[3.5] Soulknife Unarmed Strike

[KitsuneKionchi]

Ranged Unarmed Strikes
i.e. "Budhha's Palm Technique"

So I recently made a SoulKnife using "Reshape Mind Blade" (DR341). I went down the list of 'weapons' in the SRD and chose the weapon "unarmed strike". It seemed innocent enough, albeit interesting. Then I reread the soul knife class and realised what this meant.

I can now use my unarmed strikes as thrown weapons.

After I let images of energy fists shooting from my soul knife pass through the 'cool' zone of my mind into the 'laugh hysterically/maniacally' zone, I started thinking about all those unarmed attack feats that don't say 'melee unarmed strike'. The book naturally assumes your unarmed strike will be done in melee range, but they never specified it. What looks like fun shenanigans to do with this, even if its just on a theoretical level?

Note: You are using both an unarmed strike and a thrown weapon. Odds are, you will be provoking an attack of opportunity.

Another Note: Yes, I've thought of what this means for natural weapons as well. If your a monstrous character, you could easily adapt this to your bite attacks, claw attacks, or more.

Support Abilities:

Far Shot: Because you can't punch people quite far away enough as it is.

Power Throw: This feat is quite nice with this build to make sure you aren't completely MAD (lets you use str instead of dex for thrown attacks).

Stunning Fist: (And the many things related to it.) Ranged stunning has proven itself powerful thanks to the cheese that is Boomerang Daze. This isn't quite as strong as the DC is set by something a lot harder to raise than "damage dealt", but its still an effective alternative. Good "readied action" against a foe too, since you can stop them from hitting more people than just yourself. Or help power on the rogue.

Weapon Enhancements:

Mind Blade Gauntlet, Greater: [MIC117] This ability lets you add weapon enhancements (albeit temporarily) to your soul-fists. Up to +3. Let the shenanigans continue!

Clouting: Alternative to "Knockback". It has an nonadjustable save of DC19, but it knocks the opponent prone *and* lets you push them back. Great with multiple attacks and Martial Throw to continuously hit people into the air like a helpless bubble being blown higher and higher into the air (till it pops and the fun ends).

Cheesey Abilities:

<Pick Pocket>: I forget the feat, but there is one that lets you sleight of hand a target as a free action if you hit with an unarmed attack. Seems very fun with touch attacks to steal something from someone from over 180 feet away.

Martial Throw: Hit with an unarmed strike in order to switch places with your target. Extremely fun if you have a fly speed and they don't. Make sure you remember they don't take falling damage from the first 5 feet, and you get to switch places with them so you don't have to worry about falling.

Knockback: (Or variations of) allows you to push people at a range. This is just a nice support with Martial Throw if you want to punch people higher and higher into the sky to take more falling damage.

Master Thrower/Bloodstorm Blade: Naturally these bring funny things to the table. Palm shooting your...palms? Ricochetting shots seem pretty funny too with some of the other things I've posted above.

Touch Attacks: The SRD states you may make a 'normal unarmed attack' to transfer/use a touch spell. This helps casters who don't want to get too close. It also helps healers and buffers who don't like running from person to person but would rather soul-fist their teammates to health.

<Claw Strike?>: A feat from Eberron intended for shifters (but no racial prerequisite). This lets your unarmed strike and claw damage stack. So if you can manage to manifest both your claw and unarmed strike mind-blades at once, you can get the damage of both mind-blades in a single attack. Amazing if your DM lets you use lots of damaging (Flaming, etc...) weapon enchancements on your soulknife's mindblades.

Prone Attack: I love the idea of kicking someone 50 feet away as you stand up from prone.

Pop-Culture Tie-Ins:

Iaijutsu Strike/Greater Mighty Wallop: Anyone read Negima?

Reach: Reflavor the arms to be 'stretchy' instead of 'shooty' (perhaps the sizing weapon quality would help) and you could have fun recreating the elastic man or luffy from one piece.

[zagan]

You're right it look like it could really be fun.
I didn't manage to find the feat that let unarmaed damage and claw damage stack in any of my eberron book do you know in wich one it was ?

[Sinfire Titan]

Edit: Just to clarify, you can use that spell with this idea to make the above a reality.

[KitsuneKionchi]

You're right it look like it could really be fun.
I didn't manage to find the feat that let unarmaed damage and claw damage stack in any of my eberron book do you know in wich one it was ?

Try Races of Eberron in the Shifter section. If not, its in a Dragon Magazine that came out before either Eberron or Races of Eberron and had an article about Shifters.

[Kyrthain]

How about stunning fist and its subsidiaries?

[Dogmantra]

This is officially awesome. I'm tempted to play a Soulknife just to take advantage of this.

[KitsuneKionchi]

Added a new section, including another picture to help justify this thematically.

[AslanCross]

If you're using Races of Eberron and have taken both Monk and Soulknife levels (...kind of shooting yourself in the foot, I know), you can take Atavist as a PrC. As far as I can tell, it can advance both Unarmed Strike damage and Mind Blade enhancement. It does not say that its advancement of either is mutually-exclusive.

[AstralFire]

Bravo. This is the first truly 'cool' thing I've seen done with a primarily Soulknife character.

[Pramxnim]

In Gestalt this would be most awesome! Soulknife||Monk or Soulknife||Swordsage could pull this off and still be effective

[KitsuneKionchi]

In Gestalt this would be most awesome! Soulknife||Monk or Soulknife||Swordsage could pull this off and still be effective

If you take Incarnum, you can make yourself glowy all over. Then uuh...Vow of Poverty? Why is that always my initial reaction to "Incarnum"?

