Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Kn1ves 10-31-07, 12:20 AM	For some reason I've never really been struck by the idea of psionics in fantasy games, I have no problem with other people using them or playing them but they never suited me. Probably for the same reason I'll never play a magic user in Rifts, except for Techno Wizards but I digress. Anyhoo, the one psionic class that I always liked from the day I saw it was the Soulknife. Something about them just...works for me. My problem now comes from the fact that every time I look at their class abilities I get disheartened and play something else. Is it possible to run a soulknife and keep up with the party or do they wind up being dead weight?
Moosh Nailo 10-31-07, 12:29 AM	The majority of the answers you'll probably get are that no, the soulknife is garbage. There are dozens of suggested fixes, remakes, or what have you. Untapped Potential, by Dreamscarred Press, is supposed to have some excellent new versions of the class. Couldn't tell you one way or the other, as I don't have UP. But there are those brave few who have successfully played one with no change whatsoever. They will say that it works fine, that everyone else is simply full of hype and trying to powergame. Personally, I love the class. Not necessarily the mechanics, just the ideas and flavour. I'd say go for it, even if you do change something.
InkBlot 10-31-07, 12:40 AM	Is it possible to run a soulknife and keep up with the party or do they wind up being dead weight? It's possible. It's especially possible if there isn't already another melee-type in the group. Soulknife 20, straight out of the XPH, is the most difficult to work with. If you have CPsi, then the Soulbow is a much more competent archer than Soulknife is a melee fighter. If you're playing in an undead-heavy campaign, then Illumine Soul gives any Soulknife a huge boost. However, CPsi does have a couple goodies for a single-classed Soulknife. In particular is Mind Cleave, a feat which recharges your psychic strike for free whenever you use a psychic-strike-charged mindblade to kill a creature. If you can use Mind's Eye material, then the Bonus Feat and the Hidden Talent variant Soulknifes (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a) help a lot. I personally like the idea of combining the variants, picking up an extra Hidden Talent, and using the Bonus Feats for Martial Study x3, Psionic Talent, and Psychic Renewal. However, on the same page is the Soulbound Warrior: a Psychic Warrior variant that does everything the Soulknife does (summons a free magic weapon), but arguably better. The Soulknife, even with the extra material mentioned above, is still a relatively weak niche character. A Barbarian, or a Ranger, or a Paladin, will be stronger in the same roles. The Soulknife is playable, and so is the Fighter, so long as your only competition is from hostile NPCs and monsters. You wouldn't want to have to get in a damage race with another melee guy in your party. EDIT: If you have access to Magic Of Incarnum, then look up the Incarnate Weapon meld and the Shape Soulmeld feat. For the cost of just one feat, you can put the soul back into soulknife.
CrimsonDeath 10-31-07, 12:53 AM	Wasn't the UTP Soulknife a slightly revised version of BlaineTog's fix (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=310984)?
Callix 10-31-07, 01:44 AM	It's not a definitive response, but the green link in my sig is to a soulknife character of mine in a PVP arena on these boards. He's about breaking even on wins/losses over two levels. He's designed for SAD, attack bonus and AC, over pretty much everything else. I have to point something out: soulknives are not great frontliners. In fact, one of their biggest advantages is that mind blades are the best thrown weapons in existence, especially when shaped into Bastard Swords. If only the menchanics didn't screw multiclass soulknives so, a soulknife/rogue/Master Thrower could be a potent source of damage, with Psychic Strike, Sneak Attack, thrown touch attacks from MT, and Hide/MS/Spot as class skills at all levels.
Mystyc 10-31-07, 02:05 AM	It depends how much you are willing to plan and optimize relative to the rest of your party. And, in truth, most of the revisions people have put on the boards - heck, even mine - will only get you up to about the same power level as a barbarian or ranger. You will still be dead weight against full casters eventually, but you'll just have more fun while it's happening.
