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Seerow
2013-09-20, 03:02 PM
The soulknife is one of those classes around the same level as the Fighter and the Monk, but seems to get far less attention than either. Since today (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16063445&postcount=5) is apparently fighter fix day (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16063209&postcount=6) I'd celebrate by posting something other than a Fighter fix, but close enough to hit the same spot.

My vision here for the Soulknife is probably closer to a true psychic warrior than the traditional Soulknife. While the Psywar focuses heavily on transformation effects, gaining tons of natural attacks and unloading them all, the Soulknife instead focuses on his Mindblade and new ways to use it effectively in combat. Additionally, it is built with more durability both in terms of survivability and capability of dealing with a long combat day than the psywar, instead behaving closer to the Fighter or other martially focused classes.

Note: Some of you may have an older version of this fix posted a couple years back. I'm reposting now with some revisions and cleaning up after some feedback via PM from the user Tetrys.




Soulknife

Hit Die: d10
Alignment: Any
Abilities: A soulknife's primary abilities are Strength and Wisdom. A soulknife uses Strength in all checks with his mindblade, for attacking and damage, and uses Wisdom to determine his armor class, how much damage he can deal with his Psychic Strike, and how many power points he has available.

The soulknife’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).

Skill Points: 4+int mod per level, x4 at first level

Table: The Soulknife
LevelBase Attack BonusFort SaveRef SaveWill SaveSpecialPowers KnownPP
1st+1+20+2 Mindblade, Weapon Focus, 1st level Powers10
2nd+2+30+3Shape Mindblade, Throw Mindblade, Psychic Strike 21
3rd+3+3+1+3 Mindblade Property, Insightful Defense 32
4th+4+4+1+4 Weapon Specialization, Psionic Meditation33
5th+5+4+1+42nd Level Powers, Free Draw44
6th+6/+1+5+2+5Psychic Empowerment55
7th+7/+2+5+2+5Flexible Enhancement, Bladewind66
8th+8/+3+6+2+6Greater Weapon Focus68
9th+9/+4+6+3+6Bonus Feat710
10th+10/+5+7+3+73rd Level Powers812
11th+11/+6/+1+7+3+7Improved Psionic Meditation914
12th+12/+7/+2+8+4+8Greater Weapon Specialization916
13th+13/+8/+3+8+4+8Bonus Feat, Knife to the Soul1018
14th+14/+9/+4+9+4+9Improved Bladewind1120
15th+15/+10/+5+9+5+94th level Powers1223
16th+16/+11/+6/+1+10+5+10Empowered Strike1226
17th+17/+12/+7/+2+10+5+10Bonus Feat1329
18th+18/+13/+8/+3+11+6+11Weapon Supremacy1432
19th+19/+14/+9/+4+11+6+11-1535
20th+20/+15/+10/+5+12+6+12 Bladestorm1538
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Soulknives are proficient with all simple weapons, with their own mindblade, and with light armor and shields (except tower shields).

Mindblade (Su)
As a move action, a soulknife can create a semisolid blade composed of psychic energy distilled from his own mind. The blade is identical in all ways (except visually) to a short sword of a size appropriate for its wielder. For instance, a Medium soulknife materializes a Medium mindblade that he can wield as a light weapon, and the blade deals 1d6 points of damage (crit 19-20/×2). Soulknives who are smaller or larger than Medium create mindblades identical to short swords appropriate for their size, with a corresponding change to the blade’s damage. The wielder of a mindblade gains the usual benefits to his attack roll and damage roll from a high Strength bonus.

The blade can be broken (it has hardness 10 and 10 hit points); however, a soulknife can simply create another on his next move action. The moment he relinquishes his grip on his blade, it dissipates (unless he intends to throw it; see below). A mindblade is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Even in places where psionic effects do not normally function (such as within a null psionics field), a soulknife can attempt to sustain his mindblade by making a DC 20 Concentration Check. With a successful check, the soulknife maintains his mindblade with all of its enhancements for a number of rounds equal to his class level before he needs to check again. On an unsuccessful attempt, the mindblade vanishes. As a move action on his turn, the soulknife can attempt a new Concentration Check to rematerialize his mindblade while he remains within the psionics negating effect.

All other psionic powers or supernatural abilities are still affected by a null psionics field as normal.

A soulknife can use feats such as Power Attack or Combat Expertise in conjunction with the mindblade just as if it were a normal weapon. He can also choose mindblade for feats requiring a specific weapon choice, such as Weapon Specialization. Powers or spells that upgrade weapons can be used on a mindblade.

A soulknife’s mindblade improves as the character gains higher levels. A first level Mindblade is effectively a +1 magical weapon. At 4th level and every four levels thereafter, the mindblade gains a cumulative +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls (+2 at 4th level, +3 at 8th level, +4 at 12th level, +5 at 16th level and +6 at 20th level).


Weapon Focus
A soulknife gains Weapon Focus (mindblade) as a bonus feat.


Power Points
A soulknife’s ability to manifest powers is limited by the power points he has available. His base allotment of power points is given on Table: The SoulKnife. In addition, he receives bonus power points if he has a high Wisdom score, though he only gains half the normal power point bonus from it. (Example: a 20th level soulknife with a +10 wis mod receives 50 bonus power points rather than 100). His race may also provide bonus power points, as may certain feats and items. A 1st-level Soulknife 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.

