In defense of the soulknife [Archive] - Wizards Community

In defense of the soulknife [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Avenger314
08-30-07, 02:38 PM Hi all,

I’ve noted that the overwhelming sentiment is that the soulknife is woefully underpowered in comparison to other classes. Some very good points are made (I’m not going to re-list them all here). But I think that soulknives are perfectly viable because of several strengths that are overlooked.

Some assumptions: The soulknife is generally a fighter/damage dealer type character. It’s something of a blend between fighter, rogue, and monk. I’ll be comparing it to those classes most frequently (rather than other core classes like barbarian or cleric).

Anyway, here are some factors in favor of the soulknife that do a lot to increase its utility.

· Inexpensiveness: Similar to a monk, a soulknife can go through his entire adventuring career without spending a single gold on a weapon. A fighter, on the other hand, has to spend a good deal on his armaments. So the soulknife can put the saved money into anything else—armor, potions, misc. items, etc.
· Consolidation of feats: Again, similar to a monk, the soulknife can make all his feats revolve around one weapon: the mind blade. A fighter either needs to stick to one weapon type (weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc), or blow a feat on each different weapon he uses. A soulknife, however, can get a variety of attacks while concentrating his feats around the same thing. As long as he takes two weapon fighting, he can effectively fight with a bastard sword, longsword, or two weapons.
· Versatility: Reinforcing both of the above concepts is the versatility. A soulknife’s mindblade can potentially one of many enchantments: Psionic burst, souldrinker, etc. Again, if a fighter wants these, he has to buy one of each. Even a monk has very limited options (Extra damage dice and ki strike is it). But a soulknife can pick-and-choose, as long as he has a day to make up his mind.
· Front-loaded damage: This is more noticeable than the others, but a soulknife can deal heavy damage if he has time to prepare. He can’t sustain it the way a fighter or monk can, but he can also deal more with a single attack than either of them. This is comparable to a rogue.
· Permanence: A soulknife’s abilities don’t ever go away, similar to the other three fighting classes I mentioned. (In fact, the monk has limited stunning fists; the soulknife has no such limitation). Moreover, he’s never helpless. A fighter or rogue can be disarmed; a soulknife never can. True, he may not be able to manifest powers the way a psychic warrior can. But unlike them, the soulknife is just as effective at all times of day as long as he can recharge his psychic strike.

May as well go over the basics:
· 2 good saves
· respectable BaB (on par with rogue and monk)
· Decent HD (alongside monk; smack-dab between fighter and rogue).

To sum, I think all these put the soulknife on an even keel with the other core classes.
Please feel free to discuss. =]
Vharuck
08-30-07, 03:45 PM I may devil's advocate some of these (argue for the sake of argument, not because I actually disagree), but I'm not thinking I will. Here goes!

Some assumptions: The soulknife is generally a fighter/damage dealer type character. It’s something of a blend between fighter, rogue, and monk. I’ll be comparing it to those classes most frequently (rather than other core classes like barbarian or cleric).

I believe this as well. However, even those who know not to use them in toe-to-toe combat notice flaws.

· Inexpensiveness: Similar to a monk, a soulknife can go through his entire adventuring career without spending a single gold on a weapon. A fighter, on the other hand, has to spend a good deal on his armaments. So the soulknife can put the saved money into anything else—armor, potions, misc. items, etc.

How about things to increase his BAB? Or his AC? Or his damage? Or his health? You may see this as "Well it doesn't have to buy an expensive weapon so it comes with some drawbacks," whereas I see this is "I'm spending all the money I saved by not buying a weapon on expensive items to make up for the drawbacks!"

· Consolidation of feats: Again, similar to a monk, the soulknife can make all his feats revolve around one weapon: the mind blade. A fighter either needs to stick to one weapon type (weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc), or blow a feat on each different weapon he uses. A soulknife, however, can get a variety of attacks while concentrating his feats around the same thing. As long as he takes two weapon fighting, he can effectively fight with a bastard sword, longsword, or two weapons.

