How does the Mind Thrust psionic power work?

Question

The description of the Mind Thrust psionic power in the SRD says:

Level: Psion/wilder 1
Display: Auditory
Manifesting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Target: One creature
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: Will negates
Power Resistance: Yes
Power Points: 1

You instantly deliver a massive assault on the thought pathways of any one creature, dealing 1d10 points of damage to it.

Augment

For every additional power point you spend, this power’s damage increases by 1d10 points. For each extra 2d10 points of damage, this power’s save DC increases by 1.

Do I need to make any attack rolls? Or does this power just instantly trigger the enemy to make a Will save roll, and deal damage if he fails?

Answer 1

The mind thrust power doesn't require an attack roll

The typical manifester takes a standard action to manifest the 1st-level psion/wilder power mind thrust [telepathy] (Expanded Psionics Handbook 120) and a subject within close range to whom the manifester has both line of sight and line of effect makes a Will saving throw. Failure means that the victim is dealt 1d10 points of damage (or more if the power's augmented or otherwise modified). Success means that the victim is unaffected.

Keep in mind that "[t]he maximum number of [power] points you can spend on a power (for any reason) is equal to your manifester level" (63 and here). This tends to keep the mind thrust power's potential damage reasonable. (And the lack of an attack roll means no scoring critical hits with the power, so there's that.)

Also remember that the power mind thrust possesses the descriptor mind-affecting, making it useless against, for example, a typical creature that possesses the type construct, ooze, or undead.

Finally, the binary nature of the power (i.e. either the subject is dealt damage or the subject is unaffected) makes the power, at low levels, pretty much comparable to owning a bow except that once the power is taken, using it costs power points instead of copper pieces… and cp are usually easier for an adventurer to come by. (In a campaign I ran, the psychic rogue PC took the power mind thrust. Over the course of, like, four levels that took 6 real-world months of once-a-week 4-hour sessions to play, the PC used the power—I think—but once. There were just always better options.)