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lesser_minion
2009-02-07, 02:18 AM
This is mostly the start of an attempt to fix the Soulknife base class, which in its SRD incarnation works out as being a strange skirmisher/meatshield hybrid which ends up with the worst of both worlds.

For my fix, I've tried to emphasise the skirmisher element that the original soulknife had - this has amounted to cutting hit dice back a little, adding in a couple of new features, moving stuff around (by 2nd level, they have an ability that the SRD soulknife doesn't get until 17th level. And I don't think it's overpowered). The class doesn't do very well in a straight fight, but it can deal an obscene amount of damage under the right circumstances.

At the moment, this class is not really that far past back-of-an-envelope stage, and my current opinion is that it is either overpowered or pretty close. I don't have access to any published material past core/SRD, so this class might not play brilliantly alongside its 'extra shiny' comrades. I'm also trying to think of some soulknife-only feats which will help this soulknife to play a bit better (at the moment, Mind Blade is all they have)

Feel free to comment, make suggestions or criticise my total lack of a sense for balance (preferably the first two). I'm also considering creating a meatshield Soulknife, which will get the d10 hit dice and a few different goodies. And be less Dexterity dependent.

The Soulknife - version 0.75 (one-track, but hopefully an improvement)

One of the rarest psionic talents of all is the ability to create the Mind Blade or Spirit Blade - a sword or knife composed of psychic energy distilled from the psionicist's own mind. Those with this skill are exceptional warriors, capable of charging their mind blades with psychic energy in various forms. The Soulknife is one such individual - a psychic skirmisher, who hones her deadly talents in order to become more capable at both spying and assasination.

Races: Almost any race can produce a soulknife, although they seem most common among the naturally psionic races, and among humans.

Alignment: A soulknife may be of any alignment, although Chaos-aligned soulknives are quite rare, as producing a mind blade requires some self-discipline and rigorous training.

Abilities: A soulknife doesn't need to worry too much about strength. Intelligence is quite imprtant to the character, improving attack damage and improving some class features, while Dexterity improves AC and attack rolls.

Level-dependent stats and abilities:
{table=head]
Level|
Base Attack Bonus|
Fort|
Reflex|
Will|
Special Abilities

1|+0|+0|+2|+2|Call Mind Blade, Mind Warrior +1
2|+1|+0|+3|+3|Throw Mind Blade
3|+2|+1|+3|+3|Psychic Talent (2/encounter), Psychic Shield
4|+3|+1|+4|+4|Bonus Feat
5|+3|+1|+4|+4|Mind Warrior +2, Psychic Talent (3/encounter)
6|+4|+2|+5|+5|Accelerate
7|+5|+2|+5|+5|Energy Strike
8|+6/+1|+2|+6|+6|Bonus Feat
9|+6/+1|+3|+6|+6|Mind Warrior +3, Psychic Talent (4/encounter)
10|+7/+2|+3|+7|+7|Special Abilities
11|+8/+3|+3|+7|+7|Psychic Strike
12|+9/+4|+4|+8|+8|Bonus Feat
13|+9/+4|+4|+8|+8|Mind Warrior +4, Psychic Talent (5/encounter)
14|+10/+5|+4|+9|+9|Spirit Strike
15|+11/+6/+1|+5|+9|+9|Greater Energy Strike
16|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+10|Bonus Feat
17|+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+10|Mind Warrior +5, Psychic Talent (6/encounter)
18|+13/+8/+3|+6|+11|+11|Deadly Insight
19|+14/+9/+4|+6|+11|+11|Knife to the Soul
20|+15/+10/+5|+6|+12|+12|Bladewind[/table]

Class Features:
The following are class features of the Soulknife base class:

Hit Die: d6
Starting Skill Points: 24 + (4 x Int mod.)
Skill Points gained each level: 6 + Int mod.
Starting Wealth: 4d4x10gp

Skills: A Soulknife has the following class skills, grouped by key ability:
Strength: Climb, Jump, Swim Dexterity: Balance, Tumble, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock Constitution: Concentration Intelligence: Craft (any), Search, Disable Device Wisdom: Profession (any), Autohypnosis, Spot, Listen, Sense Motive Charisma: Disguise, Bluff, Use Psionic Device


Weapon and Armour Proficiencies: A Soulknife is proficient in all simple weapons, as well as all light or one-handed martial weapons except 'chain weapons'. She is also considered proficient in her Mind Blade. A soulknife is proficient in light armour and shields.

Call Mind Blade (Su): A soulknife's signature ability is her ability to weave her own fears, hopes, passions and desires into weaponry. A Mind Blade is the same in mechanical terms as a light or one-handed melee weapon chosen by the soulknife, in which she must be proficient, although it is always considered a light weapon, and the Soulknife may apply her dexterity modifier in place of her strength modifier to Mind Blade melee attack rolls, even if she lacks the weapon finesse feat. She may also apply her Intelligence modifier in place of her strength modifier on damage rolls. With a soulknife's mind blade, finesse and precision are almost invariably more important than brute strength.

The first time in an encounter that a soulknife calls her mind blade in a particular form is considered equivalent to drawing a weapon. For the remainder of the encounter, a soulknife may freely call her mind blade in the same form, even if it is not her turn, as long as she is capable of wielding the weapon. She may also dismiss her mind blade freely, with no limit to the number of times the soulknife may call or dismiss her mind blade over the course of a round.

Although it is made from psychic energy distilled from the soulknife's own mind, a mind blade overcomes damage reduction as a magic deep crystal weapon.

Mind Warrior (Su): A soulknife gains an enhancement bonus to all Mind Blade attack and damage rolls as shown in the table above. This bonus also affects various other soulknife class features.

A soulknife of 1st level or higher can gain psionic focus as an application of the Concentration skill, without being subject to the normal requirement to have at least one power point.

Psychic Talent: A soulknife of 3rd level or higher has a small pool of 'charges' of psychic talent, which allow her to use soulknife psi-like abilities, as shown on the table.

A soulknife's pool of charges refreshes on a per-encounter basis, assuming that encounters are broken by at least two minutes of no more than light activity. However, a soulknife who has expended all of her uses of this ability may spend one round concentrating to recover one charge. She is stunned during this time, and also provokes attacks of opportunity.

All saving throws against a soulknife's Psi-like abilities have a DC equal to 10 + 1/2 class level + intelligence modifier.

Throw Mind Blade: A second level soulknife may throw any Mind Blade with a range increment of 30ft.

Weapon Focus: A second level soulknife receives Weapon Focus (Mind Blade) as a bonus feat.

Psychic Shield (Ps): At 3rd level, a soulknife learns to use her mind as a physical defense against attacks. As a free action, she may create a small shield of psychic energy which lasts until the end of the encounter.

