A Soulknife variant? How original... (p.e.a.c.h.) *Updated 3/4*

[Makeitstop]

Update: I've completely reworked the mind blade's progression to be both simpler and more balanced. In addition, the damage reduction has been spread out much more evenly so as to actually be worth something.

I've also added a new Psi-like ability, Detect Minds, which allows the soulknife to, well, detect minds. And following that line of thought, sense motive is now a class skill.

All of this is in addition to the previous alterations: he has full BAB progression instead of moderate, more proficiencies, power points, can alter his weapon's abilities on the fly, gets access to more weapon effects, more weapon shapes, and 3 bonus feats.

The final product is a fast, psionic melee class that's highly adaptable, and is something of a distant cousin to the paladin and barbarian.

For ease of reference, changes from the normal soulknife are in blue.


Level|BAB|Fort|Ref|Will|PP|Special

1|+1|+0|+2|+2|2|Mind blade, Enhancement bonus +1 Weapon Focus (mind blade), Wild Talent

2|+2|+0|+3|+3|4|Throw mind blade, Special abilities +1, Quick Enhancement

3|+3|+1|+3|+3|6|Psychic strike +1d8, Mind blade shape, Damage reduction 1/-

4|+4|+1|+4|+4|8|Speed of Thought, Enhancement bonus +2,

5|+5|+1|+4|+4|10|Free draw, Special abilities +2, Bonus Feat

6|+6/+1|+2|+5|+5|12|Detect Minds, Mind blade shape

7|+7/+2|+2|+5|+5|14|Psychic strike +2d8, Enhancement bonus +3, Damage reduction 2/-

8|+8/+3|+2|+6|+6|16|Special abilities +3

9|+9/+4|+3|+6|+6|18|Bladewind, Mind blade shape, Greater Weapon Focus (mind blade)

10|+10/+5|+3|+7|+7|20|Enhancement bonus +4

11|+11/+6/+1|+3|+7|+7|22|Psychic strike +3d8, Special abilities +4, Damage reduction 3/-, Bonus Feat

12|+12/+7/+2|+4|+8|+8|24|Mind blade shape

13|+13/+8/+3|+4|+8|+8|26|Knife to the soul, Enhancement bonus +5

14|+14/+9/+4|+4|+9|+9|28| Special abilities +5

15|+15/+10/+5|+5|+9|+9|30|Psychic strike +4d8, Mind blade shape, Damage reduction 4/-

16|+16/+11/+6/+1|+5|+10|+10|32|Enhancement bonus +6

17|+17/+12/+7/+2|+5|+10|+10|34| Special abilities +6, Bonus Feat

18|+18/+13/+8/+3|+6|+11|+11|36|Mind blade shape

19|+19/+14/+9/+4|+6|+11|+11|38|Psychic strike +5d8, Enhancement bonus +7, Damage reduction 5/-

20|+20/+15/+10/+5|+6|+12|+12|40| Special abilities +7

Hit Die
d10.

Class Skills: Autohypnosis (Wis), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points Per Level
4 + Int modifier.

Abilities
Wisdom determines bonus power points.

Class Features:

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Soulknives are proficient with all simple weapons, martial melee weapons, with their own mind blades, with light and medium armor and shields (except tower shields).

Mind Blade (Su)
Mind Blade functions much like it does with a normal soulknife, except that by default, it can be either a short sword or a longsword. When a mind blade dissipates and reforms, it reforms in the same shape as before unless the soulknife chooses to change it. Reshaping a mind blade uses the same action as materializing a mind blade.

At 1st level the mind blade receives a +1 enhancement bonus, and receives additional bonuses every 3 levels.

Weapon Focus (Mind Blade)
A soulknife gains Weapon Focus (mind blade) as a bonus feat.

Wild Talent
A soulknife gains Wild Talent as a bonus feat. (This is not accounted for in the above power point progression)

Throw Mind Blade (Ex)
A soulknife of 2nd level or higher can throw his mind blade as a ranged weapon with a range increment of 30 feet.

