Very Simple, Possible Soulknife Fix

The soulknife is among the crappiest base classes in the game.

Despite this, I'm wondering if a few very simple things couldn't easily bring it up to Tier 4. Basically, I'm just giving it ACFs without penalties here, and honestly this was very spur of the moment and not super developed.

Full BAB.

Grant it the bonus feats (as the soulknife bonus feat ACF from Mind's Eye) at 3rd, 7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th level, but do not remove the sudden strike ability.

Grant it hidden talent instead of wild talent (ACF from Mind's Eye)

Grant it a shadow bow and improved shadow bow class features, as the shadow soulknife Racial Substitution levels from Dragon Magazine #330. If you don't have access to that, you definitely shouldn't look it up on 4shared. That would be very unethical.

That's about it. Getting 5 bonus feats and a bow probably isn't enough though, so here's some further expansion that doesn't just give it ACFs without trading anything in return.

Give him an adapted version of soulbound weapon (the Psychic Warrior ACF from Mind's Eye) that effects his mind blade whenever he summons it. This brings the total bonus he gets on his mind blade up to +9. You might have to switch the levels around though.

Possibly manifesting powers as a Lurk (from Complete Psionic) or as a Psychic Rogue.

Maybe...spamming astral constructs as the Divine Mind ACF (from Mind's Eye...you've got enough links by now :smallwink:) and flavor it as a sort of creature made out of your mind blade?

If you give him powers as a Lurk, mantles might also be good to have.

Feedback on this is appreciated, although I wrote it up in less then twenty minutes :smalltongue:

Better fix right here. :smalltongue:

I know that there're much better fixes. This one was mostly an attempt to use official material for homebrew-skeptical players to make the soulknife playable.

But thanks for the link. This is awesome :smallbiggrin:

Bonus feats certainly help. He should definitely be bumped up to a full BAB, though, at a bare minimum. Maybe add lurk/psionic rogue-progression manifesting, but from the psionic warrior list. The first two might or might not push it up a tier, but the latter certainly would.

If you want an "official" fix, the Pathfinder version is pretty good. Better enhancement progression, recharge psychic strike as a swift+psionic focus action, and a whole bunch of snazzy "blade skills." Should be easy enough to back-convert.

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Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant

Bonus feats certainly help. He should definitely be bumped up to a full BAB, though, at a bare minimum. Maybe add lurk/psionic rogue-progression manifesting, but from the psionic warrior list. The first two might or might not push it up a tier, but the latter certainly would.

If you want an "official" fix, the Pathfinder version is pretty good. Better enhancement progression, recharge psychic strike as a swift+psionic focus action, and a whole bunch of snazzy "blade skills." Should be easy enough to back-convert.

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I'll second this one, too. Really don't have to devamp anything save for skills. :smallbiggrin:

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Originally Posted by Grod_The_Giant

Bonus feats certainly help. He should definitely be bumped up to a full BAB, though, at a bare minimum. Maybe add lurk/psionic rogue-progression manifesting, but from the psionic warrior list. The first two might or might not push it up a tier, but the latter certainly would.

If you want an "official" fix, the Pathfinder version is pretty good. Better enhancement progression, recharge psychic strike as a swift+psionic focus action, and a whole bunch of snazzy "blade skills." Should be easy enough to back-convert.

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I forgot full BAB. My bad, good catch!

As for the PF soulknife, I guess that's an easily available option for anyone who wants :smallbiggrin:

I agree with the Pathfinder fix.

Your fix draws heavily from the Mind's Eye alternate class features, which I do approve of. Giving the soulknife the ability to use its knife as a bow isn't a bad idea, but ranged options aren't exactly the best fix for the soulknife. The soulknife's biggest problem is its lack of versatility, and that's more or less already fixed by the Hidden Talent feat.

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Originally Posted by Thomar_of_Uointer

I agree with the Pathfinder fix.

Your fix draws heavily from the Mind's Eye alternate class features, which I do approve of. Giving the soulknife the ability to use its knife as a bow isn't a bad idea, but ranged options aren't exactly the best fix for the soulknife. The soulknife's biggest problem is its lack of versatility, and that's more or less already fixed by the Hidden Talent feat.