When determining how many power points a SoulKnife gains from a high ability score, consider his manifester level 1/2 of his soulknife level, rounded up. For all other purposes, his manifester level is his full soulknife level, and the effective level for determining bonus points may not be increased in any way.

Unlike most manifesters, the SoulKnife is able to refresh his power points by taking 5 minutes of uninterrupted concentration and meditation. He may do this a number of times per day equal to his wisdom modifier.

Powers Known
A soulknife begins play knowing one soulknife power of your choice. Upon leveling up, the SoulKnife may learn a new power, as indicated by table: The Soulknife. The maximum level of the power he may learn is also indicated by this table.

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

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

A soulknife 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).

The Difficulty Class for saving throws against soulknife powers is 10 + the power’s level + the soulknife’s wisdom modifier.


Shape Mindblade(Su)
Starting from 2nd level, the soulknife may reshape his Mindblade. Changing the Mindblade's form takes a full round action. Once the Mindblade's shape has been changed, it maintains that shape until the Soulknife uses an action to change its shape to something else. The Soulknife may choose the following forms for his Mindblade:

-Bastard Sword (1d10 19-20x2. Treated as having proficiency, usable as one handed weapon)
-Great Sword (2d6 19-20x2)
-Scythe (2d4 x4)
-A longsword+shortsword (1d8/1d6 19-20x2)

While using his mindblade as two weapons, his enhancement bonus is treated as 1 lower than usual. Additionally, the soulknife may choose to internalize his mindblade, increasing his unarmed damage by 1d6, and increasing its the critical hit multiplier by 1. The Soulknife may choose to change his mindblade form as a standard action by spending one power point. Starting at 5th level he may change it as a swift action spending 5 power points.

Psychic Strike(Su)
Starting at 2nd level while the Soulknife is psionically focused his mindblade is empowered with psychic energy. This increases the damage dealt from all attacks with his mindblade by 1d8, plus an additional 1d8 for every 4 Soulknife levels he possesses, while he is Psionically focused and attacking a living, nonmindless target.

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.)

The soulknife may expend his focus to double the bonus damage from his Psychic Strike for one attack.

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

Whether or not the attack hits, a thrown mindblade then dissipates. A soulknife of 3rd level or higher can make a psychic strike (see below) with a thrown mindblade and can use the blade in conjunction with other special abilities (such as Knife to the Soul; see below).

Insightful Defense(Ex)
A soulknife at 3rd level uses a combination of his psychic ability and his wisdom to defend himself. While wearing light or no armor, the Soulknife may use his wisdom modifier in place of his dexterity modifier to determine his armor class, to a maximum of his current soulknife class level.

Mindblade Property (Su)
At 3rd level, a soulknife gains the ability to add special properties to his mindblade. He can add any one of the weapon special abilities on the table below that has an enhancement bonus value of +1. These special properties are in addition to the inherent enhancement bonus granted by the Mindblade. So a 3rd level Soulknife will have a +1 Mindblade with a +1 property.

At every 8 levels beyond 3rd (11th, 19th), Mindblade Property's enhancement bonus increases by 1. Additionally, a Soulknife can choose to shift some of his Mindblade's enhancement bonus towards gaining extra properties. For example, an 8th level Soulknife normally has a +3 Mindblade, with a +1 property. However the Soulknife may choose to instead make that a +1 Mindblade with a +3 property.

A soulknife can choose any combination of weapon special abilities that does not exceed the total amount he has dedicated to properties. So in the previous example the Soulknife could have a +1 Speed Mindblade, or a +1 Flaming Frost Keen Mindblade.

The weapon ability or abilities remain the same every time the soulknife materializes his mindblade (unless he decides to reassign its abilities; see below). The ability or abilities apply to any form the mindblade takes, including the use of the shape mindblade or Bladewind class abilities.

A soulknife can reassign the ability or abilities he has added to his mindblade. To do so, he must first spend 8 hours in concentration. After that period, the mindblade materializes with the new ability or abilities selected by the soulknife.

{table=head]Weapon Special Ability|Enhancement Value
Bane | +1
Defending | +1
Flaming | +1
Frost | +1
Ghost Touch | +1
Keen |+1
Lucky | +1
Mighty cleaving |+1
Psychokinetic | +1
Shock | +1
Sundering | +1
Vicious | +1
Anarchic* | +2
Axiomatic* | +2
Collision | +2
Disruption | +2
Flaming Burst| +2
Holy* | +2
Icy Burst | +2
Mindcrusher | +2
Psychokinetic burst | +2
Shocking Burst | +2
Suppression | +2
Unholy* | +2
Wounding | +2
Bodyfeeder | +3
Mindfeeder | +3
Soulbreaker| +3
Speed | +3
Brilliant Energy | +4
Vorpal | +5[/table]


This table includes only enhancements from the SRD. The GM is encouraged to allow appropriate weapon enhancements from other supplements if they are available in his campaign.

*=Can only create a mindblade with this Enhancement if Alignment matches the enhancement type. For example to create a Holy Mindblade, the character must be Good aligned.


Weapon Specialization
At 4th level the soulknife gains Weapon Specialization (mindblade) as a bonus feat.

Psionic Meditation
At 4th level, the soulknife gains Psionic Meditation as a bonus feat.

