Soulknife: Does anybody like this class? Other classes that ???

[Nifft]

I haven't read Nifft's build, but it struck me that the soulknife would probably have been better implemented not as a core or prestige class but as a series of powers and feats that could be put together by a psychic warrior. That would provide not only a lot of flexibility of build, but also the manifester levels required to enter many prestige classes.

You read my mind! (Or my post... )

In my version, the prestige class is like a Kensai -- all the base funcionality is available via Feats, for which a Psi War is perfectly suited.

Evilhalfling: The 'new' version is supposed to be published, along with my Psi Ranger and some other nifty Psi Pstuff, in Ambient's Jungles of the Mind, due out whenever (or a bit thereafter).

-- N

 

[Greatwyrm]

I'm currently playing a soulknife, when my group is able to get together.

--snip--

His favorite tactic is to keep his mindblade charged with his Psychic Strike ability, and then boost it with Psionic Shot. Before engaging in melee, he uses the Throw Mindblade ability to start with, then manifests the mindblade again, uses a move action to enable the Psychic Strike, and wade into the fray.

That's pretty much what the Soulknife in the campaign I'm running is doing. He's been pretty happy as a second-rank fighter. He's also planning on moving into Pyrokineticist (sp?) next level.

As for monks, I've only ever played one. The one from the GenCon Indy 2004 Eberron Open. I had a blast. I think people really underestimate the movment abilities a monk can get, even at middle levels. Being able to go just about wherever you want on a battlefield can give you tremendous power.

 

[Creamsteak]

low hit die

The core class is a d10. That's a decent hit die.

I'll say that while I think the thing is "cool", it is indeed vastly more fitting as a prestige class. It really isn't a concept to make into a core class.

 

[Kalendraf]

My only experience with the soul knife is from running a Dark Sun 1-shot adventure. All the PCs were 3rd level or so and one of them was a Soul Knife. By that level, the characters hadn't really begun to differentiate themselves much. IIRC, the party included 1 of each psionic class, as well as a halfling barbarian, and a rogue.

The wilder and psion seemed to be extremely effective. The psychic warrior was ok, but not spectacular. Meanwhile, the soul knife didn't seem as effective as most of the other characters. He was usually involved in each and every fight, but he just never seemed to dishout all that much damage, nor did he make any other notable contributions to really stand out.

IMHO, the Soul Knife is a 1-trick pony. Every aspect of the character is pretty much based around it's one ability, so how it performs is entirely dependent on how useful that ability is for the situation. As others have pointed out, it really doesn't have much synergy with other classes or PrC's, so once you take this class, you'll probably have to dedicate all advancement to it.

I would like to include more psionics in future campaigns, so perhaps I'll give the Soul Knife another look in the future.