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View Full Version : Reworked Soulknife/Monk Combination



melchizedek
2008-03-21, 07:43 PM
A noticed an interesting idea about combining the Soulknife and Monk (two of the worst, least playable classes) into one class. I liked this idea, so I did some work, and this is what I came up with. I'd appreciate it if you would look it over and let me know what you think.

Soulknife
Alignment: Any
Skill Points: 4+Int Modifier
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Soulknives are proficient with all simple weapons and with their own mind blades.
Soulknives are not proficient with any armor or shields
When wearing armor, using a shield, or carrying a medium or heavy load, a soulknife loses her AC bonus, as well as her fast movement and spring attack ability.
{table=head]Level|Base Attack<br>Bonus|Fort Save|Ref Save|Will Save|Special|Mind Blade<br> Damage|AC<br>Bonus|Speed<br>Bonus

1st|
+1|
+0|
+2|
+2|AC Bonus, Mind Blade, Wild Talent|
1d6|
+0|
+0 ft.

2nd|
+2|
+0|
+3|
+3|Evasion, Throw Mind Blade|
1d6|
+0|
+0 ft.

3rd|
+3|
+1|
+3|
+3|Fast Movement, Combat Trick|
1d6|
+0|
+10 ft.

4th|
+4|
+1|
+4|
+4|+1 Mind Blade, Spring Attack|
1d8|
+0|
+10 ft.

5th|
+5|
+1|
+4|
+4|Purity of Body, Shape Mind Blade|
1d8|
+1|
+10 ft.

6th|
+6/+1|
+2|
+5|
+5|Mind Blade Enhancement +1|
1d8|
+1|
+20 ft.

7th|
+7/+2|
+2|
+5|
+5|Wholeness of Body, Mind Blade Advantage|
1d8|
+1|
+20 ft.

8th|
+8/+3|
+2|
+6|
+6|+2 Mind Blade|
1d10|
+1|
+20 ft.

9th|
+9/+4|
+3|
+6|
+6|Improved Evasion, Bladewind|
1d10|
+1|
+30 ft.

10th|
+10/+5|
+3|
+7|
+7|Mind Blade Enhancement +2|
1d10|
+2|
+30 ft.

11th|
+11/+6/+1|
+3|
+7|
+7|Diamond Body, Improved Spring Attack|
1d10|
+2|
+30 ft.

12th|
+12/+7/+2|
+4|
+8|
+8|+3 Mind Blade|
2d6|
+2|
+40 ft.

13th|
+13/+8/+3|
+4|
+8|
+8|Abundant Step|
2d6|
+2|
+40 ft.

14th|
+14/+9/+4|
+4|
+9|
+9|Mind Blade Enhancement +3, Diamond Soul|
2d6|
+2|
+40 ft.

15th|
+15/+10/+5|
+5|
+9|
+9|Multiple Throw, Ranged Combat Trick|
2d6|
+3|
+50 ft.

16th|
+16/+11/+6/+1|
+5|
+10|
+10|+4 Mind Blade, Greater Spring Attack|
2d8|
+3|
+50 ft.

17th|
+17/+12/+7/+2|
+5|
+50|
+10|Timeless Body, Improved Shape Mind Blade|
2d8|
+3|
+50 ft.

18th|
+18/+13/+8/+3|
+6|
+11|
+11|Mind Blade Enhancement +4|
2d8|
+3|
+60 ft.

19th|
+19/+14/+9/+4|
+6|
+11|
+11|Empty Body|
2d8|
+3|
+60 ft.

20th|
+20/+15/+10/+5|
+6|
+12|
+12|+5 Mind Blade|
2d10|
+4|
+60 ft.[/table]
AC Bonus (Ex): When unarmored and unencumbered, the soulknife adds her Wisdom bonus (if any) to her AC. In addition, a soulknife gains a +1 bonus to AC at 5th level. This bonus increases by 1 for every five soulknife 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 soulknife is flat-footed. She loses these bonuses when she is immobilized or helpless, when she wears any armor, when she carries a shield, or when she carries a medium or heavy load.

Mind Blade (Su): As a move action, a soulknife can create a weapon composed of psychic energy distilled from his own mind. The wielder of a mind blade can change the blade to visually resemble any weapon he/she would like, but this appearance does not effect the performance of the mind blade. he mind blade is treated as a one-handed weapon that does damage according to the table above (crit ×2). This damage applies for medium soulknives. Small or large mind blades equal to the damage of the unarmed strike of a soulknife of the same level. 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.

A soulknife’s mind blade improves as the character gains higher levels. At 4th level and every four levels thereafter, the mind blade 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 soulknife can attempt to sustain his mind blade by making a DC 20 Will save. On a successful save, 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 Will save to rematerialize his mind blade while he remains within the psionics negating effect.