Free Draw (Ex)
At 5th level, a soulknife becomes able to materialize his mindblade as a free action instead of a move action. This also allows the character to throw mindblades at his full normal rate of attacks (much like a character with a bow).

Psychic Empowerment(Su)
At 6th level, the Soulknife may enhance the damage of his Psychic Strike further as a swift action. For every 3 power points the Soulknife spends, he may increase the damage of his Psychic Strike by 1d8 until the beginning of his next turn. The maximum number of dice you may gain in this way on a single attack is capped by your wisdom modifier.

Example: A soulknife with 20 wisdom could at most spend 15 power points to gain +5d8 to his psychic strike until the beginning of his next turn.

If the Soulknife expends his psionic focus to double his Psychic Strike damage on a single attack, the damage gained from this is doubled as well.

Flexible Property(su)
Starting at 7th level, the Soulknife gains a reserve enhancement for his Mindblade which may be changed as a swift action by spending 7 power points. The Soulknife gains a +1 enhancement bonus property chosen from the list of normally available Mindblade Enhancements. At 15th level, the Soulknife may have up to +2 worth of enhancement bonuses that may be quickly changed out in this way.

The Soulknife may alternatively give up +1 of the enhancement bonus to change the form of his mindblade to any martial or exotic weapon of his choice, and be treated as if he has proficiency in it. Changing the Mindblade into a double weapon, or any two weapons simultaneously, has the same restriction as splitting the mindblade into 2 weapons (ie reduce enhancement bonus by 1) .

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

As a full attack, when wielding his mindblade, a soulknife can give up his regular attacks and instead fragment his mindblade 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 mindblade.

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 mindblade immediately reverts to its previous form after the bladewind attack.

Greater Weapon Focus
At 8th level the soulknife gains Greater Weapon Focus (mindblade) as a bonus feat.

Bonus Feat
At 9th level, and every 4 levels thereafter (13th, 17th), the Soulknife gains a bonus Fighter or Psionic feat.

Improved Psionic Meditation
At 11th level, the soulknife's focus improves further, he is now able to regain his psionic focus as a swift action.

Greater Weapon Specialization
At 12th level the soulknife gains Greater Weapon Specialization (mindblade) as a bonus feat.

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, but cannot convert extra dice from Psychic Empowerment into ability damage.

The soulknife decides which ability score his psychic strike damages and the division of ability damage and extra dice of damage at the start of his attack action.

Improved Bladewind(Su)
At 14th level, the soulknife's bladewind ability progresses. The soulknife's reach is considered 5 feet further than normal for his bladewind. If the soulknife expends his psionic focus to increase Psychic Strike damage, that bonus damage may be applied to all targets of the Bladewind.

Empowered Strike(Ex)
At 16th level, a Soulknife may spend 5 power points to allow his Psychic Strike to function as a physical effect until the beginning of his next turn. This allows it to function within an antimagic or antipsionic zone, and allows it to deal damage to mindless creatures, and creatures normally immune to psychic damage. The soulknife may spend an additional 5 power points to treat his mindblade as a specific metal for purposes of bypassing DR.

Weapon Supremacy
At 18th level the soulknife gains Weapon Supremacy (mindblade) as a Bonus Feat

Bladestorm(Su)
A 20th level soulknife's bladewind reaches unprecedented levels. A soulknife who uses his Bladewind ability may spend a standard action and one power point per turn he has sustained the Bladestorm on the following turn to sustain it, rather than spending a full round action to use it again. Additionally, every turn the Bladestorm is maintained, the area affected by it is increased by 5 feet, the maximum radius of the bladestorm is his base reach plus 5 times the Soulknife's wisdom modifier.

Example: A soulknife with a +10 wisdom modifier starts a Bladestorm, with a reach of 10ft. The following turn, he maintains it for 1 power point, and the reach becomes 15ft. The next turn, it costs 2 power points to maintain, and the reach becomes 20ft. The third turn costs 3 points, and has 25ft of reach, the fourth costs 4 points, and 30ft of reach, and so on.

Soulknife Power List

1st level-Biofeedback, Burst, Catfall, Chameleon, Compression, Conceal Thoughts, Distract, Elfsight, Expansion, Force Screen, Metaphysical Weapon, Precognition (Defensive), Precognition (Offensive), Prescience (Offensive), Vigor
2nd level-Body Adjustment, Body Purification, Dimension Swap, Dissolving Weapon, Energy Adaption (Specified), Feat Leech, Hustle, Psionic Lion's Charge, Wall Walker
3rd level-Danger Sense, Dimension Slide, Ectoplasmic Form, Escape Detection, Evade Burst, Keen Edge (Psionic), Mental Barrier, Vampiric Blade
4th level-Dimension Door (Psionic), Energy Adaptation, Freedom of Movement (psionic), Immovability, Inertial Barrier, Steadfast Perception, Truevenom Weapon, Weapon of Energy



So that's the class. Any and all feedback is appreciated. There are a couple of things however I specifically would like help with:
-Wording on the Mindblade Enhancement/Properties. This has gone through several revisions, but I still fear it's confusing or easy to misread.
-Help finding an iconic picture to go with it. I'd really love something representative of the Bladestorm ability, but my goolgle-fu is weak.

