Soulknife feat help

[Pseudonym]

I am creating an kalashtar soulknife for an Eberron game, but this will be my first psionic character since 1st edition. Consequently, I am at a loss as to how to choose an aprorpiate feat selection.

The character will be fourth level. I think that Psionic Weapon at 1st is a no-brainer, but I am not sure what to take for a 3rd level feat. I am considering two feats from Races of Eberron. One is Shield of Thought, which allows you to manifest a shield at a move action, and later transfer some of your mindblade enhancement over to it. It will be of immediate utility to the character, and ree up the need to carry around a shield.

Alternatively I am considering the feat Soulknife Warrior, which lets you manifest your mindblade as a swift action, and treats your level at 2 higher for mindblade enhancement. The thing is that at 5th level the character will be able to manifest the mindblade as a free action, and the ehhancement bonus won't come into play until 6th level. A side bonus of this feat is that whenever you use an action die to hit in combat, you add that result to damage. Is it worth taking?

Any feats ideas that I am missing, or experience with Shield of Thought? Soulknife advice in general would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Bront]

Soulknife warrior is much better. The swift action is good till you get it as a free action at 5th. But the action point bonus is realy cool (Basicly, it makes it much easier to dump an anction point on an attack, even if you know you'll hit), and the extra enhancement level is cool (Basicly, your magic + and enchancement + become equal).

I don't like the shield one because you now split your enhancement bonus up which weakens your weapon, and you might as well carry a shield, because if you ever find a nice magical one it will be well worth it.

I'm not a big fan of the bonus feat you get at 6th for the Kalashtar Soul knife substitution (I like speed of thought), but I could see taking it and simply selecting spead of thought as a regular feat. It doesn't completely suck, just results in a different tactic. I dislike the 3rd level substitution power, psycic strike is very cool (note it doesn't wear off even if you drop or unmanifest the blade, so you can do it to sart the day and always have a strike on it for your first successfull attack). The 1st level substitution level is very nice though (basicly a free bonus power with the knife that costs PP). Only reason not to take it is if you plan on taking Psionic Body, which isn't as usefull for a Soulknife because you get D10 HD.

 

[DungeonmasterCal]

Not having the Eberron book, here are the feats I gave my Soulknife at 4th level (before he died at 8th). I always play a human, so I get the extra feat.

1st level: Psionic Body, Psionic Weapon
3rd level: Psionic Shot

Good buffs for the weapon, and Psionic Body gives you +2 HP for each Psionic feat you take. Even the "free" feats you get as a class ability.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I haven't played a soulknife but it seems to me that the soulknife is good for two things:

1. Abusing the heck out of knife to the soul by attacking whatever you figure your enemy's weakest mental stat to be. A couple hits and you should have anything on its knees.

So, whatever you do, you don't want to do anything that will make knife to the soul weaker.

2. Making the greatest use possible of your mindblade enhancements and switching them as often as necessary to always have the optimal weapon for the situation.

So, if you have an option that makes your mindblades better, you should take it. They're what you're giving up 1/1 BAB to get. You might also want to consider two weapon fighting and the related tree since mindblades have the ability to optimize their weapons for two weapon fighting. Two wounding weapons? No problem. Two bane weapons? No problem. Two flaming bane weapons? No problem. Those are the kind of tricks that make two weapon fighting effective vis a vis other fighting styles and those are the kind of tricks that get better if your mindblade gets better.

 

[dedicated]

Deep impact and fell shot are mean

 

[Staffan]

You might also want to consider two weapon fighting and the related tree since mindblades have the ability to optimize their weapons for two weapon fighting. Two wounding weapons? No problem. Two bane weapons? No problem. Two flaming bane weapons? No problem.

Not quite. There's a specific list of what abilities a soulknife can add to his weaponry. Wounding is on it, but not flaming or bane.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Soulknives:
Main Strength: can't be disarmed for long.

Main Weakness: the mindblade is equivalent to a shortsword, at least, initially.

The thing I dislike about the advanced attack powers, Deep Impact and Fell Shot is that whole "loss of focus" thing. But if it doesn't bug you, go for it. Touch attacks are, indeed, nasty.

I design my Soulknives like Rangers or Ftr/Rogues- powerful second tier warriors and fierce manhunters. As such, I tend to lean towards Feats like 2wf, Combat Reflexes, Improved unarmed combat, and occasionally Tracking. A Soulknife with IUC & 2wf is dangerous, even when "disarmed." As he progresses, improving his mindblade and his unarmed combat skills can make him into a spinning cyclone of death. Run, Up the Walls and Speed of Thought are also fun.

I usually multiclass a Soulknife to emphasize one or another aspect of the particular PC. If I know I'm going Ranger-esqe, I'll alter my Feat choice and take a couple of Ranger levels. If I want an "Mind Assassin," I'll take Rogue levels. Fighter levels get used if I want to specialize... And I know its a little cliche, but I love my Soulknives taking 4-7 levels in the Pyrokinetic PrCl.

Occasionally, I'll design one with Druid levels (for shapshifting), or Sorcerer (for True Strike).

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

Don't you find that multiclassing really hurts the mindblade progression? Not having played the class, that's what I would expect to happen.

I usually multiclass a Soulknife to emphasize one or another aspect of the particular PC. If I know I'm going Ranger-esqe, I'll alter my Feat choice and take a couple of Ranger levels. If I want an "Mind Assassin," I'll take Rogue levels. Fighter levels get used if I want to specialize... And I know its a little cliche, but I love my Soulknives taking 4-7 levels in the Pyrokinetic PrCl.

Occasionally, I'll design one with Druid levels (for shapshifting), or Sorcerer (for True Strike).

 

[Jdvn1]

I recommend you get Sense Weakness (Draconomicon) at 6th or 9th level. Helps against any sort of DR, which will be an issue for you.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Of course multiclassing hurts the core progression. But I base my multiclassing decisions on a PC by PC basis.

Besides, some of the MC decisions actually improve the PC as a whole. For instance, the cliche of taking levels of Pyrokinetic is a cliche for a reason. Pyrokinetic gives the Soulknife a 2nd psionic weapon ( the fire whip), an ability that accentuates IUC (flaming hand) and the firebolts give the PC a power that is similar to the Warlock's. In other words, the Soulknife then has multiple virtual weapons and loses NO power when fighting at a range.

And if you take some levels of Sorcerer to get True Strike, you can use it to virtually guarantee a hit...faster than you'll earn Deep Impact.