Hello everyone! I’ve watched/read a few reviews on this particular fighter subclass and they aren’t kind to this choice of fighter. There also doesn’t seem to be a stand alone guide on these forums in the fighter threads regarding this subclass. So with that in mind, i’ve decided to try my hand at scrubbing through the subclasses features to parse out how useful these features actually are. I apologize for my inevitable bad grammar and editing skills, along with any logical fallacies I may make along the way. I’ll do by best to edit the guidance if anyone seems to think it necessary in an effort to make a better product.
Psi Warrior Review
Level 3 feature-Psionic Power. This feature is actually roughly 3 different features and a separate pool of resources to use these features. The resources are called Psionic Energy Die. The amount you have available is scales up and is your proficiency X 2. These die renew on a long rest, but you can also use a bonus action to regenerate an expended die per rest including short rest. The size of these die start as a 1D6 but scales up to a 1D12 at fighter fighter levels 5, 11, and 17. This is the same rate of scaling that is used for cantrips and is tied to game difficulty tiers. It should be noted that if this subclass is dipped into, the number of the die available will scale up with proficiency without further fighter level investment. Each of your Psionic abilities can be activated by expending one of these die, though some get a free use after a short or long rest.
Psionic strike is an on hit but separate damage roll feature that happens after the initial triggering attack is resolved. This feature does not require sight of the target and is limited to once per your fighters turn. It’s used by expending a Psionic die by rolling it, the damage is what you rolled added to your intelligence modifier. It is force damage, so it’s immediately effective regardless of if the triggering attack was made with a magic weapon. Since it’s a separate damage roll, it isn’t effected by critical hits. It causes a 2nd separate concentration save against a caster instead of a potentially larger single concentration save. A feature like hexblades curse would add the proficiency damage a 2nd time to the Psionic strike. A feature like uncanny dodge which is focused on halving damage of an attack wouldn’t affect Psionic strike. This will also make a great tool to set your character up with advantage later since it gets augmented to potentially prone a creature. Your first hit you can use the feature without worrying about potentially wasting it by not saving it for a crit, and it sets you up for the rest of your attacks and an action surge.
Protective field is a damage reduction feature that has a 30ft range as a reaction and requires sight. The reduction equals a Psi die roll added to your intelligence modifier. It can be used for the fighter or an ally. The feature can reduce damage of any source. Breath weapons, spells, attacks, failed traps, or even fall damage. Fall damage is interesting since you might expose yourself or a willing ally to more fall damage more than most other classes due to being able to manipulate movement and fly all over the place. It should also be noted that although it’s probably not as reliable as somehow getting a source of reliable resistance, it does stack with all other damage reducing features like resistance, uncanny dodge, heavy armor master, etc. The damage reduction, even if seemingly small, can be incredibly impactful depending on who you decide to keep on their feet. Giving up your reaction as a fighter, which is probably limited to a relatively weak attack of opportunity without significant investment in multiclassing, fighting style, or feats, might ensure an ally stays conscious to use their action economy rather than potentially going down for a round. While healing word is good, not needing to limit your spell casters turn to a bonus action spell and cantrip is potentially better. Even if that only successfully works once or twice a long rest. While you can be out of range, you can’t really “miss” with this ability. This may also be just enough damage reduction at high levels to make some of the ridiculously high concentration saves your casters face possible to make. The damage reduction can spans from 1-17 depending on level, roll, and intelligence mod. This translates to a DC reduction range of 1 minimum to 8 maximum. A 14-16 intelligence score makes this much more reliable with higher minimums and maximums.
Telekinetic movement is a feature that takes an action to activate. Because the feature takes an action to use, it’s unlikely to be used in combat but might be useful under different circumstances. This means it can more likely be used during exploration and role playing. This is further supplemented by this particular sub feature use being free to use the first time after any short or long rest. This sub feature is broken down into 2 or 3 sub-sub-features. You gain the ability to move a loose bject of large size or smaller within 30feet of you 30 feet to another unoccupied location. This includes in the air, and does not have a weight limit imposed. Additionally, if the object is a tiny object, you can move the tiny object directly to your hand to grab. Alternatively you can move a willing creature you can see within 30 feet to another unoccupied space within 30ft. I’d add that while there is a limit on object size, there isn’t a size limit placed on willing creatures. If for some reason you needed to move an allied gargantuan creature, you’d be able to do so. The creature also isn’t described as needing to be “loose”, so the feature may be used to potentially move an ally from away from a creature that is restricting its movement. A DM might even allow you to free a creature from mundane objects like shackles, but probably impose a check of some sort to establish if the creature stays willing during the excruciating injury prone interaction.
Telekinetic adept is the level 7 feature and is divided into two features. Psi powered leap let’s the fighter spend a psi die to gain a fly speed equal to double your walk speed as a bonus action. It can be combined with your other features to move you and less mobile party members or objects quite far. It’s like a limited dash action as a bonus action with the benefits of flight. Psi powered leap would allow the psi warrior to leap 120ft with a 30ft move speed and a dash. You could even zig zag and flavor it as double jumping off air if you’d like. Psi powered leap and telekinetic movement could be combined to allow you and multiple party members to traverse a 30ft gap so long as you target a large platform the party is on or in with your telekinetic movement. You could move the platform 30ft further if you action surge and land on it along the way. This features first use is free after every short or long rest. Telekinetic thrust is a feature that augments your Psionic strike. It has the ability to prone a creature or move a creature 10ft horizontally in any direction on a failed save on top of your extra damage. Most forced movement features specify pushing away or pulling closer. The chance to move a creature in any of horizontal direction without having to move your own character can be much easier to use effectively than similar features since you don’t need to move your fighter to use this feature effectively. There’s also no size limitation fir this features target.
