Author Topic: 3.5e Ardent (Read 14923 times)

bgatesvoodoodoll · « **on:** April 11, 2020, 03:33:03 PM »

3.5e Ardent handbook

The basics: The Ardent is a Tier 2 base class found in Complete Psionics. It has ¾ BAB, good will save, 1 power/level with bonus power at level one, and customizable mantles, which are like cleric domains, but with psionic powers instead of divine spells. Each mantle represents a philosophy or concept. An ardent can only pick powers from his mantles. Like cleric domains, each mantle provides special bonuses/feats uniqe to that mantle's concept.

Party role: Straight ardents excel at gish and tank, including PLEASEHITME builds. With ACF support, they can hold primary healer role with empathic transfer and PSV (psicrystal, share pain, vigor) combo. As blaster, they can be respectable but a psion or wizard would have more tricks. As battlefield control a psion or wizard still has them beat with sheer variety. Multiclassing and PrCs takes ardent into traditional casting roles, and in some cases makes the ardent a tanky party animal for boosting.

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Why you should play an Ardent
Because you want to be more fighter-y than a psion and more manifester-y than a psychic warrior.
Because you want to build a character with an optimized suite of powers organized around two or more specific concepts or philosophies.
Because you want to create a character with a self-sacrificing or bodyguard mentality, willing to stand between teammates and an incoming attack, even if that means taking damage.
Because you want to play a modelled character based on your favorite character, like Adam West of Mindspace Investigations, Evangeline Avernus from The Traitor God, Haruno Sakura from the manga Naruto, Kami Dan'Shir from D'Shai, various Imagers from the Imager Portfolio, Ordermages or Chaosmages from the Magic of Recluse, or any of the witches from the Ethshar novels.

Why you should play another character class
Because you want to play a character that can learn a bazillion specialty spells. Consider Erudite or Wizard instead.
Because you want to fill the role of the skillful, secondary martial character. Ardent lacks the skillpoints, class skills and class features for this role. Consider Psychic Rogue.
Because you want to drill down three or more levels in a given feat tree. With its lack of bonus feats, ardent offers limited support for Greater Two Weapon Fighting,Spirited Charge, or other very specialized feat tree explorations. Consider Psychic Warrior instead.
Because you want to specialize in a weapon that does not have "spear" or "ray" in its name. Again, consider Psychic Warrior or maybe soulknife for unlimited access to your race's favored exotic weapon.

About this Handbook

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This handbook is intended as an update to the Ardent Handbook originally created by Samb and ported to minmax board by nijineko. On the official WotC side, Bruce R. Cordell is generally credited with creating the Ardent character class. Skip Williams reviewed the Ardent class in a Character Class article on the WotC site. Without their work, there would have been no handbook to update. Many other online handbooks and posts have been researched in the process of this update.

DM's usually have one of four styles when approving builds...
Pushover: anything is allowed; like Michael in office space, he'll do anything to be your friend.
Authoritarian: as long as it is within reasonable limits of the rules, and he knows in advance and he has final say.
Neo-Luddite: most likely to say no to material he doesn't know and/or doesn't want to learn.
Karma: Authoritarian or Pushover during build approval, then hit you with large in play consequences.
"oh you built an ardent/ninja with 18 attacks per round? Mirror match time... Nymph's kiss feat? Your fey girlfriend sez 'fetch me a shrubbery...!'"

This handbook assumes you have #2 the authoritarian. It also includes references to materials that are not core 3.5e, but calls out the sources of those references so that you can make sound build decisions. Maybe your authoritarian has declared Ebarron material off limits. In places where controversies have arisen over RAW versus RAI, this handbook follows RAW. This means that it follows the Astral Construct nerf that arrived in Complete Psionics. It also follows the Ardent class as originally written, which says that Ardents can cast whatever their ML allows them to cast, as long as they learn it from their mantle list. If anybody on either side wants to have those arguments, have em with your DM.
--- "But I emailed the author..." Awesome! Where is the WoTC issued errata? No? RAW. Next.
--- "But this is a huge nerf to AC!" So? RAW. Suck it up and find ways around it. Take Constructor PrC or Ectopic Adept PrC levels. Pay 3000 XP via Reality Revision to fix it so your character can summon ONE MORE Astral Construct. Or use Craft Psionic Construct to make a pet Psion-Killer. Use Craft Universal Device to create Fighting Tattoos. Use Linked Power metapsionics and the Elemental Steward power to summon your AC a bunch of ray casting little friends. Or Multi-class to get your AC a bunch of other summoned buddies. There's ways around it. Next.
--- "But this power permits dancing on the ceiling..." Three different psionic powers permit people to pretend they're in an 80s video for a Lionel Ritchie song. RAW. Next.
--- "But this power comes from one of those community campaign sites..." WoTC designated planewalker.com, spelljammer.org, and athas.org as official rules. Therefore, RAW. Next.
--- "But I have this book from this other OGL game developer..." Not official D&D material published in an actual book or on the WoTC or other designated official websites as a rules amendment/correction/errata. We'll talk about Pathfinder and 4e material in a backport appendix.
--- "Dragon Magazine?" Um, no. Think of Dragon as pre-release material. There's a lot of cool material in Dragon, but it's not generally accepted as canon for D&D 3.5e... many times, it gets incorporated into later splatbooks, which are then RAW.

