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JNAProductions
2017-07-21, 07:22 PM
Soulknife Mk II

Alignment-Any
Hit Die-d10
Class Skills-Autohypnosis, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (All, taken individually), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Search, Spot, and Tumble.
Skill Points-6+Int modifier (times 4 at level 1)
Base Attack Bonus-Good
Fortitude Save-Poor
Reflex Save-Good
Will Save-Good



Level
Feature
PP/Day
Maximum Power Level


1
Mind Blade, Throw Mind Blade
-
-


2
Psychic Strike +1d8
-
-


3
Psionics, +1 Mind Blade, Free Draw
2
1


4
Psychic Strike +2d8, Action Surge (1)
4
1


5
Mind Blade Enhancement +1, Speed Of Thought
5
1


6
Multiple Throw, Psychic Strike +3d8, Sudden Strike +1d8
6
1


7
+2 Mind Blade
8
1


8
Psychic Strike +4d8, Knife To The Soul
10
1


9
Mind Blade Enhancement +2, Sudden Strike +2d8, Action Surge (2)
11
2


10
Psychic Strike +5d8, Bladewind
13
2


11
+3 Mind Blade, Bonus Feat
15
2


12
Psychic Strike +6d8, Sudden Strike +3d8
17
2


13
Mind Blade Enhancement +3
20
2


14
Psychic Strike +7d8, Bonus Feat, Action Surge (3)
23
2


15
Sudden Strike +4d8, +4 Mind Blade
25
3


16
Psychic Strike +8d8, Improved Bladewind
28
3


17
Mind Blade Enhancement +4, Bonus Feat
32
3


18
Psychic Strike +9d8, Sudden Strike +5d8
35
3


19
+5 Mind Blade, Master Bladewind, Action Surge (4)
40
3


20
Psychic Strike +10d8, Bonus Feat
44
4



Weapon And Armor Proficiencies-All simple and martial weapons, their Mind Blade, light armor, and shields (except tower shields).

Mind Blade-At level 1, you can form a blade from your thoughts. This appears as a ectoplasmic short sword normally, appropriate to your size. You manifest it as a move action, as if drawing a weapon. A Mind Blade has Hardness 10+Class Level, and HP 10+3*Class Level. If broken, it can be manifested again without any penalty. This weapon counts as magic for overcoming resistances. You can have it instead appear as any other type of weapon that you have proficiency in. You can instead form two light Mind Blades you are proficient in.

This is a Psonic Supernatural ability. However, it can work even in null psionics fields and similar areas. Upon entering an area without psionics, make a DC 20 Will Save. On a success, the Mind Blade remains for a number of rounds equal to your class level before you must make another save. On a failure, your Mind Blade dissipates, and you must make a DC 20 Will Save to manifest it, whereupon you do not have to make it for a number of rounds equal to your class level.

Throw Mind Blade-At level 1, you can throw your Mind Blade as a weapon with a 30' range increment. Upon striking the target or missing, it dissipates.

Psychic Strike-At level 2, you gain the ability to psionically charge your blade for extra damage. As a move action, you imbue your Mind Blade with the energy. The next strike deals extra damage as indicated on the table. This damage counts as damage of the same type as your weapon.

Psionics-At level 3, you gain the ability to manifest psionic powers, as indicated on the table. You gain 3 powers known from the Psychic Warrior power list at level 3, and gain one additional power known at each level.

+X Mind Blade-At level 3, your Mind Blade gains a +1 enhancement bonus, as if it were a magic weapon. This increases by 1 every four levels.

Free Draw-At level 3, you may draw your Mind Blade as a free action. This can be done only once per turn, normally. You also count as having the Quick Draw feat for prerequisites.

Action Surge-At level 4, you may, once per day, gain an extra move and standard action by expending your psionic focus. You may do this once more per day for every five additional levels you have.

Mind Blade Enhancement +X-At level 5, you gain a +1 property on your Mind Blade. This may be any property that is appropriate to your Mind Blade's form. Changing the property or properties present is a move action. (If a property has limited uses, it cannot be changed until the uses recharge.)

Speed Of Thought-At level 5, you gain Speed Of Thought as a bonus feat. Every five levels you gain thereafter, increase the move speed by an additional 10'. In addition, when not psionically focused, you still gain half the normal benefits of this feat.

Multiple Throw-At level 6, you may throw your Mind Blade multiple times per turn, allowing you to reform it as many times on your turn as you wish.

Sudden Strike-At level 6, you gain a lesser form of Psychic Strike that is easier to perform. Any attack that does not benefit from Psychic Strike may instead benefit from Sudden Strike damage, which works the same as Psychic Strike.

Knife To The Soul-At level 8, you may choose to deal mental damage rather than physical with your Psychic Strike. When making a Psychic Strike, you may give up any number of damage dice to instead deal damage to Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (your choice). For each die given up, you deal one point of ability damage.