A soulknife can make iterative attacks with a thrown mind blade when making a full attack. If the mindblade is shaped as a light weapon, apply the normal base attack during a full attack, -2 to attack when shaped as a one handed weapon, and -4 to attack when using a two handed weapon.

Whether or not the attack hits, a thrown mind blade then dissipates. A soulknife of 3rd 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).

Mind Blade Special Abilities(Su)
Starting at 2nd level, a soulknife enhance his mind blade with special abilities. Enhancing a mind blade with special abilities requires 8 hours of meditation. Once a mind blade has been enhanced, it retains those special abilities until the soul knife replaces them or chooses to eliminate them.

A soulknife can enhance his mind blade with the following abilities:
Weapon special ability|Enhancement bonus value
Defending |+1
Keen1|+1
Lucky|+1
Mighty cleaving| +1
Psychokinetic |+1
Sundering |+1
Vicious |+1
Energized (1d6)2|+1
Ghost touch|+1
Merciful|+1
Light|+1
Darkness|+1
Collision|+2
Mindcrusher|+2
Psychokinetic burst|+2
Suppression|+2
Wounding|+2
Aligned3|+2
Disruption1|+2
Energy Burst2|+2
Material Essence4|+2
Bodyfeeder|+3
Mindfeeder|+3
Soulbreaker|+3
Brilliant energy|+4
Vorpal1|+5

1 May be applied to a mind blade regardless of the shape's damage type.
2 Choose from fire, ice, electric, acid or sonic. Changing damage type requires re-enhancing.
3 The Soulknife can make the mindblade one of the following so long as it matches his alignment: anarchic, axiomatic, holy or unholy. May be applied twice to give a weapon two different, non-conflicting alignments.
4 Any special material may be applied to any mindblade shape. The soulknife must be touching an object made primarily from that material at the time of the enhancing.

Quick Enhancement (Su)
Starting at 2nd level, a soulknife can enhance his mindblade with special abilities as a standard action. Quick enhancments cost 3 power points per +1 of enhancement bonus value applied to the mind blade. Provokes Attacks of opportunity.

Psychic Strike (Su)
As a move action, a soulknife of 3rd level or higher can imbue his mind blade with destructive psychic energy. This effect deals an extra 1d8 points of damage to the next living, nonmindless target he successfully hits with a melee attack (or ranged attack, if he is using the throw mind blade ability). Creatures immune to mind-affecting effects are immune to psychic strike damage. (Unlike the rogue’s sneak attack, the psychic strike is not precision damage and can affect creatures otherwise immune to extra damage from critical hits or more than 30 feet away, provided they are living, nonmindless creatures not immune to mind-affecting effects.)

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

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

At every four levels beyond 3rd (7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th), the extra damage from a soulknife’s psychic strike increases as shown on the Table above.

Damage Reduction
While a soulknife's conscious mind is learning generate a blade, his subconscious is being trained to generate an imperceptible protective field throughout his body. This ability is always active and cannot be dispelled.

Speed of Thought
A soulknife gains Speed of Thought as a bonus feat at 4th level.

Free Draw (Su)
At 5th level, a soulknife becomes able to materialize (or reshape) his mind blade as a free action instead of a move action. He can make only one attempt to materialize the mind blade per round, however.

Shape Mind Blade (Su)
At level 3 and every three levels afterthat, a soulknife can choose an additional weapon shape for his mind blade. These shapes can be chosen from any melee weapons with which the soulknife is proficient.

A soulknife can also split his mind blade into two identical weapons which have one less enhancement bonus, and one less maximum enhancement value for special abilities. Each blade can be charged with a separate psychic strike. Normal dual wielding rules apply.

Bonus Feats
At 5th, 11th, and 17th levels, a soulknife may choose a fighter bonus feat or a psionic feat.

Detect Minds (Psi-like)
At 6th level, a soulknife gains the ability to detect minds at will. Functions identically to detect thoughts, but without the ability to read surface thoughts, and no save.

Bladewind (Su)
At 9th level, a soulknife gains the ability to momentarily fragment his mind blade into numerous identical blades, each of which strikes at a nearby opponent.

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

When using bladewind, a soulknife 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.

