Soulknife Ruling Needed [Not a Balance Thread]

[Lord_Gareth]

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.

Does this mean that the Mind Blade doesn't have an enhancement bonus per se, and instead merely has the special weapon abilities? Or does it have an enhancement bonus plus the weapon abilities (doubtful; that'd make them epic weapons fairly quickly)?

Eagerly awaiting a ruling, and thanks for dropping by the thread!

[tyckspoon]

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).

The base + value of the mind blade is part of the Mind Blade ability itself; those are the lines on the Soulknife level chart where it says Mind Blade +1, Mind Blade +2, etc. "Mind Blade Enhancement +x" is only for adding in plus-equivalent enhancements. It caps out at a +9 equivalent of +5 base and +4 worth of special abilities.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You get +1 Mind Blade at 4th, at which time it gains a +1 Enhancement bonus. You then get Mind Blade Enhancement +1 at 6th, at which time it gains a +1 equivalent special ability in addition to what it already had. At 6th level, it has both a +1 Enhancement bonus and a +1 equivalent special ability.

[mohdri]

The mindblade gains a +1 enhancement bonus at 4th level, and adds a +1 at 8th 12th 16th and 20th level. It gains a +1 property at 6th level and another at 10th, 14th, and 18th level, for a total of a +9 total weapon at 20th level. One of the main problems with the class (there are many but this is the most obvious one).

Edit:ninja'ed alot

[Lord_Gareth]

So..does that mean that a +3 mindblade with three "plusses" of enhancement bonuses counts as Epic for the purposes of penetrating damage reduction?

[mohdri]

No, the weapon needs an actual enhancment bonus of +6, not just +6 worth of total properties. A Soulknife would't get an "epic" (+6 Mindblade) weapon until epic levels, 25 level to be exact.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

So..does that mean that a +3 mindblade with three "plusses" of enhancement bonuses counts as Epic for the purposes of penetrating damage reduction?

...No, and neither does a normal weapon. DR/Epic requires a weapon with +6 to hit and damage. Most normal fighters actually go with a +1 weapon with +9 worth of "equivalent" enhancement bonuses, since +11 worth of total enhancement is Epic no matter what the straight + to damage is, then have the Wizard cast GMW on the whole thing to make it +5/+9 costing like a +10. Not technically Epic, but more powerful than any other non-epic weapon, including the Soulknife's Mindblade.

[Lord_Gareth]

Alright folks, thanks for the help! My questions have been answered, and I am now enlightened.