Known for their versatility and bonus feats, Psychic Warriors are formidable classes that are effective but simple once the player puts the time and effort into which path they choose. They are meant to be the attackers rather than the backline support. Background-wise, they are one with their “inner-power”, enough to make that “inner-power” become their augmented power to hone their natural abilities.
Below are a handful of lists that will provide insight on how to utilize the Psychic Warrior. They are very similar to a monk playstyle and are extremely versatile, so be free to take any advice from these lists with a grain of salt. I am by no means a professional when it comes to Pathfinder and all of these are merely my opinion on the matter after doing some extensive research.
Best Paths for a psychic warrior
1. Mind Knight Path
A personal favorite since I like taking chances and love the idea of getting a random powerful weapon. Being able to summon armor is pretty cool, too. With this path, the Psychic Warrior is basically frontlining for the most part- doing damage while taking a good portion of the hits.
After every four levels, your initiative bonus increases along with your attack and damage rolls. The maneuver that comes with the path also allows you to hit two creatures adjacent to you, letting you just walk between two creatures and swing at both of them at the same time. How cool is that?
2. Survivor Path
The standard path if you want to tank everything. Damage reduction, can withstand any environment, and heal. No one would be able to take down this Psychic Warrior with their Maneuver either since they are able to withstand spell effects as well. With this path, the Psychic Warrior will practically be a walking pillar.
3. Weaponsmaster Path
Similar to a fighter class, meaning it’s arguably the most simple path the Psychic Warrior can choose. This path gives the Psychic Warrior the prowess to fight and have more mobility than usual, especially with their Maneuver.
Their trance is very straightforward, but their Maneuver is the main course of this path. Other than that, this path’s ability to excel relies solely on their Maneuver and feats that come with it. Despite that, it’s a very strong path to take if it’s leveled up and used during late-game.
4. Ascetic Path
I personally feel as if Psychic Warriors should be played as monks. It’s arguably not the strongest option to take, but it makes the most sense to me. They gain bonuses for wearing nothing along with dodge bonuses.
This path is meant to be the annoying fly in the room- bothering and hitting you, but you’re having trouble hitting it back. The trance and the Maneuver synergize well together with the AC bonus, then the maneuver gives the Psychic Warrior a bit of mobility once the hit misses.
5. Archer Path
The best path to take if you want to be a ranged Psychic Warrior so you don’t have to be in the front lines. Great to use if you’re fighting with a mount. This path lets you attack from afar and give them a sneaky edge with their Stealth skill.
It’s also pretty cool that they’ll be able to use ammunition for free with the Psychokinetic Cannon. Lastly, since the player will most likely be (secondly to Wisdom) maxing out Dexterity to increase their attack, it will be helping out their Combat Maneuver Bonus so it works out very much in their favor.
Pathfinder psychic warrior best Feats
Since the Psychic warrior gains a lot of bonus feats as they level up, this list will be slightly longer than it usually is. Enjoy!
1. Psionic Body
Although some may say that this feat is weak, I beg to differ. It’s not very often that a class is able to gain more hit points, even if they are temporary.
However, with the amount of bonus feats that the Psychic Warrior will be taking, they have the potential to have a max of 18 additional hit points to add onto their total amount of hit points. Regardless of what class or race the player may choose, I feel as if this feat is the bread and butter of a Psychic Warrior.
However, with the amount of bonus feats that the Psychic Warrior will be taking, they have the potential to have a max of 18 additional hit points to add onto their total amount of hit points. Regardless of what class or race the player may choose, I feel as if this feat is the bread and butter of a Psychic Warrior.
2. Psicrystal Affinity
Psicrystals are a dandy to have due to the bonuses and abilities that it has. The higher leveled the Psychic Warrior is, the more abilities the psicrystal has access to and you don’t have to worry about it being destroyed since this feat allows the user to gain a new one. The crystal holds its own personality
3. Psicrystal Containment
Reliant on the feat above, Psicrystal Affinity. However, it allows the Psychic Warrior to have the psicrystal focus for them, leaving the Psychic Warrior to not waste an action on psionic focus. Since they will be using this feat with Psicrystal Affinity, the Psychic Warrior will most likely have a psicrystal on them already. It’s not super overpowered, but it’s nice to have so the player can not worry about psionic focus too much.
4. Speed of Thought
A good way to gain speed and insight. I just like the thought of having more mobility so the fact that Psychic Warriors get an insight bonus from this is more of a plus than anything. Especially since they already prioritize Wisdom, they will practically be unable to fail Insight checks unless they are extremely unlucky.
5. Combat Manifestation
I chose this feat 100% out of my own bias. When I see myself playing this class, I see myself getting caught by everything under the sun then not being able to do much because I’m grappled or I’m literally trying to manifest power in an area I shouldn’t be- in the middle of combat.
Therefore, I chose this feat to be on this list so I can still be useful to my team while playing like an idiot. It’s not an overpowered feat, but it’s a good feat nonetheless if the Psychic Warrior is caught in a bad situation.
6. Psionic Weapon
The bread and butter of a Psychic Warrior if they wish to be aggressive and one of the fighter-types. The psionic weapon feat goes well with a good portion of the paths, so it’s very versatile. Of course along with it, you basically get a free damage boost from your weapon then even more damage if the player decides to expend a psionic focus.
7. Body Fuel
I personally love this feat because of how many things can go right and wrong. When using this feat, it can sometimes be a gamble, depending on the fight. Sacrificing your livelihood for a few power points just so the player can use one of their more powerful abilities is sometimes a gamble that needs to be made for the sake of surviving. Of course, the stats will come back after a long rest, but it’s still a pretty fun gamble to keep the Psychic Warrior on their toes.