Greater Weapon Focus (Mind Blade)
A soulknife gains Greater Weapon Focus (mind blade) as a bonus feat at 9th level.

Knife to the Soul (Su)
Beginning at 13th level, when a soulknife 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 soulknife can combine extra dice of damage and ability damage in any combination.

The soulknife 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.

[Gideon Falcon]

I think you might need to tone down the Mind Blade Enhancement progression, seeing as it's not all that difficult to get a Wis modifier of +12, and I don't think you want to give characters +10 weapons with +11 worth of who-knows-what bonuses.

[Lix Lorn]

Well, first of all, I don't understand this line.

Shapes that naturally have the keen property such as rapiers do not stack with keen.

Second, I'm not sure if you've fixed the main problem. Problem with Soulknife is that its main class ability is having a sword. Yes, you have a much stronger sword with this version (and the above poster's point is relevant) but that's still pretty much it.

[Makeitstop]

I think you might need to tone down the Mind Blade Enhancement progression, seeing as it's not all that difficult to get a Wis modifier of +12, and I don't think you want to give characters +10 weapons with +11 worth of who-knows-what bonuses.
I meant to stipulate that temporary boosts to your WIS do not apply, which should greatly reduce the issue. If a DM is willing to allow stuff that permanently increases wisdom to 34 or more, I'd say a +10 weapon is likely to be the least of your problems.

With a normal character with wisdom starting at 18 and putting every ability point into wisdom, then the most you will ever get is +6 WIS, which at level 20 gives you a progression score of 15, allowing you a +8 mindblade with +7 worth of abilities. Awesome, yes, but compare that to the stuff other classes can do at high levels, and I think it's clear that it's not exactly game breaking.

Yes there are ways to get more, but those will either cost levels or mountains of gold, and will at most advance your progression score by 2 or 3, which is pretty weak given the trade offs.


Well, first of all, I don't understand this line.

Oops. I based that on something an old DM told me which upon further research turns out to be wrong. Line removed, problem solved.


Second, I'm not sure if you've fixed the main problem. Problem with Soulknife is that its main class ability is having a sword. Yes, you have a much stronger sword with this version (and the above poster's point is relevant) but that's still pretty much it.
Well, yes and no.

You are correct that the main point of the class is largely unchanged. I didn't want to completely alter them to the point of being a different class. It's a guy who makes a weapon with his mind, rather than buying one.

However, it's no longer just a sword. It can be a variety of weapons, and you can change the effects as the situation warrants. It is a whole arsenal at your disposal. Not to mention that you can have some pretty sweet throwing weapons too. And the other abilities are nice.

This is for those who think the concept of a soulknife is awesome, but the execution is flawed. If you don't like the basic soulknife, you probably won't like this one.

[Lix Lorn]

Oh, I love the Soulkife, I did a fix myself. It's just that most of this classes features can be mimicked with wealth by level.

[Ziegander]

If a DM is willing to allow stuff that permanently increases wisdom to 34 or more, I'd say a +10 weapon is likely to be the least of your problems.

With a normal character with wisdom starting at 18 and putting every ability point into wisdom, then the most you will ever get is +6 WIS

Uh. What?

You're doing it wrong. Ability scores of 30+ are commonplace, if not, guaranteed at 20th level. Starting with an 18 you get 5 ability points in 20 levels, you'll have a +6 enhancement item, you could read the tome for a +5 further innate bonus, that alone gets you 34, and it's all core, and all permanent.

I don't have much to say about the class other than what Lix has already said; I just wanted to comment that basically all DMs all the time allow stuff that can very easily increase Wisdom, or any other ability score, to 34+.

[Makeitstop]

Oh, I love the Soulkife, I did a fix myself. It's just that most of this classes features can be mimicked with wealth by level.
True, but I think that's not possible with this version.

Because of the ability to enchant on the fly, and the ability to reshape the minblade into half a dozen or more weapon shapes, you get the equivalent of having a whole set of weapons designed specifically for each situation. There's just no way you can have 6 or 7 powerful weapons (all of which you have feats for) just for fighting werewolves, and another set for fighting the undead, and another set for fighting psionic enemies, and so on.

