Author Topic: Psionic Warblade, like a working Arcane Swordsage  (Read 4505 times)

Offline Garryl

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Psionic Warblade, like a working Arcane Swordsage
« on: November 12, 2011, 06:38:15 PM »
I wrote this up a while back. Basically, it's a sort of Arcane Swordsage for psionics on a Warblade chassis. You don't get free reign to all sorts of powers, but you do get most of the combat-type powers from the Psion and Psychic Warrior lists in the SRD. The powers themselves are used more like maneuvers than traditional powers, so it should hopefully play reasonably like a traditional Warblade but with different maneuvers. To preserve the idea of having to learn new maneuvers to keep up numerically at higher levels, power maneuvers don't auto scale, instead have a fixed effective base PP expenditure based on when you learned them. You can still spend more of your actual PP on top of the free expenditure if you want. Channel Strike lets you use the powers as traditional strikes (ie: on top of hitting someone in the face with a piece of steel, not instead of it), but you can still use the powers normally if you want.

   Loses: Bonus Feats, Improved Uncanny Dodge, Maneuvers, Uncanny Dodge
   Gains: Channel Strike, Free Augment, Psionic Initiating, Wild Talent
   Modified: Base Saves, Hit Die, Proficiencies, Skills

Hit Die: A Psionic Warblade uses a d10 hit die instead of d12.

Base Saves: A Psionic Warblade has a good Will save, but a poor Fortitude save.

Skills: A Psionic Warblade adds Knowledge (psionics) and Psicraft to her class skill list, but removes Martial Lore.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A Psionic Warblade does not gain proficiency with medium armor.

Psionic Initiating: Psionic Warblades meld psionics with the Sublime Way, learning to manifest powers in a manner similar to the way that martial adepts initiate maneuvers. As a Psionic Warblade, you learn powers from your power list in the same way that a Warblade learns maneuvers and stances, except that you must also have an Intelligence score of at least 10 + the power's level to learn a power. Once you learn a power in this way, you can ready and use it in the same way that a Warblade would ready a maneuver (or a stance if the power is denoted as acting like a stance). Your powers are treated as both powers and maneuvers. They are subject to power resistance, provoke attacks of opportunity when manifested, and can be augmented, but otherwise follow the rules for maneuvers. Your powers are expended once used, but you can recover them as a Warblade recovers his maneuvers.
   Your manifester level is equal to your initiator level. When you initiate a Psionic Warblade power, it is treated as though you spent a number of power points to manifest it equal to your initiator level when you learned it, to a maximum of your current manifester level. If you have any remaining power points, you can spend them to further augment your powers, but the total effective number of power points spent is still limited by your manifester level. For example, if your manifester level is 8 and you learned a power when your initiator level was 5, you could manifest that power normally, treating it as though you spent 5 power points to manifest it, or you could add up to 3 of your own power points to augment it further, up to a maximum effective total of 8 power points spent.
   You know and can ready a number of non-stance powers equal to the number of maneuvers a Warblade of the same level knows and can ready. Similarly, you know the same number of stance powers as a Warblade knows stances. At 4th level and every 2 levels thereafter, you can choose to learn a new non-stance power in place of one you already know, just like a Warblade learns new maneuvers in place of ones he already knows.
   You do not gain additional power points based on your Psionic Warblade manifester level for having a high ability score.

Wild Talent: You gain Wild Talent as a bonus feat. If you already have it, you instead gain Psionic Talent as a bonus feat.

Channel Strike (Ex): Beginning at 2nd level, you can channel a Psionic Warblade strike power you manifest through a melee weapon you wield. This must be a power that requires you to make a single attack (melee or ranged, or even a ray) or that has a single creature as a target. If you do, you do not provoke attacks of opportunity for manifesting that power. Make a single attack with your melee weapon. If the attack hits, the creature you hit is subject to the normal effects of your attack, and the effects of your power (which is treated as having hit the creature if the power required an attack roll). If your attack misses, the power is wasted and has no effect (although it is still expended as normal).

Free Augment (Ex): Beginning at 5th level, the number of power points that you are treated as having spent on your Psionic Warblade powers is increased by 1, to a maximum of your manifester level. This improves by one additional power point every 4 levels thereafter.


Psionic maneuvers:
(click to show/hide)

Note: Several power maneuvers are at different levels from where they are normally found as powers. These powers thus have different base PP costs from normal. Some also have minor changes from the normal rules of psionic maneuvers, or from their normal rules when used as powers.

Psionic Warblade Power list:
(click to show/hide)

New Powers
Swift Compression, Swift Expansion
(click to show/hide)

Change Log
(click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: December 11, 2011, 10:00:25 PM by Garryl »

Offline Garryl

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Re: Psionic Warblade, like a working Arcane Swordsage
« Reply #1 on: December 09, 2011, 01:07:23 PM »
Actually, not your fault; he DOES have a psionic warblade, which I've been toying about asking about. And if someone else was looking in that direction, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to point it out.... Might be interesting for a psionic swiftblade....
Holy crap, that is awesome! I'd forgotten about that, but now I want to use one! :D

It's new, although it was an idea I had half-written for several months. Let me know how it goes if you use it, okay?
So shall it be allowed, so shall it be done.
It's certainly allowed, if anyone wants to play it. I do worry a bit that it will be overpowered compared to a straight psiwarrior, though. What concerns me most from what I saw was Expansion as a stance.

Would Expansion be better as a boost instead, then as a stance at a higher level (3rd, maybe)?