Throw em Mindblades (Soulknife PF Help)

[BobVosh]

I got the psionics unleashed book for PF since I loved psionics and PF for quite a while now. I was reading through expecting to do a psion and go thrallherd as I never have before.

Reading the soulknife with all the throwing stuff reminds me that that is also something I have never done.

Books open: All completes, all PF, psionics unleashed obviously, and compendiums. I can probably talk Races of X into the mix and Its cold/hot/wet/not outside.

That said what should I look into? The new fangled blades that all will be enchanted with good stuff means that unlike most throwing guys I don't have to worry about enchanting my blades to do it. Expenses will be down so I can buy neat toys. Obviously brutal throw is a plus, but what else is there?

Thoughts currently:
Halfgiant Soulknife allows me to throw a 2D6 and a 1D8 blade, gives a str bump.
Brutal Throw
TWF (bonus feat)
Precise Shot
Deadly Aim
Probably good to do power attack here for switch hits.

I have never played a thrower of pointy objects in 3.5, so what makes them good/possible?

[AslanCross]

Well, throwing builds usually make use of Master Thrower or Bloodstorm Blade. However, due to PF's penchant of making straight-classing as good an idea as PrCing, I'm pretty sure that straight Soulknife is a decent option. The Blade Skills are really cool.

[Psyren]

Okay,

First off, your projectile doesn't actually have to be pointy - remember that your mind blade can be bludgeoning now too at no cost to you. Not only could this be more thematic for a half-giant, it also means you can try to get someone in the party to Greater Mighty Wallop your mind hammer for massive damage.

Second, my handbook (points at sig), though still incomplete, gives a quick rundown on the bladeskills under the Soulknife section to help you choose, including which ones require expending focus. If you don't have a lot of the latter, consider picking up Psionic Shot and Greater Psionic Shot. Not only are they more powerful in Pathfinder, you also have more feats to spend on them (plus you already have the prerequisite.) The "maintain focus" buff will also apply to all of your iterative attacks, as well as each individual hit of your Bladewind or Bladestorm.

Third, remember that Half-Giants are human-subtype in Pathfinder as well (just like half-elves/half-orcs), so if you can indeed get Races of X included, take a gander through Races of Destiny to see what looks good to you.

Finally, definitely grab the Hidden Talent ACF. You lose nothing and can pick up a potentially useful first-level power. Expansion is an excellent choice here - in Pathfinder, it lasts min./level instead of rounds/level, so you can count as Huge for an entire combat. Your weapon stacks with both this and with Powerful Build, turning your mind-hammer into Mjolnir. You can also opt for equally useful powers like Dimension Hop, Extend Range or Synchronicity (all from CPsi.) If you want more than one of these, the ACF lets you keep grabbing Hidden Talent and get more PP each time.

[BobVosh]

I was thinking of enlarge person pots, but hidden talent expansion makes quite a bit of sense.

I didn't know you could put those types of buffs on mind blades, I thought for some reason they had to be physical weapons. Neat.

Isn't psionic shot and g. PS kinda a bad weapon spec still? Its nice to get an extra 4D6 once per fight (or more if I manage to refocus) but its still a lot of feats.

I'm so tired at this point, so I'm not really able to think this through. I'm going to return like a terminator. Also book marking your psionic handbook. It is made of delicious.

[Psyren]

I didn't know you could put those types of buffs on mind blades, I thought for some reason they had to be physical weapons. Neat.

Mind Blades can be buffed just fine. They are treated as masterwork weapons of no particular description.

Isn't psionic shot and g. PS kinda a bad weapon spec still? Its nice to get an extra 4D6 once per fight (or more if I manage to refocus) but its still a lot of feats.

As I said, it was buffed in Pathfinder; while the expend focus option is still there, you also get a smaller damage boost passively by maintaining your focus, and this one applies to every attack you make instead of just one. The expend option would only be for instances where you move and attack in the same round (i.e. no full attack) to squeeze extra damage out of your lone shot. (It's also a hefty boost at lower levels, before you get iteratives.)

Besides, you only have 4 of 10 feats chosen

Also book marking your psionic handbook. It is made of delicious.

Thank you, but I think I need to take more handbook-making lessons from Saph. *Eyes the Summoner Handbook with envy*

[Adumbration]

You might want to take a look at Soulbow from Complete Psionic, mate.

[Psyren]

You might want to take a look at Soulbow from Complete Psionic, mate.

You'd have to modify it to fit with the new Soulknife's enhancement system, but the bonus feats could be handy. Still, the Bladeskills are equivalent to feats anyway (e.g. the one that doubles your range increment, or the one that gives you a free psychic strike on a crit) and PF Soulknives get full BAB, so staying Soulknife 20 is definitely viable for this. Soulbow also doesn't advance psychic strike, and it doesn't suck anymore, so...

[Adumbration]

You'd have to modify it to fit with the new Soulknife's enhancement system, but the bonus feats could be handy. Still, the Bladeskills are equivalent to feats anyway (e.g. the one that doubles your range increment, or the one that gives you a free psychic strike on a crit) and PF Soulknives get full BAB, so staying Soulknife 20 is definitely viable for this. Soulbow also doesn't advance psychic strike, and it doesn't suck anymore, so...

Oh, okay, my bad, I'm not really familiar with Pathfinder.

[Psyren]

Oh, okay, my bad, I'm not really familiar with Pathfinder.

*shifty eyes*
*points at sig*
*scurries out*

[BobVosh]

I just noticed something

Multiple Throw: The soulknife can throw a number of mind blades per round equal to the number of melee attacks she could make. A soulknife must be at least 14th level to choose this blade skill.

Is this a misprint? Do you really have to be 14 or higher to throw more than 2 knives? I can understand 4, but 14 seems really, really high for this power.

[MeeposFire]

I just noticed something

Multiple Throw: The soulknife can throw a number of mind blades per round equal to the number of melee attacks she could make. A soulknife must be at least 14th level to choose this blade skill.

Is this a misprint? Do you really have to be 14 or higher to throw more than 2 knives? I can understand 4, but 14 seems really, really high for this power.

Really I thought that would have been one of the first fixes to the soulkknife: to allow them to throw as many mind blades as they would using standard throwing weapons at the earliest level possible (in the first 5 levels). If it is held back to level 14 that is really disappointing.

[Psyren]

It was a fix. The WotC Soulknife can't do that until 17.

[MeeposFire]

Yea and that was bad but 14 is not much better.

seriously what is so unbalanced about the mind blade being able to be used like any other thrown weapon?

[BobVosh]

Yea and that was bad but 14 is not much better.

seriously what is so unbalanced about the mind blade being able to be used like any other thrown weapon?

I'll let you know since I got the DM to skip the restriction entirely.

[MeeposFire]

I'll let you know since I got the DM to skip the restriction entirely.

Excellent! My guess is that it will not be a big deal. At least no more than any other thrown weapon build of quality.

[BobVosh]

Since there is a gunslinger in the party it could be interesting to see how it matches up. Ill try to track damage if I had only 2 attacks each round vs full attack and compare with him.