Funny thing though, he can't take Weapon Specialization without taking 4 fighter levels. Those levels will set the effectiveness of his mind blade back. There aren't a whole lot of worthwhile weapon enhancing feats available to non-fighters.

· Versatility: Reinforcing both of the above concepts is the versatility. A soulknife’s mindblade can potentially one of many enchantments: Psionic burst, souldrinker, etc. Again, if a fighter wants these, he has to buy one of each. Even a monk has very limited options (Extra damage dice and ki strike is it). But a soulknife can pick-and-choose, as long as he has a day to make up his mind.

But have you looked at the table? It's not really that phenomenal. Most of those abilities... I'd rather have the flat enhancement bonus. But I can't. Also, you're limited to that table while the fighter is not.

· Front-loaded damage: This is more noticeable than the others, but a soulknife can deal heavy damage if he has time to prepare. He can’t sustain it the way a fighter or monk can, but he can also deal more with a single attack than either of them. This is comparable to a rogue.

Not really. By simply using a wand of grease with his Use Magic Device, or having the wizard cast the spell, a rogue can Sneak Attack with every attack in a round for as long as he wants. Psychic Strike has a slower damage progression, works on only one attack, and requires a move action to recharge. The rogue's over there dealing multiple Sneak Attacks a round while full attacking, while you're doing one psychic strike a round. Also, if you don't recharge but just start off combat with that one psychic strike, that's putting your eggs in one basket. If it hits, yay! You did something! Nothing too great, but something. If it misses, well, suck it up.

And I daresay a fighter can do more damage in one attack, and continue to sustain that attack damage.

· Permanence: A soulknife’s abilities don’t ever go away, similar to the other three fighting classes I mentioned. (In fact, the monk has limited stunning fists; the soulknife has no such limitation). Moreover, he’s never helpless. A fighter or rogue can be disarmed; a soulknife never can. True, he may not be able to manifest powers the way a psychic warrior can. But unlike them, the soulknife is just as effective at all times of day as long as he can recharge his psychic strike.

Monks can have limited Stunning Fists from level one, as opposed to the soulknife's limitless... what? Immunity to disarm is really not that great. Most fighters have back up weapons to wield while they retrieve their dropped weapon. And it's very rare for a fighter to not have a weapon on him. It's basically negligable.

May as well go over the basics:
· 2 good saves
· respectable BaB (on par with rogue and monk)
· Decent HD (alongside monk; smack-dab between fighter and rogue).

To sum, I think all these put the soulknife on an even keel with the other core classes.
Please feel free to discuss. =]

The monk and rogue have medium BAB, with the monk also having a d8 HD, because they are secondary combatants. They're not meant to front line for a party; they can, but fighters or barbarians do it better. However, the monk and rogue fill other niches. The monk has some nifty spell-like abilities and amazing mobility. Monks are reknown for being a spellcaster's doom with 3 good saves and the ability to get past minions and meatshield within one turn and still use Stunning Fist. Rogues are skill monkeys. They have Use Magic Device as a class skill, which is amazing enough. They find and disable traps, pick locks, and deal massive continuous damage with flanking Sneak Attacks. Both classes also make excellent scouts.

The Soulknife is a secondary combatant. This is evidenced by his medium BAB, light armor proficiency, and d8 HD (the reason Psychic Warriors are primary combatants with medium BAB and d8 HD is because their class allows them powers to increase both attack and health to beyond even a barbarian's). But the only other niche he fills is a scout. That's not a very important niche, and it doesn't give him much to do in tough combat.
Nightshade
08-30-07, 03:59 PM Actually, the Soulknife has a D10 Hitdie.

