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Burley
2008-04-30, 03:38 PM
Warlock//Soulknife?
I know, I know. It's two classes that are considered poor. But, if I took Hideous Blow, I could add that to the damage of the soulknife. It wouldn't be optimized, but it'd be useable, yeah?
I know the synergy would be fairly lame...but, what are some pros and cons? I'm looking for valid arguements, as usual. I hate asking for advice and getting replies like "It's teh suck."

Draz74
2008-04-30, 04:09 PM
Poor Fort save.
d10 HD - not bad.
Medium BAB, on a character whose main point is to hit the opponent. No "touch AC only," either.
4 Skill points per level. Wants to use them for Hide/Move Silently, acrobatic skills, Spellcraft and other "magic-centered" skills (e.g. Concentration, Knowledges), UMD, and more.
You'll only get your bonus damage once per round, from either class. So you'll be focusing on dealing Psychic Strike damage and Hideous Blow damage every turn. Which will make you fairly immobile.
Other than Warlock invocations, your character has pretty much no abilities except this once-per-turn WHACK.

FMArthur
2008-04-30, 04:14 PM
The problem is that the Soulknife isn't really adding anything to that but Psychic Strike. A Warlock has the same BAB as a Soulknife (3/4), so you'd get just about the same benefits of someone with Martial Weapon Proficiency and a suitably enchanted weapon. You don't even benefit from being able to throw the Mind Blade because it's not as good as an Eldritch Blast. Mechanically, it just doesn't work because of all the things you miss out on as a Warlock to take levels in Soulknife. If you're intent on meleeing for Eldritch Blast bonus damage, just about any other class can help you more than a Soulknife.

It's honestly so depressing that such a cool concept as a Soulknife has to be one of the worst-executed ideas in D&D that I'm just going to stop there.

Reel On, Love
2008-04-30, 04:14 PM
Warlock//Soulknife?
I know, I know. It's two classes that are considered poor. But, if I took Hideous Blow, I could add that to the damage of the soulknife. It wouldn't be optimized, but it'd be useable, yeah?
I know the synergy would be fairly lame...but, what are some pros and cons? I'm looking for valid arguements, as usual. I hate asking for advice and getting replies like "It's teh suck."

It's like shooting yourself in the foot. With a rocket.

Warlock is... okay. Soulknife is at the very bottom of the power curve, just above the Samurai and below even the Monk
And they have absolutely no synergy whatsoever. Warlock doesn't help the Soulknife melee. (More about Hideous Blow later).


You would basically be just a normal Warlock; your soulknife side would never come into play, as Soulknives suck in melee (especially if you focus on DEX/CHA like a Warlock should).

Hideous blow is a terrible idea. First, it limits you to a single attack, which is going to be doing less damage than people's full attacks, by far, Hideous Blow or not. Second, it provokes an AoO! You have to try to cast defensively or lose it.

There are absolutely no upsides to this.

Frosty
2008-04-30, 04:28 PM
How about a bard/crusader//warlock/hellfire warlock instead?

Kurald Galain
2008-04-30, 04:31 PM
For your consideration:

Take eldritch glaive rather than hideous blow, and Duskblade rather than soulknife. The flavor mostly overlaps but the crunch is much better.