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Kobold-Bard
2009-03-04, 09:23 AM
Looking at it a Level 20 Soulknife with Vow of Poverty is wielding a +10 Shortsword / Longsword / Bastard Sword; +5 from his Soulknife Levels and +5 from the Vow.

I am just curious as to whether anyone can see a reason this wouldn't work. Since the Mind-Blade is part of the character it shouldn't count as a possession.

Any thoughts?

RMS Oceanic
2009-03-04, 09:25 AM
It doesn't work because both VoP and Soulknife give an enhancement bonus to the weapon. Named bonuses, as a general rule, don't stack.

jeek
2009-03-04, 09:31 AM
VoP and the Soulknife bonuses are both enhancement bonuses, same-named bonuses don't stack.

Kobold-Bard
2009-03-04, 09:35 AM
Damn. May Evil-:vaarsuvius: eat my soul for not noticing such an obvious flaw in my plan.

Thanks guys.

Eldariel
2009-03-04, 09:36 AM
Also, you're shooting yourself in the foot horribly with such a build. You'll have poor mobility (no flying unless someone casts such spell on you for example, no haste, etc.), poor offense (you can't magically enhance your attacks, get extra attacks or so on) and poor defense (you can't acquire miss chance items, anything that buffs your AC to reasonable levels or anything else of relevant really; also, you'll never acquire stuff like Mind Blank or such) and you won't really be able to do anything well.

To do what you're wanting to do, just go Soulknife/Kensai (PrC in Complete Warrior that enchants a single weapon at the rate of +1/level), which is slightly less horrible than plain Soulknife (make no mistake, it's still bad), or better yet, Psychic Warrior with Soulbound Weapon (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a), which would mean that in addition to using Psionics to manifest your soulblade, you could actually learn psionic powers! OMG, I know, how amazing, psionic characters that can use psionics! But yea, Psychic Warrior with Soulbound Weapon is pretty much what Soulknife should've always been. Try that up for size. Now, VoP Psy War would already be semi-decent. Make no mistake, you'd still never measure up to a character spending their money wisely, but at least you could do something right.

Blackfang108
2009-03-04, 09:46 AM
Also, you're shooting yourself in the foot horribly with such a build. You'll have poor mobility (no flying unless someone casts such spell on you for example, no haste, etc.), poor offense (you can't magically enhance your attacks, get extra attacks or so on) and poor defense (you can't acquire miss chance items, anything that buffs your AC to reasonable levels or anything else of relevant really; also, you'll never acquire stuff like Mind Blank or such) and you won't really be able to do anything well.

To do what you're wanting to do, just go Soulknife/Kensai (PrC in Complete Warrior that enchants a single weapon at the rate of +1/level), which is slightly less horrible than plain Soulknife (make no mistake, it's still bad), or better yet, Psychic Warrior with Soulbound Weapon (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a), which would mean that in addition to using Psionics to manifest your soulblade, you could actually learn psionic powers! OMG, I know, how amazing, psionic characters that can use psionics! But yea, Psychic Warrior with Soulbound Weapon is pretty much what Soulknife should've always been. Try that up for size. Now, VoP Psy War would already be semi-decent. Make no mistake, you'd still never measure up to a character spending their money wisely, but at least you could do something right.

Lots of hate for this class.

Lots.

I think this class beat up a lot of posters on this forum in grade school.

It's the only plausible reason I can see.

Eldariel
2009-03-04, 10:02 AM
Lots of hate for this class.

Lots.

I think this class beat up a lot of posters on this forum in grade school.

It's the only plausible reason I can see.

It's actually just that this is a Sith board - hate is good. There seems to be an issue in the memo traffic though so the message doesn't get along constantly confusing people.

But yea, Soulknife was always a kinda...special kid. He was in the psionic school, but didn't learn to actually use psionics. At all. Except he learned that trick for creating a pointy object. Even that started to lose its luster once his friends bought better pointy objects from the store.

So he got kinda withdrawn and plotted his revenge on the world, which is what draws most aggression towards him nowadays. Badmouthing Soulknives may therefore actually end up saving the world. Of course, their revenge can't be too horrendous.

Zaq
2009-03-04, 10:28 AM
I know one reason I hate Soulknife so much is because it looks so cool. To a noobish player (you know, the kind who thinks Wizards aren't that powerful because they run out of spells easily... hey, we were all new once!) the abilities seem like they should be really good. Free Weapon Focus! Free weapon upgrades! How useful! And the other abilities, like Bladewind, seem really cool and cinematic. Plus, you get to be Zero! How cool is that? (Between the glowing-blade-from-nowhere and the ability to charge it for a more powerful hit, let's face it, the Soulknife is Zero.)