Add to that the psychic strike ability, which while not amazing is still useful, and the other little features, and I think you still end up with something fairly unique.

It's a happy medium between this:
http://media.comicvine.com/uploads/0/6342/159156-183020-kazuma-kuwabara_large.png
And this:
http://media.daemonstv.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/THE-GREEN-LANTERN.jpg

[Makeitstop]

Uh. What?

You're doing it wrong. Ability scores of 30+ are commonplace, if not, guaranteed at 20th level. Starting with an 18 you get 5 ability points in 20 levels, you'll have a +6 enhancement item, you could read the tome for a +5 further innate bonus, that alone gets you 34, and it's all core, and all permanent.

I don't have much to say about the class other than what Lix has already said; I just wanted to comment that basically all DMs all the time allow stuff that can very easily increase Wisdom, or any other ability score, to 34+.
Yes, but as I said in that post, and as has been edited into the original post, it's permanent stuff only, so that +6 enhancement is not going have any effect (if the bonus disappears when you take it off, it isn't permanent). As for the tome, that would fall under the mountain of gold clause, and while many a DM might allow it, according to the DMG, anything over 100,000GP is going to be unavailable for purchase, which means the most you could buy RAW would be a +2 bonus to your wisdom. Crafting a tome isn't much of an option either, as a soulknife can't, and even if they could, the xp cost would take you down at least one level, possibly two.

So yeah, if you have an 18, and you pump all your ability points into wisdom, and you have an eligible friend willing to drop a level or two for you, yes, you can get a permanent wisdom modifier of +9 at level 20. That's power gaming for you.

And what do you get for your trouble? 3 extra weapon shapes (which you probably have little or no use for) and an extra +1 enhancement bonus and +2 worth of abilities. Useful certainly, but I've got to think there's more efficient ways to spend your resources.

And before level 17, that isn't even possible unless the DM throws a tome at you. So for the first 16 levels, you're not going to run into any problems there, and if the DM feels so inclined, he can keep it that way for levels 17 through 20 without exactly stretching the rules very far.

So while maybe a bit of fine tuning is in order, as it stands, it still can't match the power of a lot of other level 20 characters.

[Lix Lorn]

Well, you just take a +2 Wisdom race and that suddenly becomes easier. Also...

Level 20 ANYTHING is closer to
http://media.daemonstv.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/THE-GREEN-LANTERN.jpg
than anything else.

You may always have the right weapon, but this means that the Soulknife's class features are 'it's always as good as a fighter would be up against something they've been built to kill'. So it still beats a fighter, but... Otherwise? Not so much.

[Gideon Falcon]

I think you have the prices and WBL wrong. A +5 weapon with +5 in special abilities, which is what your party meat shield will have, is over 200,000 gp, and they still have over 500,000 to spend on everything else. I'm pretty sure that the limit for the most expensive item you can get at 20th level is around 370,000, not 100,000. So, yeah, a 20th level character can easily afford a tome of +5 WIS, reaching a maximum of 28 without racial adjustments, bringing a total Enhancement progression of 18, which, looking back on it, is actually not as overpowered as I thought when you realize that there aren't any maneuvers, powers, spells, or such to augment your weapon, and any multiclassing is going to lower that bonus down.

[Makeitstop]

I think you have the prices and WBL wrong. A +5 weapon with +5 in special abilities, which is what your party meat shield will have, is over 200,000 gp, and they still have over 500,000 to spend on everything else. I'm pretty sure that the limit for the most expensive item you can get at 20th level is around 370,000, not 100,000. So, yeah, a 20th level character can easily afford a tome of +5 WIS, reaching a maximum of 28 without racial adjustments, bringing a total Enhancement progression of 18, which, looking back on it, is actually not as overpowered as I thought when you realize that there aren't any maneuvers, powers, spells, or such to augment your weapon, and any multiclassing is going to lower that bonus down.
Actually, I wasn't referring to WBL, I was talking about the spending limits for cities, which stops at 100,000. A technicality that most DM's wouldn't actually enforce, but them's the rules.

