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Realms of Chaos
2010-05-28, 08:02 AM
Basic Introduction: It’s no secret that the soulknife is the least impressive class in the book it is written in. It’s also the one psionic base class in all of existence that doesn’t gain access to even a single power (even the divine mind gets some). The class is often overlooked and it’s for a pretty good reason.
Simply put, all that the class does is give you a psionic weapon and let you use it. Don’t get me wrong. The ability to dismiss and create your weapon at will has certain advantages. It gives your mindblade resistance to or immunity from being dispelled, being rusted, being sundered, being stolen, being lost or left behind, being peacebound, being detected (via all mundane and most magical means), and being disarmed. It even gains special resistance against null psionics fields.
The problem with this is that most of these matters generally won’t come up in general unless your DM is incredibly sadistic, meaning that these benefits are ignored and you are left with a “free” weapon that cost entire levels of advancement to obtain and is likely inferior to what the rest of your party uses.
I’ve seen a few fixes up on these boards (including one or two that basically make turn a soulknife into a jedi and one that combines the class with a soulborn) but I’ve decided to take a whack at it as well. My basic principles when I went to work were the following.

1. If all that a class does is make magical items, the total value of the items should be beyond what your WBL at all points so that no ally can render you irrelevant with a trip to a theoretical or actual magic item store.
2. Psionic classes should have some ability to manifest powers. There’s no reason to have a single class that breaks this tradition when having a bit of psionic power can grant some needed versatility to this otherwise straightforward martial class.
3. A class actually expected to take the front lines in combat (rather than hiding and skirmishing) should receive some sort of defense to rely upon.
4. I honestly think that it’s better to hit the high end of the power curve and know how to tone down a class rather than underpower it and have no clue how to upgrade it.

Oh, and I think that my fixes have altered the class a bit too far to continue calling it the “soulknife”. I’m looking for a better name if anybody has one to offer.

Realms of Chaos
2010-05-28, 08:04 AM
The Psychic Armsmaster

Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d10

Class Skills
The Psychic Armsmaster’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) ×4.
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier.


Psychic Armsmaster
{table=head]Level|Base Attack Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special

1st|
+1|
+0|
+2|
+2|Mental Armory, Wild Talent

2nd|
+2|
+0|
+3|
+3|Bonus Feat, Psychic Augmentation

3rd|
+3|
+1|
+3|
+3|Mental Surge (1d10)

4th|
+4|
+1|
+4|
+4|Bonus Feat

5th|
+5|
+1|
+4|
+4|Tap Potential (1st level, 4 points)

6th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+5|
+5|Quick Augmentation (standard action)

7th|
+7/+2|
+2|
+5|
+5|Mental Surge (2d10)

8th|
+8/+3|
+2|
+6|
+6|Bonus Feat

9th|
+9/+4|
+3|
+6|
+6|Tap Potential (2nd level, 6 points)

10th|
+10/+5|
+3|
+7|
+7|Quick Augmentation (move action)

11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+3|
+7|
+7|Mental Surge (3d10)

12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+4|
+8|
+8|Bonus Feat

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+4|
+8|
+8|Tap Potential (3rd level, 8 points)

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+4|
+9|
+9|Quick Augmentation (swift action)

15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+5|
+9|
+9|Mental Surge (4d10)

16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+10|
+10|Bonus Feat

17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+10|
+10|Tap Potential (4th level, 10 points)

18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+11|
+11|Quick Augmentation (free action)

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+11|
+11|Mental Surge (5d10)

20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+12|
+12|Bonus Feat[/table]

Weapon and Armor Proficiencies: You gain proficiency with all simple and martial weapons and with light armor and shields (except tower shields).