Guarded mind is the level 10 feature and is amazing. The resistance to psychic damage is very situational, but the ability to spend a psi die to end the charmed or frightened condition with no action is amazing. These conditions can make most fighters almost useless. This can preserve your indomitable base class feature by allowing you to potentially save your uses for physical based saves. This also mitigates your need for wisdom and charisma saves a bit since those seem to be the source of most charm and fear effects, which further allows for your Intelligence investment if you want.
Bulwark of force is the level 15 ability. The feature gives you the ability to give your allies half cover for 1 minute as a bonus action. This allows you to support your allies while preserving your action. You need to be able to see your allies, and those allies need to be within 30feet of you when you initially use the feature. The allies don’t need to actually stay within 30ft after the initial use to enjoy its effects though. The number of allies you can target is your intelligence modifier. It’s quite powerful with its area of effect, duration, and lack of concentration. It’s kind of like a mass armor of faith that also improves dexterity saves for your party. The first use is also free per long rest.
Telekinetic master is the level 18 feature. It gives your fighter the ability to cast the 5th level spell telekinesis with no components at the cost of a Psionic die. The telekinesis spell is an amazing spell in its own right, but this cheap cost allows your psi warrior to use it often enough to be an almost always available utility option. On top of just being able to cast the spell, this feature gives you the ability to make a bonus action attack while using the spell. This requires you to concentrate on the spell to get access to your bonus action attack, not use your action to activate the spell every turn. With telekinesis relatively cheap cost, 10 minute long duration, utility use to move the environment and creatures, it’s got a decent likelihood of being up before combat starts. This feature also receives one free use per long rest.
after thoughts. 16-18 intelligence is pretty much perfect for any psi warrior build, and 18 wouldn’t really be super effective until around 15th level with bulwark feature. This is based on a 4 person party. The fighter has a bit more room to be MAD anyways since they have more ASIs. Also the majority of the features seem to rely on sight and being within 30 feet of the fighter. There isn’t any reliance on dexterity or strength, so this means there is versatility between ranged and melee based fighters. The ranged fighter is probably more offensively viable due to initiative, accuracy, and damage feats. The strength fighter gets a bit more armor earlier on and is less limited in skill proficiencies dedicated to its offensive/defense attribute. This fighter seems like a much more effective and less restrictive dip for intelligence based builds than the arcane archer too.
I’d like to point out that since telekinesis uses checks, and Psionic strikes telekinetic thrust isn’t actually magical or a spell, these effects both bypass the magical resistance feature. Also none of these features can be counterspelled, not even the telekinesis casting since it’s done entirely without components. In an area of anti magic, everything but the telekinesis spell continues to work. If your already concentrating on the telekinesis when the area of anti magic appears, you still get your bonus action attack.
receiving a magic item that increases your proficiency bonus has an interesting ripple effect on this subclass. It increases the amount of Psi Die you have available on top of the normal increases of attacks accuracy, saving throw DC, and some of your ability skill checks.
Actually a damn fine write up. Some things that you mentioned that I really hadn’t thought of before:
1) Guarded Mind - Ignore Wisdom ASIs and Res Wisdom Feats. This is a big advantage over other Fighter subclasses.
2) Bulwark of Force - I completely forgot about the +2 to Dex saves for Half Cover!
3) Reaction and Bonus Action action economy is nice to have right out of the box. Saves even more ASIs for Int (the -Touched Feats!)
Thank you, i appreciate the response and the time you spent reading this wall of text lol. This is my 2nd guide I’ve tried to write, and you’re my first response :)
Maybe one day I’ll do this stuff with a keyboard instead of my thumbs and an iPhone.
the guarded mind feature is wonderful in so many ways. It comes in a little late compared to the samurais wisdom proficiency at level 7, but it’s still a great addition to the class and subclass. Fear/charm auras and features seem to become much more prevalent midway through tier 2. Not having to further worry about rolling, proficiency, and other attribute investment as much can be liberating.
Personally, I'll select the race 'Kalashtar' and the class 'Fighter' with the subclass 'Psi Warrior' in order to get the maximum amount of benefit from the subclass. In fact, the 'Mind Link' feature of this race allows it's user to communicate telepathically. Just imagine a fighter who's capable of both 'Telekinetic' and 'Telepathic' activities, it would be nice!
I'm currently working on a character with this particularly interesting subclass, so I found your guide useful for preparation. Thanks.
Personally, I'll select the race 'Kalashtar' and the class 'Fighter' with the subclass 'Psi Warrior' in order to get the maximum amount of benefit from the subclass. In fact, the 'Mind Link' feature of this race allows it's user to communicate telepathically. Just imagine a fighter who's capable of both 'Telekinetic' and 'Telepathic' activities, it would be nice!
I'm currently working on a character with this particularly interesting subclass, so I found your guide useful for preparation. Thanks.