Bladewind-At level 10, you may fracture your Mind Blade to strike every foe within 5'. Make a single attack at your full BAB as a full round action against everyone you choose within 5' with your Mind Blade.

Bonus Feat-At levels 11, 14, 17, and 20, you may gain any Psionic Feat or (Greater) Weapon Specialization (Mind Blade) as a bonus a feat.

Improved Bladewind-At level 16, your Bladewind improves to 10'.

Master Bladewind-At level 19, your Bladewind improves to your throwing distance. You may attack all foes within 30' at no penalty, or at further range increments with the furthest penalty applying to all attacks. (For instance, if you attack all targets within 90' (three range increments) you would take a -4 penalty to all the attack rolls.)

Grod_The_Giant
2017-07-21, 08:34 PM
Soulknife Mk II

Alignment-Any
Hit Die-d10
Class Skills-Autohypnosis, Climb, Concentration, Craft, Hide, Jump, Knowledge (All, taken individually), Listen, Move Silently, Profession, Search, Spot, and Tumble.
Skill Points-6+Int modifier (times 4 at level 1)
Base Attack Bonus-Good
Fortitude Save-Poor
Reflex Save-Good
Will Save-Good
Staring off the the generic good chassis, I see. 6+Int seems like kind of a lot, and the Knowledge skills don't feel quite appropriate for a psychic warrior type. You also don't really do much with them-- you've got scout skills but not much to boost your checks or senses (Chameleon? Synesthate? The PsyWar list is kinda sparse on noncombat stuff).


Weapon And Armor Proficiencies-All simple weapons, their Mind Blade, light armor, and shields (except tower shields).
Fine enough.


Mind Blade-At level 1, you can form a blade from your thoughts. This appears as a ectomplasmic short sword, appropriate to your size. You manifest it as a move action. A Mind Blade has Hardness 10+Class Level, and HP 10+3*Class Level. If broken, it can be manifested again without any penalty. This weapon counts as magic for overcoming resistances.

This is a Psonic Supernatural ability. However, it can work even in null psionics fields and similar areas. Upon entering an area without psionics, make a DC 20 Will Save. On a success, the Mind Blade remains for a number of rounds equal to your class level before you must make another save. On a failure, your Mind Blade dissipates, and you must make a DC 20 Will Save to manifest it, whereupon you do not have to make it for a number of rounds equal to your class level.
I suggest noting that you can manifest your blade as part of a movement action, like you can when drawing a regular weapon.


Weapon Focus (Mind Blade)-At level 1, you gain Weapon Focus (Mind Blade) as a bonus feat.
Unnecessary now that you have a full BAB; it's just number inflation at this point.


Wild Talent-At level 1, you gain Wild Talent as a bonus feat.
Unnecessary now that you gain manifesting at 3rd; I'd toss it for the sake of elegance.


Throw Mind Blade-At level 1, you can throw your Mind Blade as a weapon with a 30' range increment. Upon striking the target or missing, it dissipates.

Shape Mind Blade-At level 1, you may spend a move action to reshape your Mind Blade into any melee weapon you've seen and studied. You automatically have proficiency with this weapon-however, it is usually only assumed you've seen and worked with all simple and martial weapons. To gain a new form, you must spend at least one hour practicing with the new weapon. When redrawing your Mind Blade, it is automatically in the form it was when you last wielded it.
I suggest folding these into the base Mind Blade ability-- saying that you can only make shortswords, and then saying you can make any weapon a few paragraphs later, just feels sloppy. And for Shape Mind Blade, I highly suggest a little more definition about what "seen and studied" means. Perhaps allow limit it to "any martial weapon" at first, and allow "any exotic weapon" a few levels later? Also, will they ever get TWF?


Psychic Strike-At level 2, you gain the ability to psionically charge your blade for extra damage. As a move action, you imbue your Mind Blade with the energy. The next strike deals extra damage as indicated on the table. This damage counts as damage of the same type as your weapon.
Ugh, still a move action. No me gusta. It deals slightly more now, I guess, but it's still not much for an alpha-strike, and not much compared to a full attack. Which you're actually competent at now, so... <shrug>


Psionics-At level 3, you gain the ability to manifest psionic powers, as indicated on the table. You gain 3 powers known from the Psychic Warrior power list at level 3, and gain one additional power known at each level.
4th level manifesting makes a certain amount of sense; it makes the Soulknife into the Hexblade to the PsyWar's Bard and the Psion's Sorcerer. A convenient enough way to add a little power and flexibility.


+X Mind Blade-At level 3, your Mind Blade gains a +1 enhancement bonus, as if it were a magic weapon. This increases by 1 every four levels.
Cool.


Free Draw-At level 3, you may draw your Mind Blade as a free action.
I suggest allowing this to count as Quick Draw for prerequisites. Does the old 1/round limit still apply? Also, I think by RAW this lets you make multiple ranged attacks with your Mind Blade three levels early, since you can re-form it as soon as it's thrown. Which is by no means a bad thing, I hasten to note.