The shield grants her a shield bonus to AC equal to her Mind Warrior bonus. In all other respects, it behaves as a shield spell, including the ability to block incoming magic missile spells.

This ability costs the soulknife one use of her psionic talent.

Bonus Feats: At certain levels as indicated above, a soulknife gains a bonus feat. These bonus feats must either be soulknife-specific feats or psionic feats, and the soulknife must meet the prerequisites for these feats.

Although she may choose metapsionic feats or psionic feats that relate to the manifestation of powers, such feats are of no use to the soulknife unless she multiclasses.

Accelerate (Ps): At 6th level, a Soulknife gains a +10ft enhancement bonus to all speeds. A soulknife of this stature may also move up to her speed as an immediate action, at the cost of a use of Power of the Mind.

Energy Strike (Ps): A 6th level soulknife learns to charge her mind blade with elemental power. On reaching this level, she must choose either fire, acid, sonic, electricity or cold. She may now convert her mind blade damage to that energy type at will as part of her attack action.

While she is using her mind blade to deal energy damage, a soulknife may also choose to add +d8 damage per point of her Mind Blade enhancement bonus. This ability is activated as a free action, and remains in effect for a number of rounds equal to her intelligence modifier, at the cost of one use of her psychic talent.

Special Abilities (su): Once a soulknife reaches 10th level, she gains the ability to add psionic and magical weapon special abilities to the various pieces of 'equipment' she is able to create. The soulknife's Mind Blade and Psychic Shield can both be enchanted in this way, although qualtities that add additional dice of damage may not be added. It takes eight hours of meditation to enchant each item, and it retains the special abilities so granted for up to one month (at which point the soulknife is free to enchant it again).

The special qualities you grant an item are limited to a total bonus equivalent equal to your Mind Warrior enhancement bonus.

The soulknife need not expend any gold or experience in order to use this class feature.

Psychic Strike (su): At 11th level, a soulknife's mind blade becomes an instrument of raw psychic energy. She may now charge her mind blade at any time with psychic energy which deals an additional amount of damage equal to d8 per point of Mind Blade enhancement bonus. This damage may be applied only against living, nonmindless targets, but is not subject to any form of resistance, damage reduction, fast healing or regeneration whatsoever.

Each attack enhanced using this ability costs a single use of the soulknife's psychic talent, provided that it hits.

Spirit Strike (Ps): At 14th level, a soulknife's mind blade can be used to warp through armour and shields. All attacks made with the mind blade are incorporeal touch attacks while this ability is in effect. This counts as one use of the soulknife's psychic talent for each attack so enhanced, whether it hits or not. The use of this ability must be declared prior to making an attack roll.

Greater Energy Strike (Ps): At 14th level, the Soulknife may expend her psionic focus to maximise the damage dealt by a single successful Energy Strike. Using this ability also causes the blade to continue to deal basic damage (converted into the appropriate energy type) each round until the victim passes a reflex save.

Suppression Strike (Ps): At 17th level, the Soulknife may expend a use of her psychic talent after hitting an enemy in order to temporarily suppress magical or psionic effects on their person. The victim cannot use or be affected by any spell, spell-like or psi-like effect (including powers) of any kind for a number of rounds equal to the soulknife's intelligence modifier.

The target receives a Will save against this effect.

Deadly Insight (Ps): At 18th level, a soulknife can become a force of perfectly balanced fury, capable of slipping through almost any defence her opponents may try to muster.

If the opponent has any bonuses to AC which are dependent on them not being immobilised (this includes but is not limited to shield bonuses, insight bonuses, dodge bonuses, all ability score bonuses that are not listed as being another type of bonus, and most untyped bonuses), then they are ignored for the purposes of attacks made while using this ability.

Note that no normal or special rule in existence can prevent this ability bypassing these bonuses to AC unless it specifically states that it offers protection from this ability.

The use of this ability must be declared prior to making an attack roll. Each attack the soulknife makes which is enhanced by this ability costs her one use of her psychic talent.

Knife to the Soul: At 19th level, the Soulknife may expend her psionic focus to deal an amount of damage to either intelligence, wisdom or charisma equal to her intelligence modifier after making a successful spirit strike or a psychic strike.

Bladewind : A 20th level Soulknife gains the most powerful soulknife ability of all - the Bladewind. This ability allows the soulknife to make two full attacks as a full-round action, at the cost of three uses of her psychic talent. The soulknife may not use any other psi-like ability in conjunction with these attacks.

lesser_minion
2009-02-08, 04:49 PM
Bump?

Does anyone have any comments, suggestions or criticisms?

There is another class to follow, and possibly a few spells and psionic powers. And once both classes are up, there will hopefully be a few new feats. One I've already thought of:


Spirit's Arrow
You can use your gift at creating weaponry to create ammunition for bows or crossbows.
Prerequisite: Throw Mind Blade class feature
Benefit: Choose a piercing or slashing projectile weapon in which you are proficient. You may now create ammunition for this weapon as a free action while psionically focused. A weapon using spirit's arrow gains the same benefits as your character's mind blade, e.g. weapon focus and access to class features such as energy strike


It could possibly use a better name.

Olo Demonsbane
2009-02-08, 05:34 PM
Wow. Thats awesome.

I like the soulknife concept, but it has always been a little weak...So this is awesome. Its a little overpowered, but it is still fun. Id recomend cutting back on some of the high level powers. One thing that would totally cheese this class is the feat that lets you refocus yourself as a free action. This lets all of your attacks be touch attacks.

Still, overall, this is much better than the standard soulknife!

lesser_minion
2009-02-08, 06:26 PM
One thing that would totally cheese this class is the feat that lets you refocus yourself as a free action. This lets all of your attacks be touch attacks.

To my knowledge, there is no feat in existence that lets you obtain psionic focus as a free action, because if there was, it would be more broken than Metamorphic Transfer. The point behind psionic focus is to allow psionic characters to get loads of uses of slightly enhanced abilities without breaking the game.

Spirit Strike actually applies to all of the attacks you make during a round - I have to admit, I generally assumed that it would be used in situations like flanking to deal obscene amounts of damage in a single round. However, I have probably made an epic mistake in allowing the ability to be recharged as a move action (even though it requires a skill check)

As a possible stopgap fix to that, I've changed the damage type it does - it now deals 'Spirit' damage, which has a few specific rules that are applicable to it (eg. the weapon now loses most damage bonuses when used in a spirit strike) - it's still very powerful, but you now lose a lot of damage when you use Spirit Strike. It is, however, great against the Tarrasque (depends on your DM - Spirit Strike always ignores regen, no matter what, but the tarrasque's regen always applies, no matter what)

lesser_minion
2009-02-13, 03:31 PM
Version 0.5 of the Soulknife is now up - it can now be pretty horrific if you pump wisdom, and it's probably still not great on the OP front, but I've added in a new balancing factor, which allows the abilities to be used several times (even in one round), hopefully without being broken.

