Soulknife, Fighter Archetype (PEACH)

[meltodowno]

Soul Knife, fighter archetype

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-lamEAOHq8ok/UQL2mqyssJI/AAAAAAAADpE/6bfNj2b1M74/s320/zapoqx2.jpg


There are warriors who wield weapons, and then there are those that become them. To a soul knife, their weapons are quite literally an extension of their will to fight. Utilising their latent psionic capacity, a soul knife forges an arsenal of weaponry from their mind alone. Their flexibility and the ability to never be truly disarmed has earned them a reputation for shadier jobs, when carried weapons would be a hindrance.


Mind Blade
You can use your action to create a mind blade in your empty hand. You can choose the form of this melee weapon each time you create it, but it must be a melee weapon you are proficient with. This weapon counts as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage. The weapon immediately vanishes if it leaves your grasp.


Psionic Focus
You know the guidance (Self only) Cantrip, which you can cast without any components.


Versatile Mind Blade
By 7th level, you've mastered the subtle manipulation of your mind blade, and can form it into tools and other useful objects. You gain a bonus Artisan Tool Proficiency, andcan use your Mind Blade feature to create a set of artisan's tools with which you are proficient, doubling your proficiency bonus on any checks made to use those tools. Additionally, you can now manifest two mind blades at once, provided both weapons have the light tag.


Improved Mind Blade
At level 10 your mind blade strengthens along with your resolve. You gain a +2 bonus to melee attack and damage rolls with your mind blades. You can also now throw your mind blades if the weapon is capable of it, the mind blade reappears in your hand after every attack. Finally, you can manifest your mind blades as a bonus action.


Mental Bastion
At level 15 The soul knife’s mind is a bastion, and made manifest he an instinctively deflect harmful effects - granting him his Intellect bonus to saving throws. He additionally gains proficiency in Wisdom and Intelligence saves.


Bladewind
At level 18 a soul knife gains the ability to momentarily fragment his mind blade into numerous identical blades, each of which strikes at a nearby opponent. As an attack action, the soul blade can make a single attack at every opponent within reach of his mind blade.


--------------------------------------------------
As usual, I'm fairly new to brewing, so critique is welcomed.

[Wartex1]

Maybe you should change Improved Mind Blade to add a bonus to damage as well to overcome the lack of extra power or utility.

[meltodowno]

Maybe you should change Improved Mind Blade to add a bonus to damage as well to overcome the lack of extra power or utility.

Sounds doable. Adding it now.

[SonsOfSauron]

There doesn't seem to be a 7th-level feature. Maybe a cool thing would be forming their mind blade into basic tools?

Versatile Mind Blade
By 7th level, you've mastered the subtle manipulation of your mind blade, and can form it into tools and other useful objects. You can use your Mind Blade feature to create a set of tools with which you are proficient, and add double your proficiency bonus on any checks made to use those tools. These tools cannot be larger than [a reasonable size, you're not making a wagon or mount out of them obv.]

Something like that?

[meltodowno]

There doesn't seem to be a 7th-level feature. Maybe a cool thing would be forming their mind blade into basic tools?

Versatile Mind Blade
By 7th level, you've mastered the subtle manipulation of your mind blade, and can form it into tools and other useful objects. You can use your Mind Blade feature to create a set of artisan's tools with which you are proficient, and add double your proficiency bonus on any checks made to use those tools.

HERP DERP ... yeah ... there doesn't >.<

I'll add your suggestion in, but I'm uncertain on doubling the proficiency

[eleazzaar]

If sombody wants to be a TWFer making them wait until L10 seems a bit hard. You could at least move that part up to L7.

Also i don't really understand what you are trying to do with the guidance cantrip.


Something to consider is allowing the creation of the mind blade(s) to be a bonus action at some level.

[meltodowno]

If sombody wants to be a TWFer making them wait until L10 seems a bit hard. You could at least move that part up to L7.

They still can - utilising a mind blade doesn't mean you can't use a mundane weapon in one hand, but you're right it doesn't really add much power to a level 7 character, so I'll push it up.


Also i don't really understand what you are trying to do with the guidance cantrip.

Emulate the general fluff of psionic focus (focus for an action to gain psionic focus, which you can expend to get bonuses). guidance (self only) as an effect is the best emulator. Didn't see the point in reinventing the wheel when there is an existing mechanic to do what I want.


Something to consider is allowing the creation of the mind blade(s) to be a bonus action at some level.

That's fair, I'll see where I can put it in.

[Wartex1]

They still can - utilising a mind blade doesn't mean you can't use a mundane weapon in one hand.



Emulate the general fluff of psionic focus (focus for an action to gain psionic focus, which you can expend to get bonuses). guidance (self only) as an effect is the best emulator. Didn't see the point in reinventing the wheel when there is an existing mechanic to do what I want.



That's fair, I'll see where I can put it in.

Put it in at 7th level in addition to manifesting two mind blades at once.

