[PF/DSP] The New Soulknife Handbook: Mind Become Matter

[Eldaran]

So the Psychic Armory archetype got significantly changed (nerfed) in the Psionics Augmented Compilation 2, since this is the newer version it supercedes the one in Psionics Augmented: Soulknives. Might want to update that section of the guide.

[digiman619]

Another new Soulknife archetype is the Epoch-Walker, though it involves both Spheres of Might and Spheres of Power.

[Psyren]

Good, maybe now people will stop PMing me to update my old guide

Seriously though, awesome job!

[Roadie]

This thread is also missing the living legend archetype, which significantly raises the power floor of the class by handing out of a ton of free stuff (combat feats, skill bonuses, marking-style debuffs, area attacks, etc) at the cost of psychic strike and some blade skills, but which also removes most blade shape shenanigans potential.

[Battleship789]

So the Psychic Armory archetype got significantly changed (nerfed) in the Psionics Augmented Compilation 2, since this is the newer version it supercedes the one in Psionics Augmented: Soulknives. Might want to update that section of the guide.

While I disagree about the extent of the nerfs (I don't think it is that big of a deal), I will be updating that section with the errata. I think I was overrating the archetype before, even without the nerfs.

Another new Soulknife archetype is the Epoch-Walker, though it involves both Spheres of Might and Spheres of Power.

Hmm, I'm not too familiar with the Spheres system, but I'll give it a look!

Good, maybe now people will stop PMing me to update my old guide

Seriously though, awesome job!

Thanks! I enjoyed reading your guide and felt that it would be worth creating an updated version, as you weren't going to be updating it.

This thread is also missing the living legend archetype, which significantly raises the power floor of the class by handing out of a ton of free stuff (combat feats, skill bonuses, marking-style debuffs, area attacks, etc) at the cost of psychic strike and some blade skills, but which also removes most blade shape shenanigans potential.

I have written up a section for it (and a few other archetypes I missed the first time around), I just haven't added it to the guide yet (this is also due to the fact that I need to reevaluate the races, as the Int focus of the LL changes how some should be rated.) Life has been too hectic for the last few months...

Edit: Alright, guide has been updated with a bunch of new stuff. I've added the Ghostblade, Living Legend, and Moonlight Meditant archetypes, shifting feats, the Psychic Armory changes, the Dirty Fighting feat, the Discipline Blade Shapes + Fool's Errand combo, a disclaimer on Haft Strike, Amulet of Might Fists weapon special ability utility, and the negative energy feat from 7th Path. I also did a write up for Intelligence styles (still need to write one for Charisma) and added the Chimera Soul style feats.

To do: add/change Intelligence-based races and multiclass options for Living Legend, the Medic class, the Daring Hero Prestige class, the Epoch-Walker archetype, and the Radiant Dawn/Fool's Errand style feats. I'm not sure if I will add the Rajah to the guide, as the Rajah's playstyle is fairly different from most soulknives...

[Psyren]

Thanks! I enjoyed reading your guide and felt that it would be worth creating an updated version, as you weren't going to be updating it.

Yeah - in addition to just not having played Soulknife in a long time (not since before UPsi released actually), there was also a ton of Soulknife support included in material I haven't even used yet like the Path of War stuff. So, happy to hang up my mindblades

[upho]

Soulbolt****[*]Emulate Ranged Weapon****: This allows the mind bolt to take the form of a specific ranged weapon (other than firearms), without needing proficiency. The best options for this are Composite Longbow (1d8, 110 ft range, 20/x3), Orc Hornbow (2d6, 80 ft range, 20/x3), and most of the Heavy Crossbow variants (1d10, 120 ft range, 19-20/x2), with a note that the crossbow will require a few feats to be at its best (due to reload times). All of these have superior damage, range, and/or crit to the standard mind bolt and can be used with the Manyshot feat.

(Repeating) Heavy Crossbow (exotic)***: This is a midpoint between the longbow and hornbow, but the reload times and feats required to reduce those reload times make crossbows a far less desirable option.

