Flavor problems with the Soulknife [Archive] - Wizards Community

Flavor problems with the Soulknife [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
kyeudo
08-31-07, 06:25 PM I personaly love the idea behind the Soulknife, "I fight with a weapon forged from my own mental strength," but looking at the class, I keep running into the problem of the mechanics not supporting the flavor completely.

My three major hitches with the soulknife's flavor are these:

A soulknife is all about the mind blade. Fighting with a mind blade is what the class does and soulknives should have absolutely no mechanical reason to not fight with their mind blade. However, at level 20 a soulknife has a total of a +9 Mind Blade or 2 +8 Mind Blades, but any melee character worth his salt has been packing a +10 weapon by now, and probably just found another one in that last dragon horde he raided, so a soulknife has the definite option of ditching his most major class feature for an ordinary blade!

"My character is a dwarven soulknife. He comes from a clan of dwarves well known for their skilled use of the warhammer in combat. His clan trains all their men in the use of the warhammer. My character has dreamed of joining the warriors of his clan, wielding a warhammer in defense of his home. When my character thinks "weapon" the first thing that comes to mind is a warhammer. When I manifest my mind blade, it takes the form of a . . . Short Sword?!?"

A soulknife, someone who fights using a blade shaped from psychokinetic force, has several abilities, but his signature ability is the psychic strike, which works by litteraly blowing his opponents mind with a Telepathic assault. The most feared ability of a soulknife is knife to the soul, which is again a Telepathic assault. Sure, both are delivered via mind blade, but the mind blade might as well be replaced with an attack roll for all the true impact it has on the class.

I know the Soulknife is mechanicly poor, but I find that the flavor of the Soulknife is too much about doing flashy stuff that means you roll alot of dice and too little about actualy using a mind blade in combat. Does anyone else feel this way?
Thomar_of_Uointer
08-31-07, 10:39 PM Well, the Mind's Eye fixes cover 2 out of 3 of those. I think the psychic strike for bonus feats option covers martial prowess well enough to make up for the lack of stopping power, but keep in mind that the psychic warrior has the option to swap out his +9 weapon for any +9 weapon he can imagine (within limits), which is not possible with any other class.
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a
DM Zoc
09-01-07, 07:28 AM A soulknife is all about the mind blade. Fighting with a mind blade is what the class does and soulknives should have absolutely no mechanical reason to not fight with their mind blade. However, at level 20 a soulknife has a total of a +9 Mind Blade or 2 +8 Mind Blades, but any melee character worth his salt has been packing a +10 weapon by now, and probably just found another one in that last dragon horde he raided, so a soulknife has the definite option of ditching his most major class feature for an ordinary blade!
In some campaigns, maybe. Although it is highly suggested that the DM follow the wealth by character level chart, there is no implication made that the DM should go out of his way to make incredibly useful items available to the party (either in magic stores, or through loot). This is especially true if the party encounters many undead or constructs or other enemies that don't use weapons. Even a dragon has no real use for a +5 vorpal longsword, and the DM is perfectly justified in giving that dragon lots of cash and artwork as loot (and there's nothing anywhere saying that a +5 vorpal longsword can be found for sale in any given town). The soulknife is guaranteed to always have his +5 keen defending collision katana, regardless of what the rest of the party can scrounge up.

"My character is a dwarven soulknife. He comes from a clan of dwarves well known for their skilled use of the warhammer in combat. His clan trains all their men in the use of the warhammer. My character has dreamed of joining the warriors of his clan, wielding a warhammer in defense of his home. When my character thinks "weapon" the first thing that comes to mind is a warhammer. When I manifest my mind blade, it takes the form of a . . . Short Sword?!?"
Where does it say anywhere that a clan of warhammer-trained dwarves exist, and some of them have psychic potential? By declaring this small detail of the setting, your DM is essentially using a house rule (a house rule here being anything that is not explicitly found in the books, and which is likely to vary between campaigns). Since the DM has gone out of his way to declare the existence of this clan, it would make sense that the DM would take the extra step to say that dwarven soulknives of this clan generate their weapon in the form of a hammer. Nobody really cares if you have to tweak some of the small points to make it fit the setting.

