Erudite – Archetype

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An erudite is a specialized psion who spends his time in research, experimentation, and deep meditation well beyond that of the typical psion.

Though the two share many similarities, an erudite seeks to expand his mind, learning as much as he possibly can and truly mastering what he knows before moving forward. As a result, an erudite learns higher level powers at a slower rate than a more traditional psion but learns a higher number of powers and has a greater ability to research new psionic powers.

Abilities

An erudite relies heavily on Intelligence for both his manifesting and his potential to research new and interesting psionic powers. Many erudite go so far as to eschew developing any other ability score. Others, however, make use of Constitution to improve their hit points and Dexterity to improve their AC and Initiative.

Table: The Erudite
	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Psionic Manifesting
	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Power Points	Powers Known	Max Level Known
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Bonus feat	2	4	1st
2nd	+1	+0	+0	+3	—	6	6	1st
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	—	11	8	1st
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	—	17	10	2nd
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Bonus feat	25	12	2nd
6th	+3	+2	+2	+5	—	35	14	3rd
7th	+3	+2	+2	+5	—	46	16	3rd
8th	+4	+2	+2	+6	—	58	18	4th
9th	+4	+3	+3	+6	—	72	20	4th
10th	+5	+3	+3	+7	Bonus feat	88	22	5th
11th	+5	+3	+3	+7	—	106	24	5th
12th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	—	126	25	6th
13th	+6/+1	+4	+4	+8	—	147	27	6th
14th	+7/+2	+4	+4	+9	—	170	28	7th
15th	+7/+2	+5	+5	+9	Bonus feat	195	30	7th
16th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	—	221	31	8th
17th	+8/+3	+5	+5	+10	—	250	33	8th
18th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	—	280	34	9th
19th	+9/+4	+6	+6	+11	—	311	36	9th
20th	+10/+5	+6	+6	+12	Bonus feat	343	38	9th

Hit Die: d4
Class Skills (2 + Int modifier per level): Academics, Profession, Psi Lore, and Linguistics

Class Features

An Erudite does not gain the Discipline class feature.

Class Skills

As an erudite, add Linguistics to your psion class skills.

Psionic Manifesting

As an erudite, you manifest psion powers with the following changes.

Choose your powers known only from the psion/wilder power list. You do not have access to a discipline and cannot choose powers from any discipline list. (This does not limit your ability to conduct Independent Research on new powers or use the Expanded Knowledge feat.)

Powers Known

You begin play knowing six 0-level psion talents and four 1st-level psion powers of your choice.

Maximum Power Level Known

You learn higher level powers at a slightly slower rate than the average psion. You do not gain access to powers of 2nd-level or higher until one level later than other psions, as shown on the table.

Erudite Abilities

As an erudite, you do not have the ability to trade your powers known for discipline abilities; however, you are able to unlock special abilities which have a much broader application across multiple disciplines. You may trade a power known to gain one of these abilities at each erudite level in the same way as a normal psion would gain discipline abilities.

1st-Level Abilities

Adept Researcher (Ex)

You may learn higher level powers at a slower pace, but this is only because you spend longer periods of time experimenting with your powers in a rigorous, scientific manner. Through experimentation and research, you are more easily able to learn powers beyond those you gain with each new erudite level.

For the purposes of Independent Research, you add your erudite level to your Intelligence score to determine the maximum number of psionic powers you can research. For example, a 10th-level erudite with this ability could learn up to 5 additional levels of psionic powers.

Bonus Feat I

You gain a bonus psionic feat, metapsionic feat, or item creation feat. You cannot gain Expanded Knowledge or any other feat which grants additional powers known with this ability. You must meet the prerequisites of the selected feat.

Harness Power Stone (Ex)

With a one minute ritual, you can affix a power stone to your body, merging it into your own flesh. While it remains affixed, you can manifest the stored psionic power by paying your own power points without flushing the power from the stone as if it were a power known. You can remove an affixed power stone as a full-round action, but doing so flushes the power from the stone. After removing a power stone, you can affix a new one, gaining access to that stone’s power.

If an affixed power stone contains more than one power, you can only access a single power from that stone in this way. You may switch to a different power within that stone with one minute of meditation, but this flushes the previously chosen power as if you had removed the power stone.

