[3.5] Soulcrafter: a soulknife remix

[Lateral]

Originally Posted by jiriku

...without soulcraft twin you can't do TWF at 1st level without using a mundane weapon in your off hand.

Come to think of it, what happens when you use Soulcraft twin at less than 4th level? It's ML-3.

[Pietato]

Now, I'm not familiar with the power levels of a lot of the content on GitP, but I think this class does something that might be a little bit crazy: it removes the need for buying almost anything but Wondrous Items. Stick with me, because I may be interpreting some parts wrong.

You can, at level 2, augment one item with Attune Special Property (applies a property based on the property's cost,) and Attune Enhancement Bonus (applies enhancement bonus based on level, +1 at 2,) to get, for example, a +1 Keen Shortsword. Effectively a +2 weapon at level 2.
Now, as long as you don't change your augments, you can manifest (almost) any mundane item you need and still be sitting on that +2 weapon at level 2. You'll only be down a swift action, too, because that's how long it takes to manifest.

Now, once you get into the stages where you'd be getting magical loot (let's assume random-ish drops,) you're just going to sell any weapon or armor because you can pretty safely manage a weapon, armor, and shield with manifesting. All that's left are wondrous items, and you'll have plenty of cash at that point to outfit yourself with above-average stat or skill boosters because you don't have to worry about buying your weapons or armor.

This seems a bit overpowered to me. I dunno. I might just be leery of early magic and masterworks.

Also, can two Soulcrafts use the same augment? I'm not really clear on that, but, to me, the text under "Augment Soulcraft" doesn't seem to specifically disallow it.
Also, can other people use your soulcrafted weapons and armor?

[jiriku]

Originally Posted by Lateral

Come to think of it, what happens when you use Soulcraft twin at less than 4th level? It's ML-3.

Minimum manifester level would be zero, since a negative ML is nonsensical. This does impose some restrictions; for example, you can't put augment enhancement bonus on soulcraft twin weapons when your ML is less than 3.

Originally Posted by Pietato

Now, I'm not familiar with the power levels of a lot of the content on GitP, but I think this class does something that might be a little bit crazy: it removes the need for buying almost anything but Wondrous Items.

To an extent, you're right. Remember, though, that MOST classes (e.g. beguiler, wizard, sorcerer, druid, cleric, dread necromancer, psion, warlock, even monk) receive little benefit from magic weapons and armor. Magic weapons and armor are actually fairly niche items that are only useful to martial characters and martial/caster hybrids. The feats Soulcraft Form and Soulcraft Talisman are intended to make such items more useful to the soulcrafter.

Originally Posted by Pietato

Now, once you get into the stages where you'd be getting magical loot (let's assume random-ish drops,) you're just going to sell any weapon or armor because you can pretty safely manage a weapon, armor, and shield with manifesting. All that's left are wondrous items, and you'll have plenty of cash at that point to outfit yourself with above-average stat or skill boosters because you don't have to worry about buying your weapons or armor.

This is one approach you could take, and a viable one. It is not the only one, but it works well.

Originally Posted by Pietato

This seems a bit overpowered to me. I dunno. I might just be leery of early magic and masterworks.

I think you may be undervaluing spells in your analysis. Many caster classes can also produce temporary weapons of roughly similar power. They just don't do it very often because they have even better things to do with their spell slots.

Originally Posted by Pietato

Also, can two Soulcrafts use the same augment? I'm not really clear on that, but, to me, the text under "Augment Soulcraft" doesn't seem to specifically disallow it.

Yes. Generally, any soulcrafter who manifests two soulcrafted weapons (or both an armor and a shield) will want to do this.

Originally Posted by Pietato

Also, can other people use your soulcrafted weapons and armor?

Certain augments grant you the limited ability to do this, but in most circumstances the answer is no.

[Pietato]

Originally Posted by jiriku

Magic weapons and armor are actually fairly niche items that are only useful to martial characters and martial/caster hybrids. The feats Soulcraft Form and Soulcraft Talisman are intended to make such items more useful to the soulcrafter.

