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Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Credit for this subsection goes to Sydonis, which I shall quote in its entirety.
Why The (3.5) Soulknife Was Broken
Spoiler
Quote:
The main concept behind the Soulknife is that it can create and magically imbue his own weapons. However, the weapons that the soulknife can manifest are supbar to weapons that other characters of the same level will have. As well, the enchantments that a Soulknife may imbue are far beyond subpar. While any other character could essentially gain a +10 weapon by level 15 at the earliest, a soulknife only gains a +9 weapon by level 20.
The class itself was created to be a combat-oriented class with good maneuverability, but the core mechanics of the class do not agree with this. The class has moderate BAB, low fortitude saves, and can only wear light armor, so he doesn't serve as a very good tank. The soulknife has a high amount of hit points, which would allow him to serve as a solid "protector" type of class, had it the proper proficiencies with heavier armor types and shields.
This said, the class fulfills more of a striker/scout role in the party, like the rogue. This is reflected in the good reflex saves, great battlefield maneuverability, and Psychic Strike. Unlike a rogue however, who's Sneak Attack can be used automatically against anyone vulnerable to precision damage if they are caught flat-footed or flanked, the Soulknife must constantly sacrifice move actions to gain this additional damage. This is difficult on a class needing as many actions as possible just to keep its head above water. As well, a rogue has a great deal of skills and skill points, which a Soulknife is severely lacking.
Finally, the Soulknife being psionic is merely a fluff aspect. Nothing else. I know you psionics-lovers cringe at reading this, but it's true. Every psionic class, even the fighter-type, has a power point progression and can manifest powers. The only thing that makes a Soulknife psionic is Wild Talent, which is, in my opinion, is not enough to make a class psionic. The only things that this ability grants the soulknife is access to psionic feats, and the ability to manifest his psi-blade. Which is just another thing the Mind Blade needs, another restriction.
The highly restrictive nature of the Soulknife's level advancement creates a very powerful "straightjacket" effect, which punishes players if they want to multiclass into non-soulknife prestige classes or other base classes. However, in order to build the soulknife into any sort of great class, it requires multiclassing for certain builds and to enhance its general performance.
Takeaways from the above breakdown:
- The Soulknife was intended for melee, but not very good at it;
- The main benefit of their class is easily replicated by WBL, and at a faster rate besides;
- Their bonus damage mechanic forces them to do the very thing they were designed NOT to do, i.e. stand around in melee;
- Their blade bonuses punish multiclassing, but their poor class features punish staying in-class;
- They were "psionic" in name only. (Literally; the book says "this is a psionic class" because otherwise you'd have no way to tell, other than the charity feat that makes any class psionic.)
DSP did a great deal to address these issues, enough so that I can confidently recommend the new Soulknife to anyone. We'll be delving deeper to find out why, but first an overview on the new Soulknife itself.
Overview
The Soulknife enjoys an infamy almost identical to that of the monk; being simultaneously one of the most beloved and most maligned base classes in WotC history. What was once a wonderful concept marred by horrible execution has been uplifted by the psionics masterminds at Dreamscarred Press.
The Soulknife's Role
The Soulknife's role, as it was in 3.5, is the skirmisher - a melee damage platform with decent mobility/positioning. By receiving an autoscaling weapon with some unique abilities, this allows them to focus their WBL on defense, or to shine in low-wealth campaigns. Their versatility allows them to overcome a variety of defenses, including damage reduction, incorporeality, energy resistance, precision-damage resistant enemies, enemies that stay distant etc.
Having said that, combat is still really the only thing they can do well, perhaps with a smattering of stealth or scouting ability. They don't have the skills (or trapfinding) necessary to be the skillmonkey, nor the party face. Also, while they can broaden their loadout with psionic feats, they don't get the utility that powers provide out of the box. I would say the new Soulknife is T4:"Capable of doing one thing quite well, but often useless when encounters require other areas of expertise." A step up from their 3.5 counterparts perhaps, but still not suitable for high-power campaigns. (There is a way, though, to get them into a high-power campaign - see the PrC section.)
Soulknives do, however, serve one more vital function - they are a way to "wet your DM's feet" in psionics. They get power points, which they can put to use depending on your race, feats or even a multiclass dip. They get a psionic focus. They can qualify for certain psionic feats and PrCs. They can put psionic enchantments on their blade. If your group is leery about psionics, the Soulknife is an excellent way to warm them up to the concept without them having to deal with a full-blown manifesting class; play the Soulknife in one campaign, then graduate to a Psywar, Psion or Psychic Rogue in a subsequent game. For this reason, being the weakest psionic base class can actually be a point in their favor. And unlike the D&D Soulknife, you are a still strong enough to contribute to most campaigns.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Class Features
Shamelessly lifted from my own handbook. I'll ask myself for permission later.
Upgrades over the 3.5 Soulknife are blue.
Chassis
Spoiler
Full BAB (I cannot cheer about this enough.)
Medium Armor Proficiency
Skills: Acrobatics (which means Balance), Autohypnosis, Climb, Craft, Intimidate, Knowledge (Psionics), Perception (which means Search), Profession, Stealth, and Swim. Still 4+Int.
Bonus Feat: You now have a choice; instead of just Weapon Focus (Mind Blade), you can also grab Power Attack or Two-Weapon Fighting
Wild Talent: This feat serves the same purpose it did in 3.5, i.e. making Soulknives count as psionic. If you become or already are psionic through some other means (e.g. race, or multiclassing), this automatically converts to Psionic Talent instead.
Weapon Proficiencies: Simple, and their Mind Blades, as before.
Shield Proficiency (no tower shields.)
The Mind Blade
Every mind blade has two mechanical parameters: Shape and Type.
Shape
Spoiler
Shapes can be chosen at 1st-level (instead of 5th as with the normal Soulknife.)
Assuming a Medium Soulknife:
- Light (1d6) <-- you can form two of these to dual-wield from the get-go.
- 1-handed (1d8)
- 2-handed (2d6)
Adjust damage accordingly for different sizes, including temporary changes. The damage now also auto-adjusts for Powerful Build and similar abilities.
Type
Spoiler
Your mind blade doesn't actually have to be a blade at all. This means you are no longer restricted to slashing or piercing.
- Slashing
- Piercing
- Bludgeoning
Regardless of form, Mind Blades have hardness 10, 10 HP, and crit on 19-20/x2.
