Master Soulknife (3.5 PrC; ToB, MoI) PEACH

[enderlord99]

"He puts the 'soul' in 'soulknife.' He also puts both the 'mind' and 'blade' in 'mindblade."

Prerequisites:

mind blade class feature
psychic strike +4d8
able to manifest 1st level psionic powers
able to bind a soulmeld to a chakra
able to use first level martial maneuvers


benefits at each level:


all three good saves
d8 hd
good bab
full manifester, meldshaper, and initiator progression
progresses all soulknife class features (that progress)... at DOUBLE the normal speed. (1 level of this = 2 levels of soulknife)
maximum of five levels

[Elegonn]

In the DMG2 it says that all prestige classes shoul give the player a serious debate on whether or not to take a level. If I met the prereqs, why wouldn't I choose this class? This class is way too powerful.

[enderlord99]

In the DMG2 it says that all prestige classes shoul give the player a serious debate on whether or not to take a level. If I met the prereqs, why wouldn't I choose this class? This class is way too powerful.

Needs FOUR classes, one with ELEVEN levels, to qualify. In other words, the phrase "if I met the prerequisites" is a pretty big IF.

[EdroGrimshell]

Needs FOUR classes, one with ELEVEN levels, to qualify. In other words, the phrase "if I met the prerequisites" is a pretty big IF.

I'm probably going to work on my own version of this, with much simpler requirements and earlier entry, and 10-levels instead of 5. I do like this as a base but it doesn't offer any unique abilities, not even bonus feats based around the mind blade.

[Elegonn]

Yeah, still. A 20th level character with levels in this will more than likely beat a 20th level character without.

[lightningcat]

:smallconfused: Very powerful, yet strangely boring.

[gkathellar]

Yeah, still. A 20th level character with levels in this will more than likely beat a 20th level character without.

I'm sorry, what? I'm taking this to task.

Class prerequisites demand 1st-level psionic powers, chakra binds, martial maneuvers and +4d8 psychic strike. Now, you can theoretically qualify for this with just the Soulknife 11 and a boatload of feats, but considering what the class progresses the most optimal entry is probably Soulknife 11/Warblade 1/Psion 1/Incarnate 1. That still requires a lot of feats, BTW.

In return, what do we get? Well, grab five Master Soulknife levels and one more of psion, and you get and IL of 13 with stunted Maneuvers Readied/Known. You get 4th-level powers. You get meldshaping as a 6th-level incarnate. Oh, and 21st level soulknife abilities. In other words, for a ridiculously difficult entry, you get to still be crap by 20th level.

In fact, even if you allow for retraining, the class is only good by virtue of allowing you to progress psionics. You could theoretically end up with a Soulknife 1/Master Soulknife 5/Warblade 1/Incarnate 1/Psion 12 build, and you still wouldn't be as good as Psion 20.

In other words, this PrC doesn't patch or improve much of anything. It lets a terrible class be slightly less terrible by co-opting the abilities of other classes to a very limited degree.