A soulknife, someone who fights using a blade shaped from psychokinetic force, has several abilities, but his signature ability is the psychic strike, which works by litteraly blowing his opponents mind with a Telepathic assault. The most feared ability of a soulknife is knife to the soul, which is again a Telepathic assault. Sure, both are delivered via mind blade, but the mind blade might as well be replaced with an attack roll for all the true impact it has on the class.
I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I've never visualized it as the physical strike enabling a connection where your mind shatters your opponent's mind; I've always seen it as the physical mind blade cutting off parts of the opponent's soul, which hovers around the physical body like an aura. The mind blade is just so incredibly sharp that it can cut through the soul even though that soul may be on another plane of existence.
Nephlite
09-01-07, 11:09 AM I personaly love the idea behind the Soulknife, "I fight with a weapon forged from my own mental strength," but looking at the class, I keep running into the problem of the mechanics not supporting the flavor completely.

My three major hitches with the soulknife's flavor are these:

A soulknife is all about the mind blade. Fighting with a mind blade is what the class does and soulknives should have absolutely no mechanical reason to not fight with their mind blade. However, at level 20 a soulknife has a total of a +9 Mind Blade or 2 +8 Mind Blades, but any melee character worth his salt has been packing a +10 weapon by now, and probably just found another one in that last dragon horde he raided, so a soulknife has the definite option of ditching his most major class feature for an ordinary blade!

Actually, had he full bab; this would not be a bad thing. I wouldn't mind.

"My character is a dwarven soulknife. He comes from a clan of dwarves well known for their skilled use of the warhammer in combat. His clan trains all their men in the use of the warhammer. My character has dreamed of joining the warriors of his clan, wielding a warhammer in defense of his home. When my character thinks "weapon" the first thing that comes to mind is a warhammer. When I manifest my mind blade, it takes the form of a . . . Short Sword?!?"

Nope. it manifests as Warhammer that deals piercing damage. The Mindblade can look like anything you want.

Never let flavor limit you: mechanics are the only limitation in D&D.
I knew a story about a famous Soulknife who wielded a rubber chicken. It was really his mindblade, but he just liked rubber chickens.

A soulknife, someone who fights using a blade shaped from psychokinetic force, has several abilities, but his signature ability is the psychic strike, which works by litteraly blowing his opponents mind with a Telepathic assault. The most feared ability of a soulknife is knife to the soul, which is again a Telepathic assault. Sure, both are delivered via mind blade, but the mind blade might as well be replaced with an attack roll for all the true impact it has on the class.

I know the Soulknife is mechanicly poor, but I find that the flavor of the Soulknife is too much about doing flashy stuff that means you roll alot of dice and too little about actualy using a mind blade.

No, knife to the soul and Psychic strike are all about the mind blade: different ways to empower it.

However, again, with his bab 5 lower: he has less hit chance to do these effects.
kyeudo
09-04-07, 06:14 PM In some campaigns, maybe. Although it is highly suggested that the DM follow the wealth by character level chart, there is no implication made that the DM should go out of his way to make incredibly useful items available to the party (either in magic stores, or through loot). This is especially true if the party encounters many undead or constructs or other enemies that don't use weapons. Even a dragon has no real use for a +5 vorpal longsword, and the DM is perfectly justified in giving that dragon lots of cash and artwork as loot (and there's nothing anywhere saying that a +5 vorpal longsword can be found for sale in any given town). The soulknife is guaranteed to always have his +5 keen defending collision katana, regardless of what the rest of the party can scrounge up.

I supose that if your DM is doing a low magic campaign, then the soulknife gets a power boost, but most people follow the expected wealth per level guidlines or even go over the guildlines, which still leaves the soulknife, a class about people who devote their training to manifesting and fighting with a weapon they made up out of their minds, with a serious reason to give up his wimpy mind blade and grab the next magic weapon he can get ahold of.

