Nifft
2016-10-30, 02:52 PM
This is my attempt to re-write Soulknife as a feat chain, because the whole awful class grants about what you'd expect from a few feats. Please PEACH honestly.
= = =
Mindblade Feats
Mindblade [Psionic]
Benefit: You can manifest a Mindblade, an extension of your killing intent embodied in a psychic blade. You can form a blade as a Move action. (If your BAB is at least +1, you can form a blade as part of another Move action, exactly as if you were drawing a weapon.) This blade is mechanically identical to a non-magical short sword appropriate to your size: for example, it deals 1d6 slashing damage if you are Medium, and threatens a critical hit on 19-20. You are proficient with your Mindblade. Any feat which can apply to a specific weapon can be taken to apply to your Mindblade.
Each time you form a blade, you can choose its minor visual characteristics, including making it appear obviously magical (up to glowing like a torch), or like nothing more than a crude club of crystal, or like a mundane short sword, or anything in between.
The blade can be sundered, and you can be disarmed of the blade. If sundered or loosed from your grip, the blade disintegrates, but you can form a new blade on your turn by spending a Move action.
This is basically Improved Unarmed Strike, plus 19-20 threat range and light cantrip, but with some drawbacks: it can be Sundered and Disarmed, and you can't use it without a free hand (e.g. you can't use this feat to kick someone while holding on to a rope with both hands).
Enhanced Mindblade [Psionic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, BAB +3
Benefit: Your Mindblade is considered magical weapon for the purpose of penetrating damage reduction. Furthermore, you can spend power points to grant your Mindblade an enhancement bonus to attack and damage, limited by your BAB and Manifester level as follows:
BAB +3 / 1 pp: +1 bonus
BAB +6 / 3 pp: +2 bonus
BAB +9 / 5 pp: +3 bonus
BAB +12 / 7 pp: +4 bonus
BAB +15 / 9 pp: +5 bonus
This enhancement bonus lasts for ten minutes.
This is Ki Strike (Magic) for people who get bonus feats instead of class features (i.e. a Psychic Warrior). It looks pretty nice for a Psion until you see that it has a BAB requirement for actually use the best benefit. This is solidly aimed at Psychic Warrior and Warmind.
Shape Mindblade [Psionic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, BAB +1
Benefit: As a full-round action, you can change your mind blade to replicate a longsword (damage 1d8/19x2 for a Medium weapon wielded as a one-handed weapon) or a bastard sword (damage 1d10/19x2 for a Medium weapon, but you must wield it as a two-handed weapon unless you have the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bastard sword) feat). If you shape your mind blade into either of these forms and wield it two-handed, you add 1.5 times your Strength bonus to damage rolls, as usual for a two-handed weapon.
Alternatively, you can split your Mindblade into two identical short swords, suitable for fighting with a weapon in each hand. (The normal penalties for fighting with two weapons apply.) If you apply an enhancement bonus to your Mindblade while it is split, both blades benefit equally.
This supports variant combat styles. It's intended to be available at level 2 for a Str-based Psiwar, since a short sword is suboptimal for a Str-based character. It might be balanced to allow different weapon types which grant different damage types & features, but I note that Monks don't get different damage types for their unarmed strikes.
Rapid Mindblade [Psionic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, BAB +1
Benefit: You can form a Mindblade as a Free action instead of a Move action.
Special: If you also have Throw Mindblade and the ability to make multiple attacks with a Full Attack action, this feat enables you to create as many Mindblades as you can throw.
Throw Mindblade [Psionic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, BAB +1, manifester level 3rd
Benefit: Your Mindblades are treated as a throwing weapon with a range increment of 30 ft.
Note that throwing a mindblade ends whatever enhancements were placed on it. This is a lot like a [Reserve] feat in that it gives you a cheap thing to do all day at mid-range, except it costs you a Move action, or it costs you two feats. This feat also allows entry into the Soulbow PrC, which is like the Arcane Archer of psionics, except halfway decent.
Psychic Hunter [Psionic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, Enhanced Mindblade, Favored Enemy
Benefit: When you form a Mindblade, pick one of your Favored Enemies. Your Mindblade has the Bane special ability with regards to that Favored Enemy.
If you have levels of Ranger and Psychic Warrior, you may count your levels of Psychic Warrior as Ranger levels for the purpose of advancing the Ranger's Favored Enemy class feature. You may count your levels of Ranger as Psychic Warrior levels for the purpose of gaining bonus feats.
This is both a shout out to the Slayer PrC, and a dual-class hybrid balance feat.
Epic Feats
Epic Mindblade [Psionic, Epic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, Enhanced Mindblade, BAB +15, level 21+
Benefit: Your Mindblade is considered an epic weapon for the purpose of penetrating damage reduction. Whenever you form a Mindblade, it always has a +5 enhancement bonus.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you take it, the granted enhancement bonus increases by +1.
This is [Epic] Improved Ki Strike for Mindblades.
== == ==
... and that's it.
Most of the rest of the Soulknife features, like adding a non-enhancement special ability to a weapon, are already handled by Psychic Warrior powers (e.g. weapon of energy). Adding a few more powers which give a choice of ~4 different enhancements each would be a nice expansion for this niche.
Alternately, let players use the Mind Blade Gauntlet item type from the Magic Item Compendium.
Also note that I'm not adding Psychic Strike, because feats like (Greater) Psionic Weapon and Deep Impact already exist, and those can be used to inflict damage which won't get ignored by half* the monsters in the game.