Mental Armory (Su): As a free action, you can create or dismiss a semisolid weapon or suit of armor composed of psychic energy distilled from your own mind. The created item is identical in all ways (except visually) to a chosen suit of armor or weapon with which you possess proficiency, sized appropriately for you. You may choose to create a different sort of weapon or armor each time this ability is used but may not possess more than one weapon and one suit of armor at a time.
Weapons and armor created in this way can be broken but you can simply create another on your next move action. All ranged weapons created generate their own mundane ammunition. Such ammunition and all weapons thrown last until the end of the attack before dissipating. Otherwise, any created item dissipates the moment it leaves your person. Weapons created in this way are treated as magical weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
You can use feats such as power attack or combat expertise in conjunction with the created weaponry just as if it were a normal weapon. You may also choose mental armory for feats requiring a specific weapon or armor choice, such as weapon specialization or armor specialization. Powers or spells that upgrade weapons or armor can be used on appropriate items created.
Your items improved in power as you gain levels. At 1st level, weapons you create possess a +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls while armor you create grants an equal enhancement bonus to your AC. These enhancement bonuses increase by +1 every odd level afterwards. If creating a double weapon, only one side is so enchanted (the other is masterwork). Similarly, shields created as weapons don’t add their enhancement bonus to AC while Gauntlets created with a suit of armor don’t add their enhancement bonus to attack and damage rolls.
Even in places where psionic and/or supernatural effects do not normally function (such as within a Null psionics field), you can attempt to sustain all created items by making a DC 20 Will save. On a successful save, you maintain all generated items for a number of rounds equal to your class level before you need to check again. On an unsuccessful attempt, all such items vanish and you may make a new Will save in the next round to rematerialize your weapon and/or armor while you remain within the psionics or supernatural ability negating effect.

Wild Talent: You gain Wild Talent as a bonus feat.

Psychic Augmentation (Su): Starting at 2nd level, you can augment the power of the psychic weaponry and armor you create. You may select special abilities with bonuses adding up to half of your class level for both your weapons and for your armor. Alternately, you may choose to replace any number of these bonuses with other magical properties (such as glamored, slick, or prismatic burst) worth up to a cumulative 1,000 gp per point of bonus surrendered.
Whenever you create a weapon or armor using your mental armory class feature, the created weapon gains all applicable chosen abilities. As a full-round action, you may alter which abilities you have selected. If an ability has limited uses per day, that limit applies to all items you create with that ability within that day.
While maintaining such items in places where psionic and/or supernatural effects do not normally function, the items retain their benefits from this class feature but you may not modify the chosen abilities. You may select no ability with a bonus greater than 1/4 of your class level (minimum +1).

Special:If an item property gives an item charges, all items made using this property share the same pool of charges. They are not renewed unless the charges of such an item normally renew themselves.
If an item property requires a specific decision (such as the bane property), the decision cannot be changed for 24 hours after granting that property to an item.

Bonus Feat: At 2nd level, 4th level, and every 4 levels afterwards, you gain a bonus feat. The feat chosen must either be Medium Armor Proficiency, Heavy Armor Proficiency, Tower Shield Proficiency, A bonus fighter feat, or a psionic feat.

Mental Surge (Su): Starting at 3rd level, you can tap a bit further into your own psychic powers, allowing you to gain an edge in combat. Whenever you gain psionic focus, choose one of the following options. Regardless of your choice, you retain the benefit until you expend your psionic focus.
Defensive: So long as you wear armor created through your mental armory class feature, you add half of its enhancement bonus as a bonus to all saving throws, rounded down. Whenever you are hit by an attack, you may expend your psionic focus as an immediate action to reduce any hit point damage done to you by the indicated amount (damage can’t be reduced below 0 in this way).
Offensive: So long as you wield a weapon created through your mental armory class feature, you add half of its enhancement bonus as a bonus to all skill and ability check reliant upon Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution, rounded down. Whenever you hit an enemy with an attack, you may expend your psionic focus as an immediate action to increase any damage dealt by the indicated amount.

