# Psychic Warrior: Worth it?



## Sitara (Jan 17, 2008)

Is this class worth taking in a traditional adventuring party (i.e. fghters, mages, rogues, etc?). From what I gather it looks somewhat weak, since it only goes up to the 6th tier of powers. Or should I go stright psion, or a soulknife?


if its worth it, what would be a good build for a level 3 human psychic warrior? What kind of feats should I take, powers, and which stats should I focu attributes on? (its 32 point buy)

Note I am using only the core psionic stuff (i.e. stuff on d20srd)

Thanks!


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## Bacris (Jan 17, 2008)

What role do you plan on playing?

From my experience - and that of quite a few other regular psionics users - the psychic warrior is one of the most balanced classes in the 3.5 ruleset.  But, you have to choose what it is.  If you try to make it too general or too versatile, it's going to fall flat, and you also have to recognize that it's not a primary manifester - it uses its powers to augment its physical abilities, it doesn't rely solely on its powers.

I've played a psychic warrior a few times and the only problems I ran into at low levels were running out of power points, but you can easily make builds that don't rely quite so much on power points (using things such as Psionic Weapon and long-lasting buffs).

I'd say pick what you want it to do - battlefield control, damage dealer, tank - and you can build it from there.

As for stats, depends - if you want to be mobile, Dex, if you want to be a powerhouse, Str.  Con & Wis are both good to have for HP & power points.


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## Doug McCrae (Jan 17, 2008)

Psychic warrior is a bit like a cleric without the ability to heal or buff others. There was one in the last game I ran and he was pretty powerful, stacking up well in comparison to a druid and gish. The PW is stronger if there are few encounters per day but also functions fine if there are four. A lot more than four and ToB classes would be superior.

Vigor, Expansion, Animal Affinity, Psionic Lion's Charge and Hostile Empathic Transfer are all excellent, especially the last one. It's like Harm, but better. People used to take levels in PW just to get lion's charge but now Lion Totem barbarian from Complete Champion does the same thing cheaper.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jan 17, 2008)

I recently used a PW/Monk/Kensai to great effect...

Combining PW's Expansion with Kensai class features and Monkey Grip, Power Attack, and a DCv1 Feat called Pole Fighter, my Large PC helped my party trash a couple of dragons.

Reach + FoB and all that stuff?  Brutal.

(Expansion is on my short list of PW must have powers- esp. since it can be used to boost your PC *2 *size classes.)


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## mvincent (Jan 18, 2008)

Sitara said:
			
		

> From what I gather it looks somewhat weak



I had good luck using it to create a trip/grapple build with Half-giant, Expansion and Grip of Iron (which lent itself to the vow of non-violence). The class also transitions nicely into the warmind prestige class.

Also, Call Weaponry allowed for this spiked-chain tripper to take vow of poverty.


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## Arkhandus (Jan 18, 2008)

Oh heck yeah, it's worth it.  Fill the fighter position.  Psychic Warriors aren't all about manifesting or all about fighting, they use the manifesting to boost the fighting and they use psionic focus a lot as well.

3rd-level human psychic warrior?  Well, you could go the archery route or the melee route.  Archery-wise, you could take Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Psionic Shot, Rapid Shot, and Psionic Talent or Weapon Focus (longbow).  Get psionic focus after each battle and each time you get up from sleeping or being unconscious, then expend it on your first shot in each battle against the biggest threat, using Psionic Shot for extra damage.  Psionic Talent can get you a few more power points to manifest more powers when you need to, since psychic warriors get only a scarce few power points to begin with.

Learn Vigor, Force Screen, and Offensive Prescience to begin with, making you tougher and harder-hitting.  OP will work well with Rapid Shot, and Force Screen will bolster your AC to a good total despite your lack of heavy armor and shield.  Don't bother augmenting them most of the time, except for Vigor, which you should probably reserve for any fights that seem really big or tough; otherwise, just use OP before shooting folks, and FS before that when possible.  You'll probably have around 9 pp to start maybe, so you can manifest both OP and FS each in 4 fights per day, and still have 1 pp available for a manifestation of Vigor in one fight (or just go OP+FS+V in two fights, and OP in any remaining fights).

