[3.5] So, a player wants to play a Soulknife

[AnimeTheCat]

I'm aware of how PF "fixed" a soulknife, but I'm stubborn and I don't want to mix PF with 3.5 even though it's apparently easy to convert. Also, the player is very slow to learn things and he's played a 3.5 soulknife before so it's better for teaching if I can keep it to what he knows. ADDITIONALLY, the power level of the group is around T4 to T3 so there's that.

With that information, I'm pretty confident in this build because it helps to cover up some of the weaker points of the class. I proposed for him to pick up Scout 3 to get more skills points and skills, additional damage after moving and to qualify for the improved evasion feat. Then at level 4 move in to 5 levels of soulknife and build the character like a throwing build. Power Throw, Brutal Throw, etc.

Do you think that with the additional feats and the ability to get some extra damage without sacrificing move actions to charge a blade that would shore up some of the most commonly complained about aspects of soulknife?

[J-H]

As an indirect answer, here's how I buff Soulknife in the games I run now:
+Full BAB
+Psychic Strike applies to all attacks in a round (if standing still, you could do a standard+charge/PS full attack/standard+charge...repeating routine)
+Only one feat is required to pick whatever weapon shape you want for your mind blade
+Knife to the Soul is available at 3rd level. I don't think the ability to do 1 or 2 points of damage to a mental stat is unbalancing at 3rd and 7th levels, although it does offer a few options for dealing with CHA 2 animals.
+Expanded list of Mind Blade options (discuss with player)
+Also, EVERYBODY in all of my games gets +4 skill points per level, x4 at first.

This gives you a character whose class features go beyond "Have a weapon" to "Have a mutable weapon that hits very often, with a reasonable bonus damage or minor debuff feature that scales with levels, and with mobility thanks to Speed of Thought & enough points to take Tumble, and with 6-7 free feats available."

Since Mage Slayer does not harm Mind Blade progression, take that feat chain and combine it with the ability to knock down their casting stat by 2-3 points with each hit. Suddenly you have a decent semi-mundane mage slayer, who can land a pretty nasty debuff on any caster, possibly disabling spellcasting with enough hits.

[logic_error]

I'm aware of how PF "fixed" a soulknife, but I'm stubborn and I don't want to mix PF with 3.5 even though it's apparently easy to convert. Also, the player is very slow to learn things and he's played a 3.5 soulknife before so it's better for teaching if I can keep it to what he knows. ADDITIONALLY, the power level of the group is around T4 to T3 so there's that.

With that information, I'm pretty confident in this build because it helps to cover up some of the weaker points of the class. I proposed for him to pick up Scout 3 to get more skills points and skills, additional damage after moving and to qualify for the improved evasion feat. Then at level 4 move into 5 levels of soul knife and build the character like a throwing build. Power Throw, Brutal Throw, etc.

Do you think that with the additional feats and the ability to get some extra damage without sacrificing move actions to charge a blade that would shore up some of the most commonly complained about aspects of soul knife?

Forget all that.

First, what are the other players in the game? If they are hyper-optimized Druids, Clerics then yeah, Soulknife sucks.

How much magic is there in the game? Are magic weapons a dime a dozen? Are scrolls available at every street corner shop? If the last two questions are a Yes, then yeah, Soul knife sucks.

If not to both first and second, then Soul knife is a pretty good class if you suggest that the player exit it with a PrC at level 5,6,7. Soulbow comes to mind and warmind too. Also, a one level dip multiclass into Psychic warrior gets free feats and access to Slayer. All these are wonderful options for t Soulknife.

[AnimeTheCat]

As an indirect answer, here's how I buff Soulknife in the games I run now:
+Full BAB
+Psychic Strike applies to all attacks in a round (if standing still, you could do a standard+charge/PS full attack/standard+charge...repeating routine)
+Only one feat is required to pick whatever weapon shape you want for your mind blade
+Knife to the Soul is available at 3rd level. I don't think the ability to do 1 or 2 points of damage to a mental stat is unbalancing at 3rd and 7th levels, although it does offer a few options for dealing with CHA 2 animals.
+Expanded list of Mind Blade options (discuss with player)
+Also, EVERYBODY in all of my games gets +4 skill points per level, x4 at first.

This gives you a character whose class features go beyond "Have a weapon" to "Have a mutable weapon that hits very often, with a reasonable bonus damage or minor debuff feature that scales with levels, and with mobility thanks to Speed of Thought & enough points to take Tumble, and with 6-7 free feats available."

Since Mage Slayer does not harm Mind Blade progression, take that feat chain and combine it with the ability to knock down their casting stat by 2-3 points with each hit. Suddenly you have a decent semi-mundane mage slayer, who can land a pretty nasty debuff on any caster, possibly disabling spellcasting with enough hits.

The idea wasn't to fix the soulknife class. It will be played as is. The player is really tied to the idea of forming a mind blade and I'm not going to stop them.


Forget all that.

First, what are the other players in the game? If they are hyper-optimized Druids, Clerics then yeah, Soulknife sucks.

How much magic is there in the game? Are magic weapons a dime a dozen? Are scrolls available at every street corner shop? If the last two questions are a Yes, then yeah, Soul knife sucks.

If not to both first and second, then Soul knife is a pretty good class if you suggest that the player exit it with a PrC at level 5,6,7. Soulbow comes to mind and warmind too. Also, a one level dip multiclass into Psychic warrior gets free feats and access to Slayer. All these are wonderful options for t Soulknife.

I'll start by answering you with a quote from my OP (Bolded for emphasis)

I'm aware of how PF "fixed" a soulknife, but I'm stubborn and I don't want to mix PF with 3.5 even though it's apparently easy to convert. Also, the player is very slow to learn things and he's played a 3.5 soulknife before so it's better for teaching if I can keep it to what he knows. ADDITIONALLY, the power level of the group is around T4 to T3 so there's that.

so that answers your first question.

Second, the magic items are going to be thematically placed around the world. In the frigid regions, you'll be able to get your frosty weapons, desert regions your firey ones, etc. There's not going to be any kind of magical market in every city either. There may be a local magic user that creates a sparse number of magic items, but they will be unique everywhere the PCs go. Only the largest cities will have decent magic item availability. Most of the magic items the party will get will be from adventuring.

The problem with exiting Soulknife is that, to my knowledge, soul bow and illumen soul are the only things that continues the progression of the weapon which means that most other options are going to prove subpar for the soulknife and the player will end up using a real weapon that is better which would make them feel like their soulknife levels were wasted.

[mabriss lethe]

Point them in the direction of the mind's eye acfs. getting a free level 1 power and swapping psychic strike for something like martial study/stance can open them up a lot. Also,make sure he gets access to an adamantine mindblade gauntlet asap (they're something like 1000gp iirc). Not only does that add a fairly useful tool to their collection, it, through virtue of its mechanics, gives the soulknife the ability to respect their mindblade on the fly.

[The Vagabond]

Allowing psionic prestige classes to progress the Soulknife is a very good idea.