Tap Potential: Starting at 5th level, you can sacrifice a bit of your mental armory’s essence in order to tap deep reserves of power within your own mind. As a full-round action, you may lower the enhancement bonus of items created through your mental armory class feature by one for 24 hours (to a minimum of +1). In return, you gain knowledge of a single 1st level psychic warrior power for 24 hours and gain 4 power points that last for 24 hours or until spent.
To learn or manifest a power, you must possess a Wisdom score of at least its power level +10. The Save DCs of your powers are 10 + Power’s level + your Wisdom modifier. Furthermore, so long as you possess at least a single power in this way, you gain bonus power points for possessing a high Wisdom score and a manifester level equal to your class level.
At levels 9, 13, and 17, you may access powers from the psychic warrior list up to one level higher and gain an additional 2 power points per point of enhancement bonus sacrificed.

Quick Augmentation: Starting at 6th level, you begin to truly master the weaponry and armor that you create, altering its enchantments with but a moment’s notice. You can alter the special abilities granted via your Psychic augmentation class feature as a standard action rather than a full-round action.
Starting at 10th level, you may alter the special abilities as a move action.
Starting at 14th level, you may alter them as a swift action.
Starting at 18th level, you may alter them as a free action.

Realms of Chaos
2010-05-28, 08:09 AM
New Psionic Feats

Psychic Assault [psionic]
You can create and utilize weaponry through force of will alone.
Prerequisites: Mental Armory class feature
Benefits: When you use your mental armory class feature to create a weapon, you may choose to have it float in the air by your side, not requiring any hands or effort on your part to reload or shoot. The weapon still takes just as long to reload, however. A weapon created in this way lasts until the end of the turn or until an attack has been made using it, whichever comes first.
Any feats or abilities that affect how you would use the weapon apply even when using one in this way. The weapon cannot be disarmed and may not travel far enough away from you to alter the range or reach of your attack.
You may only utilize the benefit of this feat once per round.

Augmentation Shards [psionic]
You infuse shards of psionically-charged crystal into all weapons and armor you make.
Prerequisites: Psychic Augmentation class feature
Benefits: Select one weapon augmentation crystal and one armor augmentation crystal, neither of which may be worth more than 500 gp/class level. Whenever you create armor or weaponry capable of benefiting from the crystal, it gains the crystal’s benefit for as long as it lasts. You may change the crystal selected whenever you alter the abilities selected through your psychic augmentation class feature.
Special: If you possess the mental shield feat, you may also select a shield augmentation crystal. This crystal does not benefit your armor even if it doubles as an armor augmentation crystal. Likewise, your shield does not benefit from your armor augmentation crystal, even if it doubles as a shield augmentation crystal.

Mental Shield [psionic]
You can create a powerful shield using only the power of your mind.
Prerequisites: Mental Surge class feature
Benefits: Any shield that you create through your mental armory class feature grants you an enhancement bonus to AC as if it were a suit of armor created by the same ability. If you possess both a shield and a suit of armor created by your mental armory class feature, the enhancement bonus of both are halved (rounded down) and you may distribute all applicable abilities gained through the psychic augmentation class feature between your shield and armor.
You may select shield abilities in place of or in addition to armor special abilities using your psychic augmentation class feature. Lastly, whenever you alter your chosen abilities through the psychic augmentation class feature, you can redistribute any or all appropriate abilities between your shield and armor.

Versatile Armory [psionic]
You can customize the items that you create to a certain degree
Prerequisites: Psychic Augmentation class feature
Benefits: At the start of each day, you may choose to increase your effective class level for the purpose of either your mental armory or psychic augmentation class feature by +2 for 24 hours. Doing so, however, reduces your effective class level for the other ability by –2 for 24 hours. You may not reduce your effective class level for either class feature below 2nd.
Special: This feat can be taken multiple times. It’s effects stack.

Doubled Armory [psionic]
You can call forth more than one weapon using the power of your mind.
Prerequisites: Two-weapon fighting, Mental Surge +1d10
Benefits: You may possess up to two weapons created through your mental armory class feature. While you possess two weapons in this way, the enhancement bonus of each is halved (rounded down) and you may distribute all applicable abilities gained through the psychic augmentation class feature between the two weapons.
Whenever you alter your chosen abilities through the psychic augmentation class feature, you can redistribute any or all appropriate abilities between the two weapons. If at any time only one weapon should remain, it gains the full enhancement bonus and all applicable special abilities.

