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Submortimer
2015-06-23, 01:53 AM
Monastic Tradition: Way of the Soulknife
Though monks of every path are known for their immense force of will, only those that devote themselves to the path of the Soulknife can truly say that their Will is their most deadly weapon. Warriors who follow this path learn to turn their own force of will into a physical weapon, capable of cleaving through armor and flesh with similar ease.

http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/swfanon/images/b/bf/Koses_Lik-Har_as_Jedi.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20140206191841

Soul Blade
At 3rd level, You learn to focus your ki, shaping it into a deadly weapon. As a bonus action, you can summon your Soul blade, which takes the form of a one handed, small slashing weapon. No matter which form you choose, the weapon deals 1d6 force damage, and is treated as a light, finesse, and monk weapon. Additionally, as long as your soul blade is a light weapon, when you use your Flurry of Blows feature, you may make your attacks with your Soul Blade

By spending a Ki point, You can enhance the Soul blade in one of two ways, each of which require your Concentration to maintain:
- Cause it to flare with Fire, Electricity, or Cold, causing it to deal an additional 1d6 damage of the chosen type for 1 minute.
- Cause it to flare with ki, allowing it to deal an additional 1d4 force damage for 1 minute.

You Soul blade becomes stronger as your monk level increases:
- At level 6, you may shape your Soul blade into a number of forms: you may shape your soul blade into a copy of any non-heavy weapon, taking on the appropriate damage die and statistics, or you may shape your Soul Blade into Two light, one handed soul blades. You are always considered proficient with your soul blade, and it is always treated as a monk weapon.
- At level 11, you learn to throw your soul blade. Your Soul Blade gains a range of 20/60 ft., and you may throw as many soul blades as you have attacks in a round.

Ki Strike
At 6th level, You learn to flood your soul blade with ki, using it to overpower your enemies. As a bonus action, you can spend 2 ki points to charge a soul blade you currently have manifested with Ki. the next time you deal damage with this soul knife you deal additional damage according to the table below, and the target must make a constitution saving throw. If it fails, it is stunned until the end of your next turn.



Monk level
Damage


6th
1d10


9th
2d10


12th
3d10


15th
4d10


18th
5d10



Bladewind
At 11th level, You learn to fragment your soul blade for an instant, attacking all around you in a flurry of sharpened will. As an action, you may make a single attack with your soul blade against any creatures within 5 feet of you, making a separate attack roll for each

Knife to the Soul
At 17th level, your mastery of the soul blade has taught you how to attack the very soul of your target. When you hit a target with your Soul Blade, you may choose to spend 5 ki points to cast Feeblemind on the creature without using a spell slot or components; the save DC for this ability is 8 + your Proficiency modifier + your wisdom modifier. Once you use the ability, you must take a long rest before you can use it again.


EDIT 1:
- Added Concentration to the Enhance ability
- Changed Knife to the Soul to Feeblemind instead of Save or Die.
- Boosted the Power of Ki Strike to be a competitive option as compared to Flurry of blows + Stunning Strike.

DracoKnight
2015-06-23, 11:19 AM
Knife to the Soul
At 17th level, your mastery of the soul blade has taught you how to attack the very soul of your target. When you hit a target with your Soul Blade, you may choose to extend your blade and attack the target's soul. the target must make a constitution saving throw; Failure means that the target is instantly slain, while success means that the target takes 10d10 psychic damage. once you use the ability, you must take a long rest before you can use it again.


So, the soulknife has always been a psionic class, yet there's never really been a reason for that: it doesn't use powers, it doesn't use PP; Psionics is mostly flavor and window-dressing for the class, and not really related to the crunch in any way. So, I made it a monk subclass. I always tend to go a bit overboard with the classes after the first draft, so tell me what you think works and what doesn't, i'll be happy to make some edits!

I like this subclass overall :)

The only thing that, at this moment, I would change is the damage that Knife to the Soul deals on a successful Con Save. I would make it deal Necrotic damage instead of Psychic, because you're literally attacking the target's soul.

Wartex1
2015-06-23, 11:43 AM
Wouldn't that make it almost exactly the same as the Open Hand capstone though?

Even then, it's too similar, doesn't cost any ki, and doesn't require a second action to activate.