Theeeeeeeeen you get a little bit better. You get some actual game experience under your belt. You understand what WBL is supposed to give you. You learn how fast damage should and should not progress. You learn what prestige classes are. And you realize that the Soulknife absolutely sucks. Its signature ability ("has a weapon," which is less an "ability" than a "basic assumption") scales too slowly, Psychic Strike doesn't work on full attacks and messes with your action economy (and doesn't work against mindless enemies), and the fact that you can't even make a full attack at range until almost epic is just insulting, among other issues.

So yeah. I personally hate the soulknife because I thought it was so much cooler than it really is when I was first browsing through the books when my friends were urging me to learn to play. The realization that it actually sucks hit pretty hard.

Kaiyanwang
2009-03-04, 11:57 AM
Yeah, soulknife needed a little bit of rework. This is a shame because the class concept is very cool.

Anyway, remember that not all the campaigns work the same way, or allow the same material, or the same power level, so in a campaign with almost no magic, or magic item could be useful be a soulkinfe.

I know, people could answer to me that class mechanics are anyway akward, and low povered choices wold be better...

I was wondering, never playtested so I cannot say if are good or not...
Are the soulknife feats in Complete Psionic worthy? I mean, expecially the ones allowing the Strike recharging in certain conditions?

Does some build/trick involving them exist?

Draz74
2009-03-04, 01:19 PM
If your goal is really to pull off a pre-epic weapon with a ridiculous number of effective +'s on it, might I recommend the following instead?

+1 Bow with +9-worth of enhancements;
+1 Raptor Arrow with +9-worth of other enhancements;
True Believer feat;
Metaphysical Weapon manifested on the arrow with a manifester level of 21 (using e.g. Overchannel);
Quiver of Energy to store the arrow;
Lesser Crystal of Energy Assault [x2, one attached to bow, one attached to arrow].

Terribly expensive, but ... congrats. You're now firing an effectively +29 weapon. Like a +8 Splitting Seeking Force Flaming Shock Frost Holy Illusion-Bane Incorporeal-Binding Impaling Keen Wounding Collision Arrow. That also deals +2d6 bane damage and Returns to you next round.

Person_Man
2009-03-04, 01:31 PM
The Ancestral Relic feat lets you pick a single weapon, and you can improve it by sacrificing gp or magic items (bypassing the need to sell them, saving you the 50% mark down). You should focus on enchantments which have a gp cost, and not an enchantment value (+1, +2, etc), because you are limited to +10 weapons pre-epic.

The Item Familiar (www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/magic/itemFamiliars.htm) feat improves the enhancement bonus of an item by +1, gives it intelligence and scaled powers, and can boost one Skill to ridiculous levels (I'd choose Concentration, for Kensai synergy).

Kensai (Complete Warrior) let's you upgrade a weapon (or weapons, with certain restrictions) for a very reasonable XP cost. It also has several other useful powers.

Put this all together, and you should get a better then +10 weapon by ECL 12ish.

If you really wanted to, you could also mix in 2 levels of Anointed Knight, to pick up DR 3/- and the ability to imbue your weapon with Unicorn's Blood, which forces every Evil enemy to Save (sadly, its a fixed DC) or take 1d3 Str damage every time it is hit.

There's also an entire book dedicated to Weapons of Legacy, which go above and beyond normal magic weapons. There are also Relic weapons, which require a minimum HD and taking the True Believer feat to unlock their full power.

sonofzeal
2009-03-04, 02:13 PM
The good news is that Soulknife qualifies you for Soulbow (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060403a&page=2), a PrC awesome enough to justify such a lackluster prefix. Plus you only actually need two levels of Soulknife to get in.

Tokiko Mima
2009-03-04, 02:16 PM
There's also an entire book dedicated to Weapons of Legacy, which go above and beyond normal magic weapons.

Or at the same level and below, as is the case. :p

Weapons of Legacy and Soulknife have a lot in common. They're both awesome, well developed concepts with great fluff, but are sadly among 3.5e's most dismal mechanical failures. Stick with the normal magic item rules for weapons... it will end much more happily.

Adumbration
2009-03-04, 02:47 PM
The good news is that Soulknife qualifies you for Soulbow (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060403a&page=2), a PrC awesome enough to justify such a lackluster prefix. Plus you only actually need two levels of Soulknife to get in.