One simple fix that I use in all my games and try to get DM's I play with to use is

1. Inc. BAB to full
2. Reduce HD to d8
3. Add Balance to skill list (I'm not sure if this is in the errata).

With this, they become about as good as a Ranger in front line combat, i.e. not optimal but playable and fun. Without this, they kind of bite. Also helpful is the Kalashtar race from Eberron. This race was made with the Soulknife in mind and there are a couple of useful feats, substitution levels, and a prc in Races of Eberron that compliments the Soulknife well.
TheKeyofE
08-30-07, 04:04 PM First, if you haven't read it already you should check out the Soulknife Build Guide and Compendium (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=372176). Most of what I bring up is echoed there.

But I think that soulknives are perfectly viable because of several strengths that are overlooked.
All of your points are valid points, but these are all only very slight strengths, and they're not overlooked.

· Inexpensiveness: Similar to a monk, a soulknife can go through his entire adventuring career without spending a single gold on a weapon. A fighter, on the other hand, has to spend a good deal on his armaments. So the soulknife can put the saved money into anything else—armor, potions, misc. items, etc.
This isn't as much of a boon as you might think. It seems like a nice boost, but there's not really that much extra stuff he can spend his extra cash on. If you follow the Wealth By Level guidelines and you spent 30% of your cash on your weapon (which is what is recommended), the soulknife's mindblade is about on-par at low levels, and actually falls behind at later levels. Also, being forced to spend half your bonus on enhancement (IE +1 mindblade with +1 enhancement, rather than a +2 mindblade) can be very limiting.
· Consolidation of feats: Again, similar to a monk, the soulknife can make all his feats revolve around one weapon: the mind blade. A fighter either needs to stick to one weapon type (weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc), or blow a feat on each different weapon he uses. A soulknife, however, can get a variety of attacks while concentrating his feats around the same thing. As long as he takes two weapon fighting, he can effectively fight with a bastard sword, longsword, or two weapons.
Again, this isn't that much of a boon. The soulknife CAN'T get a variety of attacks. Longsword and bastard sword both do slashing damage, shortsword does piercing, while most monsters with weapon type based DR require bludgeoning to overcome it. So a soulknife would need a back up weapon, just like a fighter. Also, until recently*, the soulknife couldn't overcome material based DR. Honestly, the soulknife is in the same sticky situation the fighter is in, except he has even fewer feats to get himself out. Two weapon fighting doesn't give you a lot of new options, and it requires too many feats for the feat starved Soulknife (not to mention the fact that it reduces your mindblade's magical bonus by 1). The damage difference between longsword and bastard sword is neglible, and using the bastard sword two handed doesn't help because you have lower BAB and fewer feats for Power Attack, and it's already 1.5 average damage less than a greatsword.
*The Magic Item Compendium introduced gauntlets that can change your mindblade's properties, both material and enchantments.
· Versatility: Reinforcing both of the above concepts is the versatility. A soulknife’s mindblade can potentially one of many enchantments: Psionic burst, souldrinker, etc. Again, if a fighter wants these, he has to buy one of each. Even a monk has very limited options (Extra damage dice and ki strike is it). But a soulknife can pick-and-choose, as long as he has a day to make up his mind.