Where does it say anywhere that a clan of warhammer-trained dwarves exist, and some of them have psychic potential? By declaring this small detail of the setting, your DM is essentially using a house rule (a house rule here being anything that is not explicitly found in the books, and which is likely to vary between campaigns). Since the DM has gone out of his way to declare the existence of this clan, it would make sense that the DM would take the extra step to say that dwarven soulknives of this clan generate their weapon in the form of a hammer. Nobody really cares if you have to tweak some of the small points to make it fit the setting.

This isn't a DM's NPC were talking about. This is a PC's character background. Besides which, your invoking the Oberoni Fallacy. I shouldn't need rule zero to make a soulknife that likes to break things with a mind hammer.

I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I've never visualized it as the physical strike enabling a connection where your mind shatters your opponent's mind; I've always seen it as the physical mind blade cutting off parts of the opponent's soul, which hovers around the physical body like an aura. The mind blade is just so incredibly sharp that it can cut through the soul even though that soul may be on another plane of existence.

Psychic Strike deals Mind Efecting damage, not damage to your opponent's soul. Vermin and Oozes are living creatures that arguably have souls, yet are not damaged by a psychic strike. As I said, Psychic strike kills by blowing their mind and frying your brain.

Actually, had he full bab; this would not be a bad thing. I wouldn't mind.

I'm unsure of what you mean by this.

Nope. it manifests as Warhammer that deals piercing damage. The Mindblade can look like anything you want.

Never let flavor limit you: mechanics are the only limitation in D&D.
I knew a story about a famous Soulknife who wielded a rubber chicken. It was really his mindblade, but he just liked rubber chickens.

But apearance does not a warhammer make. If it attacks like a short sword and deals damage like a short sword, then its a short sword. I'd like the mechanics to let me pull out a warhammer mind blade and smash skeletons with it without taking a feat.

[/quote]
No, knife to the soul and Psychic strike are all about the mind blade: different ways to empower it.

However, again, with his bab 5 lower: he has less hit chance to do these effects.[/QUOTE]

I feel that attacking someone's mind should be left to the psions and wilders and that soulknives and psychic warriors should stick to chopping off body parts. The soulknife doesn't even do mind affecting very well anyway. However, I think I'll just agree to disagree on this issue.
jbsaff
09-05-07, 03:52 PM I supose that if your DM is doing a low magic campaign, then the soulknife gets a power boost, but most people follow the expected wealth per level guidlines or even go over the guildlines, which still leaves the soulknife, a class about people who devote their training to manifesting and fighting with a weapon they made up out of their minds, with a serious reason to give up his wimpy mind blade and grab the next magic weapon he can get ahold of.

However, keep in mind that the soulknife is able to change which enhancements he uses with his mindblade from one day to the next. Taking on a small army of kobolds? You can drop keen and add Mighty Cleaving if you feel that would be more helpful. Sure, you aren't quite at the max, but getting the ability to shape your weapon as the situation warrants has to count for something.

Also remember that much of psionics deals with the power of the mind. To that end, why shouldn't the mental projection of the Soulknife mess with the mind of his victim? The blade is the carrier, channeling the disruptive current into the enemy. Describe it as a blow to the head/brain. Perhaps I have misunderstood your point, but I see the flavor and the mechanics on this as being right in line and on target.

If you don't like the way that the mechanics work, then feel free to discuss it with your DM (or, if you are the DM, change it). You can do whatever you want with it.

The Soulknives (http://dreamscarredpress.com/main/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=16&category_id=1&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=29) supplement from Dreamscarred Press might give you some more options as well. Specifically, a feat that allows you to shape the mindblade as any weapon you have proficiency with.
kyeudo
09-05-07, 04:06 PM However, keep in mind that the soulknife is able to change which enhancements he uses with his mindblade from one day to the next. Taking on a small army of kobolds? You can drop keen and add Mighty Cleaving if you feel that would be more helpful. Sure, you aren't quite at the max, but getting the ability to shape your weapon as the situation warrants has to count for something.