InkBlot 10-31-07, 02:38 AM	I have to point something out: soulknives are not great frontliners. In fact, one of their biggest advantages is that mind blades are the best thrown weapons in existence, especially when shaped into Bastard Swords. If only the menchanics didn't screw multiclass soulknives so, a soulknife/rogue/Master Thrower could be a potent source of damage, with Psychic Strike, Sneak Attack, thrown touch attacks from MT, and Hide/MS/Spot as class skills at all levels. If only Soulknives could throw more than one mindblade per round before 17th level. Bruce R. Cordell, you do write silly stuff sometimes.
Callix 10-31-07, 07:07 AM	If only Soulknives could throw more than one mindblade per round before 17th level. Bruce R. Cordell, you do write silly stuff sometimes. Oh, yes, that one. If you want to fix the Soulknife class so it can actually do cool stuff, then at least add an Improved Mind Blade feat (at least +4 levels of Soulknife, max of your HD; I'd argue for as soulknife of your HD and require, say, +2 Mind Blade to discourage dipping), and remove the once-per-round limit to Free Draw. Compare this to the Quick Draw feat and/or the energy/force reserve feats. No comparison, eh? Still, even so, it is possible to make one attack per round count. Sneak attacks (with bluff for diversions) and ToB maneuvers both show this, but the Soulknife doesn't.
turalisj 10-31-07, 07:41 AM	If your DM is nice enough, he will let you reflavor Illumine Soul into something that affects specific foes (orcs, abberations, goblins, etc) :D
Tenadros 11-01-07, 11:15 AM	I like the linked article about the soulknife fix. I'm planning on using one, but just saw the original from the open sourced material and realized it was underpowered (in my opinion) Now heres another question. I am running the character in what will be a ridiculously overpowered game. I mean its straight munchkin levels. As a group we do some heavy roleplaying and low magic campaigns. But every once in a while you just want the pure heroin of high magic munchkins for the pure fun of it. So anyway this game includes scouts with maxed out ability scores, a half-dragon sorceror/warlock with huge ability buffs, werebears, etc. Majorly overpowered but all balanced out together. The one character left was to be a soulknife but when I looked at the design it was very weak. And honestly even with the fix it is still much weaker then the rest of these guys will be. So here's my fix. I was wanting the soulknife ability with the flavor of the psychic warrior. Basically a soul knife that could do matrix style moves through buffing herself with physchic boosts. If I gestalted the fixed soulknife and psychic warrior how ugly will that get?
Orchomenos 11-01-07, 11:37 AM	I played one a while ago. Psychic strike + (Greater) Psionic Weapon + Bastard Sword made wonders on the first round. Though you need a full round to recharge all that...
moebius00 11-01-07, 11:46 AM	We have a Soulknife in our group who has the main melee responsibility, so here's how he does it (I'd call the game "low-med" in terms of difficulty): -lvl 12 -High Str -2-hand (Bastard Sword) -Lots of full power attacking -Deep Impact and 1 level of Warblade for Emerald Razor (Tome of Battle). -Hidden Talent alternate feature using Expansion (my Psion fills extra 1-point cog crystals for him to use it more than 1/day). This means he can reliably do a couple of full power attacking touch attacks for something in the 40-60 point range.
PhaedrusXY 11-01-07, 04:50 PM	Now heres another question. I am running the character in what will be a ridiculously overpowered game. I mean its straight munchkin levels. As a group we do some heavy roleplaying and low magic campaigns. But every once in a while you just want the pure heroin of high magic munchkins for the pure fun of it.Levels of Kensai and/or the Ancestral Relic feat can power up your weapon. If your DM lets you apply Ancestral Relic to your Mind Blade, you could just take a few levels of the Soulknife class, and then take a bunch of Warmind levels for Psiwarrior powers. You can qualify for Warmind with a single-classed Soulknife 5, and I think it would be pretty fun character to play (assuming the DM lets you use the feat I mentioned).
Lycanthromancer 11-02-07, 01:34 PM	Ooh. Ancestral relic. A family with a blessing/curse of the mindblade, passed down to one member each generation? Flavored right, that would be awesome.
Bacris 11-02-07, 02:11 PM	Wasn't the UTP Soulknife a slightly revised version of BlaineTog's fix (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=310984)? It was tweaked from playtesting and had some new feat options, but yes, it was an updated BlaineTog's fix.