In addition, I find granting the Soulknife Weapons of Legacy abilities to be a fun idea.

[logic_error]

The idea wasn't to fix the soulknife class. It will be played as is. The player is really tied to the idea of forming a mind blade and I'm not going to stop them.



I'll start by answering you with a quote from my OP (Bolded for emphasis)


so that answers your first question.

Second, the magic items are going to be thematically placed around the world. In the frigid regions, you'll be able to get your frosty weapons, desert regions your firey ones, etc. There's not going to be any kind of magical market in every city either. There may be a local magic user that creates a sparse number of magic items, but they will be unique everywhere the PCs go. Only the largest cities will have decent magic item availability. Most of the magic items the party will get will be from adventuring.

The problem with exiting Soulknife is that, to my knowledge, soul bow and illumen soul are the only things that continues the progression of the weapon which means that most other options are going to prove subpar for the soulknife and the player will end up using a real weapon that is better which would make them feel like their soulknife levels were wasted.

In the case that the other classes are in the range of T3 T4 AND there are no magic weapons flooding the world, I think your SoulKnife will do just fine. No need to fix anything. If you allow the Bane ability to be applied to the weapon you might make him OP though.

[MisterKaws]

Giving him Mau-Jehe and getting him to Legacy Champion-advance both the weapon and the class at once might do the trick. Mau-Jehe's special effects can be stacked with a normal Mind Blade.

I've once made a build that revolved around getting the most ridiculously overpowered weapon ever using that. It used Soulknife to get Mau-Jehe's bonuses into a Soulbow's Mind Arrow, then a Kensai dip to enhance the Mind Arrow's "bow"(A.K.A: brain), which is usually unenchanted, and Legacy Champion progression to level Kensai's Enhancements while changing Mau-Jehe's effects into better ones. It amounted to something like +30 effective enhancement arrows.

[NomGarret]

Even with all that, I like bumping BAB to full. Drop to d8 HD if you want to balance it out, but in my experience that better suits the offensive nature of the class.

[AnimeTheCat]

Even with all that, I like bumping BAB to full. Drop to d8 HD if you want to balance it out, but in my experience that better suits the offensive nature of the class.

I get increasing the BAB, but why reduce the HD? That seems counterintuitive to the nature of the class

[Grod_The_Giant]

Take the Mind's Eye upgrades, first of all. Ideally the one that sort of turns the Psychic Warrior into a Soulknife, but at least the ones that swap out the useless Wild Talent and Psychic Strike for feats. Then go into Soulbow, possibly with a Shiba Protector dip. Make sure he gets some cool magic items to fill out his WBL, since he's not buying a weapon. That's the way to make a useful Soulknife in 3.5; there's really not a lot else that can be done.

Alternate "Mind Blades" include the aforementioned PsyWar ACF, the Incarnum Weapon soulmeld, and the Pyrokineticist (or better yet, Sonikineticist)'s Fire Lash.

[Nifft]

I'm aware of how PF "fixed" a soulknife, but I'm stubborn and I don't want to mix PF with 3.5 even though it's apparently easy to convert. Also, the player is very slow to learn things and he's played a 3.5 soulknife before so it's better for teaching if I can keep it to what he knows. ADDITIONALLY, the power level of the group is around T4 to T3 so there's that.

That bolded part makes me wonder if it's even possible to help -- changing the Soulknife with house-rules seems somehow worse than giving the guy a new class to play, since it's betraying his expectations.

If you're interested in different takes on the Soulknife, I've got one here: http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?504805-Nifft-s-Soulknife-as-Feats-PEACH

If you're interested in tweaks to the Soulknife that make it playable:
- Full BAB
- Psychic Strike +1d8 works like either Sneak Attack or Skirmish -- you get it up to once per turn either when you flank, or when you move 10+ ft.
- All mindblade enhancement bonuses can be converted into cool powers. That means your first cool power happens at level 4.
- Instead of meditating for 8 hours to change your Mindblade enhancement choices, you just get to do that for free when you wake up.
- Do you use Action Points? If so, spend an AP to change your Mindblade enhancement choices.
- Change the list of mindblade enhancements to something like:
Defending +1
Bane +1
Flaming +1
Shock +1
Frost +1
Keen +1
Lucky1 +1
Mighty cleaving +1
Psychokinetic[SUP]1[/SUP +1
Sundering[SUP]1[/SUP +1
Vicious +1
Collision[SUP]1[/SUP +2
Mindcrusher[SUP]1[/SUP +2
Psychokinetic burst[SUP]1[/SUP +2
Suppression[SUP]1[/SUP +2
Wounding +2
Bodyfeeder[SUP]1[/SUP +3
Mindfeeder[SUP]1[/SUP +3
Soulbreaker[SUP]1[/SUP +3

... plus whatever else exists in your campaign.

Note that I've removed two trap choices (Defending and Lucky). Defending is bad because he's not a chain-tripper in heavy armor who can control a region, and who mostly makes Touch attacks. Lucky is bad because it's either 1/day (too weak), or it's 1/mindblade (and then it's abusive).

The idea is that he gets access to simple, usable enhancements that boost damage, and which can be tailored to specific opponents. This rewards planning & scouting which are key D&D skills to develop.

[Grod_The_Giant]

- Psychic Strike +1d8 works like either Sneak Attack or Skirmish -- you get it up to once per turn either when you flank, or when you move 10+ ft.
Why? It's basically half-progression Sneak Attack on a medium-BAB class; there's no reason to limit it to once/round. Like, you could probably change it to "while psionically focused" and have no balance issues whatsoever.

[Nifft]

Why? It's basically half-progression Sneak Attack on a medium-BAB class; there's no reason to limit it to once/round. Like, you could probably change it to "while psionically focused" and have no balance issues whatsoever.

Well, partly because I had suggested changing the class to full-BAB, and because Skirmish could work just as well with the same values.

Also because I'm suggesting adding Bane / Flaming / Shock / Frost as options at 4th level.

Since the other PCs are T3-T4, then there might be a character who has only Sneak Attack, and I want that character's player to still feel good.

[AnimeTheCat]

I'm not trying to fix the class.... or change the class... or pick an ACF... Or any of that. I'm asking for input on a thrown weapon build using scout as a means to get extra damage because psychic strike is even more restrictive than precision damage. +3d6 damage and +3 AC each round in which you move 20 feet is pretty great for added bonuses against most creatures.

Human Scout 3/Soulknife 5
1. Scout - Two Weapon Fighting, Travel Devotion/ +1d6 Skirmish
2. Scout -
3. Scout - Improved Skirmish/+1d6, +1 AC Skirmish
4. Soulknife - Mind Blade
5. Soulknife - Throw Mind Blade
6. Soulknife - Point Blank Shot/Psychic Strike +1d8
7. Soulknife - +1 Mind Blade
8. Soulknife - Free Draw, Shape Mind Blade
9. Soulknife - Improved Two Weapon Fighting

How's that for a stub of what I'm looking at. It allows the player to get a possible +3d6+1d8+1 on a single attack. if he uses his move action to charge his blade and travel devotion to move as a swift action which allows for skirmish. two attacks with +3d6+1 each after using travel devotion.

