Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 cowleymen Oct 25, 2014 13:42:14	So ive always been a fan of soul knives, and i think that the monk class is a great way to do bring it back with out making a whole new class. The main feature of the subclass, Ki blade, based of Danny_Montanny's homebrew cantrip    Way of the Soul Knife A soulknife recognizes his own mind as the most beautiful—and the most deadly—thing in all creation. With this understanding and through extended practice, a soulknife learns to forge his mental strength into a powerful force capable of  reshaping your body with various disciplines   At third level you gains the Soul Blade and Blade Furry disciplines, and one other of your choice. You gain one additional discipline at 6th, 11th, and 17th level. You must meet all listed prequistits to learn a new discipline. Additionally, when ever you gain a new discipline, at levels where you learn new disciplines, you may retrain a discipline you already know for another     Soul Disciplines   Soul Blade-You manifest your ki and shape it into a weapon made of pure magical force. So long as you have at lest 1 ki point available, as a bonus action, you can create one simple or martial melee weapon (chosen at the time you gain this ability) in a free hand. You are proficient with your Soul Blade, and it counts as a monk weapon for you. The weapon is considered magical when determining damage resistance, does force damage, and uses your Martial Arts die to determine that damage. Any weapon that has the versatile or two-handed property does one higher damage die when used two-handed. The weapon will remain active until you dismiss it as a bonus action, or it leaves your grasp.   Throw Blade: You throw your Soul Blade at a creature, using your ki to guide and sustain it, then return it to your grasp. As an action, you can spend 2 ki points and choose a creature within 30 feet of you. The creature must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 3d10 force damage, plus an additional 1d10 force damage for each additional ki point you spend. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage. If you posses two Soul Blades, you may only throw one Blade with this Discipline. You may still activate Flurry of Blows after this action, following the rules for it as if you had made an attack with a monk weapon   Keen edge: Soul Knifes with this discipline may reroll any damage die made with their Soul Blade that results in a 1, but must use the second result.     Defensive Soul (6th level Required) By saturating your clothes with ki, you turn even the softest of fabric into durable armor. You may spend 1 ki point to to gain a +1 bonus to your AC that last until your next short or long rest and you regain all your ki points. At 11th level, you may spend 2 ki points to gain a +2 to Ac, and at 17th level, you may spend up to 3 ki points to gain +3 to AC. You may still benefit from Monk abilities that require you to be unarmored.    Shattered Soul (11th Level Required) You shatter your activated Soul Blade and create thousands of tiny, razor-sharp blades whirling around you, they then reform back into your blade once more. As an action, you can spend 4 ki points and each creature in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on you must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, each target takes 2d10 slashing damage, plus an extra 1d10 slashing damage for each additional ki point you spend. On a successful save, each target takes half as much damage. Choose a number of creatures in the sphere equal to your Wisdom modifier, plus one extra creature for each ki point you spend. The chosen creatures automatically succeed on their saving throws, and they take no damage if they would normally take half damage on a successful save.
#2 Danny_Montanny Oct 25, 2014 14:49:45	Could we call it Way of the Soul Blade? Change Ki Blade to Soul Blade? Maybe have the damage start at 1d6 (1d8) to be more balance with the other monk weapons, or is the 1 ki point investment enough to give it the damage bump? I was thinking of modeling it after the Way of Four Elements. So at Level 3 you would learn Soul Blade and one other soul discipline. You'd learn another at 6th, 11th, and 17th level. I like the ki charge mechanic for the Soul Blade and would use it for a lot of the disciplines. Either to charge yourself with minor buffs, or to invest more ki in your blade to make it stronger.   Ideas for some disciplines. Lightly Armored Martial Artist: No requirements. You gain proficiency in light armor. As an action, spend 1 ki point to retain your Martial Arts ability while wearing light armor, this effect lasts until you rest and draw all of your expended ki back into yourself. Moderately Armored Martial Artist: Requires Lightly Armored Martial Artist discipline. You gain proficiency in medium armor. As an action, spend 2 ki points to retain your Martial Arts ability while wearing medium armor, this effect lasts until you rest and draw all of your expended ki back into yourself. Hevily Armored Martial Artist: Requires Moderately Armored Martial Artist discipline. You gain proficiency in heavy armor. As an action, spend 3 ki points to retain your Martial Arts ability while wearing heavy armor, this effect lasts until you rest and draw all of your expended ki back into yourself.   Would you need to stack the requirements up like that, or is the ki investment enough to just be able to pick the one you want?
