The Soulfist (Class in 30 minutes, PEACH)

[Jormengand]

So, how do you save two of the worst classes in the game? Well...


LevelBABFortRefWillSpecial
Flurry of Blows attack bonus
Unarmed Damage
AC bonus
Unarmoured Speed Bonus
1st+0+2+2+2Bonus feats, soulstrike, flurry of blows
-2/-2
1d6
+0
+0 ft
2nd+1+3+3+3Bonus feat, evasion, soulshot
-1/-1
1d6
+0
+0 ft
3rd+2+3+3+3Still mind, soulsmite 1d8
+0/+0
1d6
+0
+10 ft
4th+3+4+4+4Slow fall 40 ft, +1 soulstrike
+1/+1
1d8
+0
+10 ft
5th+3+4+4+4Purity of body, swiftstrike
+2/+2
1d8
+1
+10 ft
6th+4+5+5+5Bonus feats, slow fall 30 ft, +1 soulstyle
+3/+3
1d8
+1
+20 ft
7th+5+5+5+5Wholeness of body, psychic strike +2d8
+4/+4
1d8
+1
+20 ft
8th+6/+1+6+6+6Slow fall 40 ft, +2 soulstrike
+5/+5/+0
1d10
+1
+20 ft
9th+6/+1+6+6+6Improved evasion, soulstorm, Greater Weapon Focus (unarmed strike)
+6/+6/+1
1d10
+1
+30 ft
10th+7/+2+7+7+7Ki strike (Lawful), slow fall 50 ft, +2 Soulstyle
+7/+7/+2
1d10
+2
+30 ft
11th+8/+3+7+7+7Diamond body, greater flurry, soulsmite 3d8
+8/+8/+8/+3
1d10
+2
+30 ft
12th+9/+4+8+8+8Abundant step, slow fall 60 ft, +3 soulstrike
+9/+9/+9/+4
2d6
+2
+40 ft
13th+9/+4+8+8+8Diamond soul, soulslayer
+9/+9/+9/+4
2d6
+2
+40 ft
14th+10/+5+9+9+9Slow fall 70 ft, +3 soulstyle
+10/+10/+10/+5
2d6
+2
+40 ft
15th+11/+6/+1+9+9+9Quivering palm, soulsmite 4d8
+11/+11/+11/+6/+1
2d6
+3
+50 ft
16th+12/+7/+2+10+10+10Ki strike (adamantine), slow fall 80 ft, +4 soulstrike
+12/+12/+12/+7/+2
2d8
+3
+50 ft
17th+12/+7/+2+10+10+10Timeless body, tongue of the sun and moon, soulshards
+12/+12/+12/+7/+2
2d8
+3
+50 ft
18th+13/+8/+3+11+11+11Slow fall 90 ft, +4 soulstyle
+13/+13/+13/+8/+3
2d8
+3
+60 ft
19th+14/+9/+4+11+11+11Empty body, soulsmite 5d8
+14/+14/+14/+9/+4
2d8
+3
+60 ft
20th+15/+10/+5+12+12+12Perfect self, slow fall any distance, +5 soulstrike
+15/+15/+15/+10/+5
2d10
+4
+60 ft

Alignment: Any lawful
Hit Die: 1d10

Class Skills:
The soulfist’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis (Wis), Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (arcana) (Int), Knowledge (Psionics) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Tumble (Dex).
Skill Points at 1st Level: (4 + Int modifier) × 4
Skill Points at Each Additional Level: 4 + Int modifier

Weapon and Armour Proficiency
Soulfists are proficient in simple weapons, plus the handaxe, kama, nunchaku, sai, shuriken and siangham. They are proficient in light armour and shields (except tower shields). When wearing medium or heavy armour or using a tower shield, a soulfist loses xyr AC bonus, as well as xyr fast movement and flurry of blows abilities.

AC Bonus (Ex)
The soulfist adds xyr Wisdom bonus (if any) to xyr AC. In addition, a soulfist gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five soulfist levels thereafter (+2 at 10th, +3 at 15th, and +4 at 20th level).

These bonuses to AC apply even against touch attacks or when the soulfist is flat-footed. Xe loses these bonuses when xe is immobilized or helpless, when xe wears medium or heavy armor, when xe carries a tower shield, or when xe carries a medium or heavy load.