[Nifft]

I'm not trying to fix the class.... or change the class... or pick an ACF... Or any of that. I'm asking for input on a thrown weapon build using scout as a means to get extra damage because psychic strike is even more restrictive than precision damage. +3d6 damage and +3 AC each round in which you move 20 feet is pretty great for added bonuses against most creatures.

Human Scout 3/Soulknife 5
1. Scout - Two Weapon Fighting, Travel Devotion/ +1d6 Skirmish
2. Scout -
3. Scout - Improved Skirmish/+1d6, +1 AC Skirmish
4. Soulknife - Mind Blade
5. Soulknife - Throw Mind Blade
6. Soulknife - Point Blank Shot/Psychic Strike +1d8
7. Soulknife - +1 Mind Blade
8. Soulknife - Free Draw, Shape Mind Blade
9. Soulknife - Improved Two Weapon Fighting

How's that for a stub of what I'm looking at. It allows the player to get a possible +3d6+1d8+1 on a single attack. if he uses his move action to charge his blade and travel devotion to move as a swift action which allows for skirmish. two attacks with +3d6+1 each after using travel devotion.

Improved Skirmish looks like it requires +2d6/+1 before you can take the feat.

So -- that build is so good, it's illegal ;)

I do notice that Scout 3 / Soulknife 2 could lead into Soulbow, which is generally better.

You could write a feat like Swift Hunter which allows Scout skirmish bonus to stack with Soulknife & Soulbow.

[AnimeTheCat]

Improved Skirmish looks like it requires +2d6/+1 before you can take the feat.

So -- that build is so good, it's illegal ;)

I do notice that Scout 3 / Soulknife 2 could lead into Soulbow, which is generally better.

You could write a feat like Swift Hunter which allows Scout skirmish bonus to stack with Soulknife & Soulbow.

Aww, dang. I'm AFB so I was going on memory and I thought it just required +1d6/+1 to take. Oh well. No improved skirmish, but still and extra 1d6 damage, +1 AC, Better/more skills/skill points, and saves seems like a better start. Scout 3/Soulknife 2/Soulbow X seems like I can make that roll. Maybe I'll look in to Scout 3/Soulknife 3/Soulbow X/Illumen Soul X If the player wants to go that route. Those all stack for the purposes of mind blade (except scout of course). I don't like introducing onsie twosie homebrew rules so I try to stay as close to the rules as written as possible. That keeps it most fair for everyone.

EDIT: No improved Skirmish means I can take Point Blank Shot at 3 and Precise Shot at 6 or wait for TWF until I have the BAB and Stat to back it up for the character. With soulbow, I don't even think I would need twf, but I would need the rapid/manyshot feats... hmmmm

[Nifft]

Aww, dang. I'm AFB so I was going on memory and I thought it just required +1d6/+1 to take. Oh well. No improved skirmish, but still and extra 1d6 damage, +1 AC, Better/more skills/skill points, and saves seems like a better start. Scout 3/Soulknife 2/Soulbow X seems like I can make that roll. Maybe I'll look in to Scout 3/Soulknife 3/Soulbow X/Illumen Soul X If the player wants to go that route. Those all stack for the purposes of mind blade (except scout of course). I don't like introducing onsie twosie homebrew rules so I try to stay as close to the rules as written as possible. That keeps it most fair for everyone.

EDIT: No improved Skirmish means I can take Point Blank Shot at 3 and Precise Shot at 6 or wait for TWF until I have the BAB and Stat to back it up for the character. With soulbow, I don't even think I would need twf, but I would need the rapid/manyshot feats... hmmmm

You can take Point Blank Shot at level 1: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#pointBlankShot

You can also take Rapid Shot or Precise Shot at level 1 (if you're Human, or all 3 if you have access to Flaws).

[Grod_The_Giant]

Aww, dang. I'm AFB so I was going on memory and I thought it just required +1d6/+1 to take. Oh well. No improved skirmish, but still and extra 1d6 damage, +1 AC, Better/more skills/skill points, and saves seems like a better start. Scout 3/Soulknife 2/Soulbow X seems like I can make that roll. Maybe I'll look in to Scout 3/Soulknife 3/Soulbow X/Illumen Soul X If the player wants to go that route. Those all stack for the purposes of mind blade (except scout of course). I don't like introducing onsie twosie homebrew rules so I try to stay as close to the rules as written as possible. That keeps it most fair for everyone.

EDIT: No improved Skirmish means I can take Point Blank Shot at 3 and Precise Shot at 6 or wait for TWF until I have the BAB and Stat to back it up for the character. With soulbow, I don't even think I would need twf, but I would need the rapid/manyshot feats... hmmmm
Mkay. So. The problem with Scout/Soulknife is that Skirmish requires movement and a full attack, and Psychic Strike requires move actions-- even if you use Travel Devotion or something to get swift-action movement, the volley rules from the Rules Compendium mean that you can't spend your move action to charge Psychic Strike and attack. Especially on a Soulbow, whose standout feature is as a volley archer. (You can stack TWF and Rapid Shot to machine-gun everything). You also want to be careful about multiclassing too many medium-BAB classes; that can easily kill your to-hit.

Psychic Strike is basically just awful, and combines poorly with everything except maybe ToB maneuvers, which I assume you don't want to mess with.

Soulknife 2/Scout 5/Cleric 1/Soulbow 10 works alright for your purposes, though, if a little late-blooming. Activate Travel Devotion and Knowledge Devotion (bonus: be a dwarf and grab Ancestral Knowledge to power that with your Wisdom), then run around shooting everything with multiple arrows for d8+4d6+Wis+enhancements. A little late blooming on the Soulbow front, though.

Again, though, I'll direct you towards Shiba Protector. It requires you to be human and take three crap feats (one of which can be bought via the Otyugh Hole), but a one-level dip lets you add your Wisdom to attack and damage, no questions asked. Combine that with Zen Archery and you're rocking double-stat to attack and damage, which is real nice.

[MisterKaws]

Mkay. So. The problem with Scout/Soulknife is that Skirmish requires movement and a full attack, and Psychic Strike requires move actions-- even if you use Travel Devotion or something to get swift-action movement, the volley rules from the Rules Compendium mean that you can't spend your move action to charge Psychic Strike and attack. Especially on a Soulbow, whose standout feature is as a volley archer. (You can stack TWF and Rapid Shot to machine-gun everything). You also want to be careful about multiclassing too many medium-BAB classes; that can easily kill your to-hit.

Psychic Strike is basically just awful, and combines poorly with everything except maybe ToB maneuvers, which I assume you don't want to mess with.

Soulknife 2/Scout 5/Cleric 1/Soulbow 10 works alright for your purposes, though, if a little late-blooming. Activate Travel Devotion and Knowledge Devotion (bonus: be a dwarf and grab Ancestral Knowledge to power that with your Wisdom), then run around shooting everything with multiple arrows for d8+4d6+Wis+enhancements. A little late blooming on the Soulbow front, though.