Anyway, it's all a non-issue at this point as I've reworked it to have a set progression. After thinking about it, I realized that getting the benefits of 8 levels worth of progression just for having an 18 instead of 10 in wisdom was way too much. Now it's straightforward linear progression.

The mind blade is now generally going to have fewer bonuses at any given level, but on the other hand, you now get damage reduction and the ability to detect minds.

[Lix Lorn]

DR/magic is useless. Seriously. You might as well not have it at any level past... five?

...I'm saying this like I know what I'm talking about. When did that happen?

I'm also really sorry if I'm coming off harsh, but these are traps that I see people (like myself) falling into.

Althought the Detect Minds is a nice gimmick. xD

[Makeitstop]

DR/magic is useless. Seriously. You might as well not have it at any level past... five?

...I'm saying this like I know what I'm talking about. When did that happen?
I wouldn't call it useless, but it is certainly the least valuable damage reduction there is.

It's situational at best. There are plenty of non-magical, non-energy damage possibilities however, and that's what this is good for. So if you are mainly fighting things with magic weapons, this is not going to be helpful, however if you set off a trap, trigger a rockslide or get hit by an ogre swinging a tree trunk, this will help. From a DMing perspective, it's certainly easier to get a good mix of magical and non-magical damage than to have a plausible reason why half the people seem to have cold iron weapons.

The thing is, there aren't that many other damage reduction options, and none of the others seem right. Cold iron is for spirits and otherworldly, mostly evil things. Silver is mainly werewolves and the like, and would also just seem arbitrary. Adamantine, maybe, but it's still a wee bit of a stretch. Really the idea that magic would bypass psionic protection makes the most sense, particularly if treat them as separate forces, which I do.

And really, I want this to be less than stellar because I've already given them quite a bit. When you combine the powerful weapon with the money they are free to spend on items and armor (which really ought to go into an adamantine breastplate, thus conferring more DR to fall back on and potentially fueling an adamantine mind blade) and the ability to sense minds which helps you to pinpoint targets for psychic strike, well, you have quite a bit to work with as it is. It's not all powerful like high level spellcasters, but rather, a combination of tools that can be used to great effect by a smart player, like a rogue.

Also, most things which inflict magical damage have minds, and they are kind of your specialty. This will help you survive everything else.


I'm also really sorry if I'm coming off harsh, but these are traps that I see people (like myself) falling into.
Not at all, I appreciate honest criticism. It's only when people are rude, dismissive, or don't give reasons that it becomes irritating.


Althought the Detect Minds is a nice gimmick. xD
Indeed. The second I thought of it, it became my favorite class feature.

I also thought of conferring some type of minor telekinetic ability at later levels. It would make sense, and really just comes down to finding the right balance. Something like telekenetic force, but with a range and weight limit of 50.

[Gideon Falcon]

Technically it's only mostly useless, but again it isn't going to work against anything that has the intelligence to get a magic weapon or amulet of mighty fists (or have a master that could give it one), or anything that has DR/magic. Which is probably plentiful. Really, even DR/bludgeoning or such is better. DR/-, DR/alignment, or DR/material is even better.

[Lix Lorn]

I honestly still say this is underpowered. Money is nice, but it is NO substitute for class features. If you took, say, the rogue, and gave them a free weapon with total bonus equal to half their level, they'd still not be tier 3.

I'd recommend just DR/-. And more class features. Or, you could give them powers known. Maybe the psion/wilder list at Psychic Warrior speed.

[Gideon Falcon]

Well, that viewpoint is the bane of the Soulknife class, because making the class have several abilities that you can't replicate with money, you kind of shift the focus away from the main flavor of the class, namely their awesome sword.

[Lix Lorn]

But, bad for the class or not, that is the main problem. If I built a Psion, Wilder, or even Psychic Warrior and fluffed a normal sword as made of their soul, they would be so, so much stronger than the soulknife. It wouldn't even be close.
(Well, maybe close for one or two levels, but not long.)

[Makeitstop]

Well, that viewpoint is the bane of the Soulknife class, because making the class have several abilities that you can't replicate with money, you kind of shift the focus away from the main flavor of the class, namely their awesome sword.