A couple posts will be reserved following this one for prestige classes/feats. I have one prestige class already written, planning on at least 1 more, maybe two. Plus some feats that interact with the class abilities. I've toyed with also revamping Psywar towards more of a Psyrogue (switch wis to int, boost the skill list, and expand access to shape shifting/anti-detection powers, possibly with a few class features to supplement that change in focus), since this Soulknife I feel fills the role of a psychic fighter better.

Seerow
2013-09-20, 03:04 PM
Soulward



Becoming a Soulward
Entry Requirements
BAB: +5
Feats:Psionic Meditation
Special: Must be able to create a Mindblade, and have the Shape Mindblade feature.

Table: The Soulward
Level BAB Fort Ref Will Special Manifesting
1 +1 +2 +0 +2 Mindblade, Summon Mindshield -
2 +2 +3 +0 +3 Psionic Barrier +1 level of existing manifesting class
3 +3 +3 +1 +3 Heavy Blade, Psychic Subversion +1 level of existing manifesting class
4 +4 +4 +1 +4 Bonus Feat +1 level of existing manifesting class
5 +5 +4 +1 +4 Ward Ally +1 level of existing manifesting class
6 +6 +5 +2 +5 Diamond Mind +1 level of existing manifesting class
7 +7 +5 +2 +5 Psychic Backlash +1 level of existing manifesting class
8 +8 +6 +2 +6 Mind over Matter +1 level of existing manifesting class
9 +9 +6 +3 +6 Bonus Feat +1 level of existing manifesting class
10 +10 +7 +3 +7 Ward Mastery +1 level of existing manifesting class

Hit Die: d12
Class Skills: (4+int modifier)
Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Heal(Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge (psionics) (Int), Listen (Wis), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Survival(Wis), and Swim (Str).

Mindblade(Su)
Your Soulward levels stack with your Soulknife levels for the purpose of determining the effectiveness of your Mindblade. For example a Soulknife5/Soulward7 would have a +4 Mindblade with a +2 bonus dedicated to properties; the same as a 12th level Soulknife.

Summon Mindshield
You can use your Shape Mindblade ability to shape your mindblade into a One Handed Slashing weapon that deals 1d8 points of damage (crit 19-20x2), and simultaneously sumon a Mindshield. This Mindshield acts in all respects as a Heavy Steel shield, providing a base +2 Shield bonus to Armor Class while being wielded. The Mindshield does benefit from the Mindblade's enchantments, however while summoning a mindshield the enhancement bonus of both your Mindblade and Mindshield are reduced by 1.

A Soulward with the Mindblade Property ability may use this ability to assign special properties to his mindshield. These properties may be chosen from the list below:


Shield Special Ability Enhancement Value
Fortification, Light +1
Arrow Catching +1
Bashing +1
Heartening +1
Manifester +1
Acid Resistance +1
Cold Resistance +1
Electricity Resistance +1
Fire Resistance +1
Sonic Resistance +1
Arrow Deflection +2
Averter +2
Acid Resistance, Improved +2
Cold Resistance, Improved +2
Electricity Resistance, Improved +2
Fire Resistance, Improved +2
Sonic Resistance, Improved +2
Ghost Touch +3
Invulnerability +3
Fortification, Moderate +3
Mindarmor +3
Vanishing +3
Wall +3
Acid Resistance, Greater +3
Cold Resistance, Greater +3
Electricity Resistance, Greater +3
Fire Resistance, Greater +3
Sonic Resistance, Greater +3
Aporter +4
Etherealness +4
Phasing +4
Reflecting +5
Fortification, Heavy +5


Expanded Power List
The Soulward adds the following Powers to the list of powers he may choose from upon leveling up:
1st-Thicken Skin
2nd-Empathic Transfer
3rd-Empathic Feedback
4th-Tower of Iron Will

Psionic Ward(Su)
A 2nd level Soulward who is psionically focused passively creates a Psionic Ward around himself. This barrier provides temporary hit points equal to twice his manifester level, which is refreshed at the start of his turn automatically every round.

The Soulward may expend his Psionic Focus as a free action to negate a single attack or spell targetted against him. When Psionic focus is expended, all temporary hitpoints from the ward are removed.

Heavy Blade(Ex)
A Soulward at 3rd level gains the ability to treat his one-handed mindblade as a two handed weapon for all purposes while using a Mindshield.

Psychic Subversion(Su)
A Soulward of 3rd level gains the ability to subconsciously influence his opponents fighting style. Depending on their attitude, this might make the Soulward seem more threatening, less threatening, frighten the opponent, or any other slight modification within reason.

The result is a Soulward may spend 3pp as a free action once per round, causing a living, non-mindless enemies within 50ft of him to take a -4 penalty to all attack rolls and save DCs when targeting anyone other than himself. If the Soulward used this ability in the previous round, he may choose to sustain it as a swift action without paying the 1pp to maintain it on an effected enemy the following round.

If the Soulward is maintaing Psychic Subversion on an enemy, he may then choose to use Psychic Subversion on an additional enemy the following round. If he does so, he may maintain the subversion on both enemies with the same action, however the cost increases by 2 for every enemy after the first.

Bonus Feat
At 4th and 9th level, the Soulward gains a bonus Psionic or Fighter feat that he qualifies for.

