Need Soulbow ideas...

[Alaxi]

I've been toying with the idea of a Soulbow, and I respectfully request some help. The only sources that are banned (to my knowledge) are Dragon Mag and Tome of Battle. I was wondering any good suggestions to class composition, feat arrangement, etc.

Please, if we can, 3.5 edition only.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

[2xMachina]

Use a magic bow to go with the mind arrows.

Changes your class feature of: "Has a weapon" to "Has unlimited magic arrows"

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

It only takes one hand to fire your Mind Arrows, so you can use TWF with them. Even better, use Thri-kreen for your race and get Multiweapon Fighting, eventually taking the Improved and Greater versions. The Nonpsionic Thri-Kreen variant in MM2 and Shining South gets only a +1 LA instead of +2, and only loses the racial powerpoint reserve and psi-like abilities.

Get Zen Archery from CW to use your Wis bonus instead of Dex on ranged attack rolls, keeping in mind that Soulbow also gets Wis to damage. If you can use Oriental Adventures a single level of Shiba Protector would be useful, but it's not necessary and could be difficult to fit into the character's background.

Your first Mind Arrow magical property should always be Lucky. Keeping in mind that each Mind Arrow is a separate weapon, every attack you make that misses will get a second roll for another chance to hit. Other good ones to get are Seeking and maybe Bane if you're going to be fighting a lot of the same type of creatures, or Wounding is good to have.

Go Nonpsionic Thri-Kreen LA +1/ HD 2/ Soulknife 2/ Monk 1/ Soulbow 10/ Soulknife+, probably using the Sleeping Tiger Monk variant to get Weapon Finesse for claws and unarmed strike since Strength will be a dump stat. Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, Zen Archery, Multiweapon Fighting, and Woodland Archer (RotW) are absolutely necessary, and Rapid Shot and Manyshot for Improved Rapid Shot (CW) would also be decent. In the higher levels you should get Improved and Greater Multiweapon Fighting at the first opportunity. If possible use the fractional BAB house rule given in UA on page 73, and also buy off your level adjustment, which should be available at your third class level (at Soulknife 2/ Monk 1) and cost 5,000 xp to reduce it to LA +0. The character is completely SAD for Wisdom, but as usual Dex and Con are useful to have positive modifiers on. You could even take Vow of Poverty, especially if someone else in the party could provide you with Fly spells.

An alternative would be to go something like Human or maybe Gnome Soulknife 2/ Fighter 4/ Soulbow 10/ Fighter or Soulknife, again get Zen Archery and wear the heaviest (spiked) armor you can afford with a heavy shield or maybe even a tower shield. This would give you access to Weapon Specialization and Ranged Weapon Mastery (PH2), along with more bonus feats early on. This is best used in a poorly optimized party and/or if starting out too low level to play a Thri-Kreen. Shiba Protector fits better in this build and would definitely be worth spending the feats to dip into.

A better alternative to either of those would use Arcane Swordsage instead of Monk. It would take another Arcane Swordsage level after every few Soulbow levels depending on what spells/maneuvers you want to pick up, and probably wouldn't even get all ten levels in Soulbow.

[Optimystik]

Use both Soulknife variants (Hidden Talent for a power, and trade psychic strike for feats.) Feats are very important for an archer, and with this setup you'll have almost as much as a fighter.

Soulknife 3 (both ACFs)/Psywar 2/Soulbow 10 (Level 15) has 8 bonus feats, which is equal to a fighter 15 - that should be plenty.

And as Biffo said, you can be a Thri-kreen for ridiculous amounts of arrows.
Cero metralleta!

[strider24seven]

I know this is going to incite some controversy, but I would actually suggest the following together:

1)The Kensai Class: 4 levels lets you enchant your Mind Arrows pretty well and doesn't tank your already sub-par BAB. Just google Kensai Handbook to see what you can do. Just don't pick Spell-Storing unless you can convince your DM to apply to your Mind Blade what applies to your Mind Arrows. Something to break DR/cold iron or DR/silver would be nice.
2)Vow of Poverty: Gets you many great bonuses like the ability to break DR of evil creatures. And stat boni. It's even better if you can wait to take it until you can afford +5 tomes in your important stats.

Just make sure that you only take VoP if you take the Kensai class. Otherwise you're combining the sub-par Soulknife with the average Soulbow and the sub-par Vow of Poverty.

[Alaxi]

Your first Mind Arrow magical property should always be Lucky. Keeping in mind that each Mind Arrow is a separate weapon, every attack you make that misses will get a second roll for another chance to hit.

The way I read the "Lucky" property is you can use it once per day, for one single attack or one in a series of attacks. How could you use it with every arrow? Is there something a Soulbow gets that allows this?

Even better, use Thri-kreen for your race

That I think will be not allowed. I will most likely use a human as my race. Being as this class choice is dependant on feats, the extra for human will be useful. The other ideas shown in this thread so far are quite enlightened, and useful too. Appreciated. I will make a chart with what I am thinking and submit it to this thread and see what you guys think if that is okay with all of you.