Yes, I suppose that class feature can be useful every now and then, but it's hardly worth the loss of a +1 ability.

Also remember that much of psionics deals with the power of the mind. To that end, why shouldn't the mental projection of the Soulknife mess with the mind of his victim? The blade is the carrier, channeling the disruptive current into the enemy. Describe it as a blow to the head/brain. Perhaps I have misunderstood your point, but I see the flavor and the mechanics on this as being right in line and on target.

If you don't like the way that the mechanics work, then feel free to discuss it with your DM (or, if you are the DM, change it). You can do whatever you want with it.

I will concede that it's probably just my taste when it comes to the soulknife's psychic strike. I just prefer that my frontline classes stick to smashing heads and leave messing with minds to the psions and wilders.
LabRat_1338
09-16-07, 07:14 PM However, keep in mind that the soulknife is able to change which enhancements he uses with his mindblade from one day to the next. Taking on a small army of kobolds? You can drop keen and add Mighty Cleaving if you feel that would be more helpful. Sure, you aren't quite at the max, but getting the ability to shape your weapon as the situation warrants has to count for something.

Actually, I've found the ability to change the specifics of the weapon on the fly to be virtually useless. It takes 8 hours of focus to do this, so it's not like I can switch it up whenever I need to without severly slowing down the progress of the party.
And really, how accurate is the info a PC gets reguarding what type of foes they'll be faceing? In my exprience, it's reliably wrong at best.

I'm sorry to say it, but my soulknife's been in several situations where my best coarse of action was to borrow another characters BACKUP weapon, rather than use my mindblade.
After that happened for the second time, my DM and I sat down and reworked the class: Better BAB, slighty faster weapon progression (Now at level 20 I have a +10 weapon or 2 +9's), transform weapon as standard action instead of full round action, changeing mindblade enhancements after 8 hours rest takes 1 hour (like a wizard memorizeing spells in the morning. Doing it any other time still takes 8 hours though), and more default mindblade forms.
kyeudo
09-16-07, 07:27 PM Well, I'd given up on this thread a while ago, but since you brought it back up, I do agree that the ability to spend a whole day changing your mind blade isn't worth the nerfed power the mind blade has currenty.

The fix that you say you worked out sounds something like what I proposed here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=918945). Why don't you drop by and tell me what you think?
yrogerg
09-17-07, 11:31 PM This isn't a DM's NPC were talking about. This is a PC's character background. Besides which, your invoking the Oberoni Fallacy. I shouldn't need rule zero to make a soulknife that likes to break things with a mind hammer.

I think you're invoking Oberoni inappropriately here: first, flavor problems demand flavor solutions, period, and rely on the fact that flavor is mutable for this. This *is* the appropriate way to solve a flavor problem. Second, the Oberoni Fallacy applies only to rules disputes, not flavor criticisms. Third, this isn't even an instance of Rule Zero, as it's supported by published WotC material (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050110a), at least in one setting.
kyeudo
09-18-07, 12:34 AM I think you're invoking Oberoni inappropriately here: first, flavor problems demand flavor solutions, period, and rely on the fact that flavor is mutable for this. This *is* the appropriate way to solve a flavor problem. Second, the Oberoni Fallacy applies only to rules disputes, not flavor criticisms. Third, this isn't even an instance of Rule Zero, as it's supported by published WotC material (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050110a), at least in one setting.

Mechanics are part of flavor, sadly enough. I was talking about the way that a current soulknife can't deal bludgeoning damage with a mind hammer when I said that.

I was feeling a little fanatical at the time, probably because I hadn't had a proper RP fix in a month, so forgive my zealousness. I just wish that the soulknife were a little more flexible to my kinds of character backgrounds.