So now you can form a Psychic Hammer, or a pair of Mindspikes, or whatever your character concept can conceive of. The visual shape of your mind blade is purely fluff based and is up to the character; however, the shape must reflect the damage type in some way (e.g. a "slashing" mind blade would have a sharp edge on it, while a "bludgeoning" one would look blunt or thick at the business end.) This prevents you from trying to fool onlookers.
Once these parameters are chosen, your blade will come out this way every time you form it. This means you no longer have to make the basic mind blade and reshape it every single time. Soulknives in 3.5 would typically waste the first round of combat doing this, even if they had Free Draw.
But what if you do want to change either of the above parameters? All you need is a full-round action to reshape it.
Enhancements
The Mind Blade's other trick is that it becomes a scaling, mutable magic weapon at no cost to you. You also don't care if it gets disjoined, sundered etc, as you are always free to simply make another. I'll discuss the enhancements themselves in a later post, but for now I'll cover the change to the enhancement system itself.
Spoiler
In 3.5, the Soulknife had two enhancement tracks: One was the weapon's enhancement bonus itself (+1 to +5), and one was the enhancement "pool" that could be allocated to various special abilities like Ghost Touch, Keen, or Psychokinetic Burst. For instance, a level 8 Soulknife in D&D had a +2 enhancement bonus and a +1 enhancement pool - he could thus create a +2 Merciful Mind Blade.
In Pathfinder, the two tracks have been combined to remove the confusion surrounding the word "enhancement." Now when you refer to a Mind Blade's enhancement bonus, you refer both to its flat bonus to attack/damage, and its pool to allocate to additional effects.
This doesn't mean you can have a +5 Weapon at level 11, however. Soulknives have a limit on how much of the bonus they get can be allocated to sheer enhancement; any amount over that limit must be allocated to secondary magical effects or wasted.
Going back to the level 11 Soulknife example - he has a total enhancement of+5, but a maximum enhancement bonus of +3. A Soulknife 11 can therefore have a +3 Flaming Burst mind blade, but not a +5 mind blade or a +4 Ghost Touch mind blade.
The important things to note from this ability are as follows:
- The mind blade enhancement still functions as it did in 3.5: the only difference is that now there is only one "enhancement" to track, which should hopefully lessen confusion.
- Starting at level 3, and every 3 levels after that, the PF Soulknife's enhancement cap is increased by one.
- The cap only applies to the blade's enhancement bonus, not to blade abilities - you can, for instance, have a +1 Brilliant Energy mind blade (a +4 ability) at level 11. Your blade must have a minimum of +1 as a flat enhancement before you can assign any abilities to it, however. This is still a far cry from the WotC Soulknife, who would have to wait until 18 for a Brilliant Energy weapon, when they have a +4 mind blade to put it on. The player thus has much more control over what their blades can actually do in Pathfinder.
- The PF Soulknife's enhancement track is one level faster than the regular one's. Referring again to the above example, a 3.5 Soulknife would have to wait until 12 to get a +3 Flaming Burst mind blade.
- Rearranging enhancements is harder than changing your blade's shape and type. You must rest or concentrate for at least 8 hours (use the latter if your race needs less sleep or no sleep) before you can change the buffs on your blade.
- As with the WotC Soulknife, splitting the blade in two means each component blade has an enhancement bonus of 1 less. Using the level 11 Soulknife one more time, he can split his +5 Mind Blade in two, and each component blade will be +4. The enhancement cap of +3 still applies, however, and he would be forced to assign at least +1 from each mind blade to an appropriate ability.
- When you split your blade, you must use the same ability or abilities on each component blade. You cannot, for instance, make one blade Anarchic and one Axiomatic.
One last use for the enhancement bonus system - the enhancement bonus represents your increased connection with your mind blade. Mechanically, this is represented by a bonus to the will save to maintain your mind blade in a NPF/AMF equal to its current enhancement bonus. However, even if you succeed in maintaining the blade, it is downgraded to simply being masterwork quality (like any other magic weapon in an AMF.)
Psychic Strike: The soulknife's signature damage technique has gotten some nice buffs in Pathfinder.
Spoiler
- Charging your Psychic Strike works just like it did in 3.5 (i.e. a move action.) However, a Soulknife can also charge her mind blade as a swift action by expending psionic focus.
- When dual-wielding, you can now charge each mind blade with a psychic strike, spending the necessary number of actions to do so, and discharge them both on the same target. If you reshape your mind blade to a single weapon while both are charged, the single weapon will only have one charge however (the other one is lost.)
- Psychic Strike now goes off only when you want it to, not on the first eligible target you strike.
- Psychic Strike can now be used on any creature with a mind (read: Int score) even if they are immune to mind-affecting effects, e.g. a vampire, lich or other sentient undead. It also bypasses protections like Mind Blank. The only way to be safe from Psychic Strike now is to not have an Int score at all. It still works on creatures immune to sneak attacks/criticals, as it is not precision damage.
Other Features
Spoiler
Throw Mind Blade: You now get this a level earlier. Enjoy! The range increment has been shortened though. Nothing a Blade Skill can't fix (more on those later.)
Quick Draw: Now Soulknives simply get the feat instead of their own, identical ability. This means you can quickdraw other weapons besides your mind blade.
Mind Blade Mastery: The capstone is a bit lackluster but serviceable. You no longer have to make will saves to sustain your blade in an AMF (but sadly, it still loses its powers.) In addition, you can reconfigure the blade completely with a full-round action, including enhancements, rather than resting for 8 hours first.
Blade Skills
These are the meat of the new soulknife, the real reason for staying in the class until 20. Blade skills allow you to customize your Soulknife to great degrees, and are involved enough to deserve their own section. The ratings will come into play here as well.
Spoiler
Overview: A Blade Skill is a special technique, shape or property a Soulknife can apply to her mind blade. They take advantage of the blade's inherently mutable nature (and its connection to your mind), letting you do things with it that are not possible with more conventional weapons. These are also where you'll find the other Soulknife abilities you remember, such as Knife to the Soul and Bladewind.
Some Blade Skills form "chains," i.e. you must take a specific prerequisite Blade Skill to have access to the later version. Where applicable, I will note those as well. By Soulknife 20, you will have 10 different Blade Skills. (You can only take a Blade Skill once.)
* = has a prerequisite {F} = Must expend Focus {PS} = Must expend Psychic Strike (#) = Prerequisite level to take this skill.