That seems like a fine choice thematically and mechanically. It definitely helps bridge the gap that seems to exist in regard to the character being a generic fighter at the first two levels, and then suddenly gaining a slew of Psionic capabilities at level 3. The Psi Knight advancement could represent your characters ever strengthening bond with the spirit within you or you could just ignore the dual nature theme entirely. The dual mind feature can help preserve your psi die and your indomitable feature by reinforcing your wisdom saves. The longer you can stretch out those resources the better. At lower level the advantage will be strong enough to give you a great chance to pass wisdom saves even with a low attribute and lack of proficiency. By level 10 when the effectiveness of the advantage is beginning to lessen due to higher DCs your guarded mind feature is gained.
Unfortunately, the 5th level Kalashtar/Psi Warrior (Background: Knight) that I've been preparing has the lowest raw ability score for 'Wisdom' (10). Do you have any recommendations for the selection of raw ability scores?
Personally, I'll select the race 'Kalashtar' and the class 'Fighter' with the subclass 'Psi Warrior' in order to get the maximum amount of benefit from the subclass. In fact, the 'Mind Link' feature of this race allows it's user to communicate telepathically. Just imagine a fighter who's capable of both 'Telekinetic' and 'Telepathic' activities, it would be nice!
I'm currently working on a character with this particularly interesting subclass, so I found your guide useful for preparation. Thanks.
Damage resistance won't stack, so this combination is particularly lacking in synergy once you reach level 10.
If you want maximum benefit from Psi Warrior, you'll want to consider multiclassing, since Psi Warriors are MAD. OP didn't break the abilities down by MADness, so I'll do so here:
Level 3 abilities:
SAD: Telekinetic Movement not only ignores your Int modifier, it ignores your die size.
MAD: Protective Field scales with Intelligence Modifier.
Extra MAD: Psionic Strike not only scales with Intelligence modifier, because it requires landing an attack and dealing weapon damage, it scales with whatever modifier(s) you used to achieve that as well. The 30 foot range limitation reduces the extent to which you want to do this with ranged weapons, so Dexterity is not as encouraged as it otherwise would be.
Level 7 abilities:
SAD: Psi-Powered Leap ignores both Int modifier and die size.
MAD: Telekinetic Thrust upgrades Psionic Strike with an effect that scales with Int modifier, so see Psionic Strike. Note that prone is a direct encouragement to fight from 5 feet away, again reducing the extent to which you're encouraged to use Dexterity.
Level 10 abilities:
MAD, but not in a big way: Psychic resistance slightly more than doubles (when the damage type comes up) your effective hit points, meaning this has Con scaling. Since the damage type is very uncommon and you were always going to take Con as a secondary stat, this may not be a significant concern.
MAD, but not in a big way: Just like how Psychic Resistance is better the higher your Con, any way to make you harder to keep Frightened (and situationally Charmed, but usually you won't know you're Charmed so you won't know to use this ability on that) is better the higher your Wisdom, but in another similarity, it'll be common and typical not to face these conditions in a fight.
Level 15 abilities:
Extra MAD: Bulwark of Force scales with your Intelligence modifier and the Dexterity modifier of everyone included in it, including your own (since it buffs Dexterity saves). It has no scaling with the size of your die.
Level 18 abilities:
Extra MAD: Telekinetic Master scales with Intelligence modifier, and enables a bonus action that scales with your weapon attack modifier(s).
So as you can see, you're highly encouraged to fix your MADness. Solutions include:
Be a race that has 2 ASIs racially, or their equivalent, like with any MAD build: Tasha's Custom Lineage, Mountain Dwarf, any Half-Elf.
Take a 3-dip into Artificer. Armorer and Battlesmith both have solutions that will let you make weapon attacks with your Intelligence.
Take a 1-dip into Artificer, and rely on Magic Stone.
WOTC is very clearly taking playable races in a new direction, with Owlkin and Fairies able to choose the spellcasting ability modifiers for their racial spells - and of course dragonmarked races modify spell lists based on their race, just as ravnica backgrounds do it based on backgrounds. I don't know of any RAW ways to get Shillelagh castable with Intelligence, but it's pretty clear this lack isn't a deliberate design choice by WOTC. You may be able to sell your DM on giving you a homebrew way to make Shillelagh not just a Wisdom/Charisma cantrip.
Personally, I'll select the race 'Kalashtar' and the class 'Fighter' with the subclass 'Psi Warrior' in order to get the maximum amount of benefit from the subclass. In fact, the 'Mind Link' feature of this race allows it's user to communicate telepathically. Just imagine a fighter who's capable of both 'Telekinetic' and 'Telepathic' activities, it would be nice!
I'm currently working on a character with this particularly interesting subclass, so I found your guide useful for preparation. Thanks.
Damage resistance won't stack, so this combination is particularly lacking in synergy once you reach level 10.
If you want maximum benefit from Psi Warrior, you'll want to consider multiclassing, since Psi Warriors are MAD. OP didn't break the abilities down by MADness, so I'll do so here:
Level 3 abilities:
SAD: Telekinetic Movement not only ignores your Int modifier, it ignores your die size.
MAD: Protective Field scales with Intelligence Modifier.
Extra MAD: Psionic Strike not only scales with Intelligence modifier, because it requires landing an attack and dealing weapon damage, it scales with whatever modifier(s) you used to achieve that as well. The 30 foot range limitation reduces the extent to which you want to do this with ranged weapons, so Dexterity is not as encouraged as it otherwise would be.
Level 7 abilities:
SAD: Psi-Powered Leap ignores both Int modifier and die size.