Just thought it might be worth mentioning the Crossbow Mastery feat combined with the minotaur double crossbow (from Classic Monsters Revisited, page 42):

"Minotaur Double Crossbow
Minotaurs have a love of complicated things, and the double crossbow is one of their favorites. This heavy weapon fires a pair of iron-tipped bolts with deadly accuracy. Due to its size and weight, however, non-proficient wielders suffer a –8 penalty on their attack rolls. Even proficient wielders take a –2 penalty on their attack rolls. If the attack is successful, the target takes the listed damage twice, although critical hits and precision based damage are only applied to one of the bolts. Reloading a double crossbow takes 2 standard actions (one for each bolt), although the Rapid Reload feat reduces this to 2 move actions (meaning that it can be accomplished in 1 round)."

300 gp, 1d8 piercing, 19-20/x2 crits, 100 ft. range, 18 lb.

(And just in case anyone wonders: this is not the same weapon as the useless piece of garbage known as the double crossbow published in the APG (different fluff, different range, different penalties, different feat interaction). Nor was the minotaur double crossbow ever replaced by the APG garbage or anything else. It's even explicitly still allowed in PFS.)

So, in comparison to bows, it costs you an extra feat and -2 to attack, and gives you free reload Manyshot-style double-bolts with every attack in return, instead of Manyshot's once per full attack. And considering it appears most Soulbolts don't prioritize Str enough for composite bows to have much impact, while the mino-Xbow's much greater number of damage instances can mean getting lots of extra mileage out of enhancements and other static damage stuff, I can't see how longbows or hornbows would be superior, at least not beyond early levels.

A downside is that it's incompatible with the Soul Archer. But on the other hand, if shooting for max damage (pun intended), the mino-xbow Soulbolter could of course get a lot more from 5 levels in the Bolt Ace gunslinger, effectively adding 2 x Dex mod damage to every hit...

Both classes having a Dex and Wis focus would also make such an unconventional combo a bit easier to stomach. Although even if disregarding the likely greatly increased risk of balance issues such a build would bring to most games, I'd personally still hesitate to recommend taking really boring gunslinger "MOAH DAMAGE"-levels instead of far more fun soulknife levels. But it could undoubtedly make for a very effective monsters slayer.

...............

Really like what I've read in the guide so far, btw. Great job!

(And a very minor nitpick:

[*]Emulate Ranged Weapon**** /SNIP/ The best options for this are Composite Longbow (1d8, 110 ft range, 20/x3), Orc Hornbow (2d6, 80 ft range, 20/x3), and most of the Heavy Crossbow variants... /SNIP/ All of these... /SNIP/ ...can be used with the Manyshot feat.

You're saying Manyshot works with xbows here.)

EDIT: And I see you forgot to mention the PoW Myrmidon fighter archetype. Makes a fighter dip a lot more attractive for many Soulknives, I believe. /EDIT

[Battleship789]

Just thought it might be worth mentioning the Crossbow Mastery feat combined with the minotaur double crossbow (from Classic Monsters Revisited, page 42):

*snip*

Noted and added. I'll probably add the Gunslinger multiclass later, though I will need to re-organize the prestige/multiclass section. I am getting very close to the forum character limit for both of those sections...

(And a very minor nitpick: You're saying Manyshot works with xbows here.)

Fixed, thanks!

EDIT: And I see you forgot to mention the PoW Myrmidon fighter archetype. Makes a fighter dip a lot more attractive for many Soulknives, I believe. /EDIT

Added a short blurb. Thanks for the feedback and corrections!

Edit: Added Int related commentary to the various races.

[piglickjf]

Twin Throw*****: Multishot, but for thrown weapons. A must for any Psychic Armory. Note that psychic strike is not precision damage, and is thus doubled for this feat.

Is this really purple for a Psychic Armory? The two-weapon fighting a complete feat tax since, as far as I can tell, it's basically useless for Psychic Armory. An extra attack at full BAB is certainly very nice, but is it worth wasting that feat on? Not to mention the fairly steep Dex requirement which, if you're going Wis-focused, may not be so easy to meet.

On a related note, what do people think of a dip into Far Strike monk for a Psychic Armory? Seems like a good deal - you get to Flurry with thrown weapons (aka your panoply - doesn't work with Rapid Shot, but basically replaces it so that frees up a feat), get WIS to AC (and you should have an at least decent WIS), a bump to your weak Fort save, and a bonus feat (the list isn't extensive, but there's a few on there that are at least decent). Plus Quick Draw, which probably doesn't do much for you, but an extra feat never hurts. Probably not worth more than a one-level dip, but that one level seems like a pretty good deal. Especially if you can take it with Unchained Monk, since then you don't miss out on any BAB. Thoughts?