Soulstrike (Ps)
As a move action, a soulfist can create a field of psychic energy around xyr body, distilled from xyr own mind. An attack with the field is identical in all ways (except visually) to an unarmed strike of a monk of the same level. For instance, a Medium soulfist deals 1d6 points of damage at first level. Soulfists who are smaller or larger than Medium create determine damage using Table: Small or Large Monk Unarmed Damage.

A soulstrike is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction. A soulfist can use feats such as Power Attack or Combat Expertise in conjunction with the soulstrike just as if it were a normal weapon. Xe can also use any feat that improves an unarmed strike with the field. Powers or spells that upgrade weapons can be used on a soulstrike, as can those which upgrade natural attacks, just like a monk's unarmed strike

A soulfist’s soulstrike improves as the character gains higher levels. At 4th level and every four levels thereafter, the soulstrike gains a cumulative +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls (+2 at 8th level, +3 at 12th level, +4 at 16th level, and +5 at 20th level).

Even in places where psionic effects do not normally function (such as within a null psionics field), a soulfist can attempt to sustain xyr soulstrike by making a DC 20 Will save. On a successful save, the soulfist maintains xyr soulstrike for a number of rounds equal to xyr class level before xe needs to check again. On an unsuccessful attempt, the field vanishes. As a move action on xyr turn, the soulfist can attempt a new Will save to rematerialize xyr soulstrike while xe remains within the psionics negating effect.

The soulstrike, while active, grants the monk's flurry of blows, greater flurry, quivering palm and ki strike abilities at the same level a monk would get them. Without manifesting the ability, the soulfist doesn't have them.

Bonus Feats
The soulfist gains the following bonus feats:

1st level: Improved Unarmed Strike, Weapon Focus (unarmed strike), Wild Talent and one of Improved Grapple and Stunning Fist
2nd level: One of Combat Reflexes and Deflect Arrows
6th level: Speed of Thought and one of Improved Disarm and Improved Trip
9th: Greater Weapon Focus (unarmed strike)

Also, the soulfist is treated as a monk for the purposes of the Stunning Fist feat.

Evasion (Ex)
At 2nd level or higher if a soulfist makes a successful Reflex saving throw against an attack that normally deals half damage on a successful save, xe instead takes no damage. Evasion can be used only if a soulfist is wearing light armor or no armor. A helpless soulfist does not gain the benefit of evasion.

Soulshot (Ex)
While using xyr soulstrike, the soulfist can make ranged attacks as though the soulstrike were a throwing weapon with a range increment of 30 feet. Whether or not the attack hits, the soulstrike then dissipates.

Fast Movement (Ex)
At 3rd level, a soulfist gains an enhancement bonus to xyr speed, as shown on Table: The Soulfist. A soulfist in medium or heavy armor or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed

Still Mind (Ex)
A soulfist of 3rd level or higher gains a +2 bonus on saving throws against spells and effects from the school of enchantment.

Soulsmite (Su)
As a move action, a soulfist of 3rd level or higher can imbue xyr soulstrike with destructive psychic energy. This effect deals an extra 1d8 points of damage to the next living, nonmindless target xe successfully hits with a melee attack (or ranged attack, if xe is using the soulshot ability). Creatures immune to mind-affecting effects are immune to soulsmite damage. (Unlike the rogue’s sneak attack, the soulsmite 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 soulstrike deals this extra damage only once when this ability is called upon, but a soulfist can imbue xyr soulstrike with psychic energy again by taking another move action.

Once a soulfist has prepared xyr soulstrike for a psychic strike, it holds the extra energy until it is used. Even if the soulfist dissipates the soulstrike (or it otherwise dissipates, such as when it is thrown and misses), it is still imbued with psychic energy when the soulfist next materializes it.

At every four levels beyond 3rd (7th, 11th, 15th, and 19th), the extra damage from a soulfist’s soulsmite increases as shown on the Table above.

Slow Fall (Ex)
At 4th level or higher, a soulfist within arm’s reach of a wall can use it to slow xyr descent. When first using this ability, xe takes damage as if the fall were 20 feet shorter than it actually is. The soulfist’s ability to slow xyr fall (that is, to reduce the effective distance of the fall when next to a wall) improves with xyr soulfist level until at 20th level xe can use a nearby wall to slow xyr descent and fall any distance without harm.

