Homebrew Feat: Soul Blade [Archive] - Wizards Community

Homebrew Feat: Soul Blade [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
demi d20
10-18-05, 09:59 PM This is meant to work/be along the lines of Item Familiar from UA.

Soul Blade (General)
Through intense self-study, you become able to create a blade formed from your own soul-stuff.
Prerequisites: Con 13+, Wis 13+, Base Attack Bonus +8, Base Will save +8, Autohypnosis 11 Ranks, Concentration 13 Ranks, Knowledge (Arcana OR Psionics) 13 Ranks, Able to cast 3rd level arcane spells OR manifest 3rd level powers OR Wild Talent feat.
Special: When taking this feat, you immediately sacrifice 500XP. You also permanently lose 5hp and 1 point of Constitution, as you shape your own lifeforce into an external representation.

A Soul Blade can be created 1/day for every 5 Hit Dice you possess, and lasts a number of rounds equal to 2 times your Constitution modifier.

You can create a Soul Blade, a raw extension of your own life force.
A Soul Blade is a Supernatural ability requiring a move action to create or dismiss, appearing in your hand when created. A Soul Blade cannot exist in an area of Anti-magic or Dead Magic. It can be destroyed, having Hardness 10 and 10 Hit Points, though it can be recreated with another move action. However, any time it is destroyed in this manner you lose Hit Points equal to the combined hardness and hitpoints of your blade, as part of your soul is fragmented until you can be healed.

A Soul Blade can be created as any light weapon that the wielder is proficient with. It appears as a field of energy (of any color) shaped like that weapon, and is treated as that weapon for damage, crit range, etc. It is treated as a normal weapon for all feats, spells & abilities. The moment he relinquishes his grip on his blade, it dissipates (unless he intends to throw it; see below). A Soul Blade is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Infusing: Soul Blades may be infused with enhancement bonuses. To do so, you must meditate for 24 hours, and invest some of your life force into it. To gain a +1 weapon, you pay 250XP immediately after meditating. To gain higher bonuses, meditate as before, and pay experience points equal to (bonus squared x prior enhancement bonus x 250). The Soul Blade is now treated as having an enhancement one higher than before. For example, Bob has a +2 Soul Blade, and wants to make it a +3. He meditates for 24 hours, and pays (3x3x2x250=4500) 4500 experience and has a +3 Soul Blade. You may not pay so much experience that you lose a level, and the maximum enhancement allowed is equal to 1/4 your hit dice. Each time you upgrade your Blade, it gains +2 Hardness and +2 Hit Points.

You may use the same process to grant weapon enhancements (like Keen) to your Soul Blade. Meditation and experience costs are the same. However, each (+) is treated as a floating weapon property. You may have any weapon property you choose, so long as the market price modifiers do not exceed your number of pluses you have paid for. Changing properties requires 8 hours of rest and 15 minutes of meditation. You may not pay so much experience that you lose a level, and the maximum # of enhancements allowed is equal to 1/4 your hit dice.

If you have at least a Soul Blade +2, you may throw it as a normal attack, and it does not dissipate until striking (or missing) your target. You may recreate it with a move action, as normal. You may only throw it once per round.

If you have at least a Soul Blade +3, you may create it as a free action, though you may still only throw it once per round.

If you have a Soul Blade with at least +2 weapon enhancements, you may change your Soul Blade to any weapon you are proficient in, up to one size larger than your own. So a medium size person could create a quarterstaff (which is large for him). Switching weapon sizes is a fullround action.
Lord Schpungus
10-18-05, 11:17 PM Nah. Mind Blade is a class ability. You don't see feats that give Slow Fall, Sneak Attack, Wild Shape, and Spellcasting, do you? Then this shouldn't be a feat, either.
bartleby42
10-19-05, 01:11 AM Sorry, but not only is Mind blade a unique ability availble to one class (that is only appealing because it is the one thing it gets that other classes don't) but I don't understand how you could take it.

Your level up, you take the feat, you lose XP, you level down, you lose the feat. Or you activate the mind blade, then meditiate to give it say +5, lose XP, lose your level, lose the feat and still be holding a it in your hand. It just hurts my head.
wolfie-kun
10-19-05, 09:45 PM i wish i knew you had posted the feat here too. You'll find a post from me in the original thread you started under the Feats sub-forum that looks almost exactly like this one.

