Discussion Thread
here.
***Please note, I did not write this, merely transferred it. All uses of "I" refer to either Samb or Cvazi.***
I've cleaned up most of the part that actuallt has colored formatting, but the original guide didn't have it so I'm not going to touch it yet.
This handbook was made to try to clear up some misconceptions about this very balanced and versatile class. I have to say this is more of a supplement to Cvazi’s wilder build guild found here which is where I learned how to play a wilder in the first place. While it is a great starting place, it lacks some things like all of complete psionics book (another maligned aspect of psionics), features and variants from Mind’s Eye online resource (found here) and racial selections. These represent a significant addition to what kind of wilder you can build and will be the main basis for this handbook, for the rest I will kindly refer you to Cvazi’s original post.
Wilder in a nutshell is this: manifest fewer powers, but better than a psion of the same level. They are akin in psionic specialists, but have more ML (thanks to wild surge) rather than extra spells.
Wilder is often confusing to beginners because it seems so wishy-washy. Not as much bonus feats as the psychic warrior or psion, and less powers to choose than both of them. To make matters worse, they cannot select many of melee friendly powers found on the psiwarrior list, or have to spend the precious few feats that they get to use the powers on discipline lists, via EPK. That first impression often makes people turn away from this class and the bad impression often sticks.
Wilder is in fact a class with a lot of potential, but if it wants to excel in a particular area, it needs to commit. With so few powers to pick from it would seem obvious that you cannot do everything the way a psion can.
In the Caster/”batman”---------Frontliner spectrum, wilder is dead center with its ¾ BAB, large PP pool, and limited powers, a Wilder can be anything it wants to be, but once it starts down one path she will have to commit to it. Cvazi’s mentioned a MAD gish build which will devote most feats and powers towards melee and a CHR focused blaster/save-and-win type diplomancer.
What Cvazi didn’t mention, is that some of the wilder’s weaknesses can be overcome somewhat with new material and good selection of PrC.
All posts use the following key:
navy blue>
blue > black >
red Most things fall into red, so we try to limit our discussion to the better stuff.
PHII/Mind’s Eye Variants:
Educated WilderYou have had formal psionic training.
Level: 5th, 9th, 13th, and 17th.
Replaces: You lose the volatile mind class ability at all levels listed above.
Benefit: You have received some formal psionic training and as such, you have unlocked psionic powers most wilders never dream of. You gain the Expanded Knowledge feat at all of the above levels. But due to the training involved, your mind is not as untamed as most wilders and you lose the defensive ability volatile mind.
Mantled Wilder
Your focus allows you access to a psionic mantle.
Level: 1st and see below.
Replaces: You lose your elude touch class ability; also see below.
Benefit: You gain access to a single psionic mantle from Complete Psionic. You replace the elude touch class ability at 2nd level with the mantle's granted ability and gain access to the powers on the mantle list. In fact you must take those powers at your first opportunity. If you chose the Creation mantle, you would have to learn astral construct and minor creation at 1st and 2nd level, for example. You are free to choose all other powers from the psion/wilder list.
(Straight from the website referenced in the intro.)
The educated wilder is makes a useless class feature into a great boon for the wilder. At no point will an extra 4 EPK ever be trumped by volatile mind. EPK is your go-to feat anyway, so this will allow you to spend your 7-8 feats on other things like metapsionic feats or other melee focused feats. It should assumed that ALL wilders use this variant. It is really that good.
The mantled wilder variant is a mixed bag since elude touch is a really good class feature, I mean how many things do you know that increase you AC against touch attacks and by so much? Mantles are one of the best things to come out of CPsi as they often come with a feat-like bonus (or just give you a feat for free) and give you access to powers you normally can’t get. This variant also qualifies you for the tap mantle, which is mostly useless except to metamorph into outsiders. Here are some mantles worth considering for your wilder:
-Communication: grants +2 to diplomacy checks if focused, and gives you access to charm, and suggestion, 2 telepath only power that any diplomacy wilder should make heavy use of.