Purity of Body (Ex)
At 5th level, a soulfist gains immunity to all diseases except for supernatural and magical diseases.

Swiftstrike (Su)
At 5th level, a soulfist becomes able to materialize xyr soulstrike as a free action instead of a move action. Xe can make only one attempt to materialize the soulstrike per round, however.

Soulstyle (Su)
At 6th level, a soulfist gains the ability to enhance xyr soulstrike. Xe can add any weapon special ability that has an enhancement bonus value of +1.

At every four levels beyond 6th (10th, 14th, and 18th), the value of the enhancement improves to +2, +3, and +4, respectively. A soulfist can choose any combination of weapon special abilities that does not exceed the total allowed by the soulfist’s level.

The weapon ability or abilities remain the same every time the soulfist materializes xyr soulstrike (unless xe decides to reassign its abilities; see below).

A soulfist can reassign the ability or abilities xe has added to xyr soulstrike. To do so, xe must first spend 8 hours in concentration. After that period, the soulstrike materializes with the new ability or abilities selected by the soulfist.

Wholeness of Body (Su)
At 7th level or higher, a soulfist can heal xyr own wounds. Xe can heal a number of hit points of damage equal to twice xyr current soulfist level each day, and xe can spread this healing out among several uses.

Improved Evasion (Ex)
At 9th level, a soulfist’s evasion ability improves. Xe still takes no damage on a successful Reflex saving throw against attacks, but henceforth xe takes only half damage on a failed save. A helpless soulfist does not gain the benefit of improved evasion.

Soulstorm (Su)
At 9th level, the soulfist's soulstrike field grants xyr the effects of the Whirlwind Attack feat, but only using the soulstrike.

Diamond Body (Su)
At 11th level, a soulfist gains immunity to poisons of all kinds.

Abundant Step (Su)
At 12th level or higher, a soulfist can slip magically between spaces, as if using the spell dimension door, once per day. Xyr caster level for this effect is one-half xyr soulfist level (rounded down).

Diamond Soul (Ex)
At 13th level, a soulfist gains spell resistance equal to xyr current soulfist level + 10. In order to affect the soulfist with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the soulfist’s spell resistance. The caster automatically passes the check if the soulfist is a willing target (not if xe is unconscious, but only if the soulfist is genuinely willing), unlike ordinary spell resistance.

Soulslayer (Su)
Beginning at 13th level, when a soulfist executes a soulsmite, xe can choose to substitute Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma damage (xyr choice) for extra dice of damage. For each die of extra damage xe gives up, xe deals 1 point of damage to the ability score xe chooses. A soulfist can combine extra dice of damage and ability damage in any combination.

The soulknife decides which ability score xyr psychic strike damages and the division of ability damage and extra dice of damage when xe imbues xyr mind blade with the psychic strike energy.

Timeless Body (Ex)
Upon attaining 17th level, a soulfist no longer takes penalties to xyr ability scores for aging and cannot be magically aged. Any such penalties that xe has already taken, however, remain in place. Bonuses still accrue, and the soulfist still dies of old age when xyr time is up.

Tongue of the Sun and Moon (Ex)
A soulfist of 17th level or higher can speak with any living creature.

Soulshards (Ex)
At 17th level or higher, throwing the soulstrike field no longer dissipates it so it can be used to attack at range as many times per round as the soulfist can attack.

Empty Body (Su)
At 19th level, a soulfist gains the ability to assume an ethereal state for 1 round per soulfist level per day, as though using the spell etherealness. Xe may go ethereal on a number of different occasions during any single day, as long as the total number of rounds spent in an ethereal state does not exceed xyr soulfist level.

Perfect Self
At 20th level, a soulfist becomes a magical creature. Xe is forevermore treated as an outsider rather than as a humanoid (or whatever the soulfist’s creature type was) for the purpose of spells and magical effects. Additionally, the soulfist gains damage reduction 10/magic, which allows xyr to ignore the first 10 points of damage from any attack made by a nonmagical weapon or by any natural attack made by a creature that doesn’t have similar damage reduction. Unlike other outsiders, the soulfist can still be brought back from the dead as if xe were a member of xyr previous creature type (or as an outsider, whichever is easier).