As for the promised meatshield class and mind blade feats - they're on hold for a bit, but I will post it when it's ready. Does anyone have any ideas for a name?

LordShotGun
2009-03-14, 10:11 PM
Wow, as a massive fan of the soulblade concept, this totally made my day. When I read the expanded psionic source book I wanted to make a soulblade character. I did'nt think at the time that this class was underpowered,but I'm all for improving this class.

If you don't mind would you tell me the reasons why you thought that the soulblade was underpowered in the firstplace? I am very new to playing DnD (although I have know about it for several years) and don't understand why the original class was so bad?

Hida Reju
2009-03-15, 01:30 AM
I always loved the Soulknife and wished it could have been more as a base class.

Here is my take on yours, I like it but it starts to add some problems with complexity. Instead of the Power of the mind uses I would give it PP like a Psiwarrior per day then give each of its abilites a cost. Then you could have augments for just your Mind blade that are epic in coolness.

Also they could burn feats on expanded knowledge to gain a limited number of powers in addition to the mind blade ones you have here.

This gives each Soulknife some options on how to advance themselves a bit differently and with a PP progression that is solid a reason to advance to lvl 20.

Person_Man
2009-03-15, 12:45 PM
I can't post on a Soulknife thread without shamelessly promoting my own homebrew fix:

Force Adept
d6 hit dice
4 Skill Points per level
Class Skills: Autohypnosis, Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Jump, Knowledge (Psionics), Listen, Profession, Sense Motive, Spot, Swim, Tumble.
Weapon and Armor Prof: Simple weapons and light armor, no shields.

{table=head]Level|
BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Abilities
1st|
+1|
+0|
+2|
+2| Psychic Weapon +1, Psychic Weapon Ability
2nd|
+2|
+0|
+3|
+3| Psychic Talent
3rd|
+3|
+1|
+3|
+3| Psychic Weapon Power
4th|
+4|
+1|
+4|
+4| Force Combo (1 per encounter)
5th|
+5|
+1|
+4|
+4| Psychic Weapon +2, Psychic Weapon Ability
6th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+5|
+5| Psychic Talent
7th|
+7/+2|
+2|
+5|
+5| Psychic Weapon Power
8th|
+8/+3|
+2|
+6|
+6| Force Combo (2 per encounter)
9th|
+9/+4|
+3|
+6|
+6 | Uncanny Dodge
10th|
+10/+5|
+3|
+7|
+7| Psychic Weapon +3, Psychic Weapon Ability, Psychic Talent
11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+3|
+7|
+7 | Psychic Weapon Power
12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+4|
+8|
+8| Force Combo (3 per encounter)
13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+4|
+8|
+8| Evasion
14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+4|
+9|
+9 | Psychic Talent
15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+5|
+9|
+9| Psychic Weapon +4, Psychic Weapon Ability, Psychic Weapon Power
16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+10|
+10| Force Combo (4 per encounter)
17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+10| Psychic Force
18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+11|
+11| Psychic Talent
19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+11|
+11| Psychic Weapon Power, Force Mastery
20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+12|
+12| Psychic Weapon +5, Psychic Weapon Ability, Psychic Talent, Force Combo (5 per encounter)
[/table]

Psychic Weapon (Su):
As a Move action, you may manifest one simple weapon out of psychic energy. This weapon acts exactly like a mundane weapon of the same type. Any Psychic Weapon that you manifest has a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage. This increases by another +1 every five levels, to a maximum of +5 at level 20. This bonus applies to any Psychic Weapon, ammunition, and shield that you manifest with this ability, as do all Psychic Weapon powers that you manifest.

You may also manifest any simple object or tool. You may manifest up to 1 cubic foot of material per Force Adept level. For example, you could manifest a rope, shovel, mirror, wall, etc. If you wish to manifest a complex object, you must make the appropriate Craft check, with a DC set by your DM. These objects behave exactly as a mundane object of the same type.

You may only manifest one weapon or object at a given time. If you lose physical contact with the weapon or object, it dissipates at the end of your turn. If you lose consciousness for any reason, the weapon or object dissipates immediately. You may alter the minor features of the weapon or object, such as color, at will when you create the item. Any weapon, object, shield, or armor that you manifest with this ability has a hardness and hit points of 10 + your Force Adept class level, though you’re free to make it lower if you choose. You may dismiss any Psychic Weapon effect as a free action.

Anything that you manifest with this ability counts as a Force effect. This allows it to hit incorporeal enemies normally. However, the damage dealt by your Psychic Weapon still counts as physical damage.

If anything created with your Psychic Weapon ability is destroyed, you must make a Will Saving Throw (DC = damage dealt to object) or be Stunned for 1 round.

Psychic Weapon Ability (Su):
At first level, you gain the ability to manifest your Psychic Weapon in a new way. You gain an additional Psychic Weapon ability at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th levels as well. Any Psychic Weapon

Unless otherwise noted, you may only select each Psychic Weapon Ability once. Choose from the following list:

Armor: You gain the ability to manifest Force armor. This is in addition to your ability to manifest one Psychic weapon or object. It grants an armor bonus of 4 + the enhancement bonus to your Psychic Weapon (max +9 at 20th level). Your armor counts as a Force effect, and thus fully applies to your Touch AC and to attacks from Ethereal enemies. Furthermore, it imposes no armor check penalty, max Dexterity bonus, or spellcasting failure. It does not penalize your movement, and you count as not wearing any armor for other feats or class abilities.

Martial Weapon: You gain the ability to manifest all martial weapons as a Psychic Weapon. You gain proficiency with all martial weapons that you manifest as a Psychic Weapon.

Ammunition: You gain the ability to manifest all ammunition as a Psychic Weapon, such as arrows, darts, bolts, shuriken, etc. You also gain the ability to manifest any Psychic Weapon ammunition as a free action. This allows you to make a full attack with a ranged weapons and certain thrown weapons - though each Psychic Weapon still dissipates as soon as you attack your enemy and then manifest the next psychic weapon (or at the end of your turn, if you choose not to manifest a replacement). If ammunition that you manifest is fired from a magic weapon, the special properties of your ammunition stack with the properties of the weapon, following the same rules as regular magic ammunition fired from a magic weapon (for example, Enhancement bonuses still do not stack).