DracoKnight
2015-06-23, 12:05 PM
Wouldn't that make it almost exactly the same as the Open Hand capstone though?

Even then, it's too similar, doesn't cost any ki, and doesn't require a second action to activate.

I would be a lot more like the Open Hand capstone, but I feel that in D&D, magic that deals with just outright killing someone should all be necrotic :P

Submortimer, after thinking about it, I think that Wartex1 is right, you need a Ki cost on Knife to the Soul, 3 Ki at minimum. I would say you don't need a second action for it, because it already requires a long rest.

Wartex1
2015-06-23, 01:00 PM
It's still a bit too similar. I'd prefer a unique feature instead of a near clone.

Ki Strike is also a bit powerful at higher levels, seeing as how its Stunning Strike + Divine Smite.

Submortimer
2015-06-23, 05:25 PM
I'll add a ki point cost to Knife to the soul and change it to necrotic damage. I realize that it's essentially the same thing as Quivering palm; I don't particularly care, as it was the capstone for the old class, and I'd rather not deal with attribute damage.

As far as ki strike goes, it's both less powerful than smite and less flexible than stunning strike, mostly due to the fact that it's a once per turn ability (effectively. You could charge at the end of a turn, then punch , charge, and punch again, but it's still.about the same in terms of average DPS). I feel more than comfortable with it as it stands, with a higher point cost and action economy cost balancing the more powerful effect.

Amnoriath
2015-06-23, 05:39 PM
The ki powers are some of the most economic I have seen. You are giving them a hex spell that doesn't occupy concentration. The ki smite absolutely demolishes regular smite in terms of usage and is almost competitive for power. Smite is usable 15 times a day completely using your spells per long rest this though can be used 10 times a short rest and has a stunning rider effect. So you have much more potential to use this and deal more damage overall because this scales naturally while regular Smite only scales in terms of spell slots. While it does occupy your flurry this does more damage than a flurry and can stun. It also isn't that true to the original psychic strike. The other two abilities are fine though I really don't see why an instant kill effect is all that thematic with a Soulknife. There is things like Feeblemind..etc. In general it is easy to rack up damage with this, some things aren't thematic, and it has no other utility 5e always tried to squeeze something in to that effect.

Submortimer
2015-06-23, 11:29 PM
The ki powers are some of the most economic I have seen. You are giving them a hex spell that doesn't occupy concentration. The ki smite absolutely demolishes regular smite in terms of usage and is almost competitive for power. Smite is usable 15 times a day completely using your spells per long rest this though can be used 10 times a short rest and has a stunning rider effect. So you have much more potential to use this and deal more damage overall because this scales naturally while regular Smite only scales in terms of spell slots. While it does occupy your flurry this does more damage than a flurry and can stun. It also isn't that true to the original psychic strike. The other two abilities are fine though I really don't see why an instant kill effect is all that thematic with a Soulknife. There is things like Feeblemind..etc. In general it is easy to rack up damage with this, some things aren't thematic, and it has no other utility 5e always tried to squeeze something in to that effect.

I think you're missing the major limiting factor of ki strike: it takes a bonus action to charge, and is expended on the next hit you make. Paladins are able to smite multiple times per turn, and on any attack they make, specifically following a critical; this, by comparison, is much more limited.

I'll probably add concentration into the effect for enhancing the mind blade. i didn't take into account possible abuse with Hex or Hunter's Mark.

Knife to the soul...yeah, you make a good point. I think i will change it to a feeblemind effect.

I don't know what you're talking about with the "not thematic" part:


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.
The only thing I did was to add a stunning rider because, frankly, you'd never use it otherwise. flurrying every round is generally more damaging:

Ex. (Assuming 20 dex)
18th level Flurry: 4d10+20 = 42 avg
18th level Ki Strike: 2d10+5d8+10 = 43.5 avg

Hmm. You know, I might actually have to BOOST the power of Ki Strike. For 2 ki, I can flurry with stunning strike for 42 avg damage, or for 2 ki I can Ki strike with a stun for 43.5 avg damage. For 1 ki i can flurry for 42 avg damage with no extra stun.