MAD: Telekinetic Thrust upgrades Psionic Strike with an effect that scales with Int modifier, so see Psionic Strike. Note that prone is a direct encouragement to fight from 5 feet away, again reducing the extent to which you're encouraged to use Dexterity.
Level 10 abilities:
MAD, but not in a big way: Psychic resistance slightly more than doubles (when the damage type comes up) your effective hit points, meaning this has Con scaling. Since the damage type is very uncommon and you were always going to take Con as a secondary stat, this may not be a significant concern.
MAD, but not in a big way: Just like how Psychic Resistance is better the higher your Con, any way to make you harder to keep Frightened (and situationally Charmed, but usually you won't know you're Charmed so you won't know to use this ability on that) is better the higher your Wisdom, but in another similarity, it'll be common and typical not to face these conditions in a fight.
Level 15 abilities:
Extra MAD: Bulwark of Force scales with your Intelligence modifier and the Dexterity modifier of everyone included in it, including your own (since it buffs Dexterity saves). It has no scaling with the size of your die.
Level 18 abilities:
Extra MAD: Telekinetic Master scales with Intelligence modifier, and enables a bonus action that scales with your weapon attack modifier(s).
So as you can see, you're highly encouraged to fix your MADness. Solutions include:
Be a race that has 2 ASIs racially, or their equivalent, like with any MAD build: Tasha's Custom Lineage, Mountain Dwarf, any Half-Elf.
Take a 3-dip into Artificer. Armorer and Battlesmith both have solutions that will let you make weapon attacks with your Intelligence.
Take a 1-dip into Artificer, and rely on Magic Stone.
WOTC is very clearly taking playable races in a new direction, with Owlkin and Fairies able to choose the spellcasting ability modifiers for their racial spells - and of course dragonmarked races modify spell lists based on their race, just as ravnica backgrounds do it based on backgrounds. I don't know of any RAW ways to get Shillelagh castable with Intelligence, but it's pretty clear this lack isn't a deliberate design choice by WOTC. You may be able to sell your DM on giving you a homebrew way to make Shillelagh not just a Wisdom/Charisma cantrip.
Frankly I don’t think the class is nearly as dependent on intelligence investment as you described. A psi warrior who has 16 intelligence from 1st level is very effective even if it doesn’t invest another point in intelligence over the entire 20 level span. If a subclass is going to be MAD, this effect seems to be less impactful on the fighter than compared to these other classes because of the additional 2 ASI’s. I’m not saying a multiclass dip wouldn’t be effective, but I don’t think it’s necessary at all to make use of what the psi warrior can already do. Prioritizing your offensive attribute of strength or dexterity doesn’t weaken most these features.
I don’t think the short range of 30ft for most of this subclasses features severely inhibits ranged combat. A feature like gunner or crossbow expert that takes away disadvantage with ranged attacks at close range would be nice to have to stay reliable without having to disengage, but you’re a fighter, just hit the thing next to you.
the level 15 ability to grant half cover doesn’t seem “extra mad” to me. Other than maybe getting Intelligence to 18 for a modifier of +4 by level 15 to potentially cover an average party of 4 players.
the level 18 feature requires a decent intelligence attribute to have the spell be somewhat reliable in combat, if the spell is actually being used. Spending your fighters action to activate the spell effect is not necessary to get the more important effect of continuous bonus action attacks while you concentrate. Activated the spell as an action in combat is a red herring, much like the base assumption many first time Eldritch knights make by attempting to take action casting spells. It’s all about using the bonus action, and leaving the action for your fighters extra attacks. If you do happen to need to use telekinesis in battle, it would maybe be more likely to use on the environment around you. Then there’s the fact that targeting a creature with the telekinesis as a last resort would still have a decent chance to work without maxed out intelligence. The spell forces a contest which usually doesn’t allow for proficiencies to be added.
Unfortunately, the 5th level Kalashtar/Psi Warrior (Background: Knight) that I've been preparing has the lowest raw ability score for 'Wisdom' (10). Do you have any recommendations for the selection of raw ability scores?
You would probably be fine with a 10 in wisdom. From levels 5-10 you’d have about a 50% change to successfully make each wisdom save forced against you, which is great for a +0 stat modifier. You get indomitable at level 9 to help you out a bit to reroll a failed save. Since indomitable let’s you reroll the saving throw instead of just adding a single die, you would get to roll an additional save with advantage. Your chance to fail a wisdom save with indomitable would be about 6%
You would probably be fine with a 10 in wisdom. From levels 5-10 you’d have about a 50% change to successfully make each wisdom save forced against you, which is great for a +0 stat modifier. You get indomitable at level 9 to help you out a bit to reroll a failed save. Since indomitable let’s you reroll the saving throw instead of just adding a single die, you would get to roll an additional save with advantage. Your chance to fail a wisdom save with indomitable would be about 6%
So, I’m 62 years old and coming back to D&D after a 34 year absence. I'm playing a psi warrior (fighter class) multi classed with an artificer. Current levels are 5 and 1. My party’s DM granted us all a feat as a Christmas present and I chose Fey Touched (misty step and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter) We are one session away from leveling up and I would appreciate advice on the best course of action as I continue this build
So, I’m 62 years old and coming back to D&D after a 34 year absence. I'm playing a psi warrior (fighter class) multi classed with an artificer. Current levels are 5 and 1. My party’s DM granted us all a feat as a Christmas present and I chose Fey Touched (misty step and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter) We are one session away from leveling up and I would appreciate advice on the best course of action as I continue this build
So, I’m 62 years old and coming back to D&D after a 34 year absence. I'm playing a psi warrior (fighter class) multi classed with an artificer. Current levels are 5 and 1. My party’s DM granted us all a feat as a Christmas present and I chose Fey Touched (misty step and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter) We are one session away from leveling up and I would appreciate advice on the best course of action as I continue this build
A lot depends on how high you plan on taking Artificer. If you take Fighter to 6, you're looking at either an ASI or feat. Your primary stats (STR, CON, INT) are really good for a level 6 character so a feat would be good either Great Weapon Master or Telekinetic.
