How do Psions recharge power points?

[Endarire]

And I don't mean resting for 8 hours.  I hear of psionic recharging yet am confused.  How do these methods work?

[Negative Zero]

Very carefully.

More specifically, you generally use one of several methods to reduce the cost of manifesting the power Bestow Power, until you can gain 4 pp by spending 3, or something to that effect. There's another one involving a MoI feat, but I don't fully understand that one.

[KellKheraptis]

Very carefully.

More specifically, you generally use one of several methods to reduce the cost of manifesting the power Bestow Power, until you can gain 4 pp by spending 3, or something to that effect. There's another one involving a MoI feat, but I don't fully understand that one.

I think me and another BGer came to the conclusion that the MoI version doesn't per se recharge so much as supply pp, particularly once you're reserve is gone.  If you have the full progression of it (which I'll hunt down the thread and link it here) you can manifest 17 pp worth of powers for free, 20 if you have Dominant Ideal and a Torc.

Another method that I use (and is probably the cheesiest, if easiest to understand and implement) is find a means of either A)Fast Ability Healing or Ability DR or B)Outright immunity to ability damage, and use Body Fuel.

[Infected]

From what I remember you use Midnight Augmentation to reduce the augment cost for Bestow Power and Psycarnum Infusion to treat Midnight Augementation as fully filled with essentia. You can then augment Bestow Power to your hearts content, because the cost is always just +1 for the augmentation. You'll also need Psionic Meditation to quickly re-attain your Psionic Focus.

[snakeman830]

There are a few ways, all of which use the power Bestow Power.  Recharge is impossible until level 3 as it requires a 2nd level power.

Method 1: uses only the XPH, but is also unavailable until you can manifest 9th level powers.  Share Affinity Field with your Psicrystal, then share Bestow Power with the psicrystal.  You end up getting 4 power points for every 3 you spend.  Minimum level 17

Method 2: Uses Races of Stone with the Stone Power feat and a Torc of Power Preservation.  This one takes the longest to accomplish because you cannot augment the power to gain PP.  At the base level, you spend 1 power point and gain 2.  Theoretically level 3, but only if you can convince your DM to give you the Torc, since it's way out of your price range.

Method 3: Psycarnum Infusion and Azure Talent.  Azure Talent gives you extra power points equal to twice the essentia invested in it, plus an additional 2 if you can bind to your crown chakra.  Use Psycarnum Infusion to treat the feat as being full for 1 round and use those bonus power points to manifest Bestow Power.  Cannot be used until level 6 or until you take Improved Essentia Capacity and have Bestow Power as a power known.

Method 4: Psycarnum Infusion + Solicit Psicrystal/Psionic Meditation + Midnight Augmentation.  You need Solicit Psycrystal or Psionic Meditation to pull it off, because it requires expending your psionic focus twice in one round.  Psycarnum Infusion to fill Midnight Augmentation for 1 round, then manifest Bestow Power augmenting it 1 time for free by expending your psionic focus.  You spend 3 and get 4 back.  Cannot be used until level 12 or 6 with Improved Essentia Capacity (which would be difficult)

[telehax]

The MoI one combines Psycarnum Infusion, which lets you act as if one of your Essentia Receptacles were filled to max capacity for one round when you expend your psionic focus. You then combine this with Azure Talent, which gives 2 PP per essentia. (And +2 if you have at least one and have your crown chakra bind unlocked.)

So if you bring yourself to 0 PP, and assuming your essentia capacity is 2:

Round 1
Free- Expend Focus, Gain 4 PP
Standard- Use power
Move- Refocus

Round 2
Psycarnum Infusion wears off, you lose PP, but since your PP has a minimum of 0, it goes back to 0.

The rest of the trick is piling on PP reducers and essentia capacity increases to raise how much PP you get, since the progression of free PP gain is slower than how fast you gain powers, so you need to pile on the tricks to get the level of free powers you can use up. I believe the limit I found was 18 PP reached at level 19.

Yeah it's not so much recharge as free power manifestation, but basically if you don't need actual recharge you can disregard bestow power.

[snakeman830]

As soon as you hit 0 PP, you lose your psionic focus and cannot regain it.

[Bozwevial]

Another method that I use (and is probably the cheesiest, if easiest to understand and implement) is find a means of either A)Fast Ability Healing or Ability DR or B)Outright immunity to ability damage, and use Body Fuel.

Quick comment here--Body Fuel applies a special kind of ability damage called ability burn that, according to the SRD, "cannot be magically or psionically healed" and "only returns through natural healing."

The way I interpret this (again, this could be wrong) is that a Lesser Restoration won't heal ability burn, but anything that accelerates natural healing will. I think binding Naberius would work, but it's up to DM interpretation as to whether Naberius accelerates the rate of natural healing or simply applies healing separately. I'm pretty sure immunity to ability damage or ability DR (Strongheart Vest?) would work normally.