[SonsOfSauron]

Would incorporating Intelligence anywhere into the class make sense, since that's a psionic mainstay afaik?

[meltodowno]

Nah, I've put it in to 10th level, as I don't won't 7th to be too loaded.

[meltodowno]

Would incorporating Intelligence anywhere into the class make sense, since that's a psionic mainstay afaik?

Well wisdom or int, and that was why I slapped the wisdom save prof in there. Could add in Int save prof too ?

[Arracor]

Alright, here are my thoughts.

3rd level abilities are solid.

7th level is good for TWF and for niche roleplay moments, but seems a bit underwhelming otherwise. To keep the same feel but make it more generally useful, why not allow the same ability to make any mundane object of x maximum size/complexity/gp cost? Temporarily, of course, and useless if you let go of whatever it is, but it turns 7th level from 'cool if you like duel-wielding I guess' to 'I can make stuff!' and provides a jumping-off point for improving the same ability later.

At 10th, rather than a static +2, why not let it be that they add either their Int or Wis (pick one for the class, or make both a possible choice) instead? Same idea but again, with growth potential, and with incentive to not make those total dump stats.

15th is unquestionably useful, but I feel like it's ultimately lacking for a badass psychic warrior 15th level skill. This feels more like a secondary perk to the cool ability I can only imagine is there. If we assume you go with my idea for 7th level, this would be a great place to expand that power to make items of greater value/complexity, things that last longer/still stay after you let go of them. Maybe you can make a mind weapon and maintain it for your buddy. Or make a psychic wall for you and your friends to take cover behind. In fact, the archetypal 'barrier' ability seems like a good fit here, if styled after a shield or some such.

Finally, the 18th level power is unquestionably cool and flashy. If anything though, I feel like unless you routinely fight groups of 5+ enemies in very short range, it's essentially pointless compared to just making your normal Fighter attacks. If you expand the range, or give the damage some additional ability, then I think it becomes a better fit. I'd still be concerned about making this feel underpowered/pointless in smaller fights, though. As written, what use is this against say, a dragon?

Overall though this subclass has a lot of potential. The foundation is very solid, and with a handful of buffs it's something I can definitely see myself or my players using.

[meltodowno]

7th level is good for TWF and for niche roleplay moments, but seems a bit underwhelming otherwise. To keep the same feel but make it more generally useful, why not allow the same ability to make any mundane object of x maximum size/complexity/gp cost? Temporarily, of course, and useless if you let go of whatever it is, but it turns 7th level from 'cool if you like duel-wielding I guess' to 'I can make stuff!' and provides a jumping-off point for improving the same ability later.


True, but it's more of a ribbon ability. Compare to the canon archetypes: level 7 they get Remarkable athlete (usually amounting to little more than a +1-2 on initiative rolls), and Know your Enemy (again good for niche roleplay moments, and little else besides).

It looks from a design point of view, that level 7 of fighter archetypes is the ribbon tier. I will probably add a bonus proficiency in there however, as if You didn't get one from background this would be extra lackluster.



At 10th, rather than a static +2, why not let it be that they add either their Int or Wis (pick one for the class, or make both a possible choice) instead? Same idea but again, with growth potential, and with incentive to not make those total dump stats.


That conflicts with the design notes on 5th ed - you should only add an ability bonus to attack once, so they wouldn't/shouldn't stack with Strength/Dex. I think level 10 making them comparable to a +2 weapon is fairly strong. I take your idea of incorporating mental stats somewhere however, and I'll seek to address that in the next point.



15th is unquestionably useful, but I feel like it's ultimately lacking for a badass psychic warrior 15th level skill. This feels more like a secondary perk to the cool ability I can only imagine is there. If we assume you go with my idea for 7th level, this would be a great place to expand that power to make items of greater value/complexity, things that last longer/still stay after you let go of them. Maybe you can make a mind weapon and maintain it for your buddy. Or make a psychic wall for you and your friends to take cover behind. In fact, the archetypal 'barrier' ability seems like a good fit here, if styled after a shield or some such.


As per above, I'd be tempted to incorporate the idea of tying a buff from a casting stat into this level. Perhaps giving Int bonus to all saves, rather than a literal barrier.



Finally, the 18th level power is unquestionably cool and flashy. If anything though, I feel like unless you routinely fight groups of 5+ enemies in very short range, it's essentially pointless compared to just making your normal Fighter attacks. If you expand the range, or give the damage some additional ability, then I think it becomes a better fit. I'd still be concerned about making this feel underpowered/pointless in smaller fights, though. As written, what use is this against say, a dragon?


Again, I think you may be overestimating the power of the other archetypes. Comparing for balance to the existing archetype level 18 bonuses - Superiority dice going from D10s to D12s, or minor regenerating health (at the very best, 10hp a round, whilst below half health). What does either of those realistically do against a Dragon ?

As written, with other features: you can use a bonus action to manifest a glaive/whip, and attack everything within a 10ft radius, giving the class a strong swarm breaking ability in comparison to what any of the other archetypes get.