- Alter Blade - This does two things. (1) Change your mind blade's shape every time you form it, instead of it being "locked in" to your last shape and needing a full-round action to change. (2) You get a new dual-wield option, i.e. 1H+light instead of just light+light.
- Bladewind{PS} - As the standard soulknife ability, with an addition: you can expend your psychic strike (assuming you have one charged) to reroll one of the attacks if it misses, or you can expend your psychic strike for a damage boost as normal ("each fragment functions identically to the soulknife's regular mind blade.") You can of course do both of these if you have two Strikes charged. Finally, you can get this a level earlier than the WotC Soulknife would. I would like this better if it didn't require you to be in the middle of a pack of enemies to be effective, but the AoE potential is nice. Prereq for Bladestorm. (8th)
- Bladestorm*{PS} - As Bladewind, except you throw the blades at every enemy in a 30 ft. radius without taking range increment penalties. The blade must not be in 2-hander form. No matter how many attacks you make, you only provoke an AoO as if you had made one. Naturally, requires Bladewind. This also has potential but comes online a bit late for my tastes. (16th)
- Combat Slide - This gives you two things: (1) An immediate 5-foot step if you hit someone in melee (even if you've already moved that round), and (2) an immediate 5-foot step if someone misses you in melee. More 5-foot steps are of course very good.
- Deadly Blow - Increase your critical multiplier by 1. (to x3 in most cases.) Would be better if you could take it more than once. (10th)
- Dual Imbue - You gain a second Psychic Strike charge option; you can use one action to charge both blades simultaneously (even with the swift-action-expend-focus method); however, the strike in each blade is 1d8 lower than it would normally be. You can still charge your blades separately for the full amount if you have the time and wish to do so. If you're dual-wielding this is a must; if not, skip it.
- Enhanced Range - Double your range increment with the thrown blade. This could come in handy since they nerfed it. Personally I would wait for Psionics Expanded and their revamped Soulbow if you want to go around sniping people.
- Exploding Critical{F} - I like this one. You may expend your psionic focus after confirming a critical to get a free psychic strike - even if you don't have one charged (for instance, because you've already used your psychic strike on that target ) This means that you can hit a target, psychic strike them, get a critical hit off the blade attack, and psychic strike them again, all for no extra actions. Works well with Keen and other crit-increasing properties. (12th)
- Extended Strike - You can extend your reach by 5' for a single attack. Requires a standard action, so no full-attack, cleave etc. It does however work with the Twin Strike blade skill, but that's not enough to save this one in my eyes. (12th)
- Fluid Form{PS} - This gives you limited ability to reconfigure your mind blade enhancements as a swift action, without resting first. You can either remove one property to add that value to its enhancement bonus, or add one property and reduce your enhancement bonus. When you're done, the final EB then gets a -1 penalty until you get 8 hours of rest. You can't remove a property that would take you over your EB cap with this, nor can you keep adding them until you end up under +1 (including if the penalty would bring you below +1.) The penalty is also cumulative, so it's unlikely you'll be able to do this more than once in most cases until you rest. Still - the freedom to add, say, ghost touch or axiomatic to your weapon at a moment's notice can be useful. How useful this is depends on your campaign and how much your DM likes to surprise you; in most cases, the 8-hour rest period should be sufficient.
- Fluid Form, Improved*{PS} - As above, except you can change all the properties on the blade at once, instead of one at a time. The total penalty stays the same. Requires Fluid Form.
- Full Enhancement - Your enhancement bonus isn't lowered when you split your mind blade in two. All but required for TWF.
- Furious Charge - You get +2 damage to every attack made at the end of a charge (in most cases, one.) This is lessened to +1 for off-hand attacks, but raised to +3 if you're using the 2-hander mind blade. Not too fantastic by itself, but is required for a much better ability (see below.)
- Furious Charge, Improved*{PS} - You get another main-hand attack at the end of a charge, albeit at a steep penalty (-5.) Can only be used once, even if you have multiple psychic strikes charged. If you're dual-wielding and have Twin Strike, you get an extra off-hand attack too, but that one also eats a -5 penalty. Psywars still rule the roost when it comes to Pouncing, but 1-3 extra attacks can be handy even at a penalty (especially if your blades have some nasty secondary abilities.) Requires Furious Charge. (8th)
- Gruesome Riposte{F} - You can immediately attack an enemy who hits you in melee. Their attack lands first, so you may not be able to take advantage of this. (For instance, if they knock you out/kill you.) If this required maintaining focus rather than expending it, it would be much better. (10th)
- Improved Enhancement Just as it sounds, your enhancement increases by 1. This can raise you above your enhancement soft cap (though not above the hard cap of +5), as well as give you additional room for abilities. It's basically a better version of Weapon Focus. (12th)
- Knife to the Soul{PS} - Actually worse than the 3.5 version. Ugh! Identical except for the following: Now, you can convert no more than half of your PS dice to KtS damage per strike. And being immune to mind-affecting/ability damage will protect your target from this, even if they have an int score (thus being susceptible to Psychic Strike.) The one upside is that you get it a level earlier now. But screw that - leave the ability damage to the casters and skip! (12th)
- Mind Daggers - You get an extra shape for your mind blade - a pair of "daggers." that do 1d4 each. I put "daggers" in quotes because you can still choose slashing, piercing or bludgeoning for these things. (Psychic Claws? Knuckles?) The daggers get a 30ft. range increment, further even than the light blades form, and they have the same enhancement bonus/abilities as your regular mind blade. You can also switch between your normal blade and the dagger-shapes at any time (free action), even in the middle of a full attack, and back again, without limit. Finally, using this shape lets you form as many daggers in a round as you want. This shape is obviously meant to be thrown, what with the buffed increment and the freedom to create multiples. While you still have to wait quite a while to spray a room full of bad guys with these, you can definitely aim them at one opponent and ruin his day, especially with the right enchantments (like Disruptor.) It isn't as easy to switch between these and the 2H form, so these are definitely intended for a Dexknife.
- Mind Shield - This has been errata'ed;You get a +2 shield bonus to AC as long as you have a hand free. This is now useless for anyone not using the 1H shape; although you could simply use the 2H shape and take a hand off it at the end of your turn for an AC boost? Anyway, sword and board is bad, and therefore so is this. (Worse in fact, since you can't put any helpful buffs on your "shield.")
