Project Soulknife [3.5, PEACH]

[Proven_Paradox]

The Soulknife is a neat idea. A character producing a weapon from the power of one's mind or soul is a compelling and fairly common theme in fantasy. The DnD 3.5 equivalent is the Soulknife, which is an incredibly weak class. The commonly agreed upon problems are as follows:
The defining class feature--the Mindblade--is utterly sub-par. If the weapon is the focus of the class, it should be noticably and obviously more powerful than the weapon of another warrior of equal level. It's also restrictive. If you want to make anything but a sword, you have to take a feat for it. The enhancements you can give it are also artificially and needlessly limited. Switching between different enhancements is also a stupidly time-consuming affair, unless again, you take feats.
Psychic Strike. It's a neat trick at low levels, but when full attacks become available, Psychic Strikes become less useful.
Low BAB. This one is perhaps debatable. I see Soulknife as a skirmisher class like Rogue and Scout, which means that full BAB isn't necessarily suitable. However, if one is making a weapon with one's mind, one likely wants to focus on using it. A warrior Soulknife is needed.
Armor Proficiency. Again, this is debatable for the reasons above, but when viewing Soulknife as a front line warrior, light armor is not sufficient.
Psionics. Soulknife is a 'psionic class' that doesn't have anything psionic about it other than a worthless feat that gives it a couple of power points at first level so it can have psionic focus. This is nonsense.

A few players for an upcoming game have expressed interest in playing something with Soulknife involved, and in each case the class would work out well for them thematically. You can use the Soulbound Weapon ACF for the Psychic Warrior, but it doesn't have quite the same feeling to it, and it runs into problems with the Psychic Warrior's very limited power point pool. As such, I have decided to re-write the Soulknife as two separate classes.

The original Soulknife fell on a common problem in DnD class design: it was kind of trying to do two things at once and in the attempt failed to do either one well. The solution is to make it more focused, and as such, I decided to make two classes with more clearly defined roles: one to be the skirmisher, and one to be the front liner. This can be done fairly easily by shifting class features around a bit, so the two classes look similar. However, they should play quite differently.

Contents
The Soulknife Skirmisher (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7625712&postcount=2)
The Soulknife Battlemaster (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7625717&postcount=3)
Extra information (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=7625721&postcount=4)

[Proven_Paradox]

The Soulknife Skirmisher
Link to Wiki form (http://wiki.faxcelestis.net/index.php?title=Soulknife_Skirmisher#The_Soulknife _Skirmisher)
Hit Die: d6

Class Skills The Soulknife Skirmisher's class skills (and the key ability for each) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Bluff (Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device (Int), Gather Information (Cha), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Open Lock (Dex), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Use Psionic Device (Cha), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points at 1st Level (6 + Int modifier) ×4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level 6 + Int modifier.

SOULKNIFE SKIRMISHER
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|PP/Day|Powers Known|Maximum Power Level Known

1st|
+0|
+0|
+2|
+2|Mindblade (Masterwork), Throw Mind Blade, Trapfinding|
0*|
1|
1

2nd|
+1|
+0|
+3|
+3|Psychic Strike +1d8|
1|
1|
1

3rd|
+2|
+1|
+3|
+3|Mindblade (+1), Mind Blade Enhancement, Bonus Feat|
2|
2|
1

4th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+4|Enhancement Set (2)|
3|
2|
1

5th|
+3|
+1|
+4|
+4|Mindblade (+2), Psychic Strike +2d8|
4|
3|
1

6th|
+4|
+2|
+5|
+5|Bonus Feat|
6|
4|
2

7th|
+5|
+2|
+5|
+5|Mindblade (+3), Enhancement Set (3)|
8|
4|
2

8th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+6|
+6|Psychic Strike +3d8, Swift Strike|
10|
5|
2

9th|
+6/+1|
+3|
+6|
+6|Mindblade (+4), Swift Manifestation|
12|
5|
2

10th|
+7/+2|
+3|
+7|
+7|Bonus Feat, Enhancement Set (4)|
14|
6|
2

11th|
+8/+3|
+3|
+7|
+7|Mindblade (+5), Psychic Strike +4d8|
20|
7|
3

12th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+8|
+8|Knife to the Soul|
26|
7|
3

13th|
+9/+4|
+4|
+8|
+8|Mindblade (+6), Enhancement Set (5)|
32|
8|
3

14th|
+10/+5|
+4|
+9|
+9|Psychic Strike +5d8, Bonus Feat|
38|
8|
3

15th|
+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+9|
+9|Mindblade (+7)|
44|
9|
3

16th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+10|Enhancement Set (6)|
52|
10|
4

17th|
+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+10|Mindblade (+8), Psychic Strike +6d8|
60|
10|
4

18th|
+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+11|
+11|Bonus Feat|
68|
11|
4

19th|
+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+11|
+11|Mindblade (+9), Enhancement Set (7)|
76|
11|
4

20th|
+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+12|
+12|Psychic Strike +7d8, Living Weapon|
86|
12|
4[/table]
The Soulknife Skirmisher gains no power points from his class at 1st level. However, he does add any bonus power points he gains from a high Charisma score, his race, and feats or other sources to his reserve. He can use these points (if any) to manifest his power.

