[3.5] The Soulknife as feats

[Luccan]

I've read it posted that the Soulknife would be better suited to being a series of feats than a base class, but I'm unsure how to divide up their class abilities in a way that makes the feats appealing, but doesn't make them so powerful as to be the immediate choice for every warrior. Any advice?

[Mike Miller]

I remember seeing this as a homebrew here. Maybe by Nifft?

[DeTess]

I'm going to take a quick stab at this.

I'd roll the Mind blade, throw mind blade, free draw and shape mind blade all rolled into a single feat. This'd give you the basic mindblade functionality, but its not really much of a power-boost. It jus means you're difficult to disarm.

I'd then have a mindblade enhancement, improved mindblade enhancement and superior mindblade enhancement feat chain (with level or BaB gates for each) that gives you a (non-stacking) +1/+3/+5 enhancement bonus and a +1/+2/+3 enhancement bonus budget to spend on weapon properties.

I'd not make psychic strike a feat-chain at all, as it could easily be replicated using feats like psionic weapon.

This seems mostly balanced to me (but I'm mostly going at this by feeling), as you're paying 4 feats to get a weapon that you could have bought with money as well. If you want to split it up more, I'd make one feat chain for enhancement bonus, and another one for enhancement bonus budget for weapon enhancements.

[Blue Jay]

Nifft did this quite well (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?504805-Nifft-s-Soulknife-as-Feats-PEACH).

[Albions_Angel]

I like Niffts feats, but I would modify them a bit:

Roll the enhancements into the main mindblade feat. It counts as magical from the start. It gets a +1 bonus at +4 bab, +2 at +8 etc. No PP investment needed.

Then for Enhanced Mindblade, change it to the following:
Prereq: +6 bab, mindblade
Benefit: you can infuse your mindblade with psychic energy to augment it with new abilities. By infusing the blade with 1 PP, you can add any one of the weapon special abilities on the table given with the soulknife base class that has an enhancement bonus value of +1. This investment takes a move action, but can be accomplished as part of the action that summons the mindblade.
For every increase in BAB of +4 (+10, +14, +18), the value of the enhancement a soulknife can add to his weapon improves to +2, +3, and +4, respectively, and requires an equal investment of PP. A soulknife can choose any combination of weapon special abilities that does not exceed the total allowed by the soulknife’s level.
Special: If you have the Rapid Mindblade feat, infusing your mindblade is a free action, but may only be done once per turn.

I would also allow any players to pick if they play a Psionic class and take these feats, or if they take the full original class, because soulbow is actually very usable.

[Luccan]

I remember seeing this as a homebrew here. Maybe by Nifft?


Nifft did this quite well (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?504805-Nifft-s-Soulknife-as-Feats-PEACH).

And I couldn't find it because I had been looking for Soulknife as feats instead of Mindblade feats... well, good to know someone has already done the real work, I'll give these a look!


I'm going to take a quick stab at this.

I'd roll the Mind blade, throw mind blade, free draw and shape mind blade all rolled into a single feat. This'd give you the basic mindblade functionality, but its not really much of a power-boost. It jus means you're difficult to disarm.

I'd then have a mindblade enhancement, improved mindblade enhancement and superior mindblade enhancement feat chain (with level or BaB gates for each) that gives you a (non-stacking) +1/+3/+5 enhancement bonus and a +1/+2/+3 enhancement bonus budget to spend on weapon properties.

I'd not make psychic strike a feat-chain at all, as it could easily be replicated using feats like psionic weapon.

This seems mostly balanced to me (but I'm mostly going at this by feeling), as you're paying 4 feats to get a weapon that you could have bought with money as well. If you want to split it up more, I'd make one feat chain for enhancement bonus, and another one for enhancement bonus budget for weapon enhancements.


I like Niffts feats, but I would modify them a bit:

Roll the enhancements into the main mindblade feat. It counts as magical from the start. It gets a +1 bonus at +4 bab, +2 at +8 etc. No PP investment needed.

Then for Enhanced Mindblade, change it to the following:
Prereq: +6 bab, mindblade
Benefit: you can infuse your mindblade with psychic energy to augment it with new abilities. By infusing the blade with 1 PP, you can add any one of the weapon special abilities on the table given with the soulknife base class that has an enhancement bonus value of +1. This investment takes a move action, but can be accomplished as part of the action that summons the mindblade.
For every increase in BAB of +4 (+10, +14, +18), the value of the enhancement a soulknife can add to his weapon improves to +2, +3, and +4, respectively, and requires an equal investment of PP. A soulknife can choose any combination of weapon special abilities that does not exceed the total allowed by the soulknife’s level.
Special: If you have the Rapid Mindblade feat, infusing your mindblade is a free action, but may only be done once per turn.

I would also allow any players to pick if they play a Psionic class and take these feats, or if they take the full original class, because soulbow is actually very usable.

I may want to change a few things (or even go in my own direction) for a specific game I'm running, so I appreciate these suggestions as well. Thanks everybody.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

How about just one feat (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070214a)?


Soulbound Weapon

You can summon a specific weapon to your hand that is bound to your very soul.

Level: 1st and 2nd.
Replaces: You lose your 2nd-level bonus feat.
Benefit: You must choose a soulbound weapon at 1st level and you gain the Weapon Focus feat with this weapon. Also, the first power you learn must be call weaponry. You can summon your chosen soulbound weapon to your hand using call weaponry.

At 2nd level, you gain the soulbound weapon class ability, and the weapon you summon using call weaponry is of the same type as you chose at 1st level. Its physical appearance slowly changes, growing in power as you do. You must manifest the power call weaponry to obtain your soulbound weapon; you retain the weapon for the duration of the power. You may still use the call weaponry power as normal if you wish. This is a specific weapon every time you summon it, and it automatically gains a weapon enhancement at the following levels:

4th +1 weapon
8th +2 weapon
12th +3 weapon
16th +4 weapon
20th +5 weapon

Also, add the following augmentation to your call weaponry power:

Augmentation: When you manifest your soulbound weapon, for each additional 5 power points you spend, you may add a weapon enhancement of +1 value to the weapon. For example, if you spend an additional 10 power points, you could add two +1 weapon enhancements or a single +2 weapon enhancement.

[CactusAir]

Dreamscarred Press has you covered:

http://dsp-d20-srd.wikidot.com/mind-blade-feats