Why did this thread get so popular all of a sudden? It was dead for nearly 3 weeks.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
kyeudo 08-31-07, 06:25 PM	I personaly love the idea behind the Soulknife, "I fight with a weapon forged from my own mental strength," but looking at the class, I keep running into the problem of the mechanics not supporting the flavor completely. My three major hitches with the soulknife's flavor are these: A soulknife is all about the mind blade. Fighting with a mind blade is what the class does and soulknives should have absolutely no mechanical reason to not fight with their mind blade. However, at level 20 a soulknife has a total of a +9 Mind Blade or 2 +8 Mind Blades, but any melee character worth his salt has been packing a +10 weapon by now, and probably just found another one in that last dragon horde he raided, so a soulknife has the definite option of ditching his most major class feature for an ordinary blade! "My character is a dwarven soulknife. He comes from a clan of dwarves well known for their skilled use of the warhammer in combat. His clan trains all their men in the use of the warhammer. My character has dreamed of joining the warriors of his clan, wielding a warhammer in defense of his home. When my character thinks "weapon" the first thing that comes to mind is a warhammer. When I manifest my mind blade, it takes the form of a . . . Short Sword?!?" A soulknife, someone who fights using a blade shaped from psychokinetic force, has several abilities, but his signature ability is the psychic strike, which works by litteraly blowing his opponents mind with a Telepathic assault. The most feared ability of a soulknife is knife to the soul, which is again a Telepathic assault. Sure, both are delivered via mind blade, but the mind blade might as well be replaced with an attack roll for all the true impact it has on the class. I know the Soulknife is mechanicly poor, but I find that the flavor of the Soulknife is too much about doing flashy stuff that means you roll alot of dice and too little about actualy using a mind blade in combat. Does anyone else feel this way?
Thomar_of_Uointer 08-31-07, 10:39 PM	Well, the Mind's Eye fixes cover 2 out of 3 of those. I think the psychic strike for bonus feats option covers martial prowess well enough to make up for the lack of stopping power, but keep in mind that the psychic warrior has the option to swap out his +9 weapon for any +9 weapon he can imagine (within limits), which is not possible with any other class. http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a
DM Zoc 09-01-07, 07:28 AM	A soulknife is all about the mind blade. Fighting with a mind blade is what the class does and soulknives should have absolutely no mechanical reason to not fight with their mind blade. However, at level 20 a soulknife has a total of a +9 Mind Blade or 2 +8 Mind Blades, but any melee character worth his salt has been packing a +10 weapon by now, and probably just found another one in that last dragon horde he raided, so a soulknife has the definite option of ditching his most major class feature for an ordinary blade! In some campaigns, maybe. Although it is highly suggested that the DM follow the wealth by character level chart, there is no implication made that the DM should go out of his way to make incredibly useful items available to the party (either in magic stores, or through loot). This is especially true if the party encounters many undead or constructs or other enemies that don't use weapons. Even a dragon has no real use for a +5 vorpal longsword, and the DM is perfectly justified in giving that dragon lots of cash and artwork as loot (and there's nothing anywhere saying that a +5 vorpal longsword can be found for sale in any given town). The soulknife is guaranteed to always have his +5 keen defending collision katana, regardless of what the rest of the party can scrounge up. "My character is a dwarven soulknife. He comes from a clan of dwarves well known for their skilled use of the warhammer in combat. His clan trains all their men in the use of the warhammer. My character has dreamed of joining the warriors of his clan, wielding a warhammer in defense of his home. When my character thinks "weapon" the first thing that comes to mind is a warhammer. When I manifest my mind blade, it takes the form of a . . . Short Sword?!?" Where does it say anywhere that a clan of warhammer-trained dwarves exist, and some of them have psychic potential? By declaring this small detail of the setting, your DM is essentially using a house rule (a house rule here being anything that is not explicitly found in the books, and which is likely to vary between campaigns). Since the DM has gone out of his way to declare the existence of this clan, it