Psionic Talent would make it something like 11 pp, which would mean you can throw around psionic powers with abandon most of the time.  Just make sure to keep 1 power point unspent most of the time, in order to have access to psionic focus (for your Psionic Shot feat).  Take Expanded Knowledge (Astral Construct) around 5th level or so, to get yourself a meat-shield while you stay back and shoot stuff to ribbons.  Psionic Meditation is handy for choosing at 6th-level, to use Psionic Shot more often.  And Greater Psionic Shot.  If you take EP (AC), then wait until later for Psionic Meditation, Greater Psionic Shot will be more useful for 6th-level (since you'll often be shooting away with Rapid Shot, so you won't be regaining psionic focus very often during battle).


Going the melee route, you could take Power Attack, Psionic Weapon, Reckless Offense, Cleave, and Psionic Talent or Weapon Focus (greatsword).  Learn Expansion, Force Screen, and Vigor to begin with.  Expansion will make you deadlier, and until you get high enough in level to augment it for a two-size increase, just augment it for 3 points total for the greater duration so one manifestation will last long enough for multiple fights.

FS will compensate for the AC penalty incurred by Reckless Offense, and that feat will allow you to go all-power-attack-all-the-time for at least a few levels without any serious loss of accuracy.  You can chop down enemies left and right, and not worry much about getting hit as a result.  And you'll have Vigor providing temporary HP to soak up the occasional hit.  Offensive Precognition would be a good power choice later, too.  The same EP (AC) feat choice could also help at 5th-level to get yourself a flanker and melee double-teamer.  And Greater Psionic Weapon at 6th-level, for more damage when expending psionic focus.


Ability-wise, either one should get 18 Strength.  For the archer, go 15 Dexterity, 10 Constitution, 8 Intelligence, 14 Wisdom, 8 Charisma.  Put the 4th-level ability boost in Dex when ya get there.  For the swordsman, go 10 Dexterity, 14 Constitution, 10 Intelligence, 14 Wisdom, 8 Charisma (maybe shift 2 points of Int and/or Con into Dex, since you'll have Vigor for extra HP when needed).  4th-level ability increase would likely go into Strength.  Get a greatsword and a composite longbow in either case, with the bow set at allowing +4 Strength to damage.


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## Aus_Snow (Jan 18, 2008)

I've only seen them multiclassed, in my games or others' - just to add a bit of that psionic punch to mainly fightery-types. I don't see why they mightn't work with a few more than say, 2 levels though.

It's a fun combination of abilities that they get, too. Definitely could be entertaining.

Level 3? I'd still be tempted to go PsyWar 2 / [something] 1. Maybe Fighter, or a Bo9S class.


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## Lopke_Quasath (Jan 18, 2008)

I had a half-orc barbarian 2 / psychic warrior 4. Powers were: Expansion, Force Screen, Prescience (Offensive), and Animal Affinity.

He'd often Expand (with the longer duration) and then use a boosted Animal Affinity for both Str and Dex. Combined with rage, he was uber-strong and had ok AC. (Mithral breastplate)

He was extremely fun to RP, too.


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## Sitara (Jan 18, 2008)

Where's the reckless ofense feat?

Also, I want to focus on a damage dealer, in melee and hopefully at range (using psionics only). What kind of damage dealing psionic powers would you recommend?

And which armor would you recommend the pc wear?


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## Aus_Snow (Jan 18, 2008)

Sitara said:
			
		

> Where's the reckless ofense feat?



http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/psionicFeats.htm#recklessOffense (or the Expanded Psionics Handbook.)

Also, if you're ever searching for feats: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/lists/feats




> And which armor would you recommend the pc wear?



The heaviest they can. Mithral if they can get it, though.


Re: that PsyWar/Barb, the last one I saw was a PsyWar 2/Fighter 2/Barb 2/some PrC(..?) - brutal!


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## avr (Jan 18, 2008)

If you want to deal damage at range as a psychic warrior, getting a bow and using appropriate powers to buff is your best bet. Alternately, you can spend your 6th level feat on expanded knowledge (Energy Missile) - this will burn thru your power points quite fast so use it sparingly.