Bravo. This is the first truly 'cool' thing I've seen done with a primarily Soulknife character.

I usually go out of the class after 2 levels; but my DM made an expanded soul knife character that got a lot of cool buffs every 3 and 4 levels that make me stay...just long enough to qualify for Crinti Shadow Marauder.

This build works really nicely with "Shadow Pounce" and a bunch of the cheap low-distance teleport items from Magic Item Compendium.

[Paulus]

Wasn't there a necklace of natural attacks or some such from savage species which allowed you to augment natural attacks with weapon enhancements and thus allow you to throw any part of your body as a ranged weapon and have it even return back to you?

Not raining on the parade, just mentioning it for the PC who likes this idea but can't use psionics.

[KitsuneKionchi]

Wasn't there a necklace of natural attacks or some such from savage species which allowed you to augment natural attacks with weapon enhancements and thus allow you to throw any part of your body as a ranged weapon and have it even return back to you?

Not raining on the parade, just mentioning it for the PC who likes this idea but can't use psionics.

1. Yes, but its not glowy.

2. I feel Soulknives are only true psionics when they get their free power with the 'give-up-nothing' variant WotC posted around the time of Complete Psion. Other than that they are as Psionic as Monks are Divine.

[AstralFire]

Heh, yeah. Even in campaigns (the VERY few) where I banned psionics for purely flavor reasons, the Soulknife got to stay in.

[KitsuneKionchi]

Heh, yeah. Even in campaigns (the VERY few) where I banned psionics for purely flavor reasons, the Soulknife got to stay in.

Any campaign without lightsabers is one I want no part of.

Also, our soulknives always get the free buff:

Blast Deflection (Ex): The soulknife may deflect any blaster shot to the nearest storm trooper.

There is always one storm trooper in the setting. On the other side of the planet. Lost, alone and terribly confused as to how he got there.

[AstralFire]

I like the way you think.

[KitsuneKionchi]

I like the way you think.

No, I just think the way you like.

See, Psions aren't banned here either.

[Paulus]

Any campaign without lightsabers is one I want no part of.

Also, our soulknives always get the free buff:

Blast Deflection (Ex): The soulknife may deflect any blaster shot to the nearest storm trooper.

There is always one storm trooper in the setting. On the other side of the planet. Lost, alone and terribly confused as to how he got there.

and constantly being bombarded by blasters shots from across the world apparently.

[AstralFire]

No, I just think the way you like.

See, Psions aren't banned here either.

Psions and Wilders are two of my favorite classes. I just had one or two campaigns I ran where their flavor would have interfered with the world.

[deuxhero]

Monk+ Amulet of Natural Attacks/Kensei did this long ago.

Also, don't you need to be proficient in a weapon to shape mindblade into it?...

[KitsuneKionchi]

Monk+ Amulet of Natural Attacks/Kensei did this long ago.

Also, don't you need to be proficient in a weapon to shape mindblade into it?...

1. Yes, but did they glow?

2. You are proficient with unarmed attacks. You don't take -4 to attack with them. In fact, you are even proficient when you take -4 to do lethal damage. And when you get improved unarmed strike, your still proficient.

[Paulus]

2. I feel Soulknives are only true psionics when they get their free power with the 'give-up-nothing' variant WotC posted around the time of Complete Psion. Other than that they are as Psionic as Monks are Divine.

Where might one find this variant btw? Playing a soulknife without playing psionics sounds intriguing...

almost exactly what i've been looking for actually. Also, how does it differ from the normal soulknife if you don't mind me asking?

[KitsuneKionchi]

Nono. The variant makes them "more psionic". It gives them 2 power points instead of 1, and access to any power on the Psychic Warrior's power list.

The regular soulknife is the "less psionic one".

[DragoonWraith]

Question remains: where is that variant? I'm interested too.

[AslanCross]

Nono. The variant makes them "more psionic". It gives them 2 power points instead of 1, and access to any power on the Psychic Warrior's power list.

The regular soulknife is the "less psionic one".

That sounds pretty awesome. I can't find it on WOTC's archive, though.

Races of Eberron's Kalashtar soulknife racial subs skip Wild Talent because Kalashtar gain 1 PP per class level no matter what class they take, but swap in an "align mind blade" ability early on. They can breach DR/evil pretty early in the game.

[AstralFire]

The variant consists entirely of giving them the Hidden Talent feat buried in the back chapters of XPH instead of Wild Talent.

[deuxhero]

1. Yes, but did they glow?

Give them Psychokinetic as well and they will.

[Animefunkmaster]

You're right it look like it could really be fun.
I didn't manage to find the feat that let unarmaed damage and claw damage stack in any of my eberron book do you know in wich one it was ?

The Feat in question is called Beast Strike from dragon magazine 355, prereqs claw/slam bab +5 and improved unarmed strike. Also adds claw or clam damage to successful grapple checks.

[KitsuneKionchi]

The Feat in question is called Beast Strike from dragon magazine 355, prereqs claw/slam bab +5 and improved unarmed strike. Also adds claw or clam damage to successful grapple checks.

Mmmm...clams

[Stegyre]

Question remains: where is that variant? I'm interested too.

Here. Look down the page for "Hidden Talent."

As AF said, this is basically giving the Soulknife Hidden Talent (2 pp + 1 first-level power) in place of Wild Talent (2 pp, not 1, but still a "give up nothing for a power" improvement).

The modification also allows a Soulknife to take Hidden Talent repeatedly, gaining another 1st level power and 2 more pp each time. It's still pretty far from the best way to build a psioinic, but the Soulknife needs all the help it can get.