal up after your enemy hit you. It is still very risky, since there are monsters which can turn off your lights if they get a combined +8 bonus on their attacks against you. Another advantage of the monk over other classes using this tactic, is the decisive strike ACF because every one of your hits will deal double damage. This helps a lot, since this style requires a high dexterity score to work, otherwise you will run out of attacks of opportunity fast. Be aware that nothing stops enemies from simply avoiding you, which in essence renders you useless.
Tome of Battle Classes
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A one or two level dip into any of the 3 martial classes can work wonders for builds. The thicket of blades stance available to the crusader is pretty powerful for builds relying on combat reflexes. The warblade gives access to the enormously powerful stormguard warrior feat, and the swordsage can provide 2d6 sneak attack damage, which is very handy for two-weapon fighters, and access to the shadow blade feat.

Remember however, that each of these classes means a loss in manifester level and the swordsage even means a loss in base attack bonus.

Prestige Classes

Psychic Weapon Master
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Pro
- Full BAB
- Class Features
- Class Skills
- 4 Skillpoints/Level
Contra
- Loss of 5 Manifester Levels
- Saves
This class requires a whole bunch of useless feats and loses you 5 manifester levels. That said, you can build a high-crit scythe-wielder, who ends encounters on a crit. Personally, I think that this class is made obsolete with the soulbound weapon ACF.

Warning: If you take more than 8 levels in this class, you will lose the ability to manifest 6th level powers.
Sanctified Mind
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Pro
- Full BAB
- Class Features
- Class Skills
- 4 Skillpoints/Level
- Saves
Contra
- 1 lost Manifester Level
- Costs one horrible Feat
This prestige class gives you high base attack bonus, which gives you the chance to get 4 attacks, 2 good saves and 4 skillpoints per level. The class features are rather disappointing. You pay all this by losing one manifester level and you have to waste a feat slot on iron will.
Slayer
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Pro
- Full BAB
- Class Features
- Class Skills
- 4 Skillpoints/Level
Contra
- 1 lost Manifester Level
- Costs one probably useless Feat
As with the sanctified mind, this prestige class provides a high base attack bonus and 4 skillpoints per level. You lose a manifester level and have to take track. Most of the class abilities are very aberration-specific, but the level 9 power is very cool, because it resembles a personal mind blank, otherwise a level 6 power.

As for the more skillful approach mentioned in the introduction, the slayer prestige class has track as a prerequisite and so you could build a scout if you like. But you still won't be able to detect and disarm traps. In roleplaying terms the track feat fits a bounty hunter extremely well.
Warshaper
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Pro
- Class Features
Contra
- No manifesting progression
- Loses bab
- Requirements
This is mainly a one-level dip for the smackers out there. The morphic weapons class feature let's you increase the size of one of your natural weapons, which results in dealing more damage. The other abilities it gets, are alle great as well, but you lose so many manifester levels that it's probably not worth it.

What I don't like about it is that it needs the metamorphosis power and a tweak to qualify (metamorphosis is not listed as a valid prerequisite). You can qualify as a changeling without any trouble, which is the only point in playing a changeling psychic warrior (aside from roleplaying and style aspects).

The Psychic Warrior as a Dip

Meldshapers
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With the options for psionic characters presented in MoI, the psychic warrior makes an effective dip for combat orientated meldshapers.

A two level dip into incarnate can make sense if you desperately need more powerpoints early. The azure talent and midnight augmentation feats are great ways to gain more powerpoints or save them respectively. In higher levels the dip becomes a lot less helpful, because the gain in powerpoints from a level psychic warrior will be much higher.

The classes from Magic of Incarnum are probably not the best option for a psychic warrior, at least concerning dipping. If you use the psychic warrior as a dip, however, the options in this book become much more interesting. Unless you play in a low level campaign only, the only good way to use the option presented in MoI is a dip into psychic warrior and using a soulmeld shaping class as your base.
Swift Hunter
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You can use psychic warrior in a swift hunter build. Take 4 levels and select hustle, or maybe even better: Get dimension hop via the freedom mantle or expanded knowledge. This replaces the need for travel devotion. Check out Dictum Mortuum's The Swift Hunter's Handbook for more information.

zugschef · « **Reply #10 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:27:43 AM »

XI. Items
(The Bigger the Stick, the Better the Result)

"Oof! I was afraid it was obsolete!"
-- Magnumopus to his big deep brown crystal stick

Even a master of the psychological warfare relies on tools for his trade. Here you'll find information specifically for your psychic warrior. For an overview of the best items in the game, visit Bunko's Bargain Basement.

Armor and Weapons

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Psionic Items

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Miscellaneous

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zugschef · « **Reply #11 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:28:47 AM »

XII. Builds
(The Fully Trained Disciples of the Art of Psychological Warfare)

_{Magnumopus, Grandchampion of Psychological Warfare}

"Duh! I'm telling them about psychological warfare."
-- Magnumopus

The builds presented here follow the model of the combat roles presented in chapter III. As such, they are categorized in the same mold. Take these as examples and not as dogmas.

"Yo dowg. We herd u liek smacks. So we put a smack in your smack, so you can smack while you smack!" (dobu)
First off, I'd like to introduce the "King of Smack". It truly was a revelation in the early days of 3.5 psionics. The point of it is to use the claws of the beast power and optimize it. To pull this off, you need to qualify for rapidstrike, which you do as an elan, a synad or a dragonwrought kobold. If you need more info just visit the build's thread linked above.

Basic

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Charging

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Grappling

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Masochistic Style

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Ranged

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Sword & Board

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Two-Weapon Fighting Style

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Tripping

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zugschef · « **Reply #12 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:28:59 AM »

XIII. To Do List and Update History
(Inspired by Forum-Members)

To Do List

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Updates

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zugschef · « **Reply #13 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:29:19 AM »

reserve post #1

zugschef · « **Reply #14 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:29:28 AM »

reserve post #2

nijineko · « **Reply #15 on:** November 23, 2011, 08:57:26 PM »

Thank you for porting this over!

zugschef · « **Reply #16 on:** November 23, 2011, 10:16:37 PM »

Quote from: nijineko on November 23, 2011, 08:57:26 PM

Thank you for porting this over!

no problem.

wouldn't want my work to get lost. i've invested way too much time in it. ;-)

Sinfire Titan · « **Reply #17 on:** December 09, 2011, 12:14:27 AM »

Attention Handbook Writers! If you wish to openly discuss your handbook in an easily-accessible location, please start a thread in this section (Do not do so in the Handbooks section), and then reply to this thread. Doing so is not required, but handbooks exist for the purpose of compiling useful information regarding the 3.X system. Such handbooks would do well to have a discussion thread.

Min/Max Boards

News:

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Re: [3.5] The Psychic Warrior Handbook

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