Okay, first thing: i wouldn't allow this in my game without a number of other feats that looked like it, at which point there is a lot of work on your part to make it "balanced" through at least making it common in that campaign.

Number II: This feat would work very well as an Incarnum feat that requires an investment of essentia. One feat that lets you create the blade as a short sword and give it an enhancement bonus equal to the invested essentia, and another that lets you throw it with a range of either 5ft or 10ft per point of invested essentia. Each one would be separate, but the feat would fit much better flavor-wise in this form. As far as getting other magic abilities go, that much at least should be left to the Soulknife alone, so they can feel special about more than just Psychic Strike, Bladewind and Multiple Throw.

If you don't have Magic of Incarnum, i suggust you get it ASAP, assuming you are able to. It has three beautifully crafted core classes, a number of cool prestige classes, and is overall, IMHO, worth more than i bought it for.
Koga:The ninja trick
10-20-05, 07:38 PM Some people might like this idea, if they think psionics don't fit a fantasy setting.. (Which is bull..) But that is terribly costly and complicated for such a minor ability. Here's something The Koga would do instead, and trust The Koga, he's far from being nice to his players..

Soulblade: [General]
Prequisites: Cha 13 or higher. (You're drawing energy from the self.)
Special: At will, you can harness your chi into a semi-real shortsword. You can do this as a free action, but must do it while your hand is unequipped. The manifestor can choose to "throw" his soulblade with a range increatment of 30ft. You can use the soulblade in conjuction with Weapon Specilization and other such things to buff a specific weapon. You could suggestively form a soulblade in your off-hand as well, but both hands must be uneqipped inorder to do so.. This is treated as a supernatural ability.
The Fighter can take this feat as one of his bonus feats.

Reshape Soulblade: [Genera]
Prequisites: Cha 13 or higher, Soulblade.
Special: As a free action, you can change the form of your soulblade into an ectoplasmic bastard-sword. The manifestor must wield this as a two-handed weapon unless he has the Exotic Weapons Profficentcy feat. This is treated as a supernatural ability.
The Fighter can take this feat as one of his bonus feats.