THANKS!

[lsfreak]

The way I read the "Lucky" property is you can use it once per day, for one single attack or one in a series of attacks. How could you use it with every arrow? Is there something a Soulbow gets that allows this?

It is the bow that's enchanted for 1/day... except SOulbows don't have a bow to enchant, only the arrows. So it's each arrow that's enchanted 1/day. Expect your DM to houserule it to not work on every arrow, even if it isn't very gamebreaking (I'm unsure where on the scale of 'gamebreaking' it is, but I'd wager beneath simple Shock Trooper).

[Lycanthromancer]

You may want a single level dip into sanctified mind, from Lords of Madness. This will help with staving off any [mind-affecting] effects you're hit with.

Also, if you dip into a manifesting class at all (such as psychic warrior, for feats), you may want to consider the psychic weapon master, rather than kensai (Mobility can be gotten via an armor enhancement, and being warforged means you'll always have your armor...always, and you may be able to get away with using psychic warrior and its Soulbound Weapon Variant...maybe...talk to your DM for a variant for your soulknife), and a deep crystal elvencraft bow of the wintermoon (check the Magic Item Compendium and Races of the Wild) to fire your arrows from. It's great for a soulknife, really, since it improves your mind arrows (and one of the first abilities you graft on permanently should definitely be splitting). Add on the Item Familiar feat or Ancestral Weapon for more love.

Archers need all the help they can get, really.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Ideally, you should visit the Otyugh Hole detailed in Complete Scoundrel to get Iron Will without spending a feat on it. If starting higher than 1st level, you can spend 3,000 gp and add this to your character's backstory to gain the feat without playing it out. Also remember that your Weapon Focus: Mind Blade feat from Soulknife also applies to Mind Arrows, as does any other feat you take for Mind Blade such as Weapon Specialization and Improved Critical.

Human, of the Phoenix clan (OA)
1. Soulknife 1, Weapon Focus, Hidden Talent, Point Blank Shot, Up the Walls
2. Fighter 1, Shield Specialization
3. Fighter 2, Combat Expertise, Alertness
4. Soulknife 2
5. Fighter 3
6. Soulbow 1, Precise Shot, Zen Archery
7. Shiba Protector 1
8. Fighter 4, Weapon Specialization: Mind Blade
9. Soulbow 2, Woodland Archer
10. Soulbow 3, Rapid Shot
11. Soulbow 4
12. Soulbow 5, Ranged Weapon Mastery, Manyshot
13. Soulbow 6
14. Soulbow 7, Improved Rapid Shot
15. Soulbow 8, Shield Ward
16. Soulbow 9, Improved Precise Shot (if Dex 19+) or Far Shot
17. Soulbow 10
18. Soulknife 3, Improved Critical: Mind Blade, Focused Shield
19. Soulknife 4
20. Soulknife 5

Your Hidden Talent power should probably be Chameleon, though there are many good choices. Just remember that if you spend all of your powerpoints for the day, you can no longer gain a psionic focus. Your Mind Blade should take the form of a Wakizashi, though at level 20 you can shape it into a Katana but you would have to wield it in two hands. Just wear armor spikes and you'll be able to threaten adjacent squares and make AoOs.

[Alaxi]

Biffoniacus_Furiou, would you recommend with that build pumping Dexterity more or Wisdom? You have Zen Archery, but I got confused by Imp. Precise Shot. Just curious.

[Angrist]

Use a Kalashtar with a crystalline eye embeded crystalshard in the palm of your hand. That way you can put your hand around corners, look, and fire arrows at anyone there, all with total concealment.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Biffoniacus_Furiou, would you recommend with that build pumping Dexterity more or Wisdom? You have Zen Archery, but I got confused by Imp. Precise Shot. Just curious.

Dex is basically a dump stat, since you use Wisdom for attack rolls and can wear heavy armor. Improved Precise Shot is only listed in case you have a high enough Dex by then, such as starting with 13 and getting a +6 item, but I wouldn't go beyond that.

[Optimystik]

I wouldn't dump Dex entirely - many of the archery feats require minimum amounts, and relying on gear to pick up the slack can be both expensive and risky.

It also boosts your Initiative, which never hurts. I'd suggest 14.

[Alaxi]

Some of the things in the proposed build have been banned. No worries though. I like some of the restrictions imposed. My question is, how would you guys shape the level progression for 5 Soulknife/ 5 Psychic Warrior/ 10 Soulbow? This seems a safe build to go off of, and keeps myself and my DM from going into something uber-complicated.

[Optimystik]

Some of the things in the proposed build have been banned. No worries though. I like some of the restrictions imposed. My question is, how would you guys shape the level progression for 5 Soulknife/ 5 Psychic Warrior/ 10 Soulbow? This seems a safe build to go off of, and keeps myself and my DM from going into something uber-complicated.