On the other hand, Lvl 2 Artificer gets infusions so you can beef up with some uncommon gear. Enhanced Defense or Enhanced Weapon are good choices for a melee fighter. Also replicate magic items such as Bag of Holding, Goggles of Night, Rope of Climbing, or Sending Stones can offer some good utility. I'm assuming since you're leaning into melee combat your Artificer sub-class will be Battlesmith.
In the end, I personally would keep leveling Psi-Warrior to at least 7 (that's where the best abilities come online) before I would take any more Artificer levels. And with your stats, I'd probably take the Telekinetic feat to bring my INT to an even number and something cool to do with my bonus action. That way when you take Battlesmith your INT is even with your STR and it can take over for your attack bonus and you can just focus on INT and CON.
But, if you take more than 2 levels in Artificer, you won't get Telekinesis at 18, assuming your campaign lasts that long.
Psi tar makes a good case for telekinetic. Could e fun at fighter 6. Or just an asi boosting int and either Wis or dex. Both of those will boost a very common save. Personally I’d look at wis, so you don’t end up getting charmed, fear effected, dominated, etc.
The other questions are, what were you going for with the artificer dip, and how far do you plan to take it? Also, do you have a sense of how high level the campaign will go? Nowadays many seem to end in the 10-13ish range.
The other members of my party, a paladin a wizard, and a Druid are all, with me as well, about to level up to 7th level. My plan is to get to level 2 with the artificer to take fullest advantage of infusions, choosing enhance weapon and defense, homunculus servant and replicate magic item. Then take the psi fighter on through level 10 before doing more with the artificer
Personally, I'm just a fan of asi instead of feats. They aren't as sexy and don't give you new toys to play with, but they are reliable. For newer players, and it seems like you're not exactly new, but that's going to be for you to decide, the asi can be better, since it just gives a passive boost to what you can do, instead of giving you a new power to have to remember how and when to use.
Therefore, I'd still go with rounding off those odd-numbered ability scores. Getting int up to that 18 will be huge, and then the wis or dex will be great, as well. Either will boost an important save, and a number of skills. I'm assuming you are wearing heavy armor, so dex won't help you there, but it will help with dex saves and initiative. but a failed dex save usually just means you take some damage, while a failed wis save can mean you're pretty much out of the fight.
Then at level 8 fighter, you've got lots of options. Boosting str to 20 is a decent option.
If you don't want pure asi, there's also the resilient feats. They can boost a score by a point, and give you proficiency in saves for it. So if, for example, you boost int and wise, you could take resilient dex to get that plus one and then really get a boost to dex saves.
As said above, telekinetic can be good. fey touched also. either of those can round off an odd score and give you a couple spells.
Dual mind grants advantage to Wisdom saves, and Kalashtar also have a base racial bonus of +2 to wisdom. I have the same and level, but took the feat: Magical initiate (warlock) which gives two cantrips, and that old workhorse Eldritch blast. Tasha's has a wicked "I'll be a SOB" psi spell: Mind sliver. Plus a 1st level spell warlock spell. 6th Ievel Level I plan on to play another level of psi warrior, multiclass celestial warlock. just some thoughts.
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Hello everyone! I’ve watched/read a few reviews on this particular fighter subclass and they aren’t kind to this choice of fighter. There also doesn’t seem to be a stand alone guide on these forums in the fighter threads regarding this subclass. So with that in mind, i’ve decided to try my hand at scrubbing through the subclasses features to parse out how useful these features actually are. I apologize for my inevitable bad grammar and editing skills, along with any logical fallacies I may make along the way. I’ll do by best to edit the guidance if anyone seems to think it necessary in an effort to make a better product.
Psi Warrior Review
Level 3 feature-Psionic Power.
This feature is actually roughly 3 different features and a separate pool of resources to use these features. The resources are called Psionic Energy Die. The amount you have available is scales up and is your proficiency X 2. These die renew on a long rest, but you can also use a bonus action to regenerate an expended die per rest including short rest. The size of these die start as a 1D6 but scales up to a 1D12 at fighter fighter levels 5, 11, and 17. This is the same rate of scaling that is used for cantrips and is tied to game difficulty tiers. It should be noted that if this subclass is dipped into, the number of the die available will scale up with proficiency without further fighter level investment. Each of your Psionic abilities can be activated by expending one of these die, though some get a free use after a short or long rest.
Psionic strike is an on hit but separate damage roll feature that happens after the initial triggering attack is resolved. This feature does not require sight of the target and is limited to once per your fighters turn. It’s used by expending a Psionic die by rolling it, the damage is what you rolled added to your intelligence modifier. It is force damage, so it’s immediately effective regardless of if the triggering attack was made with a magic weapon. Since it’s a separate damage roll, it isn’t effected by critical hits. It causes a 2nd separate concentration save against a caster instead of a potentially larger single concentration save. A feature like hexblades curse would add the proficiency damage a 2nd time to the Psionic strike. A feature like uncanny dodge which is focused on halving damage of an attack wouldn’t affect Psionic strike. This will also make a great tool to set your character up with advantage later since it gets augmented to potentially prone a creature. Your first hit you can use the feature without worrying about potentially wasting it by not saving it for a crit, and it sets you up for the rest of your attacks and an action surge.