EonEdge 11-05-07, 01:54 AM	I know I will probably be chastized for this comment around here but here it goes anyways... In a munchkin campaign you could possibly convince your dm to allow you to revamp the 3.0 soulknife to confine to the rules of 3.5 and use him as a "true soulknife" PrC. I know 3.0 psionics are evil, but I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the good ol 3.0 soulknife. remove the stuff about psionic attacks, and change many features to stack with the 3.5 soulknife instead, allow con damage for psychic strike when you would normally get sever life, maybe faster power progression, and still allow imbed power. you may now chastize me
turalisj 11-05-07, 07:24 AM	Ooh. Ancestral relic. A family with a blessing/curse of the mindblade, passed down to one member each generation? Flavored right, that would be awesome. Perhaps a dying/dishonored soulknife impales himself upon death, allowing his children to become soulknives :P
Bacris 11-05-07, 07:26 AM	you may now chastize me Nah, sounds like a pretty common idea, actually. :) All things told about 3.0 psionics, and just how much was bad about it, there were a few gems in it. They were few and far between, but they were there. 0 level powers, for example, were a good idea that were left out of the XPH. The Soulknife as a PrC was another. Ferroplasm was my personal favorite in 3.0. :)
TheKeyofE 11-05-07, 09:50 AM	Ferroplasm was my personal favorite in 3.0. :) Mmm...ferroplasm...The way this (http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=14157596&postcount=13) character's sword worked was basically the same as ferroplasm, although I got the idea for him from Dak'kon's karach blade, long before I read the PsH. Also, I've been thinking about this for a while: could you make a soulknife by reflavoring the Warlock to be psionic instead of demonic? There's an invocation in Dragon Magic, eldritch glaive, that turns your blast into a physical reach weapon; you could use something similar to that as a base. Didn't someone else suggest something similar a while ago?
AstralFireIX 11-05-07, 10:56 AM	Mmm...ferroplasm...The way this (http://forums.gleemax.com/showpost.php?p=14157596&postcount=13) character's sword worked was basically the same as ferroplasm, although I got the idea for him from Dak'kon's karach blade, long before I read the PsH. Also, I've been thinking about this for a while: could you make a soulknife by reflavoring the Warlock to be psionic instead of demonic? There's an invocation in Dragon Magic, Eldritch Glaive, that turns your blast into a physical reach weapon; you could use something similar to that as a base. Didn't someone else suggest something similar a while ago? That might (or might not) have been me; I made a similar suggestion a week ago, but I know I'm not the only one who has these ideas. Ended up turning it into a class I've been revising over the last few days. (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=947763)
TheKeyofE 11-05-07, 11:21 AM	That might (or might not) have been me; I made a similar suggestion a week ago, but I know I'm not the only one who has these ideas. Ended up turning it into a class I've been revising over the last few days. (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=947763) Yeah, I just read and commented on your class, but I don't think it was you that originally suggested it. It was several months ago.
AstralFireIX 11-05-07, 12:23 PM	Yeah, I just read and commented on your class, but I don't think it was you that originally suggested it. It was several months ago. Probably not. I was still on my hiatus from D&D then. Thanks for the comments, by the way. :D
Mercurius 11-07-07, 01:15 PM	I contemplated a full-BAB psi class that had invocations sorta like the Warlock and was based, inspiration-wise, on the Mindspy from Complete Warrior several months ago. There was a bit of a discussion, and then it fell into the abyss of back pages. It' wasn't exactly soul-knife styled, though. So it probably wasn't me. (I've been meaning to post the class I came up with since then, but haven't gotten around to it...)