[Sinfire Titan]

Method 3: Psycarnum Infusion and Azure Talent.  Azure Talent gives you extra power points equal to twice the essentia invested in it, plus an additional 2 if you can shape soulmelds.  Use Psycarnum Infusion to treat the feat as being full for 1 round and use those bonus power points to manifest Bestow Power.  Cannot be used until level 6 or until you take Improved Essentia Capacity and have Bestow Power as a power known.

Doesn't work, the PP gained isn't Temporary. It's used up when you manifest, but you can't specify what PP you are spending from what sources since they all form one giant pool. If you were out of PP and had a Helm of Essentia, you could use Azure Talent to gain PP back whenever you ran out. But you can't physically use Psycarnum Infusion with it. Tangent: Soulmanifester is really effing good for a Psion.

@Kell: We had that debate in the original Incarnum Handbook.

[kalaskaagathas]

Method 3: Psycarnum Infusion and Azure Talent.  Azure Talent gives you extra power points equal to twice the essentia invested in it, plus an additional 2 if you can shape soulmelds.  Use Psycarnum Infusion to treat the feat as being full for 1 round and use those bonus power points to manifest Bestow Power.  Cannot be used until level 6 or until you take Improved Essentia Capacity and have Bestow Power as a power known.

I've read those two feats as a recharge method all their own - Azure Talent grants 'bonus power points' equal to the essentia invested in the feat and Psycarnum Infusion allows you to treat an essentia receptacle as full for one round.  I see no reason the bonus power points should disappear after Psycarnum Infusion's effect wears off (as they aren't temporary, according to the text of Azure Talent) but I'll grant that your mileage may vary.

[snakeman830]

Method 3: Psycarnum Infusion and Azure Talent.  Azure Talent gives you extra power points equal to twice the essentia invested in it, plus an additional 2 if you can shape soulmelds.  Use Psycarnum Infusion to treat the feat as being full for 1 round and use those bonus power points to manifest Bestow Power.  Cannot be used until level 6 or until you take Improved Essentia Capacity and have Bestow Power as a power known.

Doesn't work, the PP gained isn't Temporary. It's used up when you manifest, but you can't specify what PP you are spending from what sources since they all form one giant pool. If you were out of PP and had a Helm of Essentia, you could use Azure Talent to gain PP back whenever you ran out. But you can't physically use Psycarnum Infusion with it. Tangent: Soulmanifester is really effing good for a Psion.

@Kell: We had that debate in the original Incarnum Handbook.

It does, however, work to increase your pool if you're very low on PP (say, 1 or 2 power points), but not out.  You still can activate it and manifest Bestow Power to get some more PP.

[Lycanthromancer]

Don't forget dweomer of transference and mental pinnacle. Great for both cerebremancers and spell-to-power erudites. These can recharge you REAL quick.

[KellKheraptis]

Don't forget dweomer of transference and mental pinnacle. Great for both cerebremancers and spell-to-power erudites. These can recharge you REAL quick.

Just make sure to give it to the Psicrystal or familiar, since IIRC your PP are set to 0 once the duration lapses?

@Sinfire Titan : Cool, I don't have to dig through almost 1300 posts then   Makes a Soul Manifest all the more bad ass IMO.

[PhaedrusXY]

Don't forget dweomer of transference and mental pinnacle. Great for both cerebremancers and spell-to-power erudites. These can recharge you REAL quick.

Just make sure to give it to the Psicrystal or familiar, since IIRC your PP are set to 0 once the duration lapses?

They are if you put Mental Pinnacle on yourself. You could stick Dweomer of Transference on yourself, and Mental Pinnacle on your psicrystal, though. I think that psionic powers should also be absorbed by the DoT under transparency, right?

[dark_samuari]

I think another path is using the dominate ideal acf of the Ardent and using empower power in conjunction with Bestow Power.

[snakeman830]

I think another path is using the dominate ideal acf of the Ardent and using empower power in conjunction with Bestow Power.

Doesn't work, since Bestow Power has no variable effects and is thus ineligible for Empowering.

[asdfjkl]

There are a few ways, all of which use the power Bestow Power.  Recharge is impossible until level 3 as it requires a 2nd level power.

Method 1: uses only the XPH, but is also unavailable until you can manifest 9th level powers.  Share Affinity Field with your Psicrystal, then share Bestow Power with the psicrystal.  You end up getting 4 power points for every 3 you spend.  Minimum level 17

Method 2: Uses Races of Stone with the Stone Power feat and a Torc of Power Preservation.  This one takes the longest to accomplish because you cannot augment the power to gain PP.  At the base level, you spend 1 power point and gain 2.  Theoretically level 3, but only if you can convince your DM to give you the Torc, since it's way out of your price range.