Exotic Weapon: You gain the ability to manifest one Exotic Weapon of your choice as a Psychic Weapon. You also gain proficiency with this Exotic Weapon when you manifest it as a Psychic Weapon. You may take this ability multiple times. Each time you take this ability, you gain proficiency with an additional exotic weapon.

Multiple Weapons: You may now manifest two Psychic Weapons or objects at once, instead of one. (Or one weapon and an object, or two objects). This allows you to use Two Weapon Fighting with your Psychic Weapons, though you must still qualify for and take the feats as appropriate to avoid the penalties for fighting with two weapons. You may take this ability multiple times. Each time you take it, you may manifest one additional weapon or object. This allows a Force Adept with multiple arms to use Multi-Weapon Fighting.

Shield: You gain the ability to manifest a shield as a Psychic Weapon. This is in addition to your ability to manifest one Psychic Weapon or object. You may manifest a buckler, light, medium, or heavy shield. The shield has an enhancement bonus equal to your Psychic Weapon's enhancement bonus, which applies both to it's shield AC bonus and your attack bonus, as if it had been enchanted separately as a weapon. You automatically gain proficiency with any Psychic Weapon shield that you manifest. As a Force object this shield protects normally against ethereal attacks, although attacks with a Psychic Weapon shield still count as physical damage just as they do with a normal Psychic Weapon. Furthermore, it imposes no armor check penalty, max Dexterity bonus, or spellcasting failure.

Special Material: Choose any one material, such as adamantine, cold iron, mithril, or star metal. Instead of a Force effect, you may manifest anything that you create with your Psychic Weapon ability as that material. If you have the ability to manifest armor and/or a shield, you may also manifest them as a special material. When you manifest an item from a special material, it takes on the properties of that material. This includes hardness, hit points, and ability to effect enemies with damage reduction. For armor and shields, this also includes armor check penalty, weight, spellcasting failure, etc. When manifested as a special material, your effects cease to be a Force effects (and thus ethereal enemies would gain their standard benefits against you, and your armor and shield bonuses no longer apply to touch attacks). Objects manifested with your Psychic Weapon ability still dissipate like any other Psychic Weapon or object. You may choose this ability multiple times. Each time you take this ability, you may manifest your Psychic Weapon as one additional material.

Psychic Talent (Su):
At 2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th, 18th, and 20th levels, you gain a Psychic Talent. Force Talents have a range of 5 feet per Force Adept level. Feats and other modifiers that improve or hinder your Disarm, Trip, Grapple, or Bull Rush attempts apply to the effects of Psychic Talents. For all Psychic Talents, you count as medium size, regardless of your actual size.

Psychic Talents are fueled by Force Points. With the exception of Force Energy, each Psychic Talent takes 2 Force Points to activate. You have a number of Force Points equal to your Force Adept level. You may regain your Force Points by taking a full round action and making a Concentration check = 10 + number of Force Points you wish to rejuvenate. If you fail this check, you do not rejuvenate any Force Points. You may not manifest any Force Talent during a round that you regain Force Points.

You may spend additional Force Points to enhance your Psychic Talents. You may spend more then one Force Point per round in this fashion, and the bonuses stack.

If another Force Adept attempts to use a Force Talent, you may make a Knowledge (Psionics) check (DC = 10 + Force Adept level of your enemy) as a Free Action to recognize the Force Talent and the total number of Force Points that your enemy is using to activate and enhance it. If you possess the same Force Talent, as an Immediate action you may spend the same number of Force Points to negate your enemy’s use of the Force Talent, or to reduce the number of points that he enhances it by.

Force Talents are Supernatural abilities, and thus are not effected by Spell Resistance or Power Resistance, and they never provoke an attack of opportunity.

With the exception of Force Energy, you may only choose each Talent once. Each time you gain this ability, you may choose any one Talent from the following list:

Force Energy: Instead of a new Talent, you gain 2 Force Points, in addition to the Force Points gained from your Force Adept levels. You must be at least a 6th level Force Adept to take this Talent.

Force Explosion: As a Full Round Action make a Bull Rush attempt, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier as a bonus for the opposed roll, against all targets within 5 feet per Force Adept level. This action applies to all targets, including all enemies, allies, and objects. You may decrease the radius of the Force Explosion, but you may not shape the blast (it goes in all directions, including up and down).

Movement causes by Force Explosion does not provoke an attack of opportunity from you, although it does provoke from others. Targets are effected simultaneously though, and may not make an attack of opportunity on an enemy moved by Force Explosion if they also fail their Force Explosion opposed check. Targets are always pushed directly away from you in a strait line.

If the target is pushed into a wall or other solid object, they take damage as if they fell, 1d6 damage for every 10 feet pushed. If the enemy is pushed into an occupied square, the enemy's movement stops, but they must both make a Reflex Save (DC = your opposed check result) or be knocked Prone.

You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For each additional Force Point you spend, you gain +1 to your opposed Bull Rush check.

Force Grip: As a full round action make a Grapple check against a single enemy, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier as a bonus for the opposed roll. If you succeed, your enemy counts as being Grappled. You do not count as being Grappled, but you do lose your Dex bonus to AC for as long as this Talent is active.

You may maintain Force Grip each round as a full round action as part of the same Force Grip use. Once each round (including the round that you initiate the Grapple) you may make another opposed check to pin, move, or deal damage against your enemy. If you move your enemy, you may move them 5 feet in any direction for every 5 points that you beat them on your opposed check. If the enemy is pushed into a wall, they take damage as if they fell, 1d6 damage for every 10 feet pushed. (You could even push your enemy strait up, and then let them fall down, if you chose). If the enemy is pushed into another enemy, the movement stops, but they must both make a Reflex Save (DC = your opposed check result) or be knocked Prone. If you choose to deal damage, you deal 1d6 damage, +1d6 for every three Force Adept levels that you have, to a maximum of 7d6 at 18th level. On his turn the enemy may make opposed Grapple checks as normal to free himself. If at any point you lose an opposed check, the Force Grip is ended.

You may use this Talent to move an unattended object weighing up to 25 lbs for every Force Adept levels you possess automatically. You may move it at a speed of 5 feet for every Force Adept levels you posses. You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For each additional Force Point you spend, you gain +1 to your opposed Grapple check, and you may move an additional 25 lbs of weight on an unattended object. You must pay any enhancement cost each round that you maintain a Force Grip on an enemy. However, after the first round of successfully moving an unattended object, you do not need to pay the enhancement cost on your Force Grip. For example, if you Force Grip a box weighing 100 lbs (4 Force Points), then maintaining that grip only costs 1 point per round thereafter.