Wild Talent:A soulknife gains Wild Talent as a bonus feat. (This class feature provides the character with the psionic power he needs to materialize his mind blade, if he has no power points otherwise.)

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

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.

Fast Movement(Ex): At 3rd level, a soulknife gains an enhancement bonus to her speed, as shown on the table above. A soulknife in armor or carrying a medium or heavy load loses this extra speed.

Combat Trick(Ex): At third level, a soulknife may choose Improved Disarm, Improved Trip, or Improved Sunder as a bonus feat even if he does not meet the prerequisites for that feat. This choice effects the benefits granted by Mind Blade Advantage at level 7 and by Ranged Combat Trick at level 15.

Spring Attack: At fourth level, a soulknife gains Spring Attack as a bonus feat, even if he would not otherwise qualify for it.

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

Shape Mind Blade(Su): At 5th level, a soulknife can shape his mind blade in such a way that it gains one of the following abilities: reach, able to be set against a charge, extended critical threat range (19-20x20), or improved criticals (20x3). A mind blade can only have one such advantage at a time, reshaping the mind blade removes the previous advantage.

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

At every four levels beyond 6th (10th, 14th, and 18th), the value of the enhancement a soulknife can add to his weapon improves to +2, +3, and +4, 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 8 hours in concentration. After that period, the mind blade materializes with the new ability or abilities selected by the soulknife.
(Create enhancement table)

Wholeness of body(Su): At 7th level or higher, a soulknife can heal her own wounds. She can heal a number of hit points of damage equal to twice her current soulknife level each day, and she can spread this healing out among several uses.

Mind Blade Advantage(Su): At 7th level, a soulknife's mind blade receives an advantage. The specific advantage granted to the mind blade depends on the Combat Trick chosen at fourth level. If the soulknife chose Improved Disarm, his mind provides a +2 bonus on opposed attacks rolls made to disarm an opponent (including the opposed attack roll to avoid being disarmed if such an attempt fails). If the soulknife chose Improved Trip, he can make trip attacks using his mind blade. If she is tripped during her own trip attack, she can dissipate the mind blade to avoid being tripped. If the soulknife chose Improved Sunder, his mind blade is treated as Adamantine when making a sunder attempt.

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

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.

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

Improved Spring Attack(Ex): At 11th level, when using the spring attack feat, a soulknife can make a second attack at a -5 penalty as part of the same standard action.

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

Diamond Soul(Su): At 13th level, a soulknife gains spell resistance equal to her current soulknife level + 10. In order to affect the soulknife with a spell, a spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the soulknife’s spell resistance.

Multiple Throw(Su): At 15th level and higher, a soulknife can throw a number of mind blades per round equal to the number of melee attacks he could make.

Ranged Combat Trick(Ex): At 15th level or higher, a soulknife's combat trick is improved. He is now able to use his combat trick with his mind blade against foes within 30 feet.

Greater Spring Attack(Ex): At 16th level, when using the spring attack feat, a soulknife can make a third attack at a -10 penalty as part of the same standard action.

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

Improved Shape Mind Blade(Su): At 17th level, a soulknife's ability to shape her mind blade improves. She can now add two of the abilities listed under Mind Blade Advantage. She can instead chose one of the following abilities: improved extended critical threat range (18-20x2) or greater criticals (20x4).

Empty Body(Ex): At 19th level, a soulknife gains the ability to assume an ethereal state for 1 round per soulknife level per day, as though using the spell etherealness. She 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 her soulknife level.

jagadaishio
2008-03-22, 12:49 AM
For the Shape Mind Blade, does the reach mean spiked chain style reach or longspear style reach?

I would consider dropping Bladewind as a matter of balance, or instead just giving them Whirlwind Attack at that level as a bonus feat.

For Improved Spring Attack, why not just say that they get the feat, right out of PHBII? The same goes for Greater Spring Attack, you could just give them the Spring Attack feat tree seen in the PHBII.

I wasn't sure if the Abundant Step ability still fit the class's flavor until I saw the Empty Body there.

The text of the Mind Blade description seem to imply that the Soulknife gains an unarmed strike damage progression as they level. This implication is when it is talking about large and small soulknives. There is no reference to unarmed strike damage anywhere else in that ability description. You should put in some clarification there.

It would also be a good idea to copy/paste the mind blade special abilities tables from the SRD over here since it never specifically says to take the tables from the old soulknife in the XPH.

Overall, great class. I would only suggest the minor changes I listed above (and that bit of clarification on reach) and you would be left with a class about on par with a well-made fighter.