Protective field is a damage reduction feature that has a 30ft range as a reaction and requires sight. The reduction equals a Psi die roll added to your intelligence modifier. It can be used for the fighter or an ally. The feature can reduce damage of any source. Breath weapons, spells, attacks, failed traps, or even fall damage. Fall damage is interesting since you might expose yourself or a willing ally to more fall damage more than most other classes due to being able to manipulate movement and fly all over the place. It should also be noted that although it’s probably not as reliable as somehow getting a source of reliable resistance, it does stack with all other damage reducing features like resistance, uncanny dodge, heavy armor master, etc. The damage reduction, even if seemingly small, can be incredibly impactful depending on who you decide to keep on their feet. Giving up your reaction as a fighter, which is probably limited to a relatively weak attack of opportunity without significant investment in multiclassing, fighting style, or feats, might ensure an ally stays conscious to use their action economy rather than potentially going down for a round. While healing word is good, not needing to limit your spell casters turn to a bonus action spell and cantrip is potentially better. Even if that only successfully works once or twice a long rest. While you can be out of range, you can’t really “miss” with this ability. This may also be just enough damage reduction at high levels to make some of the ridiculously high concentration saves your casters face possible to make. The damage reduction can spans from 1-17 depending on level, roll, and intelligence mod. This translates to a DC reduction range of 1 minimum to 8 maximum. A 14-16 intelligence score makes this much more reliable with higher minimums and maximums.
Telekinetic movement is a feature that takes an action to activate. Because the feature takes an action to use, it’s unlikely to be used in combat but might be useful under different circumstances. This means it can more likely be used during exploration and role playing. This is further supplemented by this particular sub feature use being free to use the first time after any short or long rest. This sub feature is broken down into 2 or 3 sub-sub-features.
You gain the ability to move a loose bject of large size or smaller within 30feet of you 30 feet to another unoccupied location. This includes in the air, and does not have a weight limit imposed. Additionally, if the object is a tiny object, you can move the tiny object directly to your hand to grab.
Alternatively you can move a willing creature you can see within 30 feet to another unoccupied space within 30ft. I’d add that while there is a limit on object size, there isn’t a size limit placed on willing creatures. If for some reason you needed to move an allied gargantuan creature, you’d be able to do so. The creature also isn’t described as needing to be “loose”, so the feature may be used to potentially move an ally from away from a creature that is restricting its movement. A DM might even allow you to free a creature from mundane objects like shackles, but probably impose a check of some sort to establish if the creature stays willing during the excruciating injury prone interaction.
Telekinetic adept is the level 7 feature and is divided into two features.
Psi powered leap let’s the fighter spend a psi die to gain a fly speed equal to double your walk speed as a bonus action. It can be combined with your other features to move you and less mobile party members or objects quite far. It’s like a limited dash action as a bonus action with the benefits of flight. Psi powered leap would allow the psi warrior to leap 120ft with a 30ft move speed and a dash. You could even zig zag and flavor it as double jumping off air if you’d like. Psi powered leap and telekinetic movement could be combined to allow you and multiple party members to traverse a 30ft gap so long as you target a large platform the party is on or in with your telekinetic movement. You could move the platform 30ft further if you action surge and land on it along the way. This features first use is free after every short or long rest.
Telekinetic thrust is a feature that augments your Psionic strike. It has the ability to prone a creature or move a creature 10ft horizontally in any direction on a failed save on top of your extra damage. Most forced movement features specify pushing away or pulling closer. The chance to move a creature in any of horizontal direction without having to move your own character can be much easier to use effectively than similar features since you don’t need to move your fighter to use this feature effectively. There’s also no size limitation fir this features target.
Guarded mind is the level 10 feature and is amazing. The resistance to psychic damage is very situational, but the ability to spend a psi die to end the charmed or frightened condition with no action is amazing. These conditions can make most fighters almost useless. This can preserve your indomitable base class feature by allowing you to potentially save your uses for physical based saves. This also mitigates your need for wisdom and charisma saves a bit since those seem to be the source of most charm and fear effects, which further allows for your Intelligence investment if you want.
Bulwark of force is the level 15 ability. The feature gives you the ability to give your allies half cover for 1 minute as a bonus action. This allows you to support your allies while preserving your action. You need to be able to see your allies, and those allies need to be within 30feet of you when you initially use the feature. The allies don’t need to actually stay within 30ft after the initial use to enjoy its effects though. The number of allies you can target is your intelligence modifier. It’s quite powerful with its area of effect, duration, and lack of concentration. It’s kind of like a mass armor of faith that also improves dexterity saves for your party. The first use is also free per long rest.
Telekinetic master is the level 18 feature. It gives your fighter the ability to cast the 5th level spell telekinesis with no components at the cost of a Psionic die. The telekinesis spell is an amazing spell in its own right, but this cheap cost allows your psi warrior to use it often enough to be an almost always available utility option. On top of just being able to cast the spell, this feature gives you the ability to make a bonus action attack while using the spell. This requires you to concentrate on the spell to get access to your bonus action attack, not use your action to activate the spell every turn. With telekinesis relatively cheap cost, 10 minute long duration, utility use to move the environment and creatures, it’s got a decent likelihood of being up before combat starts. This feature also receives one free use per long rest.
after thoughts.