- Multiple Throw - as the regular Soulknife ability (but you can get it 3 levels earlier.) Note that the way this is worded means you get more throws if you're dual-wielding (since you also get more attacks.) (14th)
- Powerful Strikes - Increase your Psychic Strike by 1d8. This can offset the damage nerf for utilizing Dual Imbue; sadly, you can only take it once.
- Reaching Blade{F} - You can extend your reach by 5 feet until your next turn (i.e. will work for all your attacks and AoOs.) You can still attack adjacent enemies, too And finally, it works with dual-wielding. Why would anyone take Extended Strike over this? If it didn't require expending focus it would be exceptional. (8th)
- Reaper's Blade - This is basically Mind Cleave from CPsi; reducing an enemy to 0 or less with a melee attack automatically recharges your Psychic Strike. Doing this with an already-charged blade Empowers it, causing your next Psychic Strike to deal 1.5x damage. Very nice. (Interestingly, it doesn't specify that your target can't be mindless, so you could by RAW power up your Psychic Strike from a skeleton.) (10th)
- Rending Blades - This sprouts hooks from your blade that do two things: (1) +1d6 bleed damage on a critical, and (b) competence bonus on Climb checks equal to the blade's enhancement. Interesting but far too situational. If you want to climb that badly, grab Up The Walls.
- Weapon Special - You can assign one of the following specials to your mind blade when you shape it: brace, trip or disarm. This is the only blade skill that can be taken more than once (so taking it 3 times gets you all three at once.) Yes, brace means that you can set your mind blade against a charge. Combine with Reaching Blade and congratulations, you're a Spiked Chain tripper again, Pathfinder style.
- Toppling Strike* - If your mind blade has Trip, this gives you a special attack that lets you (a) make a single attack and deal damage normally, and (b) attempt a free trip attack that does not provoke an AoO if (a) hits. Requires Weapon Special (Trip), above. Useful for tripping builds.
- Toppling Strike, Improved* - as above, except if you successfully Topple your foe, you can make a trip attempt against an adjacent foe, then another if that one succeeds etc. This is basically Trip-Cleave. Combine with Reaching Blade for added hilarity. If you're going for a tripping build (and if you're big or have Powerful Build, why not?) this is very nice. If you already have the other two in the chain, you may as well get this one too.
- Trade Blows: I love this one; while performing a Total Defense action, you can make free attacks (at -4) against any enemy that attacks you, whether they hit or not. This is one of the few ways to attack while using Total Defense. You get one attack per enemy who takes a swing at you this way. I definitely prefer this to Gruesome Riposte. (10th)
- Twin Strike: Whenever you make single, standard-action attack while dual-wielding, you can attack with both blades simultaneously instead. This includes AoOs, but not other special attacks. This works with a couple of the other Blade Skills (see above.) Dual-wielders definitely want this, since it lets you unload both psychic strike at once.
- Two-Handed Throw: This lets you throw your mind-blade while in 2-hander form, but only 10 feet. Not very impressive, but tossing a glowing greatsword has to be worth some style points.
- Wing Clip: A special attack that locks an enemy in place for a number of rounds = 1+Str mod. Fort negates; the save DC is 10 + your BAB. This attack deals no damage. Interestingly, the effect is neither a stun nor paralysis, so it should be effective against enemies that can resist those conditions. Tying the DC to your BAB means it will fall behind eventually, though.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Races, ACFs and Character Options
Pathfinder Soulknives share one problem in common with their 3.5 counterparts: being psionic is almost purely cosmetic for them. Thus (counterintuitively) a psionic race is usually not the best choice for one unless you plan on multiclassing later; the extra power points do nothing for you and simply becoming a Soulknife gives you access to the psionic feats you would normally have wanted the race for.
Having said that, here is a quick rundown on the Pathfinder races available and their usefulness with the Soulknife.
Core Races - Psionic
Spoiler
If you're allowed to use the 3.5 ACF that trades in a Soulknife's Wild Talent for Hidden Talent, upgrade all of these a step - you'll have more PP with them than a non-psionic race due to the automatic Psionic Talent conversion they all possess, which gives you another trick to use in combat. For best results, pick a swift-action power like Dimension Hop.
Blues: With the one-two punch of being small and having a strength penalty, these guys probably wouldn't make great soulknives due to the low damage output. Psychic Strike/Finesse can help with this but then you cut into the mobility that is a Blue's strength (relative to other races his size, that is.) They'll do better in a range-focused build.
They do get Repletion though, so at least they have a use for those PP. You also get minor bonuses to Ride, Stealth and Perception. +2 Int, +2 Dex, -2 Str.
Dromites: About on par with Blues but for different reasons. Still have the Str penalty. They have +1 NA, but are slower. They have Scent, energy resistance and their 1/day ray. Cha is worse to boost than Int. Worst of all they have no use for the PP from their race or class. All in all there are better options. +2 Cha, +2 Dex, -2 Str
Duergar: The con boost is nice but other than that, there's nothing helpful here and no use for your PP. Move along. +2 Wis, +2 Con, -2 Cha
Elans: Now we're talking. Not only do we get TWO uses for your PP built right into the race, we get damn good ones - and a use for your swift actions even before you get Psychic Strike. Choosing where your ability score bonus goes is great too. The immortality is just icing on the cake. An Elan Soulknife can soak a ridiculous amount of damage at low levels. +2 to any one ability score
Half-Giants: The dex penalty means you probably won't be dual-wielding - but thanks to Powerful Build, you probably won't care. This is one of the best races for a 2-hander soulknife build. Pity they have no PP dump, and Wisdom is unfortunately not a useful stat; with those two issues resolved I'd upgrade it to teal. +2 Str, +2 Wis, -2 Dex
Maenads: The scream is pretty meh, but Outburst and Inner Rage are great. A PP dump that lets you penalize two dump stats to boost your damage stat? I'll take two! +2 to any one ability score
Ophiduans: Natural armor, medium size and a dex bonus for dual-wieldy goodness. The Darkvision and bite are nice too. Due to having a Dex bonus and no Str penalty, they make great dual-wielders. +2 Wis, +2 Dex, -2 Cha
Xephs: Str penalty rears its head again, but at least your weapons are regular-sized. The speed boost is nice (and stacks with e.g. Speed of Thought and Skate) but you still have no use for your PP. As a result, they clock in behind the Ophiduan where Soulknives are concerned. +2 Dex, +2 Cha, -2 Str
Core Races - Non-Psionic
Spoiler
Dwarves: Nothing special here. Going Soulknife at least qualifies them for psionic feats, so they get a little more out of it than Duergar do. Move along all the same. +2 Con, +2 Wis, –2 Cha
Elves: Dex bonus is nice for dual-wielding, and of course access to psionic feats help them as well. But you pay for it with a Con penalty.+2 Dex, +2 Int, –2 Con
Gnomes: Aside from maybe Con, no good stats here. And your "weapon" is smaller. Next! +2 Con, +2 Cha, -2 Str
Half-Elves: The floating stat bonus is nice but there's not a whole lot else here. They're decent at multi-classing though, and Soulknives definitely have the potential to play well with others. +2 to any one ability score
Half-Orcs: Nothing much here aside from the floating stat too. +2 to any one ability score
Humans: Floating stat, free feat and no drawbacks - as usual for 3.x, you can't really go wrong with a human. +2 to any one ability score
Other Races
Spoiler
There are of course many other options; I'll only do a few here.