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Conflict: gives weapon focus as a free feat and access to one of best psiwarrior powers in the game: psionic lion’s charge. Spirit of war is a power completely forbidden to psiwarrior that grants +4 on attack and damage, as well as +10 on 1 save or crit confirm. If you are going gish this is a must have mantle. Here's a debate on just how good PLC is:
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=4312.0-
Creation: gives ectopic form as a free feat, and more importantly; access to astral construct and minor creation at level 2. Even if you use EPK, you cannot get these powers until level 4. Taking this mantle allows you to be creating constructs as early as level 2. Minor creation can be very strong if paired with quicken power or even better, linked power. Both are must have powers for pretty much any build and well worth the investment.
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Freedom: basically gives you speed of thought feat for free. The interesting thing about it is that it doesn’t SAY you get speed of thought, so by RAW if you have speed of thought and this mantle you get +20 to your movement! That’s right, they are different sources and hence stack. The power list is also impressive: hustle, teleport, fly. All very decent powers found on the nomad list. This mantle comes highly recommended.
-Good and Evil: gives you exclusive protection from spells. The only real reason to take this mantle is to metamorph into outsiders using planar apotheosis/embrace. This is the only time taking the feat tap mantle is really worth it, since its granted ability sucks.
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Natural world: gives the wild empathy feature but more importantly, metamorphosis as early as 8th level (as opposed to 12th) No need for me to elaborate on how good metamorphosis is right? If you are starting out at level 12 anyway this might not be that great of an investment.
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Life: The powers are not that great but the ability is just too sweet. By expending your focus you gain +1 ML. No damage, no chance of daze. This means that by level 2 wilder you can manifest as a 4ML, and at level 3 manifest as 6ML! Only drawback is that it uses focus, which could need the usual feat investment and no metapsionics (aww no linked power).
Awaken DM golem shares some insight into mantle variants. These variants will require DM permission, but should go over better than constant reformations.
Quote from: awaken DM golem on May 17, 2009, 02:10:51 PM
Mantled Wilder looked bad, as in not useful, early on.
Then Mind's Eye got the Substitute Powers for Ardents.
But it specifically referred to the Mantle itself, as what could be changed.
Divine Minds needed this badly. And Wilders can now use the Mantles better.
Magic Mantle works very well now.
UMD/UPD thingy on Charisma, the best stat.
Limited list of powers.
Substitute specifically says, you get 9 or 10 powers.
So fill in with the following list:
Make My Mantled Wilder Not Suck Power A
Make My Mantled Wilder Not Suck Power B
Make My Mantled Wilder Not Suck Power C
Make My Mantled Wilder Not Suck Power D
etc ...
much better.
And here is the exact wording from Mind's Eye:
Substitute Powers
Considering the esoteric nature of mantles, different ardents may have the same mantle but have different powers available to them. A mantle can have no more than ten powers in it, and if it has fewer, add further powers to fill the gaps if that mantle has no powers of that level. The powers need to fit the theme of the mantle at the DM's discretion. Otherwise, you can substitute a power of equal or lesser level. For example, the sense danger* power could be added to the Fate mantle as a 3rd-level power since only seven powers and no 3rd-level powers are in it, or the faint memory* power could replace escape detection in the Deception mantle.
Shifter wilder sub levelAs a shifter you take -2 on CHR which is bad but you gain so much that it is worth it. This feature is found in races of eberron, and lets shifters pick from the egoist list. This makes greater metamorphosis available to wilders. At level one you gain all the same features as a standard wilder plus the egoist list open to you. At second level you gain savage renewal, which nets you PP after you shift. At 6th level, you get to extend your shifted mode as long as you have surging euphoria active. Of course this means you can't take the mantled variant (and lose elude touch), but gaining access to arguably the best set of powers (metamorphosis, fission, etc) is decidedly better than being forced to take powers on a mantle.
Bestow power "cheat": My thoughts on the bestow power "cheat" is simple? So what? A wilder is no good at going nova anyway, and wild surge does a lot to preserve PP as it is which is often made up by an untimely enervation (puff no power, wasted PP AND dazed). I try to think of Wilders as psionic versions of warlocks anyway.