Force Lightning: As a Standard Action, you may manifest your Force power as pure energy. Make a ranged touch attack against a single enemy within range. If you hit, you deal 2d4 points of Force damage, and the enemy takes a -2 penalty to its Dexterity for 1d4 rounds. If the enemy is non-living (construct, undead) you deal 4d4 points of damage instead, and the enemy is Dazed for 1d4 rounds. A Fortitude Save (DC = 10 + your Cha bonus) prevents half of the damage and the Dexterity penalty or Daze effect. The penalties and durations of multiple Force Lighting uses against the same enemy overlap.

You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For every two additional points you spend, you increase the damage dealt by 2d4 (or 4d4 for non-living enemies), and increase the Save DC by 1, and increase the Dexterity penalty by 2.

Force Move: As a Swift action you may manifest Hustle (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Hustle). You may use this action to Move, to activate your Psychic Weapon ability, or any other Move Action.

You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For 1 Force Point, you may manifest Feather Fall until the beginning of your next turn. For 2 Force Points, you may manifest Spider Climb until the beginning of your next turn. For 3 Force Points, you may manifest Air Walk until the end of your turn. If you're not standing on solid ground by the end of your turn, you fall. You may make a Tumble check to negate the falling damage as normal, or manifest the enhanced Force Move again each round to continue your Feather Fall, Spider Climb, or Air Walk). Each of these effects are in addition to the normal effect of Hustle.

Force Pull: As a Standard Action, make a Disarm check against a single enemy, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier as a bonus for the opposed roll. You count as using a one handed weapon for this check. If you succeed, you may pull any one object from your enemy, including anything that he is holding, wielding, carrying, or wearing, except for armor or clothing (though your DM may allow you to pull a hat, helmet, or similar worn items, depending on how securely it is fastened). If you have a free hand, you may take the object directly into your hand. Otherwise, it falls harmlessly into your square.

You may use this Talent to pull an unattended object weighing up to 25 lbs for every Force Adept levels you possess automatically. You may move it at a speed of 5 feet for every Force Adept levels you posses. You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For each additional Force Point you spend, you gain +1 to your opposed Disarm check, and you may move an additional 25 lbs of weight on an unattended object.

Force Push: As a Standard Action, make a Bull Rush attempt against a single enemy, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier as a bonus for the opposed roll.

Movement causes by Force Push does not provoke an attack of opportunity from you, although it does provoke from others. You may choose the direction your enemy is pushed, as long as it is not towards you. If the enemy is pushed into a wall or other solid object, they take damage as if they fell, 1d6 damage for every 10 feet pushed. (You could even push your enemy strait up, and then let them fall down, if you chose). If the enemy is pushed into an occupied square, the enemy's movement stops, but they must both make a Reflex Save (DC = your opposed check result) or be knocked Prone.

You may use this Talent to push an unattended object weighing up to 25 lbs for every Force Adept levels you possess automatically. You may move it at a speed of 5 feet for every Force Adept levels you posses. You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For each additional Force Point you spend, you gain +1 to your opposed Bull Rush check, and you may move an additional 25 lbs of weight on an unattended object.

Psychic Weapon Power (Su):
At third level and every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th) your Psychic Weapon gains a new power. These power applies to any Psychic Weapon, ammunition, or shield that you manifest with your Psychic Weapon ability. You may choose any Power from the following list:

Block: Whenever you are attacked by a melee attack (including melee touch attacks) that includes physical and/or Force damage as a component of the attack, you may attempt to Block it as an Immediate action. If you choose to use this power, you must declare that you are using it after your enemy successfully hits you but before the DM announces damage or effects of the attack. Make an attack roll, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength (or any other ability score) modifier as a bonus to hit. If your modified attack roll is higher then the enemy’s modified attack roll, the attack is negated. If your modified attack roll is 5 points higher then your enemy’s modified attack roll, then the attack is redirected back against the enemy. Resolve the attack against the enemy’s AC (or touch AC, if it was a touch attack) as if the enemy had attacked themselves.

Defending: You may transfer some or all of your Psychic Weapon's Enhancement bonus as an Insight bonus to your Armor Class and to resist any opposed Bull Rush, Disarm, Grapple, Overrun, or Trip attempt. You do not gain this bonus on opposed checks resulting from any attack or Force Talent that you initiate. And Insight bonuses do not stack with other Insight bonuses, so if you have two Psychic Weapons manifested you only gain your Psychic Weapon's Defending bonus once. As a Free Action, the Force Adept may choose how to allocate the Psychic Weapon’s enhancement bonus at the start of his turn before using the weapon, and the effects last until the beginning of his next turn.

Deflect: Whenever you are attacked by a ranged attack (including ranged touch attacks) that includes physical and/or Force damage as a component of the attack, you may attempt to Defect it as an Immediate action. If you choose to use this power, you must declare that you are using it after your enemy successfully hits you but before the DM announces damage or effects of the attack. Make an attack roll, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength (or any other ability score) modifier as a bonus to hit. If your modified attack roll is higher then the enemy’s modified attack roll, the attack is negated. If your modified attack roll is 5 points higher then your enemy’s modified attack roll, then the attack is deflected against the enemy. Resolve the attack against the enemy’s AC (or touch AC, if it was a touch attack) as if the enemy had attacked themselves.

Illumination: You can control the illumination of anything that you manifest with your psychic weapon ability. It may be as bright as a Daylight (www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Daylight) spell, or as dark as a Deeper Darkness (www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Deeper_Darkness) spell. You may alter the intensity and range of the light or darkness as a Move action, increasing or decreasing the area of effect as you like, from as little as a radius of 5 feet, up to the maximum of 60 feet.

You do not suffer any ill effects from light or darkness created by your psychic weapon ability. For example, an orc Force Adept wouldn’t suffer the penalties from the light of a weapon using Daylight, nor would he suffer from the 20% miss penalty of using Deeper Darkness. However, all others within your area of effect (including allies) take penalties as normal. You cannot use light and darkness effects at the same time, even if you can manifest more than one Psychic Weapon at a time. If you manifest both, they cancel each other out. If someone else manifests or casts a magical light or darkness effect, it can cancel yours out following the standard rules for doing so.

Keen: Any Psychic Weapon (including shield spikes) that you manifest has the Keen property. This property does not stack with any other Keen effect.

Opposition: Choose one alignment from the following list; Lawful, Good, Chaotic, or Evil. You may not share that component as part of your own alignment. Whenever you hit and deal damage with your Psychic Weapon against an enemy who has that alignment component, you deal an additional 1d6 points of Force damage to them. You may choose this ability more then once. Each time you choose it, you deal an additional 1d6 points of damage to your chosen opposition alignment. If you change alignments to share your opposition alignment, you must reassign this ability to a different opposition alignment.

