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View Full Version : [3.5] A Question on Psonics.



Samakain
2009-01-08, 03:29 AM
Got my greasy Cheetos stained hands on a copy of the Expanded Psonics Handbook recently and i loves it like chocolate.

I've seen alot of hate for the Soulknife around there boards, that there underpowered, underdeveloped, unfocused etc, or...or...worse than Bards

I mean come on, that last one is just mean

What i don't get is the Why? i read the class, and yeah i can see some minor problems with it, and true, multiclassing is completely out of the question. But then nothing is completely perfect, but over all the mechanics seem pretty solid to me, and the fluff is great! especially in relation to Eberron.

So please playgrounders, lather me in scented oils of your wisdom, and try not to set me on fire :P

Sa.

Keld Denar
2009-01-08, 03:45 AM
A) Bards are stronger than Soulknives the same way the chocolate you mentioned is better tasting than anything you fish out of a public pit toilet. Bards are a T2 class, Soulknives barely rank in in the low 4s, if not 5s. Its been a while since I checked that thread.

B) Whats wrong with Soulknives....mhmmm. Well, for starters, medium BAB. A class who's primary role is to stab things. They don't have the skill list and skill points of a rogue, or the spellcasting of a cleric to justify the medium BAB. So it just hurts. Its the same reason that medium BAB hurts monks, and on of the primary reasons why monks are so terribad as well.

Next, we move on to a soulknives PRIMARY CLASS FEATURE. The mind blade. Which, frankly, sucks. In improves in 2 facets. First, in size. A weapon's size acounts for such a small amount of damage past about 2nd level or so, that increasing from a d6 to a d8 in a piddly increase in damage compared to saw....sneak attack or power attack. Secondly, a mind blade increase its enhancement bonus. Note, only the enhancement bonus. Thats right, half of your ENTIRE CLASS FEATURE is replaced by a single 3rd level wizard spell, or 4th level cleric spell. It only progresses the enhancement bonus, so you can't get neato abilities like Wounding or Keen or Collision or EVEN FLAMING. Just plain old +1-5.

So...what are the strengths of a Soulknife? Well....if you were in an awkward social situation where you weren't able to bring a weapon, you would still be armed. Ok, that MIGHT be worth something, except you can easily reproduce this with a Ring of Arming, a Called weapon, or taking IMPROVED UNARMED STRIKE. Sure, the last option wouldn't be as good as a mind blade, but come on, your primary class feature being almost outdone by a PHB feat is almost silly.

And...other strengths of Soulknives. Well, its the only way to get into the Soul Bow PrC, which is ok, but not terribly powerful in its own regards.

Other than that? ... Yea, thats about it. Sorry, the class blows. Better taking levels in Rogue, Sleight of Hand stash some daggers on your person, and have a caster cast Greater Magic Weapon on them every day, like they should anyway. You've not just replicated almost all relevant abilities of a Soulknife, and you ACTUALLY HAVE CLASS ABILITIES. Yea, that bad.

Biffoniacus_Furiou
2009-01-08, 06:23 AM
The only way to make a Soulknife playable is to either use it in a Gestalt campaign, or go into Soulbow (http://wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060403a&page=2). Something like Nonpsionic Thri-Kreen LA +1/ HD 2/ Monk 1/ Soulknife 2/ Soulbow 10 with Vow of Poverty and (Improved, Greater) Multiweapon Fighting is just amazing from level 7 to around 15 or so, if you can get Lucky on the Mind Arrows and count each arrow separate for the 1/day use. In most cases though, Soulknife is just not worth using.

Bard is one of the best classes out there if you're not severely restricted on what books you can use. A single-classed Hexblade (unfixed) with Arcane Strike is a better choice than going Soulknife. Psychic Strike suffers the exact same drawback that makes Order of the Bow Initiate a trap that ruins characters for taking it.