Class Features
All the following are class features of the Soulknife Skirmisher (henchforth referred to simply as Skirmisher).

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Skirmishers are proficient with all simple and martial weapons. They are proficient with light armor, but not with shields.

Power Points/Day
A Skirmisher’s ability to manifest powers is limited by the power points he has available. His base daily allotment of power points is given on Table: The Soulknife Skirmisher. In addition, he receives bonus power points per day if he has a high Charisma score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Power Points). His race may also provide bonus power points per day, as may certain feats and items. A 1st-level Skirmisher gains no power points for his class level, but he gains bonus power points (if he is entitled to any), and can manifest the single power he knows with those power points.

Powers Known
A Skirmisher begins play knowing one Skirmisher power of his choice. He unlocks knowledge of a new power as indicated on Table: The Soulknife Skirmisher.

Choose the powers known from the Soulknife Skirmisher power list. (Exception: The feats Expanded Knowledge and Epic Expanded Knowledge do allow him to learn powers from the lists of other classes.) He can manifest any power that has a power point cost equal to or lower than his manifester level.

The total number of powers a Skirmisher can manifest in a day is limited only by his daily power points.

A Skirmisher simply knows his powers; they are ingrained in his mind. He does not need to prepare them (in the way that some spellcasters prepare their spells), though he must get a good night’s sleep each day to regain all his spent power points.

The Difficulty Class for saving throws against Skirmisher powers is 10 + the power’s level + his Charisma modifier.

Maximum Power Level Known
A Skirmisher begins play with the ability to learn 1st-level powers. As he attains higher levels, he may gain the ability to master more complex powers.

To learn or manifest a power, a Skirmisher must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + the power’s level.

Mind Blade (Su)
As a move action, a Skirmisher can create a semisolid weapon composed of psychic energy distilled from his own mind. This can take the form of any melee weapon with which the Skirmisher is proficient, including exotic weapons. For simplicity, "mind blade" refers to any weapon created this way, included weapons that are not actually bladed. The Skirmisher chooses what shape the mind blade takes every time he creates it.

The weapon can be broken: it has hardness 10 and hit points appropriate for whatever form it currently takes. Should the weapon be broken, a new one can be made on the Skirmisher's next move action. The moment he relinquishes his grip on his weapon, it dissipates (unless he intends to throw it; see below). A mind blade is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

A Skirmisher can choose mind blade for feats requiring a specific weapon choice, such as Weapon Specialization. He gains the benefits of said feat no matter what form the mind blade currently takes, but the effects of taking such a feat for a mind blade and for a mundane weapon do not stack (i.e. Weapon Focus (Mind Blade) and Weapon Focus (Greatsword) do not both function if the Skirmisher's mind blade takes the form of a greatsword). Powers or spells that upgrade weapons can be used on a mind blade.

A Skirmisher’s mind blade improves as he gains higher levels. At first level, the weapon is of masterwork quality. At third level and every two levels thereafter, the blade gains a cumulative +1 enhancement bonus. See Mind Blade Enhancement below for more details.

Even in places where psionic effects do not normally function (such as within a null psionics field), a Skirmisher can attempt to sustain his mind blade's power by making a DC 20 Will save. On a successful save, the Skirmisher maintains his mind blade as normal for a number of rounds equal to his class level before he needs to check again. On an unsuccessful attempt, the mind blade loses its enhancement bonus, though the basic blade (still of masterwork quality) remains.

The Skirmisher may shape more than one mindblade for use in two-weapon fighting. Doing so requires more power, causing the two shaped weapons to be less powerful individually. Whenever a Skirmisher shapes two mind blades, the enhancement bonus on both is reduced by one. He can shape more than two weapons (such as for multiweapon fighting) but each additional weapon shaped reduces the enhancement bonus on all weapons by one. If shaping additional blades would reduce the weapons from +1 to +0, the weapons are masterwork. Shaping an additional weapon when the blade(s) shaped is of masterwork quality causes all weapons to become non-masterwork, and no more additional blades can be shaped thereafter.

Skirmishers proficient with shields (which requires a feat or multiclassing) can shape their mindblade into a shield. Doing so counts as an additional weapon, and has all the effects described above. A mindshield can be used for shield bashes, but cannot be enhanced as a weapon for that purpose.