But, bad for the class or not, that is the main problem. If I built a Psion, Wilder, or even Psychic Warrior and fluffed a normal sword as made of their soul, they would be so, so much stronger than the soulknife. It wouldn't even be close.
(Well, maybe close for one or two levels, but not long.)
I think there's a middle ground to be had here. The sword is a major feature of the class, but it need not be the only feature. Other features are good as long as they are complimentary in the flavor department.

I'm considering other class features at higher levels, but I'm still figuring out what and how much. What I do know is that they will not just be powers like all the other psionic classes, because the way I see it, a soulknife is someone who has focused on a very specific type of ability rather than mind powers in general. They can learn to do more things involving quasi-telepathy and quasi-telekinesis, but they'd follow the pattern of limitless uses with some caveat to balance it out.


Anyway, I had my first real chance to test it out, and I'm happy with the results. It was a low level character, but it was a long and intense session, and the soulknife more than held his own. The Psychic strike ability was invaluable, and he was by far the most flexible character. It was a tight race for MVP between him and the goliath paladin, but the soulknife won out in the end.

[Land Outcast]

There are some abilities you could grant eventually, just brainstorming:
Ability to cut in between dimensions with the mind's blade (Dimension door)
Sheer mind power (ability to cut through Wall of Force)
Seeking the mind (ability to make an attack as a touch attack 1/day)

... just that, not many ideas today :smallfrown:

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

As has already been mentioned, this class suffers from the same ailment that the Soulknife suffer from: your entire class basically serves to give you a few cool magic weapons. It's not a good design in concept, so even a good execution (and your execution isn't bad by any means) leaves a bland and rather one-sided class that will inevitably be either completely underpowered, or incredibly overpowered in a single aspect and all but worthless in every other aspect.

Basically, the concept of "A warrior who creates and fights with weapons created from his mind" is a fine concept...but not when the definition of "weapon" means "a weapon pulled from the rulebook and conjured on the spot," as that's incredibly limiting. It's two restrictive a concept to apply to a base class, honestly. The Green Lantern is a better direction to aim, as he can conjure weapons, but he can also do any number of other interesting things.

For example...take what you just wrote up and give it something tacked on: customized invocations, or a new discipline or two of martial maneuvers. Now it has a mental sword as a class feature, but a large part of the class isn't tied to what is basically a cool gimmick. Now, in addition, it gets cool martial tricks: maybe it can use telekinesis or conjure objects other than weapons using its mind, creating walls, bridges, and so forth. Maybe it channels its psychic powers into new martial disciplines, allowing it to cut through walls of force, splinter the mind-blade into shrapnel-like cone attacks, or surround itself in a whirlwind of mental blades. Basically, it has an arsenal of tricks that don't rely on "make a basic attack roll to hit creature A with psychic sword B."

Now, suddenly, the class is full of options and excitement, and the mindblade becomes a fundamental aspect of the class...but not the fundamental aspect of the class. It's a class built around a larger concept of which the mindblade becomes part, rather than having the mindblade exist in the vacuum of being the only class feature...and any class feature that is basically just redistributing wealth in such a limited form (sure, it's any weapon...but it's still just a weapon) makes for a one-dimensional, gimmicky, largely uninteresting class.

[Elfstone]

Dang it. I was about to say exactly what Djinn just said, although less eloquently. Basically, soulknife is an awesome idea, except everything is "I have a weapon" Well thats great. Everyone has a weapon. It needs to be "I have a weapon AND I CAN USE IT".

[Realms of Chaos]

Weird. This class reminds me of a less powerful version of the Fix (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=154049) I made awhile back. Feel free to look at that for inspiration if you want. :smallconfused:

[Makeitstop]

As has already been mentioned, this class suffers from the same ailment that the Soulknife suffer from: your entire class basically serves to give you a few cool magic weapons. It's not a good design in concept, so even a good execution (and your execution isn't bad by any means) leaves a bland and rather one-sided class that will inevitably be either completely underpowered, or incredibly overpowered in a single aspect and all but worthless in every other aspect.