Also. if you take the Natural Blade trait you still have one level you can dip with, what would be a good second dip to accent the Far Strike Monk?

[Abroane]

While i love the guide and it is extremely helpful as i have never really played with psionics in my group I did notice one issue.

Under the Gifted Blade Archetype you advise,
"Gaining at least one or two of the following powers via the Expanded Knowledge feat is highly recommended:"

The issue is expanded knowledge only lets you pick up a power of "A LEVEL LOWER then the highest you can manifest"

that means some of your suggestions are not possible using that feat.
The following are all level 4 or higher on other lists and do not qualify as options:

- Battle Transformation
- flight
- Quintessence
- schism
- Zealous Fury

Is there another way to gain powers? The only thing i have run across are power stones. It has a line that says you need to have the power on your class list though.
Is there anyway to circumvent that requirement the same way a rogue could UMD a wand into action without the ability to cast spells?
of course i might just be missing something obvious to others.

idk, i am well acquainted with the rules for most things, other than psionics....

[phlidwsn]

Is there another way to gain powers? The only thing i have run across are power stones. It has a line that says you need to have the power on your class list though.
Is there anyway to circumvent that requirement the same way a rogue could UMD a wand into action without the ability to cast spells?
of course i might just be missing something obvious to others.

Power stones are the psionic equivalent to scrolls, and can be UMD'd in the same fashion. Same with Dorje and wand. See UMD under Psionics for full details.

[Battleship789]

*snip*

See phildwsn's excellent reply. And thank you for bringing this up! I forgot about that restriction on Expanded Knowledge when writing up the section. I'll fix it and add a note about power stones and djores for the 4th level powers.

There is also a method where you can manifest a power from another character's power known list (go down about 75-80% of the page.) If you have another manifester in the party, this can be a very useful technique for manifesting powers off another list. Do note that the technique takes a full round action to perform (on top of the manifesting time) and so may not be viable for most of the powers I listed, due to their short duration.

[phlidwsn]

There's also Psychic Chirurgery if you have a Telepath in the party, or access to appropriate NPCs.

Also, a trick I didn't see on a quick skim of the handbook: Go Nimble Gifted Blade Soulknife, and use Adaptive Form to gain the Mental Power bladeskill, in order to add any power known as an immediate action at the cost of your focus. It comes on late at 10th level, and locks you into a finesse build, but it does let you play with 4th level powers.

Edit: Another trick: Psionics Augmented Vol II added Blade Bangles, a wrist slot item that grants a given blade skill for 16.5k. Use that to gain Mental Power, and pick up another power known. You could even trade out multiples, each attuned to a different power known, limited only by your wealth.

[Battleship789]

There's also Psychic Chirurgery if you have a Telepath in the party, or access to appropriate NPCs.

Also, a trick I didn't see on a quick skim of the handbook: Go Nimble Gifted Blade Soulknife, and use Adaptive Form to gain the Mental Power bladeskill, in order to add any power known as an immediate action at the cost of your focus. It comes on late at 10th level, and locks you into a finesse build, but it does let you play with 4th level powers.

Oh, I'll need to add that. The Primarch can also do that trick by swapping out blade skills at earlier levels, while also getting a floating blade skill at 10th level. And you don't have to use a meh archetype!

[J. Mirkson]

Query; will you be reviewing the new Arcforge material at any point?

[Battleship789]

Query; will you be reviewing the new Arcforge material at any point?

Probably, though it may not be for a while. I do like the way the technological weapons blade skills are balanced from the first Arcforge book, so I will probably add them and the material from the newest two books to the guide.

Edit: Forgot to reply to this post!

Is this really purple for a Psychic Armory? The two-weapon fighting a complete feat tax since, as far as I can tell, it's basically useless for Psychic Armory. An extra attack at full BAB is certainly very nice, but is it worth wasting that feat on? Not to mention the fairly steep Dex requirement which, if you're going Wis-focused, may not be so easy to meet.

