Psychic Strike: Couple of Quick Questions [Archive] - Wizards Community

Psychic Strike: Couple of Quick Questions [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Uchiha_Arthas
03-08-07, 09:40 AM Like the title states I just have a few questions about the Psychic Strike ability. Quite simply there are a few parts of it that I am tempted to request a House Rule on from my DM (and considering that this is close to the first time my DM & Group including me are using Psionic Chars, I'll probably get the lee-way but I dont want to take advantage either.)

From SRD:
Psychic Strike (Su): As a move action, a soulknife of 3rd level or higher can imbue his mind blade with destructive psychic energy. This effect deals an extra 1d8 points of damage to the next living, nonmindless target he successfully hits with a melee attack (or ranged attack, if he is using the throw mind blade ability). Creatures immune to mind-affecting effects are immune to psychic strike damage. (Unlike the rogue’s sneak attack, the psychic strike is not precision damage and can affect creatures otherwise immune to extra damage from critical hits or more than 30 feet away, provided they are living, nonmindless creatures not immune to mind-affecting effects.)
A mind blade deals this extra damage only once when this ability is called upon, but a soulknife can imbue his mind blade with psychic energy again by taking another move action.
Once a soulknife has prepared his blade for a psychic strike, it holds the extra energy until it is used. Even if the soulknife drops the mind blade (or it otherwise dissipates, such as when it is thrown and misses), it is still imbued with psychic energy when the soulknife next materializes it.

1) First I have a question about the "Living" (BOLDED) Part: How unbalancing would it be to make it affect Intelligent Undead as well?

Quite simply it seems to be unnecessary gimping against intelligent undead and also goes against the overall flavor of the class i.e being able to attack all creatures with a mind. I can understand Skeletons, Zombies etc but Intelligent undead should be targetable. I'll be pleading with my DM to HouseRule it but first are they any game balance issues I should be aware of?

2.) Second question is about the "Next" (ITALIC) Part: How unbalancing would it be to be able to hold the Psychic Strike until you desire to use it?

Basically the Soul Knife should have some control or choice when they wish to unlease psychic strike. I.E: Be able to save it for when he wants to use it and not have it go off on that stupid goblin that just got it in the way.
DrMorganes
03-08-07, 10:06 AM 1: If you alter EVERY mind-affecting spell/power/effect in the game to work vs intelligent undead, fine. Otherwise you're changing the balance of power in the game toward psionics in general and soul knives in specific. Hamstrings one of the major "advantages" of being undead, too...

2: Compare this with "holding the charge" for touch-range spells like Shocking Grasp. Such spells allow you to maintain the spell if you miss the touch attack, but your only way to choose when the spell goes off is to attack or not to attack. Allowing a soul knife to charge his weapon, then decide when it goes off is a bit too much in my opinion.
Tempest Stormwind
03-08-07, 10:19 AM 1) First I have a question about the "Living" (BOLDED) Part: How unbalancing would it be to make it affect Intelligent Undead as well?

Quite simply it seems to be unnecessary gimping against intelligent undead and also goes against the overall flavor of the class i.e being able to attack all creatures with a mind. I can understand Skeletons, Zombies etc but Intelligent undead should be targetable. I'll be pleading with my DM to HouseRule it but first are they any game balance issues I should be aware of? It doesn't just affect the mind; it's affecting the brain. That's what "living nonmindless" refers to.

If you want to houserule it, fine, but be aware that this should probably be a sweeping change if you switch it. The reason it seems unfair to a soulknife is because, in all likelyhood, you're playing one now. What if you were playing a telepath instead? Would you argue that you should be able to dominate a vampire?2.) Second question is about the "Next" (ITALIC) Part: How unbalancing would it be to be able to hold the Psychic Strike until you desire to use it?

Basically the Soul Knife should have some control or choice when they wish to unlease psychic strike. I.E: Be able to save it for when he wants to use it and not have it go off on that stupid goblin that just got it in the way.It's like a touch spell. You control when it goes off by charging it, not by touching and saying "boom". If you REALLY want more control, the Mind Cleave feat in Complete Psionic (one of the few interesting feats in that book) will let you instantly recharge a psychic strike if you kill something with it. There's also the Blade of the Champion mantra in Untapped Potential if you have access to it, which is probably the single best feat out there for psychic-strike specialists (though I'm no doubt biased as I helped develop it).
SlanderPanic
03-08-07, 10:59 AM If you're really hot on psychic-striking undead, take a peek at the Illumine Soul prestige class from Complete Psionic. The premise is that, by creating a psionic connection to the Positive Energy Plane, you get some nifty abilities geared toward hunting undead. It's very nice for undead-heavy campaigns.
Uchiha_Arthas
03-09-07, 12:34 AM First off thanks to everyone who replied, I guess I wasnt thinking, I honestly did not make the connection between touch spells and P.Strike, not to mention charm spells...