Again, though, I'll direct you towards Shiba Protector. It requires you to be human and take three crap feats (one of which can be bought via the Otyugh Hole), but a one-level dip lets you add your Wisdom to attack and damage, no questions asked. Combine that with Zen Archery and you're rocking double-stat to attack and damage, which is real nice.

Well, Greater Manyshot can fix the multi-attack issue fairly easily, but it requires a fairly huge amount of feats and levels, so it's still out at that level.

[The Viscount]

As Grod said, Manyshot means volley rules, and volley rules mean everything only applies to one attack.

I'll mention now that throwing based soulknife is not advisable because you are limited to one throw per round until level 17. Soulbow is as mentioned, very helpful for ranged soulknife builds. There is one other PrC that sort of interacts with Mind Blade, and that's Kensai, which is helpfully full BA.

If your married to the idea of using Psychic Strike, consider Mind Cleave, so you can save yourself the move action. I know that some people like to use Travel devotion to fuel skirmish, but since you're a soulknife, you can consider being Kalashtar and using Wild Talent for Dimension Hop, since that's 10 feet, which will get you skirmish bonus, and Kalashtar will mean more uses per day than Travel Devotion.

[Grod_The_Giant]

EDIT: Nearly forgot. Dragonfire Strike is a feat from Dragon Magic that lets you turn your Skirmish damage into fire damage and deal an extra d6. That would arguably let a Scout 3 hit the "2d6/+1" benchmark for Improved Skirmish, though it's a mite sketchy.


As Grod said, Manyshot means volley rules, and volley rules mean everything only applies to one attack.
Greater Manyshot works fine; it specifically calls out precision damage as applying to each arrow, trumping the more general rule in the RC. The reason I don't recommend it is that it's just not that good-- it only allows iteratives, not things like Rapid Shot and Haste, and it applies huge penalties in the process.


I know that some people like to use Travel devotion to fuel skirmish, but since you're a soulknife, you can consider being Kalashtar and using Wild Talent for Dimension Hop, since that's 10 feet, which will get you skirmish bonus, and Kalashtar will mean more uses per day than Travel Devotion.
Meh. You have to spend at least 1pp a round for that, and 3pp/round if you want to get Improved Skirmish-- that'll eat up points fast. On the other hand, each use of Travel Devotion lasts you a full fight, generally; if you acquire it via a Cleric dip, you'll have 3+Cha turn attempts to recharge it. Grab a Reliquary Holy Symbol or Nightstick or something and you're golden.

[mabriss lethe]

A class that, surprisingly, meshes fairly well with soulknife is pyrokineticist. (though I prefer the alternative energy variant presented in Mind's eye.). Scaling, at-will ranged damage, a second mindblade-ish weapon in the form of the fire lash, abilities that improve a mindblade's damage.

[Vaz]

I've found the easiest way is to give him some magic items, or some in-setting training that results in the boosts proposed, applying retroactively. Full BAB, Pounce, can choose weapon design at will, etc.

You can also throw some specific magic items and feats at him through the Arms and Equipment guide formula. Special Ioun's which improve his Mind Blade.

[weckar]

A class that, surprisingly, meshes fairly well with soulknife is pyrokineticist. (though I prefer the alternative energy variant presented in Mind's eye.). Scaling, at-will ranged damage, a second mindblade-ish weapon in the form of the fire lash, abilities that improve a mindblade's damage.

And let's not forget most Ranged feats AND melee feats apply to the lash. Totally TWF AND Manyshot with it if you want to.

[mabriss lethe]

And let's not forget most Ranged feats AND melee feats apply to the lash. Totally TWF AND Manyshot with it if you want to.

One of my favorite, relatively simple builds is SK6(for free draw)/PK9(for heat death fun)/soulbow5. Not exactly what you'd call high op, but fun.

[Dr_Dinosaur]

Gestalt it with the Soulborn and allow the Mind's Eye acfs

[Douglas]

The problem with Scout/Soulknife is that Skirmish requires movement and a full attack
No, Skirmish only requires movement. Wanting to also have a full attack is just an optimization, trying to get an intended-for-one-attack damage bonus on multiple attacks per round.

[arkangel111]

again gonna have to mention what a few other's caught as well. you'll need to find out what your player actually wants to do.

1. skirmish means you are asking them to move in some way which is going to complicate the build and make things take longer, granted a cleric dip is an easy fix but likely doesn't fit character concept. other options have been presented as well but...

2. twf requires full attack and loading up on your +dmg. skirmish is a nice bonus and works decent with twf, especially if you can stack it with a pounce build but....

3. you are asking for a throwing build which pounce doesn't really work with it. It CAN work with it yes... but why charge INTO melee to start throwing knives and speaking of which...

4. a single class soulknife has to wait until level 17 to throw multiple blades. with the dips you are suggesting he will have to wait until level 20 use his character the way he wishes.

In conclusion the 3.5 soulknife really is that broken (and not in the good way). I LOVE the idea of the soulknife it was THE first psionic class I saw and demanded to get an opportunity to play, but without a lenient DM this class has a hard time not becoming the 5th wheel. Homebrew may not be your thing but honestly in this instance especially IF the player wants to play a thowing SK I would do a straight port over of the soulbolt archetype of the PF SK only real difference is use the 3.5 skills and MAYBE if your game even uses heavy skill checks give him 6+/lvl.

Again, I know this isn't the answer you want but with your request as is, homebrew/porting is your only option IMHO.

[Sagetim]

So, first and foremost, I'd suggest you up soulknife to a full bab. That would probably do you just fine. Now, other than that, this character is starting at level 9. Going straight Soulknife/Soulbow is probably going to give them more mileage than taking any levels of scout (especially since mixing scout and soulknife is two 3/4th bab classes, and that Hurts). Now, the reason that doesn't hurt so much with soulbow is because of the specific rule in the soulbow's mind arrow enhancement. It's a nice little buff that lets you apply your enhancement bonus to your base attack bonus as well. So your +3 mind arrow adds to your, what, 6/1 bab at soulknife 5/bow 4, and you get a bab of 9/4. That's just already there in soulbow. And there's two ways you can go about this, depending on the character's stat spread. If they have just one really good stat, and the rest are middling to bad, you can be a very effective soulknife thrower/soulbow shooter by focusing on wisdom. You go one attack per round, get zen archery, and take psionic shot, greater psionic shot, psychic meditation, and that feat whose name I'm not remembering at the moment where your shot becomes a line effect. You now have a cannon. You can open fights up already focused and already charged and shoot that cannon at some guy that you call out by pointing at them and going 'You'. Since the mind arrow is a one handed ranged weapon, you can then pull such shenanigans as using a heavy steel shield along with it, and when things go south, you'll still threaten in melee with mind arrows because of the soulbow close combat shot. with the far shot feat, or distance enhancement, or both, you can very handily stand in one place and take 5 foot steps to slowly walk your way through combat charging your bwah as a move action and unleashing it upon thine enemies. I've done this with a soulknife/illumine soul/soulbow. His BAB hurt, but most of the time I was shooting big attacks instead of many, because my targets tended to have good enough ac to warrant one bigger attack instead of multiple attacks.