[nonsi]

'xyr' . . . ?? :smallconfused:

Not a very easy on the eyes.

[nonsi]

.
Ok, putting visual issues aside, it seems like you didn't take this one far enough. I mean, even a soulknife-psywar gestalt is a balanced T3. Seems to me like this one is trailing behind soulknife-psywar gestalt and could be pushed further w/o any risk of brokenness.

[Jormengand]

'xyr' . . . ?? :smallconfused:

Not a very easy on the eyes.

Obviously, while combining everything else, I couldn't just pick one gender or the other, now could I? :smalltongue:


.
Ok, putting visual issues aside, it seems like you didn't take this one far enough. I mean, even a soulknife-psywar gestalt is a balanced T3. Seems to me like this one is trailing behind soulknife-psywar gestalt and could be pushed further w/o any risk of brokenness.

The thing with soulknife is that it usually doesn't change the tier of whatever it's attached to because you're mostly better off using the real weapons of whatever class you already are - or your unarmed strike, in the monk//soulknife's case (you're probably best off keeping your mind blade to throw at people, especially for the initial Xd8 damage). In the case of the soulfist, unlike the real monk//soulknife, you can actually use a real weapon, except that weapon also has all the benefits associated with a mind blade. Sure, the soulfist isn't massively powerful, but it's not designed for that high of a power level, so it's fine.

[Grod_The_Giant]

So it's... a Monk who can wear light armor and enchant their fists, basically? And can make a crappy ranged attack (basically a full-round action until 5th, after which you can do two in a row... once), and deal a little bit of damage the first round of combat? I guess it's a successful merger of two subpar classes, but... eh? I don't really see the point; you combined two classes with basically the same "strengths" (always have a weapon) and weaknesses (medium BAB on a basic melee class, and action-hogging main offensive techniques).

I mean, it's certainly better than either of the two individual classes, but only marginally-- the Soulknife gets Flurry, a bit more AC, and some bonus feats, while the Monk gets to wear armor (reducing MAD) and save on an Amulet of Mighty Fists (improving economy), but... Is there a reason you didn't fold in standard-issue fixes? I think there are neat things you could do with the combination if you're willing to go beyond the basic gestalt here. Off the top of my head... I can see combing Flurry and Psychic Strike-- you take a Swift action to charge your Soulstrike, and choose to channel the energy into power (Psychic Strike) or speed (Flurry).You could allow the Soulstrike to manifest as a free action all the time, and switch weapon type (or at least damage type) every time you do; maybe even have a minor bonus if you do, so you encourage a sort of Devil May Cry fluid combat style. You could even have the Soulstrike continue to extend in new ways-- turning into armor, wings, grappling hooks, stuff like that.

...now I kind of want to write that.

(On a structural note, you don't have an entry for Flurry of Blows)

[Almarck]

So it's... a Monk who can wear light armor and enchant their fists, basically? And can make a crappy ranged attack (basically a full-round action until 5th, after which you can do two in a row... once), and deal a little bit of damage the first round of combat? I guess it's a successful merger of two subpar classes, but... eh? I don't really see the point; you combined two classes with basically the same "strengths" (always have a weapon) and weaknesses (medium BAB on a basic melee class, and action-hogging main offensive techniques).

I mean, it's certainly better than either of the two individual classes, but only marginally-- the Soulknife gets Flurry, a bit more AC, and some bonus feats, while the Monk gets to wear armor (reducing MAD) and save on an Amulet of Mighty Fists (improving economy), but... Is there a reason you didn't fold in standard-issue fixes? I think there are neat things you could do with the combination if you're willing to go beyond the basic gestalt here. Off the top of my head... I can see combing Flurry and Psychic Strike-- you take a Swift action to charge your Soulstrike, and choose to channel the energy into power (Psychic Strike) or speed (Flurry).You could allow the Soulstrike to manifest as a free action all the time, and switch weapon type (or at least damage type) every time you do; maybe even have a minor bonus if you do, so you encourage a sort of Devil May Cry fluid combat style. You could even have the Soulstrike continue to extend in new ways-- turning into armor, wings, grappling hooks, stuff like that.