Most of the enchantments on the list are not that useful, with very little difference between them. Being able to switch between them is not that big of a boon, especially when it takes you 8 hours.
· Front-loaded damage: This is more noticeable than the others, but a soulknife can deal heavy damage if he has time to prepare. He can’t sustain it the way a fighter or monk can, but he can also deal more with a single attack than either of them. This is comparable to a rogue.
Again, this is only a very small bonus. If you compare the psychic strike progression to a CR appropriate monster's hitpoints, one psychic strike per battle won't make a difference. From levels 3-7, you only have 1 attack so using psychic strike every round for an extra 1d8 is nice, but really is only a very small boost. As soon you get 2d8 psychic strike, you also get a second attack, at which point it's probably a better idea to full attack than psychic strike. Also, having to use a move action to recharge limits your mobility (one of the soulknife's few strengths--a strength you failed to mention). In summary, psychic strike is an awkward ability, with limited usefulness.
· Permanence: A soulknife’s abilities don’t ever go away, similar to the other three fighting classes I mentioned. (In fact, the monk has limited stunning fists; the soulknife has no such limitation). Moreover, he’s never helpless. A fighter or rogue can be disarmed; a soulknife never can. True, he may not be able to manifest powers the way a psychic warrior can. But unlike them, the soulknife is just as effective at all times of day as long as he can recharge his psychic strike.
See my above rant about psychic strike. While the point about never being without a weapon is a good one, it is again not that big of a boost. Every good rogue or fighter should have a back-up weapon (or two) for when they get disarmed (yes, the back-up weapon will be weaker than their main one, but it's better than nothing), and most DMs (unless they're the cruel, vindictive kind) won't sunder the fighter's favorite weapon.
May as well go over the basics:
· 2 good saves
· respectable BaB (on par with rogue and monk)
· Decent HD (alongside monk; smack-dab between fighter and rogue).
2 good saves is nice, but the ranger has that, too, and the monk has 3. 3/4 BAB hurts the soulknife more than a rogue or monk. The rogue is expected to be flanking so he can sneak attack, giving him +2 to hit, while the soulknife is expected to be fighting face to face like a fighter. The monk can flurry, giving him more attacks, and thus a higher chance of doing damage despite his reduced BAB.
And the soulknife has d10 HD, not d8. Again, a nice little boost but really not worth very much.
To sum, I think all these put the soulknife on an even keel with the other core classes.
Please feel free to discuss. =]
I respect that you're trying to show some love to the soulknife. Thematically, it's my favorite class, period. But mechanically, it just can't benefit the party the way a rogue or monk can. It's debateable whether it contributes as much as the much maligned fighter.
CrimsonDeath
08-30-07, 04:04 PM Also, if you don't recharge but just start off combat with that one psychic strike, that's putting your eggs in one basket. If it hits, yay! You did something! Nothing too great, but something. If it misses, well, suck it up.
Actually, if he misses, his blade is still charged with that psychic strike. It doesn't discharge until he hits.