8. Psionic Fist
Just like Psionic Weapon, but now with their fists! It’s great for up close fighting, and of course, some extra unarmed attacks once they have access to doing so.
9. Redirect Power
This feat works so well with the Survivor Path, I feel. The Psychic Warrior with the Survivor Path would of course be in the front lines to soak up all the damage then someone tries to be smart and throw a spell at one of the backlines.
However no- the Psychic Warrior would use this feat and throw the spell right back at them, or even another enemy. In short, this feat is to reverse any missed effect and get revenge on the one who tried to hurt your or your allies.
Best Items for a psychic warrior build in pathfinder
1. Natural Weapons
Having Natural Weapons on the list does seem a bit out of place in a list full of rare, wondrous items but Natural Weapons are honestly one of the most essential things you can use as a Psychic Warrior.
They take up no space and it’s easy to get some damage off with extra attacks using Natural Weapons (especially with certain paths and feats). A lot of the time, Psychic Warriors prioritize using their own bodies as their weapon so it would only make sense.
2. Longarm Braces
A great weapon when paired with Natural Weapons since you get no penalty. Getting range with unarmed attacks, especially if you have the feats and path to increase the damage on it, will give your enemies a run for their money.
3. Headband of Inspired Wisdom
An easy pick. Psychic Warriors already have high wisdom, so why not make it impossible to fail any type of check that uses it?
4. Amulet of Mighty Fists
As stated previously, natural weapons are essentials in almost every scenario and for the most part, Psychic Warriors use their fists and their natural weapons. This item can help make sure that when the Psychic Warrior does ultimately decide to use their unarmed attacks (whether it be during an action or swift action), they hit with brute force.
5. Gorgon Belt
Great item for front liners and tanks. It gives them the much needed mobility on difficult terrain and helps out significantly with Strength. To top it all off, they also get to use a breath weapon that comes with the item which affects anything in a 60-foot cone. It paralyzes if the saving throw is failed, giving access to both the Psychic Warrior and the rest of the team to get even more hits off.
Tips and Tricks for playing a psychic warrior
1. Choose Your Feats Wisely
It seems simple enough to choose whatever feats sound strong since the Psychic Warrior has the ability to have a lot of feats. However, it would be wise for the player to not take the ability for granted.
They can choose any combat or psionic feat, yes, but the feats that the Psychic Warrior holds will now dictate what feats they should pick next and therefore dictate their playstyle for the rest of their time as this class.
When choosing feats, think of it kind of like building a house or making food- what is the foundation? Then after they figure out the foundation, what can we put in or on top of it to make it better without ruining the foundation? What else can I add?
It goes without saying that the path(s) a Psychic Warrior chooses will dictate how the Psychic Warrior should be playing. For example, if a player chooses to go with the Survivor Path, it wouldn’t make much sense for them to be doing a ranged build in the backlines, even if they did choose feats that can enhance it.
2. Paths will Dictate Playstyle
If they were to do this, a lot of the path(s)’s enhancements, abilities, and or benefits could be rendered completely useless or not even used. It would then just be a waste of a feat and they wouldn’t be able to play at their best potential.
3. Wisdom, Wisdom, Wisdom
No matter what build, path, or feats the player chooses, Wisdom will always be the most important stat for a Psychic Warrior. The most important abilities the Psychic Warrior possesses are their powers and psionic abilities which are enhanced by Wisdom.
Without them, Psychic Warriors are nothing but a body with equipment and some hit points on it. Therefore, it would be wise to prioritize Wisdom, then worry about Strength or Dexterity afterwards.
Pros and Cons of a psychic warrior build
Pros
- Versatile: it goes without saying that the Psychic Warrior debatably has the most versatility when it comes to playstyle when building one. They can be ranged, a tank, or a fighter and all of them work when put with the correct stats and features (both class features and feats).
- All the Feats: the Psychic Warrior has access to specific feats along with combat feats and they continue to stack and acquire them as they level up. A lot of the psionic feats were made specifically for the Psychic Warrior, meaning they have everything to gain from them to enhance their playstyle. They can keep figuring out and brainstorming ways along the way which feats would work best with what’s happening around them and how they’re playing.
- Bonuses on Bonuses: Practically no matter what path the Psychic Warrior may choose, they are given bonuses, bonus actions (swift actions), a power, and maneuvers which only get stronger as they level up. As a reminder, this comes with their path, which they get at level 1. They only have to wait two levels to get to level 3 to get those special abilities that come with the path. Then at Level 9, they get to choose yet another path they can pursue in which they can also wait two more levels to get to level 11 to use both of the trances and maneuvers from both paths.
Cons
- Not for Beginners: there is so much that goes into this class that the player would possibly have to do extensive research before they play and even between games to make sure they can utilize their Psychic Warrior to the best of their abilities. They’d have to do research on the paths, the feats they want, and possibly how to make sure they do everything they possibly can within their turn (trances, maneuvers, psionic focus’, etc.)
- Feats matter a LOT: with a lot of feats at their disposal, players can’t expect any feat would work. Some require prerequisites, some just don’t line up with what the Psychic Warrior wishes to do and negates their plan entirely, and some may even mess up the bonuses from other feats, powers or items. If the player wishes to make use of all their feats, make sure they already have the prerequisites and it doesn’t get in the way of any of their equipment, powers, or other feats.
- Overwhelming: Psychic Warriors have a lot of characteristics and abilities they can choose from, however, it may take a bit to get through all of them. Even with psionic focus, psicrystals, maneuvers and everything else, there’s only so much they can do in one turn. Don’t expect to be able to do everything you have in one or even turns. It may take a couple turns to do everything you want to do.