This +1. Soulbow is most likely the best archery PrC there is. Along with the soulknife powers for mind bullets you create - and Wisdom to damage - you also get a whole bunch of bonus archery feats and cool abilities. It's like someone actually looked at Soulknife, saw how it sucked, and did his best to fix it by cramming as much awesome as possible to a prestige class.

Waspinator
2009-03-04, 09:51 PM
Or at the same level and below, as is the case. :p

Weapons of Legacy and Soulknife have a lot in common. They're both awesome, well developed concepts with great fluff, but are sadly among 3.5e's most dismal mechanical failures. Stick with the normal magic item rules for weapons... it will end much more happily.

Seriously. If I wanted to include a "Weapon of Legacy" in a campaign I ran, I'd probably just say that the sword (or whatever) grows in power by defeating powerful evil (or good, as appropriate) foes and just upgrade it's stats whenever I would've otherwise given the PCs a new powerful weapon as part of a treasure pile.

Mushroom Ninja
2009-03-04, 10:13 PM
I wouldn't mind soulknife if the class got at least a little manifesting. But, it doesn't.

Hida Reju
2009-03-04, 11:28 PM
Vow of Poverty can be situationally useful.

Did you multiclass one lvl into Swordsage (unarmed varient/Monk for Wisdom to AC? if you did then the boost to your wisdom + dex will be awesome.

Does your GM hand little to no treasure out? Well at least you have a weapon that scales up even if slowly.

Is he a big advocate of sundering player gear? Well at least you have a weapon that is proof against this.

Are wizards, clerics, or Druids rare in the gaming world? If so then it may still be something you want to look at.

Another thing to keep in mind that if you dual wield you lose the +1 to enhancement on each weapon. VoP gives this back to you for free even with Soulbow.

Soulbow is an awesome choice, especially if you go the route of having Wounding on your weapon. Then get Zen Archery and pump your wisdom up through the roof.

But remember that the gear you could have if the Treasure is more stable will let you be more powerful than the listed bonuses.

Teron
2009-03-05, 12:35 AM
I wouldn't mind soulknife if the class got at least a little manifesting. But, it doesn't.
That's the psychic warrior's shtick. I'd rather have the soulknife be what it's meant to be, a sneaky, mobile warrior with a bit of psionic power used in a really cool way. The soulknife and feats like Up the Walls are intrisically linked in my mind -- I just wish the whole thing wasn't a huge trap.

Greymane
2009-03-05, 01:10 AM
Actually, Teron, my group just basically Gestalted the Soul Knife and the Wilder and called it good.

Hida Reju
2009-03-05, 01:41 AM
Actually, Teron, my group just basically Gestalted the Soul Knife and the Wilder and called it good.

Gestalt is how every D&D group I play with fixes the melee classes. Only thing they restrict is number of full caster/Manifesting classes to 1 side only. Bards, Rangers, Paladins, and Hexblades can gestalt with a full caster if they want.

Seems to work a lot better and provides some use for things like, Fighters, Marshal, and the Dragon Shaman.

Person_Man
2009-03-05, 11:48 AM
Oh, I forgot to plug my homebrew Soulknife fix, based on playing too much Force Unleashed:

Force Adept
d6 hit dice
4 Skill Points per level
Class Skills: Autohypnosis, Balance, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Jump, Knowledge (Psionics), Listen, Profession, Sense Motive, Spot, Swim, Tumble.
Weapon and Armor Prof: Simple weapons and light armor, no shields.

{table=head]Level|
BAB|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Abilities
1st|
+1|
+0|
+2|
+2| Psychic Weapon +1, Psychic Weapon Ability
2nd|
+2|
+0|
+3|
+3| Psychic Talent
3rd|
+3|
+1|
+3|
+3| Psychic Weapon Power
4th|
+4|
+1|
+4|
+4| Force Combo (1 per encounter)
5th|
+5|
+1|
+4|
+4| Psychic Weapon +2, Psychic Weapon Ability
6th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+5|
+5| Psychic Talent
7th|
+7/+2|
+2|
+5|
+5| Psychic Weapon Power
8th|
+8/+3|
+2|
+6|
+6| Force Combo (2 per encounter)
9th|
+9/+4|
+3|
+6|
+6 | Uncanny Dodge
10th|
+10/+5|
+3|
+7|
+7| Psychic Weapon +3, Psychic Weapon Ability, Psychic Talent
11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+3|
+7|
+7 | Psychic Weapon Power
12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+4|
+8|
+8| Force Combo (3 per encounter)
13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+4|
+8|
+8| Evasion
14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+4|
+9|
+9 | Psychic Talent
15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+5|
+9|
+9| Psychic Weapon +4, Psychic Weapon Ability, Psychic Weapon Power
16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+10|
+10| Force Combo (4 per encounter)
17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+10| Psychic Force
18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+11|
+11| Psychic Talent
19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+11|
+11| Psychic Weapon Power, Force Mastery
20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+12|
+12| Psychic Weapon +5, Psychic Weapon Ability, Psychic Talent, Force Combo (5 per encounter)
[/table]