Resistance: As long as you are wielding a Psychic Weapon or shield, or wearing armor manifested with your Psychic Weapon ability, you gain Energy Resistance 10 against all Electricity and Force effects (such as Magic Missile and Force Lightning, but not damage from Psychic Weapons because they count as physical damage). You may choose this ability more then once. Each time you choose it, you increase your Energy Resistance by 10 points. Energy Resistance from other sources overlap. If you select this power as all five of your Psychic Weapon powers you gain Energy Immunity to Electricity and Force effects, and immunity to all Stun and Paralysis effects.

Throw: You may throw any Psychic Weapon or shield that you manifest. It automatically returns to your hand immediately after your attack. If the Psychic Weapon already has a ranged increment, such as a javelin, you may use that ranged increment. Otherwise, it has range increment of 10 ft. You may take this ability multiple times. Each time you take it, your range increment increases by 10 feet.

Force Combo: (Su)
Immediately after successfully attacking an enemy and dealing damage with a Psychic Weapon or Force Talent, you may manifest a single Force Talent that you know as an Immediate Action. You must have enough Force Points to manifest the power, and you must pay the full Force Point cost for doing so. You may enhance the Force Talent as usual, paying the additional Force Point cost as usual.

You may do this once per encounter at 4th level, and one additional time for every four levels you possess.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex):
Uncanny Dodge: You gain the Uncanny Dodge ability. If a character already has Uncanny Dodge from another class, the character gains Improved Uncanny Dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant Uncanny Dodge stack to determine the minimum level a Rogue must be to flank the character.

Evasion (Ex):
You gain the Evasion ability. If a character already has Evasion from another class, the character gains Improved Evasion instead.

Psychic Force Mastery (Su):
Once per day when you use Force Explosion, Force Grip, Force Lightning, Force Pull, or Force Push you may channel massive amounts of psychic power. The range for your effect is extended to anything within your line of sight. There is no weight limit, as long as the entire object is within your line of sight. Any attack roll or opposed check that you roll is automatically maximized, as if you had rolled a natural 20. For an attack roll, this counts as a critical hit (dealing *2 damage). Any damage dice that result from this attack (including damage from falling or being pushed into an object) are also maximized. Your DM may exclude ridiculously large objects that have their own gravity field, such as planets, moons, stars, etc.


A couple of comments on your fix:

Starting Skill Points are wrong. You have 24 + (4 x Int mod), when it should be (6 + Int modifier) x 4. Also, his Skill list is more extensive then any other I've seen. I'd remove the party face and stealth/disable device stuff.

No class should ever have a dead level. Give him something at level 10.

The mechanics for the mindblade are confusing. And there is no other class which forces you to use Dex to attack with. I'd just give him a simple weapon Mind Blade and Weapon Finesse at first level, and push the Mind Warrior stuff to second level.

The bonus feats should be limited. As written, it steps all over the Fighter and Psychic Warrior territory.

The Least Mind Shield is a bit too powerful for that level. You should force them to either carry a shield of some sort, or move it up to a higher level.

All critiques aside though, I always applaud any attempt to fix this class. It's just such a great idea that's been so poorly implemented.

lesser_minion
2009-03-21, 03:35 PM
Interesting... I wasn't expecting to get any more comments for this, otherwise I would have got back to work on the rules. There are a few threads in the roleplaying games forum which explain why everyone hates the Soulknife. In a nutshell, the psychic warrior outshines the soulknife in almost every conceivable situation. The Mind Blade concept received very little attention alongside the psionic rules which were the focus of the book.

As for the 24 + 4 x Int modifier thing - it's more of a format thing than anything else. It is a bit weird though, so I will change it.

The skill list is based on the idea that the character will be a skirmisher rather than a primary melee character - he gets skills that complement that. Bluff and Sense Motive are staying, because they relate to the fighting style I had in mind (even though the character doesn't get SA).

I'll move a couple of things around to close up the dead level as well.

The reason that the mind blade can be called in any form you like (as long as it is sharp and pointy) from 1st level is that it means that the soulknife can do something the psychic warrior cannot do. The enhancement progression is intentionally the best you can get with Call Weaponry +1. I don't think it front loads the class too much, even though it is an at-will ability, because most classes have to sacrifice quite a bit to get it, and they still have to invest to get good with the Mind Blade.

I am very tempted to completely ignore the existing weapons, and just let the player choose his threat range, damage and so on. It also avoids the potential for a spiked chain mind blade.

The class doesn't get or use power points because I wasn't too keen on the idea - I liked the idea of a psionic character who can keep going all day. The PsyWar is at least partially dependent on his power point reserve.

I didn't really expect Mind Warrior to be seen as complicated - it's mostly a balancing factor. I'll try to rephrase it so it is a little easier to read. The reason it crops up at 1st level is because it allows the use of psionic focus.

I'll see what I can do about simplifying the mind blade rules as well.

Cieyrin
2009-03-21, 11:57 PM
It is indeed a hard read and there are some things overlooked. For example, what sort of armor proficiencies does your soul knife have? you have a section for it but it's not mentioned at all.

Another things is that the various abilities should match names in both the table and the description, as, though I eventually figured out which abilities are tagged where, it'd be a tad bewildering to anybody else on first glance.

Is there some reason why I couldn't have a bludgeoning mindblade? I mean, what's really so difficult about making a wider surface to smash heads in? If I can make a mindblade as massive as a bastard sword, why couldn't I make a warhammer or morningstar? Sure, it's not a 'mind blade' anymore, per se, but you can make a mind spear or mind axe as you currently have it described, so why not a mind hammer?

What exactly is Power of the Mind supposed to be referring to? You mention it like once, under the Mind Warrior ability, but then never talk about it ever again. The only use for your Mind Warrior power usages I otherwise see is making a Mind Shield (which don't last all that long, either; I'd raise the duration to 3+Wis Mod, equivalent to Rage duration, though admittedly shorter, since you don't get a stat boost) and for usage w/ the capstone ability. I guess it's what you call your power usages but it's a trifle confusing, y'know? (Edit: As an after thought, since this ability is kinda similar to the Ninja's Ki Pool, I'd increase your ability pool by half your level + Wis mod, so you actually show improvement in your mental endurance, y'know? Call it a Psi Pool =p)

With Throw Mind Blade, just say that the mind blade has a range increment of 10', which increases to 20' then 30' w/ level, none of this +10' range for specific mind blade types. That just confuses the issue.

I agree with Person_Man on limiting feats to a list, as otherwise you got 'em grabbing anything and everything, which seriously treads on other classes' toes. The same for Special abilities on the Mind Shield and Mind Blade, a list of what abilities are viable would be excellent so you're not running about w/ soul-sucking mindblades of utter chaos and destruction.