He's still doing it a maximum of once per round, though (about the same as a Feinting rogue, which is widely regarded as suboptimal compared to a Flanking rogue or a UMD rogue).

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Avenger314 08-30-07, 02:38 PM	Hi all, I’ve noted that the overwhelming sentiment is that the soulknife is woefully underpowered in comparison to other classes. Some very good points are made (I’m not going to re-list them all here). But I think that soulknives are perfectly viable because of several strengths that are overlooked. Some assumptions: The soulknife is generally a fighter/damage dealer type character. It’s something of a blend between fighter, rogue, and monk. I’ll be comparing it to those classes most frequently (rather than other core classes like barbarian or cleric). Anyway, here are some factors in favor of the soulknife that do a lot to increase its utility. · Inexpensiveness: Similar to a monk, a soulknife can go through his entire adventuring career without spending a single gold on a weapon. A fighter, on the other hand, has to spend a good deal on his armaments. So the soulknife can put the saved money into anything else—armor, potions, misc. items, etc. · Consolidation of feats: Again, similar to a monk, the soulknife can make all his feats revolve around one weapon: the mind blade. A fighter either needs to stick to one weapon type (weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc), or blow a feat on each different weapon he uses. A soulknife, however, can get a variety of attacks while concentrating his feats around the same thing. As long as he takes two weapon fighting, he can effectively fight with a bastard sword, longsword, or two weapons. · Versatility: Reinforcing both of the above concepts is the versatility. A soulknife’s mindblade can potentially one of many enchantments: Psionic burst, souldrinker, etc. Again, if a fighter wants these, he has to buy one of each. Even a monk has very limited options (Extra damage dice and ki strike is it). But a soulknife can pick-and-choose, as long as he has a day to make up his mind. · Front-loaded damage: This is more noticeable than the others, but a soulknife can deal heavy damage if he has time to prepare. He can’t sustain it the way a fighter or monk can, but he can also deal more with a single attack than either of them. This is comparable to a rogue. · Permanence: A soulknife’s abilities don’t ever go away, similar to the other three fighting classes I mentioned. (In fact, the monk has limited stunning fists; the soulknife has no such limitation). Moreover, he’s never helpless. A fighter or rogue can be disarmed; a soulknife never can. True, he may not be able to manifest powers the way a psychic warrior can. But unlike them, the soulknife is just as effective at all times of day as long as he can recharge his psychic strike. May as well go over the basics: · 2 good saves · respectable BaB (on par with rogue and monk) · Decent HD (alongside monk; smack-dab between fighter and rogue). To sum, I think all these put the soulknife on an even keel with the other core classes. Please feel free to discuss. =]
Vharuck 08-30-07, 03:45 PM	I may devil's advocate some of these (argue for the sake of argument, not because I actually disagree), but I'm not thinking I will. Here goes! Some assumptions: The soulknife is generally a fighter/damage dealer type character. It’s something of a blend between fighter, rogue, and monk. I’ll be comparing it to those classes most frequently (rather than other core classes like barbarian or cleric). I believe this as well. However, even those who know not to use them in toe-to-toe combat notice flaws. · Inexpensiveness: Similar to a monk, a soulknife can go through his entire adventuring career without spending a single gold on a weapon. A fighter, on the other hand, has to spend a good deal on his armaments. So the soulknife can put the saved money into anything else—armor, potions, misc. items, etc. How about things to increase his BAB? Or his AC? Or his damage? Or his health? You may see this as "Well it doesn't have to buy an expensive weapon so it comes with some drawbacks," whereas I see this is "I'm spending all the money I saved by not buying a weapon on expensive items to make up for the drawbacks!" · Consolidation of feats: Again, similar to a monk, the soulknife can make all his feats revolve around one weapon: the mind blade. A fighter either needs to stick to one weapon type (weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc), or blow a feat on each different weapon he uses. A soulknife, however, can get a variety of attacks while concentrating his feats around the same thing. As long as he takes two weapon fighting, he can effectively fight with a bastard sword, longsword, or two weapons. Funny thing though, he can't take Weapon Specialization without taking 4 fighter levels. Those levels will set the effectiveness of his mind blade back. There aren't a whole lot of worthwhile weapon enhancing feats available to non-fighters. · Versatility: Reinforcing both of the above concepts is the versatility. A soulknife’s mindblade can potentially one of many enchantments: Psionic burst, souldrinker, etc. Again, if a fighter wants these, he has to buy one of each. Even a monk has very limited options (Extra damage dice and ki strike is it). But a soulknife can pick-and-choose, as long as he has a day to make up his mind. But have you looked at the