Psychic Weapon (Su):
As a Move action, you may manifest one simple weapon out of psychic energy. This weapon acts exactly like a mundane weapon of the same type. Any Psychic Weapon that you manifest has a +1 enhancement bonus to hit and damage. This increases by another +1 every five levels, to a maximum of +5 at level 20. This bonus applies to any Psychic Weapon, ammunition, and shield that you manifest with this ability, as do all Psychic Weapon powers that you manifest.

You may also manifest any simple object or tool. You may manifest up to 1 cubic foot of material per Force Adept level. For example, you could manifest a rope, shovel, mirror, wall, etc. If you wish to manifest a complex object, you must make the appropriate Craft check, with a DC set by your DM. These objects behave exactly as a mundane object of the same type.

You may only manifest one weapon or object at a given time. If you lose physical contact with the weapon or object, it dissipates at the end of your turn. If you lose consciousness for any reason, the weapon or object dissipates immediately. You may alter the minor features of the weapon or object, such as color, at will when you create the item. Any weapon, object, shield, or armor that you manifest with this ability has a hardness and hit points of 10 + your Force Adept class level, though you’re free to make it lower if you choose. You may dismiss any Psychic Weapon effect as a free action.

Anything that you manifest with this ability counts as a Force effect. This allows it to hit incorporeal enemies normally. However, the damage dealt by your Psychic Weapon still counts as physical damage.

If anything created with your Psychic Weapon ability is destroyed, you must make a Will Saving Throw (DC = damage dealt to object) or be Stunned for 1 round.

Psychic Weapon Ability (Su):
At first level, you gain the ability to manifest your Psychic Weapon in a new way. You gain an additional Psychic Weapon ability at 5th, 10th, 15th, and 20th levels as well. Any Psychic Weapon

Unless otherwise noted, you may only select each Psychic Weapon Ability once. Choose from the following list:

Armor: You gain the ability to manifest Force armor. This is in addition to your ability to manifest one Psychic weapon or object. It grants an armor bonus of 4 + the enhancement bonus to your Psychic Weapon (max +9 at 20th level). Your armor counts as a Force effect, and thus fully applies to your Touch AC and to attacks from Ethereal enemies. Furthermore, it imposes no armor check penalty, max Dexterity bonus, or spellcasting failure. It does not penalize your movement, and you count as not wearing any armor for other feats or class abilities.

Martial Weapon: You gain the ability to manifest all martial weapons as a Psychic Weapon. You gain proficiency with all martial weapons that you manifest as a Psychic Weapon.

Ammunition: You gain the ability to manifest all ammunition as a Psychic Weapon, such as arrows, darts, bolts, shuriken, etc. You also gain the ability to manifest any Psychic Weapon ammunition as a free action. This allows you to make a full attack with a ranged weapons and certain thrown weapons - though each Psychic Weapon still dissipates as soon as you attack your enemy and then manifest the next psychic weapon (or at the end of your turn, if you choose not to manifest a replacement). If ammunition that you manifest is fired from a magic weapon, the special properties of your ammunition stack with the properties of the weapon, following the same rules as regular magic ammunition fired from a magic weapon (for example, Enhancement bonuses still do not stack).

Exotic Weapon: You gain the ability to manifest one Exotic Weapon of your choice as a Psychic Weapon. You also gain proficiency with this Exotic Weapon when you manifest it as a Psychic Weapon. You may take this ability multiple times. Each time you take this ability, you gain proficiency with an additional exotic weapon.

Multiple Weapons: You may now manifest two Psychic Weapons or objects at once, instead of one. (Or one weapon and an object, or two objects). This allows you to use Two Weapon Fighting with your Psychic Weapons, though you must still qualify for and take the feats as appropriate to avoid the penalties for fighting with two weapons. You may take this ability multiple times. Each time you take it, you may manifest one additional weapon or object. This allows a Force Adept with multiple arms to use Multi-Weapon Fighting.