Sources

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Ratings

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Outline

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #1 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:34:45 PM »

FRAME

The Good
Good WILL Save -- A high WILL save is extremely important for caster types.
Mantles -- Mantles make your Ardent unique. Mantles function like cleric domains. Feat-like abilities and power lists with a theme are bundled together into a mantle. A straight 20-level Ardent can select up to 6 mantles from 30 available mantles, resulting in a total of 21 powers known. Taken together, the power lists of each chosen mantle become the class power list of the individual Ardent, which determines the powers an Ardent can use from Dorjes (psionic wand equivalent) without a Use Psionic Device roll.
Manifesting -- Manifester Level = Class Level. You can choose a maximum of 21 powers, so like a sorceror, you have to pick powers which are flexible and/or multi-use, preferably with augments built-in. You get PP equal to a Psion, but with WIS determining bonus PP, so shoot till you're dry.
Tank supporting features... heavy armor and shields and simple weapons, including the reach weapon longspear. Even with PP equal to a psion, you may still shoot dry, so you can fall back on these tools in combat.

The Bad
Medium Base Attack Bonus -- Good enough for rays and other touch attacks, targeting squares with splash weapons and using weapon attacks as a backup to manifesting.
D6 Hit Die -- This means that you should aim for a score of 14 in constitution to have enough hit points for the front line.
Gish supporting features -- Simple weapon proficiency lack most two handed weapons and in turn prevents full use of power attack.
Low number of powers -- Not as bad as wilders, but with 4 dips into other classes or PrCs it could get close (17-21 as opposed to 15 for a wilder). Some PrCs offer additional powers known, increasing their value.

The Ugly
Bad REFlex and FORTitude 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.
Skill starved -- 2+INT, the class skills of the ardent are a bit of a disappointment. Missing jump means no Leap attack for gish builds till much later. You will likely spend all 2-3 of your skills ranks on concentration or psicraft anyways. Autohypnosis is an interesting skill but with the emphasis on the concentration and psicraft, it is unlikely that you will have a bunch of ranks in it. Not unusual to see L1 in another class to provide a base set of skills. No Spot or Listen?
Feat starved -- Not a problem unique to ardents. Still, you could always use more. Some mantles give feats or feat-like abilities but few of them are feats that an optimizer use (improved sunder? weapon focus? ectopic form? alignment strikes? Weapon Focus(ray)!)

bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #2 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:36:49 PM »

ABILITIES

samb: "The stats an ardent needs are similar to a cleric with the exception that CHR is not that important unless you are going to be using metamorphic transfer that requires DCs. DEX could be more important if you are going for a blasty type of ardent using lots of touch attacks... CON is always important but even more so for concentration"

In typical order of importance for a 20-level plain vanilla ardent:

WIS. Wisdom determines what powers you can learn, how many bonus Power Points (PP) you get, and the Difficulty Check (DC) on your powers. Max WIS if you can.

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CON. Constitution is for hp and concentration checks, especially at early levels. Max CON if you can.

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INT. Ardents are starved for skills. Bonus Skill Points from Intelligence would help make up for 2 SP/level.
For melee builds, combat expertise and its follow-ups (improved trip) demand a score of 13.

STR. Need enough Strength to wear heavy armor and carry big weapons.
At L1, you need 13 for the Power Attack feat tree and to call scale armor, longspear, and club a light load.

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DEX. Dexterity is a dump for most builds. REFLEX saves are not your good ones.

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CHA. Charisma is a dump for most builds. Ignore Hidden talent feat, unless the DM disallows Substitute Power ACF.

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #3 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:41:41 PM »

RACES

samb: "In general, any race that penalizes WIS should be avoided... Thanks to ardent's funky way of selecting powers LA is not as big of an issue. No race has favored class as ardent although humans and Synad can select their first class as a favored class."

Due to complexity of building Ardents, this list focuses on races up to and including +2LA. Other races could work, but these are high speed low drag. Listed races are sorted in order of +cost and -benefit.

+0LA

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+1LA

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ORC, GRAY^RoF -- +2WIS,-2INT,+2STR,-2CHA FC:Cleric -- Blue for Dead Heart Interrogator or Psychic Theurge/Cleric builds.

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ORC, SCRO^SJ.org -- +2CON,+4STR,+2DEX,-2CHA FC:Fighter -- Tall, muscled medium-sized humanoids with greenish to grayish skin, sloping forehead, jutting jaw, prominent teeth, vulpine ears, reddish eyes, and coarse black body hair.Blue for melee Gish builds

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ULDRA^Fro -- +2WIS,+2CON,–2STR, FC:Druid -- Small thin humanoids with black hair blue skin and a hat. Fey type. Blue for Psychic Theurge/Druid builds.

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AASIMAR^FRCS,MM,RoD - +2WIS,+2CHA FC:Paladin -- tall, good-looking human lookalike with various eye colors: Pupil-less pale white, gold, gray, or topaz. Outsider type. Blue for CHA builds.