Ward Ally(Su)
A Soulward at 5th level is able to extend his Psionic Ward ability to one ally of his choice within 50ft. Both wards track their HP separately, and both are refreshed at the start of the Soulward's turn. The Soulward is able to expend his focus to negate an attack against his ally, just as he can for an attack against himself. A Warded ally who moves out of range, or out of line of effect, immediately loses any benefits from the Ward, and does not regain the benefits until moving back into range. The Soulward may choose to change which ally is being Warded as a swift action.

At 10th level, the Soulward is able to extend his Ward to two allies.

Crystal Mind(Su)
The Soulward at 6th level gains Power Resistance equal to 12+his manifester level any time he is psionically focused.

Psychic Backlash(Su)
A 7th level Soulward who is currently using the Psychic Subversion ability can react to an affected enemy attacking any target other than himself, using an Immediate Interrupt to cause 1d8 psychic damage per two manifester levels to that enemy. If the Soulward expends his psionic focus at the same time, this damage is doubled.


Mind Over Matter(Su)
A Soulward of at least 8th level can accelarate his healing. By spending 7 power points as a standard action, the Soulward gains fast healing 5 for 10 rounds. For an additional 4 power points, the Soulward may manifest this ability as a swift action.

Ward Mastery(Su)
The Soulward at 10th level attains mastery with his Warding ability. Any creature affected by his Wards becomes immune to Mind-Affecting and Death effects. The Soulward may choose to lower these immunities from his Wards as a free action on his round.

Additionally when the Soulward expend's his focus to negate an attack on an ally, the enemy attacking takes damage as though from Psychic backlash (including bonus damage from expending psionic focus), and must make a Will save (DC20+wis mod) or be stunned for 1 round.

Seerow
2013-09-20, 03:05 PM
Soulknife Feats

Battlefield Defender [Psionic]
Prerequisites: Ward Ally class feature
Benefit: Your Ward Ally and Psychic Subversion class features both increase from 50ft to 200ft range. Your Ward Ally class feature no longer requires line of effect to maintain.

Destructive Potential [Psionic]
Prerequisites: Mindblade, Flexible Property class feature
Benefit: Your Mindblade is treated as Adamantine for the purpose of bypassing damage resistance and damaging objects. Additionally you can channel the energy of your mindblade with a touch. This allows you to destroy inanimate objects with a touch, as though they were affected by a disintegrate spell (with a caster level equal to your manifester level). This effect does not work on living creatures.

Empath
Prerequisites: Sentinal Soul, Mind over Matter class feature
Benefit: When you manifest Mind over Matter, you may share its benefit with all allies currently benefiting from your Ward.

Honed Potential [Psionic]
Prerequisites: Destructive Potential
Benefit: You are able to destroy sections of wall and ground easily. This gives you an effective burrow speed of 20ft through any non-magical non-living material.

Mental Fortitude [Psionic]
Prerequisites: Soulknife level 1st, Wis 13
Benefit: You are able to refresh your pool of power points an additional 2 times per day.

Psionic Adaptation [Psionic]
Prerequisites: Improved Psionic Meditation, Mental Fortitude, Endurance
Benefit: You gain the ability to expend your psionic focus to refresh your pool of power points as a full round action instead of the normal 5 minutes once per day. This counts as one of your normal daily refreshes of power points.

Sentinel Soul [Psionic]
Prerequisites: Psionic Ward class feature, Ward Ally class feature
Benefit: You gain the ability to ward an additional ally.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Each time you do,you gain the ability to ward one more additional ally.

Seerow
2013-09-20, 03:06 PM
last reservation, just in case.

Tetrys
2013-09-21, 06:13 AM
You've got it up and running. Cool! I can't say that I care too much for the switch from Intelligence to Wisdom, but I'm willing to admit a large personal bias for Int, so you may take that with as many grains of salt as you wish. :smalltongue:

You've already got my thoughts on the Soulknife so, on to the Soulward! :smallbiggrin:

Entry requirements look good, as do the saves and BAB of the class. About the only trouble with the table is that you've labelled it "The Swashbuckler." :smalltongue:

Judging appropriate hit die isn't really my strong suit but the boost makes sense to me, as it seems that a Soulward is meant to be more of a defender than the Soulknife.

I don't have much for comment on class skills. The addition of Heal and Survival, along with the loss of Tumble, has interesting thematic implications.


Summon Mindshield

Cool. :smallbiggrin: (By the by, the first instance of the word "summon" in this class feature's description appears to have lost an m.)


Expanded Power List
The Soulward adds the following Powers to the list of powers he may choose from upon leveling up:
1st-Thicken Skin
2nd-Empathic Transfer
3rd-Empathic Feedback
4th-Tower of Iron Will

I'm beginning to get a more comprehensive idea of the theme here, and I like where it's going.


Psionic Ward(Su)

Forcefields. Gotta love 'em. :smallwink:


Psychic Subversion(Su)

I really like this. It's an excellent way to pull attention away from any of your more fragile team members. Or, at the very least, it makes it harder for someone to land a hit if they're bound and determined to focus on someone other than you.


Ward Ally(Su)

I like this direction for the advancement of Psionic Ward. It makes sense and can help a party shore up any deficiencies they might have in their defenses overall. Or, if defenses are acceptable all around, it lets you improve on them. This would be really cool to see in play (And to play). One question though. Is this intended to function at infinite range? As written, there's no limit to how far away a warded ally can be.


Crystal Mind(Su)
The Soulward at 6th level gains Spell Resistance equal to 12+his manifester level any time he is psionically focused.