Shield: You gain the ability to manifest a shield as a Psychic Weapon. This is in addition to your ability to manifest one Psychic Weapon or object. You may manifest a buckler, light, medium, or heavy shield. The shield has an enhancement bonus equal to your Psychic Weapon's enhancement bonus, which applies both to it's shield AC bonus and your attack bonus, as if it had been enchanted separately as a weapon. You automatically gain proficiency with any Psychic Weapon shield that you manifest. As a Force object this shield protects normally against ethereal attacks, although attacks with a Psychic Weapon shield still count as physical damage just as they do with a normal Psychic Weapon. Furthermore, it imposes no armor check penalty, max Dexterity bonus, or spellcasting failure.

Special Material: Choose any one material, such as adamantine, cold iron, mithril, or star metal. Instead of a Force effect, you may manifest anything that you create with your Psychic Weapon ability as that material. If you have the ability to manifest armor and/or a shield, you may also manifest them as a special material. When you manifest an item from a special material, it takes on the properties of that material. This includes hardness, hit points, and ability to effect enemies with damage reduction. For armor and shields, this also includes armor check penalty, weight, spellcasting failure, etc. When manifested as a special material, your effects cease to be a Force effects (and thus ethereal enemies would gain their standard benefits against you, and your armor and shield bonuses no longer apply to touch attacks). Objects manifested with your Psychic Weapon ability still dissipate like any other Psychic Weapon or object. You may choose this ability multiple times. Each time you take this ability, you may manifest your Psychic Weapon as one additional material.

Psychic Talent (Su):
At 2nd, 6th, 10th, 14th, 18th, and 20th levels, you gain a Psychic Talent. Force Talents have a range of 5 feet per Force Adept level. Feats and other modifiers that improve or hinder your Disarm, Trip, Grapple, or Bull Rush attempts apply to the effects of Psychic Talents. For all Psychic Talents, you count as medium size, regardless of your actual size.

Psychic Talents are fueled by Force Points. With the exception of Force Energy, each Psychic Talent takes 2 Force Points to activate. You have a number of Force Points equal to your Force Adept level. You may regain your Force Points by taking a full round action and making a Concentration check = 10 + number of Force Points you wish to rejuvenate. If you fail this check, you do not rejuvenate any Force Points. You may not manifest any Force Talent during a round that you regain Force Points.

You may spend additional Force Points to enhance your Psychic Talents. You may spend more then one Force Point per round in this fashion, and the bonuses stack.

If another Force Adept attempts to use a Force Talent, you may make a Knowledge (Psionics) check (DC = 10 + Force Adept level of your enemy) as a Free Action to recognize the Force Talent and the total number of Force Points that your enemy is using to activate and enhance it. If you possess the same Force Talent, as an Immediate action you may spend the same number of Force Points to negate your enemy’s use of the Force Talent, or to reduce the number of points that he enhances it by.

Force Talents are Supernatural abilities, and thus are not effected by Spell Resistance or Power Resistance, and they never provoke an attack of opportunity.

With the exception of Force Energy, you may only choose each Talent once. Each time you gain this ability, you may choose any one Talent from the following list:

Force Energy: Instead of a new Talent, you gain 2 Force Points, in addition to the Force Points gained from your Force Adept levels. You must be at least a 6th level Force Adept to take this Talent.

Force Explosion: As a Full Round Action make a Bull Rush attempt, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier as a bonus for the opposed roll, against all targets within 5 feet per Force Adept level. This action applies to all targets, including all enemies, allies, and objects. You may decrease the radius of the Force Explosion, but you may not shape the blast (it goes in all directions, including up and down).

Movement causes by Force Explosion does not provoke an attack of opportunity from you, although it does provoke from others. Targets are effected simultaneously though, and may not make an attack of opportunity on an enemy moved by Force Explosion if they also fail their Force Explosion opposed check. Targets are always pushed directly away from you in a strait line.

If the target is pushed into a wall or other solid object, they take damage as if they fell, 1d6 damage for every 10 feet pushed. If the enemy is pushed into an occupied square, the enemy's movement stops, but they must both make a Reflex Save (DC = your opposed check result) or be knocked Prone.

You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For each additional Force Point you spend, you gain +1 to your opposed Bull Rush check.

Force Grip: As a full round action make a Grapple check against a single enemy, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier as a bonus for the opposed roll. If you succeed, your enemy counts as being Grappled. You do not count as being Grappled, but you do lose your Dex bonus to AC for as long as this Talent is active.