Improved Double Armory [psionic]
When you create multiple weapons, both of them are empowered.
Prerequisites: Doubled Armory, Mental Surge +3d10
Benefits: When you possess two weapons created through your mental armory class feature, both of them gain an extra +1 enhancement bonus.

Greater Double Armory [psionic]
You have mastered the art of creating multiple weapons with your mind.
Prerequisites: Improved Double Armory, Mental Surge +5d10
Benefits: When you possess two weapons created through your mental armory
class feature, both of them gain an extra +2 enhancement bonus. This stacks with the benefits of Improved Double Armory.

Realms of Chaos
2010-05-28, 08:13 AM
So... yeah... there it is.

I'm actually quite happy with how it came out from an aesthetic design sense (stupid OCD!) but there's a good chance that this thing is overpowered.

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

WeLoveFireballs
2010-05-28, 10:33 AM
I'm not to great with names but I think you should tone down some of this. At second level he can have a suit of +1 full plate and a +1 greatsword. That is just way to much.

peacenlove
2010-05-28, 11:05 AM
Capstone please? :smallbiggrin:
An idea for a name would be Psychic (or Cerebral) Armsmaster.
In a quick glance he has too many passive abilities however i Will read it after my trip to Athens tommorow and comment.

Xuc Xac
2010-05-28, 11:13 AM
Maybe you could put "Mental Armoury" into a progression.

Mental Armoury I: simple weapons and light armor
Mental Armoury II: martial weapons and medium armor
Mental Armoury III: exotic weapons and heavy armor


Or even make it 6 levels. At each level of Mental Armoury, you choose a Mental Weaponry level (1:simple, 2:martial, 3:exotic) or a Mental Armor level (1:light, 2:medium, 3:heavy). At first level, they would have to choose Weaponry or Armor but not both. They can focus on one or the other as they level up or they can keep them balanced.

Hyooz
2010-05-28, 11:23 AM
Really needs a full BAB if it's meant to be a frontliner.

D Knight
2010-05-28, 04:33 PM
Maybe you could put "Mental Armory" into a progression.

Mental Armory I: simple weapons and light armor
Mental Armory II: martial weapons and medium armor
Mental Armory III: exotic weapons and heavy armor


Or even make it 6 levels. At each level of Mental Armory, you choose a Mental Weaponry level (1:simple, 2:martial, 3:exotic) or a Mental Armor level (1:light, 2:medium, 3:heavy). At first level, they would have to choose Weaponry or Armor but not both. They can focus on one or the other as they level up or they can keep them balanced.

but look at his Proficiencies he is only able to get a +1 chain shirt at first level. so to get full plate he would need to use 2 feats (yes i know about humans bonus feat). i also second full BAB if this is too be on front line.

Realms of Chaos
2010-05-28, 05:25 PM
WeLoveFireballs: What's so powerful about +1 Full Plate and +1 Greatsword even at 1st level? Good equipment with a +1 bonus to attack rolls (making up for medium BAB), Damage rolls (not that substantial), and AC (which helps but isn't broken) doesn't seem that awesome, especially when you spent two feats just to get that full plate armor.
Also, all characters can already obtain +1 Full Plate as early as 1st level for the price of 2 feats (Take Bind Vestige and Improved Bind Vestige and then bind Savnok). There's a couple of downsides there but the fact stands.

Peacenlove: The Capstone is there but it's a bit hidden. At 20th level, you gain the ability to apply special abilities with a +5 bonus (like vorpal or total fortification). Should I add something on top of that?
And yes, most of this class is fairly passive, unless you're actively using your mental surges, using psionics, or swapping the abilities on your equipment.
PS. Thanks for the awesome name idea. :smallwink:

Xuc Xac: I expected that people would say that the ability to choose any proficient item from level 1 woud be unbalancing but I don't see why. I don't see any simple/martial weapon or light armor that would break things and getting anything else requires either a dip into another class (raising your level and WBL in the process so it's less of a problem ) or some of your feats (in which case your getting a decent reward for your investment).
Is there something that I'm missing about the situation?

