Psionic Skill Trick Abuse

[Captnq]

SWIFT CONCENTRATION [MENTAL]
- COMPLETE SCOUNDREL (3.5)
You can maintain your mental focus while attending to another task.
Prerequisite: Concentration 12 ranks.
Benefit: You can maintain concentration on a spell or similar effect as a swift action.
Editor: For most people this isn’t useful. However, for certain types of spellcasters, like most illusionists, this is a god-send. The ability to maintain a spell while casting another is very useful.

then...

Gain Psionic Focus (DC 20): Merely holding a reservoir of psionic power points in mind gives psionic characters a special energy. Psionic characters can put that energy to work without actually paying a power point cost—they can become psionically focused as a special use of the Concentration skill. If you have 1 or more power points available, you can meditate to attempt to become psionically focused. The DC to become psionically focused is 20. Meditating is a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity. When you are psionically focused, you can expend your focus on any single Concentration check you make thereafter. When you expend your focus in this manner, your Concentration check is treated as if you rolled a 15. It’s like taking 10, except that the number you add to your Concentration modifier is 15. You can also expend your focus to gain the benefit of a psionic feat—many psionic feats are activated in this way. Once you are psionically focused, you remain focused until you expend your focus, become unconscious, or go to sleep (or enter a meditative trance, in the case of elans), or until your power point reserve drops to 0. Meditating to gain psionic focus is a full-round action.

Clearly I am maintaining concentration on a psionic focus.

SO, can I use this skill trick to maintain psionic focus? Use my Move action to become psionicly focused AGAIN. Then use both on my standard action for, I dunno. Something really really broken?

Before you answer... Remember skill tricks can only be used once an encounter... Oh. Wait.

Magical Trickster

Spontaneous Trickster (Su):You can channel magical potential into using skill tricks more often, effectively “recharging” them. As a swift action, you can “lose” any spell slot or prepared spell of 1st level or higher to perform a trick that you have already used in the encounter.

And...

Adaptation
You can easily change this prestige class into a psionic trickster by replacing spells with psionic power points as the “currency” for reusing tricks. Rather than sacrificing a spell slot or prepared spell to recharge a trick, a psionic trickster expends 2 power points.

[SorO_Lost]

Clearly I am maintaining concentration on a psionic focus.

And that right there sums things up.

[Captnq]

O.o

Not... sure what that means. Basically I think I have the means to turn a Erudite 5/Magical trickster 3/Metamind 10 into a godforsaken metapsionic powerhouse of ungodly destruction. (with the use of Practiced Manifester a few times and Psicrystal Containment.)

Metaminds have the ability to manifest a 5th level power AT NO COST.
I'm capped by my ML as to how many PPs I can spend, but if I'm saving 9 points on the power's base cost, The above combo could spend 18 points on top of the base power and burn psionic focus 3 times to triple up the metapsionics for twin/Empowered/Overpower attacks, or some such nonsense.

I think the last two levels would need to be Chameleon, so you have that "Pick a new feat every day" thing. That'd let me pick feats that lower the cost of a specific combo by 2 points for the day, then change it later if something better comes along.

You'll only have ML 12 and never cast higher then a 5th level spell, but BOY will you be able to nova.

[linklord231]

You don't have to concentrate to maintain Psionic focus, just to achieve it to begin with.

[Jackinthegreen]

Gaining Psionic Focus does take a Concentration check, but after that check is completed you could keep the Psionic Focus until you rest or expend it, etc.

As per http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/skills/concentration.htm#gainPsionicFocus:

Once you are psionically focused, you remain focused until you expend your focus, become unconscious, or go to sleep (or enter a meditative trance, in the case of elans), or until your power point reserve drops to 0.

There is no need to maintain concentration on a psionic focus.

[wotmaniac]

To expand further:
"Establish" and "maintain" are 2 completely different words with 2 completely different meanings.  Additionally, once you expend your focus (via psionic feat or what have you), you must then re-establish your focus.
Basically, that skill trick does nothing for psionic focus.

[Captnq]

To expand further:
"Establish" and "maintain" are 2 completely different words with 2 completely different meanings.  Additionally, once you expend your focus (via psionic feat or what have you), you must then re-establish your focus.
Basically, that skill trick does nothing for psionic focus.

Errrr... yeah. That seems right. Ah well, was hoping for a new bizarre combo. As it stands, none of the skill tricks are really worth the combo idea I had.

[wotmaniac]

To expand further:
"Establish" and "maintain" are 2 completely different words with 2 completely different meanings.  Additionally, once you expend your focus (via psionic feat or what have you), you must then re-establish your focus.
Basically, that skill trick does nothing for psionic focus.

Errrr... yeah. That seems right. Ah well, was hoping for a new bizarre combo. As it stands, none of the skill tricks are really worth the combo idea I had.

t'would have been neat.  oh well -- happy searching.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

I wouldn't dismiss this so quickly, the " ... or similar effect ..." isn't defined.
Sure it's rather t.o.-ish to say Psi Focus is similar, but it is in the neighborhood.
edit --- Solicit Psicrystal absolutely is a Concentrate related ability.
edit/edit/ crossposted with Jacks below

I'd worry about 2 different Swift action things happening in the same round.

[Jackinthegreen]

"Or similar effect" would work for psi powers.  How many of those have a duration of concentration though?

Well, here's one:  Deflection Field.

[Captnq]

"Or similar effect" would work for psi powers.  How many of those have a duration of concentration though?

Well, here's one:  Deflection Field.

hrmm... You know, there are a mess of concentration duration powers from 3.0. Most of them suck however. Still. ya know, maybe it's worth a look.

[Unbeliever]

I always keep looking for a fun use for Magical Trickster, but I still haven't found one that really seems to click.