Thoughts? Thanks! --N
*) Your game may vary.
= = =
Mindblade Feats
Mindblade [Psionic]
Benefit: You can manifest a Mindblade, an extension of your killing intent embodied in a psychic blade. You can form a blade as a Move action. (If your BAB is at least +1, you can form a blade as part of another Move action, exactly as if you were drawing a weapon.) This blade is mechanically identical to a non-magical short sword appropriate to your size: for example, it deals 1d6 slashing damage if you are Medium, and threatens a critical hit on 19-20. You are proficient with your Mindblade. Any feat which can apply to a specific weapon can be taken to apply to your Mindblade.
Each time you form a blade, you can choose its minor visual characteristics, including making it appear obviously magical (up to glowing like a torch), or like nothing more than a crude club of crystal, or like a mundane short sword, or anything in between.
The blade can be sundered, and you can be disarmed of the blade. If sundered or loosed from your grip, the blade disintegrates, but you can form a new blade on your turn by spending a Move action.
This is basically Improved Unarmed Strike, plus 19-20 threat range and light cantrip, but with some drawbacks: it can be Sundered and Disarmed, and you can't use it without a free hand (e.g. you can't use this feat to kick someone while holding on to a rope with both hands).
Enhanced Mindblade [Psionic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, BAB +3
Benefit: Your Mindblade is considered magical weapon for the purpose of penetrating damage reduction. Furthermore, you can spend power points to grant your Mindblade an enhancement bonus to attack and damage, limited by your BAB and Manifester level as follows:
BAB +3 / 1 pp: +1 bonus
BAB +6 / 3 pp: +2 bonus
BAB +9 / 5 pp: +3 bonus
BAB +12 / 7 pp: +4 bonus
BAB +15 / 9 pp: +5 bonus
This enhancement bonus lasts for ten minutes.
This is Ki Strike (Magic) for people who get bonus feats instead of class features (i.e. a Psychic Warrior). It looks pretty nice for a Psion until you see that it has a BAB requirement for actually use the best benefit. This is solidly aimed at Psychic Warrior and Warmind.
Shape Mindblade [Psionic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, BAB +1
Benefit: As a full-round action, you can change your mind blade to replicate a longsword (damage 1d8/19x2 for a Medium weapon wielded as a one-handed weapon) or a bastard sword (damage 1d10/19x2 for a Medium weapon, but you must wield it as a two-handed weapon unless you have the Exotic Weapon Proficiency (bastard sword) feat). If you shape your mind blade into either of these forms and wield it two-handed, you add 1.5 times your Strength bonus to damage rolls, as usual for a two-handed weapon.
Alternatively, you can split your Mindblade into two identical short swords, suitable for fighting with a weapon in each hand. (The normal penalties for fighting with two weapons apply.) If you apply an enhancement bonus to your Mindblade while it is split, both blades benefit equally.
This supports variant combat styles. It's intended to be available at level 2 for a Str-based Psiwar, since a short sword is suboptimal for a Str-based character. It might be balanced to allow different weapon types which grant different damage types & features, but I note that Monks don't get different damage types for their unarmed strikes.
Rapid Mindblade [Psionic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, BAB +1
Benefit: You can form a Mindblade as a Free action instead of a Move action.
Special: If you also have Throw Mindblade and the ability to make multiple attacks with a Full Attack action, this feat enables you to create as many Mindblades as you can throw.
Throw Mindblade [Psionic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, BAB +1, manifester level 3rd
Benefit: Your Mindblades are treated as a throwing weapon with a range increment of 30 ft.
Note that throwing a mindblade ends whatever enhancements were placed on it. This is a lot like a [Reserve] feat in that it gives you a cheap thing to do all day at mid-range, except it costs you a Move action, or it costs you two feats. This feat also allows entry into the Soulbow PrC, which is like the Arcane Archer of psionics, except halfway decent.
Psychic Hunter [Psionic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, Enhanced Mindblade, Favored Enemy
Benefit: When you form a Mindblade, pick one of your Favored Enemies. Your Mindblade has the Bane special ability with regards to that Favored Enemy.
If you have levels of Ranger and Psychic Warrior, you may count your levels of Psychic Warrior as Ranger levels for the purpose of advancing the Ranger's Favored Enemy class feature. You may count your levels of Ranger as Psychic Warrior levels for the purpose of gaining bonus feats.
This is both a shout out to the Slayer PrC, and a dual-class hybrid balance feat.
Epic Feats
Epic Mindblade [Psionic, Epic]
Prerequisite: Mindblade, Enhanced Mindblade, BAB +15, level 21+
Benefit: Your Mindblade is considered an epic weapon for the purpose of penetrating damage reduction. Whenever you form a Mindblade, it always has a +5 enhancement bonus.
Special: You can take this feat multiple times. Each time you take it, the granted enhancement bonus increases by +1.
This is [Epic] Improved Ki Strike for Mindblades.
== == ==
... and that's it.
Most of the rest of the Soulknife features, like adding a non-enhancement special ability to a weapon, are already handled by Psychic Warrior powers (e.g. weapon of energy). Adding a few more powers which give a choice of ~4 different enhancements each would be a nice expansion for this niche.
Alternately, let players use the Mind Blade Gauntlet item type from the Magic Item Compendium.
Also note that I'm not adding Psychic Strike, because feats like (Greater) Psionic Weapon and Deep Impact already exist, and those can be used to inflict damage which won't get ignored by half* the monsters in the game.
Thoughts? Thanks! --N
*) Your game may vary.