Throw Mind Blade (Ex)
Skirmishers are able to throw their mind blades. The range increment depends on the size of the weapon: light weapons have a range increment of 30 feet, while a one handed weapon's increment is 15 feet, and a two-handed weapon's is 5 feet. If the base weapon type has a range increment, use whichever of these is better.

Whether or not the attack hits, a thrown mind blade then dissipates. A Skirmisher of 2nd level or higher can make a psychic strike (see below) with a thrown mind blade and can use the blade in conjunction with other special abilities (such as Knife to the Soul; see below).

Trapfinding (Ex)
Skirmishers are able to find and disable magical traps. This functions exactly as the Rogue ability of the same name.

Psychic Strike (Su)
As a move action, a Skirmisher of 2nd level or higher can imbue his mind blade with destructive psychic energy. This effect deals an extra 1d8 points of damage to the next target he successfully hits with a melee attack (or ranged attack, if he is using the throw mind blade ability).

A mind blade deals this extra damage only once when this ability is called upon, but a Skirmisher can imbue his mind blade with psychic energy again by taking another move action.

Once a Skirmisher has prepared his blade for a psychic strike, it holds the extra energy until it is used. Even if the Skirmisher 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 Skirmisher next materializes it.

At every three levels beyond 2rd (5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th), the extra damage from a Skirmisher’s psychic strike increases by 1d8.

Mind Blade Enhancement (Su)
Starting at third level, a Skirmisher's mindblade gains an enhancement bonus of +1, which improves by one every two levels after third. A Skirmisher may distribute these points freely between granting an enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls or granting his weapon special abilities excluding those that are limited by daily uses (such as Stunning Surge), Spell Storing, or Power Storing. He may choose any weapon enhancement he pleases (or, if he has a shield shaped, he may apply any armor enhancement he wishes). Unlike with mundane weapons (and armor), he does not have to have a minimum enhancement bonus of +1 before he applies special weapon abilities, nor does he have a maximum enhancement bonus of +5. Altering which weapon enhancement his blade currently carries requires half an hour of uninterrupted meditation, after which he may re-assign his enhancement bonus any way he chooses.

Note, a mindblade whose enhancement bonus exceeds 5 does NOT penetrate DR/epic. At 21st level, the Skrimisher's mindblade does this automatically, regardless of the weapon's enhancement bonus.

Bonus Feat (Ex)
At third level, and again at sixth level and every four levels thereafter (10th, 14th, 18th) the Skirmisher may select a feat from the following list for which he meets the prerequisites: Adamantine Mind Blade, Align Mind Blade, Combat Manifestation, Dodge, Expanded Knowledge, Far Shot, Improved Psionic Sidestep, Mental Leap, Mind Strike Focused, Mobility, Narrow Mind, Psionic Body, Psionic Charge, Psionic Dodge, Psionic Meditation, Psionic Sidestep, Quick Draw*, Run on Air, Silver Mind Blade, Speed of Thought, Spring Attack, Up the Walls, Weapon Focus (Mindblade), Greater Weapon Focus (Mindblade).

The Quick Draw feat allows Skirmishers to shape their mind blade as a free action. This means that they can throw their weapon as many times as their BAB will allow during a full attack, and they can also reshape their weapons during a full attack. This means that each attack may come from a differently shaped weapon. Some Skirmishers like to re-shape their weapons as they fight to keep their foes off balance.

Enhancement Set (Su)
Beginning at fourth level, a Skirmisher may quickly switch between a limited number of pre-determined mindblade enhancement configurations. At fourth level, he may have two such enhancement sets. Every three levels thereafter (7th, 10th, 13th, 16th, 19th), the number of sets the Skirmisher can have prepared increases by one. Switching between these sets is a swift action. A Skirmisher may chose to re-arrange all of his sets after thirty minutes of meditation. It is not necessary for different sets to have different arrangements. Abilities must be listed in the order in which they would be lost to effects that would reduce the Skirmisher's enhancement bonus (such as manifesting multiple weapons). In the case of manifesting multiple mindblades, each blade uses a different enhancement set. Skirmishers who shape shields can have that shield default to providing its entire enhancement bonus as AC, or dedicate one of their enhancement sets to containing shield properties.

Swift Strike (Su)
Starting at 8th level, a Skirmisher may charge his blade to make a Psychic Strike as a swift action, allowing him to both charge a Psychic Strike and make a full attack in the same round.

Swift Manifestation (Su)
Beginning at 9th level, whenever a Skirmisher manifests a power that enhances his mind blade, if the manifesting time was a standard action, it decreases to a swift action.

Knife to the Soul (Su)
Beginning at 12th level, when a Skirmisher executes a psychic strike, he can choose to substitute Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma damage (his choice) for extra dice of damage. For each die of extra damage he gives up, he deals 1 point of damage to the ability score he chooses. A Skirmisher can combine extra dice of damage and ability damage in any combination.