Kalashtar - Along with a smattering of miscellaneous bonuses, you get more bonus PP from these guys from any other race, but no way to use them without Hidden Talent, racial sub or a dip. Even so, the sheer amount of ammunition can come in handy. The first racial sub level in Races of Eberron is also nice (see below.) Finally, Kalashtar have access to nice racial perks such as Host Feats, unique PrCs like Atavist and Quori Shards. All in all, not a bad choice. If porting to Pathfinder, try to convince your DM to allow them +2 to any stat like Elans and Humans get; if this is allowed, upgrade them to a blue choice.
Shifter: +2 Dex, -2 Int, -2 Cha. The stat adjustments are harsh, especially in Pathfinder, but thankfully the penalties are to stats you don't really care about anyway. The shifting buffs are all useful to a Soulknife, so this is another solid choice. If you can get the race a Pathfinder boost (at least a net zero stats, or stronger/more frequent shifting bonuses), this is another good candidate for a blue rating.
Changeling: There isn't a whole lot of mechanical synergy here. They're good at infiltrating, so being able to create powerful weapons out of thin air can probably come in handy for that, but in terms of actual numbers they don't get much to help (or hinder) you. Interesting RP-wise, but there are many more powerful options.
Warforged: Warforged are of course universally good at melee. +2 Con, -2 Wis, -2 Cha.; as with Shifters, it's a net negative but both are dump stats so you probably won't mind anyway. Their suite of immunities and defensive attributes all hold value for a Soulknife as well.
ACFs and Racial Subs
Spoiler
Mind's Eye - Hidden Talent:If your campaign allows this, take it. With it, every soulknife gains a use for their PP total, and several 1st-level powers are extremely useful - whether you go with Vigor, Dimension Hop, Force Screen, Inertial Armor, Skate, Synesthete etc. Best of all, this ACF lets you take Hidden Talent more than once, for more powers and additional PP.
Mind's Eye - Bonus Feats: This ACF lets you trade your Psychic Strike progression for additional bonus feats. Psychic Strike is stronger in Pathfinder, and PF gives you more feats to play with, so this isn't quite the slam-dunk it was in 3.5; however, so few PrCs progress Psychic Strike that this remains a powerful option for Soulknives who plan to branch out during their careers. (Not that I don't LIKE Psychic Strike... )
Racial Subs
Note 1: Two of the following are technically 3rd-Party (and 3.5), but are also by Dreamscarred Press: if your game allows Psionics Unleashed, consider adding the below too. (They may be updated for PF in Psionics Expanded as well - if so, I will update them here as well when that happens.)
Note 2: All three of these have a level 6 sub that replaces Speed of Thought. In 3.5 this was a good thing, as Speed of Thought kind of sucked and you could get something useful with a nice racial flavor instead. In Pathfinder, Speed of Thought was buffed, but conversely Soulknives no longer get it for free. You may have to either talk with your DM to work out a compromise (such as a bladeskill or regular feat instead) or in the worst case scenario, get 13 Wis and take SoT normally to trade it in.
Kalashtar Soulknife: 1) Align Mind Blade - The first level trades away the useless (for you) Wild Talent away in exchange for adding the Holy enhancement to your ability list, and the ability to spend a power point to make the blade count as Good-aligned for 1 round. This isn't as useful for the PF Soulknife (who gains Holy baseline), but the secondary ability can be useful at low levels. If Hidden Talent is allowed in your game, obviously go with that instead. 3) Purifying Strike - You gain the dubious ability to dispel mind-affecting effects by touch, by spending 3PP, and also dismiss possessing outsiders. Costs you your first level of Psychic Strike progression, and can be used both offensively and defensively. Is this worth a feat? Personally I say leave it to the casters, but unique abilities like this can potentially catch enemies off-guard. Situationally useful. 6) Stand Fast - Trade Speed of Thought for a +2 dodge bonus to AC any round you move no more than 5 feet. I mentioned the SoT problem above; if you can get around it without needing 13 Wis then this has a bit of use, especially since (a) insight bonuses are hard to come by and (b) charging your psychic strike or full-attacking will probably mean standing still anyway. Doesn't really scale all that well though.
Half-Giant Soulknife 1) Stand Still - Trades the Soulknife's Wild Talent (which you don't need) for Stand Still. Great trade-off - unless the Hidden Talent ACF is allowed in your game, in which case go with that instead. 3) Overpowering Strike: - Trade a level of psychic strike progression for the abilitiy to knock prone enemies that fail their reflex save. This is charged in the same way - and at the same time - as your psychic strike. The higher you can get your damage, the better this gets, so I would give it a try - and some enemies (e.g. Dragons) have pretty poor reflex saves even if they're big. 6) Roots of Strength - Trade SoT for the ability to extend your mind blade 5 feet by standing still for one whole round. With the right bladeskills you can control the battlefield quite a bit. Seems redundant with Reaching Blade though; if they don't stack, get the bladeskill instead.
