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Please break my "gritty" rules set.
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<blockquote data-quote="Dannyalcatraz" data-source="post: 4392583" data-attributes="member: 19675"><p>Listen to the wisdom of Nifft- I've never met him, but I've seen enough of his posts. I'd trust his power rankings of those classes like I'd trust Thanee to deliver a power-user's Wizard spell list.</p><p></p><p>I understand not using Psionics...but hear out this idea and hold on.</p><p></p><p>You found the other MoI classes to be too wrapped up in alignment for use in your campaign. Fine. </p><p></p><p>Soulknives are the least psionic of all the psi classes, and with a D10 HD, decent skill points, and light armor & shields, they are a classic skirmisher class. But most importantly for your purposes, they have a good flavor and a nasty (but arguably too-late acquired, and some argue underpowered) anti-mage warrior debuffer power- Knife to the Soul. It lets them do ability damage to casting stats- 1 point per 1d6 bonus damage given up.</p><p></p><p>With some minor work, <em>they</em> could be your non-vancian anti-mage debuffers.</p><p></p><p>First, ditch the psionic flavor- Feats & all, if you wish- and make the Soulknife into an <strong>Incarnum</strong> class and the Mindblade itself into an incarnum weapon- a specialized meld like the Incarnum Blade's. That really won't change much in the class. Then graft on the incarnum powers & progression from the Soulborn, but without the alignment strictures.</p><p></p><p>If you wish, you can beef up the Knife to the Soul by lowering its access to something lower than 13th level and/or increasing its damage (still exchanging it for the damage dice, but at a rate 1pt of stat damage per 1-2 rolled, 2 pt per 3-4 rolled, and 3 points per 5-6 rolled). Or combine the 2- lower the access point <em>as written</em> to KttS to...7th level?...then beef it up to my variant above at 13th...and maybe even 1-for-1 at 20th.</p><p></p><p>You could even expand it to being able to target any stat.</p><p></p><p>As for shaping the mindblade, there are feats that let you reshape it in CompPsi...but better ones in Dragon #341. Instead of only 3 feats allowing 3 specific exotic weapon reshapes, it has a single one that lets you reshape into a single specific weapon of your choice, another that lets you form a shield, etc. Instead of making the Soulknife take a PrCl like the Soulbow to get a ranged version of his weapon, allow that feat to make ranged weapons as well as melee weapons.</p><p></p><p>Also, don't use the rule about having a mindblade reset to shortsword whenever it re-forms- just let it stay in whatever shape it last manifested. After all, reshaping it is a full-round action, RAW.</p><p></p><p><strong>End result- not only do you get your non-vancian anti-mage debuffer/gish, you get more use out of the nifty MoI rules.</strong></p><p></p><p>Side note:</p><p></p><p>Given that this is a "gritty" and seemingly low-magic world, you might consider using an Artificer/Alchemist type- someone who uses "alchemy-tech" more than anything to get things done. Because many of his resources would be physical and depletable, it would be quasi-vancian in feel, I know...but it still fitting in with your setting since it wouldn't be true magic. Thus, its not "drainable," "debuffable" or affected by defenses against magical attacks (if any such exist in your world).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Dannyalcatraz, post: 4392583, member: 19675"] Listen to the wisdom of Nifft- I've never met him, but I've seen enough of his posts. I'd trust his power rankings of those classes like I'd trust Thanee to deliver a power-user's Wizard spell list. I understand not using Psionics...but hear out this idea and hold on. You found the other MoI classes to be too wrapped up in alignment for use in your campaign. Fine. Soulknives are the least psionic of all the psi classes, and with a D10 HD, decent skill points, and light armor & shields, they are a classic skirmisher class. But most importantly for your purposes, they have a good flavor and a nasty (but arguably too-late acquired, and some argue underpowered) anti-mage warrior debuffer power- Knife to the Soul. It lets them do ability damage to casting stats- 1 point per 1d6 bonus damage given up. With some minor work, [I]they[/I] could be your non-vancian anti-mage debuffers. First, ditch the psionic flavor- Feats & all, if you wish- and make the Soulknife into an [B]Incarnum[/B] class and the Mindblade itself into an incarnum weapon- a specialized meld like the Incarnum Blade's. That really won't change much in the class. Then graft on the incarnum powers & progression from the Soulborn, but without the alignment strictures. If you wish, you can beef up the Knife to the Soul by lowering its access to something lower than 13th level and/or increasing its damage (still exchanging it for the damage dice, but at a rate 1pt of stat damage per 1-2 rolled, 2 pt per 3-4 rolled, and 3 points per 5-6 rolled). Or combine the 2- lower the access point [I]as written[/I] to KttS to...7th level?...then beef it up to my variant above at 13th...and maybe even 1-for-1 at 20th. You could even expand it to being able to target any stat. As for shaping the mindblade, there are feats that let you reshape it in CompPsi...but better ones in Dragon #341. Instead of only 3 feats allowing 3 specific exotic weapon reshapes, it has a single one that lets you reshape into a single specific weapon of your choice, another that lets you form a shield, etc. Instead of making the Soulknife take a PrCl like the Soulbow to get a ranged version of his weapon, allow that feat to make ranged weapons as well as melee weapons. Also, don't use the rule about having a mindblade reset to shortsword whenever it re-forms- just let it stay in whatever shape it last manifested. After all, reshaping it is a full-round action, RAW. [B]End result- not only do you get your non-vancian anti-mage debuffer/gish, you get more use out of the nifty MoI rules.[/B] Side note: Given that this is a "gritty" and seemingly low-magic world, you might consider using an Artificer/Alchemist type- someone who uses "alchemy-tech" more than anything to get things done. Because many of his resources would be physical and depletable, it would be quasi-vancian in feel, I know...but it still fitting in with your setting since it wouldn't be true magic. Thus, its not "drainable," "debuffable" or affected by defenses against magical attacks (if any such exist in your world). [/QUOTE]
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