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HALF-GIANTS^XPH -- +2CON,+2STR,–2DEX FC:PsyWar -- These medium-size human lookalikes with powerful builds have tightly braided black hair and deep coppery complexions, often wearing conspicuous clothing.Blue for PsyWar multiclass PrCs.

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DUERGAR^XPH -- +2CON,–4CHA FC:Fighter -- Tin cans with legs and large, black, cold eyes and short, wiry beards of iron-gray or black.

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DWARF, FROST^PlH -- +4CON,–4 CHA FC:Fighter. A medium-sized tincan with legs, pale blue skin, hollow eyes that glow with a strange white light, and icicles hanging from its blue hair and beard. Type: Humanoid (Dwarf,extraplaner)

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HOBGOBLIN, SUNSCORCH^DrM -- +2WIS,+2CON,FC:Fighter -- Tall, muscular, medium-sized humanoid with dark red-orange skin, hair ranging from auburn to dark grey in color, and brilliant sky blue eyes.

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LIZARDFOLK, POISONDUSK^MMIII - +2CON,+2DEX,+2CHA FC:Ranger A small-sized reptilian humanoid covered head to toe in green, grey, or brown scales which can sometimes get lighter or darker with its emotions, a 2-3 foot long tail, large slitted eyes, and males have a crest running down the back of the head that can lie ﬂat or extend based on mood. Type: Humanoid(reptilian).

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WILDREN^PlB -- +4CON,-2DEX,-2CHA, FC:Barbarian -- A stinky, slightly taller medium sized tincan with short, grizzled dark fur, a broad white stripe of fur running from the bridge of the nose over the top of the head and down to the base of the skull, and unnaturally large and well-muscled arms, with ﬁngers that end in hard claws 2 to 3 inches long. Type:
Outsider (extraplanar)

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+2LA

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TEMPLATES

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+1LA
FERAL^SS -- +2WIS,+2CON,+4STR,–2DEX,–4INT(min.2), FC:same. Appear larger, tougher, and meaner with pronounced fangs and claws. Type changes to monstrous humanoid. Blue for melee Gish

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DRACONIC^RotD - +2CON,+2STR,+2CHA, FC:same. Small changes to appearance may include patches of scaly skin, slight change of skin color, and/or slitted pupils. Adds Dragonblood subtype.

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DARK^ToM - +/-0 FC:same. Coloration becomes duller, with more gray and black skin tones and hair highlights. Subtype: extraplanar subtype, except on Plane of Shadow.

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BLOODED ONE^UE061 - +4CON,+2STR,-2INT, FC:same. No change to appearance or type. Green for Gish melee.

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+2LA
SAINT^BoED -- +2WIS,+2CON,+4CHA FC:same. No change in appearance. Type changes to Outsider(native). Purple for Tank, Blue for Primary Manifester and CHA builds.

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PHRENIC^XPH -- +2WIS,+2INT(if INT>2),+4CHA FC:same. No change to appearance. Subtype adds Psionic. -- Blue for CHA builds(CHA multiclass or metamorphic transfer/animal empathy/thrallherd builds).

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SHADOW CREATURE^LoM -- +/-0 FC:same. Coloration becomes much, much duller, with way more gray and black skin tones and hair highlights. Subtype: extraplanar subtype, except on Plane of Shadow. Blue for Tanks.

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+4LA (assuming medium size)
MULTI-HEADED, LERNAEAN^SS -- +2CON/added head, FC:change to Fighter. At any given time, a medium has 2-4 heads. Type: same. Blue for Tank role or PLEASEHITME builds.

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #4 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:42:30 PM »

ALTERNATE CLASS FEATURES

Ed Grubermann: "...just show me all those nifty moves so I can start trashing bozos..."
- Tae Kwon Leap by the Frantics

ACF Original descriptions here:http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070629a

The ACFs of the ardent fix a lot of the class's inherent weaknesses. Between them, two of these ACFs make playing a straight Ardent possible. Without them, most players will view Ardent as an attractive dip. See the Appendix on Action Economy, later. In theory, splitting the Elements mantle into four separate mantles should pay off, but like most of the existing power lists, these need to be re-tooled.
Unfortunately, these are ACF's. Substitute Powers is a separate ACF from Elemental Mantles, meaning you cannot edit the power list of the Air, Earth, Fire, and Water mantles.

Substitute powers ACF^M'sE: With DM agreement that new powers meet the mantle theme, re-interpret existing mantles.
Add and/or substitute powers from any power list, to a maximum of 10 powers per mantle.

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The original mantles as shown in CPsi have holes at some levels. Most of those holes (~90%) can be filled.
Some powers appear in more than one mantle. Subbing in another power eliminates duplicates.
This ACF does not say you can create new mantles. You can only add or swap out powers to a maximum of 10 for a particular mantle.
Together, the power lists of every mantle your Ardent takes constitute an individual Ardent's class list of powers. Therefore, these lists, once finalized with your DM, become every power your Ardent can use on a Dorje (psionic equivalent of a wand) without a Use Psionic Device roll. While a level 20 straight Ardent can only know 21 powers, this ACF jumps the number of Dorje powers an L20 ardent could use from ~48 to ~60. Careful power list planning and a trip to the local bazaar can get you backup utility powers, or prepare for specific encounters.