Feats: only listing feat you will even want to consider, so no reds. This is a pretty extensive list, but some only apply for certain builds. You can also consider getting flaws to squeeze in all your feats. Which flaws to get are also dependent on what kind of wilder you are building.
Unconditional Power:This metapsionic feat costs a hefty +8 PP but lets you manifest even though you are dazed. Pretty direct and may be the easiest way to bypass ennervation at high levels. You can use wild surge to pay for metapsionics so naturally it should help a bit. If you have a "I win" power then consider metapowering it with this feat, otherwise spending yet another feat on something that MIGHT happen is silly.
Talented: (houserule that requires your DM to work with you on it. Becomes
red unless you actually have Overchannel.)
The fact is psychic enervation makes going using wild surge past +2 unpractical. However, if you consider that wild surge is the whole basis of of a wilder some liberal interpretations of the talented feat is in order.
Like overchannel, wild surge gives you bonuses to your ML upon manifesting a power. In many ways they are similar to each other, in that they are needed to qualify for anarchic initiate PrC, and cannot be used at the same time. They differ in their side effects and scope: wild surge can bump a power higher and faster (+5 by lvl 15 as opposed to +3 with overchannel), pays for the augmented costs, while overchannel deals hp damage and doesn't leave you dazed.
If we equate overchannel and wild surge then a wilder can take up talented feat. If talented removes the side effects of overchannel then it stands to reason it does exactly the same for wild surge. No need to roll for enervation. While this may sound broken sit and think about what this really means. Talented only works on 3rd level powers and under, so no metamorphosis. It also requires you to expend focus, which makes it impractical during combat without a heavy feat investment (EK: hustle, psionic meditation, psicrystal affinity, psicrystal containment). Expending focus has one important implication: no metapsionic feats to apply (unless you have psicrystal containment or Elan retention). Also think about what you are actually expending your focus on? A CHANCE to prevent enervation as opposed to overchannel's guaranteed 3d8 of damage. Even at wild surge +6 you would still have a 66.6% of it working just fine.
Quick recovery:Already mentioned in cvazi's post but so good it is worth mentioning again. Wilder has a good Will save and risk getting dazed a lot. Combined with hustle for even greater effect and WIS is no longer a dump stat.
Iron will:
A preq for Sanctified mind and works well with quick recovery.
Psionic meditation:Get re-focused using a move action instead of a full turn. You will be making use of this a lot for talented and metapsionic feat.
Metapower:Use the free PP from wild surge and combine it with your favorite metapsionic feat and you manifest two powers for the price of one. Linked power with synchronicity is potent choice allowing for many tactical options (and extra turns!), the higher your wild surge the better this feat gets (like cheap lvl 9 powers manifested at instant speed? I do!).
Linked Power:Pure gold. Use this with creation powers to make cage in an instant, manifest AC while full attacking the things you can do with this feat are amazing. This even works when you are dazed since you manifested the power the turn before. To get the best mileage out of this feat the linked power should be a long manifesting time. Also, this feat has no set +PP cost, it is determined by the 2nd power you wish to manifest. This means that metapower, imp metapsionics and wild surge can boost the potency and DC of your linked power to astronomical levels. Now combine this with schism and you will be swimming with actions to do during your turn. Oh and use Synad multitask and temporal acceleration to...... well you get the point i hope.
Extend Power:This metapsionic feat is free with wild surge. Great for utility powers like inertial armor, schism, and temporal acceleration.
EK: Schism:This power is a must have for any psionic character, but even more so for wilders. When combined with practiced manifester and wild surge, you can manifest powers at or above your current ML. Not only that, when you are schismed, your "real" mind is shielded from the effects of psychic ennervation. The only drawback to this is that you will not gain the benefits of surging euphoria when manifesting powers this way. This should be taken at level 9, with either the EK provided by the educated variant, bonus powers granted by the cognition thief, or level feats.
Psicystal affinity:Yeah, yeah, metamorphosis and share power. Share power, share pain and vigor for undying tank. The things this little guy provides to you just goes on and on.