#3 cowleymen Oct 25, 2014 15:49:44	I like them. I would consider stopping at medium armor though. I dont like the idea of a Monk running around in full plate all day.I was looking at the Monk, and they get a lot of ki points per day. And they regain ki points in every short rest, so as Soul Blade is writen, you would have to spend actions to recharge all your abilities and keep them working.  Re writing them as day long spending, so that instead of having to make sure you say "I'm charging soul knife/armor mastery" you just spend the points, and cant regain those points untill end of long rest. So if you do choose to become moderately armored, your just donw 2 ki points for 24 hours.     Going off of Elemental way, but with buffs, what about a 17th level Hastened Body, cast haste on yourself, maintain it for one minute. Cost 6 points. would also use same chart that limits you from up casting abilites by limiting how many ki points you can spend at once.
#4 Timmee Oct 25, 2014 16:22:24	Neat. I agree with the damage being 1d6/1d8, but I think there does need to be some incintive to have such an ability. Like spending two ki points will raise the die to 1d8/1d10. Though I guess the real incentive would come through the disciplines. The above are cool and I'd like to see something like: the weapon can be ranged, you can make two blades for an additional ki point, etc.   Like it.
#5 cowleymen Oct 25, 2014 16:45:20	Timmee wrote:
#6 Gruff_Ironfist Oct 25, 2014 16:56:05	So you're trying to make a Jedi, using a new monk sub-class. Sounds good to me. But I wouldn't use features from other classes, lest you steal their "thunder." I.E., criticals and maneuvers is fighter's domain.   I do think the blade should do damage following the Martial Arts progression in monk table to maintain balance.   You could make a deflect force/lightning, not unlike deflect missiles. Use your reaction to deflect force or lightning effects/spells (like eldrtich blast, magic missile and lightning bolt), reducing incoming damage. If you reduce the damage to 0, spend 1 ki point to reflect the attack back at the attacker.   Maybe the ability to attempt a parry, but only parry against other ki blades and force/elemental weapon spells (like flame blade spell, spiritual weapon spell, mordenkainen's sword spell, and possibly brilliant energy weapons if they exist in 5e), kind of like Defensive Duelist feat.     Perhaps the ability to damage/pierce force barriers or spells (like walls of force or forcecage spells). Maybe not as powerful as disintegrate, but at least you can damage the wall with the ki blade whereas no other weapons can. Perhaps stabbing the ki blade into the wall for 2 consecutive rounds does it (ala lightsaber melting blast doors).   Perhaps it can ignore a creature's resistance to damage (such as natural resistance, bear totem barbarian resistance, or via Stoneskin spell) for one attack by spending 1 ki point.   The "force throw" of the ki blade is a fine idea too. I'd find some reasonable limitation, like it only once per turn.   It can emit light like devotion Paladin's sacred weapon, if you'd like.   Just some thoughts.
#7 cowleymen Oct 25, 2014 18:38:19	Gruff_Ironfist wrote:
#8 Danny_Montanny Oct 25, 2014 22:19:36	Throw Blade: You throw your Soul Blade at a creature, using your ki to guide and sustain it, then return it to your grasp. As an action, you can spend 2 ki points and choose a creature within 30 feet of you. The creature must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, the creature takes 3d10 force damage, plus an additional 1d10 force damage for each additional ki point you spend. On a successful save, the creature takes half as much damage.   For casting spells, keep with the same requirements. 2 ki points for 1st-level spells, 3 ki points for 2nd-level, 4 for 3rd, and so on. Also, level requirements are none for 1st, 6 for 2nd, 11 for 3rd and possibly some 4th, and 17 for most 4th and possibly some 5th. Take out where it says Elemental Discipline.   Any effect that you spend ki to charge should end if you rest and regain that ki. Weather it's a short or long rest. It doesn't make sense to charge your blade, but take a short rest and not have that ki return to you. When you draw your ki back into yourself, you draw it all back in. Let's say you're 3rd level and the first thing you do after a long rest is spend 2 ki points for Soul Blade and Lightly Armored Martial Artist. Later you take a short rest. By RAW you would get that expended ki back, but the effects would still be going. This wouldn't be the intention. Using these abilities has a cost, that cost is having fewer ki points at your disposal at all times.