You may maintain Force Grip each round as a full round action as part of the same Force Grip use. Once each round (including the round that you initiate the Grapple) you may make another opposed check to pin, move, or deal damage against your enemy. If you move your enemy, you may move them 5 feet in any direction for every 5 points that you beat them on your opposed check. If the enemy is pushed into a wall, they take damage as if they fell, 1d6 damage for every 10 feet pushed. (You could even push your enemy strait up, and then let them fall down, if you chose). If the enemy is pushed into another enemy, the movement stops, but they must both make a Reflex Save (DC = your opposed check result) or be knocked Prone. If you choose to deal damage, you deal 1d6 damage, +1d6 for every three Force Adept levels that you have, to a maximum of 7d6 at 18th level. On his turn the enemy may make opposed Grapple checks as normal to free himself. If at any point you lose an opposed check, the Force Grip is ended.

You may use this Talent to move an unattended object weighing up to 25 lbs for every Force Adept levels you possess automatically. You may move it at a speed of 5 feet for every Force Adept levels you posses. You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For each additional Force Point you spend, you gain +1 to your opposed Grapple check, and you may move an additional 25 lbs of weight on an unattended object. You must pay any enhancement cost each round that you maintain a Force Grip on an enemy. However, after the first round of successfully moving an unattended object, you do not need to pay the enhancement cost on your Force Grip. For example, if you Force Grip a box weighing 100 lbs (4 Force Points), then maintaining that grip only costs 1 point per round thereafter.

Force Lightning: As a Standard Action, you may manifest your Force power as pure energy. Make a ranged touch attack against a single enemy within range. If you hit, you deal 2d4 points of Force damage, and the enemy takes a -2 penalty to its Dexterity for 1d4 rounds. If the enemy is non-living (construct, undead) you deal 4d4 points of damage instead, and the enemy is Dazed for 1d4 rounds. A Fortitude Save (DC = 10 + your Cha bonus) prevents half of the damage and the Dexterity penalty or Daze effect. The penalties and durations of multiple Force Lighting uses against the same enemy overlap.

You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For every two additional points you spend, you increase the damage dealt by 2d4 (or 4d4 for non-living enemies), and increase the Save DC by 1, and increase the Dexterity penalty by 2.

Force Move: As a Swift action you may manifest Hustle (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Hustle). You may use this action to Move, to activate your Psychic Weapon ability, or any other Move Action.

You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For 1 Force Point, you may manifest Feather Fall until the beginning of your next turn. For 2 Force Points, you may manifest Spider Climb until the beginning of your next turn. For 3 Force Points, you may manifest Air Walk until the end of your turn. If you're not standing on solid ground by the end of your turn, you fall. You may make a Tumble check to negate the falling damage as normal, or manifest the enhanced Force Move again each round to continue your Feather Fall, Spider Climb, or Air Walk). Each of these effects are in addition to the normal effect of Hustle.

Force Pull: As a Standard Action, make a Disarm check against a single enemy, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier as a bonus for the opposed roll. You count as using a one handed weapon for this check. If you succeed, you may pull any one object from your enemy, including anything that he is holding, wielding, carrying, or wearing, except for armor or clothing (though your DM may allow you to pull a hat, helmet, or similar worn items, depending on how securely it is fastened). If you have a free hand, you may take the object directly into your hand. Otherwise, it falls harmlessly into your square.

You may use this Talent to pull an unattended object weighing up to 25 lbs for every Force Adept levels you possess automatically. You may move it at a speed of 5 feet for every Force Adept levels you posses. You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For each additional Force Point you spend, you gain +1 to your opposed Disarm check, and you may move an additional 25 lbs of weight on an unattended object.

Force Push: As a Standard Action, make a Bull Rush attempt against a single enemy, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength modifier as a bonus for the opposed roll.

Movement causes by Force Push does not provoke an attack of opportunity from you, although it does provoke from others. You may choose the direction your enemy is pushed, as long as it is not towards you. If the enemy is pushed into a wall or other solid object, they take damage as if they fell, 1d6 damage for every 10 feet pushed. (You could even push your enemy strait up, and then let them fall down, if you chose). If the enemy is pushed into an occupied square, the enemy's movement stops, but they must both make a Reflex Save (DC = your opposed check result) or be knocked Prone.

You may use this Talent to push an unattended object weighing up to 25 lbs for every Force Adept levels you possess automatically. You may move it at a speed of 5 feet for every Force Adept levels you posses. You may spend additional Force Points to enhance this Talent. For each additional Force Point you spend, you gain +1 to your opposed Bull Rush check, and you may move an additional 25 lbs of weight on an unattended object.