Xeph Soulknife 1) Speed of Thought - trade in the Soulknife's unneeded Wild Talent for SoT. Not only is it better in Pathfinder, but it stacks with the Xeph's Burst racial (insight + competence) resulting in a pretty speedy Soulknife. The idea here was to get it earlier than normal, but now you actually get it for free. 3) Burst Strike - this is fantastic if you don't have a bard - +1 competence bonus to attack/damage for every 10ft. of speed from your burst ability, in exchange for 1d8 psychic strike. While it's below the average for a psychic strike, it lasts longer, doesn't need to be charged, and applies to all of your attacks, causing it to pull far ahead (that's +12 guaranteed extra damage at 16 BAB per round, or +36 per activation - far more than a single psychic strike roll would give you.) Get this! If it was untyped I would give it the highest rating; the other drawback of course is that it delays your psychic strike for feats/blade skills that depend on having it. 6) Expeditious Skirmish - You can move both before and after your attack; flyby attack for Soulknives. If you can get pounce (or just rely on Psychic Strike) then this is great; as-is, I'd say it's pretty good. It does require Speed of Thought, but if you took that first racial sub, then you don't need to find a workaround like the Kalashtar and Half-Giant do.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Multiclassing and Prestige Classes
The Pathfinder Soulknife is much more friendly to multiclassing than its 3.5 cousin. Often in 3.5, even PrCs designed for the soulknife would advance only the blade's enhancement bonus - not its ability pool, much less Psychic Strike. And PrCs that weren't specifically meant for the Soulknife advanced nothing at all.
PsU changes that with a new ruling, introduced in Hyperconscious and leveraged for other DSP works like Untapped Potential. It states the following:
(Buffs have again been colored blue.)
Quote:
Soulknives And Prestige Classes
Sometimes, a soulknife may qualify for a prestige class with “+1 level of existing manifesting class” as a class feature. This increased psionic training helps those who follow the path of the mind blade as well as the path of the manifester. At each level where a manifester level would increase by one, treat the soulknife as if he had gained a level of soulknife for the purposes of Enhanced Mind Blade. The soulknife does not gain any other benefits from an increased level (blade skills, etc.).
It’s less common, but sometimes a multiclass soulknife enters one of these prestige classes with a bit of manifesting talent. In high psionics games, for this special case, each indicated level of the prestige class advances both the soulknife’s Enhanced Mind Blade, as above, and his existing manifester level by one level. In games that are not high psionics, choose one or the other to increase, but not both.
Psionic Prestige Classes: Core
Spoiler
Cerebremancer: This is for casters, not for you. Moving right along.
Elocater: A decent choice, with 7/10 blade advancement. The requisite feats are much better in Pathfinder, and you can enter with a tiny dip or with Hidden Talent (if houseruled into your game.) In exchange for your Blade Skills, some BAB, and Psychic Strike, you gain a number of unique abilities: walking on walls and ceilings, flanking from almost anywhere, taking extra 5-foot steps, and even short-range teleportation a few times per day. In addition, Spatial Awareness can help overcome the damage lost from missing Psychic Strike, and all the flanking goodness makes you much more likely to hit your targets. This is still a much better class for Nomad-gishes, but the Soulknife gets some decent mileage out of it, particularly if you're not the only member of the party in melee. The biggest downside is that the Transporter ability is useless for you. If Hidden Talent is allowed, upgrade to blue.
Metamind: Nothing for you here either.
Phrenic Slayer: The 9/10 blade advancement and full BAB are very nice. You also gain powerful defenses against a single enemy type - even with a low Wis, you can get plenty of mileage out of these. Useful for a "hunter-type" SK. Effectively, you're trading versatility vs. many enemy types (and your reflex save, sadly) for supreme offensive and defensive capability vs. one.
Psion Uncarnate: The benefits are powerful, but you give up too much qualifying. Leave this one to the casters. 6/10 blade advancement.
Psychic Fist: The primary benefits of this monk-oriented PrC require that you use your fist instead of your mind blade. And you lose BAB to boot. Why are you a soulknife then? (Note: with sufficient shenanigans, you can make your mind blade count as an unarmed strike. If such is the case, upgrade this to Good.)
Pyrokineticist: Fantastic. This class has always meshed well with the Soulknife, and Pathfinder is no exception - with a special clause that allows your fire whip to benefit from all Blade skills and enhancements received thus far. If the class itself granted more enhancements it would get an even higher rating. If you want a dex-heavy, non-TWF soulwhip, this is the way to go, particularly with the alternate elements from Mind's Eye.
Thrallherd: The most powerful psionic PrC in the game nevertheless has little to offer you. Skip this.
War Mind: You give up your blade progression for a suite of Psywar powers and a use for your PP. With full BAB in the mix, this is a fantastic choice.
Psionic Prestige Classes: Splat
Under construction.
Prestige Classes: Core
Spoiler
Arcane Archer/Arcane Trickster: Nope.
Assassin: A brilliant fit, both mechanically and thematically. Take a normal assassin; now add on a base class with a full BAB chassis instead of 3/4, a "precision-damage" ability that does full damage to most sneak-resistant creature types, and best of all one that can create its (magic) weapon out of thin air, even after being searched by the king's guards. And because it's never a "hidden weapon" it creates this blade as a free action instead of a move action - i.e. you can "study your foe," make your blade, then full-Death-Attack. Ready to be the terror of the kingdom?
Dragon Disciple: Skip.
Duelist: An intriguing choice. Combine with the Mind Shield blade skill (your offhand is still empty) for some added defense. Keep in mind that you must shape the piercing mind blade for this to work.
Eldritch Knight/Loremaster/MT: No.
Pathfinder Chronicler: I don't see anything in this class to recommend it. It seems to be based around boosting everyone else's combat abilitiy instead of your own, which is not what a soulknife is about, but maybe someone can see something I don't.
Shadowdancer: Not a terrible choice, but doesn't offer all that much either. This can help you make a stealthy soulknife, but unlike Assassin and Duelist it doesn't help your damage output much, and damage is really the Soulknife's thing.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Useful Feats
In this section, I'll compile a list of handy feats for Soulknives, keeping in mind their melee focus, durability (or lack thereof) and above all their psionic nature. Though they don't actually use psionics for much, getting Wild Talent for free gives Soulknives access to psionic feats; an advantage that more mentally mundane martial classes (like Barbarians, Fighters, Monks etc.) do not share.
There are also a number of feats specifically designed for Soulknives - some good, some less than good. Where possible, I will highlight the treats (and traps) for what they are.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psyren
Last one - post away.
I wasn't kidding when I said help is welcome btw - melee is not my forté, so writing this is as much about my own edification as anyone else's.