What happens if Substitute Powers ACF or a specific power is disallowed?

I like to customize

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I use off the rack

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Dominant ideal ACF^M'sE: Pick a mantle. For powers in that mantle, never expend psionic focus when applying metapsionics on powers of that mantle AND reduce costs of metapsionics by 2 (to free)!!!!
Dominant ideal replaces the mantle an Ardent receives at Ardent level 10.
Linked power to Hustle may result in multiple uses of psionic focus in the subsequent round.

Elemental Mantles ACF^M'sE: Breaks the Elements mantle into 4 separate individual mantles, Air, Earth, Fire, and Water. This weakens the Granted ability, as each of the four mantles permanently gets its own part of the Elements granted ability. The powers lists for each of the new individual mantles likewise weaken.

Dragonscale Husk^DrM012: For most campaigns, enchanting armor leads to better bonuses across a 20-level career. If you're in a low magic or "metal is rare" campaign, this might be useful.

bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #5 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:46:32 PM »

SKILLS

"I learn from my mistakes. It's a painful way to learn, but without pain, the old saying is, there's no gain."
- Johnny Cash

Across a 20 level build, a straight Ardent receives 40 SP before INT bonus. Make the most of what SP you get. For that reason, you have to know EXACTLY what each skill does. The following four skills will be in almost every build of a straight Ardent:

Concentration (CON) -- MAX IT. You need to beat a DC 20 concentration check regularly for regaining your psionic focus.

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Psicraft (INT) -- MAX IT. Identify psionic powers as they are cast or as they hit you.

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Autohypnosis (WIS) is Trained. Buy at least one rank to get a roll. It can save your Ardent's life.

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Knowledge:Psionics (INT) is Trained. Buy at least one rank to get a roll. This lets an Ardent identify astral constructs, psionic races, and their special powers or vulnerabilities. Usually, an Ardent is the only psionic in a party, so nobody else will have this skill.

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Mantle support skills

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Other build support skills

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Skill Tricks

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Buy ranks of the following skills only to qualify for a Prestige Class (PrC). If not to qualify for PrC, these are all Red.
Knowledge - (anything not listed above) is Trained.
Profession - (anything other than Sailor) is Trained.
Diplomacy - This may be the best skill in the game, but not for Ardents. Most Ardent builds are CHA-dumps.

bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #6 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:48:18 PM »

*FEATS

samb: "The key thing to remember when optimizing an Ardent's feats is make the most of your metapsionics. All the other stuff can be done by other classes (and often better) with the same feats. This means getting the best metapsionic feats, increasing ML, and decreasing cost. All the other 'gishy' type feats take a back burner, because the true meaning of optimizing means to make the most of what is unique to that class while minimizing/overcoming its weaknesses. Not losing focus on metapsionics is very unique (and powerful) and one should focus on that aspect."

This view of feats is loosely arranged around the attribute to which the feats relate. Within each Attribute, feats are in descending order of usefulness based on the entry feat for each feat family. For a comparison of how feats interact with psionic focus, see Appendix II, Action Economy.

NO ATTRIBUTE

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More resources

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Multi-classing

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Crafting

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Shieldwork

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Summons

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WISDOM

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CONSTITUTION

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INTELLIGENCE

Inlindl School(DotU):(INT13, Combat Expertise, Weapon Finesse)sac shield bonus to AC for a bonus on melee attack rolls equal to one-half that bonus.

STRENGTH - includes melee attack options

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DEXTERITY - includes ranged attack options

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CHARISMA

Goad(CAd,CHA13,BAB+1) - taunt

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #7 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:49:53 PM »

MANTLES

samb: "Your life as an ardent and your builds all depend on these. They are what makes you and gives you your powers."

There are no bad mantles. Each represents a philosophy with a granted ability and a power list. Pre-ACF, there are some mantles that are good only for their granted ability or to use as Dorje powers. Of these, samb classified several of the least useful as red, or "avoid". Post-ACF, the lowest rating any mantle gets is black, which is the equivalent of "boring".

There are several ways to reinterpret each mantle with ACF, but suggestions here should help cut research time. '+ x' indicates a power added for that level. 'ACF' indicates a possible substitution after all adds. '- x' indicates a recommendation to drop a power, to keep the mantle power list at 10. Where lists are long/confusing, example ACF plans are provided.

Mantles below are roughly in descending order of usefulness with versatility weighted heavily.

JUSTICE
expend psionic focus as an immediate action to make an attack of opportunity against a foe that attacks one of your allies.

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FREEDOM
While psionically focused, gain +10-foot bonus to your speed.
Expend your focus to add your ML to a roll made to resist/escape grapple.

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FATE
Once/day, expend psionic focus to add a bonus on one d20 roll equal to your level in the class that allowed you to access this ability.

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DECEPTION
As an immediate action, expend psionic focus to displace yourself until your next action.
While displaced, attacks that target you have a 50% miss chance.

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ENERGY
Expend psionic focus to gain resistance 5 against one energy type for rounds =3+Wis modifier.
At 10th level, you gain resistance to energy 10 instead.

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TIME
+2 bonus on initiative checks.
1/day, expend focus as an immediate action to delay onset of one damaging attack or effect by one round. If, in the intervening turn, you gain immunity that would protect you from the delayed damage, you still take the delayed damage.