Yep, I'm changing those damage dice to d10's

Amnoriath
2015-06-27, 01:04 PM
I think you're missing the major limiting factor of ki strike: it takes a bonus action to charge, and is expended on the next hit you make. Paladins are able to smite multiple times per turn, and on any attack they make, specifically following a critical; this, by comparison, is much more limited.

I'll probably add concentration into the effect for enhancing the mind blade. i didn't take into account possible abuse with Hex or Hunter's Mark.

Knife to the soul...yeah, you make a good point. I think i will change it to a feeblemind effect.

I don't know what you're talking about with the "not thematic" part:


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.
The only thing I did was to add a stunning rider because, frankly, you'd never use it otherwise. flurrying every round is generally more damaging:

Ex. (Assuming 20 dex)
18th level Flurry: 4d10+20 = 42 avg
18th level Ki Strike: 2d10+5d8+10 = 43.5 avg

Hmm. You know, I might actually have to BOOST the power of Ki Strike. For 2 ki, I can flurry with stunning strike for 42 avg damage, or for 2 ki I can Ki strike with a stun for 43.5 avg damage. For 1 ki i can flurry for 42 avg damage with no extra stun.

Yep, I'm changing those damage dice to d10's
1. I believe you are missing the point in which it just takes to charge one. You can have two versions and use your bonus action whenever meaning you can enter battle with two. By comparison a Paladin can only match that kind of extra damage if he wastes his precious high level spell slots. So while he can be more tactical he loses a huge resource doing so while yours consumes very little of your resources.
2. Except what you have is a more economic combination of both damage and stunning because you just proven it deals more damage. If it was thematic it would be more along the lines of psychic damage or something evoking that. So you now decide to make it even more damaging? Not only is it kind of uninspired it is easy first strike damage which is far more reliable and less costly than a Paladin's smite of comparative level.

Ziegander
2015-06-27, 03:29 PM
Why even give them another "spend Ki deal moar damage" ability, especially one that stuns, something that all Monks can already do for the price of 1 Ki per hit? It's doubly redundant, once so with the base class, and once again with its own Soul Blade feature. I suggest you scrap Ki Strike completely and come up with a different ability to replace it. As you say, even when you buff the dice to d10s, straight up Flurry + Stunning Strike deals almost as much damage and, to me, gaining a "new" class feature that allows you to spend the same Ki to do the same exact thing that you already could do to an enemy (hit it a lot and stun it) just with slightly more damage... that feels really lame to me. As I said, it's highly redundant design space.

Otherwise, I like the archetype quite a bit.

Submortimer
2015-06-27, 04:12 PM
Why even give them another "spend Ki deal moar damage" ability, especially one that stuns, something that all Monks can already do for the price of 1 Ki per hit? It's doubly redundant, once so with the base class, and once again with its own Soul Blade feature. I suggest you scrap Ki Strike completely and come up with a different ability to replace it. As you say, even when you buff the dice to d10s, straight up Flurry + Stunning Strike deals almost as much damage and, to me, gaining a "new" class feature that allows you to spend the same Ki to do the same exact thing that you already could do to an enemy (hit it a lot and stun it) just with slightly more damage... that feels really lame to me. As I said, it's highly redundant design space.

Otherwise, I like the archetype quite a bit.

Thanks for the input.

Here's the thing that gets me: psychic strIke is a thing that every version of the Soulknife has done. It may be redundant, but I
without that feature, it's not a faithful adaptation; SOME version of it is going to be in there. What HASN'T been suggested is this: How should I change it? Reducing the damage makes it less economical than just flurrying, removing the stun makes it too expensive...I could change the damage type, but I'm pulling it away from psionics, so I don't really want to do psychic.

Any suggestions?

Steampunkette
2015-06-27, 05:27 PM
I, personally, think Ki Strike is pretty awesome. I'll go ahead and make a completely different suggestion as to what it should do.

Increase the cost to 3 ki, reduce the damage to d6s, and have it Paralyze the target for 1 round instead of stun.

It winds up filling the same core roll (shutting down the enemy for 1 turn) but grants you and your party advantage and crits (thus the lower initial damage than a Flurry). With it's tripled cost compared to Stunning Fist it's going to come up less often as an opportunity cost to offset it's overall power.