16-18 intelligence is pretty much perfect for any psi warrior build, and 18 wouldn’t really be super effective until around 15th level with bulwark feature. This is based on a 4 person party. The fighter has a bit more room to be MAD anyways since they have more ASIs. Also the majority of the features seem to rely on sight and being within 30 feet of the fighter. There isn’t any reliance on dexterity or strength, so this means there is versatility between ranged and melee based fighters. The ranged fighter is probably more offensively viable due to initiative, accuracy, and damage feats. The strength fighter gets a bit more armor earlier on and is less limited in skill proficiencies dedicated to its offensive/defense attribute. This fighter seems like a much more effective and less restrictive dip for intelligence based builds than the arcane archer too.
I’d like to point out that since telekinesis uses checks, and Psionic strikes telekinetic thrust isn’t actually magical or a spell, these effects both bypass the magical resistance feature. Also none of these features can be counterspelled, not even the telekinesis casting since it’s done entirely without components. In an area of anti magic, everything but the telekinesis spell continues to work. If your already concentrating on the telekinesis when the area of anti magic appears, you still get your bonus action attack.
receiving a magic item that increases your proficiency bonus has an interesting ripple effect on this subclass. It increases the amount of Psi Die you have available on top of the normal increases of attacks accuracy, saving throw DC, and some of your ability skill checks.
Actually a damn fine write up. Some things that you mentioned that I really hadn’t thought of before:
1) Guarded Mind - Ignore Wisdom ASIs and Res Wisdom Feats. This is a big advantage over other Fighter subclasses.
2) Bulwark of Force - I completely forgot about the +2 to Dex saves for Half Cover!
3) Reaction and Bonus Action action economy is nice to have right out of the box. Saves even more ASIs for Int (the -Touched Feats!)
Thank you, i appreciate the response and the time you spent reading this wall of text lol. This is my 2nd guide I’ve tried to write, and you’re my first response :)
Maybe one day I’ll do this stuff with a keyboard instead of my thumbs and an iPhone.
the guarded mind feature is wonderful in so many ways. It comes in a little late compared to the samurais wisdom proficiency at level 7, but it’s still a great addition to the class and subclass. Fear/charm auras and features seem to become much more prevalent midway through tier 2. Not having to further worry about rolling, proficiency, and other attribute investment as much can be liberating.
Personally, I'll select the race 'Kalashtar' and the class 'Fighter' with the subclass 'Psi Warrior' in order to get the maximum amount of benefit from the subclass. In fact, the 'Mind Link' feature of this race allows it's user to communicate telepathically. Just imagine a fighter who's capable of both 'Telekinetic' and 'Telepathic' activities, it would be nice!
I'm currently working on a character with this particularly interesting subclass, so I found your guide useful for preparation. Thanks.
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
That seems like a fine choice thematically and mechanically. It definitely helps bridge the gap that seems to exist in regard to the character being a generic fighter at the first two levels, and then suddenly gaining a slew of Psionic capabilities at level 3. The Psi Knight advancement could represent your characters ever strengthening bond with the spirit within you or you could just ignore the dual nature theme entirely. The dual mind feature can help preserve your psi die and your indomitable feature by reinforcing your wisdom saves. The longer you can stretch out those resources the better. At lower level the advantage will be strong enough to give you a great chance to pass wisdom saves even with a low attribute and lack of proficiency. By level 10 when the effectiveness of the advantage is beginning to lessen due to higher DCs your guarded mind feature is gained.
Unfortunately, the 5th level Kalashtar/Psi Warrior (Background: Knight) that I've been preparing has the lowest raw ability score for 'Wisdom' (10). Do you have any recommendations for the selection of raw ability scores?
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
Damage resistance won't stack, so this combination is particularly lacking in synergy once you reach level 10.
If you want maximum benefit from Psi Warrior, you'll want to consider multiclassing, since Psi Warriors are MAD. OP didn't break the abilities down by MADness, so I'll do so here:
So as you can see, you're highly encouraged to fix your MADness. Solutions include:
Frankly I don’t think the class is nearly as dependent on intelligence investment as you described. A psi warrior who has 16 intelligence from 1st level is very effective even if it doesn’t invest another point in intelligence over the entire 20 level span. If a subclass is going to be MAD, this effect seems to be less impactful on the fighter than compared to these other classes because of the additional 2 ASI’s. I’m not saying a multiclass dip wouldn’t be effective, but I don’t think it’s necessary at all to make use of what the psi warrior can already do. Prioritizing your offensive attribute of strength or dexterity doesn’t weaken most these features.