As mentioned, the other way to go is with dexterity so you can get things like the two weapon fighting chain and stack it onto things like rapid shot and haste for all of the attacks per round. Going this route, remember to add your enhancement bonus to your bab, because it will get you to +11/+6/+1 faster than pure soul knife, and to +16/+11/+6/+1, you know, Ever.

If you have the free feats within 20 levels (since you can potentially pick up some of your ranged attacking feats from soulbow bonus feats) you may crack open tome of battle with the high dex build. Why? There's martial study, to grab a shadow hand maneuver. Then stance to get a shadow hand stance (like assassination stance, or the much more fun one that gives spiderclimb while you're in it). And finally there's a feat for shadow hand that, as long as you're in a shadow hand stance using shadow hand discipline weapons (small mind blades count as short swords), you get to add your dex to melee damage. If you can fit the feats in, this makes your Dex based soulknife a very effective two weapon fighter at any range. Requires weapon finesse to pull off though, so the pay off takes a while to get to with 3/4th bab.

maybe a feat progression like:
1 two weapon fighting
h point blank shot
3 weapon finesse
6 martial study
bfsoulbow 1 rapid shot
9 martial stance
bfsoulbow 3 far shot or many shot, or whatever
12- whatever that feat is named, it's in tome of battle.

edit: I suppose what I'm saying is that scout doesn't mesh well with soul knife if it doesn't advance mind blade. The enhancement bonus on the mind blade is kind of your only saving grace for having a decent attack bonus for your level when you're stuck on a 3/4th bab as a primary combat class, so having dead levels where that doesn't have any movement towards advancing becomes incredibly painful. Especially when you're mixing it with another 3/4th bab class. And you don't need scout to be high mobility and effective as a soulknife/soulbow, with Up The Walls and an immovable rod you can get into high positions that put you out of the reach of many things, while getting a clear shot/shots at them. It's not going to work so well with two weapon fighting unless you, like, make a harness to go with the immovable rod to keep your hands free, but then you're getting rather silly.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Just came in to add my own Soulknife fix (http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?312218-Soulknife-s-Mind-Blade-as-Touch-Attack&p=5697365&viewfull=1#post5697365), if interested (it was a reply in the thread, don't judge based on the url name)

Soulknife
Alignment: Any
Hit Die: d10
BAB: Full
Saves: Good Reflex, Will

Class Skills
The soulknife’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Autohypnosis* (Wis), Balance, Climb (Str), Concentration* (Con), Craft (Int), Hide (Dex), Jump (Str), Knowledge (psionics)* (Int), Listen (Wis), Move Silently (Dex), Profession (Wis), Spot (Wis), Tumble (Dex), and Use Psionic Device (Cha).

Skill Points: 4 + Int modifier (×4 at 1st level)

Class Features
All the following are class features of the soulknife.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Soulknives are proficient with all simple weapons, with their own mind blades, and with light armor and shields (except tower shields).

Mind Blade (Su)
As a move action, a soulknife can create a semisolid blade composed of psychic energy distilled from his own mind. The blade is identical in all ways (except visually) to a short sword of a size appropriate for its wielder. For instance, a Medium soulknife materializes a Medium mind blade that he can wield as a light weapon, and the blade deals 1d6 points of damage (crit 19-20/×2). Soulknives who are smaller or larger than Medium create mind blades identical to short swords appropriate for their size, with a corresponding change to the blade’s damage. The wielder of a mind blade gains the usual benefits to his attack roll and damage roll from a high Strength bonus.

The blade can be broken (it has hardness 10 and 10 hit points); however, a soulknife can simply create another on his next move action. The moment he relinquishes his grip on his blade, it dissipates (unless he intends to throw it; see below). A mind blade is considered a magic weapon for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

A soulknife can use feats such as Power Attack or Combat Expertise in conjunction with the mind blade just as if it were a normal weapon. He can also choose mind blade for feats requiring a specific weapon choice, such as Weapon Specialization. Powers or spells that upgrade weapons can be used on a mind blade. If a Soulknife gains the ability to wield a larger weapon without penalty, such as the Powerful Build racial trait, he may create a larger mind blade appropriate for what size weapon he can wield.

A soulknife’s mind blade improves as the character gains higher levels. At 3rd level and every four levels thereafter, the mind blade gains a cumulative +1 enhancement bonus on attack rolls and damage rolls (+2 at 7th level, +3 at 11th level, +4 at 15th level, and +5 at 19th level). The enhancement bonus improves the mind blade's hardness and hit points accordingly.

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

A soulknife is able to create his mind blade and sustain it even if he has no power points remaining, his ability to do so is not connected to his psionic reserves.

Mind Blade Aptitude
A soulknife gains Weapon Focus (mind blade) as a bonus feat at 1st level. In addition, starting at 3rd level, a Soulknife is considered to be a Fighter of his Soulknife level -2 for the purposes of qualifying for feats, but only can benefit from them while wielding his mind blade. Thus, a Soulknife could select Melee Weapon Mastery (Slashing), but it would only provide a benefit while using the mind blade, for example. Feats that do not require a Fighter level do not face this restriction.

Hidden Talent
A soulknife gains Hidden Talent as a bonus feat at 1st level, even if he does not meet the prerequisites. This grants the Soulknife 2 power points and a single 1st level power known of his choice. The soulknife uses his class level as the manifester level and his wisdom modifier for the save DC, if any, of this power. He gains bonus PP based upon his manifester level and wisdom modifier.

Throw Mind Blade (Ex)
A soul knife of 2nd level or higher can throw his mind blade as a ranged weapon with a range increment of 30 feet.

Whether or not the attack hits, a thrown mind blade then dissipates. A soulknife of 4th level or higher can make a psychic strike (see below) with a thrown mind blade and can use the blade in conjunction with other special abilities (such as Knife to the Soul; see below).

Bonus Feats
A Soulknife gains a bonus feat at levels 2, 6, 10, 13, and 17. The Soulknife must meet all requirements of the chosen feat and must choose from among feats available as Fighter bonus feats or psionic feats.

Psychic Strike (Su)
As long as he is psionically focused, a soulknife of 4th level or higher can imbue his mind blade with destructive psychic energy as a free action before making an attack, once per round. This effect deals an extra 1d8 points of damage to a living, nonmindless target. 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.) The effect dissipates after the attack roll is resolved, regardless of whether it hit or missed.

At every four levels beyond 4th (8th, 12th, 16th, and 20th), the extra damage from a soulknife’s psychic strike increases by +1d8. At level 15, a Soulknife is able to inflict Psychic Strike damage to any target, even if it is mindless or immune to mind-affecting effects.

Free Draw (Ex)
At 5th level, a soulknife becomes able to materialize his mind blade as a free action instead of a move action, and may do so as frequently as he wishes.

