Noob Psion Questions

[Adm.Venge]

I logged into Ysgard last night, and bumped into Druid finishing a session at the Tower. I have RP'd and chatted OOCly with several psion players over the years, but I never really sat down and asked them about how a psion works. It was a little late last night to start hammering Druid with questions, but he invited me to post them publicly and so I am.

I can read the wiki. I understand they work on PSPs and which stats modify PSPs and things like that. I am more interested in the mechanics of constructing a psion and player thoughts on them.

I realize that some might be offended at the nature of my questions, since most are about building and playing a psion. I am not interested in building a 2 dimensional super-psion (if such a thing is possible. This concept seems to be a common predjudice). I am interested in the mechanics behind psionics. For such a discussion, I am mostly asking about how stuff works, which will lead into which psion powers are more effective (though I would guess it depends on the situation). I apologize in advance if someone feels the discussion becomes too "powerbuild-ish".

Anyways, with the EULA out of the way, here goes.

Are there specific "archetypes" of psion? Particular builds that are more common? Why are these more common?

If your character is going to rely heavily on psionics, which powers are a must? Why do you think they are a must?

Some people I have RP'd with have commented that a "pure" psion is not viable. Why is that? I know that some CoPaP worlds have altered how psionics works for thier setting, so this question may not really apply to Hala.

[Akai]

Are there specific "archetypes" of psion? Particular builds that are more common? Why are these more common?

The two archetypes seem to be fighter-psion (buff yourself with psionics and wade into combat) and caster-psion (stand back and zap things.) Fighters are mostly dual classed with something fightery and casters do better pure, because casters need all the feats and PSP's they can get.

If your character is going to rely heavily on psionics, which powers are a must? Why do you think they are a must?

Psionic residue particularly; if you're a caster-psion you're going to burn through a lot of PSP's, so you'll want to concentrate on Wisdom and take feats that give you extra points and reduce the costs of your most frequently used powers.

[Adm.Venge]

For the "sit back and use psion powers offensively" type psion, do they have alot of options if thier opponent has mind immunity? Does a psion have to specialize in these kinds of alternative powers for them to be effective at higher levels?

I ask because some caster players assert that if you dont specialize (ie invest in Spell Focus Feats) then offensive spells are not particularly useful at higher levels. I'm curious to know if psionics is similar.

[_JM_]

Psions do more than attack the mind. Doesn't matter if the mind is protected if a pebble comes in at Mach 10 thanks to telekinesis and Ballistic Attack. Telekinesis is good for holding people in place and Project Force for knocking them over (and the latter works better for delicate Alexis than if he'd taken Knockdown :p)

Agreed that Residue is a must. Even if you are a "buff and hit" psion you need to keep on remanifesting the powers since they are all 1 minute / level or less. Sucking in some extra PSPs keeps you going.

Alexis has used Detonate to good effect on Undead.