Psychic Weapon Power (Su):
At third level and every four levels thereafter (7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th) your Psychic Weapon gains a new power. These power applies to any Psychic Weapon, ammunition, or shield that you manifest with your Psychic Weapon ability. You may choose any Power from the following list:

Block: Whenever you are attacked by a melee attack (including melee touch attacks) that includes physical and/or Force damage as a component of the attack, you may attempt to Block it as an Immediate action. If you choose to use this power, you must declare that you are using it after your enemy successfully hits you but before the DM announces damage or effects of the attack. Make an attack roll, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength (or any other ability score) modifier as a bonus to hit. If your modified attack roll is higher then the enemy’s modified attack roll, the attack is negated. If your modified attack roll is 5 points higher then your enemy’s modified attack roll, then the attack is redirected back against the enemy. Resolve the attack against the enemy’s AC (or touch AC, if it was a touch attack) as if the enemy had attacked themselves.

Defending: You may transfer some or all of your Psychic Weapon's Enhancement bonus as an Insight bonus to your Armor Class and to resist any opposed Bull Rush, Disarm, Grapple, Overrun, or Trip attempt. You do not gain this bonus on opposed checks resulting from any attack or Force Talent that you initiate. And Insight bonuses do not stack with other Insight bonuses, so if you have two Psychic Weapons manifested you only gain your Psychic Weapon's Defending bonus once. As a Free Action, the Force Adept may choose how to allocate the Psychic Weapon’s enhancement bonus at the start of his turn before using the weapon, and the effects last until the beginning of his next turn.

Deflect: Whenever you are attacked by a ranged attack (including ranged touch attacks) that includes physical and/or Force damage as a component of the attack, you may attempt to Defect it as an Immediate action. If you choose to use this power, you must declare that you are using it after your enemy successfully hits you but before the DM announces damage or effects of the attack. Make an attack roll, using your Wisdom modifier in place of your Strength (or any other ability score) modifier as a bonus to hit. If your modified attack roll is higher then the enemy’s modified attack roll, the attack is negated. If your modified attack roll is 5 points higher then your enemy’s modified attack roll, then the attack is deflected against the enemy. Resolve the attack against the enemy’s AC (or touch AC, if it was a touch attack) as if the enemy had attacked themselves.

Illumination: You can control the illumination of anything that you manifest with your psychic weapon ability. It may be as bright as a Daylight (www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Daylight) spell, or as dark as a Deeper Darkness (www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Deeper_Darkness) spell. You may alter the intensity and range of the light or darkness as a Move action, increasing or decreasing the area of effect as you like, from as little as a radius of 5 feet, up to the maximum of 60 feet.

You do not suffer any ill effects from light or darkness created by your psychic weapon ability. For example, an orc Force Adept wouldn’t suffer the penalties from the light of a weapon using Daylight, nor would he suffer from the 20% miss penalty of using Deeper Darkness. However, all others within your area of effect (including allies) take penalties as normal. You cannot use light and darkness effects at the same time, even if you can manifest more than one Psychic Weapon at a time. If you manifest both, they cancel each other out. If someone else manifests or casts a magical light or darkness effect, it can cancel yours out following the standard rules for doing so.

Keen: Any Psychic Weapon (including shield spikes) that you manifest has the Keen property. This property does not stack with any other Keen effect.

Opposition: Choose one alignment from the following list; Lawful, Good, Chaotic, or Evil. You may not share that component as part of your own alignment. Whenever you hit and deal damage with your Psychic Weapon against an enemy who has that alignment component, you deal an additional 1d6 points of Force damage to them. You may choose this ability more then once. Each time you choose it, you deal an additional 1d6 points of damage to your chosen opposition alignment. If you change alignments to share your opposition alignment, you must reassign this ability to a different opposition alignment.

Resistance: As long as you are wielding a Psychic Weapon or shield, or wearing armor manifested with your Psychic Weapon ability, you gain Energy Resistance 10 against all Electricity and Force effects (such as Magic Missile and Force Lightning, but not damage from Psychic Weapons because they count as physical damage). You may choose this ability more then once. Each time you choose it, you increase your Energy Resistance by 10 points. Energy Resistance from other sources overlap. If you select this power as all five of your Psychic Weapon powers you gain Energy Immunity to Electricity and Force effects, and immunity to all Stun and Paralysis effects.