I'll say this: PF Soulknife is 100% better than 3.5 Soulknife. Heck, almost every class is better in Pathfinder (minus Monk, who once again gets the shaft)
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Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokuhara
I'll say this: PF Soulknife is 100% better than 3.5 Soulknife. Heck, almost every class is better in Pathfinder (minus Monk, who once again gets the shaft)
Base monk, definitely. The Hungry Ghost Archtype on a crit-fishing build can, by reports I've had, be incredibly effective as far as melee combatants go.
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Originally Posted by GungHo, on Battletech
The Atlas is also goofy but it has that whole "Stay Puft Marshmallow Man" menacing smile thing going for it. The guy who drew that one up was obviously taken to the Nutcracker when he was a child... and he was screaming in terror the entire time.
Spoiler
Quote:
Originally Posted by Enterti, Cogidubnus
Glyphstone, out of all the playground I think you scare me the most...
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
i tryed the 3.5 version, and was really disappointed (and eventually had my gm kill him of so i could make a new character..)
however I DO like the changes in pathfinder, and ill be happy to play the new version :D
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Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Question about Psychic Strike: Aren't Undead et al still immune to ability point damage, and thus still immune to Psychic Strike? Or did they change that in Pathfinder?
Also, still seems like it's a high Tier 4 (or maybe a very low Tier 3) class. Full BAB, ok Skills/Armor/Saves, a free magic weapon or two (which is notably important for TWF builds, but not that big of deal for everyone else), a couple of bonus feats which are mostly mandated, and some Blade Skills. The Blade Skills are nifty, but most of the good ones require expending psionic focus or psychic strike, and in general they're a lot less impressive then maneuvers, soulmelds, psychic powers, or vestiges. I reminds me very much of their Monk fix - it adds a ton of stuff, but none of it is particularly impressive.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Quote:
Originally Posted by Person_Man
Question about Psychic Strike: Aren't Undead et al still immune to ability point damage, and thus still immune to Psychic Strike? Or did they change that in Pathfinder?
Only Knife to the Soul incurs ability damage (and has been moved to a Blade Skill rather than a separate ability.) Psychic Strike is just additional HP damage.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Person_Man
Also, still seems like it's a high Tier 4 (or maybe a very low Tier 3) class. Full BAB, ok Skills/Armor/Saves, a free magic weapon or two (which is notably important for TWF builds, but not that big of deal for everyone else), a couple of bonus feats which are mostly mandated, and some Blade Skills. The Blade Skills are nifty, but most of the good ones require expending psionic focus or psychic strike, and in general they're a lot less impressive then maneuvers, soulmelds, psychic powers, or vestiges. I reminds me very much of their Monk fix - it adds a ton of stuff, but none of it is particularly impressive.
1) Monk fix was Paizo actually - Soulknife is Dreamscarred Press.
2) I never said it was T3. T4 is perfectly playable in most games. (See also: Warlock, Scout.) In high-power/high-OP games, you're better off with a SW Psywar bare minimum, and a Tashalatora Ardent for melee ideally.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
I could see a PF Soulknife/Samurai/Iaijutsu Master being very fun. The scene would be like the Cantina scene in SW Episode 4:
Thug approaches the character, picking a fight
Thug: "Get out of my Seat"
Character: "You don't want to fight me..."
Thug: "But you're unarmed..."
Character draws his mind blade and Iaijutsu slashes him for an Instant-Kill
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Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Core races (psionic and non-psionic) have been updated. I think for the "Other" races I'll stick with Faerun, Eberron and Planar Handbook, but I'll skip that for now and move onto PrCs.
Any feedback is appreciated, particularly if you disagree with any of my ratings.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psyren
Core races (psionic and non-psionic) have been updated. I think for the "Other" races I'll stick with Faerun, Eberron and Planar Handbook, but I'll skip that for now and move onto PrCs.
Any feedback is appreciated, particularly if you disagree with any of my ratings.
Xephs have something to bring to the table: Feats. Xeph Bladestorm is exclusive racial feat for them. For Higher Levels, a Xeph PF Soulknife 10/Kensei 10 would be amazing
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Cleric: Right, I cast Infict Serious Wounds on that guy.
DM: Sorry, you kissed too many babies this week, you heal him instead
Cleric: Quick! Someone find me a dog to kick
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tokuhara
Xephs have something to bring to the table: Feats. Xeph Bladestorm is exclusive racial feat for them. For Higher Levels, a Xeph PF Soulknife 10/Kensei 10 would be amazing
Good point; I had not, in fact, looked at any of the racial subs or feats when determining those ratings (as they are DM-dependent) but allowing them should tweak the ratings somewhat. More builds have room for them too since you get more feats in Pathfinder.
I'll add them in when I do the ACF section, and perhaps change to a dual-rating system - one for the base race, and one with everything allowed.
In addition, I'll throw in the Racial subs from Untapped Potential too, since it is written by the same authors as PsU.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Does anybody see a reason why we still have to wait until 14th level to make a full attack at range with a mind blade? Also it still needs a better standard action attack option (but that is a standard problem in PF not just the SK).
I agree on the too many options but most don't do too much. I see the the blade stuff and my eyes just glaze over from too much info and not a quick way to cut through the chaff. So I really like you making this guide so I can more easily look up what I would do if I took this so thanks and good luck!
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Update: Core PrCs (both psionic and non-psionic) have been rated, and info on the Soulknife's Role has been added.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lateral
This is a great start to the guide. I'd just like to point out that the Duergar entry is misformatted.
Thanks, and fixed.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MeeposFire
Does anybody see a reason why we still have to wait until 14th level to make a full attack at range with a mind blade? Also it still needs a better standard action attack option (but that is a standard problem in PF not just the SK).
I would honestly use the Soulbow, or wait for PsiEx's Soulbolt, to consider making the Soulknife range-focused. Throwing the mind blade seems to me intended to be an alternative attack for niche situations, rather than a dedicated build for the Soulknife. However, making the blade benefit from Powerful Build does open you up to a strength-based thrower (with the right PrCs.)
The base Soulknife can do range, even aoe range; but as you've pointed out, doesn't really get good at it for awhile.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MeeposFire
I agree on the too many options but most don't do too much. I see the the blade stuff and my eyes just glaze over from too much info and not a quick way to cut through the chaff. So I really like you making this guide so I can more easily look up what I would do if I took this so thanks and good luck!
You're welcome!
I'm truly excited to see what new Blade Skills PsiEx will bring to the table. I don't think any will really push it to T3, but the right ones could really help with the core issues of the class (i.e. having to choose between mobility and psychic strike in most cases.)