Basically, the concept of "A warrior who creates and fights with weapons created from his mind" is a fine concept...but not when the definition of "weapon" means "a weapon pulled from the rulebook and conjured on the spot," as that's incredibly limiting. It's two restrictive a concept to apply to a base class, honestly. The Green Lantern is a better direction to aim, as he can conjure weapons, but he can also do any number of other interesting things.

For example...take what you just wrote up and give it something tacked on: customized invocations, or a new discipline or two of martial maneuvers. Now it has a mental sword as a class feature, but a large part of the class isn't tied to what is basically a cool gimmick. Now, in addition, it gets cool martial tricks: maybe it can use telekinesis or conjure objects other than weapons using its mind, creating walls, bridges, and so forth. Maybe it channels its psychic powers into new martial disciplines, allowing it to cut through walls of force, splinter the mind-blade into shrapnel-like cone attacks, or surround itself in a whirlwind of mental blades. Basically, it has an arsenal of tricks that don't rely on "make a basic attack roll to hit creature A with psychic sword B."

Now, suddenly, the class is full of options and excitement, and the mindblade becomes a fundamental aspect of the class...but not the fundamental aspect of the class. It's a class built around a larger concept of which the mindblade becomes part, rather than having the mindblade exist in the vacuum of being the only class feature...and any class feature that is basically just redistributing wealth in such a limited form (sure, it's any weapon...but it's still just a weapon) makes for a one-dimensional, gimmicky, largely uninteresting class.
I agree. In fact telekinesis and wall making are two of the features I have been considering. I just haven't gotten a chance to work on it in a while.

However, I can say that at low levels at least, it is fun and is different enough and effective enough to be worth playing.

[MammonAzrael]

Djinn_In_Tonic, unsurprisingly, makes excellent points. variety above and beyond the mind blade is needed. I recently submitted a class to the Base Class contest (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=189904), the ascetic (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10531049&postcount=6), that was inspired by the soulknife and monk. The varried extra features might give you some inspiration. :smallsmile: And of course, if you have any comments on the class, I'd love to hear them in the chat thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=181782). :smallwink:

Creating walls and other BFC elements I could see as an interesting avenue to take with the class.

[Elfstone]

I agree. In fact telekinesis and wall making are two of the features I have been considering. I just haven't gotten a chance to work on it in a while.

However, I can say that at low levels at least, it is fun and is different enough and effective enough to be worth playing.

But.. but... Its not...

[Witty Username]

Why not make the soul knife's mind blade more effective then money can buy, or effects that cannot be duplicated by enhancement.

[Djinn_in_Tonic]

However, I can say that at low levels at least, it is fun and is different enough and effective enough to be worth playing.

I must respectfully disagree. Until 6th level (when I can detect minds, which is an only vaguely useful ability), my only features are +damage and a slightly more versatile weapon. At 9th level, I basically gain the Whirlwind Attack feat. At 13 level I can turn some of that boring +damage into damage to mental ability scores.

That is the sum total of even remotely interesting class features. Three interesting features and a magic weapon with some extra damage cost me 20 levels of character growth. Sure, I have DR 5/- and what is effectively a shape-shifting +14 weapon that I can throw, but...well...it's still incredibly boring. Yay...I have a weapon. I can also purchase one that's almost (although not quite) as powerful. Everyone else in the party will have done so. I'd be much, much happier with an actually interesting class and a +10 weapon, because (and this is the important part) I'd feel like my class features were actually unique, interesting, and good for something.

Unless you can flesh this out a lot more, I'd say we're looking at reducing this class to a single alternate class feature for the Psychic Warrior or Swordsage, or a couple of feats (maybe 2-3), or a 5 level Prestige Class. Without more substance behind the concept, it just won't make for an interesting and rewarding base class.

[Tavar]

Well, they basically have made a Psycic Warrior Alternate Class Feature that gives it a soulknife like weapon. And, if you really want to make the class like it is now, it's a PrC. The Soulknife fits a very specific concept. That's okay. But that doesn't make it a Base class. It's just to narrow(at least, as is).