Viatos 11-11-07, 09:34 PM	I'd like to take this time to point out that Soulknives gain a considerable advantage over your standard melee class when using Vow of Poverty; it's nothing to them to sacrifice magic weaponry for buckets of free power, including ability enhancements. Armor never really hurt anyone, though, seeing as you end up with +12 AC and as much Dex (potentially a score at +8) as you want. ...although I should also point out that Monks and Warlocks are much, much better at being poor. Especially since both of them can actually DO something with that enhancement bonus. ...and actually so could a Tiger Claw Martial Adept, which hurts because Martial Adepts already dominate any melee class that doesn't multiclass much. ...but if you're rolling with a monkless party whose other melee elements are all Core, or possibly Samurai (lol), you can totally win with your non-Core class and your rather broken feat from another non-Core source, which is really cool. ...except you have to play good and you're supposed to donate your unused wealth, which is a sure way to get at least some members of the party to quietly plot your demise. Not so much that it matters that you're good, it's that you're good and GIVING AWAY SHINY and HAVE THE MORAL HIGH GROUND TO DO SO and WHY DIDN'T YOU PLAY A WARLOCK. ...to answer the OP question, "No."
InkBlot 11-11-07, 11:23 PM	Except that Vow Of Poverty isn't broken. It give you less than you could get for your money, and it takes away the advantage of customization. Exalted Strike (the free enhancement bonus to hit/damage with anything you wield) is half as good as magic weapon the fighter has, is useless for the Soulknife, and he can't even trade it in for a Cloak Of Resistance or anything. It's not a bad feat, but it's far from broken. Also, the ToB classes only dominate Fighters. Everybody dominates Fighters. Even then, the primary advantage of a ToB class over a fighter is flexibiity and fun, not raw killing power. But since I don't want to crunch the numbers right now - you'll have to take my word for it, or check it out for yourself in a fair playtest, neither of which I could blame you for not doing.
WildWalker 11-11-07, 11:24 PM	My experience is that no matter what the variation the Soulknife as writ is screwed. Of course the idea I liked from the Soulknife was the idea of being able to pull a sword from thin air and I came up with a class I call a Mage Blade. Start with the Fighter chassis. Remove Medium and Heavy Armors ('cause it doesn't fit into my personal concept) and add Fast Movement from the Barbarian and a Defense Bonus equal to 2+1/2 Mage Blade Level (doesn't stack with armor, added to make up for the lack of armor). From there you dump the Feat every other level that a Fighter gets and add: Mage Blade: 1d8 melee only (think longsword) or 1d6 melee and missile (think halfspear). At every level that a Fighter gets a Feat a Mage Blade gets the ability to add a +1 magical ability to their Mage Blade as if it was a magical weapon. This means that at Level 10 it's the equivalent of a +6 weapon. At Level 20 it's the equivalent of a +11 weapon. Blade reforms as a Move equivalent action and you can take the Quickdraw Feat to make it a free action which makes things really go fast. Reformating the Blade to new powers can be done after 8 hours meditation once per level. I have had a ton of fun with this class and no one has ever told me it was too powerful. My favorite build is only 7 levels but it is a halfling with Quickdraw and a 1d6 Mageblade +4 Defender. I'm sure there are more powerful builds but with his Boots of Leaping and Springing it's an absolute scream bounding around throwing spears of light with a +8 Armor bonus making him really a pain to hit. Just my take. WildWalker
TheKeyofE 11-12-07, 01:17 AM	I know we keep mentioning it, but Untapped Potential is just too awesome for words. There's a lot more to it than just the BlaineTog soulknife. It's the soulknife feats that really do it for me. So playing around with some of the feats in that book, I worked out a build that seems pretty strong, if you're interested (or just bored): Untapped Potential feats marked UTP Race: Human Stats: Int 13 minimum, the rest is up to you. Feats: 1st: Combat Expertise 1st: Combat Reflexes (human) 2nd: Deceptive Blade UTP (bonus) 3rd: Improved Feint 6th: Martial Study (Cloak of Deception*) *or any 1st or 2nd level Shadow Hand 6th: Dueling Blade UTP (bonus) 9th: Medium Armor Proficiency 10th: Blade of the Champion UTP (bonus) 12th: Martial Stance (Assassin's Stance) 14th: Psionic Meditation (bonus) 15th: *open 18th: *open 18th: *open (bonus) Analysis: The key to this build is Deceptive Blade. Combined with Improved Feint and Free Draw (at 5th level) you get one free psychic strike per round. You charge your psychic strike as part of the action to manifest your mindblade, which because of Free Draw is a free action to do so (although with the stipulation of only once per round). Combine this with Blade of the Champion when you make a full attack, and you're getting quite a bit of extra psychic strike damage without taking a move action to recharge. I haven't number crunched, but I think this build can almost keep up with a flanking rogue, damage-wise. The Extras: Dueling Blade takes