table? It's not really that phenomenal. Most of those abilities... I'd rather have the flat enhancement bonus. But I can't. Also, you're limited to that table while the fighter is not. · Front-loaded damage: This is more noticeable than the others, but a soulknife can deal heavy damage if he has time to prepare. He can’t sustain it the way a fighter or monk can, but he can also deal more with a single attack than either of them. This is comparable to a rogue. Not really. By simply using a wand of grease with his Use Magic Device, or having the wizard cast the spell, a rogue can Sneak Attack with every attack in a round for as long as he wants. Psychic Strike has a slower damage progression, works on only one attack, and requires a move action to recharge. The rogue's over there dealing multiple Sneak Attacks a round while full attacking, while you're doing one psychic strike a round. Also, if you don't recharge but just start off combat with that one psychic strike, that's putting your eggs in one basket. If it hits, yay! You did something! Nothing too great, but something. If it misses, well, suck it up. And I daresay a fighter can do more damage in one attack, and continue to sustain that attack damage. · Permanence: A soulknife’s abilities don’t ever go away, similar to the other three fighting classes I mentioned. (In fact, the monk has limited stunning fists; the soulknife has no such limitation). Moreover, he’s never helpless. A fighter or rogue can be disarmed; a soulknife never can. True, he may not be able to manifest powers the way a psychic warrior can. But unlike them, the soulknife is just as effective at all times of day as long as he can recharge his psychic strike. Monks can have limited Stunning Fists from level one, as opposed to the soulknife's limitless... what? Immunity to disarm is really not that great. Most fighters have back up weapons to wield while they retrieve their dropped weapon. And it's very rare for a fighter to not have a weapon on him. It's basically negligable. May as well go over the basics: · 2 good saves · respectable BaB (on par with rogue and monk) · Decent HD (alongside monk; smack-dab between fighter and rogue). To sum, I think all these put the soulknife on an even keel with the other core classes. Please feel free to discuss. =] The monk and rogue have medium BAB, with the monk also having a d8 HD, because they are secondary combatants. They're not meant to front line for a party; they can, but fighters or barbarians do it better. However, the monk and rogue fill other niches. The monk has some nifty spell-like abilities and amazing mobility. Monks are reknown for being a spellcaster's doom with 3 good saves and the ability to get past minions and meatshield within one turn and still use Stunning Fist. Rogues are skill monkeys. They have Use Magic Device as a class skill, which is amazing enough. They find and disable traps, pick locks, and deal massive continuous damage with flanking Sneak Attacks. Both classes also make excellent scouts. The Soulknife is a secondary combatant. This is evidenced by his medium BAB, light armor proficiency, and d8 HD (the reason Psychic Warriors are primary combatants with medium BAB and d8 HD is because their class allows them powers to increase both attack and health to beyond even a barbarian's). But the only other niche he fills is a scout. That's not a very important niche, and it doesn't give him much to do in tough combat.
Nightshade 08-30-07, 03:59 PM	Actually, the Soulknife has a D10 Hitdie. One simple fix that I use in all my games and try to get DM's I play with to use is 1. Inc. BAB to full 2. Reduce HD to d8 3. Add Balance to skill list (I'm not sure if this is in the errata). With this, they become about as good as a Ranger in front line combat, i.e. not optimal but playable and fun. Without this, they kind of bite. Also helpful is the Kalashtar race from Eberron. This race was made with the Soulknife in mind and there are a couple of useful feats, substitution levels, and a prc in Races of Eberron that compliments the Soulknife well.
TheKeyofE 08-30-07, 04:04 PM	First, if you haven't read it already you should check out the Soulknife Build Guide and Compendium (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=372176). Most of what I bring up is echoed there. But I think that soulknives are perfectly viable because of several strengths that are overlooked. All of your points are valid points, but these are all only very slight strengths, and they're not overlooked. · Inexpensiveness: Similar to a monk, a soulknife can go through his entire adventuring career without spending a single gold on a weapon. A fighter, on the other hand, has to spend a good deal on his armaments. So the soulknife can put the saved money into anything else—armor, potions, misc. items, etc. This isn't as much of a boon as you might think. It seems like a nice boost, but there's not really that much extra stuff he can spend his extra cash on. If you follow the Wealth By Level guidelines and you spent 30% of your cash on your weapon (which is what is recommended), the soulknife's mindblade is about on-par at low levels, and actually falls behind at later levels. Also, being forced to spend half your bonus on enhancement (IE +1 mindblade with +1 enhancement, rather than a +2 mindblade) can be very limiting. · Consolidation of feats: Again, similar to a monk, the soulknife can make all his feats revolve around one weapon: the mind blade. A