In General: I chose to go with medium BAB rather than full BAB for 2 reasons.
1. WotC has apparently made it some unofficial rule of theirs that no psionic base class can ever have full BAB. I didn't see a reason to break this pattern.
2. The enhancement bonuses that your weapon cancels out your lack of BAB at each level when you lose out on it (1st, 5th, 9th, etc.) and gives you another +5 bonus aside from that. The +10 damage bonus to your three extent attacks doesn't quite make up for a fourth attack but you can put the speed property on your weapon whenever you please to help out (though you're still behind full BAB assailants with speed weaponry). I may make another feat to help this guy make an extra attack with a full attack, fully cancelling the penalties of having a medium BAB in the long run...

...Well, except for meeting the prerequisites of feats/PrCs. That much I view as an acceptable loss for this class.

PairO'Dice Lost
2010-05-28, 09:33 PM
I like it. The only change I'd make would be upping the flat-price augments from 1000gp * bonus lost to 5000gp * bonus lost, or at least increase it somewhere along the way; 10,000gp doesn't get you much in exchange for a +10 weapon, but 50,000gp will.


1. WotC has apparently made it some unofficial rule of theirs that no psionic base class can ever have full BAB. I didn't see a reason to break this pattern.
2. The enhancement bonuses that your weapon cancels out your lack of BAB at each level when you lose out on it (1st, 5th, 9th, etc.) and gives you another +5 bonus aside from that. The +10 damage bonus to your three extent attacks doesn't quite make up for a fourth attack but you can put the speed property on your weapon whenever you please to help out (though you're still behind full BAB assailants with speed weaponry). I may make another feat to help this guy make an extra attack with a full attack, fully cancelling the penalties of having a medium BAB in the long run...

...Well, except for meeting the prerequisites of feats/PrCs. That much I view as an acceptable loss for this class.

The thing about never giving a psionic class full BAB is due to WotC's belief that because the fighter has full BAB and a bonus feat progression, the only "martial" psionic class (psychic warrior) should be penalized with lower BAB and slower feat progression; the rest of the non-full-manifesters are all roguish, so 3/4 BAB makes sense for them. Given that the whole point of this and other soulknife fixes is to make them better combatants, and given that WotC was wrong about the fighter being so amazing, I'd strongly suggest reconsidering the full BAB issue. Iterative attacks and PrC qualification are a big deal for front-liners like this soulknife.

Realms of Chaos
2010-05-28, 11:36 PM
If you look carefully, you'll see that each bonus sacrificed grants a cumulative 1,000 gp per point of bonus given up.

As such, you trade a +1 bonus for 1,000 gp, a +2 bonus for 3,000 gp (1,000 + 2,000), a +3 gets you 6,000 (1,000 + 2,000 + 3,000), and so on until you get 55,000 with your +10 bonus.

If this is too complicated, I might just change it to the sacrificed bonus x the sacrificed bonus x 1000. I think that It needs to be an exponential progression of sorts as no number looks small enough to gain at level 2 while also being big enough to amount to a decent number by level 20 through linear progression.

Also, as several people have all suggested it, let's see how this baby looks with Full BAB.

PairO'Dice Lost
2010-05-29, 02:46 AM
Ah. Yes, that is an important word; I was going to suggest something similar myself. Never mind, then.

Realms of Chaos
2010-05-30, 12:04 AM
So... everything looks okay now?

No special loophole that I missed? No vague wording that will confuse people? No weird levels where the power level stagnates or shoots like a rocket?

Just making sure.

PairO'Dice Lost
2010-05-30, 12:10 AM
So... everything looks okay now?

No special loophole that I missed? No vague wording that will confuse people? No weird levels where the power level stagnates or shoots like a rocket?

Just making sure.

Nope, looks good to me. I might suggest adding a capstone ability, but otherwise I think this is basically finished.