Have written myself into a bit of a corner with my players attending a gladiatorial tournament, and two famous psionic gladiators fighting. Anyone got any interesting ideas I use?
There were some good ideas on the discord server, but wanted to ask in here aswell.
Goodness. Psionic gladiators. How vicious!
I wonder how that happened. Well, whatever. It is apparently upon you now.
I shall speculate they are retired gladiators who have become practitioners of the Way in their later years, and yet for some reason have been drawn back into the games.
Two psychometabolists seem appropriate to me. No weapons. Martial arts only. But they may make themselves stronger and faster than other gladiators. The crowd would want a spectacle, not subtle psionic effects. Punches that break rock. Immovability that defeats the greatest wrestling move. Flesh armor and biofeedback that absorbs the harshest blows. And licks that extend several feet.
And you could make it be all on a balancing board over a pit: the win goes to he who first makes it to the other side. Let the two masters find their worth on the Plank of Fates.
There’s a random idea anyway.
As pointed out, gladitorial matched are intended to be spectacles to distract, pacify, control, and entertain the masses… just like the gladitorial spectacles aired weekly on TV in modern Earth.
Psions and wilders can do much better than meer melee slugfests, though that does have it’s place for the easily satisfied.
Psionics enable energy blasts; telekinetic manipulations of the body, surrounding material, opponent’s weapons, even the odd spectator or two. Almost all (3rd ed) psionics have displays, which give an audience sensory input to otherwise invisible powers.
Many powers allow for environmental effects, great for setting the stage and mood. And where that is not enough, monologuing combined with a chunibyo naming sense shouted out loud plus healthy maniacal laughter while the target screams always covers the default Mind Thrust or Ego Whip.
And there is nothing wrong with shapeshifting for effect. It’s all about presentation!
More ideas available if you need them.
Sorry if I missed the window!
So with some thoughts the easiest fix I could think of would be to use Psychic Warriors. They are warrior-like, can augment themselves, and get fighter bonus feats. Depending on the books you are allowing at your table, Ardent would be a possible option as it is tankier than Psion or Wilder, but hey. Divine Mind would be something that could be done but I would not recommend it as it does not seem to fit your idea in mind.
An easy set up would be a Psychic Warrior / Gladiator Multiclass set up. They would lose out on some features of both, but a Gladiator that could say grow a muzzle like a wolf and bite his opponent (Bite of the Wolf PSY WAR 1), or can take a ton of punishment (Biofeedback, PSY WAR 1) can be easy intros. One that can grow to the size of a giant (Expansion, PSY WAR 1) could also draw crowds.
Now depending on how tough these guys are, and by that I mean their level, you can get pretty entertaining. If they are known factors, like they can draw crowds, they are probably at least level 7. You could do Psychic Warrior 5, Gladiator 2. Depending on your Gladiator levels, you could have perform early on as a class skill, Mercy (so they don’t kill their fellow gladiators), and 3 bonus Psionic/Fighter feats to tinker around with. This means you could give them exotic weapons, or kit them out to be really unique draws on top of their base 3 feats (assuming non-human, non-level adjustment race).
Imagine a cage match where the combatant literally runs along the walls to the ceiling, then gets a diving charge onto his opponent. You could do a lot of pretty silly stuff with that kind of build.
Hey now, have you been peeking at my character sheets? Lol
My Thri-kreen Dervish character is very fond of walls and pillars, and even opponents as stepping surfaces.