Throw: You may throw any Psychic Weapon or shield that you manifest. It automatically returns to your hand immediately after your attack. If the Psychic Weapon already has a ranged increment, such as a javelin, you may use that ranged increment. Otherwise, it has range increment of 10 ft. You may take this ability multiple times. Each time you take it, your range increment increases by 10 feet.

Force Combo: (Su)
Immediately after successfully attacking an enemy and dealing damage with a Psychic Weapon or Force Talent, you may manifest a single Force Talent that you know as an Immediate Action. You must have enough Force Points to manifest the power, and you must pay the full Force Point cost for doing so. You may enhance the Force Talent as usual, paying the additional Force Point cost as usual.

You may do this once per encounter at 4th level, and one additional time for every four levels you possess.

Uncanny Dodge (Ex):
Uncanny Dodge: You gain the Uncanny Dodge ability. If a character already has Uncanny Dodge from another class, the character gains Improved Uncanny Dodge instead, and the levels from the classes that grant Uncanny Dodge stack to determine the minimum level a Rogue must be to flank the character.

Evasion (Ex):
You gain the Evasion ability. If a character already has Evasion from another class, the character gains Improved Evasion instead.

Psychic Force Mastery (Su):
Once per day when you use Force Explosion, Force Grip, Force Lightning, Force Pull, or Force Push you may channel massive amounts of psychic power. The range for your effect is extended to anything within your line of sight. There is no weight limit, as long as the entire object is within your line of sight. Any attack roll or opposed check that you roll is automatically maximized, as if you had rolled a natural 20. For an attack roll, this counts as a critical hit (dealing *2 damage). Any damage dice that result from this attack (including damage from falling or being pushed into an object) are also maximized. Your DM may exclude ridiculously large objects that have their own gravity field, such as planets, moons, stars, etc.

It's been playtested extensively. I found that it was somewhat weaker then Tome of Battle classes, but still ridiculously fun to play.

Salvonus
2009-03-05, 05:08 PM
Vow of Poverty with a Soulknife is arguably a bit of a trap, mechanics-wise. The single advantage of a Mind Blade is that you effectively gain extra gold that can be put towards other items. The Soulknife gets an weapon that is effectively worth 162,000 gp (that can never be lost or damaged and is still effective in an Antimagic Field) by the end. Vow of Poverty completely wastes that potential for investment in other equipment.

For an example of what 162,000 gp can do for you... Look at the Starmantle Cloak on p. 116 of BoED. That costs 132k. A Ring of Evasion costs 25k. Arguably (there is debate over this), the combination (costing 157k) makes you impervious to all weapon attacks if you make a DC 15 Reflex save. Even if you don't accept that argument, the Starmantle Cloak STILL means that you'll take half damage from just about any attack with a weapon. That's probably the most powerful example of what you can do with the extra money, but do keep it in mind as an example. Giving up your single advantage (saving money) as a Soulknife is probably not a good idea.

Oh, yeah, and you have just as much gold as any other meleeist once you're finished with the Starmantle Cloak. So, you can still buy resistance items to save yourself from spells, which most front-liners can't if they go the Starmantle route.

(Also, the Starmantle cloak would kinda allow you to actually be a front-line fighter with a light armour class. :smalltongue:)

Of course, that combo is only available at really high levels. The same argument applies universally, though, as you'll always have a bit more cash available relative to the rest of your party.

Also, as mentioned, going Soulbow really enhances your options. Arguably, it's the only good thing from Complete Psionics... Good thing it's available in a Web Enhancement (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060403a&page=2), so you don't have to buy that piece of trash. :smalltongue:

Of course, roleplaying-wise, it can work. Depends on your emphasis, I guess. :smalltongue:

quick_comment
2009-03-06, 10:38 AM
It would be more than reasonable to have the VoP enhancement bonus and soulknife enhancement bonus stack. OR let the soulknife use his enhancement bonus on things like flaming, vorpal, etc. I


Personally, I like fixing the soulknife so:

-Give them full BAB.
-Give them ToB initiator abilities. I suggest modeling after the warblade with an effective initator level of soulblade level -2.
-Give them a few extra feats. I suggest every time their psychic strike goes up a level. This gives them extra feats at level 3, and every 4 levels thereafter.
-Psychic Strike, lasts for an entire round after imbued. This lets it be used on a full attack, every other round. I still restrict the ability damage to standard actions, because doing up to 25 int damage per round is a tiny bit too powerful.

Then they get two options:

Exalted Soulblade - They get a free VoP, and it stacks with the class abilities.

or

Psionic Swordsman - They get to gesalt with Kensai prc as soon as they qualify.