Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Ananvil 08-28-07, 09:34 AM	I want to play an Elan Soulknife in an upcoming campaign, and would like some help with the build, as I've never played with Psionics before. I was thinking of using the bastard sword form of the soulknife. We're starting at level 16. (higher level campaign, I know)
SlanderPanic 08-28-07, 10:28 AM	Soulknife 9/war mind 7 is my easiest recommendation without knowing more about the campaign and what you have at your disposal. 1) What is your party's general disposition? Good guys, bad guys, mercs? 2) What's the setting like? Swashbluckling sea adventure, gothic horror, epic war, etc. 3) Do you have Complete Psionic and/or Untapped Potential? 4) Is your DM using Hidden Talent instead of Wild Talent? War mind is a nice prestige for your purposes because it synergizes well with soulknife. (Bladewind + sweeping strike!) You get a handful of powers and some nice self-buff abilities and you also get DR. Best of all, aside from the powers and Chain of Overwhelming Force, all of a war mind's abilities function in anti-magic zones and null psionics fields. If you're going to be playing in an undead-heavy campaign, the illumine soul prestige class in Complete Psionic is pretty great. There are some decent soulknife feats in that book as well, most notably Mind Cleave. Since you're playing a melee-focused elan, you may also want to take Improved Resilience and/or Improved Resistance. Untapped Potential's Mind Blade Kensai feat is pretty much essential as well, since war mind levels don't improve one's mind blade.
Ananvil 08-28-07, 11:37 AM	1) What is your party's general disposition? Good guys, bad guys, mercs? Mix of both, I believe. 2) What's the setting like? Swashbluckling sea adventure, gothic horror, epic war, etc. FR style, looks to be a bit of everything, minus the epic war part. 3) Do you have Complete Psionic and/or Untapped Potential? I can get my hands on them. 4) Is your DM using Hidden Talent instead of Wild Talent? Not that I'm aware? What is Hidden Talent all about?
SlanderPanic 08-28-07, 11:55 AM	1) Which are you? 2) So, what's the focus of the campaign? 3) Excellent. 4) Hidden Talent is an alternate version of Wild Talent used for high-psionics campaigns. (It's on page 67 of the XPH, rather than being displayed with all the other feats. That's how you may have missed it.) In addition to giving you two power points and the psionic subtype, it also gives you a single first-level power from any list. Thanks to the Mind's Eye (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a), actually, any soulknife can take Hidden Talent instead of the Wild Talent feat they normally gain at first level. You should run it by your DM first, of course.
Ananvil 08-28-07, 12:33 PM	I'm planning on being Lawful Neutral. As far as I've been told, the characters have all died via some means (most likely adventuring foul-up, or maybe just something dumb, like falling off a cliff), and have recently been resurrected by a mysterious benefactor who needs our assistance for something. I'm pretty clueless other than that.
Ananvil 08-28-07, 12:34 PM	How do Bladewind and Sweeping Strike interact?
SlanderPanic 08-28-07, 01:27 PM	Bladewind allows you to make one melee attack at full BAB against every opponent within reach as a full attack action. Sweeping strike allows you to apply each melee attack equally to two opponents who are within your reach and adjacent to each other, so long as you haven't moved more than 10 feet. If you have Mind Cleave and your first attack (empowered with a psychic strike) drops either of its targets, your psychic strike automatically recharges and applies to the next attack, and so on. In practice, I've dropped an entire mob of attackers in one round with this. It's risky to set up, since you have to let yourself get surrounded, and you'll only get a chance to do this every rare now and then, since most encounters don't have large groups of monsters... but it sure is fun to watch. Oh, and I meant to give some advice about equipment. I've found mithral spiked breastplate and a mithral spiked, animated heavy shield are the way to go. You've got great protection and you have both hands free to use your mind blade. Also, carry backup weapons. You'll be relying on your mind blade 99.9% of the time, but it never hurts to have a morningstar, a shortspear, a crossbow, and a collection of daggers. Keep in mind that the animated shield requires a command word to activate, which will cost you a standard action at the beginning of a fight.
Ananvil 09-06-07, 10:40 PM	Any suggestions on feats? I've already chosen Psionic Weapon, Greater Psionic Weapon, and Power Attack.
Callix 09-07-07, 07:07 AM	Looked at Psionic Meditation? Getting the 4d6 back quicker is pretty nice. Oh, and on the war mind, I'd look at not going past 5 levels until you get to Soulknife 13 and Knife to the Soul. That ability, with a friendly psion, is awesome. No-save Cha damage + save-or-lose-turn Cha damage = win. And you can use Int damage to drop any unintelligent threats in one hit. Mounts are particularly vulnerable to this.
Ananvil 09-07-07, 08:42 AM	I really hadn't considered that I could probably one shot lesser intelligent things. Thanks for the suggestion.
SlanderPanic 09-07-07, 11:33 AM	Mind Cleave is pretty much a must. Swift Mind Strike will let you recharge a psychic strike as a swift action once per day. Improved Initiative is always worth taking. Psionic Body will give you a nice hit point boost. Cleave and Great Cleave are good, too. If you're going to multiclass (if you move into War Mind, for example,) Mind Blade Kensai (from Untapped Potential) is essential.