Illithid feat chain:
Refers to heritage--> compulsion--> legacy--> greater legacy This could include illithid blast as well if you want to enter the cognition thief PrC. Why are these feats good? Because in four feats you get 4 awesome telepath only powers (charm, read thoughts, dominate and dispel) but also +1 to all DC with compulsion descriptors, and +2 on saves against spells/powers and spell/psi like abilities. This is the only feat chain a wilder should even consider following, unless she is going for thrallherd or cognition thief (bonus 8 telepath powers in exchange for 4 ML).
Practiced manifester:When you use schism you get a -6 on your ML. With this feat you only get -2 ML. If you multiclass you will find this even more useful. A must have for any wilder (or anyone planning on using schism). If you plan on entering the cognition thief this feat is even more valuable as it allows you access to high level powers despite the loss of 4 ML.
Postpone enervation:
Postpone daze effect for 3 rounds. During that 3 rounds you can't use wild surge...... not the best way to deal with enervation since quick recovery with hustle is better.
Instant clarity:
From ToB, this cool little feat lets you regain your focus as a swift action after you use a maneuver 3/day. If you need to regain focus faster than a move action this is the way to do it. If you took a dip into a ToB class making a gish character then combining this with psychic renewal will allow you to keep using the best maneuver you have 4 times in a row. Nothing says you don't provoke AoO with this feat so be careful.
Metamorphic transfer:Better make room for this feat, it is a must have for obvious reasons. Allows you to use Su abilities 3/day while metamorphed. Only applies to one Su ability each time you take it, taking it another time makes it apply for different Su ability.
Euphoric reduction:
Good for higher levels and only if you see yourself tanking. This converts your euphoric surge into DR instead of attack bonuses. Adds a bit of versatility to your wilder.
Enervation endurance:Cuts your PP loss due to enervation by half. This could be a real life saver in higher levels. If you want to rest easy with the fact that you will have more effective PP than other manifesting classs well into epic levels this is the feat to pick. See the section on PP loss to see just how effective this feat really is.
Elan retention:
For 3 PP you keep your focus. Could be great for nova if it wasn't for the fact that it is Elan only. These guys have -2 on CHR.
Boost construct:If you plan on using AC a lot using proxies to fight for you this is a feat to get. If you combine it with ectopic form feat you could get a very formidable servant on your hands.
Synad multitask:Before you can get schism this is the way you get to do two things at once. After you get schism this is the way you will most likely manifest it on turn one. Synad only, but they are a great choice to start with.
Xeph burst extra:
Gives you more use of Xephs burst ability and can be selected multiple times. Not that great in itself but when combined with..........
Xeph Celerity:Combined with Xeph Burst this allows all those useless bursts to be traded for an extra attack at full BAB. Many a Xeph build just has 6 extra bursts and one celerity for an onslaught of attacks. Xeph gish wilders should pay attention to this one.
Races/templates: The ideal race would be naturally psionic and have +2 or more to CHR, and have wilder as a favorite class. That being said here are the best of the bunch.
LA+0
Human: not naturally psionic, or have +CHR but extra feat could make up it in the long run. Never a bad choice for any class. The baseline on which all other races are judged on.
Shifter: with the substitution levels this is a very good race choice for wilders. In addition to gaining metamorphsois early, you can pick up greater metamorph at 17, something not possible with EK pre-epic (EK allows you only access to powers of up to one level lower than what you can manifest). See the intro for more info.
Elan: -2 CHR is bad but their DR for PP ability makes them a decent choice for would be tanks.
Maenad: other than favored class: wilder, I don't see the point of picking this over humans.
Xeph: Good choice for a gish build with its ability to get many attacks with xeph celerity.
Synad: Free schism that doesn't give -6ML is always a welcome. Reroll a failed save is universally smiled upon.
Warforged: This was a great choice for psions but sadly not all that great for wilder. -2 CHR is a killer, but you can still metamorph into constructs so it’s not all bad. Also psychic damage repair makes this cost an extra feat.
Kalashtar: 1 PP per level. Only race that does this, but its real jewel is the mindlink ability.
LA+1
Dromite: +2 CHR , naturally psionic and wilder as favored class make this ideal for a CHR SAD wilder. Also get free blind fighting, AC bonus and energy ray 1/day.