advantage of the fact that you already have Combat Expertise as a pre-req to Improved Feint; just Combat Expertise for 1 point every round, and if anyone misses you then you get a free hit back. Combat Reflexes gives you more AoOs, which you need to maximize Dueling Blade's effectiveness. Martial Study and Martial Stance give you Assassin's Stance (+2d6 sneak attack). Because you're feinting every round anyway, why not capitalize on it? Assuming your foe fails their sense-motive (which depending on the foe's BAB and skill ranks, is probably a little more than half the time), you get a free +2d6 to your first attack. Or if you have another martial character in the party (a combat-oriented rogue would be prime), just flank for the +2d6 on all your attacks (this is on top of your psychic strike, of course). Medium Armor Proficiency is there so you can wear mithral full-plate and mix it up with the big boys. (Do you guys think I use parentheses too much?) Customization: This build makes a VERY good skirmisher. Because you don't have to use a move action to recharge your mindblade (after 5th level, that is), you can move and throw every round while still getting psychic strike damage on each throw. Drop Combat Reflexes, Dueling Blade, Martial Study and Stance, Medium Armor, and Blade of the Champion. Pick up Point Blank Shot, (Greater) Psionic Shot, Precise Shot, Shot on the Run, and you're golden. Better than a Ranger or Scout. Alternatively, you could go down the TWF tree. This is open to interpretation, but it seems to me you could charge both shortswords with psychic strike as part of the action to manifest them. So after 5th level, with Deceptive Blade and Improved Feint you could charge both shortswords as a free action and make a full attack. Add Blade of the Champion after 8th level for psychic strike on your iterative attacks as well. This can't keep up with a TWF rogue (arguably the best non-magic damage dealer), but can still do respectable damage, perhaps on par with a swordsage. DECEPTIVE BLADE [Psionic] You have developed a style of mind blade combat that focuses on trickery. Materializing your mind blade just before you strike, blinking your blade from one hand to the other, springing blades forth from elbows and knees… such techniques would be impossible for any other weapon. Prerequisite: Ability to generate a mind blade Benefit: You may feint in combat as part of the action used to materialize your mind blade. You add Bluff to your list of soulknife class skills. Special: If you possess the Improved Feint feat and the psychic strike class feature, you may also charge your psychic strike as part of the action used to materialize your mind blade. DUELING BLADE [Psionic] Your mind blade reacts to threats in ways no other weapon could, blinking between parries and ripostes at the slightest thought. Even veteran warriors have difficulty fending off your supernatural counterattacks. Prerequisite: Ability to generate a mind blade Benefit: If you are fighting defensively with your mind blade, and an opponent misses you in melee, you may make an attack of opportunity against that opponent with your mind blade. Ignore the penalty to attack rolls from fighting defensively for this attack. Special: If you possess the Combat Expertise feat, you may use this ability while using that feat instead of fighting defensively. You may also increase the penalty from Combat Expertise up to your base attack bonus (exceeding the normal limit of -5), provided you are attacking with your mind blade. BLADE OF THE CHAMPION [Psionic, Mantra] Your mind blade resonates while you maintain psionic focus, enhancing your psionic strike. Prerequisite: Psychic strike +2d8, ability to manifest a mind blade Benefit: To activate Blade of the Champion you must meditate to gain psionic focus. Once activated, this mantra lasts for 1 minute, as long as you maintain psionic focus. While active, when you make an attack utilizing your psychic strike ability, instead of being fully discharged, the psychic strike remains charged, but reduced by one die. You may expend your psionic focus as a swift action to recharge your psychic strike to full power (though you may still charge your blade normally during the mantra). For example, Darius is a 6th level soulknife. He charges his mind blade with psychic strike and then meditates to gain psionic focus and activates blade of the champion. On his next attack, he deals 2d8 additional points of damage from psychic strike, but because Blade of the Champion is active, his mind blade still has 1d8 damage charged, and can deal this damage on his next attack. At any time, Darius may choose to expend his focus as a swift action and instantly recharge his psychic strike back to 2d8 points of damage. Normal: After making an attack, your psychic strike is discharged and you must take a move action to recharge your mind blade. Special: If you have converted your psychic strike into ability damage through knife to the soul, the ability damage discharges immediately rather than lingering. So what does Untapped Potential do for Soulknives? It gives them the one thing they've always lacked: OPTIONS. I mean, just the soulknife options alone are worth the 12 bucks I spent. All the other awesomeness contained within is just icing.