would make sense that the DM would take the extra step to say that dwarven soulknives of this clan generate their weapon in the form of a hammer. Nobody really cares if you have to tweak some of the small points to make it fit the setting. A soulknife, someone who fights using a blade shaped from psychokinetic force, has several abilities, but his signature ability is the psychic strike, which works by litteraly blowing his opponents mind with a Telepathic assault. The most feared ability of a soulknife is knife to the soul, which is again a Telepathic assault. Sure, both are delivered via mind blade, but the mind blade might as well be replaced with an attack roll for all the true impact it has on the class. I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I've never visualized it as the physical strike enabling a connection where your mind shatters your opponent's mind; I've always seen it as the physical mind blade cutting off parts of the opponent's soul, which hovers around the physical body like an aura. The mind blade is just so incredibly sharp that it can cut through the soul even though that soul may be on another plane of existence.
Nephlite 09-01-07, 11:09 AM	I personaly love the idea behind the Soulknife, "I fight with a weapon forged from my own mental strength," but looking at the class, I keep running into the problem of the mechanics not supporting the flavor completely. My three major hitches with the soulknife's flavor are these: A soulknife is all about the mind blade. Fighting with a mind blade is what the class does and soulknives should have absolutely no mechanical reason to not fight with their mind blade. However, at level 20 a soulknife has a total of a +9 Mind Blade or 2 +8 Mind Blades, but any melee character worth his salt has been packing a +10 weapon by now, and probably just found another one in that last dragon horde he raided, so a soulknife has the definite option of ditching his most major class feature for an ordinary blade! Actually, had he full bab; this would not be a bad thing. I wouldn't mind. "My character is a dwarven soulknife. He comes from a clan of dwarves well known for their skilled use of the warhammer in combat. His clan trains all their men in the use of the warhammer. My character has dreamed of joining the warriors of his clan, wielding a warhammer in defense of his home. When my character thinks "weapon" the first thing that comes to mind is a warhammer. When I manifest my mind blade, it takes the form of a . . . Short Sword?!?" Nope. it manifests as Warhammer that deals piercing damage. The Mindblade can look like anything you want. Never let flavor limit you: mechanics are the only limitation in D&D. I knew a story about a famous Soulknife who wielded a rubber chicken. It was really his mindblade, but he just liked rubber chickens. A soulknife, someone who fights using a blade shaped from psychokinetic force, has several abilities, but his signature ability is the psychic strike, which works by litteraly blowing his opponents mind with a Telepathic assault. The most feared ability of a soulknife is knife to the soul, which is again a Telepathic assault. Sure, both are delivered via mind blade, but the mind blade might as well be replaced with an attack roll for all the true impact it has on the class. I know the Soulknife is mechanicly poor, but I find that the flavor of the Soulknife is too much about doing flashy stuff that means you roll alot of dice and too little about actualy using a mind blade. No, knife to the soul and Psychic strike are all about the mind blade: different ways to empower it. However, again, with his bab 5 lower: he has less hit chance to do these effects.
kyeudo 09-04-07, 06:14 PM	In some campaigns, maybe. Although it is highly suggested that the DM follow the wealth by character level chart, there is no implication made that the DM should go out of his way to make incredibly useful items available to the party (either in magic stores, or through loot). This is especially true if the party encounters many undead or constructs or other enemies that don't use weapons. Even a dragon has no real use for a +5 vorpal longsword, and the DM is perfectly justified in giving that dragon lots of cash and artwork as loot (and there's nothing anywhere saying that a +5 vorpal longsword can be found for sale in any given town). The soulknife is guaranteed to always have his +5 keen defending collision katana, regardless of what the rest of the party can scrounge up. I supose that if your DM is doing a low magic campaign, then the soulknife gets a power boost, but most people follow the expected wealth per level guidlines or even go over the guildlines, which still leaves the soulknife, a class about people who devote their training to manifesting