The Skirmisher decides which ability score his psychic strike damages and the division of ability damage and extra dice of damage when he imbues his mind blade with the psychic strike energy.

Living Weapon
At 20th level, a Skrimisher has honed his psionic abilities to the point that his mental power causes him to undergo a physical transformation into a living weapon. He gains DR 10/Adamantine (which stacks with DR provided to him by any powers he manifests) and treats his mindblade (whatever form it currently takes) as one size larger when determining its damage dice.

Once per encounter as a free action, he may enter a state of psionic overdrive, which causes his mindblade to glow with a brilliant light. While in this state, his Psychic Strike ability is constantly charged, requiring no action from the Skrimsher to maintain. This state lasts for one minute.

Soulknife Skirmisher Powers
First level
Burst
Catfall
Chameleon
Compression
Distract
Float
Force Screen
Inertial Armor
Metaphysical Weapon*
Prevenom Weapon*
Synesthete
Second level
Animal Affinity
Body Equilibrium
Concealing Amorpha
Darkvision, Psionic
Dimension Swap
Dissolving Weapon*
Energy Adaptation, Specified
Hustle
Levitate, Psionic
Wall Walker

Third level

Concealing Amorpha, Greater
Dimension Slide
Ectoplasmic Form
Escape Detection
Evade Burst
Keen Edge, Psionic*
Ubiquitous Vision
Fourth level
Dimension Door, Psionic
Energy Adaptation
Freedom of Movement, Psionic
Truevenom Weapon*
*These powers affect a Soulknife's mindblade. A Soulknife can only affect his or her own mindblade with these powers, not other mundance weapons. They are also quickened by Swift Manifestation when the Soulknife gains that ability.

[Proven_Paradox]

The Soulknife Battlemaster
Link to Wiki format (http://wiki.faxcelestis.net/index.php?title=Soulknife_Battlemaster#The_Soulkni fe_Battlemaster)
Hit Die: d8

Class Skills The Soulknife Battlemaster's class skills (and the key ability for each) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Jump (Str), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Profession (Wis), Psicraft (Int), Ride (Dex), and Swim (Str).

Skill Points at 1st Level (2 + Int modifier) ×4.

Skill Points at Each Additional Level 2 + Int modifier.

SOULKNIFE BATTLEMASTER
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|PP/Day|Powers Known|Maximum Power Level Known

1st|
+1|
+2|
+0|
+0|Mindblade (Masterwork), Weapon Aptitude|
0*|
1|
1

2nd|
+2|
+3|
+0|
+0|Mindblade (+1), Mind Blade Enhancement, Bonus Feat|
1|
1|
1

3rd|
+3|
+3|
+1|
+1|Psychic Strike +1d8|
2|
2|
1

4th|
+4|
+4|
+1|
+1|Mind Blade (+2_|
3|
2|
1

5th|
+5|
+4|
+1|
+1|Bonus Feat, Enhancement Set (2)|
4|
3|
1

6th|
+6/+1|
+5|
+2|
+2|Mindblade (+3), Swift Strike|
6|
4|
2

7th|
+7/+2|
+5|
+2|
+2|Psychic Strike +2d8, Bladewind|
8|
4|
2

8th|
+8/+3|
+6|
+2|
+2|Mindblade (+4), Bonus Feat|
10|
5|
2

9th|
+9/+4|
+6|
+3|
+3|Swift Manifestation|
12|
5|
2

10th|
+10/+5|
+7|
+3|
+3|Mindblade (+5), Enhancement Set (3)|
14|
6|
2

11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+7|
+3|
+3|Bonus Feat, Psychic Strike +3d8|
20|
7|
3

12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+8|
+4|
+4|Mindblade (+6)|
26|
7|
3

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+8|
+4|
+4|Debilitating Blade|
32|
8|
3

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+9|
+4|
+4|Mindblade (+7), Bonus Feat|
38|
8|
3

15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+9|
+5|
+5|Psychic Strike +4d8, Enhancement Set (4)|
44|
9|
3

16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+10|
+5|
+5|Mind Blade (+8)|
52|
10|
4

17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+10|
+5|
+5|Bonus Feat|
60|
10|
4

18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+11|
+6|
+6|Mindblabe (+9)|
68|
11|
4

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+11|
+6|
+6|Psychic Strike +5d8|
76|
11|
4

20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+12|
+6|
+6|Mindblade (+10), Bonus Feat, Enhancement Set (5), Living Weapon|
86|
12|
4[/table]
The Soulknife Battlemaster gains no power points from her class at 1st level. However, she does add any bonus power points she gains from a high Charisma score, her race, and feats or other sources to her reserve. She can use these points (if any) to manifest her power.