Think0028 11-12-07, 10:29 AM	I *believe* that Fair Use allows you to give a brief summary about what the feats do. No comments about the build. Looks solid.
Bacris 11-12-07, 11:22 AM	Actually, all of those feats are Open Content, so feel free to post em up :)
TheKeyofE 11-12-07, 08:25 PM	Actually, all of those feats are Open Content, so feel free to post em up :) Done and done.
true_shinken 11-18-07, 12:14 PM	Soulknife/Incarnum Blade is just plain gold for me. I really hope the Soulknife in my table chooses this; I want to see how it works in real play.
kelvinaw273 11-18-07, 01:33 PM	For some reason I've never really been struck by the idea of psionics in fantasy games, I have no problem with other people using them or playing them but they never suited me. Probably for the same reason I'll never play a magic user in Rifts, except for Techno Wizards but I digress. Anyhoo, the one psionic class that I always liked from the day I saw it was the Soulknife. Something about them just...works for me. My problem now comes from the fact that every time I look at their class abilities I get disheartened and play something else. Is it possible to run a soulknife and keep up with the party or do they wind up being dead weight? At the risk of repeating what somebody else might have said, play them as a variant monk, not a variant fighter - and look up all the good psionic feats. Also look up the Kalashtar soulknife replacement levels, they beef it up a little and add some options.
WombleHunter 11-18-07, 02:00 PM	A cool idea I heard of is using the Legacy Champion PrC from Weapons of Legacy - using the same rationale as for things like Ancestral Relic, desegnate your Mind Blade as your Legacy Weapon and work out a progression for it - and then the Legacy Champion advances "class features" which you can apply to Soulknife to keep your blade powers up to scratch. There's also the Item Familiar from Unearthed Arcana (and the SRD) - and AFAIK* you could in theory stack all of the above; that is, play a Soulknife/Legacy Champion with the Vow of Poverty, Item Familiar (Mind Blade) and Ancestral Relic (Mind Blade) feats... :D *Which, admittedly, isn't very far: I'm not familiar with Weapons of Legacy or the Book of Exalted Deeds.
Belabras 11-18-07, 08:25 PM	Soulknife/Incarnum Blade is just plain gold for me. I really hope the Soulknife in my table chooses this; I want to see how it works in real play. The once per day limit leaves the feat pretty weak IMHO. I like the idea, but in practice it's kinda outclassed by Psionic Weapon or similar.
InkBlot 11-18-07, 10:19 PM	"Once per day" isn't a limit on how many times you can use Psycarnum Blade, just how often you can invest essentia into it. You can use the feat too boost your damage as often as you can expend psionic focus. All incarnum feats only allow you to invest essentia in them only once per day. That essentia remains invested in the feat for the entire day. They spell this out with each feat because it's exactly the opposite way from how soulmelds work (you can invest or remove essentia from soulmelds at will). It does seem like a pretty sweet feat. It's Psionic Weapon and Greater Psionic Weapon rolled into one. However, in order to get the full benefit you need to take at least three other incarnum feats, multiclass, and/or be incarnum race. If you're going to put that much effort into it, you might as well have taken Shape Soulmeld (Incarnate Weapon) instead Soulknife, leaving you free to take class levels in whatever melee class you like. Compare a Psychic Warrior with Shape Soulmeld (incarnate weapon), Bonus Essentia, and any other two incarnum feats to a Soulknife with Psycarnum Blade and any three other incarnum feats. They should be about equal in dealing damage, but the psywar has much more freedom in his build and many more options to explore in play.