What about my build (with the ACFs)? Was that one banned?

It only goes up to 15, but you can finish with Atavist, Slayer, or more Soulknife.

[Alaxi]

What about my build (with the ACFs)? Was that one banned?

It only goes up to 15, but you can finish with Atavist, Slayer, or more Soulknife.

I was going to use both of the variants you listed. Thing is, I am a bit OCD when it comes to numbers. LOL That's why the levels are that way.

And is Atavist (never heard of that class before) is the Expanded Psionics book? Or something else?

[Alaxi]

Also...........I need some good ideas about feats. I know some that are a MUST, but I like to play around with options.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

You want to get the first level of Soulbow as early as possible, no exceptions. You cannot use your primary mode of attack until then, all of your levels before that are only there to acquire that first level and be able to use Mind Arrows.

It's not really worth taking more than two levels of Soulknife, unless you can use the Mind's Eye ACF to get feats in place of Psychic Strike, in which case you shouldn't take more than four levels of it prior to Soulbow. The fifth level of Soulknife loses BAB and won't make your Mind Arrows any better, so you're better off never going past the 4th level.

I would strongly advise you to not take Psychic Warrior, it has none of the benefits of Fighter (Weapon Specializaton to Ranged Weapon Mastery), loses BAB, and the powers won't really be worthwhile with as few powerpoints as you'd get. If you insist on going this route, Psion would actually be a better choice, or maybe even take War Mind.

Shiba Protector is a bit cheesy, but it's not really necessary. Consider the following build instead:

Human
1. Soulknife 1, Weapon Focus, Hidden Talent, Point Blank Shot, Up the Walls
2. Fighter 1, Shield Specialization
3. Fighter 2, Shield Ward, Focused Shield
4. Soulknife 2
5. Fighter 3
6. Soulbow 1, Precise Shot, Zen Archery
7. Fighter 4, Weapon Specialization: Mind Blade
8. Soulbow 2
9. Soulbow 3, Woodland Archer, Rapid Shot
10. Soulbow 4
11. Soulbow 5, Manyshot
12. Soulbow 6, Ranged Weapon Mastery
13. Soulbow 7, Improved Rapid Shot
14. Soulbow 8
15. Soulbow 9, Improved Precise Shot (Dex 19+) or Far Shot, Heavy Armor Optimization
16. Soulbow 10
17. Soulknife 3, Improved Critical: Mind Blade
18. Soulknife 4, Deflective Armor
19. Fighter 5
20. Fighter 6, Greater Heavy Armor Optimization

That ends up Soulknife 4/ Fighter 6/ Soulbow 10, and as usual focus on getting as high a Wisdom score as possible. If you don't know where to find some of those feats, check WotC's feat index.

[Alaxi]

I like those feats, but there are some I was reading through that seemed to be good too. In the Expanded Psionics Handbook, there are three feats that I absolutely love:

1] Psionic Shot (2d6 to ranged weapon and a prereq to the next feat)

2]Greater Psionic Shot (4d6 to ranged weapon),

3] Fell Shot (all ranged attacks can be resolved as touch attacks)


These seem very good, and powerful feats. Also, as another thing I think would be cool out of the same book:

4] Return Shot (deflect ranged attacks back at attacker)


Any thoughts?

[FishAreWet]

Psionic Shot only works on one shot and expends psionic focus.

[Greenish]

I like those feats, but there are some I was reading through that seemed to be good too. In the Expanded Psionics Handbook, there are three feats that I absolutely love:

1] Psionic Shot (2d6 to ranged weapon and a prereq to the next feat)

2]Greater Psionic Shot (4d6 to ranged weapon),

3] Fell Shot (all ranged attacks can be resolved as touch attacks)

Both (Greater) Psionic Shot and Fell Shot require you to expend psionic focus, which you can do only once. Regaining the focus is a full-round action, or a move action with yet another feat.

[WoodenSword]

I second Thri-Kreen and add totemist, for Blessing of the Garillion.

Speaking of which, how many arms is that?

[Amphetryon]

Soulknife 3/Ranger 2/Illumine Soul 3/Soulbow 7/Cleric 5 (not in order). DMM and Zen Archery, self-buffing, very easy on the MAD (start at Ranger 1 and you can dump STR and INT; ranged focus means you can keep CON a mite lower than you would otherwise). Use an Elf for the domains.

[Greenish]

I second Thri-Kreen and add totemist, for Blessing of the Garillion.

Speaking of which, how many arms is that?

Girallion's Blessing is a spell. Totemists do not cast spells.

Binding Girallion Arms to your totem chakra gives you two extra claws. 2+4=6

[Alaxi]

Thri-keen is banned, sorry. And I would like to stay away from clerics if at all possible. I am playing a cleric in a game now, and don't want to overplay the class. As for the feats I listed, that sucks that they expend focus. Back to the drawing board, I guess.