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## Bacris (Jan 18, 2008)

I would advise against a direct damage power.  Instead, I would recommend powers that augment the psywar himself.  Powers like Expansion, as mentioned, which will increase your weapon size by one or two steps.  Or powers like Offensive Prescience, which gives a +2 or higher bonus on damage rolls.

Empathic Feedback can also be good if you're going to be in melee, but you probably want to avoid needing too many buffs, due to prep time.

There's also Graft Weapon, which has a really nice duration


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## Blue Sky (Jan 18, 2008)

I've played a psychic for a very short, combat focused game, and ended up doing a vast majority of the damage, while being pretty much unkillable.

Use Claws of the Beast to start with, and add Claws of the Vampire when you get high enough level.  Expansion (psionic power) and Improved Natural Attack (feat) will boost the damage you do with the claws, which will in turn boost how much you heal with each hit.  Take Karmic Strike from Complete Warrior as soon as possible, and Combat Reflexes.  Everytime someone hits you, hit them back, and heal.


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## Azaar (Jan 18, 2008)

I've only tinkered with Psychic Warrior once, with a PbP game here:  elan psychic warrior 1/monk 5.  Took inertial armor, and between that and all the variants from UA we used (class bonus to defense being the primary contributor), I had an AC in the high 20s when manifesting inertial armor (AC 27 or 28, if memory serves).  I'll agree, however, that the Psychic Warrior is best when buffing himself to augment his own combat ability.  Anything else, and you'll fall quickly.


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## Arkhandus (Jan 18, 2008)

Sitara said:
			
		

> Where's the reckless ofense feat?
> 
> Also, I want to focus on a damage dealer, in melee and hopefully at range (using psionics only). What kind of damage dealing psionic powers would you recommend?
> 
> And which armor would you recommend the pc wear?




Reckless Offense is from the same source as the Psychic Warrior (in 3.5, anyway).  It's in the nonpsionic feats section of the Expanded Psionics Handbook (and the 3.5 System Reference Document; just go into the Psionic Feats section, and look to the side where it lists nonpsionic feats that come from the same source).

Psychic Warriors use weaponry (or natural weaponry through their "Claws of X" and "Bite of X" psionic powers) to hurt people, not psionic powers.  Their psionic powers are for personal augmentation and weapon augmentation.


For reference, my suggestions are all based around efficiency and being effective in as many situations as you can be.  You want to focus on being a damage-dealer, so that's the main focus of my suggestions too; but you need to be survivable as well, so that's factored in too.

Armor-wise, get either a masterwork breastplate or masterwork full plate armor, depending on how much you're willing to spend from your initial character wealth.  Get the armor enhanced to +1 if you can afford it, but at 3rd-level that's probably a no-can-do, since you'll want to prioritize your weapons' enhancement first.  Eventually, you'll want to acquire mithral full plate armor and get it enhanced, but that's much too expensive for a 3rd-level character.  Or you might aim for a mithral breastplate later on, if you want to have greater mobility (only if you get significant magic items for boosting your Dexterity, though, like Gloves of Dexterity +6; otherwise, the mithral full plate is preferable).


Learn Offensive Precognition or Offensive Prescience to boost your attack accuracy or damage (respectively; I'd suggest the latter power).  And get the Expansion power (only manifest it when you're planning on going into melee, though), as well as Vigor.  Don't waste much time in combat on manifesting your powers; just manifest one or two in preparation, then start attacking.  Expansion and Vigor if going into melee, or just Offensive Prescience if going for ranged attacks.

Also, if you want to be flexible as both a main melee attacker and a main ranged attacker, take the feats Psionic Weapon, Point Blank Shot, and Psionic Shot (in that order).  You can get all three of them at 1st-level if you play a Human Psychic Warrior.  PBS is a prerequisite for Psionic Shot (you'll need Strength and Dexterity scores of 13 or higher in order to qualify for these feats).  Starting at 3rd-level, you'll have 2 more feats; take Weapon Focus (longbow) and either Rapid Shot or Psionic Talent.  Try to keep 1 power point unspent at all times, so you can keep regaining psionic focus for Psionic Weapon/Psionic Shot, but if a battle seems like it's going to end badly, go ahead and spend the last power point on Vigor (to save yourself from the next attack) or Expansion (to boost your melee damage enough to finish beating down the enemy).