fighter either needs to stick to one weapon type (weapon focus, weapon specialization, etc), or blow a feat on each different weapon he uses. A soulknife, however, can get a variety of attacks while concentrating his feats around the same thing. As long as he takes two weapon fighting, he can effectively fight with a bastard sword, longsword, or two weapons. Again, this isn't that much of a boon. The soulknife CAN'T get a variety of attacks. Longsword and bastard sword both do slashing damage, shortsword does piercing, while most monsters with weapon type based DR require bludgeoning to overcome it. So a soulknife would need a back up weapon, just like a fighter. Also, until recently, the soulknife couldn't overcome material based DR. Honestly, the soulknife is in the same sticky situation the fighter is in, except he has even fewer feats to get himself out. Two weapon fighting doesn't give you a lot of new options, and it requires too many feats for the feat starved Soulknife (not to mention the fact that it reduces your mindblade's magical bonus by 1). The damage difference between longsword and bastard sword is neglible, and using the bastard sword two handed doesn't help because you have lower BAB and fewer feats for Power Attack, and it's already 1.5 average damage less than a greatsword. The Magic Item Compendium introduced gauntlets that can change your mindblade's properties, both material and enchantments. · Versatility: Reinforcing both of the above concepts is the versatility. A soulknife’s mindblade can potentially one of many enchantments: Psionic burst, souldrinker, etc. Again, if a fighter wants these, he has to buy one of each. Even a monk has very limited options (Extra damage dice and ki strike is it). But a soulknife can pick-and-choose, as long as he has a day to make up his mind. Most of the enchantments on the list are not that useful, with very little difference between them. Being able to switch between them is not that big of a boon, especially when it takes you 8 hours. · Front-loaded damage: This is more noticeable than the others, but a soulknife can deal heavy damage if he has time to prepare. He can’t sustain it the way a fighter or monk can, but he can also deal more with a single attack than either of them. This is comparable to a rogue. Again, this is only a very small bonus. If you compare the psychic strike progression to a CR appropriate monster's hitpoints, one psychic strike per battle won't make a difference. From levels 3-7, you only have 1 attack so using psychic strike every round for an extra 1d8 is nice, but really is only a very small boost. As soon you get 2d8 psychic strike, you also get a second attack, at which point it's probably a better idea to full attack than psychic strike. Also, having to use a move action to recharge limits your mobility (one of the soulknife's few strengths--a strength you failed to mention). In summary, psychic strike is an awkward ability, with limited usefulness. · Permanence: A soulknife’s abilities don’t ever go away, similar to the other three fighting classes I mentioned. (In fact, the monk has limited stunning fists; the soulknife has no such limitation). Moreover, he’s never helpless. A fighter or rogue can be disarmed; a soulknife never can. True, he may not be able to manifest powers the way a psychic warrior can. But unlike them, the soulknife is just as effective at all times of day as long as he can recharge his psychic strike. See my above rant about psychic strike. While the point about never being without a weapon is a good one, it is again not that big of a boost. Every good rogue or fighter should have a back-up weapon (or two) for when they get disarmed (yes, the back-up weapon will be weaker than their main one, but it's better than nothing), and most DMs (unless they're the cruel, vindictive kind) won't sunder the fighter's favorite weapon. May as well go over the basics: · 2 good saves · respectable BaB (on par with rogue and monk) · Decent HD (alongside monk; smack-dab between fighter and rogue). 2 good saves is nice, but the ranger has that, too, and the monk has 3. 3/4 BAB hurts the soulknife more than a rogue or monk. The rogue is expected to be flanking so he can sneak attack, giving him +2 to hit, while the soulknife is expected to be fighting face to face like a fighter. The monk can flurry, giving him more attacks, and thus a higher chance of doing damage despite his reduced BAB. And the soulknife has d10 HD, not d8. Again, a nice little boost but really not worth very much. To sum, I think all these put the soulknife on an even keel with the other core classes. Please feel free to discuss. =] I respect that you're trying to show some love to the soulknife. Thematically, it's my favorite class, period. But mechanically, it just can't benefit the party the way a rogue or monk can. It's debateable whether it contributes as much as the much maligned fighter.
CrimsonDeath 08-30-07, 04:04 PM	Also, if you don't recharge but just start off combat with that one psychic strike, that's putting your eggs in one basket. If it hits, yay! You did something! Nothing too great, but something. If it misses, well, suck it up. Actually, if he misses, his blade is still charged with that psychic strike. It doesn't discharge until he hits. He's still doing it a maximum of once per round, though (about the same as a Feinting rogue, which is widely regarded as suboptimal compared to a Flanking rogue or a UMD rogue).