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CREATION
Bonus feat: Ectopic Form^CPsi50 and learn the form of your choice. You must meet all the feat's prerequisites for the form.

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PAIN&SUFFERING
As an immediate action, expend psionic focus to share pain of the next melee attack that damages you. The attacker takes damage equal to half damage it deals you.

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MENTAL POWER
To determine bonus PP for the class that gives you this mantle, treat your WIS score as 2 points higher than its actual value

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DESTRUCTION
You have the Improved Sunder feat as long as you are psionically focused.
If you expend your focus as part of a sunder attempt, the hardness of the object you are sundering is treated as 4 less.

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KNOWLEDGE
While psionically focused, make Knowledge checks as if trained.
Expend your psionic focus to gain a +5 bonus on one Knowledge check.

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THE PLANES
Expend your focus to gain a +4 bonus on ML checks made to overcome an outsider's power resistance. Stacks with Power Penetration or Greater Power Penetration

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LIFE
Expend psionic focus as swift action when you manifest a power from this mantle, your manifester level for that power is considered 1 higher (thus increasing the number of power points you can spend on manifesting the power, among other benefits).

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CONFLICT
Bonus feat: Weapon Focus, with a weapon of your choice... pick RAY or SPEAR

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MAGIC
Gain Use Magic Device as a class skill. Convert cross-class UMD or Use Psionic Device ranks to class rate,
as if it had always been a class skill for you. Always treat magic and psionics as identical.
This mantle is most useful in campaigns where "Psionics is different".

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GOOD
Expend psionic focus to deal additional damage to a non-good creature.
+1d6 points of damage with melee/ranged attack, or a spell that deals damage and targets a single creature.

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FORCE
While psionically focused, gain +1 deflection bonus to your Armor Class.

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #8 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:51:02 PM »

MANTLES (CONT)

LIGHT&DARKNESS
When you gain this mantle, choose to gain low-light vision OR darkvision out to 60feet. Already have both?
Double range of LLV OR add 30 feet to range of DV.

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CHAOS
Expend psionic focus to deal additional damage to nonchaotic creatures.
+1d6 points of damage with a melee/ranged attack or a spell that deals damage.

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NATURAL WORLD
Gain the wild empathy class feature(PHB35), except the result is determined by 1d20 + ML + your CHA modifier.

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CONSUMPTION
Expend focus as an immediate action to gain 5 temporary hit points when someone within 10 feet is wounded.
These temporary hit points last for up to 1 minute.

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GUARDIAN
Expend your psionic focus as an immediate action to take the damage dealt to an adjacent ally by a single melee attack. Declare use of this ability after you know the result of the attack roll against your ally, but before damage is rolled.

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REPOSE
While psionically focused, you gain a +2bonus on Concentration checks.
Expend your focus as a free action to gain a +5 bonus on a single Concentration check.

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CORRUPTION&MADNESS
While psionically focused, you cannot be confused.

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COMMUNICATIONS
When psionically focused, gain +2 competence bonus on Diplomacy checks
Focused or not, when making a rushed Diplomacy check as a full-round action, take only –5 penalty on the check.

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ELEMENTS
...gain one of four benefits, which you pick when gaining focus

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PHYSICAL POWER
As a free action, expend psionic focus to gain a +2 bonus to Str, Dex, or Con for 1 round.

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DEATH
Expend psionic focus to kill a dying creature, as the death knell spell (PH 217).

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LAW
Expend psionic focus to deal additional damage to nonlawful creatures.
+1d6 points of damage with a melee/ranged attack or a spell that deals damage.

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EVIL
Expend psionic focus to deal additional damage to a non-evil creature.
+1d6 points of damage with a melee/ranged attack or a spell that deals damage and targets a single creature.

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #9 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:52:25 PM »

MULTICLASSING/PrC's

- The main reason to dip other classes is bonus feats and skills, two things that ardents sorely lack.
- Other considerations for dips include: gain access to class power list for Dorjes(or wands/staves), increase number of powers(or spells) known, reduce PP costs for specific powers, increase BAB/saves, obtain unique abilities.
- Each level taken in something other than Ardent loses one of 21 Powers Known, one Manifester Level, and PP for daily manifests. With enough "something elses" you lose some of your 6 domain choices, which is 5 after Dominant Ideal ACF.
- Where possible, use each race's Favorite Class (FC).
- Before building, read Practiced Manifester^XPH to decide whether to use a feat to preserve Manifester Level for up to 4 non-Ardent levels.
- Before building, read Additional Favored Class^UA100 to decide whether to use a feat to save 20% XP throughout your build.

Frontloads

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-- -- Primary Manifester

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-- -- Tank

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-- -- Crafter - Make stuff. Use it to save your bacon. Swap stuff for favors/services. Sell the rest. Profit!

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TATTOOS - little investment, for fast cash turnarounds

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DORJES - the middle way, focusing on in-demand products for psionic characters

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CONSTRUCTS - big investment, big reward

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CL1-5) Psionic Artificer^MoE 1-5
CL6) Ardent 1, MANTLE: MAGIC, FEAT: Practiced Manifester: Ardent
CL7) Erudite 1, FEAT: Craft Psionic Construct

INT/CHA build, so might as well grab NATURAL WORLD for Metamorphosis. MAGIC mantle also opens Rogue Mastermaker PrC^MoE081. MAD.

