Precise workings of the Phrenic Template.

[Daebu]

So I'm creating a standard semi-cheesy PoT/Blackguard/Hexblade saves-debuffing +Cha synergy type for an upcoming evil campaign. One friend of mine was running an evil caster of some sort (he's not sure on specifics yet: Anima Mage? Uttercold Necro?) and I was thinking of playing mine as the Darth Vader to his Emperor. Of course, no one else in the campaign will be aware of my voluntary submission to his worthy evil goals. 

I was considering the Phrenic template (using LA-buyoff) to give him some nice Cha boosts and PLA's to play around with, as my character will likely be a relatively mundane type. (Some mix of Monk2/Hex4/PoT5/BG3/Marshal1 is the general plan.) The only issue is, I'm not entirely sure how the abilities interact. Here is where my relative inexperience starts to get in the way. (And hence why I've attached my character to a more experienced player's character.)

It says Manifester level = Character level (awesome!) but Psionics don't necessarily level nicely with class/caster level that way. Mind Thrust, for example, deals 1d10 damage. With no PP (or actually, +1 total PP) to spend, doesn't it just sit at 1d10? Or as a Phrenic does it autolevel with me the way standard spells do? Assuming it doesn't, can I solve the problem with levels in a Psionic class? Or do the PP pools remain separate? It just seems odd that the makers of the template would suggest that most Phrenic characters would not take levels in a Psionic class if in fact it means that said character would be severely nerfed in the use of half of his PLA's.

I know that these questions likely seem overly noobish to the many experienced players on the board. I did some basic searching with the search function but didn't come up with any discussions as to how the template worked. Apologies if there's a resource I missed. (I'll gladly read it!) Any help would be great. I will likely have more questions based upon the answers given, as well.

[snakeman830]

Psi-like abilities are automatically augmented to their manifester level.  In the case of Mind Thrust, it would do your HD D10 damage.

Although it's irrelevant to the template, all power points are in the same pool, regardless of class, race, or feat granting them.

[Daebu]

Awesome. Where do I point for the source on that info? The DM isn't overly oppositional, but it makes things go smoothly when I can point to a book/magazine and say "there". EDIT: found it in the SRD and Expanded Psionics Handbook. It was hiding in the Psionic creatures section.

Now that I know that the abilities auto-level (and now I see why people rate this template highly), what about the secondary characteristics of some of the PLA's? Precognition for example. I assume that I get HD/3 (round down) insight bonus to AC. If so, how do I go about taking advantage of the potential to cast as a swift action? Can I sacrifice 2AC (6HD worth of "phantom PP", for lack of a better analogy) to get said swift cast (also 6PP)?

[snakeman830]

I believe so.  They're augmented to your manifester level, but that can be split any way the normal augmentations can.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

Precog D
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/precognitionDefensive.htm

Phrenic Template
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/monsters/phrenicCreature.htm

So you've got the LA+2 looking like it messes with this, but it doesn't really change anything.
Psi-like = Spell-like = (sp) = (ps) ... shouldn't equal DM pulls his hair out.
Manifester Level = ML = Caster Level = CL = Hit Dice = HD , in the context of sp's

1hd + 2la = 3 ecl but 1 hd.
So you'd get the "HD 1-2" abilities right off the bat.
You won't get the "HD 3-4" abilities until ecl 5.

Precog D
gives the 1 pp result at 1hd
gives the 4 pp result at 4 hd
gives either 7 pp result at 7 hd , 2 augmentations xOR the swift aug
gives either 10 pp result at 10 hd , 3 augs xOR 1 aug + swift
etc