Method 3: Psycarnum Infusion and Azure Talent.  Azure Talent gives you extra power points equal to twice the essentia invested in it, plus an additional 2 if you can shape soulmelds.  Use Psycarnum Infusion to treat the feat as being full for 1 round and use those bonus power points to manifest Bestow Power.  Cannot be used until level 6 or until you take Improved Essentia Capacity and have Bestow Power as a power known.

Method 4: Psycarnum Infusion + Solicit Psicrystal/Psionic Meditation + Midnight Augmentation.  You need Solicit Psycrystal or Psionic Meditation to pull it off, because it requires expending your psionic focus twice in one round.  Psycarnum Infusion to fill Midnight Augmentation for 1 round, then manifest Bestow Power augmenting it 1 time for free by expending your psionic focus.  You spend 3 and get 4 back.  Cannot be used until level 12 or 6 with Improved Essentia Capacity (which would be difficult)

You forgot a few:

Recharges use various numbers of these abilities to reduce bestow power's cost to less pp's than it took to manifest it.

Linked Power+metapower (linked power+bestow power) - reduces the cost of a linked bestow power by 2
Psycarnum Infusion + Midnight Augmentation - reduces the cost of augmenting bestow power by 2
Wild Surge X - reduces the cost of augmenting/using linked power by X. (Wilders and Anarchic Initiates only)
Dominant Ideal - reduces the cost of augmenting bestow power or using linked power by 2
SRD Torc of Power Preservation - Reduces PP cost by 1 (it got nerfed in MIC to 5x/day)
Earth Power reduces the cost of augmenting Bestow Power by 1; only works if you don't expend psionic focus on the power and if you are touching earth or stone

Bestow Power costs 3pp to manifest and 3pp to augment. Each manifestation or augmentation gives 2pp so one has to reduce the cost of a linked bestow power or an single augmented bestow power by at least 3 to get a postive amount of pp back.

Also,

Larval Flayers + Mindfeeder weapon+Bestow Power.  Summon 1d3 Larval Flayers.  Coup De Grace it with a Mindfeeder weapon (pro tip: use a scythe) for an automatic critical and get back either pp = to the damage you dealt or 1pp per 5 points of damage (MIC version).  Use these temp pp to manifest larval flayers again if you only summoned one.  If you summoned more than one, use these temp pp to manifest bestow power on yourself gaining 2pp.  Then Coup De Grace another flayer the next round and use the pp to either manifest larvel flayers again or bestow power again.  If you are using the SRD mindfeeder entry then just CDG one larval flayer and then use all your new temp pp to manifest bestow power repeatedly.  This works because temp pp are explicitly used before regular pp so use bestow power to convert the temp pp to normal pp at a 3:2 ratio.

Psycarnum Infusion + Azure Talent gives bonus power points (not temp power points).  It isn't clearly defined how this should be handled when the bonus from Psycarnum Infusion ends.  The stat bonus from Animal Affinity which lasts for 1min/lv explicitly stats that "If you choose to increase the ability you use to manifest powers, you do not gain the benefit of an increased ability score long enough to gain any bonus power points for a high ability score..." so it seems like your pp don't automatically go up and down with your manifesting stat, but it seems like most people don't play it that way.

FWIW, the way I do it with my erudite is

Linked Power + Metapower(linked power+empty mind)+wild surge 1 from anarchic initiate 3

Expend focus to manifest empty mind linked with bestow power for 1pp (the cost of a linked empty mind + bestow power is 1pp for empty mind+3pp metapsionic cost of linked power, -2 from metapower and then -1 from wild surge).  The next round bestow power goes off with the same target of "You" and you receive 2pp back.

So you have a recharge set up and can basically just manifest any buff you want while using up only one unique power. 

[Azrael]

Don't forget using a +3 Mindfeeder Greathammer with a Greater Demolition crystal to kill a level 1 astral construct over and over and using the temporary pp to manifest bestow power on yourself.

[Sinfire Titan]

Don't forget using a +3 Mindfeeder Greathammer with a Greater Demolition crystal to kill a level 1 astral construct over and over and using the temporary pp to manifest bestow power on yourself.

Mindfeeder was nerfed. Crits only.

[snakeman830]

Don't forget using a +3 Mindfeeder Greathammer with a Greater Demolition crystal to kill a level 1 astral construct over and over and using the temporary pp to manifest bestow power on yourself.

Mindfeeder was nerfed. Crits only.

I think that's the purpose of the Greater Demolition crystal.  You coup-de-gras the Astral Construct each time for the auto-crit.

That and I don't recall Mindfeeder ever working on normal hits anyway...