Crystal Mind strikes me as a little odd, as I'd expect a psionic class to grant Power Resistance instead of Spell Resistance. Any particular reason for prioritizing defense from spells, over powers?


Psychic Backlash(Su)
A 7th level Soulward who is currently using the Psychic Subversion ability can react to an enemy attacking any target other than himself, causing 1d8 psychic damage per Soulward level to that enemy. If the Soulward expends his psionic focus at the same time, this damage is doubled.

What type of action is taken to cause the damage, or is it that an attacker takes damage any time they attack someone that you've warded?

You might want to specify an upper range for this ability. Psychic Subversion only applies penalties to those within 50ft., but with Psychic Backlash, I could deal at least 7d8 points of damage to someone on the opposite side of the planet, so long as they were attacking someone other than myself. (Perfect crime, here I come.)

Also, is this ability intended to affect non-living and/or mindless creatures? How about creatures immune to mind-affecting effects? I ask because psychic damage is typically invalidated by such conditions.


Mind Over Matter(Su)

I'm not sure what to say here, other than that I find this feature to be a nice addition to the class. By this point, you've got a refreshing pool of 24 temporary hit points, which you're also providing to one other person, and you can zap people attacking your warded ally. In addition, you're boasting SR of 24, can debuff a significant number of enemies and manifest powers, have pretty good sword-and-board capabilities, and you can now tack on a minute's worth of decent fast healing. This, is fun.


Ward Mastery(Su)

I enjoy the note that this feature allows the class to leave on. You're warding two others. They, and yourself, can breathe a bit more easily knowing that things like Feeblemind, Dominate Person, and Finger of Death are no longer issues (Though I do have to ask if someone who's been warded can voluntarily give up this immunity. Immunity to mind-affecting blocks some beneficial things, such as the Good Hope spell.). The effect wrought by expending your psionic focus is also a nice touch. Protect your ally, deal 20d8 damage to the attacker, and, assuming they aren't dead, they now get to save or find the next 1d4+1 rounds to be quite problematic. The amount of damage you can do with it is kind of frightening (That, or I haven't played enough level 15 characters), but it's kept somewhat in check by the fact that you'd be revoking your protection from your allies for a time, and things could go poorly before you manage to set the wards back up. All in all, not too shabby for something you can snag at level 15. Nice work. :smallsmile:


Here's a question for you. What happens when you get a couple of these fellows together and they decide to mutually ward each other? Let's say we have three PCs, all with a build of Soulknife 5/Soulward 10. If each person wards the other two, how do the wards interact? Do they stack? If they do, we're looking at each person gaining a pool of 84 temporary hit points (Manifester level of 14, and three wards so, 14 * 2 * 3. A total of 84.), refreshed every round.

Heh, if it stacks, you could just keep hiring them until you have an arbitrarily large pool of temporary hit points. Yeah... that could be bad. Maybe have it operate on diminishing returns. The first ward provides a full pool, the second provides half, the third provides a third, etc. If that were the case, the aforementioned, hypothetical trio would each have a pool of:

14 * 2 = 28
(14 * 2) / 2 = 14
(14 * 2) / 3 = 9.333 (Round down to 9)

28 + 14 + 9 = 51

51 temporary hit points. Unfortunately, you can still get arbitrarily large numbers by boosting manifester level and/or getting more people to ward you. It would probably be best to just not have wards stack or have only a few stack before it caps out. I suggest three at the most, and two at the least. Three because I'd love to see the trio I thought up in play, and two, because it would make for an interesting cultural dynamic, with high-value persons hiring level 10 Soulwards in pairs.


A couple posts will be reserved following this one for prestige classes/feats.

Hm. How's this?

--------------------------------
Sentinel Soul [Psionic]
Prerequisites: Psionic Ward class feature, Ward Ally class feature
Your determination to protect the well-being of your allies culminates in your ability to see a greater number of them through danger.

Benefit: You gain the ability to ward an additional ally.
--------------------------------
(Note: Should you implement a maximum effective range for Ward Ally, you might have this feat also increase that number.


Well, this was fun. I'm looking forward to what you'll be putting in those reserved posts. :smallbiggrin:

Cheers
~Tetrys

Seerow
2013-09-21, 09:04 AM
You've got it up and running. Cool! I can't say that I care too much for the switch from Intelligence to Wisdom, but I'm willing to admit a large personal bias for Int, so you may take that with as many grains of salt as you wish.


I like int as well, but honestly with the intent of filling the role of primary martial class, int translates into a ton of skill points while wisdom translates to stronger will saves, better spot/listen, and potential synergy with other wisdom based feats (see: The combat focus line of feats which iirc require wisdom. Also Zen Archery, which will make a ranged focused Soulknife really potent). I think the Int focus should be saved for a class that is focused more on skills.


Entry requirements look good, as do the saves and BAB of the class. About the only trouble with the table is that you've labelled it "The Swashbuckler."


What? That's absurd. I have no idea what you are talking about. :smallconfused:


I really like this. It's an excellent way to pull attention away from any of your more fragile team members. Or, at the very least, it makes it harder for someone to land a hit if they're bound and determined to focus on someone other than you.


So many people complained the 4e mark was magical mindcontrol... so this class gets it, boosted some, as magical mindcontrol. I thought it was fitting.