Half-giant: good stat bonuses for a MAD gish build, powerful build makes this race worth the LA.
Aasimar: Not psionic but +2 CHR and other decent spell-like abilities make this a strong choice for either gish or CHR wilder builds.
LA+2
Githyanki: -2 WIS might make quick recovery harder to use. Still has some very decent psi-like abilities whihch are CHR based. Depending on what timeline you use, Githyanki might not have planeshift psi-like ability due to the death of the Lich queen. If so it would be hard to justify the +2 LA
Githzerai: +6 DEX and +2WIS are nice although the value of DEX is questionable when you plan on metamorphing. Have pretty good psi-like abilities as well.
Half-fey: +4 CHR, gains wings, a bunch of mind affecting abilities, and most of all CHARM AT WILL. Fun to have whether in a RP situation or combat.
Half-nymph: +4 CHR, no negatives on stats. Gains the ability awesome beauty, which makes anyone looking at you shaken for 1 minute. You don't even have to target them, all they have to do is see you and be shaken by you sheer beauty.
Half-doppelganger: Empathy at will and alternate form 3/day. With metamorphic transfer you might be able to do cool stuff depending on how creative you are.
Phrenic: Power resistance, and a lot of psi-like abilities help to offset the lack of powers a wilders has. Overall, a strong choice.
Note: If your DM allows for 3rd party material the Meanad wilder sub levels are pure gold.
Getting around ennervation
PP lose:
It appears that people have don't like how ennervation PP lose scales with wilder level. The fact of the matter is with some simple math it becomes clear that the lose is either non-existant or very minimal and with one feat completely wiped away.
To calculate the total amount of PP gained in 100 manifestations the formula would look like this:
x(100-5x)
where x is the amount of wild surge used. Each wild surges gives a 5% chance of ennervation, this is subtracted from 100 to get the numbers of non ennervated results.
So for a wild surge +4 the chances of it working fine is 80%. So in 100 manifestations you have 80 successes and 20 failures. 4 times 80 gives you 320.
Now the formula for PP lose in 100 manifestations is:
5xy
Where x is the wild surge level and y is the wilder level.
So at level 14 using wilder surge +4 would result in a lose of 280 over 100 attempts.
The easy way to remember the break even point for each wild surge level is that their sum is 20. So a wild surge of +2 would break even at 18, while a wild surge of +6 would break even at 14. I personally feel that this has little bearing on how effective the wilder is in action but if making an imaginary profit in the long run is important to you then ennervation endurance will raise the sum to 39.
Wild surge +1: level 19/38
Wild surge +2: level 18/36
Wild surge +3: level 17/34
Wild surge +4: level 16/32
Wild surge +5: level 15/30
Wild surge +6: level 14/24
(number after the dash is with ennveration tolerance)
The lose of your PP is in proportion to your total PP too (if not a bit less). Higher surges should have higher risks. At level 20 using a +6 wild surge you would on average spend an extra 1.5 PP (or 15 over ten tries) because level 20 is over the break even point. I don't know about you, but 1.5 PP for +6 ML is worth it. Note that all this is averaged out so in most cases (70%) you will pay nothing. If you have to think about it in a niche protection standpoint; if PP lose scaled with wild surge level instead of wilder level no one would want to play psion.
But lets face it, you are not drawn to wilder for the profit margins. You want the raw power that an extra +3 ML can provide. Next on hhow to not worry about losing a turn.
Dazed and confused
Being dazed because you were unlucky sucks, but there has to be a price to pay for acting too big for your britches right? This is most likely why wilders are shunned upon, but there are in fact many ways to worm out of this. Here is a quick and dirty list although I'm sure they have been listed already.
Talented feat: only works on 3rd level or lower powers and needs to expend focus. Pretty blah if you ask me but it is reliable.
Favor of Illmater: a spell from PGtF, makes target completely immune to stunning and daze effects.
Quick recovery: If you start a turn dazed, you can use a move action to do a will save to shake out of it.