Action Surge-At level 4, you may, once per day, gain an extra move and standard action by expending your psionic focus. You may do this once more per day for every five additional levels you have.
Okay? Useful ability, if a bit generic.


Mind Blade Enhancement +X-At level 5, you gain a +1 property on your Mind Blade. This may be any property that is appropriate to your Mind Blade's form. Changing the property or properties present is a move action
Mmmm... not the best idea, perhaps. I mean, Bane everything is an easy choice. At the very least, you should address how it works with enchantments like Lucky that have limited daily functions.


Speed Of Thought-At level 5, you gain Speed Of Thought as a bonus feat.
It was random in the original class, and it's still random now. Why not swap for some bonus psionic feats of your choice? Either that, or let the bonus scale to make it more of a class trademark, would be my suggestion.


Multiple Throw-At level 6, you may throw your Mind Blade multiple times per turn/
Like I said earlier, at the moment this is unnecessary thanks to the wording of Free Draw. If you fix that, I still suggest moving it up to a lower level; while iteratives don't pop up until now, Rapid Shot can come in as early as 1 with flaws.


Sudden Strike-At level 6, you gain a lesser form of Psychic Strike that is easier to perform. Any attack that does not benefit from Psychic Strike may instead benefit from Sudden Strike damage, which works the same as Psychic Strike.
Umm... yeah. At this point, Psychic Strike officially stops being useful...basically ever. I kind of don't like it. I'd rather see Psychic Strike with a faster recharge-- a swift action, say, or an auto-recharge after a trigger of some sort. That keeps the class a bit more focused; this just feels unnecessary. It also shares a name with an existing ability that pops up fairly often in classes, PrCs, and feats; at the very least, change the name, or rewrite it slightly to be more of a "if your Psychic Strike isn't charged, it still deals half damage" sort of thing. Having two different scaling damage boosts feels sloppy.


Greater Weapon Focus (Mind Blade)-At level 7, you gain Greater Weapon Focus (Mind Blade) as a bonus feat.
Again, unnecessary with full BAB.


Knife To The Soul-At level 8, you may choose to deal mental damage rather than physical with your Psychic Strike or Sudden Strike. When making a Psychic or Sudden Strike, you may give up any number of damage dice to instead deal damage to Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (your choice). For each die given up, you deal one point of ability damage.
Thiiiiis is bad. Really bad. The original Soulknife could one-hit a surprising number of monsters with this ability, and you just made it several times stronger. I'd cut it back to 1 damage/2 dice given up, and only on full Psychic Strikes.


Bladewind-At level 10, you may fracture your Mind Blade to strike every foe within 5'. Make a single attack at your full BAB as a full round action against everyone you choose within 5' with your Mind Blade.
Will rarely be useful. I suggest changing it to be based on reach; that way you can manifest a whip or a glaive or something to take full advantage when the circumstance demands.


Bonus Feat-At levels 11, 14, 17, and 20, you may gain any Psionic Feat or (Greater) Weapon Specialization (Mind Blade) as a bonus a feat.
Psionic bonus feats aren't bad, but they should be spread out a bit more, I think.


Improved Bladewind-At level 16, your Bladewind improves to 10'.
Pretty weak for level 16.


Master Bladewind-At level 19, your Bladewind improves to your throwing distance. You may attack all foes within 30' at no penalty, or at further range increments with the furthest penalty applying to all attacks. (For instance, if you attack all targets within 90' (three range increments) you would take a -4 penalty to all the attack rolls.)
This is sweet, though-- chucking greatswords at every enemy on the battlefield will never get old.

----

All in all, it probably does what you want it to do? It's somewhere in high T4, I think; you've got a lot of options for boosting your damage (full BAB+accuracy boosters like Knowledge Devotion and the free Weapon Focuses; Bane weapons; Sudden Strike; and of course the nova potential of Action Surge), you've got a bit of manifesting, and you've got the skills to be a second-rate scout or knowledge monkey. Needs some polishing, but ultimately a fairly standard successful Soulknife upgrade.

JNAProductions
2017-07-21, 08:47 PM
Changed it to have simple and martial proficiencies, and requires proficiency to form a weapon.

Free Draw is once per turn, but made it count as Quick Draw.

MBE is specified that you cannot just ditch a limited use property unless it's fully charge.

Speed Of Thought now gives +10' per five levels, and half that when not focused.

Made various other changes that I forgot to write down as I was doing them.

Thank you for your time addressing this! I just think that Soulknife is cool as hell, and wanted it to suck less.

Grod_The_Giant
2017-07-22, 07:33 PM
MBE is specified that you cannot just ditch a limited use property unless it's fully charge.
Ehh... I don't really like the stickiness. My suggestion would be something along the lines of "enhancements with limited uses are not re-set by changing your mind blade enhancement. For example, if you enchant your mind blade to be Lucky, use the reroll, switch the enchantment Bane instead, and switch back to Lucky, the daily reroll remains used."