On a related note, what do people think of a dip into Far Strike monk for a Psychic Armory? Seems like a good deal - you get to Flurry with thrown weapons (aka your panoply - doesn't work with Rapid Shot, but basically replaces it so that frees up a feat), get WIS to AC (and you should have an at least decent WIS), a bump to your weak Fort save, and a bonus feat (the list isn't extensive, but there's a few on there that are at least decent). Plus Quick Draw, which probably doesn't do much for you, but an extra feat never hurts. Probably not worth more than a one-level dip, but that one level seems like a pretty good deal. Especially if you can take it with Unchained Monk, since then you don't miss out on any BAB. Thoughts?

Also. if you take the Natural Blade trait you still have one level you can dip with, what would be a good second dip to accent the Far Strike Monk?

On twin throw: Good point, the TWF feat tax is pretty rough, and 17 Dex could be pretty hard to hit (though Dex will probably be a Psychic Armory's 3rd highest stat after Wis and Con, so it might still be doable with items at higher levels.) (Effectively) another attack at your highest BAB still feels strong enough to be 3 or 4 stars, though. I'll update the entry soon™.

On Far Strike Monk: That looks like an excellent dip for a Psychic Armory. Rapid Shot isn't a prerequisite for anything the Psychic Armory wants, so replacing it with Flurry of Blows is fine, and the other features are great.

As for other dipping options...maybe just a second level of FSM? One more feat (probably Precise or Far Shot, whichever you didn't choose at 1st level), +1 to all saves (or Fort/Ref for Unchained Monk), and evasion seems pretty good. A 1 level dip into Fighter/Psychic Warrior for more feats, Contemplative Wilder for psionics, or Stalker/Mystic for maneuvers also seem like passable options, depending on what you want to focus on.

(As one other option, 2 levels of Aurora Soul Mystic would grant another source of Wis to AC that would stack with the Monk's, but you lose out on the Mystic's level 2 combat feat. However, if you swap out Broken Blade for Solar Wind or Tempest Gale with the Unorthodox Method trait or by joining a martial tradition, the discipline list is pretty great for a Psychic Armory. Losing out on a level of mind blade enhancement kinda hurts, but it might be worth getting Wis to AC again.)

[Kris Moonhand]

For the Gifted Blade, you might want to mention that they can trade out their powers known each day, like a Vitalist (or a Cleric or Paladin). Some situational powers become a bit better when that is taken into account, especially if you know what you're going to be doing that day. As well, like the Vitalist, it allows to to "prepare" nothing but high-level powers, should you wish (I wouldn't, but you could if you wanted to for some reason).

Also, this may be anecdotal, but I've had great success multiclassing Living Legend with the very similar Aegis AT, Host of Heroes. Once you get access to the Monomyths, using the Overmind armor gives you Int to AC; along with all kinds of neat perks, like being able to use power stones/dorjes like a Psion. Add onto that the Initiator's Soul customization, and you can sorta-kinda be a War Soul as well as a Living Legend.

[Storyteller_Arc]

Looks at this Handbook

Looks at the Soulknife Guide I had been working on - on and of - since March Last year

... Well. ****.

Guess I don't need to finish that anymore... I mean, I also dabbled in covering Bloodforge material and I've got a few more feats then you have, as well as different ratings... but there's no real point in continuing this when you've already got it all laid out for everyone to look over. I mean, you covered the Path of War and Style feats, which I hadn't even thought of touching, and I still have Prestige Classes, Multiclassing, and Items to cover...

Still. Well done for putting so much time and effort in getting this done.

[Rerednaw]

Old thread but still relevant to us folks who play 1E. :thumbs up:

Just had a comment (no idea if this guide is even maintained but what the hey). Regarding Style Feats:

...Thrashing Dragon Style**: This is somewhat useful early on for TWFs who cannot get into position to full attack. It quickly becomes pointless as your level increases....

I have a slightly more favorable opinion. The feat makes this useful for TWF style through all levels because of this:

Once per round, when you make an attack as a standard action or attack action, you can make an additional attack with another weapon as a free action. This attack is made at your highest base attack bonus, although you take the penalties for fighting with two weapons as normal.

Yes it is with the TWF penalty. Yes it is off-hand and yes it is only 1/round. But it is a free extra attack every time you attack. Most martial strikes are standard actions. This could be stacked after a combat maneuver. So you have a free extra attack without having to be in a stance, burn a boost, or making a full attack, etc.

I am not 100% sure if this could be done after a full-attack action...RAI probably no, but RAW is a bit uncertain for me.

[truemane]

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