Partitioned mind: one of the reasons sanctified mind is such a great PrC for wilder is that it allows you to ignore the effects of daze for a number of rounds equal to your CHR bonus + SM class levels.
Delay ennervation: postpones your daze for 3 rounds but during those 3 rounds you can't wild surge. meh
Schism: If you are manifesting under (while the real you is full attacking) a schismed mind and you happen to ennervate, only your schismed mind is affected. Best way to avoid getting dazed.
Once schism is on board it is unlikely you will need other ways to deal with daze.
Meanad sub level 1: this requires Untapped Potential which is a 3rd party book but this sub level just eliminates daze. No techy feat combo or rule lawyering, just take the sub level and you never worry about it. (see post on 3rd party materail for more details)
Here's something that rypta brought to my attention:
Quote from: rypta on September 27, 2009, 03:47:17 PM
Dragon Magazine (EDIT: #349) has the feats Cerebremetamagic and Mystic Stability.
Cerebremetamagic allows you expend power points to apply metamagic to a spell. The cost is 2 x [metamagic spell level] in power points.
Mystic Stability allows you sacrifice a prepared spell or spell slot to ignore enervation. You can ignore 5% per spell level.
To ignore the full 30% chance of enervation for +6 ML, you would need to sacrifice a 6th level spell. With cerebremetamagic, you could heighten a first level spell to 6th level by paying 12 power points, and then only end up losing a 1st level spell.
It is feat intensive and costs quite a bit of PP but it works if you are going for a cerebromancer route.
Oh the joys of surging:
The biggest thing to realize about wild surge is that it breaks one fundamental rule of psionics: You can only spend as much PP on a power as you have MLs.
The easiest thing you can notice about surging is the increased effectiveness of your powers. They last longer, deal more damage, more augmentable, higher DC. Then there is surging euphoria that makes you a better gish as well. If you picked the shifter sub levels, when you surge you can extend your shifted form for an extra round. The best thing I have found with wild surge is to use metapsionic feats more sooner. When combined with metapower (or at epic levels imp metapsionics), this advantage becomes even more obvious because metapower actually reduces PP costs which frees up 2 PP on augmentations (that's one extra level on AC). At 3rd level you can extend power for free by virtue of your wild surge, with metapower and wild surge you could always do full damage without paying for the metapsionic at all.
Just remember that once you get schism, you will not be enjoying the benefits of suring euphoria as much. Small price to pay for not having to worry about daze.
Expanded PrCs
Here I'll try to expand on the PrCs most suited for wilders. Some are better than others, some are great for any build, while others are only good for certain builds. Cvazi has touched on most of them but here's my own take on them given my experiences. I personally prefer to stay in wilder till 7 for wild surge +3 before going into a PrC as wilder but I'll let you decide what is best.
Anachic initiate:
Only PrC that will continue your wild surge progression, but oddly this PrC is much better for psions (yes psion with wild surge +2!!!). But alas this is better for a one level dip for chaotic surge. This is because as nice as chaotic breech is, surging euphoria and free EK from educated variant are better. Oh and you can't this until 13 due to the knowledge (planes) ranks needed. No biggie since you get surging euphoria+2 and an extra EK at 13, which means you would've wanted to stick with wilder till 13 anyway.
Ectopic adept:
Only a good choice if you are going for an army of one type build where you take this PrC to 5 for double creation and then follow by taking thrallherd. Otherwise constructor is the better PrC.
Constructor:
8/10 ML and allows for construct with 4 menu selections as well as an extra construct at the same power level and free (thanks to wild surge). You can also manifest them faster, last longer, are tougher and more versatile than the traditional AC. Lets not forget about utility construct either for all the mundane tasks that you can't bother yourself to do. It even acts as a mount when need be! Very easy build too, just get AC via EK or mantle variant, and take this PrC to ten, then resume wilder.
Arch psion:
This is mainly for the social wilder due to its 1/2 BAB progression. But it is a 5/5 ML and it allows for you to get more powers at the expense of PP, thus making up for one of the wilder's greatest weaknesses. Greater focus series will certainly be welcome for wilders favoring save-or-die/suck powers. A lot of the high psionics listed are from 3.0 so readjustments may be needed.