As far as undead hunting goes...Well the char I am designing is Lawful Evil so thats one problem (but my DM hates most Aligment restrictions so I could get around that) the other problem is that I am using BlaineTog's modified soulknife and considering the mess I just made above I dont want to try to rebalance Illumnine Soul to match Tog's masterpiece.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Uchiha_Arthas 03-08-07, 09:40 AM	Like the title states I just have a few questions about the Psychic Strike ability. Quite simply there are a few parts of it that I am tempted to request a House Rule on from my DM (and considering that this is close to the first time my DM & Group including me are using Psionic Chars, I'll probably get the lee-way but I dont want to take advantage either.) From SRD: Psychic Strike (Su): As a move action, a soulknife of 3rd level or higher can imbue his mind blade with destructive psychic energy. This effect deals an extra 1d8 points of damage to the next living, nonmindless target he successfully hits with a melee attack (or ranged attack, if he is using the throw mind blade ability). Creatures immune to mind-affecting effects are immune to psychic strike damage. (Unlike the rogue’s sneak attack, the psychic strike is not precision damage and can affect creatures otherwise immune to extra damage from critical hits or more than 30 feet away, provided they are living, nonmindless creatures not immune to mind-affecting effects.) A mind blade deals this extra damage only once when this ability is called upon, but a soulknife can imbue his mind blade with psychic energy again by taking another move action. Once a soulknife has prepared his blade for a psychic strike, it holds the extra energy until it is used. Even if the soulknife drops the mind blade (or it otherwise dissipates, such as when it is thrown and misses), it is still imbued with psychic energy when the soulknife next materializes it. 1) First I have a question about the "Living" (BOLDED) Part: How unbalancing would it be to make it affect Intelligent Undead as well? Quite simply it seems to be unnecessary gimping against intelligent undead and also goes against the overall flavor of the class i.e being able to attack all creatures with a mind. I can understand Skeletons, Zombies etc but Intelligent undead should be targetable. I'll be pleading with my DM to HouseRule it but first are they any game balance issues I should be aware of? 2.) Second question is about the "Next" (ITALIC) Part: How unbalancing would it be to be able to hold the Psychic Strike until you desire to use it? Basically the Soul Knife should have some control or choice when they wish to unlease psychic strike. I.E: Be able to save it for when he wants to use it and not have it go off on that stupid goblin that just got it in the way.
DrMorganes 03-08-07, 10:06 AM	1: If you alter EVERY mind-affecting spell/power/effect in the game to work vs intelligent undead, fine. Otherwise you're changing the balance of power in the game toward psionics in general and soul knives in specific. Hamstrings one of the major "advantages" of being undead, too... 2: Compare this with "holding the charge" for touch-range spells like Shocking Grasp. Such spells allow you to maintain the spell if you miss the touch attack, but your only way to choose when the spell goes off is to attack or not to attack. Allowing a soul knife to charge his weapon, then decide when it goes off is a bit too much in my opinion.
Tempest Stormwind 03-08-07, 10:19 AM	1) First I have a question about the "Living" (BOLDED) Part: How unbalancing would it be to make it affect Intelligent Undead as well? Quite simply it seems to be unnecessary gimping against intelligent undead and also goes against the overall flavor of the class i.e being able to attack all creatures with a mind. I can understand Skeletons, Zombies etc but Intelligent undead should be targetable. I'll be pleading with my DM to HouseRule it but first are they any game balance issues I should be aware of? It doesn't just affect the mind; it's affecting the brain. That's what "living nonmindless" refers to. If you want to houserule it, fine, but be aware that this should probably be a sweeping change if you switch it. The reason it seems unfair to a soulknife is because, in all likelyhood, you're playing one now. What if you were playing a telepath instead? Would you argue that you should be able to dominate a vampire?2.) Second question is about the "Next" (ITALIC) Part: How unbalancing would it be to be able to hold the Psychic Strike until you desire to use it? Basically the Soul Knife should have some control or choice when they wish to unlease psychic strike. I.E: Be able to save it for when he wants to use it and not have it go off on that stupid goblin that just got it in the way.It's like a touch spell. You control when it goes off by charging it, not by touching and saying "boom". If you REALLY want more control, the Mind Cleave feat in Complete Psionic (one of the few interesting feats in that book) will let you instantly recharge a psychic strike if you kill something with it. There's also the Blade of the Champion mantra in Untapped Potential if you have access to it, which is probably the single best feat out there for psychic-strike specialists (though I'm no doubt biased as I helped develop it).
SlanderPanic 03-08-07, 10:59 AM	If you're really hot on psychic-striking undead, take a peek at the Illumine Soul prestige class from Complete Psionic. The premise is that, by creating a psionic connection to the Positive Energy Plane, you get some nifty abilities geared toward hunting undead. It's very nice for undead-heavy campaigns.
Uchiha_Arthas 03-09-07, 12:34 AM	First off thanks to everyone who replied, I guess I wasnt thinking, I honestly did not make the connection between touch spells and P.Strike, not to mention charm spells... As far as undead hunting goes...Well the char I am designing is Lawful Evil so thats one problem (but my DM hates most Aligment restrictions so I could get around that) the other problem is that I am using BlaineTog's modified soulknife and considering the mess I just made above I dont want to try to rebalance Illumnine Soul to match Tog's masterpiece.