I missed those. Can you just Talisman a +1 weapon and devote all of your augments to special abilities?
Also, as this is a front-line combatant (complete with a method for obtaining bonus feats,) I'd imagine that magic weapons and armor are very important things to have for a soulcrafter. But their class features make them a fightin' class that benefits from, and doesn't need to buy, good weapons and armor.

Originally Posted by jiriku

I think you may be undervaluing spells in your analysis. Many caster classes can also produce temporary weapons of roughly similar power. They just don't do it very often because they have even better things to do with their spell slots.

At the moment, I'm looking through the Spell Compendium level 1 spells (CL2 Wizard,) that can get someone two effective +2 weapons at once. All of these Lesser Orbs look pretty fun, though.

[jiriku]

Originally Posted by Pietato

I missed those. Can you just Talisman a +1 weapon and devote all of your augments to special abilities?

Yah.

Originally Posted by Pietato

Also, as this is a front-line combatant (complete with a method for obtaining bonus feats,) I'd imagine that magic weapons and armor are very important things to have for a soulcrafter. But their class features make them a fightin' class that benefits from, and doesn't need to buy, good weapons and armor.

The same could be said for druids. It must be said that a soulcrafter is considerably less powerful than a druid of the same level.

[Lateral]

So, I'm not entirely clear on how augments work. I see two possibilities:

• Whenever you form a soulcraft, you may augment it with a number of augments of up to the number of soulcrafts you can form, and the total number of augments you have at any one time cannot exceed your class level.
• Whenever you form a soulcraft, you may expend a number of your readied augments of up to the number of soulcrafts you can form. Those augments do not return until you ready augments again.

Which one of these is correct? The latter makes throwing an impractical style, since you'd run out of augments after a few rounds of combat.

[General Patton]

It's the first one. You can reuse the same augment as much as you want on different soulcrafts.

[jiriku]

Yes, it's the former. Here's the relevant section.

Once you have selected your augments, you manifest the augments whenever you manifest a soulcraft. To augment a soulcraft, you must a have a Wisdom score of at least 10 + the number of augments the soulcraft will have. You can apply any augment you have readied, although no soulcraft can have more augments than your maximum number of soulcrafts.

So, for example, Lateral the 6th level soulcrafter can ready up to six augments, and can manifest up to three soulcrafts. When he readies his augments, he can ready any least or lesser augments (since a 6th level soulcrafter only has access to least and lesser augments). Since his maximum number of soulcrafts is three, no soulcraft can have more than three augments. Applying augments to a soulcraft is done at the time that the soulcraft is produced. It doesn't take any extra time, and it doesn't reduce or limit his readied augments in any way.

Let's say Lateral expects to enter a dungeon full of enemies. He readies the following augments:

• Attune Feat (Improved Shield Bash)
• Attune Special Property (daylight)
• Attune Special Property (keen)
• Augment Enhancement Bonus (attack)
• Augment Enhancement Bonus (defense)
• Exotic Soulcrafting

Lateral then manifests a long sword, a shield, and a suit of armor.

• For his sword, he applies Exotic Soulcrafting, Attune Special Property (keen), and Augment Enhancement Bonus (attack), creating a +2 keen silvered long sword.
• For his armor, he applies Exotic Soulcrafting, Attune Special Property (daylight) and Augment Enhancement Bonus (defense), producing +2 mithril breastplate of daylight.
• For his shield, he applies Exotic Soulcrafting, Attune Feat (Improved Shield Bash), and Augment Enhancement Bonus (defense), producing a +2 darkwood heavy shield and gaining Improved Shield Bash as a bonus feat while he wields it. Lateral would like to add the daylight property to his shield as well, so that he can use it twice per day instead of once. However, that would require placing four total augments on the weapon and he won't be able to do that until he's 7th level. Reflecting on it, Lateral realizes that even if he could apply the augment, the 1/day restriction on the daylight special property is shared across all of his soulcrafts, so he wouldn't be able to get an extra use out of it anyway.