AnonymousInternets 11-19-07, 12:02 AM	Vow of Poverty Soulblade 7 + Kensai 10 + Whatever 3 isn't that bad of build. It's not particularly powerful, but it's still doable (and fun).
Sutemi 11-19-07, 06:06 AM	I'm only sad that sundering-ability on soulknives gives you just the Improved Sunder feat... So if you already have the feat, that special ability is useless :mad:
Sutemi 11-20-07, 08:19 AM	By the way does it matter rules-wise, if the Mind Blade is slashing or bludgeoning? (without having Shape Mind Blade-ability) Is there any unfair benefit from this?
InkBlot 11-20-07, 11:49 AM	It's not unfair. Bludgeoning doesn't have any special advantages over slashing or piercing, and vice versa.
CrimsonDeath 11-20-07, 12:07 PM	Slashing and bludgeoning both penetrate DR more frequently than Piercing does. Note that the Soulknife can switch between Slashing and Piercing as a full-round action (by going to shortsword form and back). CPsi lets them do bludgeoning damage with Dire Flail Mind Blade.
Fafnir 11-20-07, 12:24 PM	By the way does it matter rules-wise, if the Mind Blade is slashing or bludgeoning? (without having Shape Mind Blade-ability) Is there any unfair benefit from this? Whithout Shape Mind Blade, the mind blade is a shortsword and deals piercing damage.
Sagetim 11-20-07, 09:50 PM	The majority of the answers you'll probably get are that no, the soulknife is garbage. There are dozens of suggested fixes, remakes, or what have you. Untapped Potential, by Dreamscarred Press, is supposed to have some excellent new versions of the class. Couldn't tell you one way or the other, as I don't have UP. But there are those brave few who have successfully played one with no change whatsoever. They will say that it works fine, that everyone else is simply full of hype and trying to powergame. Personally, I love the class. Not necessarily the mechanics, just the ideas and flavour. I'd say go for it, even if you do change something. I just got to play mine this last friday. And I can give it a hearty thumbs up. It needs nothing to make it able to keep pace with other classes. Granted, my party was a soulknife, a duskblade, a spellthief, and a barbarian. So when I say keep pace I mean with a bunch of melee and ranged types. Not sure how well it would keep up with actual casters (as in full caster classes like wizard, cleric, psion, etc).
shadowforged 11-21-07, 11:03 AM	there where some interesting soulknive feats in dragon magazine #341 of course dragon magazine isn't known for its balanced material though I doubt that these feats will seriously break the game
Tetsubo 11-22-07, 06:18 AM	My experience is that no matter what the variation the Soulknife as writ is screwed. Of course the idea I liked from the Soulknife was the idea of being able to pull a sword from thin air and I came up with a class I call a Mage Blade. Start with the Fighter chassis. Remove Medium and Heavy Armors ('cause it doesn't fit into my personal concept) and add Fast Movement from the Barbarian and a Defense Bonus equal to 2+1/2 Mage Blade Level (doesn't stack with armor, added to make up for the lack of armor). From there you dump the Feat every other level that a Fighter gets and add: Mage Blade: 1d8 melee only (think longsword) or 1d6 melee and missile (think halfspear). At every level that a Fighter gets a Feat a Mage Blade gets the ability to add a +1 magical ability to their Mage Blade as if it was a magical weapon. This means that at Level 10 it's the equivalent of a +6 weapon. At Level 20 it's the equivalent of a +11 weapon. Blade reforms as a Move equivalent action and you can take the Quickdraw Feat to make it a free action which makes things really go fast. Reformating the Blade to new powers can be done after 8 hours meditation once per level. I have had a ton of fun with this class and no one has ever told me it was too powerful. My favorite build is only 7 levels but it is a halfling with Quickdraw and a 1d6 Mageblade +4 Defender. I'm sure there are more powerful builds but with his Boots of Leaping and Springing it's an absolute scream bounding around throwing spears of light with a +8 Armor bonus making him really a pain to hit. Just my take. WildWalker I *really* like this idea. I would love to play test it...