Shape Mind Blade (Su)
At 5th level, a soulknife gains the ability to change the form of his mind blade. Select any one simple or martial melee weapon, and add it to the possible shapes the soulknife's mind blade may materialize as. A soulknife is proficient with his mind blade in this form as well as any others it may take. Alternatively, the soulknife can select an exotic weapon, but he must already be proficient with it. All mind blade abilities apply to the new form, unless they are incompatible. For instance, keen could not be applied to a Greatclub mind blade, and throwing a two-handed weapon would require a full round action. All normal rules apply to use of this new weapon, such as adding 1-1/2 times the strength modifier to damage for a two-handed weapon or a one-handed weapon wielded in two hands. A double weapon gains the appropriate enhancement bonus and special weapon properties on each end of the weapon. At every 3 levels thereafter (8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 20th) a Soulknife may choose another kind of weapon to add to his list of options. Each time the Soulknife draws his mind blade, he chooses which form it will take.

Alternatively, a soulknife can split his mind blade into two identical light weapons of a form he is able to shape his mind blade (such as short swords), suitable for fighting with a weapon in each hand. (The normal penalties for fighting with two weapons apply.) Both mind blades gain the appropriate enhancement bonus and special weapon properties.

Mind Blade Enhancement (Su)
At 6th level, a soulknife gains the ability to enhance his mind blade. He can add any one weapon special ability that has an enhancement bonus value of +1.

At every three levels beyond 6th (9th, 12th, 15th, and 18th), the value of the enhancement a soulknife can add to his weapon improves to +2, +3, +4, and +5, respectively. A soulknife can choose any combination of weapon special abilities that does not exceed the total allowed by the soulknife’s level.

The weapon ability or abilities remain the same every time the soulknife materializes his mind blade (unless he decides to reassign its abilities; see below). The ability or abilities apply to any form the mind blade takes, including the use of the shape mind blade or bladewind class abilities.

A soulknife can reassign the ability or abilities he has added to his mind blade. To do so, he must first spend 10 minutes in concentration. After that period, the mind blade materializes with the new ability or abilities selected by the soulknife.

Bladewind (Su)
At 9th level, a soulknife gains the ability to momentarily fragment his mind blade into numerous identical blades, each of which strikes at a nearby opponent.

As a full attack, when wielding his mind blade, a soulknife can give up his regular attacks and instead fragment his mind blade to make one melee attack at his full base attack bonus against each opponent within reach. Each fragment functions identically to the soulknife’s regular mind blade.

When using bladewind, a soulknife forfeits any bonus or extra attacks granted by other feats or abilities (such as the Cleave feat or the haste spell). The mind blade immediately reverts to its previous form after the bladewind attack. At 16th level, the Soulknife may execute this ability as a standard action and can also combine it with the Spring Attack feat, moving, taking all his attacks, and then moving again.

Knife to the Soul (Su)
Beginning at 13th level, when a soulknife executes a psychic strike, he can choose to substitute Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma damage (his choice) for extra dice of damage. For each die of extra damage he gives up, he deals 1 point of damage to the ability score he chooses. A soulknife can combine extra dice of damage and ability damage in any combination.

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

Psychic Surge (Ex)
At 20th level, a Soulknife learns to harness his psychic energy into a single, devastating attack. The soulknife may choose to expend his psionic focus as he makes a psychic strike. If he does so, he inflicts his full psychic strike damage and an amount of ability damage to one ability score of his choice, as if he had devoted all of his damage dice to the Knife to the Soul ability. Furthermore, if the foe is struck by this attack, he must make a Will save, with a DC equal to 10 + damage dealt. If he fails the save, he is dazed for a number of rounds equal to the Soulknife's bonus dice damage for psychic strike. Alternatively, the soulknife may choose to heal an amount of damage from the successful psychic strike equal to half the damage dealt, instead of inflicting the daze condition. The soulknife can opt to heal from the attack even against a foe that would have been immune to the dazed condition.

[J-H]

So, first and foremost, I'd suggest you up soulknife to a full bab. That would probably do you just fine. Now, other than that, this character is starting at level 9. Going straight Soulknife/Soulbow is probably going to give them more mileage than taking any levels of scout (especially since mixing scout and soulknife is two 3/4th bab classes, and that Hurts). Now, the reason that doesn't hurt so much with soulbow is because of the specific rule in the soulbow's mind arrow enhancement. It's a nice little buff that lets you apply your enhancement bonus to your base attack bonus as well. So your +3 mind arrow adds to your, what, 6/1 bab at soulknife 5/bow 4, and you get a bab of 9/4. That's just already there in soulbow. And there's two ways you can go about this, depending on the character's stat spread. If they have just one really good stat, and the rest are middling to bad, you can be a very effective soulknife thrower/soulbow shooter by focusing on wisdom. You go one attack per round, get zen archery, and take psionic shot, greater psionic shot, psychic meditation, and that feat whose name I'm not remembering at the moment where your shot becomes a line effect. You now have a cannon. You can open fights up already focused and already charged and shoot that cannon at some guy that you call out by pointing at them and going 'You'. Since the mind arrow is a one handed ranged weapon, you can then pull such shenanigans as using a heavy steel shield along with it, and when things go south, you'll still threaten in melee with mind arrows because of the soulbow close combat shot. with the far shot feat, or distance enhancement, or both, you can very handily stand in one place and take 5 foot steps to slowly walk your way through combat charging your bwah as a move action and unleashing it upon thine enemies. I've done this with a soulknife/illumine soul/soulbow. His BAB hurt, but most of the time I was shooting big attacks instead of many, because my targets tended to have good enough ac to warrant one bigger attack instead of multiple attacks.

As mentioned, the other way to go is with dexterity so you can get things like the two weapon fighting chain and stack it onto things like rapid shot and haste for all of the attacks per round. Going this route, remember to add your enhancement bonus to your bab, because it will get you to +11/+6/+1 faster than pure soul knife, and to +16/+11/+6/+1, you know, Ever.

If you have the free feats within 20 levels (since you can potentially pick up some of your ranged attacking feats from soulbow bonus feats) you may crack open tome of battle with the high dex build. Why? There's martial study, to grab a shadow hand maneuver. Then stance to get a shadow hand stance (like assassination stance, or the much more fun one that gives spiderclimb while you're in it). And finally there's a feat for shadow hand that, as long as you're in a shadow hand stance using shadow hand discipline weapons (small mind blades count as short swords), you get to add your dex to melee damage. If you can fit the feats in, this makes your Dex based soulknife a very effective two weapon fighter at any range. Requires weapon finesse to pull off though, so the pay off takes a while to get to with 3/4th bab.

maybe a feat progression like:
1 two weapon fighting
h point blank shot
3 weapon finesse
6 martial study
bfsoulbow 1 rapid shot
9 martial stance
bfsoulbow 3 far shot or many shot, or whatever
12- whatever that feat is named, it's in tome of battle.

edit: I suppose what I'm saying is that scout doesn't mesh well with soul knife if it doesn't advance mind blade. The enhancement bonus on the mind blade is kind of your only saving grace for having a decent attack bonus for your level when you're stuck on a 3/4th bab as a primary combat class, so having dead levels where that doesn't have any movement towards advancing becomes incredibly painful. Especially when you're mixing it with another 3/4th bab class. And you don't need scout to be high mobility and effective as a soulknife/soulbow, with Up The Walls and an immovable rod you can get into high positions that put you out of the reach of many things, while getting a clear shot/shots at them. It's not going to work so well with two weapon fighting unless you, like, make a harness to go with the immovable rod to keep your hands free, but then you're getting rather silly.
Are you referring to one of the throwing feats from Tome of Battle? Bloodstorm Blade?