I like this direction for the advancement of Psionic Ward. It makes sense and can help a party shore up any deficiencies they might have in their defenses overall. Or, if defenses are acceptable all around, it lets you improve on them. This would be really cool to see in play (And to play). One question though. Is this intended to function at infinite range? As written, there's no limit to how far away a warded ally can be.


Good point. Should probably have a range limitation in there. Thinking either the same 50ft as subversion, or a solid 100ft.


Crystal Mind strikes me as a little odd, as I'd expect a psionic class to grant Power Resistance instead of Spell Resistance. Any particular reason for prioritizing defense from spells, over powers?


I assume (and I'm pretty sure most tables actually using Psionics do as well) Power/Spell transparency. Which means Spell Resistance = Power Resistance and vice verca. I could change it to Power Resistance for the rare group that doesn't do that, but it doesn't make much mechanical difference.


I'm not sure what to say here, other than that I find this feature to be a nice addition to the class. By this point, you've got a refreshing pool of 24 temporary hit points, which you're also providing to one other person, and you can zap people attacking your warded ally. In addition, you're boasting SR of 24, can debuff a significant number of enemies and manifest powers, have pretty good sword-and-board capabilities, and you can now tack on a minute's worth of decent fast healing. This, is fun.


Also in addition to the Empathic Transfer power, the Soulward can take the damage his party members have taken, and then use this ability to clear it. Basically letting him function as a pretty decent out of combat healer. Fast Healing 5 is still pretty marginal in combat, but between combats the Soulward can keep his group going.


What type of action is taken to cause the damage, or is it that an attacker takes damage any time they attack someone that you've warded?


Oops, it was intended to be immediate interrupt.


You might want to specify an upper range for this ability. Psychic Subversion only applies penalties to those within 50ft., but with Psychic Backlash, I could deal at least 7d8 points of damage to someone on the opposite side of the planet, so long as they were attacking someone other than myself. (Perfect crime, here I come.)


Intent was to only be usable on enemies affected by Psychic Subversion. I'll fix that.


Also, is this ability intended to affect non-living and/or mindless creatures? How about creatures immune to mind-affecting effects? I ask because psychic damage is typically invalidated by such conditions.


This was also the intention. Will update.


(Though I do have to ask if someone who's been warded can voluntarily give up this immunity. Immunity to mind-affecting blocks some beneficial things, such as the Good Hope spell.)

I'll add a note that the Soulward can choose to remove those defenses from his wards as a free action on his turn.


The effect wrought by expending your psionic focus is also a nice touch. Protect your ally, deal 20d8 damage to the attacker, and, assuming they aren't dead, they now get to save or find the next 1d4+1 rounds to be quite problematic. The amount of damage you can do with it is kind of frightening (That, or I haven't played enough level 15 characters)

20d8 damage averages to 90. Lots of dice sounds scary, and it is going to be a big chunk of HP, but it is not likely to one-shot any level 15 appropriate challenges. I am worried it may be too strong despite that, but it needs to be strong to incentivise not attacking allies, and to be worth giving up your focus as you note.

I think the 1d4+1 rounds stun may be too much. Maybe just make it a straight up 1 round stun.


Here's a question for you. What happens when you get a couple of these fellows together and they decide to mutually ward each other? Let's say we have three PCs, all with a build of Soulknife 5/Soulward 10. If each person wards the other two, how do the wards interact? Do they stack? If they do, we're looking at each person gaining a pool of 84 temporary hit points (Manifester level of 14, and three wards so, 14 * 2 * 3. A total of 84.), refreshed every round.


Temporary HP typically does not stack unless explicitly stated otherwise. I can make it an explicit statement that multiple wards do not stack. The temporary HP is intended to act as a buffer, not actually stop a level appropriate threat from successfully hurting you at all.


Sentinel Soul [Psionic]
Prerequisites: Psionic Ward class feature, Ward Ally class feature
Your determination to protect the well-being of your allies culminates in your ability to see a greater number of them through danger.

Benefit: You gain the ability to ward an additional ally.

That seems reasonable.


(Note: Should you implement a maximum effective range for Ward Ally, you might have this feat also increase that number.


Maybe. Being able to ward more party members is already a pretty potent effect though. Maybe I could find something else to bundle a range increase with.

Razanir
2013-09-21, 09:53 AM
Insightful Defense– Maybe have it be Wisdom in addition to Dexterity
General– Maybe have the Soulknife qualify for Fighter bonus feats

Seerow
2013-09-21, 10:14 AM
Insightful Defense– Maybe have it be Wisdom in addition to Dexterity

I originally had that, but considered getting it in addition while getting to use it with light armor might be too much AC. Am I off on that?


General– Maybe have the Soulknife qualify for Fighter bonus feats

The Soulknife already gets all of the feats that are unique to the Fighter except Melee/Ranged Weapon Mastery; and gets a few bonus feats that can be either Fighter of Psionic feats. Is this really necessary?

Tetrys
2013-09-21, 01:56 PM
I like int as well, but honestly with the intent of filling the role of primary martial class, int translates into a ton of skill points while wisdom translates to stronger will saves, better spot/listen, and potential synergy with other wisdom based feats (see: The combat focus line of feats which iirc require wisdom. Also Zen Archery, which will make a ranged focused Soulknife really potent). I think the Int focus should be saved for a class that is focused more on skills.