Multiple Throw: [General]
Prequisites: Cha 14 or higher, Soulblade.
Special: You can throw a number of mind blades per round equal to the number of melee attacks he could make. This is treated as a supernatural ability.
The Fighter can take this feat as one of his bonus feats.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
demi d20 10-18-05, 09:59 PM	This is meant to work/be along the lines of Item Familiar from UA. Soul Blade (General) Through intense self-study, you become able to create a blade formed from your own soul-stuff. Prerequisites: Con 13+, Wis 13+, Base Attack Bonus +8, Base Will save +8, Autohypnosis 11 Ranks, Concentration 13 Ranks, Knowledge (Arcana OR Psionics) 13 Ranks, Able to cast 3rd level arcane spells OR manifest 3rd level powers OR Wild Talent feat. Special: When taking this feat, you immediately sacrifice 500XP. You also permanently lose 5hp and 1 point of Constitution, as you shape your own lifeforce into an external representation. A Soul Blade can be created 1/day for every 5 Hit Dice you possess, and lasts a number of rounds equal to 2 times your Constitution modifier. You can create a Soul Blade, a raw extension of your own life force. A Soul Blade is a Supernatural ability requiring a move action to create or dismiss, appearing in your hand when created. A Soul Blade cannot exist in an area of Anti-magic or Dead Magic. It can be destroyed, having Hardness 10 and 10 Hit Points, though it can be recreated with another move action. However, any time it is destroyed in this manner you lose Hit Points equal to the combined hardness and hitpoints of your blade, as part of your soul is fragmented until you can be healed. A Soul Blade can be created as any light weapon that the wielder is proficient with. It appears as a field of energy (of any color) shaped like that weapon, and is treated as that weapon for damage, crit range, etc. It is treated as a normal weapon for all feats, spells & abilities. The moment he relinquishes his grip on his blade, it dissipates (unless he intends to throw it; see below). A Soul Blade is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. Infusing: Soul Blades may be infused with enhancement bonuses. To do so, you must meditate for 24 hours, and invest some of your life force into it. To gain a +1 weapon, you pay 250XP immediately after meditating. To gain higher bonuses, meditate as before, and pay experience points equal to (bonus squared x prior enhancement bonus x 250). The Soul Blade is now treated as having an enhancement one higher than before. For example, Bob has a +2 Soul Blade, and wants to make it a +3. He meditates for 24 hours, and pays (3x3x2x250=4500) 4500 experience and has a +3 Soul Blade. You may not pay so much experience that you lose a level, and the maximum enhancement allowed is equal to 1/4 your hit dice. Each time you upgrade your Blade, it gains +2 Hardness and +2 Hit Points. You may use the same process to grant weapon enhancements (like Keen) to your Soul Blade. Meditation and experience costs are the same. However, each (+) is treated as a floating weapon property. You may have any weapon property you choose, so long as the market price modifiers do not exceed your number of pluses you have paid for. Changing properties requires 8 hours of rest and 15 minutes of meditation. You may not pay so much experience that you lose a level, and the maximum # of enhancements allowed is equal to 1/4 your hit dice. If you have at least a Soul Blade +2, you may throw it as a normal attack, and it does not dissipate until striking (or missing) your target. You may recreate it with a move action, as normal. You may only throw it once per round. If you have at least a Soul Blade +3, you may create it as a free action, though you may still only throw it once per round. If you have a Soul Blade with at least +2 weapon enhancements, you may change your Soul Blade to any weapon you are proficient in, up to one size larger than your own. So a medium size person could create a quarterstaff (which is large for him). Switching weapon sizes is a fullround action.
Lord Schpungus 10-18-05, 11:17 PM	Nah. Mind Blade is a class ability. You don't see feats that give Slow Fall, Sneak Attack, Wild Shape, and Spellcasting, do you? Then this shouldn't be a feat, either.
bartleby42 10-19-05, 01:11 AM	Sorry, but not only is Mind blade a unique ability availble to one class (that is only appealing because it is the one thing it gets that other classes don't) but I don't understand how you could take it. Your level up, you take the feat, you lose XP, you level down, you lose the feat. Or you activate the mind blade, then meditiate to give it say +5, lose XP, lose your level, lose the feat and still be holding a it in your hand. It just hurts my head.
wolfie-kun 10-19-05, 09:45 PM	i wish i knew you had posted the feat here too. You'll find a post from me in the original thread you started under the Feats sub-forum that looks almost exactly like this one. Okay, first thing: i wouldn't allow this in my game without a number of other feats that looked like it, at which point there is a lot of work on your part to make it "balanced" through at least making it common in that campaign. Number II: This feat would work very well as an Incarnum feat that requires an investment of essentia. One feat that lets you create the blade as a short sword and give it an enhancement bonus equal to the invested essentia, and another that lets you throw it with a range of either 5ft or 10ft per point of invested essentia. Each one would be separate, but the feat would fit much better flavor-wise in this form. As far as getting other magic abilities go, that much at least should be left to the Soulknife alone, so they can feel special about more than just Psychic Strike, Bladewind and Multiple Throw. If you don't have Magic of Incarnum, i suggust you get it ASAP, assuming you are able to. It has three beautifully crafted core classes, a number of cool prestige classes, and is overall, IMHO, worth more than i bought it for.
Koga:The ninja trick 10-20-05, 07:38 PM	Some people might like this idea, if they think psionics don't fit a fantasy setting.. (Which is bull..) But that is terribly costly and complicated for such a minor ability. Here's something The Koga would do instead, and trust The Koga, he's far from being nice to his players.. Soulblade: [General] Prequisites: Cha 13 or higher. (You're drawing energy from the self.) Special: At will, you can harness your chi into a semi-real shortsword. You can do this as a free action, but must do it while your hand is unequipped. The manifestor can choose to "throw" his soulblade with a range increatment of 30ft. You can use the soulblade in conjuction with Weapon Specilization and other such things to buff a specific weapon. You could suggestively form a soulblade in your off-hand as well, but both hands must be uneqipped inorder to do so.. This is treated as a supernatural ability. The Fighter can take this feat as one of his bonus feats. Reshape Soulblade: [Genera] Prequisites: Cha 13 or higher, Soulblade. Special: As a free action, you can change the form of your soulblade into an ectoplasmic bastard-sword. The manifestor must wield this as a two-handed weapon unless he has the Exotic Weapons Profficentcy feat. This is treated as a supernatural ability. The Fighter can take this feat as one of his bonus feats. Multiple Throw: [General] Prequisites: Cha 14 or higher, Soulblade. Special: You can throw a number of mind blades per round equal to the number of melee attacks he could make. This is treated as a supernatural ability. The Fighter can take this feat as one of his bonus feats.