Class Features
All the following are class features of the Soulknife Battlemaster (henceforth referred to simply as Battlemaster).

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
A Battlemaster is proficient with all simple and martial weapons and with all armor (heavy, medium, and light) and shields (not including tower shields).

Power Points/Day
A Battlemaster’s ability to manifest powers is limited by the power points she has available. Her base daily allotment of power points is given on Table: The Soulknife Battlemaster. In addition, she receives bonus power points per day if she has a high Charisma score (see Table: Ability Modifiers and Bonus Power Points). Her race may also provide bonus power points per day, as may certain feats and items. A 1st-level Battlemaster gains no power points for her class level, but she gains bonus power points (if she is entitled to any), and can manifest the single power she knows with those power points.

Powers Known
A Battlemaster begins play knowing one Battlemaster power of her choice. She unlocks knowledge of a new power as indicated on Table: The Soulknife Battlemaster.

Choose the powers known from the Soulknife Battlemaster power list. (Exception: The feats Expanded Knowledge and Epic Expanded Knowledge do allow her to learn powers from the lists of other classes.) She can manifest any power that has a power point cost equal to or lower than her manifester level.

The total number of powers a Battlemaster can manifest in a day is limited only by her daily power points.

A Battlemaster simply knows her powers; they are ingrained in her mind. She does not need to prepare them (in the way that some spellcasters prepare their spells), though she must get a good night’s sleep each day to regain all her spent power points.

The Difficulty Class for saving throws against Battlemaster powers is 10 + the power’s level + her Charisma modifier.

Maximum Power Level Known
A Battlemaster begins play with the ability to learn 1st-level powers. As she attains higher levels, she may gain the ability to master more complex powers.

To learn or manifest a power, a Battlemaster must have a Charisma score of at least 10 + the power’s level.

Mind Blade (Su)
As a move action, a Battlemaster can create a semisolid weapon composed of psychic energy distilled from her own mind. This can take the form of any melee weapon with which the Battlemaster is proficient, including exotic weapons. For simplicity, "mind blade" refers to any weapon created this way, included weapons that are not actually bladed. The Battlemaster chooses what shape the mind blade takes every time she creates it.

The weapon can be broken: it has hardness 10 and hit points appropriate for whatever form it currently takes. Should the weapon be broken, a new one can be made on the Battlemaster's next move action. The moment she relinquishes his grip on her weapon, it dissipates. A mind blade is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

A Battlemaster can choose mind blade for feats requiring a specific weapon choice, such as Weapon Specialization. She gains the benefits of said feat no matter what form the mind blade currently takes, but the effects of taking such a feat for a mind blade and for a mundane weapon do not stack (i.e. Weapon Focus (Mind Blade) and Weapon Focus (Greatsword) do not both function if the Battlemaster's mind blade takes the form of a greatsword). Powers or spells that upgrade weapons can be used on a mind blade.

A Battlemaster’s mind blade improves as she gains higher levels. At first level, the weapon is of masterwork quality. At second level and every two levels thereafter, the blade gains a cumulative +1 enhancement bonus.

Even in places where psionic effects do not normally function (such as within a null psionics field), a Battlemaster can attempt to sustain her mind blade's power by making a DC 20 Will save. On a successful save, the Battlemaster maintains her mind blade as normal for a number of rounds equal to her class level before he needs to check again. On an unsuccessful attempt, the mind blade loses its enhancement bonus, though the basic blade (still of masterwork quality) remains.

The Battlemaster may shape more than one mindblade for use in two-weapon fighting. Doing so requires more power, causing the two shaped weapons to be less powerful individually. Whenever a Skirmisher shapes two mind blades, the enhancement bonus on both is reduced by one. She can shape more than two weapons (such as for multiweapon fighting) but each additional weapon shaped reduces the enhancement bonus on all weapons by one. If shaping additional blades would reduce the weapons from +1 to +0, the weapons are masterwork. Shaping an additional weapon when the blade(s) shaped is of masterwork quality causes all weapons to become non-masterwork, and no more additional blades can be shaped thereafter.

Battlemasters can shape their mindblade into a shield. Doing so counts as an additional weapon, and has all the effects described above. A mindshield can be used for shield bashes, but cannot be enhanced as a weapon for that purpose.

Weapon Aptitude (Ex)
For the purposes of qualifying for feats, treat every level of Battlemaster as a level of Fighter. This allows the Battlemaster to qualify for feats usually reserved for Fighters only, such as Weapon Specialization.