I don’t think the short range of 30ft for most of this subclasses features severely inhibits ranged combat. A feature like gunner or crossbow expert that takes away disadvantage with ranged attacks at close range would be nice to have to stay reliable without having to disengage, but you’re a fighter, just hit the thing next to you.
the level 15 ability to grant half cover doesn’t seem “extra mad” to me. Other than maybe getting Intelligence to 18 for a modifier of +4 by level 15 to potentially cover an average party of 4 players.
the level 18 feature requires a decent intelligence attribute to have the spell be somewhat reliable in combat, if the spell is actually being used. Spending your fighters action to activate the spell effect is not necessary to get the more important effect of continuous bonus action attacks while you concentrate. Activated the spell as an action in combat is a red herring, much like the base assumption many first time Eldritch knights make by attempting to take action casting spells. It’s all about using the bonus action, and leaving the action for your fighters extra attacks. If you do happen to need to use telekinesis in battle, it would maybe be more likely to use on the environment around you. Then there’s the fact that targeting a creature with the telekinesis as a last resort would still have a decent chance to work without maxed out intelligence. The spell forces a contest which usually doesn’t allow for proficiencies to be added.
You would probably be fine with a 10 in wisdom. From levels 5-10 you’d have about a 50% change to successfully make each wisdom save forced against you, which is great for a +0 stat modifier. You get indomitable at level 9 to help you out a bit to reroll a failed save. Since indomitable let’s you reroll the saving throw instead of just adding a single die, you would get to roll an additional save with advantage. Your chance to fail a wisdom save with indomitable would be about 6%
@Bobbybaker, Thanks for the suggestion.
InkedBee (Undead_Analyst)
Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts - Jenviel Tsumara: Fallen Aasimar- Monk|Crimson Sands of Time - Navarra Iltazyara: Human- Druid/Warlock| Bleak Prospect - Ermasnietsz: Reborn- Clockwork Soul Sorcerer
So, I’m 62 years old and coming back to D&D after a 34 year absence. I'm playing a psi warrior (fighter class) multi classed with an artificer. Current levels are 5 and 1. My party’s DM granted us all a feat as a Christmas present and I chose Fey Touched (misty step and Tasha’s Hideous Laughter) We are one session away from leveling up and I would appreciate advice on the best course of action as I continue this build
What are your ability scores?
What’s your primary weapon and fighting style?
S-18 D-13 C-16 I-17 W-9 Ch-12 AC-18
great weapon style with an Ascendant Blade
A lot depends on how high you plan on taking Artificer. If you take Fighter to 6, you're looking at either an ASI or feat. Your primary stats (STR, CON, INT) are really good for a level 6 character so a feat would be good either Great Weapon Master or Telekinetic.
On the other hand, Lvl 2 Artificer gets infusions so you can beef up with some uncommon gear. Enhanced Defense or Enhanced Weapon are good choices for a melee fighter. Also replicate magic items such as Bag of Holding, Goggles of Night, Rope of Climbing, or Sending Stones can offer some good utility. I'm assuming since you're leaning into melee combat your Artificer sub-class will be Battlesmith.
In the end, I personally would keep leveling Psi-Warrior to at least 7 (that's where the best abilities come online) before I would take any more Artificer levels. And with your stats, I'd probably take the Telekinetic feat to bring my INT to an even number and something cool to do with my bonus action. That way when you take Battlesmith your INT is even with your STR and it can take over for your attack bonus and you can just focus on INT and CON.
But, if you take more than 2 levels in Artificer, you won't get Telekinesis at 18, assuming your campaign lasts that long.
Psi tar makes a good case for telekinetic. Could e fun at fighter 6. Or just an asi boosting int and either Wis or dex. Both of those will boost a very common save. Personally I’d look at wis, so you don’t end up getting charmed, fear effected, dominated, etc.
The other questions are, what were you going for with the artificer dip, and how far do you plan to take it? Also, do you have a sense of how high level the campaign will go? Nowadays many seem to end in the 10-13ish range.
The other members of my party, a paladin a wizard, and a Druid are all, with me as well, about to level up to 7th level. My plan is to get to level 2 with the artificer to take fullest advantage of infusions, choosing enhance weapon and defense, homunculus servant and replicate magic item. Then take the psi fighter on through level 10 before doing more with the artificer
The campaign is looking to about a level 15-17 end point.
OK then.
Personally, I'm just a fan of asi instead of feats. They aren't as sexy and don't give you new toys to play with, but they are reliable. For newer players, and it seems like you're not exactly new, but that's going to be for you to decide, the asi can be better, since it just gives a passive boost to what you can do, instead of giving you a new power to have to remember how and when to use.
Therefore, I'd still go with rounding off those odd-numbered ability scores. Getting int up to that 18 will be huge, and then the wis or dex will be great, as well. Either will boost an important save, and a number of skills. I'm assuming you are wearing heavy armor, so dex won't help you there, but it will help with dex saves and initiative. but a failed dex save usually just means you take some damage, while a failed wis save can mean you're pretty much out of the fight.
Then at level 8 fighter, you've got lots of options. Boosting str to 20 is a decent option.
If you don't want pure asi, there's also the resilient feats. They can boost a score by a point, and give you proficiency in saves for it. So if, for example, you boost int and wise, you could take resilient dex to get that plus one and then really get a boost to dex saves.
As said above, telekinetic can be good. fey touched also. either of those can round off an odd score and give you a couple spells.
I’ve already got Fey Touched, (Christmas gift of one feat to everyone in my party from a generous DM)
Dual mind grants advantage to Wisdom saves, and Kalashtar also have a base racial bonus of +2 to wisdom. I have the same and level, but took the feat: Magical initiate (warlock) which gives two cantrips, and that old workhorse Eldritch blast. Tasha's has a wicked "I'll be a SOB" psi spell: Mind sliver. Plus a 1st level spell warlock spell. 6th Ievel Level I plan on to play another level of psi warrior, multiclass celestial warlock. just some thoughts.