Soulknife, underpowered?

[nhbdy]

I am starting a psionic game,and one of my players is interested in soulknife, but it seems underpowered, am i correct? if so, are there any good fixes that anyone knows about? if not, what should they focus on, what makes them strong, what is their role.

[Heliomance]

Yes, it is underpowered. I'm afraid I don't know the psionics system well though, so I can't advise you on what to take instead.

[Person_Man]

Yes, it sucks rocks. A common fix is to give them full BAB, which would put them on par with a weak Fighter. Here's my homebrew version (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92407). I've play tested it, and it was ridiculously fun. I was still overshadowed by the casters in the party, but the Knight and I were a great tag team.

[Rebonack]

It's considered one of the worst base classes around, down there with the poor Samurai. That said, there are oodles of fixes out there floating around for it. I've got one myself. It sticks pretty close to the basic flavor of the class and ends up being fairly versatile with the ability to manifest the weapon you need with the enchantments you need at a moment's notice.

Soul-Blade
HD: d10
Skill points: 4
BAB: Full
Good Saves: Will and Ref

Proficient with all simple and martial weapons, medium and light armor, and shields excluding tower shields. A soul-blade is proficient with his own Soul Blade regardless of what form it takes.

1: Soul-Blade, Wild Talent, +1 Enhancement
2: Free Draw, Evasion
3: Enchantment +1
4: Soul Strike 1d8
5: +2 Enhancement
6: Metallic Manifestation
7: Enchantment +2
8: Soul Strike 2d8
9: +3 Enhancement
10: Soul Storm
11: Enchantment +3
12: Soul Strike 3d8
13: +4 Enhancement
14: Metallic Manifestation
15: Enchantment +4
16: Soul Strike 4d8
17: +5 Enhancement
18: Metallic Manifestation
19: Enchantment +5
20: Greater Soul Storm, Soul Strike 5d8

Wild Talent: the Soul Blade gains Wild Talent as a bonus feat at first level.

Soul Blade(Su): This manifestation of soul energy takes on the color of the user's soul, glowing white at the business end of the weapon and darker on hafts and handles. A soul blade can be created as a move action, taking the form of any weapon the Soul Blade is proficient with. If a soul blade is dropped or thrown it dissipates six seconds later. The character must have at least one Power Point in reserve to manifest a soul blade.

Free Draw(Su): The soul blade may be manifested as a free action rather than a move action.

Soul Strike(Su): The Soul Blade may spend a move action to imbue his weapon with extra power. This power remains until a target is struck. When discharged the Soul Strike may deal extra d8 of damage or one point of ability damage chosen by you.

Metallic Manifestation(Su): Chose a material type (silver, cold iron, adamantine), your soul blade now counts as this kind of material for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Enhancement(Su): The enhancement bonus of your soul blade increases.

Enchantment(Su): You may choose weapon attributes for your soul blade when you create it. These attributes can not exceed your enchantment level.

Soul Storm(Su): You may send out a scything wave of soul energy as a standard action once per encounter. All targets within ten feet of you must succeed on a reflex save (DC 10+1/2 class level+Cha mod) or take damage as though struck by your currently wielded weapon (and all its modifiers) times two. A successful Ref save halves this damage.

Greater Soul Storm(Ex): You may send out a scything wave of soul energy as a standard action once per encounter. All targets within twenty feet of you must succeed on a reflex save (DC 10+1/2 class level+Cha mod) or take damage as though struck by your currently wielded weapon (and all its modifiers) times four. A successful Ref save halves this damage.

[Glooble Glistencrist]

Soulknife is totally worth taking if your DM is really stingy with the magic items.

But other than than that, yeah they kinda suck. There's another homebrew version on the boards right now though, if I'm not mistaken.

EDIT: Here. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99107)

[Adumbration]

Soulknife is fairly bad as a baseclass, but when combining with Soulbow the prestige class from Complete Psionic, it undergoes a metamorphosis and turns into Badass.

[Luean]

Soulknife is fairly bad as a baseclass, but when combining with Soulbow the prestige class from Complete Psionic, it undergoes a metamorphosis and turns into Badass.

Complete Psionic? Didn't know that there was usefull stuff in there...

[Ziegander]

Soulknife is totally worth taking if your DM is really stingy with the magic items.

But other than than that, yeah they kinda suck. There's another homebrew version on the boards right now though, if I'm not mistaken.

EDIT: Here. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99107)

Thanks for the free publicity, but mine is a bit over the top at the moment. When I get the chance to make it more reasonable (give me a few days for school stress to die off) it should fit much better into any campaign.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

Thanks for the free publicity, but mine is a bit over the top at the moment. When I get the chance to make it more reasonable (give me a few days for school stress to die off) it should fit much better into any campaign.

I don't think yours is over the top at all; it turned out very well. If anything, my version is more over the top than people were expecting, given that I'm aiming for ToB balance level and so it's significantly more powerful than the original. I'd be perfectly willing to put your soulknife in any campaign I ran, and it seems most everyone else is fine with its balance.

EDIT: Foolish of me to mention my version without providing a link for comparison. Here you go (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=99317).

[Lord Iames Osari]

You may also want to take a look at my fix (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=44220).