I need some help with Soul Knives feats and mind blade combos combat tactics please.

[Jhyarelle]

Set Up:
Human Half Vampire (Libris Mortis) ECL2
LV6 Gestalt Lurk/Soul Knife
Consituion 16/+3
Concetrate 9 skill ranks: with feats and CON mod Concetrate is 20
Psionic Focus: with feats and CON mod and any d20 roll of 2 or better as a move action

Feat Combos
Combat Manifestation: +4 Concentraion
Mind Strike Focus: Use psioni focus +1d8 Psychic Strike
Narrow Mind: +4 Concentraion
Point Blank Shot: +1 Att/Damage up to 30 feet
Psionic Meditation: Psionic Focus as a move action
Psionic Weapon: Use psionic focus for + 2d6 Damage
Psionic Shot: Use psionic focus for + 2d6 Damage

Combat Concep:
My PC uses no other physicaly or magicaly made weapon but his mind blades and his main combat technique is to deal as much damage with one good strike. Think along the lines of a smamurai or kenshin's iajutsu strike one strike one kill; if possible.

Comabt technique and questions:
1) At the start of combat, I free draw longsword mind balde (1d8) and roll to gain a psionic focus as a move action. After that since I get one more move action to finish my turn, I attack, expending my psionic focus at the same time as a free action. Assumig I hit who/what ever, I should deal the mind blade damage 1d8 and Psionic Weapon feat damage 2d6 right?

2) Can I gain a psionic focus and charge my mind blade for Psychic Strike within the same move action time frame or take a full round to do both?

3) Can you use Psychic Strike, Psionic Weapon/Shot and Sneak Attack all at the same time in the same attack roll on one target?

4) Can activating Psionic Weapon/Shot and Mind Strike Focus be done with out the epic feat Epic Focus?

5) I want to get rid of Psionic Shot and Point Blank Shot feats, but I'm afraid that I'll loose the +2d6 of damage for throwing my mind blades. So if I use Psionic Weapon feat on a mind blade and throw it to its max range of 30 ft, do i still get the +2d6 dmage bonus? I figure I'd pick Far Shot feat and make my mind blades have a range equal to a composite shor bow of 60 feet.

6) If I split my mind blades and use it as two separate weapons and use Psionic Weapon feat, does it only affect on of the two mind blades?
As I level up I want to take a combination of feats and powers the lets me defelct physical projectiles alike arrows and shuch and magical/psionic energies like rays, fire balls or lightning bolts.

Does the build look familiar? Maybe from a Fantasy far far away. I won't FORCE the issue. Any help or suggestions would be apreciated.

 

[Dandu]

Eh. I'd take 2 levels of Soulknife, three of something else and go straight into Soulbow. The Soulknife class kinda sucks to be honest.

 

[krupintupple]

dandu knows what he's talking about. however, maybe try my soulknife fix, listed here? let me know what you make of it, but i made it so the class gets faster, and better access to its iconic ability, the soulknife.

however, i'll try to best answer some of your questions.

1) how are you getting so many move actions, considering that merely manifesting the mind blade is also a move action?

2) nope, that's two separate move actions.

3) discharging a psychic strike, sneak attack or psionic weapons aren't individual actions, per se; they're part of the attack itself.

4) i don't know which book "mind strike focus" was from, so i couldn't comment.

5) no, because it affects melee weapons only.

6) you can "psionic weapon" all day long, assuming you have the requisite psionic focus to burn. even if you hit twice in a round, your focus will only power the first hit and then it's gone, leaving no focus to power the second hit.

 

[krupintupple]

i also just realized that you're planning on being a half-vampire. while this might be cool, or even thematically work, you might want to reconsider just being a "regular" human and regaining the +2 LA. i suggest this because things with LA almost always work against your favour in the long run, and, since you're playing a gestalt game, you'd gain 2 levels in soulknife AND lurk, totaling an extra 4 levels. i'd almost say this is a no-brainer, because you'd be accessing two new tiers of abilities and powers, not to mention the extra power points, skills and hit points.

just two cents.

 

[Dandu]

You may want to just take Vampiric Heritage feats. I've seen them mentioned, but I don't know where they're from. Dragon or a 3rd party book, most likely.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Just as a FYI, you can find some good Soulknife feats in Dragon#348 and Hyperconscious. The latter also contains a PrCl that combines elements of the Soulknife and PsyWar.

 

[Jhyarelle]

Does a Soul Knife's Psychic Strike damage also be applied when he throws his mind blades? I hope so so I can take the far shot feat and drop both Psionic Weapon and Psionic Shot feats all together.

Thanks much for all the advice. However I'm keeping the half vampire ECL racial template, cause it's a part of his the background story. Yes I'm one of those who cares about where my character comes from no matter what system of RPG I play.

Basicaly it's a modified Jedi build I'm working on in 3.5.

 

[Dandu]

Psychic Warriors make better Jedi than Soulknives could ever hope to be, especially if you use the Soulbound Weapon ACF that basically grants them a mindblade.

 

[krupintupple]

However I'm keeping the half vampire ECL racial template, cause it's a part of his the background story. Yes I'm one of those who cares about where my character comes from no matter what system of RPG I play.

i see. however, as mentioned, perhaps the vampire heritage feats might work to your favour a shade better? i mean, you'd regain the 2 lost levels, in addition to having a vampire-flavoured character, which seems the best of both worlds.

i just hope you aren't intentionally harming your character for the sake of better role playing. not that you're doing that, but i've never really understood that phenomenon to be honest.

 

[Jhyarelle]

i see. however, as mentioned, perhaps the vampire heritage feats might work to your favour a shade better? i mean, you'd regain the 2 lost levels, in addition to having a vampire-flavoured character, which seems the best of both worlds.

i just hope you aren't intentionally harming your character for the sake of better role playing. not that you're doing that, but i've never really understood that phenomenon to be honest.

Im' considering you suggestion. What books cna I find vampiric heritage feats in?