Accelerate is confusing as hell. I know you're trying to one-up Speed of Thought, but seriously, a personal 3.0 Haste effect is disturbingly disgusting. BTB, you can do a Move action in a Standard Action, so the text there isn't necessary (or makes much sense, either). There's a reason Haste got nerfed like it did, since an extra Standard Action is nothing to sneeze at. Just make it an extra attack at your full BAB and be done w/ it. Personally, I'd have left the feature as just getting Speed of Thought as a bonus feat but whatevs. Your fix, not mine.

Greater Energy Strike needs clarification, as when you impale a foe w/ your blade for additional damage, does this mean your blade isn't available any more or is a shard of psychic energy burning in him or what? It's not clear what happens at this point, really.

Dispelling Strike and Knife to the Soul are both too good for their own good. Auto-nerfing somebody of all their buffs, no save or check of any kind, is too cheesy for words. You need to at least do a check against all effects like every other negation effect, probably making it act like Greater Dispel Magic for that. Also, I'd make it cost one of your Psi Pool uses, rather than expending your focus. The rest of your abilities require expeditures, this ability should be no different. The same for Knife to the Soul, in that it should cost something to do, which I'd say calls for 2 Psi Pool uses, since ability damage is some bad nastiness to be slinging about. Maybe 1 use, considering you can't do this till late game, idk. I think there should be some balance there somewhere so you're not just lobotomizing everybody and their brother where ever you go.

Finally, Dear Sweet Jesus Hell God, Bladewind has transformed into an utter mess from what it originally was as a 9th level ability of the original Soulknife. Do you get a full attack against every foe or just one, like the Whirlwind feat? Also, Full Attack Cleave?!? Seriously?!? That's just sick and wrong, though no worse than Pounce is for charges but damn. This ability is gonna take forever and a day to get through, especially if this sap is a dual-wielding Souldknife. that's like 50 attacks or some craziness. You need some major clarification on this one, really.

Well, anyways, I did just give you a lot of fruit for thought and criticism but I hope you see this as constructive criticism. I love the Soulknife, even if he's the mutated step-child of the EPH. I just want to see him come off the operating table breathing and maybe a little better than he was, not as a casualty of the surgeon's knife gone horribly wrong. My general fix to the class and PRCs that support it is to give 'em full BAB, which puts him on par w/ rangers, their non-psychic counterparts and should be on equal ground with.

Them's my 2 coppers. Take as you will.

lesser_minion
2009-03-25, 07:17 AM
Cieyrin - thanks for the feedback, it should really help.

I need to do a lot of editing on the table, but yeah, I still can't believe I forgot to actually put the armour proficiencies in.

As for the Mind Blade shape thing - it just seemed appropriate for it to have to be something sharp and pointy. In reality, the form doesn't really affect what it looks like - just how it is seen in game terms. I guess you're right though. Any weapon in which she is proficient is a little easier to say, and also gives me an excuse to improve the weapon proficiencies.

As for the bonus feats, they are limited to psionic feats. Four bonus feats out of those is hardly treading on toes (although they have a slightly better synergy with manifesters than other non-manifesting classes), and all of them make sense for the character.

Accelerate shouldn't grant a standard action. I meant 'a standard move' to mean 'a normal move of up to your speed'. I'll make sure to clarify that one.

Greater Energy Strike - you impale your opponent with the blade, leaving it stuck in them. You create a new mind blade as a free action. I'll clear that one up as well.

I've changed it so that 'Mind Warrior' is now the ability to gain an enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls with the Mind Blade, and Power of the Mind is the limiting factor on abilities. I've also clarified Power of the Mind - it should be a bit clearer that the abilities work on a per-encounter basis now.

I'm tempted to change it to 'Power of the Mind X/encounter' instead of using the character's Wisdom bonus, though. I'm also changing everything to rely on Intelligence rather than Wisdom.

Dispelling Strike is basically designed to gimp CoDzillas and do nothing else. I'll see about toning it down, however.

As for Bladewind - yes, it is horrible. And a 'Full Attack Routine' is just that. I assumed that there would never be more than five or six opponents around who were worth hitting with the ability, but if you do ever come up against a horde of mooks then you are in trouble. I'm tempted to change it so that every hit gives you another attack (but you don't get a full-attack routine against many, many opponents).

lesser_minion
2009-03-28, 04:19 PM
Another bump?

I've made a few changes since the last round of criticisms - Bladewind is now a lot weaker than it was, but usable more often.

I've also tried to clarify the abilities a bit better.

The big thing I'm worried about is Call Mind Blade, as it now almost completely one-ups Call Weaponry - plus it's at-will. It at least helps to solve the problem of Psychic Warriors being able to do everything this class can do in a sense, but it may be becoming overpowered.

I also realised how horribly Knife to the Soul can get overpowered (dealing up to 50 intelligence damage to an opponent using touch attacks is a bit obscene, especially for encounter-limited abilities), so I've nerfed that a little. I appear to have no eye for balance whatsoever.

I added in Perfect Clarity, which could occasionally be pretty useful, and makes a nice replacement for Greater Psychic Strike (which I apparently added to the table and forgot about).

I'm planning on replacing the current list of augments with a whole pile of selectables, which will make the class a little more like afroakuma's ninja.

Gorgondantess
2009-03-28, 10:13 PM
Ahhhh, I like this. The soulknife has always been one of my favorite concepts, but gawd, it's mechanically so boring I've never really bothered to use it. I like the fix a lot. Care to clarify how the 10th level "special abilities" works? It's rather vague... looks like one could enchant unlimited amounts of "special abilities"

lesser_minion
2009-03-28, 11:29 PM
Yeah... looks like I managed to delete it by mistake in one of the edits I made. It should be a total bonus equivalent equal to your bonus from the Mind Warrior ability.

Gorgondantess
2009-03-28, 11:37 PM
Yeah... looks like I managed to delete it by mistake in one of the edits I made. It should be a total bonus equivalent equal to your bonus from the Mind Warrior ability.

Ahh.... that makes a lot of sense. And it's also a pretty cool ability.

Cieyrin
2009-03-31, 02:28 PM
Ah, this is much cleaner than when I last saw it, with much clearer intent than there was but there are still a couple of things that are kinda off yet. First off, skill points is bizarre. If it's a 6+Int mod skill point gain, just say that, like (6 + Int mod) x4. I don't even know where you the 1st level skill point came from w/ 24 + 4 x Int mod.

I don't think the mindblade should necessarily always be a light weapon. Since the mindblade is based on the characteristics of existing weaponry, it should be based off those statistics. It's basically providing Weapon Finesse for free. If you really want that, give it to them, don't beat around the bush with it. If you do decide to grant them the feat, I'd maybe consider pushing back WF(mindblade) to second level, to even it out so they're not pulling out human fighter feat amounts.

