Is a soul knife needed or viable for any build?

[CyberThread]

Besides Soul Arrow/archer or however that ranged soul knife prc is called, is the soul knife needed for anything. I know it utterly sucks but I want this turd to shine, even if only as positive remark like the good ole monk dip.

[Muggins]

Aside from the Illumine Soul (Complete Psionic) and the Atavist (Races of Eberron), I can't think of any Soulknife-exclusive prestige classes. Heck, the Atavist can be entered as a monk instead, and that just says wonders about its quality.

After the Soulknife's poor reception, I guess Wizards decided that they were a lost cause and just gave up. See: the Soulbound Weapon ACF for Psychic Warriors.

[Techwarrior]

Soulbow requires a Soulknife class feature and is a pretty solid ranged attacker.

[Muggins]

Soulbow requires a Soulknife class feature and is a pretty solid ranged attacker.
He knows about that one. :smalltongue:

[Pluto!]

It gets Hidden Talent through an ACF, which is normally supposed to be a campaign-restricted feat. On its own that's not much, but it can be somewhat useful for Warmind, Psionic Fist or Secrets of Sarlonna-version Assassin builds (the power's PP cap will increase with the PrC levels, where a real manifesting class's powers learned wouldn't).

And IIRC, Kalashtar gets some race-specific mind blade feats in RoE that are almost playable.

(Yes, these are digging deep, but we're talking about Soulknives, so I imagine that's expected)

[Techwarrior]

Ah right. I missed that since he didn't actually call it out by name.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Soulknives can make kinda decent Kensai, too. Greatly expands their list of weapon enhancements, if nothing else.

[Techwarrior]

Soulknives can make kinda decent Kensai, too. Greatly expands their list of weapon enhancements, if nothing else.

Yea, the two combine very well also. Ranger 3/Soulknife 2/Soulbow 5/Kensai 10 is actually useful, and unlike most ranged attackers, doesn't even care if it gets into melee (Close Combat Shot, Soulbow 4). Load up with a pair of Ranger spell wands in wand chambers placed into spiked gauntlets, a set of Gloves of the Balanced Hand (take Two Weapon Fighting as your Ranger Combat Style), and you can get away being almost SAD. You need 13 Dex for the Point Blank Shot tree, and 13 Int for the Combat Expertise feat, but after that you can solely boost Wis, barring any additional expenditure into Con.