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
i made a group of lvl 8 heroes to challenge my group. they are all the most powerfull thing i could make in pathfinder. and one is a pure soulknife and i find it to be a real powerfull class.
i can easily deal 5d6 damage plus 6 per hit and bump that up by 2d6/2d8 on a big hit. i see it as a powerfull class, or maybe im just a good optimizer.
if you were wondering the mini/max party was:
a summoner with the fused archtype that has massive HP.
a cleric who summons about 60 HD worth of undead.
The soulknife.
A artificer that makes people explode from 6-7 squares away with a realy hard save.
And a psion, but the psion might get swapped out.
Last edited by Rentaromon : 07-02-2011 at 01:53 PM.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Always been a fan of the Soulknife despite its flaws and good to see a handbook spreading the word that you can do fun things with it. My only point of contention is with the use of Orange in ratings, as I keep thinking its Gold as in Awesome like in other guides, which throws me off when I read the description on how subpar it is. Maybe that's just me but I thought I'd point it out.
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Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psyren
Update: Core PrCs (both psionic and non-psionic) have been rated, and info on the Soulknife's Role has been added.
Thanks, and fixed.
I would honestly use the Soulbow, or wait for PsiEx's Soulbolt, to consider making the Soulknife range-focused. Throwing the mind blade seems to me intended to be an alternative attack for niche situations, rather than a dedicated build for the Soulknife. However, making the blade benefit from Powerful Build does open you up to a strength-based thrower (with the right PrCs.)
The base Soulknife can do range, even aoe range; but as you've pointed out, doesn't really get good at it for awhile.
You're welcome!
I'm truly excited to see what new Blade Skills PsiEx will bring to the table. I don't think any will really push it to T3, but the right ones could really help with the core issues of the class (i.e. having to choose between mobility and psychic strike in most cases.)
Honestly I heart the soulbow it is just so cool and it made a specific build of soulknife decent. Still for the life of me I still can't see what they were afraid of when they made throwing knives so long in coming? Am I missing something and this is stronger than I think it is or is this some strange restriction that lingers on with no balance (or really fluff) basis?
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Quote:
Originally Posted by MeeposFire
Honestly I heart the soulbow it is just so cool and it made a specific build of soulknife decent. Still for the life of me I still can't see what they were afraid of when they made throwing knives so long in coming? Am I missing something and this is stronger than I think it is or is this some strange restriction that lingers on with no balance (or really fluff) basis?
Your best bet is to PM Bacris, as he designed the fix or wait for the Soulbolt, which I have no doubt will put the Soulbow to shame. (DSP is, for the most part, really good at what they do.)
Fluff basis I can actually somewhat see. The blade comes out of your mind, so sustaining it while it is not in contact with you should be pretty hard, like trying to read a book while it flies away from you. At least, that's how I'd see it. The blade always dissipates shortly after you let go, so clearly it must be actively maintained or at least be touching you in some way. "Throwing" one can't be easy, never mind several in succession.
Crunchwise, the Soulknife has an inherent advantage when it comes to thrown weapons - they can toss magic ones and not worry about them flying out the window, breaking etc. How many adventurers would toss their +5 dagger, let alone several in succession? 50,000gp per shot isn't cheap. How about a +5 shocking burst weapon?
In any event, it shouldn't be too hard to homebrew a feat that lets you ignore the level restrictions on Bladeskills, or let you take them earlier than normal; that would allow you to get Multiple Throw sooner.
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
Update: Added Racial subs for the Kalashtar, Xeph and Half-Giant. Also added the two Mind's Eye ACFs, and rundowns on Soulknives from the four Eberron races. Next I will add feats from a variety of sources - PsU/XPH, CPsi, Hyperconscious, Untapped Potential, Dragon Magazine, Eberron books and any Faerun ones that occur to me.
I'm also kicking myself after reading Dragon 341 - the answer to the Soulknife knife-throwing conundrum was staring me in the face all this time. The Mind Daggers shape is designed to be the Soulknife's throwing weapon - it does little damage (1d4 medium) but can be formed unlimited times per round (allowing iteratives), has a full 30ft. range increment, and each pair formed carry the full enhancement bonus and assigned abilities of the standard blade. This lets you toss a barrage of, for example, Suppression daggers at a target, each of which would have a chance to dispel its protections.
You can go on to throw the regular blade once you get access to Multiple Throw at 14, but the daggers shape has no level floor.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cieyrin
Always been a fan of the Soulknife despite its flaws and good to see a handbook spreading the word that you can do fun things with it. My only point of contention is with the use of Orange in ratings, as I keep thinking its Gold as in Awesome like in other guides, which throws me off when I read the description on how subpar it is. Maybe that's just me but I thought I'd point it out.
I've seen Orange = awesome in a couple of other guides too and it throws ME off. I've registered your objection but I still don't like Orange so bad it shall stay.
If it makes you feel better, I moved Purple (my favorite color) to "really really good." Well, it makes me feel better anyway
Re: [3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
I just created a 9th level soulknife/1st psy warrior that can do big damage like this...
1. half giant wielding a large twohander
2. half giant casts expansion so he is now wielding a huge twohander
3. +2 holy weapon
4. power attack
5. 4d8 psystrike... coz of bladeskill
6. improved critical feat
7. vital strike feat
so when he is large his damage to an evil creature is:
8d6(4d6 base dam*2 for vital strike) + 2d6 holy + 4d8 psychic strike + 20(12 from str*1.5 + 6 pw attack + 2 weapon enh)
with a crit range of 17-20(x2)
If I understand the rules correctly, his crit would do 12d6 + 2d6 + 4d8 + 40.
I also use the feat that removes the pw attack penalty for the first attack. If I'm fighting something with really high AC that I'm unlikely to hit with my second swing I'll just use a move action every round to recharge my psychic strike and just swing once per round.
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[3.P] Sharpening the Mind: A Guide to the Pathfinder Soulknife
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And finally, it works with dual-wielding. Why would anyone take Extended Strike over this? If it didn't require expending focus it would be exceptional. (8th) 
it is just so cool and it made a specific build of soulknife decent. Still for the life of me I still can't see what they were afraid of when they made throwing knives so long in coming? Am I missing something and this is stronger than I think it is or is this some strange restriction that lingers on with no balance (or really fluff) basis?