and fighting with a weapon they made up out of their minds, with a serious reason to give up his wimpy mind blade and grab the next magic weapon he can get ahold of. Where does it say anywhere that a clan of warhammer-trained dwarves exist, and some of them have psychic potential? By declaring this small detail of the setting, your DM is essentially using a house rule (a house rule here being anything that is not explicitly found in the books, and which is likely to vary between campaigns). Since the DM has gone out of his way to declare the existence of this clan, it would make sense that the DM would take the extra step to say that dwarven soulknives of this clan generate their weapon in the form of a hammer. Nobody really cares if you have to tweak some of the small points to make it fit the setting. This isn't a DM's NPC were talking about. This is a PC's character background. Besides which, your invoking the Oberoni Fallacy. I shouldn't need rule zero to make a soulknife that likes to break things with a mind hammer. I'm not sure what you're getting at here. I've never visualized it as the physical strike enabling a connection where your mind shatters your opponent's mind; I've always seen it as the physical mind blade cutting off parts of the opponent's soul, which hovers around the physical body like an aura. The mind blade is just so incredibly sharp that it can cut through the soul even though that soul may be on another plane of existence. Psychic Strike deals Mind Efecting damage, not damage to your opponent's soul. Vermin and Oozes are living creatures that arguably have souls, yet are not damaged by a psychic strike. As I said, Psychic strike kills by blowing their mind and frying your brain. Actually, had he full bab; this would not be a bad thing. I wouldn't mind. I'm unsure of what you mean by this. Nope. it manifests as Warhammer that deals piercing damage. The Mindblade can look like anything you want. Never let flavor limit you: mechanics are the only limitation in D&D. I knew a story about a famous Soulknife who wielded a rubber chicken. It was really his mindblade, but he just liked rubber chickens. But apearance does not a warhammer make. If it attacks like a short sword and deals damage like a short sword, then its a short sword. I'd like the mechanics to let me pull out a warhammer mind blade and smash skeletons with it without taking a feat. [/quote] No, knife to the soul and Psychic strike are all about the mind blade: different ways to empower it. However, again, with his bab 5 lower: he has less hit chance to do these effects.[/QUOTE] I feel that attacking someone's mind should be left to the psions and wilders and that soulknives and psychic warriors should stick to chopping off body parts. The soulknife doesn't even do mind affecting very well anyway. However, I think I'll just agree to disagree on this issue.
jbsaff 09-05-07, 03:52 PM	I supose that if your DM is doing a low magic campaign, then the soulknife gets a power boost, but most people follow the expected wealth per level guidlines or even go over the guildlines, which still leaves the soulknife, a class about people who devote their training to manifesting and fighting with a weapon they made up out of their minds, with a serious reason to give up his wimpy mind blade and grab the next magic weapon he can get ahold of. However, keep in mind that the soulknife is able to change which enhancements he uses with his mindblade from one day to the next. Taking on a small army of kobolds? You can drop keen and add Mighty Cleaving if you feel that would be more helpful. Sure, you aren't quite at the max, but getting the ability to shape your weapon as the situation warrants has to count for something. Also remember that much of psionics deals with the power of the mind. To that end, why shouldn't the mental projection of the Soulknife mess with the mind of his victim? The blade is the carrier, channeling the disruptive current into the enemy. Describe it as a blow to the head/brain. Perhaps I have misunderstood your point, but I see the flavor and the mechanics on this as being right in line and on target. If you don't like the way that the mechanics work, then feel free to discuss it with your DM (or, if you are the DM, change it). You can do whatever you want with it. The Soulknives (http://dreamscarredpress.com/main/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=16&category_id=1&manufacturer_id=0&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=29) supplement from Dreamscarred Press might give you some more options as well. Specifically, a feat that allows you to shape the mindblade as any weapon you have proficiency with.