#9 Danny_Montanny Oct 25, 2014 22:46:13	I definitely think it needs to be versatile and should follow the Martial Arts damage table, but with one higher damage die when used two-handed. Yeah that would start it at 1d4 (1d6), but it is a magical weapon and it'll only get stronger. This will also limit the multiclass dips to get it. With that in mind...   Dual Blade: You charge and activate two Soul Blades as if they were one. Your Soul Blades are now light melee weapons that do your Martial Arts damage die force damage. Also, as an action, you can spend 1 ki point to add your ability modifier to the damage of the bonus action attack when you engage in two-weapon fighting. This effect lasts until you rest and draw all of your expended ki back into yourself.   Also, Unarmored Movement needs to be added as an ability retained with the Armored Martial Artist disciplines.
#10 Yunru Oct 26, 2014 4:47:37	All Monks get Stunning Strike at level 5 which requires Unarmed Strike to work. Ignore or work with that as you will. Ki is restored on any rest not just long rests. Also the EleMonk has horrible Ki-Spell ratios. Simply horrible. Be warned if you're basing your ratios on that.
#11 Elfcrusher Oct 26, 2014 8:01:54	How about just "Deflect Magic", and it can be used against any spell that requires an attack roll?  (And/or has a visible effect in the spell description.)
#12 cowleymen Oct 26, 2014 9:00:16	Concerning the ki points for armored and soul blade- The idea I had was that after you spent those points, you couldnt get them back untill a long rest, so a level 20 Soul Knife who had charged their blade and moderately armored, will effectively have 17 points for next 24 hours   Im not a huge math guy, Yunru, are the ele-monk cost just to high for the spells they are casting? and do you have any advice on how to balance the two spells i currently have, haste and stoneskin? Sorry will update features soon, and edit duel blade to not require the feat
#13 cowleymen Oct 26, 2014 12:30:45	stunning strike works off of any melee weapon attack, which soul blade falls under, so can still be used, and i think i will make an admedment to it as well to make it a magical weapon as well. EK and bladelock get the same with their bonded weapons
(Reply to #12) Danny_Montanny	cowleymen wrote:
#15 Danny_Montanny Oct 27, 2014 6:16:15	How about this mechanic? Ki Investment After meditating to regain your expended ki, you can chose not to regain 1 (or more) ki point(s). You instead invest that ki into utilizing Soul Disciplines that include Ki Investment.   Soul Blade re-write, including versatile and Martial Arts dice. Soul Blade You can use Ki Investment to invest 1 ki point to charge a specially constructed rod (one that includes a gemstone worth at least 50 gp) that you have been holding the whole of your meditation. Once charged this way, while holding the rod, you can use a bonus action to activate the charged ki and cause a blade of pure magical force to spring from the rod's end. Once activated, the Soul Blade is a versatile melee weapon that you are proficient in and is added to your list if monk weapons. It uses your Martial Arts die to determine its damage, all damage is force damage, and it does one higher dice of damage when used two-handed. So a 3rd-level Monk's Soul Blade will do 1d4 (1d6) force damage, and it will do up to 1d10 (1d12) force damage at the highest Monk levels. The blade sheds dim light in a 20-foot radius, it will remain activated until you deactivate it by using a bonus action, or until the rod leaves your grasp.   You should also get the Blade Flurry discipline at 3rd level.  Blade Flurry You can spend 1 ki point to make an attack with your Soul Blade as a bonus action.
(Reply to #12) Yunru	cowleymen wrote:
#17 cowleymen Oct 27, 2014 7:03:37	Made the changes, Ki resets with short and long. Most DM's should realize that if you have this disciplines, it would be your standard operating procedure to always keep them charged.   Updated Duel Blade to not require two weapon fighting feat, throw blade can only throw one blade, wanted to make sure  people dont go to crazy with it.   Was thinking about the armor disciplines, what if you made it like mage armor that worked with your unarmored defense? ac is equal to 13+dex+wis, level requirement 6. It could help monks with low WIS any ways, but is good if you raise both. would that be to powerful? Then it could be called Soul Shell, or Soul Armor, something like that. seems like it fits theme better.    Soul Armor- requires level 6. You spend 2 ki points to activate, grants an armor class of 13+Dex mod + Wis mod? Resets with short and long rest when you regain your ki points.   Keen Blades- IF you know this discipline, you may reroll any Soul Blade damage die that come up as 1's or 2's, must take second results.