Psychic Talent's recovery method is a little too damaging for what it does. Provoking an AOO makes sense but stunning them as well is a bit much. Just call it a full-round action and you should be good, I'd say.

Does Psychic Shield block magic missiles like the shield spell as well? I'm not sure if that was your intent with it but that's what it currently does, besides protecting you. I'd also call it up the shield as a swift action, as opposed to a free action.

Accelerate is definitely better than it was, though it still refers to Power of the Mind yet.

Suppression strike is better than it was but it's still a little awkwardly worded. I'd put in what the save is here, rather than having to refer back to Psychic Talent for it.

Perfect Clarity is new and interesting but it has some awkwardness as well. When you say immobilize, do you mean the target is flat-footed? Also, that should probably have a save attached to it.

Blade Wind is definitely much better than it was. Kudos to you.

A little more cleanup and clarification and I would say your new Soul Knife is up and running. Them's my 2 coppers. Take as you will.

lesser_minion
2009-04-01, 05:37 AM
Well, the main idea behind it always counting as a light weapon is that game statistics aside, a Mind Blade is by no means as heavy as a 'real' sword. A fighter wielding one would find it terribly unwieldy. Your strength makes a lot less difference with such a weapon than it would otherwise. This is also why it has the option to cut Strength from damage rolls, and why it cannot be used with Cleave, Power Attack or Deep Impact.

I haven't justified Intelligence bonus to damage rolls yet, but it seems to make some sense considering that the idea behind the weapon is that your strength matters little.

As for Perfect Clarity - it's a high-level ability. Making an enemy flat-footed at 18th level doesn't compare particularly well with the option to kill an opponent outright, even if the latter allows a saving throw (assuming 4 encounters/day, Perfect Clarity will be usable only a little more).

So instead it is something that hurts rogues and monks a bit more. I used the word 'immobilised', because it mirrors the language used in several of the AC bonuses I wanted to remove. I'll see what I can do about clarifying that - I don't want it to be read as "target's Dexterity is zero vs. the attack" which seems to be the most likely (and most logical) interpretation.

As for Psychic Talent, I wanted something more than just an opportunity cost as a limiter on recovering a use of your character's abilities in the middle of a fight. That recovery option should hardly ever see use in the game - it is intentionally very impractical, and useful in only a very tiny selection of encounters.

Psychic Shield does now block magic missiles. It's actually a little weaker than it used to be - it has a smaller AC bonus.

Duff
2009-04-07, 06:56 PM
I'd suggest Charisma as the most justafiable stat for damage - force of will!

lesser_minion
2009-04-08, 05:20 AM
Originally, I used Wisdom as 'force of will', but I've changed it - now, the character gets a sort of precision bonus to damage with the mind blade, rather than a force of will bonus. That's also why they get a high-level ability that makes rogues and monks cry themselves to sleep at night.

I've reworded a few of the abilities - hopefully the class is almost ready to roll, aside from currently being completely one-track.

lesser_minion
2009-04-15, 03:33 PM
Another bump?

I have some new plans for the class, mainly inspired by discovering this thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55902)).

Some problems with this class that I picked out using Fax's article are that my version of the class is one-track (OK, I did say I was going to make some exclusive feats that would help customisation, but I don't think that would really be enough), which was also one of a number of problems with the original. The class at least picks up a role, rather than being stuck halfway between skirmisher and fighter roles, but there isn't really much inbuilt scope for creativity, or much build versatility (because of the small number of relevant feats). Even with the combat options, all the class has are a basic defensive ability, a basic movement ability, some 'deny AC bonus' offensive abilities and some 'deal bonus damage' offensive abilities.

A problem the concept faces is the flavour - "makes sword appear out of thin air" is a feat or a power, not a class concept. This class should be all about what the character can do with a Mind Blade.

Essentially, you have a character with a unique fighting style - either one geared towards assasination and movement, or one geared towards, well, beating face.

This one will still be a skirmisher type, probably best used for a psychic assasin or swashbuckler.

The first group of abilities I'm planning to offer is as follows:


Movement abilities

Speed of Thought (Su): As the feat.

Improved Speed of Thought (Su): A soulknife can move rapidly, barely ever even touching the ground. While psionically focused, the soulknife cannot be impeded by any form of difficult terrain and may move over a surface which she would not normally be able to traverse as part of a move action - even the surface of a body of liquid or a vertical surface. If she ends a move action on a surface over which she would normally be unable to move, she either sinks or falls as appropriate.

On gaining this ability, the soulknife's bonus from Speed of Thought increases to +20ft.

Unfettered Movement (Su): A soulknife with this ability is able to run even when there is no surface present, provided she has psionic focus. While she may not take off and fly, she may move over air or empty space (such as a pit or a chasm) as part of a move, as if there was a surface present. She falls if she attempts to end her move over a pit or a chasm (she can, however, run over such a hindrance).

Additionally, she may now end a move action on a vertical surface or a body of liquid without falling or sinking. She may not, however, fight effectively under such circumstances. She threatens no area while on or over a surface that she would be unable to traverse without using these class features.

On gaining this ability, the soulknife's bonus from Speed of Thought increases to +30ft, and the bonus becomes untyped.

PId6
2009-05-21, 06:56 PM
I've made a redesigned soulknife as well (link (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112172)) and after seeing yours, I must say I really like some of the things you've done that changed the direction of the class quite a bit. The Psychic Talent aspect balances the class a lot and effectively turns him into a skirmisher type character.

I took a different approach by allowing for more enchanting/weapon options and customizing the mind blade to its fullest. My version seems a bit overpowered compared to yours and I'll probably tone it down later on.

One thing I notice about your class is that it seems to have a very narrow focus in the early levels before getting Psychic Strike at 11th, and as such, doesn't have many options besides frontline combat early on. More feats and abilities would add some variety.

Overall, I like the balance you've incorporated into the class. In my opinion though, most of the active abilities are too heavily loaded in the higher levels, making the lower levels less versatile. The once per month restriction on enchanting also seems too long but that's more a matter of taste.

raptor1056
2009-06-05, 12:25 PM
K, so this might not be the absolutely most relevant topic, but I just got an excellent idea for a prestige class: an assassin who, instead on getting spells, can manifest a soul weapon. I believe that would be certifiably awesome.

Set
2009-06-05, 03:58 PM
A pretty substantial leg up for the Soulknife. Very interesting!

I'm not a huge fan of psionics (except in monsters!), and the Soulknife ends up being my favorite 'psionic' class, since it's so easily turned into an arcane class. (http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/community/gaming/dnd/archives/arcaneSoulknifeTheSpellblade)