Mind Blade Enhancement (Su)
Starting at second level, a Battlemasters's mindblade gains an enhancement bonus of +1, which improves by one every two levels after second. A Battlemasters may distribute these points freely between granting an enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls or granting her weapon special abilities excluding those that are limited by daily uses (such as Stunning Surge), Spell Storing, or Power Storing. She may choose any weapon enhancement she pleases (or, if she has a shield shaped, she may apply any armor enhancement she wishes). Unlike with mundane weapons (and armor), she does not have to have a minimum enhancement bonus of +1 before she applies special weapon abilities, nor does she have a maximum enhancement bonus of +5. Altering which weapon enhancement her blade currently carries requires half an hour of uninterrupted meditation, after which she may re-assign his enhancement bonus any way she chooses.

Note, a mindblade whose enhancement bonus exceeds 5 does NOT penetrate DR/epic. At 21st level, the Skrimisher's mindblade does this automatically, regardless of the weapon's enhancement bonus.

Bonus Feat (Ex)
At second level, and again every three levels thereafter (5th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, 20th) the Battlemaster may select a feat from the following list for which she meets the prerequisites: Adamantine Mind Blade, Align Mind Blade, Combat Expertise, Combat Manifestation, Deflective Armor, Deep Impact, Expanded Knowledge, Focused Shield, Heavy Armor Optimization, Mind Cleave, Mind Strike Focused, Mind Empowerment, Narrow Mind, Psionic Body, Psionic Meditation, Psionic Weapon, Greater Psionic Weapon, Power Attack, Quick Draw*, Silver Mind Blade, Weapon Focus (Mindblade), Weapon Specialization (Mindblade), Greater Weapon Focus (Mindblade), Greater Weapon Specialization (Mindblade), Wounding Attack.

The Quick Draw feat allows Battlemasters to shape their mind blade as a free action. This means they can reshape their weapons during a full attack. Each attack may come from a differently shaped weapon. Some Battlemasters like to re-shape their weapons as they fight to keep their foes off balance.

Psychic Strike (Su)
As a move action, a Battlemaster of 3rd level or higher can imbue her mind blade with destructive psychic energy. This effect deals an extra 1d8 points of damage to the next target she successfully hits with a melee attack.

A mind blade deals this extra damage only once when this ability is called upon, but a Battlemaster can imbue her mind blade with psychic energy again by taking another move action.

Once a Battlemaster has prepared her blade for a psychic strike, it holds the extra energy until it is used. Even if the Battlemaster drops the mind blade, it is still imbued with psychic energy when the she next materializes it.

At every four levels beyond 3rd (7th, 11th, 15th, 19th), the extra damage from a Battlemaster’s psychic strike increases by 1d8.

Enhancement Set (Su)
Beginning at fifth level, a Skirmisher may quickly switch between a limited number of pre-determined mindblade enhancement configurations. At fifth level, she may have two such enhancement sets. Every five levels thereafter (10th, 15th, 20th), the number of sets the Skirmisher can have prepared increases by one. Switching between these sets is a swift action. A Skirmisher may chose to re-arrange all of her sets after thirty minutes of meditation. It is not necessary for different sets to have different arrangements. Abilities must be listed in the order in which they would be lost to effects that would reduce the Skirmisher's enhancement bonus (such as manifesting multiple weapons). In the case of manifesting multiple mindblades, each blade uses a different enhancement set. Skirmishers who shape shields can have that shield default to providing its entire enhancement bonus as AC, or dedicate one of their enhancement sets to containing shield properties.

Swift Strike (Su)
Starting at 6th level, a Battlemaster may charge her blade to make a Psychic Strike as a swift action, allowing her to both charge a Psychic Strike and make a full attack in the same round.

Bladewind (Su)
At 7th level, a Battlemaster gains the ability to momentarily fragment her mind blade into numerous identical blades, each of which strikes at a nearby opponent.

As a full attack, when wielding her mind blade, a Battlemaster can give up her regular attacks and instead fragment her mind blade to make one melee attack at his full base attack bonus against each opponent within reach. Each fragment functions identically to the Battlemaster's regular mind blade.

When using bladewind, a Battlemaster forfeits any bonus or extra attacks granted by other feats or abilities (such as the Cleave feat or the haste spell).

The mind blade immediately reverts to its previous form after the bladewind attack. If the Battlemaster's mind blade was charged for a psychic strike, it deals the extra damage to all targets struck by the bladewind.

Swift Manifestation (Su)
Beginning at 9th level, whenever a Blademaster manifests a power that enhances her mind blade, if the manifesting time was a standard action, it decreases to a swift action.

Debilitating Blade (Su)
Beginning at 13th level, when a Battlemaster executes a psychic strike, she can choose to substitute Strength, Constitution, or Dexterity damage (her choice) for extra dice of damage. For each die of extra damage she gives up, she deals 1 point of damage to the ability score she chooses. A Battlemaster can combine extra dice of damage and ability damage in any combination.