Craftable constructs

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Available with MAGIC mantle and a Golem Construction manual

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-- -- Gish - 2 levels of FC. If FC is Psion or Druid, pick another race from the race list above for your Gish build. Druid is more Tank. Otherwise...

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3/4BAB, slightly more HP, option to pick a Weapon Focus or Improved Unarmed Combat:

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-- PsyWar: retain 2ML, 2 Powers! 2 feats! (either fighter bonus or psionic feats), +martial weapons for improved damage

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-- Cleric: Deity, 2 Domains, War Domain for Weapon Focus. Cloistered Cleric ACF for 3rd domain and SP boost.

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-- Shaman^OA: Unarmed Strike, 2 domains, War domain for Weapon Focus

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-- Monk: Unarmed strike, bonus feat, Evasion w/o pre-reqs

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-- Swordsage - a 2 level dip gets more SP, +1 to init, a bonus feat (Weapon Focus) to be applied to choice of a limited list of weapons, 7 martial maneuvers known(4 ready), 2 martial stances, and if you pick carefully, Diamond Mind maneuvers for action economy and save counters.

Full BAB, moreHP, good FORT save, +martial weapons to upgrade melee damage:

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-- Barbarian: Uncanny Dodge, consider Spiritual Totem ACF^CCh to trade Fast movement for Pounce.

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-- Fighter: 2 fighter bonus feats! ACFs...

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-- Paladin: for CHA builds. Also, check Deity for several good ACFs...

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-- Ranger: Track, Combat style, ACFs...

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Full Ride Prestige Classes

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-- -- Thrallherd^XPH152 - minions!

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-- -- Metamind^XPH147 - Time mantle! action economy, math, major creation

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-- -- Anarchic Initiate^CPsi017 - a PrC merge of Wilder with Planar Vanguard(M'sE 3e Prc)?

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-- -- Psychic Theurge^M'sE - zipper PrC for Ardent and Druid/OA Shaman/Cleric

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-- -- Sanctified Mind^LoM199 - no evil aberrants for you!

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-- -- Psion Uncarnate^XPH148 - incorporeal!

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-- -- Constructor^M'sE - bypass AC nerf. Make Astral Construct more versatile, powerful, useful

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-- -- Dead Heart Interrogator^PII011 - affect fey and outsiders with mind-affecting powers!

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-- -- Psiologist^PII030 --- the Lawful foil to Anarchic Initiate, able to cast ~ML28 1/day after stacking

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-- -- Iron Mind^RoS114 - TANK better than War Mind

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-- -- Tattooist^PII040 - Tattooist can create (crawling) tattoos of 9th level powers.

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-- -- Shadowmind^CAd074 - a zipper PrC for Ardent and Psychic Rogue(M'sE)

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L1 d6/4SP/0/0/2/2/7-10 PrC: Shadowmind: CAd074 -/-/Bonus power:Read Thoughts,+1level/existing manifester class
Reqs:Cr(any):BAB+3,Hide-5r,Move Silently-5r,Sleight of Hand-3r,ML3,able to manifest concealing amorpha
Combat Role: Primary Manifester: Summoner
Mantles: Deception,Freedom,Fate
Analysis: First Entry: CL4. Intended or not, Shadowmind is a zipper class between Ardent and PsyRogue. Across 10 levels, Shadowmind loses three ML, but gains three bonus powers. Further, if you read the "Adaptation" section, you can adapt this PrC by substituting another 3 powers. That coupled with the Ardent Substitute Powers ACF means you have a large amount of flex in the final power class list at the end. Also, the fastest entry crosses PsyRogue, picking up EVASION, and TRAPFINDING. Shadowmind continues to have Search and Disable Device on the skill list, so the TRAPFINDING can grow as you level. By exit, both DD and search could be 15 ranks. Sneak attacks from PsyRogue also stack with sneak attack from Shadowmind. For Uncanny Dodge, take the power Danger Sense in the Fate mantle and augment it. After the smoke clears, Shadowmind does moderately well at welding Ardent and PsyRogue together, especially with ACF support.
Backstory: Other guides give Shadowmind negate reviews. If taken out of context, Shadowmind could be seen as negative. On 23-JUL-2004, WoTC published an article describing the Psychic Rogue base class, here: http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040723d. WoTC first printed Complete Adventurer in January, 2005. Instead of including Psychic Rogue, Spellthief was included with a footnote paragraph at the foot of CAd020, leaving it up to DMs to rule whether Spellthief affects both spells and powers. Meanwhile, WoTC went ahead and included Shadowmind on CAd077, which has what looks like high requirements for psionic characters. Manifesting concealing amorpha could happen at Psion3 / PsyWar4 / Wilder4 / PsyRogue5. Of these classes, either PsyRogue or Spellthief could fill all the skill req's in a 2 level dip. At CL3 Ardent can fill the concealing amorpha req with Practiced Manifester feat, and the next nearest class that could manifest concealing amorpha is Psion at CL5. This means PsyRogue2/Ardent1 enters Shadowmind1 at CL4, and PsyRogue2/Psion3 enters at CL6.