kyeudo 09-05-07, 04:06 PM	However, keep in mind that the soulknife is able to change which enhancements he uses with his mindblade from one day to the next. Taking on a small army of kobolds? You can drop keen and add Mighty Cleaving if you feel that would be more helpful. Sure, you aren't quite at the max, but getting the ability to shape your weapon as the situation warrants has to count for something. Yes, I suppose that class feature can be useful every now and then, but it's hardly worth the loss of a +1 ability. Also remember that much of psionics deals with the power of the mind. To that end, why shouldn't the mental projection of the Soulknife mess with the mind of his victim? The blade is the carrier, channeling the disruptive current into the enemy. Describe it as a blow to the head/brain. Perhaps I have misunderstood your point, but I see the flavor and the mechanics on this as being right in line and on target. If you don't like the way that the mechanics work, then feel free to discuss it with your DM (or, if you are the DM, change it). You can do whatever you want with it. I will concede that it's probably just my taste when it comes to the soulknife's psychic strike. I just prefer that my frontline classes stick to smashing heads and leave messing with minds to the psions and wilders.
LabRat_1338 09-16-07, 07:14 PM	However, keep in mind that the soulknife is able to change which enhancements he uses with his mindblade from one day to the next. Taking on a small army of kobolds? You can drop keen and add Mighty Cleaving if you feel that would be more helpful. Sure, you aren't quite at the max, but getting the ability to shape your weapon as the situation warrants has to count for something. Actually, I've found the ability to change the specifics of the weapon on the fly to be virtually useless. It takes 8 hours of focus to do this, so it's not like I can switch it up whenever I need to without severly slowing down the progress of the party. And really, how accurate is the info a PC gets reguarding what type of foes they'll be faceing? In my exprience, it's reliably wrong at best. I'm sorry to say it, but my soulknife's been in several situations where my best coarse of action was to borrow another characters BACKUP weapon, rather than use my mindblade. After that happened for the second time, my DM and I sat down and reworked the class: Better BAB, slighty faster weapon progression (Now at level 20 I have a +10 weapon or 2 +9's), transform weapon as standard action instead of full round action, changeing mindblade enhancements after 8 hours rest takes 1 hour (like a wizard memorizeing spells in the morning. Doing it any other time still takes 8 hours though), and more default mindblade forms.
kyeudo 09-16-07, 07:27 PM	Well, I'd given up on this thread a while ago, but since you brought it back up, I do agree that the ability to spend a whole day changing your mind blade isn't worth the nerfed power the mind blade has currenty. The fix that you say you worked out sounds something like what I proposed here (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=918945). Why don't you drop by and tell me what you think?
yrogerg 09-17-07, 11:31 PM	This isn't a DM's NPC were talking about. This is a PC's character background. Besides which, your invoking the Oberoni Fallacy. I shouldn't need rule zero to make a soulknife that likes to break things with a mind hammer. I think you're invoking Oberoni inappropriately here: first, flavor problems demand flavor solutions, period, and rely on the fact that flavor is mutable for this. This is the appropriate way to solve a flavor problem. Second, the Oberoni Fallacy applies only to rules disputes, not flavor criticisms. Third, this isn't even an instance of Rule Zero, as it's supported by published WotC material (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050110a), at least in one setting.
kyeudo 09-18-07, 12:34 AM	I think you're invoking Oberoni inappropriately here: first, flavor problems demand flavor solutions, period, and rely on the fact that flavor is mutable for this. This is the appropriate way to solve a flavor problem. Second, the Oberoni Fallacy applies only to rules disputes, not flavor criticisms. Third, this isn't even an instance of Rule Zero, as it's supported by published WotC material (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ebds/20050110a), at least in one setting. Mechanics are part of flavor, sadly enough. I was talking about the way that a current soulknife can't deal bludgeoning damage with a mind hammer when I said that. I was feeling a little fanatical at the time, probably because I hadn't had a proper RP fix in a month, so forgive my zealousness. I just wish that the soulknife were a little more flexible to my kinds of character backgrounds. Why did this thread get so popular all of a sudden? It was dead for nearly 3 weeks.