I didn't liked 1 that much but 2 I loved.
Psion is my favorite class. Sadly is considered the weskest cipher subclass. I don't care if Amira's Wing casting Wilting Wind can make me top focus insantly, I like the idea of passively getting focus and having a burst of raw kinetic energy.
That said, IMO if Wizards are much weaker than 3.5e counterparts, Ciphers are in other hands, much stronger than its 3.5e Psionicist counterpart.
Pick a ringleader for example. AoE domination is something that not even 9th-tier spells in D&D like Dominate Monster can do. Dominate monster is a single target spell. This powerful spell is available for mid-level Ciphers. Ciphers can cast it unlimited times before needing to rest. Meanwhile, in KotC2, Dominate is a 7th-tpower( src 1 ). Psionicist is considered the strongest class by many in KotC2. and in Pillars, you can "semi" dominate a creature at lv 1, spending merely 10 focus. Or even use its abilities as a 3rd level power by spending 30 focus. In 3.5e SRD, Dominate is available as a 4th tier power but onlTelepaths( src 2). At 9th level, the psion has 72 power points, enough to cast manifest 8 powers at lv 5 per rest. Meanwhile, a Cipher in Pillows can spam multiple "ring leaders" in multiple encounters without needing to rest.
In terms of mind controlling, I think that Cipher in Pillows 1/2 is the strongest character class in ANY RPG.
src >
1 -
https://www.heroicfantasygames.com/FWE/ ... nicist.htm
2 -
https://srd.dndtools.org/srd/magic/psio ... eList.html