All good points. I'd rather liked how the Int focus actively combated the idea of the "dumb fighter" (Due to both the stat itself and the skill points from it), but I hadn't considered such things as Zen Archery opening other avenues for builds (I shy away from delving into books I don't have, so my system knowledge is largely restricted to the SRD, the XPH, homebrew implications, and getting a general idea of things when people describe them on the forum). Good on you for opening up combat options for a combat class. :smallsmile:


What? That's absurd. I have no idea what you are talking about. :smallconfused:

:smallbiggrin:


I thought it was fitting.

I concur.


Good point. Should probably have a range limitation in there. Thinking either the same 50ft as subversion, or a solid 100ft.

Either one would be fine, I think. 50 ft. fits for obvious reasons, and 100 ft. gives the idea that a Soulward can still protect you when you're out of subversion's reach, but that you're straining their capabilities (Since only the ward applies at that point.).


I assume (and I'm pretty sure most tables actually using Psionics do as well) Power/Spell transparency. Which means Spell Resistance = Power Resistance and vice verca. I could change it to Power Resistance for the rare group that doesn't do that, but it doesn't make much mechanical difference.

Ah. I tend to assume a lack of transparency, so it threw me off. :smalltongue:


Also in addition to the Empathic Transfer power, the Soulward can take the damage his party members have taken, and then use this ability to clear it. Basically letting him function as a pretty decent out of combat healer. Fast Healing 5 is still pretty marginal in combat, but between combats the Soulward can keep his group going.

Oh, whoa. I hadn't even thought of that. I'm definitely going to have to keep that little trick in mind.


20d8 damage averages to 90. Lots of dice sounds scary, and it is going to be a big chunk of HP, but it is not likely to one-shot any level 15 appropriate challenges. I am worried it may be too strong despite that, but it needs to be strong to incentivise not attacking allies, and to be worth giving up your focus as you note.

:smallsigh: This is what I get for staying up until four in the morning. I forget to assume average damage instead of maximum. Well, at Soulward 7, you can expend the focus for an average of 63 damage. I can't think of any CR 12 creatures that would be outright killed by that, and quite a few could take numerous hits. Hm...


I think the 1d4+1 rounds stun may be too much. Maybe just make it a straight up 1 round stun.

Yeah, being stunned for a minimum of two rounds is dicey.


Temporary HP typically does not stack unless explicitly stated otherwise. I can make it an explicit statement that multiple wards do not stack. The temporary HP is intended to act as a buffer, not actually stop a level appropriate threat from successfully hurting you at all.

Neat, I learned something new (The general temp HP not stacking bit). Even without the stacking, groups of Soulwards are impressive. :smallsmile:


That seems reasonable.

:smallcool:


Maybe. Being able to ward more party members is already a pretty potent effect though. Maybe I could find something else to bundle a range increase with.

The range increase was predicated mostly on the idea that wards wouldn't be able to reach very far, but without any evidence for that, I decided not to actually include it in the feat.

Razanir
2013-09-21, 02:53 PM
The Soulknife already gets all of the feats that are unique to the Fighter except Melee/Ranged Weapon Mastery; and gets a few bonus feats that can be either Fighter of Psionic feats. Is this really necessary?

:smallsigh: Ah, missed that part. Also, I realized I said the wrong thing earlier. But you caught it, thankfully. I meant to suggest letting Soulknife levels count as Fighter levels for feats.

Seerow
2013-10-23, 10:56 AM
Alright, sorry I abandoned this for like a month. Got busy with schoolwork, then WoW/Pokemon happened. But today I had some free time so I went through and did the updates discussed.

Also anyone who has read Steelheart will probably understand the inspiration for several of the new feats for the Soulward. If you haven't read Steelheart, I recommend you go do so.

Anyway, list of changes made as of today

Soulward Updates:
-Psychic Subversion is a free action once per round that affects a single enemy.
-Sustaining Psychic Subversion now takes only 1 PP, but may be sustained on multiple targets, for an additional 2 PP per target.
-Ward Ally now requires a 50ft range and Line of Effect
-Crystal Mind now grants Power Resistance rather than Spell Resistance.
-Psychic Backlash now takes an Immediate Interrupt to use.
-Psychic Backlash now deals 1d8 damage per two manifester levels, rather than 1d8 per Class level.
-Psychic Backlash now explicitly only affects an enemy under the effects of Psychic Subversion. (Since Psychic Subversion only affects non-mindless enemies, this should also clarify that point)


Other Updates:
-New Soulknife/Soulward Feats added.


Coming Down the Line:
-Soulbow Prestige Class (heavier focus on ranged combat and raw offense)
-Psiwarrior Prestige Class (heavier focus on manifesting, expanded power list/extra power points, in exchange for the core higher level soulknife features)
-More feats, as I think of them. If there's anything you want to see, or think could be a cool idea, let me know!
--Considering some hybrid feats (think along the lines of the Scout/Ranger feat). Again any combinations you want to see with the Soulknife this would be a good time to suggest them.

Maybe going to happen:
-Write up of a new psionic class with a int primary stat, sharing similar manifestation system with the Soulknife, and an emphasis on shape changing for stealth/infiltration/exploration as well as tons of natural attacks/bonus damage for offense.
-Work on an update for my old Weapon/Armor system and integrate it with the Soulknife. On the fence about this, because tying different homebrew too closely together makes it harder to use for anyone not using all of it.