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*Sighs* PF has made my own ideas so much less inspiring :smallfrown:

The bow isn't meant to make it a ranged combatant, but more to give it an option against flying character, even if it isn't a good one.

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Originally Posted by Vilpich

*Sighs* PF has made my own ideas so much less inspiring :smallfrown:

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Sorry, man. :smallfrown:

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The bow isn't meant to make it a ranged combatant, but more to give it an option against flying character, even if it isn't a good one.

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A better choice might be to increase the range increment of the Throw Mind Blade ability-- maybe extend it to 60 feet.

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Originally Posted by Vilpich

*Sighs* PF has made my own ideas so much less inspiring :smallfrown:

The bow isn't meant to make it a ranged combatant, but more to give it an option against flying character, even if it isn't a good one.

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Maybe grant them the ability to spend PP as a swift action for various movement speed effects?

Can I suggest a simple fix?

Make it a prestige class again as it was in 3E. For the psychic warrior, with almost full power progression (say, 8/10) and most of the features condensed down to 10 levels.

Even simpler . . .
1. Mesh the Psychic Warrior and the Soulknife together (as in gestalt).
2. Play around with feature positions a bit, for a more or less even spread.

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Originally Posted by Eldan

Can I suggest a simple fix?

Make it a prestige class again as it was in 3E. For the psychic warrior, with almost full power progression (say, 8/10) and most of the features condensed down to 10 levels.

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To simplify things, it should let you manifest call weaponry at will and let you tweak the summoned weapon instead of the normal soulknife class features. One issue I have with the Soulknife is its complexity.

Yeah, I think that's actually a cool idea. If it has full BAB then it could be worth the reduced manifester progression.

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Originally Posted by nonsi

Even simpler . . .
1. Mesh the Psychic Warrior and the Soulknife together (as in gestalt).
2. Play around with feature positions a bit, for a more or less even spread.

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That seems like it could be a little OP (maybe Tier 2...?)

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Originally Posted by nonsi

Even simpler . . .
1. Mesh the Psychic Warrior and the Soulknife together (as in gestalt).

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I would do monk and soulknife (and then let the monk use his soulknife as a ki strike weapon or imbue his fists with psychic strike/soulknife enhancements); they're more thematically similar.

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Originally Posted by Vilpich

That seems like it could be a little OP (maybe Tier 2...?)

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As far as my understanding of the tier analysis goes, there's nothing in the Soulknife's features that I notice that can bring the Psychic Warrior from tier 3 to tier 2. They don't even synergize all that well. The most that'll happen is some wealth saving thanks to mind blade enhancement & Psychic Strike, the never-unarmed bit and all good saves.
Nothing special to write home about, but it does make a character feel more round and complete, and without the need to multiclass or PrC - which would be a nice change.

@Yitzi: I suggested the Psychic Warrior mesh because it seems to me like the more versatile and interesting class of the trio. For me, the core Monk is beyong redemption without some serious overhaul. Except for Knife to the Soul, I don't see any of the Soulknife's abilities bringing new options to the gaming table as far as the Monk goes. A bit more offensive kick, but nothing to make it more fun (unless higher numbers are all that one's after). Correct me if I'm missing anything.

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Originally Posted by nonsi

@Yitzi: I suggested the Psychic Warrior mesh because it seems to me like the more versatile and interesting class of the trio. For me, the core Monk is beyong redemption without some serious overhaul.

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I don't really see it that way. It definitely needs boosting, but the monk has some interesting options.

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Except for Knife to the Soul, I don't see any of the Soulknife's abilities bringing new options to the gaming table as far as the Monk goes. A bit more offensive kick, but nothing to make it more fun (unless higher numbers are all that one's after). Correct me if I'm missing anything.

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Once you add in offensive kick (more than just a bit more, by the way, as soulknife enhancement bonuses are quite significant) and a few extra options such as Bladewind and throwing mindblades, I'm not sure what's missing (well, assuming we're not judging by full-caster standards.)

The ranged option in particular is interesting, as it means that a solo soulknife would be extremely good at kiting.

I recently had someone show me something that I think is a pretty damn good fix.
Feats.