Crystal master:
Never tried this PrC but it looks great for customizing. Many give bonuses to stats, some give psi-like abilities, and other boost defense. If it had 3/4 BAB then it would be perfect for any build but as it is, I'd say its great for social wilders but only a 2 level dip for gish.
Meditant:
Amazing PrC for any wilder build but this may not be that great if your DM doesn't allow for a lot of down time to activate the mediation centers. But once activated a center can dramatically improve any aspect of a wilder and last for longer as you advance in this PrC. the main drawback to this PrC is time.
Thrallherd:
The things you can do with a thrall and your believers border on broken. Great for a dip or all the way, the wilder's high CHR almost guarantees that your thrall will be the best you can find. My personal favorite is a wilder9/cognition thief 10/thrallherd 1. With cognition thief (and practised manifester) you gain 9th level telepath powers which are mind switch and psychic chiurgery. Find a believer with nice physical stats and true mind switch with him. Then find a high level psion (any but telepath) and give him psychic chiurgery (with your psychic chiurgery) and make him give you all his known powers, or better yet reform him and repeat the process. Then dismiss/kill him, put out another call for a different psion till you have all the powers you need. You may find yourself lacking in some XP but who cares when you have every power you could ever need pre-epic?
Cognition Thief:
Main weaknesses of wilders is lack of powers and restricted to psion/wilder list only. This PrC addresses all those needs by giving you 8 powers from the telepath list. Don't be fooled by the 6/10 ML. The description clearly states: "She can choose any power that she is able to manifest. Even Cognition thieves that manifest their powers as wilders, can choose from the telepath discipline list which is otherwise forbidden to them" So taking up a practiced manifester before you go into this PrC will allow you to pick even high level telepath powers as if you didn't lose any ML at all. Also you get things like read thoughts AT WILL. Yeah this PrC kicks ass.
The Philosophy of Blasting
It should seem obvious that in a blasting contest a wilder would easily trump a psion or even a sorcerer (of equal levels), in thanks to better BAB, surging euphoria and elude touch. In fact, it is not even a fair fight if all you compared was damage dealing. Don't get me wrong a wilder is not on the same tier as a psion or even a sorcerer but when it comes to blasting, a wilder is king. A better comparision is the warlock. With 3/4 BAB progression and self scaling damage, and 12 invocations by 20th level. It is very comparable to a wilder with 3/4 BAB, scaling damage and DC, and 11 (or 15 with educated variant) powers. I would still pick wilder to win due to having higher ML and better attack rolls (thanks to surging euphoria), no arcane spell failure and better touch AC. Only thing warlock has on wilder is endurance, they can blast and blast while wilder is still limited by its PP reserve.
Now that we have established that wilders are premiere blasters let's see what powers are suitable for a would be blaster. What you want is scalable damage and DC, preferably resolves as a touch attack (no PR or saves), hits multiple targets, and works in antipsi/magic fields. Not many fit all of these but that should clue you into something important: you don't have to invest in many powers to be a great blaster. Almost all damage dealing powers have one thing in common: 1 PP for one die of damage no matter the power level so usually scaling damage is not an issue.
Surprising as it may sound, energy missile is NOT that great. At first blush it seems to break the rule of 1 PP per 1d6 since it deals 15d6 for only 3 PP, has scalable damage and DC. But if you read carefully it has a save, can be resisted and the worst is that your targets have to be within 15' of eachother, and you CANNOT target all 5 missiles on the same target. I really don't see why people go gaga over this, it only useful if all your enemies huddled together and useless in a duel. The same applies for energy current, and it needs you to take solicit psicrystal to make any real use of it.
Energy ball has great range but like all "energy" powers it is resistable and has a save. The only exception is energy ray, which only has PR and a good choice for any level.
Crystal shard and concussion blast would be perfect if it hit multiple targets, but if you are fighting only one target then this is great and you can have both by level 1. The shard also works in a null psionics field.
Swarm of crystals has no save, no PR hits many targets, perfect for hitting multiple targets. Only drawback is puny d4 damage makes it really underpowered at higher levels.