Ability score-wise, go for an 18 Strength, 14 Dexterity, 12 Constitution, 8 Intelligence, 14 Wisdom, and 8 Charisma.  You'll have a total of 6 power points, or 8 with Psionic Talent.  That's enough PP for 4 fights in one day, if you go into melee combat twice (with Expansion and Vigor, unaugmented) and ranged combat twice (with Offensive Prescience, unaugmented).  With Psionic Talent you'd be able to augment Vigor or Expansion once to a full 3pp (for more HP or a longer duration, respectively).

Get a greatsword, and a composite longbow that allows adding 4 points of Strength bonus to damage.  If your starting wealth is enough to afford magical or psionic weapons, get both of those weapons enhanced to a +1 bonus on attack and damage.  Prioritize the longbow first if you can't afford to get both weapons enhanced right away, since the longbow will be less accurate otherwise (due to your lower Dexterity and the use of Rapid Shot).  This way you can do significant damage at both melee and range, and with reasonably good accuracy.


Later on, consider the other feats and powers that would help you out in both melee and ranged combat.  Force Screen is your friend!  Learn it to avoid having a terrible, terrible Armor Class.  Learn it at 4th-level, then learn Animal Affinity and Body Adjustment.  At 7th-level, you'll learn your first good offensive power, rather than a self-boosting power, in this case Hostile Empathic Transfer.  Then learn Psionic Darkvision and Greater Concealing Amorpha.  Later still, you might want to learn Psionic Freedom of Movement, Psionic Dimension Door, Energy Adaptation, Inertial Barrier, Psychofeedback, Adapt Body, Oak Body, Personal Mind Blank, Form of Doom, Dispelling Buffer, and Breath of the Black Dragon.

Of course, you might just multiclass into the War Mind prestige class at some point, which would mean learning powers at the War Mind's rate instead.  Anyway, feat-wise, get Power Attack, Cleave, Precise Shot, Greater Psionic Weapon, Greater Psionic Shot, Psionic Meditation, Reckless Offense, and Improved Critical, in whatever order works for you (and in whatever order you meet the prerequisites).  Any other feats would be fine for later.  You might want to take one or two copies of Expanded Knowledge for a psion power or two that you fancy, or Psionic Talent if you're feeling really limited in power points.

As you go up in levels, put ability increases into Wisdom and Dexterity (probably Wis at 4th and 8th level, Dex later), so that you have more power points and access to all levels of Psychic Warrior powers that will eventually be available to you, and so that your ranged attacks are similar in accuracy to your melee attacks.


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## Kahuna Burger (Jan 18, 2008)

I'm currently playing a oversized twf psiwar with the leap attack feat and heavy use of the psionic lion's pounce. This particular build had a massive case of MAD, unfortunately, but the class itself is a fair amount of fun. 

Claws of the beast look like fun, and one option I would consider if redoing my psiwar. Bite of the wolf is also nice, and is one of the few powers that the damage automaticly scales with level for the same power point cost.

One thing I would advise against is taking any metapsionic feats. For a psiwar or a psion. You take the feat, then you expend your psionic focus, then you still pay extra power points. It's just crazy.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jan 19, 2008)

> Psychic warrior is a bit like a cleric without the ability to heal or buff others.




Yeah!

Think Cleric with the War Domain, and its pretty much spot on (esp if you drop Domains in favor of Domain Feats).

With the right power & feat choice, he can be a deadly unarmed combatant (using "natural weapons" created by his power) or IUC type (mixing with Monk).  For example, with the Psionic Fist feat tree, he can eventually resolve melee attacks as touch attacks, and that's pretty tasty.

