Pathfinder 1E Pathfinder Psionics (from Dreamscarred)

[ProfessorCirno]

How so?

Because after int to damage at level three, swashbuckler didn't get anything all that great. Grace was...ok. Dodge bonus? Usable against only one enemy? Not so hot. Acrobatic charge? Also...ok, especially since you're more mobility built, not charge built. Improved flanking? You could easily forget it for all it did. And after level 3, it wasn't until level 11 that you got something new you could actually do, and all that you got was a single reroll of a dice once per day. Then when half the game is over, you can do a little bit of ability damage on a crit. Awesome.

Int to damage and weapon finesse were swashbuckler's major abilities, and again, that was level 1 and 3.

 

[Scurvy_Platypus]

Please do not eliminate the soulknife base class. Mechanically I love the soulknife class while I do not care as much for the point management of the psychic warrior. The soulknife has a couple on off powers (psychic strike, psionic focus) that can recharge in a round or in each encounter. It is straightforward mechanically, easier to track their resources, and uses combat actions to charge them up rather than downtime.

I'm another one of those folks that likes to avoid the whole RealTimeStrategy resource management thing. Warlocks, Dragon Shamans... things where you can pick a power here and there and "assemble" your character as you go without having to track resources are great.

 

[pawsplay]

Some general notes:

1. Arcane magic vs. psi: Yes, they should definitely have a different feel. On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of being different just to be different. For instance, it annoyed me that psionic weapons couldn't be flaming, even though there were psi powers that generated flame and even though some psionic abilities (such as soulknives) emulated standard weapon enhancements.
2. I like crystals. That said, I like other things, too. Ethereal presences, mummified creature parts, weird metal alloys, and music and sound are all good foci for psionic effects.
3. Rules for psicrystals could follow arcane bond and so forth. I wouldn't mind seeing an astral construct companion as an alternate class feature, either.

Some specific notes:
1. Rogues could gain talents that plug them into psionics the way they already plug into magic.
2. Soulknives should be a base class. Atlhough they have something of an assassin-with-a-lightsaber flavor, I would characterize them as something more akin to a cross between a ranger and a rogue, a very focused character who uses their environment along with deadly attacks to take down foes. Not so much a skirmisher or brawler. I think they could remain much the same, but with special soulknife talents, allowing them to enhance their style with two weapon fighting, improved throwing, or whatever floats their boat. Some talents might allow them to use AC-avoiding attacks more often or something.
3. Psions need to be reined in. They are way too much elemenal nova mages with memory modify.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

To clarify my perspective, if I were rewriting the Soulknife from the ground up, I'd:

1) Give them the ability to choose about 1 PsyWar power/level and enough PP to minimally power them.

2) Fold in some other abilities to flesh out that psychic ninja vibe. Perhaps folding them with the Elocater?

3) Take a good look at the Feats (and the rulings) that affect them, all of them. Look at all the ones in the XPH, CompPsi, Dragon #341, Hyperconscious and whatever, and redraft them so they're all meaningful. And clearly worded. For instance, the Mind Dagger feat in Dragon#341 may actually generate more daggers than it is possible for the PC to use (its been debated a few times, to no real conclusion). Practiced Blade Manifester is probably a must, and the Dragon versions of the Shape Mindblade feats are superior in design, flexibility and efficiency to the ones in CompPsi.

In conjunction with this, I'd set up a Bonus feat progression so the class could actually get to use those feats.

4) Make Knife to the Soul available at lower levels, and have it increase in potency as the PC advances.

5) I'd keep the Medium BAB, but I'd boost their skills into the Ranger level. As I've said here and elsewhere, boosting them to full BAB would make people play them like front line fighters...and that will just get them killed.

The Medium BAB coupled with a KttS that becomes available at lower levels and better mobility (see my suggestion about Elocater) makes this a scary class for any spellcaster or manifester to face. And once they start throwing or shooting the mindblade, they won't even have to get close to drop those mental stats...

There were several discussions of this around here...here's one:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/d-d-3rd-edition-rules/181047-soulknife-mindblade-question.html

***

And while I was at it, the Kineticist PrCl would become the blueprint for a direct-damage dealing psionicist. While I personally view the Nova-blasting Psion as a self-correcting issue, most people don't. The Kineticist has a nice balance of powers that deal damage from personal reach to 15' out to LOS range, but not in huge amounts. They're kind of like the Warlock in that.

 

[pawsplay]

The soulknife's capstone ability should be using psychic strike to make a target save vs. Will or die, or fall asleep forever.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Interesting...and it made me think.

What if a successful high-level Knife to the Soul strike let the Soulblade use one of the abilities his target would lose by virtue of the strike?

For instance, if the Soulblade's KttS cost a Mage an 8th level spell, he'd be able to use it himself. If it cost him several spells, he'd have to pick one and only one.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

One idea that was mentioned on the Paizo forums and maybe on these ones was giving the Soulknife some SLA's (Er, PLA's? I'm...not sure what it would be called) that they could choose from as they level. They wouldn't have the point management of the Psychic Warrior, but they would have a few abilities to choose from. Maybe they can only use each cluster of abilities x/day, but have multiple clusters? Just brainstorming now.

Another thing that I think might be important is to get rid of the once per round issue with psychic strike. Soulknife was weaker then rogue before, and now that the rogue has been upgraded, there seems no reason to leave the psychic strike as crippled as it is.

 

[Nyeshet]

One idea that was mentioned on the Paizo forums and maybe on these ones was giving the Soulknife some SLA's (Er, PLA's? I'm...not sure what it would be called) that they could choose from as they level. They wouldn't have the point management of the Psychic Warrior, but they would have a few abilities to choose from. Maybe they can only use each cluster of abilities x/day, but have multiple clusters? Just brainstorming now.

Another thing that I think might be important is to get rid of the once per round issue with psychic strike. Soulknife was weaker then rogue before, and now that the rogue has been upgraded, there seems no reason to leave the psychic strike as crippled as it is.

This is starting to sound a little like the warlock, with the mind blade replacing the warlock's eldritch blast. PLAs for diverse abilities varying for each soul knife, for diverse forms of damage with the mind blade, and perhaps for reshaping the soul knife (into other weapons - including arrows, or perhaps into nimbus like armor or shield, or perhaps even into simple tools). But while the mind blade could be summoned at will, the PLAs would be governed by Power Points instead of usable at will.

An interesting idea, but I am no sure how well it would work. It could work great (if implemented right, although if done right it also reminds me of the Incarnum), or it could become a headache of micromanagement (if done poorly).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

This is starting to sound a little like the warlock, with the mind blade replacing the warlock's eldritch blast. PLAs for diverse abilities varying for each soul knife, for diverse forms of damage with the mind blade, and perhaps for reshaping the soul knife (into other weapons - including arrows, or perhaps into nimbus like armor or shield, or perhaps even into simple tools). But while the mind blade could be summoned at will, the PLAs would be governed by Power Points instead of usable at will.

In point of fact, the Feats in Dragon #341 included one that let you reshape the mindblade into a shield, the aforementioned Mind Knives, and one that let you reshape the mindblade into any (one) melee weapon with which the PC was proficient.

That last one had the same prereqs as the 3 less efficient ones in CompPsi that only did so for different exotic weapons. C'mon...wouldn't it be cool to have a Mind Maul? A Mind Greatspear? Heavy Mindflail?

Mind Kusarigama?

 

[Voadam]

My preference is to keep the soulknife resource management simple. On off powers at most. (Psychic strike and psionic focus).