[Douglas]

Are you referring to one of the throwing feats from Tome of Battle? Bloodstorm Blade?
Bloodstorm Blade is a prestige class, most notable for giving free Returning that works in time for your next attack rather than your next turn.

The dex-to-damage feat is Shadow Blade.

[J-H]

that feat whose name I'm not remembering at the moment where your shot becomes a line effect.
Trying to figure out if there's actually a feat for this, or if he's talking about taking levels in Bloodstorm Blade.

[StreamOfTheSky]

Trying to figure out if there's actually a feat for this, or if he's talking about taking levels in Bloodstorm Blade.

Even Bloodstorm Blade won't help with that. Only things I know of are Whirling Blade spell in SpC and the Lightning Throw Iron Heart strike. The latter of which the Bloodstorm Blade *should* get, but doesn't and actually taking 10 levels in the class means you never can have it, which is quite stupid...the ToB throwing-dedicated class is worse at throwing at higher levels than a vanilla warblade (yes, lightning throw is THAT GOOD)!

[Nifft]

You go one attack per round, get zen archery, and take psionic shot, greater psionic shot, psychic meditation, and that feat whose name I'm not remembering at the moment where your shot becomes a line effect.

Maybe you're thinking of the Lightning Throw maneuver from the Iron Heart discipline?

It's level 8 and requires 2 other Iron Heart maneuvers known -- you're not getting that from just one feat.

EDIT: drat, I've been Swordsage'd.

[Sagetim]

Bloodstorm Blade is a prestige class, most notable for giving free Returning that works in time for your next attack rather than your next turn.

The dex-to-damage feat is Shadow Blade.

Doug got it in one, it's Shadow Blade. I was talking about Shadow Blade and Weapon Finesse as a means of making your dex based soulknife/soulbow machine gunner into a more SAD focused character. I can't remember if I mentioned it, but the main problem that the machine gunner is going to run into is, well, actually hitting things with a decent ac for their level. This is going to probably be more of a problem with npcs that have decent gear, but some monsters are bound to have decent ac for their level, at which point the stacking of penalties on top of a 3/4th bab are going to really really hurt.

Now, they aren't going to be hurting as bad as the quartet of awakened housecats with a level of stalker trying to hit a player character with flanking and golden lion maneuvers from the level 8 fighter leading them in that encounter I was running earlier tonight, those poor kittens could only hit on a nat 20. But even with a lot of attacks, only hitting on a 15 or better on your first attacks in the round gets frustrating. Because all those iteratives and bonus interatives after your best lineup are crit fishing. That said, two weapon fighting, haste, and rapid shot nets you a total of 4 attacks at your highest bonus, with a -4 to those attacks, but you would probably want to seriously consider getting the feats to net your improved rapid shot to bring that down to just two weapon fighting penalties.

[Grod_The_Giant]

No, Skirmish only requires movement. Wanting to also have a full attack is just an optimization, trying to get an intended-for-one-attack damage bonus on multiple attacks per round.
Ignoring the fact that it's a pretty tiny damage boost for a single attack, Scout/Soulknife is bad because their damage boosts are fundamentally incompatible without outside optimization-- Skirmish wants you to move, while Psychic Strike eats your move action.

[daremetoidareyo]

A 1 level warblade dip and the dire flail mind blade feat and use the weapon aptitude class feature to sub in any other weapon to the possible choices of mind blades. Think you might need a spear spikard?? Practice with one earlier that day and Make a mindblade spear spikard. Basically name any exotic melee weapon, then buy it, then practice with it, then use it. Fill your mind aspergillium with your hidden talent:psionic fabricate created poisons, stab your opponent with your mind snap-tongs, bash them with your mind lightning maces.

[AnimeTheCat]

So, after talking to the player we decided on something that we can both agree on and works well for our purposes. We're going to forgo the throwing route because it's lame and functionally doesn't work well with the desired fluff or number crunch. What we're going with instead is scout 3/Soulknife 2/SoulBow1/Soulknife1/Illumen Soul X/Whatever X.

We decided to allow soulknife, illumen soul, and soulbow stack for the purpose of determining effective Soulknife/Soulbow level for weapon enhancement bonus and enchantments. I realize that this makes soulbow and soulknife at different power levels as far as weapon bonuses go, but he was ok with that as he'll be using the mind arrow feature far more. He's going to focus solely on ranged attack feats. We're starting at first level and he's a human so he'll be taking point blank shot and precise shot to start. He'll be using his shortbow for the most part until he has Mind Arrow at which point he'll be using that.

The idea behind it is that, if he's fighting things that precision damage applies to he'll be using skirmish. If he's fighting undead, he'll use his psychic strike because Illumen soul will allow it to affect undead. The 1d8+1d6+1 damage will likely serve him well, especially once he gets manyshot and the like. The psychic strike damage isn't great, but it will be 3d8 damage against undead at level 1 of illumen soul so that's not too terrible and will serve him well enough for the optimization/damage the rest of the group is going to be putting out.

[Eldariel]

Even Bloodstorm Blade won't help with that. Only things I know of are Whirling Blade spell in SpC and the Lightning Throw Iron Heart strike. The latter of which the Bloodstorm Blade *should* get, but doesn't and actually taking 10 levels in the class means you never can have it, which is quite stupid...the ToB throwing-dedicated class is worse at throwing at higher levels than a vanilla warblade (yes, lightning throw is THAT GOOD)!

Well, BSB 10/Warblade 10 still has IL15 so you CAN get it but it's quite late.

[Manyasone]

Well, BSB 10/Warblade 10 still has IL15 so you CAN get it but it's quite late.

As far as I'm aware. Prc's give full initiator levels, not half

[Zombulian]

No, Skirmish only requires movement. Wanting to also have a full attack is just an optimization, trying to get an intended-for-one-attack damage bonus on multiple attacks per round.

Well... right... but isn't optimization the goal here?
Skirmish is pretty terrible if not mixed with a full attack.

[Eldariel]

As far as I'm aware. Prc's give full initiator levels, not half

BSB doesn't advance maneuvers.