...now I kind of want to write that.

(On a structural note, you don't have an entry for Flurry of Blows)


This is to be fair a 30 minute class. They tend to not come out perfect largely because of time constraints.

[enderlord99]

Obviously, while combining everything else, I couldn't just pick one gender or the other, now could I? :smalltongue:

Do you have something against the singular "they?"

[AOKost]

I love the concept, and most of the execution. I usually houserule that if a character can find light armor that gives +5 Max Dex Bonus and 0 Armor Check Penalty, weighing no more than 10 pounds, they can wear it without disrupting their Monk Abilities. I would personally base the effects off of Ki instead of Psychic energy as I feel that fluff is a relatively minor change, and fits with the feel of the class martial artist aspect. Though I would note that you could also use the "Soulslayer" ability to affect Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution of any living creature but not Undead or Constructs. I tend to think of this more like acupressure on a grander scale, attacking nerve clusters, things like that... Maybe Elementals should be excluded to...

[Jormengand]

Do you have something against the singular "they?"

Do you have something against neologistic gender-neutral pronouns? Also, having a pronoun which can only ever be singular can help remove ambiguity when writing class descriptions.



As regards the class's power, I'm not really looking for something that's extremely good, so much as... well, competent. The free +2 to attack rolls from bonus feats, +5 attack/damage from class features and free enchantments are useful to help the soulfist actually hit things, and actually having a ranged attack, however bad, is something the monk kinda needed.

[Nifft]

Do you have something against the singular "they?"

Nobody actually uses singular "they".

You can tell by the verb -- nobody ever says, "they is coming over".

Using a new 3rd person singular non-gendered pronoun is a valid option, and probably a significantly more honest option.

[Fri]

I'm replying here because at first I read hte thread title as "The soufleist" and I thought it's a class that uses soufles or makes soufles in a fight (or even make soufles perfectly, I guess that's actually magical enough). :smallfrown:

Also, just want to mention feel free using whichever pronoun you feel like more natural (or of course you could be a sane language like mine and don't have gender based pronoun or irregular verbs or tenses), but singular they has been used commonly since forever.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singular_they

[Jormengand]

At least, I suppose, it can't be as bad as the potion maker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20106044&postcount=4), whose iconic is genderfluid, which leads to this wonderful paragraph:


A potion maker can spend the hour after resting to prepare potions, much as other casters may prepare spells. In this time, she may brew one potion for each spell given on Table: The Potion Maker (plus additional potions for having a high intelligence modifier), completely without regard for the usual gold, experience or time cost of doing so, although potions made in this way become useless after 24 hours. Similarly, if he chooses not to brew all of their potions at this time, it can brew a single potion later in the day by expending a spell slot of the requisite level. If they have more than one spellcasting class, he can only brew potions in this way using her potion maker spell slots. In order to make a potion using spell slots from another class, it must use the normal rules for creating potions and can only create potions out of spells which would normally be eligible for creating potions.

(I would normally instinctively use they as well, but the iconic soulfist apparently uses xe, and the rest of us would best respect xyr decision).

[Fri]

At least, I suppose, it can't be as bad as the potion maker (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20106044&postcount=4), whose iconic is genderfluid, which leads to this wonderful paragraph:

Surprisingly relevant to both part of my previous post :smallbiggrin:

[Grod_The_Giant]

As regards the class's power, I'm not really looking for something that's extremely good, so much as... well, competent. The free +2 to attack rolls from bonus feats, +5 attack/damage from class features and free enchantments are useful to help the soulfist actually hit things, and actually having a ranged attack, however bad, is something the monk kinda needed.
It's still kind of a mess. Not so much-- or at least not just-- in power, but in action economy. You need move actions to charge your psychic strike soulsmite (by the way, it says psychic strike on the table, still), and you need full-round actions to flurry, and the once/round limit makes soulshot painful. It's not bad so much as it's awkward, you know?

Edit: I guess the question is "what sort of response are you looking for?" Suggestions for balance? Ideas to help elegance/ease-of-play? Catching typos?

[enderlord99]

Do you have something against neologistic gender-neutral pronouns?

Sometimes. "Hir" is good, but the ones with the "X"s are silly and slightly annoying.

I use them if someone insists, but am uncomfortable doing so.