Affixed stones are considered held, allowing you to manifest the power or powers stored within them as normal without paying power points; however, this flushes the power from them as normal. A stone that has been completely flushed automatically detaches and falls to the ground.

This ability can be selected a number of times up to your Intelligence bonus. Each time you select this ability, you may affix one additional power stone or access one additional power in an already affixed stone. If your intelligence bonus drops below the number of power stones you currently have affixed, then affixed power stones of your choice become Inert and unusable until your Intelligence bonus is restored.

Optimized Efficiency (Ex)

You restructure one psionic power you know of 1st level or higher, enabling you to manifest it more efficiently. Select one psionic power you know. When manifesting the selected power, after determining its manifesting cost (including base cost, augmentation, metapsionic feats, abilities, and any other considerations), reduce the final power point cost to manifest the power by 1 to a minimum of 1.

The total power point cost before this discount is still limited by your manifester level. So, a 2nd-level erudite who selected crystal shard with this ability could augment that power to deal 2d6 damage and only pay one power point to manifest it. He could not, however, spend two power points to augment it to deal 3d6 damage, as the total cost would be three power points, which exceeds the limit set by his manifester level.

This ability can be selected more than once, but its benefits don’t stack. Each time you select this ability, it applies to a different power known.

8th-Level Abilities

Bonus Feat II

Breach Power Resistance (Su)

Any time you manifest a power, you may expend your psionic focus to add your Intelligence modifier on any check to overcome power resistance. This bonus increases by 1 for every two psion levels after 8th.

Optimized Potency (Ex)

You restructure one psionic power you know of 1st level or higher, enabling you to manifest it with greater power. Select one psionic power you know. You gain a +1 psionic bonus to your manifester level when manifesting the selected power. This does not stack with the Overchannel feat or other psionic bonuses to manifester level. This ability can be selected more than once, but its benefits don’t stack. Each time you select this ability, it applies to a different power known.

Transformative Research (Ex)

You are able to apply previous psionic research towards unlocking new powers. When you begin to research a new power, you may choose to sacrifice knowledge of one or more existing powers known (from either your researched powers or your normal powers known). If you do, you gain 100 experience points per power level of the sacrificed power to put towards the costs of researching the new power. Any experience in excess of the cost of researching the new power is lost with no benefit.

For example, an erudite wishes to research energy cone, a 3rd-level power belonging to the Kineticist discipline. He would normally need to pay 600 experience points (200 per power level) to learn this power. However, he chooses to sacrifice knowledge of two 1st-level powers and one 2nd-level power that aren’t as useful to him as he thought they would be when he first learned them. He gains 100 experience from the 1st-level power and 400 experience from the 2nd-level powers (200 each). This contributes 500 points toward the 600 experience point cost necessary to learn the new power. So, he will only need to spend 100 additional experience points to learn energy cone.

14th-Level Abilities

Bonus Feat III

Double Manifest (Ex)

Once per day as a full-round action, you may manifest two powers with a manifesting time of one standard action or less. The combined power point cost cannot exceed your manifester level, and the two powers must be of different disciplines.

Expert Researcher (Ex)

You add twice your erudite level to your Intelligence score for the purposes of Independent Research of psionic powers.

You must possess the adept researcher ability to select this ability.

Improved Optimization (Ex)

Select one power you’ve already selected with Optimized Efficiency. The final cost to manifest this power is reduced by an additional 1 point to a minimum of 1. The same restrictions for determining cost apply. This ability can be selected more than once, but its benefits don’t stack. Each time you select this ability, it applies to a different power known.

20th-Level Abilities

Bonus Feat IV

Expanded Mind (Ex)

Each day when you meditate to regain power points, you may choose any one power from any class power list and add it to your powers known for the day. This power does not count against your number of powers known. You lose access to this power the next time you mediate to regain power points.

Perfected Research (Ex)

When using your transformative research ability, you gain 200 experience points per level of the sacrificed power known, allowing you to exchange researched powers at almost no cost to you.

In addition, researching a new power now only takes one day per level of the power being researched (or one hour per power level with access to a power stone or willing teacher).

You must possess the transformative research ability to select this ability.