The Battlemaster decides which ability score her psychic strike damages and the division of ability damage and extra dice of damage when she imbues his mind blade with the psychic strike energy.

Living Weapon
At 20th level, a Battlemaster has honed her psionic abilities to the point that her mental power causes her to undergo a physical transformation into a living weapon. She gains DR 10/Adamantine (which stacks with DR provided to him by any powers he manifests) and treats her mindblade (whatever form it currently takes) as one size larger when determining its damage dice.

Once per encounter as a free action, she may enter a state of psionic overdrive, which causes her mindblade to glow with a brilliant light. While in this state, her Psychic Strike ability is constantly charged, requiring no action from the Battlemaster to maintain. This state lasts for one minute.

Soulknife Battlemaster PowersFirst Level
Biofeedback
Expansion
Force Screen
Grip of Iron
Inertial Armor
Metaphysical Weapon*
Precognition, Defensive
Precognition, Offensive
Prescience, Offensive
Stomp
Thicken Skin
Vigor
Second Level
Animal Affinity
Body Adjustment
Body Purification
Dissolving Weapon*
Energy Adaptation, Specified
Hustle
Prowess
Psionic Lion's Charge
Strength of My Enemy
Third Level
Dimension Slide
Evade Burst
Exhalation of the Black Dragon
Keen Edge, Psionic*
Vampiric Blade*
Fourth Level
Energy Adaptation
Immovability
Inertial Barrier
Weapon of Energy*
*These powers affect a Soulknife's mindblade. A Soulknife can only affect his or her own mindblade with these powers, not other mundance weapons. They are also quickened by Swift Manifestation when the Soulknife gains that ability.

[Proven_Paradox]

This post will contain miscellaneous odds and ends, including stuff like soulknife feats and prestige classes, as well as clarifications on ambigious rules. If I don't think it fits in directly with the class descriptions, I'll post it here.

Current Concerns
Any and all commentary is welcomed and appreciated, but a few things I'm particularly wanting some input on.

First off, the Enhancement Sets. When I showed this to my players, a few thought it unclear, and one suggested that I just make it so that the Soulknives could alter their mindblades mid-combat without bothering with sets. The idea of enhancement sets is something I came up with fairly early in the design process, and I really like the idea. I'd rather clarify it than replace it. Is the wording on the ability clear to you? If not, how would you improve it?

Secondly, the capstone. For a while, I struggled with figuring out different 20th level abilities for the two classes. In the end I settled with just giving them the same thing, but I'm still open to suggestions to make them different.

Lastly, of course, balance. The goal here was for the Soulknives to be able to compete with Crusader, Swordsage, Warblade, and well-constructed Psychic Warriors (possibly including the Soulbound Weapon variant). Does it compete? Too weak? Too strong? Let me know.

[Proven_Paradox]

And done. Open for comments now.

[Melamoto]

Looks quite good to me, but I don't feel like the Soulknife should have Psionic Powers. It's a bit silly, but I just thought of the Soulknife as a martial combatant, psionic only in flavour.

[Sereg]

Thank you so much for this. This is my new favorite soulknife fix. I am on the side of those who says that soulknives should definitely get powers after all when I saw it I thought “A psionic class without psionic powers, riiiiiiiight.” :smallsigh:I would encourage giving them different capstones as I believe more differentiation in flavor between classes = good. Maybe keep it as is for the soulknife battlemaster and kind of go the other way for the soulknife skirmisher saying, “Your mind and your body are one, X times per day/encounter/at will you may become a being of pure thought gaining the incorporeal subtype for Y length of time/until you dismiss the effect as a psi-like ability that takes a free/swift/move/immediate action.” the various options are there due to my lack of balancing skills. The enhancement sets is an interesting idea that I’d rather not throw out unnecessarily though it does add more complicated bookkeeping. Oh, and a question (this may be dealt with in XPH but I can’t remember) can multiple ability scores be reduced with the same attack? What about if they have debilitating blade AND knife to the soul?

[TabletopNuke]

I like this idea very much. It seems a little on the strong side, but I'm not terribly experienced with this type of homebrew, so I could easily be wrong.

I did however, notice a tiny flaw. Since the class doesn't grant power points at 1st level, it provides no means to become psionically focused at 1st level. I had this problem with my mindsourge calss, and after a bit of research, I confirmed that a power point reserve is necessary to gain focus. This means that you'll need to add Wild Talent back at 1st level.

[GoC]

Very nice!
I was going to make my own soulknife fix but it won't be needed anymore...

[FlamingKobold]

I really like the fix. What I'm very happy about is that you actually made a fix correctly. You identified a couple primary problems with the base class, and just changed those. You didn't change the entire fluff while actually making a difference, and a significant one at that. Good job.