-- -- Subverted Psion^M'sE for HoH campaign

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-- -- Soul Manifester^M'sE - a zipper PrC for Ardent and Incarnate^MoI.

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-- -- (Illithid) Slayer^XPH146,SRD - SRD version permits choosing a race other than illithid for Favored Enemy. Capstone is Blast reflection. Blue for SRD only campaigns.
-- -- Flayerspawn Psychic^CPsi030 - Sanctified Mind totally has this PrC's number

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-- -- Quori Mindhunter^MoE077 - hunt and eject evil dream spirits

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-- -- Cerebromancer^XPH141 - better for a Psion/Wizard mix, or a Wilder/Sorceror mix.

-- -- Tekchachak^PII041

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-- -- Kreen Slayer^PCI023 - Thri-Kreen hate elves like this...

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-- -- Sensei^PII035 as a zipper PrC for Monk and Ardent. Blue if GM accepts fixes.

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Prestige Class Dips

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #10 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:55:05 PM »

ARMOR AND WEAPONS

Mundane aka L1 options

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Materials aka masterwork+ or what to get enchanted

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Psionic/Magic

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Action Economy

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Weapon: Quick Loading^MIC - for heavy crossbows, a full round reload action becomes a move action, for light or hand, you can get your full BAB attacks from a full round attack action. Suddenly crossbow seems like it can keep up with longbow in confined spaces. stores up to 100 bolts. While an Ardent will never be an L20 Elf Ranger loaded with castings of Arrowstorm, now you can start putting out some conventional long-range hp damage.
Weapon: Dancing^DMG - +4 bonus for 4 extra standard actions (attacks) across 4 rounds.
Shield: Lion's Shield^DMG - 3/day, as free action, command Lion's Head to attack with your full BAB, including your multiple attacks, if any. With 3/4 BAB, you'll get 3 per use, 9 total per day.
Weapon: Dislocator^XPH - 1/day save rounds fighting a foe by teleporting one bad guy, like a mage's burly bodyguard. Note the non-psionic version of Dislocator in MIC is completely weaksauce as it only moves a target 10 feet on a failed save, where XPH version of Dislocator randomly teleports him 10-100 miles away.
Weapon: Teleporting^XPH - did you have to go pull the spear outta the guy's eyesocket? no? you just saved 1+ move actions to get over to the dude and a standard action to pull it out of him. If it was critically important to throw your spear, then it is critically important to get it back.
Shield: Heartening^XPH/MIC - vigor as an immediate action instead of a standard action. 5 temp HP for 4 minutes, this can be decent. Read both versions before choosing.
Weapon: Power Storing^XPH/Spell Storing^DMG - Power Storing lets you cast a standard action power ahead of time into a weapon, then unleash the effect as a swift action on a creature you hit with that weapon.

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Weapon: Eager^MIC - draw as a free action instead of move action.

Weapon: Parrying^XPH,SRD - +1 insight bonus to AC and saves. Doesn’t count as an enhancement bonus, so you can still fully trick out your weapon with other abilities.
Weapon: Galvanic Crysteel Blade^MoE - Gives you an alternative, and useful, method of expending PP.

Versatility

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Keepalive
Armor: Floating^XPH - for +4,000gp, ignore Swim check modifier, and +4 bonus to Swim. better than Buoyant in MIC
Armor: Healing^MIC - +8,000gp for 1/day auto heal for 2d8+5 hp when you fall between -1 and -9 hp
Armor: Landing^XPH - for +4,000gp, ignore first 60 feet of falling damage
Shield: Time Buttress^XPH 1/day - timeless body

bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #11 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:57:58 PM »

OTHER GEAR

-- Psionic Items
Torc of Power Preservation^XPH177,SRD - pay 1 less PP each time you manifest a power, minimum 1.
Stacked Psionitrices^CPsi111 - wear up to 5 with one basic psionitrix as a single psionic item, filling the Necklace slot. Each one let you manifest a different power once a day
Torc of Passion^AE104 - turn that 1-level Wilder dip into a 5-level Wilder dip for Wild Surge purposes. Also reduces Overchannel damage from d8 dice to d6 dice.
Crystal Pole^AE094 - awesome zone defense! plant one in the ground for deceleration AoE to take effect. Various versions have different PLAs, such as Eradicate Invisibilty.
Wastelander's Cloak^AE088 - eliminates the Armor penalty to FORT saves versus Heat.
Amulet of Enemy Detection^MIC - Always-on Detect Hostile Intent.
Boots of Skating^XPH,SRD - Superior movement enhancer, especially if you did not take FREEDOM mantle
Gloves of Object Reading^XPH,SRD - Take this if you don’t otherwise have access to the power. Can ruin your DM’s best laid plains.
Pendant of Joy^RoE - While you wear it, you can give yourself, and nearby allies, a bonus to Diplomacy checks. Slip it on, then position yourself to give your negotiating team an edge over the competition.
Psychoactive Skins^XPH,SRD,MIC - Skin of Proteus beats all the others. But, since you can wear three at a time, other good choices include: Skin of the Hero, Skin of the Psion, and Skin of the Troll.
Third Eyes^XPH,SRD,MIC The following ones are really worth taking: Conceal, Concentration, Expose, Penetrate, and Sense.
Dorjes^XPH,SRD - manifest powers on your power list which you didn't take as powers known. A dorje of Identify is particularly good.
Power Stones - one-time-use psionic item that lets you manifest powers that are not on your power list.