Armed, he's just as deadly if not moreso- each power that boosts natural/unarmed attacks has a melee weapon analog, as does the Psionic Fist feat tree in Psionic Weapon.  The class multiclasses nicely with the Soulknife.*

The Psionic Shot feat tree does the same for ranged weapons as PsiFist and PsiWeap did to melee attacks, making them deadly at range.

Expanded Knowledge lets any psi manifester learn a power from any class' list- handy if you really want to be a PsiWar who can use EnergyBolt or some such.

*I know you said d20SRD only, but I must state that Bruce Cordell's Hyperconscious is practically universally accepted as a supplement to his XPH, CompPsi has some nice stuff in it, and Dragon #341 has nice Soulknife Feats- some better than the contemporaneously released CompPsi's.


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## Humanaut (Jan 19, 2008)

Half Ogre Psionic Warrior 1 for now... but with Expansion you become Huge... by manifester  level 7 you can spend the extra points and become Gargantuan!  Ha ha ha ha!  I've always wanted to try it for giggles.

Edit:  dang, it's not SRD


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jan 19, 2008)

With a Half-Giant or Goliath, you can approximate that damage output, since both have Powerful Build.

Can't match the reach, though.


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## Dannyalcatraz (Jan 19, 2008)

For the record- der_kluge & bento saw a variant on what I mentioned in post #4 of this thread in the Dallas Gameday event dk ran.

Gameday variant:
Ftr4/Monk2/Kensai3

She had a +3 Large Greatspear, 3d6x+3x3P +1d6 Flame +1d6 Frost + 1d6 Shock, Reach, RI 10'.  Feats included Monkey Grip, the Power Att Feat tree, ComRef (she had Dex18), and a feat from DCv1 called Pole Fighter (lets Monk use polearm as monk weapon).

With her Enlarge Person potion, she boosted that an additional 1d6.  That's a grand total of 7d6 + Strength bonuses on a normal (no Kensai Power Surge, no Power Attack, etc.) strike.

Had she been a PsyWar, the overall damage would be the same (1 less level of Kensai, but 2 levels of Expansion), but her reach would have been greater.  She also could have equipped something else instead of the potion, and could have Expanded more times than she could have used potions.

Plus the Monk's IUC damage would have boosted from 1d8 (for a Enlarged Monk) to 2d6 (Expansion Monk)- important if someone got inside the threat range of the polearm.


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## Sitara (Jan 19, 2008)

Hmm, would you recommend multi'ing this with SwordSage (bo9s)?


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## Arkhandus (Jan 19, 2008)

Eh, you could, but there's not much reason to, except maybe at upper levels.  If you're planning to use only light armor, then it might be good to take 2 levels of swordsage after your 2nd or 6th level of psychic warrior, for the Wis bonus to AC in light or no armor.  And of course for Weapon Focus from the swordsage's Discipline Focus.  If you take swordsage after 6th-level psychic warrior, you'll get a 3rd-level stance and a 3rd-level maneuver from your 2nd level of swordsage (you just don't want to interrupt your acquisition of bonus feats and base attack bonus too much).

Then you might take another 2-4 levels in swordsage a bit later, after you've gotten one or two more bonus feats, since Insightful Strikes at swordsage 4 would be handy if your Wisdom is good by the time you gain it.  At swordsage 5 you can learn Giant's Stance if you've got two other Stone Dragon maneuvers, which would boost your greatsword damage pretty well in combinaton with the Expansion power.  Expansion for two size increases, plus use of Giant's Stance, would mean your greatsword dealing damage as per a gargantuan greatsword, which is something like 6d6 or 8d6 base damage as I recall.  You would need to be at least a psychic warrior 8/swordsage 5 in order to have access to Giant's Stance at swordsage 5, since it's a 5th-level maneuver (ya need an initiator level of 9 to learn it, which you would have at pw8/ss5).


In any case, a pure psychic warrior is entirely viable.  It just means getting more powers, more bonus feats, and more power points to manifest Expansion, Force Screen, Psionic Lion's Charge, Vigor, Offensive Precognition, Offensive Prescience, Body Adjustment, Form of Doom, and such at a quicker pace and with more augmentation.


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