Attempt at Prestige Class for Soulknife or Monk

[the Jester]

OK, so this is my 1st try at a prestige class for soulknives or monks. Feedback on this first draft?

Mindcutter

The best way to overcome an enemy is often not to attack the body, but to incapacitate the mind. If a creature cannot think, it can neither plan nor function properly, and it becomes easily overcome. Mindcutters learn to attack the mind as well as the body, using either stunning fist or mind blade attacks.

Hit Die: d8

PREREQUISITES

In order to become a mindcutter, a creature must fulfill all of the following requirements:

Skills: Concentration (8 ranks)
Special: Either Stunning Fist 3/day or psychic strike +1d8

Class Skills: Balance (dex), Bluff (cha), Concentration (con), Diplomacy (cha), Heal (wis), Intimidate (cha), Move Silently (dex), Sense Motive (wis), Spot (wis), Tumble (dex). Skill points per level: 6 + int bonus.
Base Attack: Medium (as monk)
Good Saves: All

Level--- Special Abilities

1- Mind cut (1 int), wild talent
2- Improved strike, iron will
3- Dazing touch
4- Mind cut (1d3 int)
5- Confusing touch
6- Improved strike
7- Mind cut (1d4 int)
8- Cutting touch
9- Improved strike
10- Mind cut (second attribute)

CLASS FEATURES

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: A mindcutter gains no new proficiency in arms or armor.

Mind Cut (Su): A mindcutter’s blows with his stunning fists or his mind blade can deal intelligence damage. Whenever the mindcutter deals psychic strike damage or hits with a stunning fist attempt that could succeed (i.e. the victim is not immune to stunning), she also deals one point of intelligence damage. As she advances, the amount of intelligence damage that she deals increases (as noted above). Upon achieving 10th level, the character chooses wisdom or charisma, and henceforth her mind cut also deals damage to that attribute as well.

Wild Talent: The mindcutter, if not psionic, gains Wild Talent as a bonus feat. If the mindcutter is already psionic, she gains no benefit from this ability.

Improved Strike: The mindcutter chooses one: either her psychic strike damage increases by +1d8, or she gains two additional uses of Stunning Fist for the day. If the character does not have psychic strike, she cannot choose to gain psychic strike damage. Likewise, a mindcutter without the Stunning Fist feat cannot choose to gain Stunning Fist attempts.

Iron Will: The mindcutter gains Iron Will as a bonus feat.

Dazing Touch (Ex): By touching a victim and either expending one use of Stunning Fist for the day or expending her psionic focus, the mindcutter can attempt to daze her target for one round. The victim receives a Will save (DC 13 + cha bonus) to resist. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Confusing Touch (Ex): By touching a victim and either expending two uses of Stunning Fist for the day or expending her psionic focus, the mindcutter can attempt to confuse her target for one round. The victim receives a Will save (DC 15 + cha bonus) to resist. This is a mind-affecting effect.

Cutting Touch (Ex): The mindcutter can deal mind cut damage with a touch by either expending three uses of her Stunning Fist for the day or by expending two psionic focuses (which is only possible with the aid of things that allow a second psionic focus to be held by the character). This ability does not inflict psychic strike damage or stunning on the victim, only mind cut damage.

 

[comrade raoul]

Neat. Consider adding a first-level ability that allowed mindcutter levels to stack with monk levels (for unarmed damage and unarmored AC and speed) and soulknife levels (for mindblade enhancement bonus, or, possibly, mindblade special abilities).

I'm tempted to go further, too, and suggest that the dazing and confusing touch DC's scale standardly with level (10 + mindcutter level + Cha modifier), and suggest some synergistic abilities (e.g. the ability to flurry or deliver a stunning fist with a mind blade, or at least add ki focus to it as a special ability).

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I like it, but I think I'd take a slightly different take on things.

Like Comrade Raoul, if I were designing a Monk/Soulknife prestige class, I'd design a Monk/Soulknife prestige class, as in:

1) Change prerequisites to something like 2 (or 3) levels of Monk AND 2 (or 3) levels of Soulknife (or some class feature equivalent).

2) Use of the Mindblade as a monk weapon, short sword form at 1st level, longsword form at 4th level, and bastard sword form at 7th level. Considering the Soulblade mindblade-shaping feats available in Dragon #341 (and other nifty feats besides) and Complete Psionic, they should get one more shape as a monk weapon at 10th level.

2.5) In the alternative, you might consider the ability to use mindblade powers as unarmed strike powers and vice versa. For example, this would allow the PC to enhance his unarmed strikes with Collision, or deliver Stunning Fist attacks with a thrown mindblade.

3) A class mechanic that allows at least some stacking and/or improvement of base class abilities (like AC, Speed, FoB, and Mindblade improvements).

 

[the Jester]

Oh, sorry, my post above is not very clear. I'm not trying to make a synergistic monk/soulknife prestige class, I'm trying to make one that is geared to either/or. I initially approached it from the soulknife perspective, but then it hid me in mid-design that Stunning Fist would be another cool way to activate these abilities.

My goal is to make the class attractive to either a monk or soulblade, and balanced with but not necessarily better than either one. It's not even supposed to especially encourage monk/soulknife multiclassing, although that would certainly be an interesting way to take the design.

In that context- hopefully a little clearer, with it being (most likely) soulknife or monk, rather than soulknife and monk, how does it look? Note the 6 skill points and all good saves.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

In that case, I'd say its not bad, but there are some alterations I'd make even so.

For instance, a Soulknife would get no benefit from the Wild Talent bonus feat, as you rightly point out. Perhaps Soulknives should get Improved Unarmed Strike instead? Or Practiced Mindblade (a feat from Dragon/DCv1 that gives +4 effective levels in the mindblade).

Actually, DCv1 has another feat you might consider as a bonus feat or at least as a nifty concept: Ring the Golden Bell. That's the one that lets the PC use Unarmed Strikes as ranged attacks, delivering any attack they can use with US as ranged attacks as well.