Digging into the Psion II
Ok, so given the previous assumption, let's look at psion powers versus encounter powers on a per level basis.
None of this touches on the flexibility of the Psion. The ability to choose to use minor augmentations or to spam lower tier abilities is something I take as given, and combined with the fact that the difference between levels of augmentation is sometimes of _type_ in addition to potency, it seems so clear that the Psion is more flexible than most any other class in the powers it can choose to deploy.
It also does not touch on specific powers and their scalability, but that merits some tangential mention. If a Psion has a lower level attack which "scales up", that's particularly dangerous. A power which scales up is usually one where the damage is secondary to the status effects, which are roughly equal in value at all levels, but there are some exceptions. Powers which trigger off someone else's basic attack (notably, the Psion's "Betrayal" ability) scale up in damage with levels, which means the power is as useful at 27th level as it is at 7th. This is an issue because it cost a third of what the level 27 attack does to augment. This introduces the possibility of spamming (Repeatedly using) that attack because it's so affordable. While this is an issue, I don't think it's a huge on. At high epic levels, when this matters, it's actually less good than the Demigod's ability to spam encounter powers (though this raises an interesting question: How does the Psion interact with the Demigod epic path?)
Anyway, on to the breakdown.
By level a character can use this many encounter attacks (setting aside any from paragon paths) and how many power points a psion gets.
LvlEncounter
PowersPower
Points
1.123.1/347.1/3/7613.3/7/13717.7/13/17921.7/13/171123.13/17/231327.17/23/2715
So, the key thing here is that the cost of augmenting Psion powers goes up with each tier.
TierMinor
Augment CostMajor
Augment CostHeroic12Paragon14Epic26
So, let's presume a given Psion uses the highest level powers he can with the most augmentation he can get. What does that look like?
LvlEncounter
PowersAugmented
At WillsParagon
Path**1.11(2)1(2)3.1/33/3(4)3/3(4)7.1/3/77/7/7(6)7/7/7(6)11.1/3/77/7/7(6)7/7/7/7(8)13.3/7/1313/7/13*(7)13/13/13*(9)17.7/13/1717/17/17*(9)17/17/7/17*(11)21.7/13/1717/17/7/17*(11)17/17/17/17*(13)23.13/17/2323/23/13*(13)23/23/23*/17*(15)27.13/23/2727/27/27*/13*(15)27/27/27*/27*13*(17)
* - indicates minor augmentation
** - The Paragon path column is interesting and important. Psionic Paragon paths seem to grant 2 PP, which smooths out the odd gap between 7 and 13 (and specifically the curious change to odd numbers)
So, that looks pretty brutal to me, with the psion only looking a little weak in the 7-13 range, and only when not taking a psion paragon path. I admit that my instinctive response is "Ok, the Psion is too badass" but that's a very suspect reaction since there are a few outstanding questions, notably:
1. Does the underlying assumption (That a maximally augmented at-willpower equates to an encounter power) hold up?
2. How potent is a minimal augmentation, relatively speaking?
3. How much power difference is there between the At-Will attacks, really?
Answering those is next, I think.
None of this touches on the flexibility of the Psion. The ability to choose to use minor augmentations or to spam lower tier abilities is something I take as given, and combined with the fact that the difference between levels of augmentation is sometimes of _type_ in addition to potency, it seems so clear that the Psion is more flexible than most any other class in the powers it can choose to deploy.
It also does not touch on specific powers and their scalability, but that merits some tangential mention. If a Psion has a lower level attack which "scales up", that's particularly dangerous. A power which scales up is usually one where the damage is secondary to the status effects, which are roughly equal in value at all levels, but there are some exceptions. Powers which trigger off someone else's basic attack (notably, the Psion's "Betrayal" ability) scale up in damage with levels, which means the power is as useful at 27th level as it is at 7th. This is an issue because it cost a third of what the level 27 attack does to augment. This introduces the possibility of spamming (Repeatedly using) that attack because it's so affordable. While this is an issue, I don't think it's a huge on. At high epic levels, when this matters, it's actually less good than the Demigod's ability to spam encounter powers (though this raises an interesting question: How does the Psion interact with the Demigod epic path?)
Anyway, on to the breakdown.
By level a character can use this many encounter attacks (setting aside any from paragon paths) and how many power points a psion gets.
LvlEncounter
PowersPower
Points
1.123.1/347.1/3/7613.3/7/13717.7/13/17921.7/13/171123.13/17/231327.17/23/2715
So, the key thing here is that the cost of augmenting Psion powers goes up with each tier.
TierMinor
Augment CostMajor
Augment CostHeroic12Paragon14Epic26
So, let's presume a given Psion uses the highest level powers he can with the most augmentation he can get. What does that look like?
LvlEncounter
PowersAugmented
At WillsParagon
Path**1.11(2)1(2)3.1/33/3(4)3/3(4)7.1/3/77/7/7(6)7/7/7(6)11.1/3/77/7/7(6)7/7/7/7(8)13.3/7/1313/7/13*(7)13/13/13*(9)17.7/13/1717/17/17*(9)17/17/7/17*(11)21.7/13/1717/17/7/17*(11)17/17/17/17*(13)23.13/17/2323/23/13*(13)23/23/23*/17*(15)27.13/23/2727/27/27*/13*(15)27/27/27*/27*13*(17)
* - indicates minor augmentation
** - The Paragon path column is interesting and important. Psionic Paragon paths seem to grant 2 PP, which smooths out the odd gap between 7 and 13 (and specifically the curious change to odd numbers)
So, that looks pretty brutal to me, with the psion only looking a little weak in the 7-13 range, and only when not taking a psion paragon path. I admit that my instinctive response is "Ok, the Psion is too badass" but that's a very suspect reaction since there are a few outstanding questions, notably:
1. Does the underlying assumption (That a maximally augmented at-willpower equates to an encounter power) hold up?
2. How potent is a minimal augmentation, relatively speaking?
3. How much power difference is there between the At-Will attacks, really?
Answering those is next, I think.