#18 Danny_Montanny Oct 27, 2014 7:28:13	Don't like the Ki Investment feature?   Armored Soul You gain proficiency in light and medium armor. You can use your Ki Investment feature to invest 1 ki point to retain your Martial Arts and Unarmored Movement features while wearing light armor. Alternatively, you can invest 2 ki points to retain your features while wearing medium armor.   Defensive Soul You can use your Ki Investment feature to invest 1 ki point to to gain a +1 bonus to your AC. You can invest a maximum of 3 ki points this way, gaining the + 1 bonus for each ki point you invest.
#19 Yunru Oct 27, 2014 7:30:22	Investment is too complicated. Sticking to "spending" and having it last until next rest reduces unnecissary complexity and clutter.
#20 cowleymen Oct 27, 2014 7:38:16	thats what i realized. I wanted to have it at first to try and keep from having a dm being a stickler and saying, A"You didnt say it, it doesnt happen."    And i like those two versions. if you are raising wisdom, defensive soul will help you more, if you want to only need Dex, or are multiclassing, Armored soul lets you keep your benefits.     I think we are good on defense with those two. So now i think we need some kick ass 11th and 17th attacks. Maybe an extra attack, vampiric drain. Anything else?
#21 Danny_Montanny Oct 27, 2014 7:50:52	Instead of saying the effect lasts until after you take a "short or long rest", say "rest in which you meditate to draw all of your expended ki back into yourself." Yeah, it's a bit more wordy, but it covers all bases.
#22 cowleymen Oct 27, 2014 7:54:49	kewl, will edit those soonish, getting off computer soon and dont want to edit on mobile
#23 Danny_Montanny Oct 27, 2014 14:01:29	Shattered Soul (11th Level Required) You shatter your activated Soul Blade and create thousands of tiny, razor-sharp blades whirling around you, they then reform back into your blade once more. As an action, you can spend 4 ki points and each creature in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on you must make a Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, each target takes 2d10 slashing damage, plus an extra 1d10 slashing damage for each additional ki point you spend. On a successful save, each target takes half as much damage. Choose a number of creatures in the sphere equal to your Wisdom modifier, plus one extra creature for each ki point you spend. The chosen creatures automatically succeed on their saving throws, and they take no damage if they would normally take half damage on a successful save.
#24 cowleymen Nov 02, 2014 20:31:54	edited amored abiliy into one Defensive soul, added Keen blade, long weapon, and shattered soul. thinking of a capstone discipline, and maybe some utility, do you think we should worry about non combat? i think the monk core class already gives a fair amount of that   edit: do you think activating long weapon, do you think the reach weapon should still be used with Throw Blade ability?
#25 Yunru Nov 03, 2014 3:53:42	I don't get Blade Flurry. Asides from dealing force damage Flurry of Blows is far superior.
#26 Danny_Montanny Nov 03, 2014 4:04:25	It wouldn't make any difference what weapon you threw. The effect still only does what the effect does. So instead of it spinning at the target, you throw it more like a javelin.   Nimble Blade Your Soul Blade counts as a finesse weapon and you gain a +2 bonus to damage rolls with it when you wield it with one hand and no other weapons.   Hidden Soul You gain proficiency in the Stealth skill and your proficiency bonus is doubled on Stealth checks you make. You can spend 3 ki points to cast Invisibility on yourself.
#27 Litania84it Nov 03, 2014 10:52:23	On a completely flavor-wise note: I really dislike the "enchant a rod" thing. It completely locks this sublass into being a Jedi clone, which could be great if you cared for Jedis or horrendous if you (like me) think anything starwars has no place in a fantasy world. The original soulknife was known for being able to create a blade out of thin air and to give it the shape he wanted. There are pictures of Kalashtar soulknives with psi-blades that look like chakrams for instance, and more than once soulknives were compared to Psylock from the x-men (her blade was either a katar made of energy jutting from her knuckles or, later, a katana). I would amend the entry to allow for any flavor the player may prefer.