[Proven_Paradox]

Looks quite good to me, but I don't feel like the Soulknife should have Psionic Powers. It's a bit silly, but I just thought of the Soulknife as a martial combatant, psionic only in flavour.In class design, flavor and crunch are adjustable, but saying something is psionic without giving it powers is equivalent to saying something is a spellcaster but doesn't cast spells. That just seems silly to me.



I would encourage giving them different capstones as I believe more differentiation in flavor between classes = good. Maybe keep it as is for the soulknife battlemaster and kind of go the other way for the soulknife skirmisher saying, “Your mind and your body are one, X times per day/encounter/at will you may become a being of pure thought gaining the incorporeal subtype for Y length of time/until you dismiss the effect as a psi-like ability that takes a free/swift/move/immediate action.”That idea has merit and I'll play around with it. However, instinctively it seems like it should be something that focuses on the weapon. I'll ponder the suggestion nonetheless.


The enhancement sets is an interesting idea that I’d rather not throw out unnecessarily though it does add more complicated bookkeeping.It doesn't seem that much more complicated than what other classes end up dealing with to me, and with some notecards or something similar it shouldn't be difficult to keep up with. There are a couple of gimme sets as well--I image you'll see a lot of Soulknives with one set that allocates the entire bonus to attack/damage for battles where accuracy is key, and then a set that's all "flaming frost shock corrosive viscious" and so on for battles where damage is critical (and your target isn't sporting multiple energy resistances, of course).


Oh, and a question (this may be dealt with in XPH but I can’t remember) can multiple ability scores be reduced with the same attack? What about if they have debilitating blade AND knife to the soul?Your first question is dealt with in the XPH, yes; the text of the ability (which I've basically copied verbatim) indicates that you can only deal damage to one ability score at a time. If you have both, you're either in epic levels or gestalt, and in either case you can still only deal damage to one ability at a time. The question does bring up the issue of multiclassing between Skirmisher and Battlemaster however, and that's something I haven't actually thought on much. Again, something to think about as I go.


I like this idea very much. It seems a little on the strong side, but I'm not terribly experienced with this type of homebrew, so I could easily be wrong.How powerful this seems depends entirely on what one compares the class to. For sheer power, I would still pick a Crusader, Psychic Warrior, Swordsage, or Warblade over a Skirmisher or Battlemaster any day, but as I look at things, the gap is narrow, and if I were to have a character that thematically should be creating his/her weapon with his/her mind, I wouldn't cringe at the thought of taking Skirmisher or Battlemaster over one of those four.


I did however, notice a tiny flaw. Since the class doesn't grant power points at 1st level, it provides no means to become psionically focused at 1st level. I had this problem with my mindsourge calss, and after a bit of research, I confirmed that a power point reserve is necessary to gain focus. This means that you'll need to add Wild Talent back at 1st level.This is no more true for the Soulknife than it is for the Psychic Warrior. You can get power points from your race OR from having a charisma score of 14 or better. Given that charisma is Soulknife's manifesting score now, it seems probable that they would put at least a 14 in it to get access to all 4 levels of psionic powers.

That said, if a first level Soulknife gains no power points from their race, feats, or charisma, you're correct that they cannot become psionically focused. Frankly, I'm okay with that.

I really like the fix. What I'm very happy about is that you actually made a fix correctly. You identified a couple primary problems with the base class, and just changed those. You didn't change the entire fluff while actually making a difference, and a significant one at that. Good job.'Twas less me identifying the problems and more 'everyone who's really looked at the class and understands how DnD works.' That said, thanks for the compliment all the same.


If anyone actually gets a chance to use this in one of their games, please let me know how it goes; I'm eager to get some playtesting in. I'm starting up a gestalt game soon where one player will be going Crusader//Soulknife Skirmisher, but it's PbP and thus tends to move very slowly, and probably won't get me much data in the short term.

[TabletopNuke]

That said, if a first level Soulknife gains no power points from their race, feats, or charisma, you're correct that they cannot become psionically focused. Frankly, I'm okay with that.

Doesn't the mindblade require psionic focus?

[Proven_Paradox]

It does not. Not in this version, nor the XPH/SRD version. The only real benefit to having access to psionic focus for a Soulknife is for utilization with psionic feats.

Some folks at Myth Weavers have pointed out problems with the capstone--namely, its interaction with Knife to the Soul/Debilitating Blade, and the fact that as written it is usable /encounter. Entirely sloppy editing on my part. When I first started writing the capstone, I had something else in mind that I wrote up, then scrapped. It made sense to apply on a per encounter basis. This one does not, but I neglected to change it appropriately. It will be reduced to once or thrice a day tomorrow when I have time to edit this. I also didn't think of Knife to the Soul/Debilitating Blade at all in conjunction with that. I think when using the overdrive, those abilities will probably be shut down entirely.