D&D 5E "Shadowblade" (modified soulknife) - feedback requested

[TwoSix]

I'd probably shift it to 1/Long Rest/IntMod honestly.

For most Rogues, Int is a secondary or tertiary stat. For Soul Knifes it's almost certainly Secondary, but if they can get their Int to 16, having 3 misty step's per long rest doesn't seem unbalanced to me. I guess I'm assuming they're going to prioritize pumping Dex first still, so the earliest Int might get to 16 would be 8th level or so, but still.

Assuming point buy, a human (or any other Dex/Int race) shouldn't have trouble getting a Dex 16/Int 16/Con 14 right off the bat. I don't know if it's a huge problem, but it's a little stronger for level 3 than for level 6 or 8.

 

[Salthorae]

Assuming point buy, a human (or any other Dex/Int race) shouldn't have trouble getting a Dex 16/Int 16/Con 14 right off the bat. I don't know if it's a huge problem, but it's a little stronger for level 3 than for level 6 or 8.

True. I suppose I play so many games where stats are Standard Array that it colors my POV.

I still don't think it's too out of bounds considering that it's a Subclass ability.

 

[TwoSix]

True. I suppose I play so many games where stats are Standard Array that it colors my POV.

I still don't think it's too out of bounds considering that it's a Subclass ability.

It's pretty difficult to break anything by short-range teleporting too much.

 

[jayoungr]

Regarding the weapon-throwing, the thing is, once you've thrown your weapon, that's it--you can't retrieve it until it's safe to go near the thing you threw it at. So unless your combats are usually over in 1-2 rounds, that's a pretty powerful reason to think twice about throwing your weapons.

 

[Weiley31]

Regarding the weapon-throwing, the thing is, once you've thrown your weapon, that's it--you can't retrieve it until it's safe to go near the thing you threw it at. So unless your combats are usually over in 1-2 rounds, that's a pretty powerful reason to think twice about throwing your weapons.

Unless he unsummons the mind(Shadow blade) back and resummons it in hand.

 

[jayoungr]

Unless he unsummons the mind(Shadow blade) back and resummons it in hand.

Oh, I didn't realize shadow blades could do that. What sort of action does that take, though--action, bonus action, reaction? It might still be enough of a tradeoff to balance out.

 

[pukunui]

Thanks for the continued feedback, folks.

Just to address a few things:

1) The campaign I am preparing is the Greek-themed Odyssey of the Dragonlords. I am allowing players to choose either standard array or point buy. One of the playable races is a satyr, which grants +2 Dex and +1 Cha. The player who came up with the "shadowblade" is thinking of choosing satyr as his race, so I don't think he'll be getting a 16 Int early in the game.

3) As per the UA, the psychic blades can be manifested as a bonus action, and they disappear after you throw them (regardless of whether they hit or miss). You then have to use another bonus action to recreate them. This is the reason I hesitate to allow the proposed d8 weapon to be thrown. (I once gave a barbarian PC in a previous campaign a throwable magic greataxe with the returning property. I almost instantly regretted it as the player preferred to avoid melee and just threw her d12 axe at every opportunity instead.)

 

[Salthorae]

This is the reason I hesitate to allow the proposed d8 weapon to be thrown.

It has a range of 30'/60' long and you're only going to get one attack with it per round since you have to use a bonus action to summon a new one for d8+Dex + potentially sneak attack. But if they use their Bonus action to summon the blade again, then they can't use their bonus action from Cunning Action to hide again to get sneak attack the next round, etc.

I don't think a d8 thrown weapon is going to break the combat. It's literally +1 of average damager more than a d6 thrown weapon, which is the base ability from the UA. A far cry from a d12 axe anyway.

Plus I think a sneaky shadow telepath person would be more inclined to throw their weapons and hide in the shadows than charge into melee anyway.

 

[pukunui]

Fair enough!

 

[jayoungr]

Yeah, I've been playing a rogue lately, and I can attest that there is a lot of competition for what to do with your bonus action in any given round. Though it's worth pointing out that hiding isn't an issue if someone in the party is within 5 feet of the target, since that gets you sneak attack without having to hide.