#28 cowleymen Nov 04, 2014 12:58:25	Switched it up. I was definetly not trying to make a jedi subclass. DO you have any other comments about the subclass?
#29 Yunru Nov 04, 2014 13:20:59	Yunru wrote:
#30 cowleymen Nov 04, 2014 14:15:13	To be honest, i need to change blade furry, I will probably make it 6th level required, but i wanted it to function the same way as Flurry of Blows, But i know doing magical force damage is much better then your normal damage one does with it
#31 Yunru Nov 04, 2014 14:30:35	Eh not really past the point where your fists are magical. Then it's just a case of monsters with resistance/immunity to bludgeoning. Certainly not anything worth dropping an attack for.
#32 Danny_Montanny Nov 04, 2014 14:48:52	After 6th level when your unarmed strikes are magical, it definitely loses it's luster. Originally with the higher damage dice, your unarmed strike wouldn't catch up till higher levels, but now it leaves much to be desired. Though I do see it as a way to utilize one of the other blade properties. Have Long Blade and GWM, you can have the extra attack with the -/+. Having Nimble Blade with Sneak Attack gives you an extra chance if you miss with the Attack action. Stuff like that. You could make it higher level an say it replaces the unarmed strikes from MA and FoB, though. It would give you a higher damage dice used two-handed, and also let you use the weapon properties a above.
#33 cowleymen Nov 04, 2014 15:03:09	SO what do yall think should be done? remove blade furry? since all your attacks become magical, and if you really need higher damage you can use throw blade(single target) or shattered soul(multiple foes) maybe the blade furry just becomes redundant.      And I was thinking of another rewrite to soul blade-   You form a unique soul blade. It takes the form of a weapon of your choice, with all the properties that weapon normally has. You always have proficiency with your Soul Blade. You may also make your soul blade into two light weapons, and use TWF rules as normal.   Now you can take advantage of weapon feats/multiclassing easier.
#34 Yunru Nov 04, 2014 15:10:16	You might want to attach the melee conditional there. That or go the other way and make it a ranged-friend Soul Weapon path.
#35 cowleymen Nov 04, 2014 15:17:10	Lol yeah. SO no more blade furry, and no more duel blade discipline.  you have to make a melee soul blade, also, thrown weapons would not magically return with out thrown blade discipline, so sure, you can throw a dagger soul blade....wait. free action creation. Should we make creation a bonus action? that way if you want to be hurling javelins ect, you lose ability to do flurry of blows ect? having unlimited force damage daggers/javvies ect seems kinda strong.
#36 Danny_Montanny Nov 04, 2014 17:56:15	Limit it to be able to manifest only one martial or simple melee weapon when you gain the feature? Possibly have a discipline that gets rid of the limitation and you can form whatever weapon you want? Definitely keep it an action or bonus action for balance. Pact Blade and Weapon Bond both have a full action costs. If you went bonus action, you could make it concentration. Would the weapon die still be Martial Arts, or that of the weapon?
#37 cowleymen Nov 04, 2014 18:57:37	follow rules for standard monk weapons.
#38 Danny_Montanny Nov 05, 2014 4:35:28	You could change it to:   Blade Flurry You can attack with your Soul Blade in place of unarmed strikes when you make your bonus action attack(s) with Martial Arts and Flurry of Blows.
#39 Danny_Montanny Nov 05, 2014 5:37:02	Proposed change.   Soul Blade: You manifest your ki and shape it into a weapon made of pure magical force. So long as you have at lest 1 ki point available, as a bonus action, you can create one simple or martial melee weapon (chosen at the time you gain this ability) in a free hand. You are proficient with your Soul Blade, and it counts as a monk weapon for you. The weapon is considered magical when determining damage resistance, does force damage, and uses your Martial Arts die to determine that damage. Any weapon that has the versatile or two-handed property does one higher damage die when used two-handed. The weapon will remain active until you dismiss it as a bonus action, or it leaves your grasp.
#40 cowleymen Nov 05, 2014 11:21:45	Much more elegant then whats currently up there