Garandene_Lyrandar 12-16-07, 01:14 AM	What we are all forgetting is just how cool it is to be able to make a blade appear just like that. My advice is gie it full BaB progression and give it shape mind blade at level 3. Oh and take a look at this link because soulknives can be excellent pcs if you play them right. And though they may not excel in straight dungeon crawling they have some unique roleplay advantages. For example at some point in a campaign every dm finds some excuse to take away all your aroour and weapons temporarliy. This is where the soulknife shines.
The_Mess 12-16-07, 02:10 AM	Oh and take a look at this link because soulknives can be excellent pcs if you play them right. Did you mean this link? Soulknife Build Guide & Compendium (http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=372176) (Here's hoping this isn't a double post!)
carve_dragon 01-02-08, 05:49 PM	Some one may have already said this but.... If you look at soulknives from this perspective they do have thier upsides. A soulblade is fundamentally creating a melee weapon from nothing, right? Well whoever said that a soulblade was limited to just one weapon! If that pc has seen/held/used any melee weapon they can theoretically make their own version of it. I've been playing a soulknife for the past 6 months and have thusfar proven that being able to swap from a longsword to a mace, whip, trident, or scyth in a move action (if your psionically focused) is almost as usefull as a figther of the same level but minus the heavy load. Then you got to factor in the bonus attributes you can add to those weapons, and you've got a psionic PC that is ruffly on par with fighters, rangers and scouts. The only real downside is that can be found with soulknives is in thier low hp scores (Compared to most other tanks) and the inablity to manifest range weaponry. The later which can be remedied with a level in Soulbow. Alltogether I'd say that Soulblades are possibly one of the best [B]Support[B] Charecters if nothing else. But hell, no one ever survives in a dungeon by exploring it alone, do they?
Jaid 01-02-08, 09:43 PM	actually, while your mind blade can look like whatever you want, the stats are always the same as what it says in the class description. so sure, you can make it look like a mace. heck, for all i care you can make it look like an M16 with a bayonet on it, or a lightsaber, or a handheld nuclear warhead, or a baseball bat, or a chainsaw. but no matter what it looks like, it is mechanically identical to what it says in the class description (barring the use of feats/etc that allow you to change the mechanics explicitly).
jbsaff 01-03-08, 11:49 AM	In addition to Untapped Potential, Dreamscarred Press has a great supplement specifically for Soulknives: High Psionics: 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). I can tell you that this book is absolutely awesome. You want options? We've got options. Alternative mind blade forms, feats for additional attacks and full BAB Two-Weapon Fighting. Variant base classes (one of which is full BAB and grants Power Attack and Cleave). And these alternates are based on the XPH soulknife. You can, however combine the Variants in HP:Soulknives with the Variant in Untapped Potential to get a slightly more powerful Soulknife. Also, HP:Soulknives introduces the concept of a feat descriptor [Kensai], adding +1 to your effective Soulknife level, stacking with other [Kensai] feats to a maximum of your character level. This helps take address the mutli-classing issue. One final option I will mention is the concept of mind-armor. HP:Soulknives has a variant base class around the idea of defense instead of offense, as well as feats that grant a similar (though slightly weaker) ability. Consider a VoP Soulknife that doesn't have to pay for a primary weapon or armor. Both of which can't be dispelled by a Null Psionics Field. It's all there with High Psionics: Soulknives. Just as an example of what is possible combining all of this material, we've got a guy at our table playing a Xeph Dual Blade variant (basically a TWF specialist). He's using mind gauntlets that will be given an enhancement to allow him to flurry as a monk of his soulknife level. At level 20, with all of the feats from UTP and HP:Soulknives and the abilities of his class, he will be able to full-attack for 7 attacks (at +15/+15/+15/+15/+10/+10/+5), or 8 attacks (at +13/+13/+13/+13/+13/+8/+8/+3). This is with full (and unique) enhancement bonus to both mindblades. We've got another person who can Dimension Swap already, so we are really looking forward to some great martial combat. In short, if you are at all interested in the Soulknife class, I highly recommend that you check out these products.