Racial Psionic Items
Warforged Components^MoE - Warforged only (obviously). For a psionic Warforged character the Expanded Reservoir, Power Crystal, and Psychic Generator components are particularly useful. Especially if the character has the Psyforged Body feat (see the entry in the Feats section, of this guide).
Quori Embedded Shards^MoE - Kalashtar only. If you're of that race, get as many as you can.

-- Magic Items
-- Miscellaneous Gear

bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #12 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:58:22 PM »

Appendix I - Comparison of Powers/Spells Known

Spells/Powers Known Highest level spell/power known
(L0 does not count)

		L1	L3	L6	L9	L12	L15	L18	L20	...	L1	L3	L5	L7	L9	L11	L13	L15	L17	L19	L20
	Wizard/WuJen/Druid	inf	inf	inf	inf	inf	inf	inf	inf		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	9	9
	Cleric/Shaman + domains!	inf	inf	inf	inf	inf	inf	inf	inf		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	9	9
	Warmage	13	13	24	34	46	61	68	74		1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	9
	Beguiler	3	5	14	22	32	34	50	53		1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	9
	Duskblade	2	4	9	15	22	37	44	36		1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5	5
	Psion	3	7	13	19	24	28	33	36		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	9	9
	Sorceror	2	3	7	14	20	27	31	34		1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	9
--->	Ardent	2	4	7	10	13	16	19	21		1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	9	9
	PsyWar	1	3	6	9	12	15	18	20		1	1	2	3	3	4	5	5	6	6	6
	Lurk	1	3	6	9	12	15	18	20		1	1	2	3	3	4	5	5	6	6	6
	PsyRogue	1	3	5	7	9	12	14	15		1	1	2	2	3	3	4	4	5	5	5
	Warlock	1	2	4	5	7	9	11	12		1	1	1	2	2	3	3	3	4	4	4
	Wilder	1	2	4	5	7	8	10	11		1	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	9

Note: Bard is not included because it does not get spellcasting at its first level.

CONTROVERSY! RAI vs RAW for Ardent Powers Known

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #13 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:58:47 PM »

Appendix II - Action Economy of Psionic focus

Economy of Psionic focus
Normally, a psionic character has to spend one round and pass a DC20 check to become psionically focused. This is a huge deal. This makes most of the granted abilities from ardent mantles and from psionic feats one per encounter unless the psionic character can re-focus. It also limits the psion to using ONE of several options until he refocuses. For most Ardent builds, refocusing is a vulnerable time to be avoided. For PLEASEHITME builds, this is one technique to encourage foes to attack the Ardent.

Example Action Economies

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Psionic mantles or feats that do not rely on psionic focus(6+4):

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Gain psionic focus(6):

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Be psionically focused to(8+13):

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Expend psionic focus(1+13+31+20):

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #14 on:** April 11, 2020, 03:59:57 PM »

Appendix III - Non Canon Material

Everything in this Appendix is non-canon. Assume it's all RED and that your GM bans it until he/she says otherwise.

Possible New Powers for Independent Research

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Pathfinder possibilities

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4e possibilities

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Material Buildouts for Psionic PrCs WoTC Suggested, but did not build out

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Abjurant Champion, Psionic^CM050 - Blue for tanks if approved by your GM

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Daggerspell Psion^CAdv031 - Blue for PLEASEHITME builds if your GM approves.

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L1 d4/2SP/0/2/0/2/5-10 Prc:Mindbender: CAr054: -/-/Telepathy/+1 level of existing manifester class
Req's: nongood. Bluff:4r, Diplomacy:4r, Intimidate:4r, Sense Motive:4r. manifest one telepathy power of 3rd level or higher
Notes: good one level dip.
MM:

L1 d8/4SP/0/0/0/0/10-10 PrC: Psionic Chameleon: RoD116: -/-/Aptitude focus 1/day (+2)
Req's: Race: Human, Shifter, or Doppelganger. Bluff-8r, Disguise-8r, Sense Motive-4r, Spellcraft 4r. Feat: Able Learner
Notes: 3 level dip, write Psionic focus similar to Erudite.

bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #15 on:** April 11, 2020, 04:01:56 PM »

Appendix IV - Modelling Ethshar witches

The Ethshar series by Lawrence Watt-Evans is an excellent setting for a campaign. If you and your GM, want to flesh out witches as Ardents, and Sorcerors as Wilders, the hints below will get you started...

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #16 on:** April 11, 2020, 04:03:14 PM »

Appendix V - Modelling Other Fictional Characters

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bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #17 on:** April 11, 2020, 04:03:35 PM »

reserved for future use

bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #18 on:** April 11, 2020, 04:04:00 PM »

reserved for future use

bgatesvoodoodoll · « **Reply #19 on:** April 11, 2020, 04:04:15 PM »

reserved for future use

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