williamiii,
Have not done Truename, so can't comment.
I’ll chime in on the Psi-front. Psionics do NOT have super DC prestige classes like Divine (Hiero & Runecaster) or Red Wiz builds.
Maxxed Psionic builds (~ L44) can crank out much more damage per round (see below), but they run out of pp too fast. Also, a significant drawback to a pure psionic build is lack of Epic Spells (Epic Warding, Epic Mage Armor, Epic Spell Reflection, Deadeye Sense, Tolodine's Killing Wind, etc.). A L20 Arcane caster will likely beat an L20 Manifester because the meta-psi costs have limiting returns at pre-epic levels. When you get Improved Meta-Psi III and a ton of levels, the psi-blasters can compete. Also note that psi-classes get base pp of 343 for Psions / Wilders and 127 for Psy-Wars. However, the SRD bonus pp is Trunc (1/2 * Ability mod * Manifester Level). So a high-level manifester, even Psy-War, can get a ton of extra pp to offset the fast burn down.
The power of psionics is in using multi-metapsionic feats at the same time. Crystal Shard (CS) looks meh at first glance. However, a L44 Manifester with Overchannel (total L47) and Improved Meta-Psi III can have a Max + Empowered + Twin Crystal Shard for (47 - 2 Emp cost) 45*2 (Twin) *6 (Max) *1.5 (Emp)= 45*18 for 810 hp for 47 power points or 17.2 hp / pp. Keep in mind CS is no save, no SR, no evasion, etc. Also, Twinned, extended Ecto-Shamber is pretty bada$$ - no SR, no chance to miss, magical damage for a total of 2 (Twin) * Trunc (Manifester / 2) per round for 2 (Extend) * Manifester MINUTES. Even monks cannot dodge, point cost is VERY low. Only uber DR can save opponents from 5 or 6 Ecto-Shamblers. Note that the AoA equivalent of CS – Swarm of Crystals – does not work right and not recommended. For low BAB builds, there are a couple of pretty cool psi-feats: Deep Impact / Fell Shot / Wounding Attack. PsyWar has unique abilities that give a lot more attacks per round: Bite of Wolf (1) + Form of Doom (4). Expansion increases your size boosting KD checks and Bite’o-Wolf damage.
Also, there is Energy Current (kineticist) which greatly conserves pp, and still does massive amounts of damage each round. Shadow Body will keep you immune to crits, et. al. Firing off Ecto-Shamblers and Energy Currents from Shadow Body is a pretty good strategy. Against non-SR folks (pure melee folks), use Twin-Max-Emp Hammer 45*8*2*1.5 = 1080 hp for 47 pp. In addition to good attack powers, the AC defs (Precog, D) & AB (Precog, Presci) buffs are very good, but tons of pp are wasted. Temporal Accel is a nice L6 timestop. There are some decent retribution powers (Empathic Feedback, Energy Retort), but none that approach Elem Shield, M-Acid Sheath or Priz Sphere from the Arcane set.
One major drawback is a failed mechanic called psionic focus, introduced in vers 3.5. It forces you to make a Conc check OR YOU CAN’T USE YOUR POWERS! This renders low level psionic types totally vulnerable and is meant to dissuade folks from using psionics. How would people react to have an Arcane / Divine focus checks just to cast spells? Epic WotC mechanic failure. I mitigate by adding Epic Psionic Focus X so I can just pay for the meta-psi’s with pp, just like version 3.0. Also, there is no legal way to access Lich class for say a Grim Psion build.
The good news is, you can choose two types at a time with Cerebremancer (Arcane / Psi) and Psychic Theurge (Div / Psi). I posted both for 3.3H with Prac Manifester, psi-bogus mitigations and targeted the SRD bonus power point totals. All 3 builds (Cha based Wild / Sor / CM blaster, Int based Psion / Wiz / CM blaster and Wis based CL / PW / PT Devi-Crit + Ecto-Shambler + Creeping Doom) have Epic Spellcasting. One common problem is q-slot shortage. Such is the price of success.