[Bonzai]

Anyone try Iajutsu Focus with a Soulknife? They eventually get to manifest it as a free action, if the DM counts it as "drawing", then that would be a great way to get bonus damage without dipping into other classes. Then you could combine it with the Acrobatic backstab skill trick and you have a great way to ensure that they are flat footed. Belt of battle move actions to psychic strike. Latter on there is a forgotten realms anti magic torq that would be a great buy.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Anyone try Iajutsu Focus with a Soulknife? They eventually get to manifest it as a free action, if the DM counts it as "drawing", then that would be a great way to get bonus damage without dipping into other classes. Then you could combine it with the Acrobatic backstab skill trick and you have a great way to ensure that they are flat footed. Belt of battle move actions to psychic strike. Latter on there is a forgotten realms anti magic torq that would be a great buy.
It's not a bad thought, but it's complicated by a few things: you can still only free draw 1/turn, and it's painfully difficult to try to repeatedly get opponents flat-footed. Skill tricks like Acrobatic Backstab, for instance, are only 1/encounter; Flick of the Wrist is marginally better at 1/encounter/opponent, I guess, but IF is just generally a pain.

[Sagetim]

So, after talking to the player we decided on something that we can both agree on and works well for our purposes. We're going to forgo the throwing route because it's lame and functionally doesn't work well with the desired fluff or number crunch. What we're going with instead is scout 3/Soulknife 2/SoulBow1/Soulknife1/Illumen Soul X/Whatever X.

We decided to allow soulknife, illumen soul, and soulbow stack for the purpose of determining effective Soulknife/Soulbow level for weapon enhancement bonus and enchantments. I realize that this makes soulbow and soulknife at different power levels as far as weapon bonuses go, but he was ok with that as he'll be using the mind arrow feature far more. He's going to focus solely on ranged attack feats. We're starting at first level and he's a human so he'll be taking point blank shot and precise shot to start. He'll be using his shortbow for the most part until he has Mind Arrow at which point he'll be using that.

The idea behind it is that, if he's fighting things that precision damage applies to he'll be using skirmish. If he's fighting undead, he'll use his psychic strike because Illumen soul will allow it to affect undead. The 1d8+1d6+1 damage will likely serve him well, especially once he gets manyshot and the like. The psychic strike damage isn't great, but it will be 3d8 damage against undead at level 1 of illumen soul so that's not too terrible and will serve him well enough for the optimization/damage the rest of the group is going to be putting out.

If you're going for damage output, skipping the scout levels would serve you better for the increased mind blade effectiveness and further advancement in prestige class abilities. That said, if you and the player want him to have scout levels, and it's fun and useful, I'm not going to nay say you. The point of dnd is to have fun, and the rules are there to facilitate having of fun. A lot of the class abilities in illumine soul are useful in a general context. From having run one, the rays didn't see much use with me (wasn't much point in shooting them out when I could potentially get a x3 crit on my mind arrow and had a better flat damage bonus), but since I was set up to be able to expend focus on a big attack each round, I always had Death Ward up. And that is a nice buff to have. We even used the expend focus for area of effect thing to clean out an entire town infested with zombies with a rope and a magic carpet. And the 'go to 0 or below, recieve 5d8+5 baconated healing' saved my soulknife two or three times, once when we were fighting a balor and he exploded at point blank range.

On the bright side, keeping scout means he has trapfinding if that ever comes up, and that extra bundle of skill points can help qualify for things like Brachiation, a kind of ridiculous feat from complete adventurer that can pair nicely with Up the Walls to increase your mobility. Between those and Shot on the Run (which probably has entirely too many feat taxes to really be useful in this build) you could potentially set up as some kind of ranged attacking spiderman of the woods. Anyway, I hope the player has fun playing his character and you have fun running the game.

[Knaight]

The idea wasn't to fix the soulknife class. It will be played as is. The player is really tied to the idea of forming a mind blade and I'm not going to stop them.

Plenty of changes can be made to the class without compromising the concept in any way, and if anything full BAB better fits the concept.

[weckar]

Can we please stick to OPs wishes and stop suggesting fixes and changes? There are plenty of very good reasons not to want to use them, not the least of which wanting to keep a homebrew-free table.

[AnimeTheCat]

Can we please stick to OPs wishes and stop suggesting fixes and changes? There are plenty of very good reasons not to want to use them, not the least of which wanting to keep a homebrew-free table.

I appreciate that. I wasn't able to escape homebrew entirely, but I was able to do it as subtly as possible. Like the earlier post said I just had Soul Knife, Soulbow, and Illumen Soul stack for determining Psychic Strike, Mind Blade, and Mind Arrow enhancement bonuses and enchantments available and progression.

It's not the "best" solution, but in the party the character is in it will serve well enough without changing too much of anything. I realize that this will progress mind arrow faster than mind blade, that's fine the player will be using mind arrow more and it caps out at the same point anyway. Scout is being kept for skills and skirmish to qualify for any future class that requires skirmish.

[Anxe]

A class that, surprisingly, meshes fairly well with soulknife is pyrokineticist. (though I prefer the alternative energy variant presented in Mind's eye.). Scaling, at-will ranged damage, a second mindblade-ish weapon in the form of the fire lash, abilities that improve a mindblade's damage.

I've tried the combination and it's a lot of fun. I did some optimization-fu to make it very strong, but I don't think that's necessary in a T4/T3 game. I'd recommend this along with the other fixes for the Soulknife that have been suggested. Take your pick for which you include.

Since a lot of people are recommending Scout, there's a way to make that even stronger if you want to dip into homebrew. Complete Adventurer released a few feats that allowed characters to combine portions of two classes so that their basic ability progression continued to go up for both classes regardless of which class they took levels in. You could use something like this:

Soul Scout
Prerequisites: Mind Blade, Skirmish
Benefits: If you have levels in soulknife and scout, those levels stack for the purpose of determining your skirmish damage, skirmish AC bonus, mind blade enhancement bonus, and mind blade special ability bonus.

If you want to give the feat an extra bump you could also give it this additional power. Or make the additional power a separate feat. Some of the other fixes suggested also make this addition irrelevant.
Additional Power: An attack that hits with both psychic strike and skirmish renews the psychic strike on your mind blade so that it may be used again immediately.

[Starshade]

If the goal is not to alter the class, what about items who boosts the class' abilities and power level?

[Deox]

Anyone try Iajutsu Focus with a Soulknife? They eventually get to manifest it as a free action, if the DM counts it as "drawing", then that would be a great way to get bonus damage without dipping into other classes. Then you could combine it with the Acrobatic backstab skill trick and you have a great way to ensure that they are flat footed. Belt of battle move actions to psychic strike. Latter on there is a forgotten realms anti magic torq that would be a great buy.

This.

I have experience playing such a character. While not incredibly optimal, I used Iaijutsu and feinting in combat. Note that Psychic Strike requires a move action to imbue, but stays until used. It even indicates that should the blade dissipate (or weapon thrown, missed attack, etc.), the blade is still imbued.
Again, not terribly optimal, but combining Iaijutsu, feinting and stealth, was a very capable character in his own right. Essentially alpha striking and hiding, spend the next turn analyzing his opponent(s) (charging Psychic Strike or power or whatever), then go again.

[daremetoidareyo]

One of the ebberon books has a gauntlet that allows you to apply a weapon enhancement to a mind blade. So you could have an exploding mine blade or a venomous mind blade